Game of Thrones as Myth: Hero’s Journey in Season 6
TYRION LANNISTER (ANTI-HERO)
Of the four journeys considered here, Tyrion’s was the most static throughout static during Season 6. We left him happy in his Ultimate Boon stage at the end of Season 5, for he had achieved the goal of his quest, which was to find someone to believe in. As he tells Daenerys in “Hardhome”: “I’d given up on life until Varys convinced me you might be worth living for.”
Once Daenerys vanishes into the wilderness, Tyrion is left with Varys, Gray Worm, and Missandei to try to govern Meereen, deal with the dragons, handle the Master’s rebellion, and play drinking games, which he does with varying degrees of success until Daenerys returns in “Battle of the Bastards” (S6/Ep9). Tyrion’s Ultimate Boon stage is further reinforced when his beloved Daenerys makes him The Hand of the Queen in “The Winds of Winter”:
"For what it is worth, I’ve been a cynic for as long as I can remember. Everyone is always asking me to believe in things: family, gods, kings, myself. It was often tempting until I saw where belief got people. So, I said ‘no thank you to belief.’ And yet, here I am. I believe in you."
Tyrion’s journey appears to stop just short of Part 3 of the monomyth paradigm, which begins with Refusal of the Return. Tyrion probably won’t experience this stage, because Daenerys is his holy grail and he isn’t trying to stop her from returning to Westeros. Tyrion’s journey will most likely accelerate into high gear once he arrives in Westeros (a very literal return) and confronts Cersei and Jaime.