Finn Jones thinks Loras suffered “Theon-level” abuse during his imprisonment

Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell) may not be a part of Game of Thrones anymore, but he was still stumping for the show at HBO’s interactive fan event when it stopped by Chicago, where our own Katie Majka was able to ask him a few questions. Vulture was there as well, and dug some very interesting insights out of Jones about Loras’ journey.

Unfortunately, Jones wasn’t able to record a commentary on the Season 6 DVD/Blu-ray release, but if he did, he would have weighed in on the scene from “The Winds of Winter” where Lancel Lannister carved a seven-pointed star into his forehead.

"They made a template of my forehead, which was like a hardened surface with blood already in it, and they put a prosthetic on my forehead so when he cuts my forehead, the template can drip blood…Eugene Simon [Lancel] just had to make sure he got the right starting point, and carved around it. The cool thing was that he could dig his knife in and it would leave a wound, but once you took the knife out, it was almost like the prosthetic would reset itself to be like unbreakable skin. It was like it was self-healing. It’s amazing how much work goes into even just a small scene, how much goes into every detail."

By the by, whatever happened to Loras’ lover Olyvar, the guy who gave the testimony that put Loras away in the first place? Jones doesn’t believe Littlefinger’s former brothel keeper was alive by the time of Cersei’s trial. Jones also sounded off on how Loras came to be so defeated by his trial scene.

"A lot of people said, “Oh, Loras is weak. Why didn’t he stand up for himself? He’s supposed to be a warrior!” All this shit. The show didn’t show much of Loras’s torture, so it might be hard to find empathy with his situation, but when you get into the mindset of what it must be like to be down in those dungeons, he would have been abused. Pretty badly abused. I think a Theon-level of abuse when on down there. His spirit, his body, and his mind were broken to such a drastic extreme that he was willing to just do anything to make it stop. I believe what happened is they gave Loras a speech to read and said, “Look, you just turn up on the day, say this, and then you’ll be free.” So the way I played it, the speech that you hear me do, those weren’t my own words. I was pretty much forced against my will to deliver that speech."

As a lover of the Song of Ice and Fire novels, I know Loras is very different on the page, and I’ve made my thoughts about the disparity known. But it’s good to hear Jones’ take on it.

So what if Loras had lived? What if Cersei hadn’t blown up the Sept? Jones thinks Loras would have gone down a dark and vengeful path. “He would have turned into this kind of vengeful, war-torn warrior, because he’s lost everything — his love, his title, his looks. All of the things that made him this arrogant, gleaming young knight have been taken from him. It would have been really interesting to see what would have happened next, because you’ve got this really powerful warrior still inside him.”

Instead, Loras died along with several other characters. Jones has an interesting perspective on HBO’s methodology here.

"Daenerys is coming to town, and HBO needed to wipe out a bunch of characters so that they could get on with the story and finish it. [Laughs.] “Okay, we have to kill a bunch of people. Let’s just blow up the whole Sept! Alright, that’s eight down …” It was a very creative way to get rid of a bunch of us, wipe the slate, and make room for Daenerys. Otherwise, it could just go on forever and ever and ever! [Laughs.]"

Finally, Jones gave a pretty detailed take on how he’d like the show to end:

"I think what needs to happen is ice and fire are going to go to war, a huge war between those two factions, and I think in that war, they will destroy themselves. There will be complete chaos, complete destruction. It’ll just be a war-torn map. And I think out of that winter carnage, spring will follow, and what we’ll see is power being given back to the individual realms. I think the Iron Throne will be dissolved, both physically and ideologically. A Small Council will be set up — not to take power, but to give power back. Hopefully, a more democratic and more progressive era will arise on Westeros. I think that’s a really nice, positive way to end the story, and I think we need that right now."

While we will certainly miss Jones on Game of Thrones, at least he is moving on to other fun projects like Marvel’s Iron Fist on Netflix. We wish him and his new show all the luck in the world.