Oh, how the tables have turned: King Tommen has come into his own in Game of Thrones season 6. The boy who was a pawn of his wicked mother and his much-less-wicked wife has finally made his own decision. He’s broken away from the Tyrells and Lannisters and decided to form a new alliance with the Faith Militant. And by so doing, he has thrown off the shackles of his bastardy and become the rightful king of Westeros. Stannis is dead and Daenerys is a tyrant. All hail King Tommen the Blessed, and let me be the first to say: #TeamTommen.
Tommen Has Earned His Kingship
Tommen was triply not meant to be king. First of all, his erstwhile father was a usurper. Second, Tommen wasn’t first in line for the throne—his brother Joffrey was born to be king. Third, Tommen isn’t a king’s son at all, but a bastard born of incest, And yet he is shaping up to be Westeros’s greatest king since Aegon V “Egg” The Unlikely, who like Tommen was never meant to be king.
The Faith is the strongest force binding Westeros together, at least outside of the North. Before the Targaryens came, the Faith Militant served as a unifying force in a divided realm. Under the Targaryens, the church’s martial wing was destroyed, and the Valyrians ruled through the strength of dragons and their armies. They ruled by fire and blood. Robert too held the kingdom together through fear and strength; Joffrey couldn’t hold the kingdom together at all.
Tommen has embraced the one force that can reunite the Seven Kingdoms—a peaceful, stoic and austere version of the Faith, backed by a very violent force of religious zealots. The Faith that Tommen has allied himself with rejects the incest, murder and violence of Robert and Joffrey’s court. Instead, the High Sparrow teaches plain and simple living, and understanding for your fellow man—be he king or peasant. And any who disagree or live less austerely are punished severely.
And that’s why Tommen’s alliance with the Faith could work. He can rule as King Tommen the Blessed, and like King Baelor the Blessed before him reign as an enlightened, devout, pious monarch who wins the love of his people. Such is his nature. He is not like his cruel brother. And the Faith can restore his legitimacy. If he lives piously as a servant of a higher power, the Seven, the (true) rumors of his bastardy carry less weight. By living justly, he can show he is anointed by the gods—and all others who love the gods will follow him. It would be a long and slow route toward reconciliation in a land devastated by war.
Like Aegon V, though, Tommen shall meet an ignominious end—probably long before he truly unites the kingdom. A prophecy speaks to his coming death. And the very same force that defeated the Faith Militant hundreds of years ago is returning to Westeros. Daenerys is coming, and she cares little for gods or peace. Instead of building a new peaceful order built around faith in the gods, she’ll bring Westeros together the old-fashioned way—with fire and blood.
