"Game of Thrones" showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff tend not to give too many spoilers for the show. But when they do give out details, it tends to break fans' hearts. Well, not all of them, but the latest news about the show would certainly make fans of the recent Tormund-Brienne ship upset.
An insider's look at Season 7
In the annual insider look by Entertainment Weekly, and as reported by Vanity Fair, David Benioff shares how the unexpected pairing came to be. First things first, the "budding romance," as some may see it, is not based on the pages of George R.
R. Martin's original epic. It actually came from a bit of improvisation from actors Kristofer Hivju (who plays Tormund) and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth).
It started with a little Stage Direction. On the script, in the scene where Tormund and Brienne first meet, the instructions for Tormund were to "stare at Brienne because he’s never seen a woman like that before." Those were the simple directions, and Benioff says that they just pretty much let the actors do what they do.
Apparently, some people found a spark in that particular scene. What's more, it grew even more on that scene where the two were about to ride off in separate ways. Now this one, in particular, took no stage direction — it was just Tormund creepily checking Brienne out, and then her just looking away.
D. B. Weiss confessed that he saw the scene "150 times" already and it made him laugh each time, mainly because of how perfectly improvised the scene was.
The relationship might not work, because one of them could die
Of course, what's "Game of Thrones" if we don't include the unexpected tragedy? The showrunners joked that in the show, "there cannot be any happy ending." When they see fans root for a ship, it will almost certainly be eventually ruined.
"We need to kill one of them now," Benioff said jokingly, "but we’re not going to tell you which one."
They're probably only joking. But while both characters might actually survive the onslaught that is Season 7, the bad news is that their relationship may not. The truth is that the ship just isn't based on anything — not the books, nor the directors' and showrunners' plans.
While they may play with the spark for an episode or two, it would be hard to sell the "relationship" without one character radically breaking character.
But, who knows? "Game of Thrones" has surprised us many times before, and if there's one thing the show can do best, it's unleashing unexpected twists; even little ones like these. Well, we could just wait what fate (or the script) has in store for the two when the show airs again for Season 7 in July!
