Curtain Call: Dean-Charles Chapman

“What kind of king do you think you’ll be?” —Tywin Lannister

“A good king?” —Tommen Baratheon

Tommen did try his best to be a good king, but he was just too young, and too impressionable, and there were too many people trying to use his power for their own aims—his mother, his grandfather, his wife, his priest, his counselors. Eventually, it all just became too much. Appearing in just two fewer episodes than his on-screen brother Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), Dean-Charles Chapman’s King Tommen was everything his twisted and evil brother was not.

Tommen was kind, and cared for the people of King’s Landing. He loved his new wife dearly, while still respectfully loving his mother (something a lot of men in the real world struggle with), and he loved Ser Pounce, his cat. Tommen also loved the Seven gods of the Faith, and perhaps, in the end, this was his downfall.

When looking over the body of his older brother in the Great Sept of Baelor in Season 4, Lord Tywin asked Tommen what made a good king, and without hesitation, Tommen answered holiness, justice, and strength. Tywin reminded his grandson that King Baelor the Blessed was holy, but was not a very good king. Some would say that Tommen was on the path to becoming Tommen the Blessed, with the High Sparrow as his guide.

Lord Tywin also mentioned that Tommen’s own “father,” King Robert, was a paragon of strength, but was not a good king. It was then that Tommen brightened and answers his grandfather that a king must be wise. If only he had followed through with that answer, he might still be alive.

Throughout Season 6, the stress on Tommen’s face was easy to read; it was taking its toll on him, these decisions. He and Margaery were not sharing a bed, his brother-in-law Loras and his mother were about to be tried by the greatest religious authority in the land, and he was forced to outlaw trial by combat to prevent his mother from having an easy time of it. This is not a weight that someone so young should have to carry, king or not.

Dean-Charles Chapman handled all of this material like the consummate professional he has become during his time on the show. Chapman joined the show in Season 3, playing Martyn Lannister, one the hostages Lord Karstark killed in defiance of Robb’s orders. His first appearance as Tommen was in Season 4’s “The Lion the Rose” (the part was previously played by Callum Wharry) the episode where his brother died at his own wedding feast.

Chapman made his first splash as Tommen in “Oathkeeper,” when Margaery stole into his bed chamber and Tommen introduced her to his favorite pet cat, Ser Pounce. In Season 5, we watched Chapman tackle Tommen’s maturation, as he consummated his marriage to Margaery, asked if he’d done it right, if he had hurt her, and when could they do it again. This was a nice boy, too nice for Westeros.

After watching everything he thought he held dear go up in smoke in “The Winds of Winter,” Tommen could no longer face this new, cruel world that his mother had wrought. He dealt with it by taking his own life.

Chapman is currently portraying Harry Ward on BBC One’s Ripper Street, so don’t worry about his prospects. We’re going to miss Dean-Charles Chapman and the sunny disposition that he brought to a dark show. And as morbid as it sounds, perhaps it’s better Tommen won’t be around for what’s comes next for King’s Landing and Cersei. In the game of thrones, sometimes a king must be sacrificed, in order to crown the queen.