The Prince of Thorns

'Interference'

KING'S LANDING

In prison, Tyrion drinks wine from Jaime.

TYRION: "Wine always helps. I thank you for it. Trial by combat. Deciding a man's guilt or innocence in the eyes of the gods by having two other men hack each other to pieces. Tells you something about the gods. How much longer?"

JAIME: "Soon."

TYRION: "Do you think Alester will win."

JAIME: "Based on our sparring, I'd say he's one of the better swordsmen I've seen."

TYRION: "When we defended the city, he was like a man possessed. It's like he kept swinging his sword as if it was a feather. He never grew tired that day."

JAIME: "When its life or death a man can do just about anything."

TYRION: "Both of our lives depends on his skill. I keep imagining the ways they could kill me. Drawing and quartering? Hanging? Breaking at the wheel?"

JAIME: "Beheading."

TYRION: "Seems rather ordinary. And he was my nephew as well, so what is that? Fratricide is brothers. Filicide is sons. Nepoticide. That's the one. Matricide, patricide, infanticide, suicide. There's no kind of killing that doesn't have its own word."

JAIME: "Cousins."

TYRION: "Cousins, you're right. There is no word for cousin killing. Well done. Do you remember cousin Orson? Orson Lannister?"

JAIME: "Of course. Wet-nurse dropped him on his head. Left him simple."

TYRION: "Simple? Used to sit all day in the garden."

JAIME: "Crushing beetles with a rock."

TYRION & JAIME: "Khuu! Khuu! Khuu!"

TYRION: "Nothing made him happier."

JAIME: "Nothing made you happier. You'd think being tormented from birth would have given you some affinity for the afflicted."

TYRION: "On the contrary. Laughing at another person's misery was the only thing that made me feel like everyone else."

JAIME: "The joke wore thin, though."

TYRION: "For you. You drifted away."

JAIME: "I had other interests."

TYRION: "Yes, other interests. But I stayed with Orson."

JAIME: "Why?"

TYRION: "I was curious. Why was he smashing all those beetles? What did he get out of it? First thing I did was ask him. "Orson, why are you smashing all those beetles?" He gave me an answer. "Smash the beetles. Smash 'em. Khuu! Khuu! Khuu!" I wasn't deterred. I was the smartest person I knew. Certainly I had the wherewithal to unravel the mysteries that lay at the heart of a moron. So I went to Maester Volarik's library."

JAIME: "Volarik. Tried to touch me once."

TYRION: "Turns out, far too much has been written about great men and not nearly enough about morons. Doesn't seem right. In any case, I found nothing that illuminated the nature of Orson's affliction or the reason behind his relentless beetle slaughter. So I went back to the source. I may not have been able to speak with Orson, but I could observe him, watch him the way men watch animals to come to a deeper understanding of their behavior. *picks up a beetle* And as I watched, I became more and more sure of it. There was something happening there. His face was like the page of a book written in a language I didn't understand. But he wasn't mindless. He had his reasons. And I became possessed with knowing what they were. I began to spend inordinate amounts of time watching him. I would eat my lunch in the garden, chewing my mutton to the music of "khuu, khuu, khuu". And when I wasn't watching him, I was thinking about him. Father droned on about the family legacy and I thought about Orson's beetles. I read the histories of Targaryen conquests. Did I hear dragon wings? No. I heard "khuu, khuu, khuu" and I still couldn't figure out why he was doing it. And I had to know, because it was horrible that all these beetles should be dying for no reason."

JAIME: "Every day around the world, men, women, and children are murdered by the score. Who gives a dusty fuck about a bunch of beetles?"

TYRION: "I know, I know. But still, it filled me with dread. Piles and piles of them, years and years of them. How many countless living crawling things smashed and dried out and returned to the dirt? In my dreams I found myself standing on a beach made of beetle husks stretching as far as the eye could see. I woke up crying, weeping for their shattered little bodies. I tried to stop Orson once."

JAIME: "He was twice your size."

TYRION: "He just pushed me aside with a "khuu" and kept on smashing. Every day until that mule kicked him in the chest and killed him. *puts the beetle back on the ground* So what do you think? Why did he do it? What was it all about?"

JAIME: "I don't know."

Bells begin chiming in the distance. Jaime goes to leave.

JAIME: "Good luck today."

Tyrion walks out toward the arena. The Lannisters are there, Alester is there getting ready for the battle. Tyrion passes him in handcuffs.

TYRION: "Very fancy armor."

ALESTER: "Nothing scarier than a Rose on your breastplate, eh?"

TYRION: "With you swinging the sword. I don't think people will be looking at your armor."

ALESTER: "This will by far be the most challenge I've faced in a duel."

TYRION: "It could get you killed. It could get me killed."

ALESTER: "Well, then I won't have to keep saving your ass then."

The two grin at one another.

MYRCELLA: "You're going to fight a giant?"

ALESTER: "I'm going to be fine Myr."

MYRCELLA: "Nicknames won't keep me from worrying you know."

ALESTER: "I have one thing the Mountain doesn't."

MYRCELLA: "That being?"

ALESTER: "A woman who loves me. A woman who cheers for me."

MYRCELLA: (smiles.)

The prince of Dorne approaches.

OBERYN: "I always dreamt of getting my revenge on that thing. You better kill him."

ALESTER: "I'll do my best."

Oberyn leaves with Ellarria.

PYCELL: "In the sight of gods and men, we gather to ascertain the guilt or innocence of this...man Tyrion Lannister. May the Mother grant them mercy. May the Father give them such justice as they deserve. And may the Warrior guide the hand of our champion..."

Tywin speeds the process along in boredom. Horns sound to start the fight. Alester kisses Myrcella.

MYRCELLA: "Please come back to me."

ALESTER: "Always."

He unsheathes Thorn. Spinning it around in his palm. The crowd cheers.

ALESTER: "Man vs Mountain, huh."

MOUNTAIN: "A dead man."

The Mountain lunges forward as the battle begins. Alester uses his speed to outmaneuver his massive opponent. Oberyn can't hold in his anger from the stands.

OBERYN:  "You raped my sister. You murdered her. You killed her children. Say it now and Alester can make this quick!"

OBERYN: "Say it. You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children."

Alester rolls under his enemy's huge blade and stabs the Mountain in the gut.

OBERYN: "You raped her! You murdered her!"

Oberyn jumps into the arena, dagger in hand. Alester is thrown into confusion at the sight. He takes his focus off of The Mountain and is kicked in the chest by the giants massive, armored boot sending him flying back.

MYRCELLA: "ALESTER!"

OBERYN: "You killed her children!"

Everyone looks down, surprised. Oberyn quickly dodges a blow before stabbing The Mountain in the torso. 

OBERYN: "Wait. Are you dying? No, no, no. You can't die yet. You haven't confessed. Say it. Say her name. Elia Martell. You raped her. You killed her children. Elia Martell. Who gave you the order? Who gave you the order?! Say her name! You raped her! You murdered her! You killed her children. Say it. Say her name. Say it!"

Alester pulls himself back together at the sound of the yelling.

The mountain trips Oberyn and grabs him in his massive hands. He punches out his teeth and gets on top of Oberyn, squeezing his head. Alester picks up Thorn and runs to the prince.

MOUNTAIN: "Elia Martell. I killed her children. Then I raped her. Then I smashed her head in like this!"

Alester jumps on the back of The Mountain shoving Thorn threw the man's chest. The two roll off of Oberyn.

Ellaria screams in agony. Tyrion looks dead inside. Alester lays on has back as he rolls his head to his left seeing Oberyn's smashed head. He's now unrecognizable.

TYWIN: "*standing up* The gods have made their will known. Due to the interfering of Prince Oberyn this trial is void. Tyrion Lannister, in the name of King Tommen of the House Baratheon, First of His Name, you are hereby sentenced to death."