The Dance of the Dragons was defined by its bloodshed, but the most enduring mystery of the post-war era isn't who started the war—it's who finalized the eradication of the royal Green line. For decades, the fandom has pointed the finger at the opportunistic Lord Unwin Peake. However, when we dive into the logistics of *Fire & Blood*, there is a staggering amount of textual evidence pointing to the ultimate Green mastermind: Ser Tyland Lannister.

Tyland Lannister hiring [Faceless Men](https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Faceless_Men) to kill Queen Jaehaera is not just a compelling theory; it is the perfect Machiavellian chess move that mirrors the cold-blooded pragmatism of Otto Hightower. Let’s break down the hidden plot, the proof left behind in the historical record, and the twisted irony of a devoted Green supporter ending his own faction's legacy. 

The Otto Hightower Blueprint: Parallels in Pragmatism

To understand *why* Tyland Lannister would orchestrate such an unthinkable betrayal, we must first look at the architectural lineage of the Green faction's political philosophy. Otto Hightower, as Hand of the King, was the ultimate pragmatist. He spent decades maneuvering his own blood onto the Iron Throne, viewing family not just as kin, but as instruments of state power and succession. He didn't build the war; he built the chessboard that made the war inevitable. 

Tyland Lannister, the Master of Coin turned Hand of the King, shares this exact psychological profile. Both men are unemotional, calculating, and laser-focused on Casterly Rock's and Oldtown’s long-term dominance. Where Otto used his daughter Alicent to secure the Hightower dynasty, Tyland recognized a similar opportunity in the aftermath of the Dance. If Otto Hightower is the architect of the Green usurpation, Tyland Lannister is the architect of the ultimate Lannister centralization. The apple didn't fall far from the tree—it just rolled into the Westerlands.

The Problem of Jaehaera and the Westerling Ambition

Following the Dance of the Dragons, the realm was exhausted, but the political maneuvering was far from over. Queen Jaehaera Targaryen was the last living symbol of the defeated Green faction. Married to King Aegon III Targaryen, she represented a fragile peace that unified the Black and Green claims. However, for certain ambitious houses, this peace was a cage that prevented them from monopolizing the royal succession.

Enter Lady Johanna Lannister (née Westerling). When her husband, Lord Jason Lannister, died, Johanna took the reins of the Westerlands. Despite being in the middle of a brutal, resource-draining war against the Ironborn, her ambitions for House Lannister knew no bounds. She possessed something incredibly rare in post-war Westeros: immense wealth and a desire to see her blood sit on the Iron Throne.

Johanna Westerling wanted her daughters, Tyshara and Cerelle Lannister, to marry Aegon III. But that could never happen as long as Queen Jaehaera was breathing. The Westerling-Lannister ambition required a clean slate.

The Faceless Men: Assassination from Beyond the Grave

The most common counter-argument to the Tyland Lannister theory is the timeline of Jaehaera's death. If Tyland is the culprit, how could he have killed Jaehaera when the tragedy occurred *after* his death in 133 AC?

The answer lies in the chilling mechanics of the Guild of the Faceless Men in Braavos. The Faceless Men are known to take contracts that can be fulfilled long after the initial transaction or even after the employer has passed away. The transaction is complete once the price—which, for a king or queen, would be astronomical—is paid.

Tyland Lannister, controlling the royal treasury as Master of Coin, had access to unimaginable sums of gold. Knowing the realm’s fragile peace would inevitably fracture, Tyland could have easily prepaid for the hit on Jaehaera while he was serving as Hand of the King. By the time Jaehaera fell from the tower of Maegor's Holdfast, Tyland had already passed away, but his fatal mechanism was already set in motion. This method of delayed political assassination provides the ultimate alibi: a dead man cannot stand trial for murder.

The Unwin Peake Red Herring

Historians and characters within the *A Song of Ice and Fire* universe widely attribute Jaehaera’s death to Lord Unwin Peake. But when we analyze Peake's political goals, it makes far more sense that he was simply capitalizing on an opportunity that had suddenly presented itself.

Unwin Peake famously wanted to marry his own daughter to Aegon III. When Jaehaera was murdered, it conveniently opened the door for Peake to push his own blood. However, orchestrating the murder of a queen within the Red Keep takes a level of clinical precision, secrecy, and resources that Lord Peake historically lacked. Peake was loud, ambitious, and often clumsy in his plots. The sheer subtlety of a Faceless Man-style assassination screams of a more calculating mind—the same mind that managed the realm's coin during the war.

Tyland used the chaos surrounding Unwin Peake's regency to ensure that the blame fell on the Lord of Starpike, removing all suspicion from House Lannister. Tyland gets the crown for his nieces, and Peake takes the fall. It is a masterclass in political misdirection.

The Ironic Legacy of the Last Green

Perhaps the most tragic and fascinating layer of this theory is the staggering irony of Tyland Lannister’s actions. Tyland was a staunch, unwavering supporter of the Greens. He had served Aegon II faithfully, suffering horrific torture in the dungeons of King’s Landing while refusing to yield the crown's gold. He wore the scars of the Green cause on his very body. 

And yet, it was this very same Green loyalist who ultimately struck the final blow against the Green faction. By arranging the death of Jaehaera, Tyland was terminating the official lineage of Alicent and Viserys I's children. He essentially destroyed the future of the faction he bled for.

Why would he do this? Because to a Lannister like Tyland, pragmatism always outweighs sentimentality. He realized that the Green cause was dead in the water. Aegon II was gone, and forcing an exclusively Hightower line upon the Iron Throne was a recipe for another war. By facilitating Aegon III marrying into House Lannister, Tyland transitioned the power base of the realm. He ensured that even though the Greens lost, House Lannister would emerge as the ultimate victors, controlling the throne through the blood of Aegon III and a Lannister Queen.

Analyzing the Clues in the Record

Why do we not hear about Tyland's involvement in the actual texts? Because, quite simply, Tyland is the ultimate survivor and string-puller. But if you look at the sequence of events immediately following Jaehaera's death, the political puzzle pieces fall perfectly into place for House Lannister. 

First, consider the timing. As noted in the lore, after Jaehaera’s sudden and mysterious death, Lady Johanna Lannister (who was otherwise occupied with the ironmen) suddenly set her war aside to write to the Hand of the King. She forcefully declared that her daughters, Cerelle and Tyshara, were maidens of noble birth and marriageable age. This is not the reaction of a grieving or surprised ally; it is the calculated move of someone who knew a vacancy was opening on the throne and had already prepared the next candidate.

Second, the failed Maiden’s Day Ball. Tyshara Lannister was quickly caught abed with a groom, which Grand Maester Munkun’s examination revealed. While this ruined her chances of marrying Aegon III, it points heavily to a sabotaged political play. Someone planted that groom to ensure that the Lannister girls did not become queens. This was almost certainly Lord Unwin Peake, desperately fighting back against the Lannister takeover of the royal bed. Peake realized that Tyland had maneuvered him into a corner, and the Maiden's Day Ball scandal was Peake’s desperate attempt to reclaim control of the succession.

The Narrative Masterpiece of House Lannister

The Dance of the Dragons was sold as a conflict between the Greens (the Hightower claim) and the Blacks (Rhaenyra's claim). But as the war faded into the regency of Aegon III, the narrative shifted. Tyland Lannister recognized early on that clinging to the Green banner was a political dead end. Instead, he seamlessly transitioned into Hand of the King for Aegon III.

By using the Faceless Men to dispose of Jaehaera, Tyland wasn't just committing murder—he was securing a future for his family that no one could contest. Tyland understood that House Lannister's wealth, combined with the blood of Aegon III, would make Casterly Rock the true power behind the Iron Throne.

When we view the historical timeline through this lens, the irony is chilling. The Hand who orchestrated the end of the Greens was not a Black loyalist or a Riverlands lord—it was Tyland Lannister, the Hooded Hand himself. He sacrificed the last living remnant of his former faction on the altar of Casterly Rock's supremacy.

The Faceless Man Payment: The Ultimate Preemptive Strike

Let's return to the logistical reality of the Faceless Men. The guild does not work for free, and they do not work on credit unless the arrangements are ironclad. As Master of Coin, Tyland Lannister would have been intimately familiar with the treasury. He would know exactly how much wealth could be moved to Braavos without triggering widespread suspicion.

He could have easily funneled a portion of the Crown's gold to the Iron Bank or directly to the House of Black and White as a preemptive retainer fee. When the dust settled and peace was declared, the order would sit dormant. Tyland, burdened with his duties as Hand and fading physically, simply had to leave the instructions. Once the trigger was pulled, the deed was done.

Why would Johanna know about it? As Lady of Casterly Rock, Johanna and Tyland operated in tandem. It is highly probable that the plot was a joint Lannister enterprise. When Johanna sent her letters to the Hand regarding her marriageable daughters, she was executing her half of the agreement, acting on the certainty that Jaehaera would soon be out of the picture.

The Ironic Legacy of the Greens: From Hightower to Lannister

The Greens' original purpose was to place Aegon II on the throne to secure a Hightower legacy. But the war decimated the Hightowers' military strength and political capital. Tyland Lannister’s grand betrayal of Jaehaera ultimately handed a moral and political victory to House Lannister.

Think about the sheer audacity of it. A prominent Green loyalist, a man who suffered for Aegon II, actively arranges the destruction of Aegon II's own daughter. Tyland realized that survival required adaptability. He took the pragmatic, ruthless energy of Otto Hightower and refined it for a new era. While Otto failed to maintain his family's hold on the throne, Tyland's strategy ensured that the Westerlands would remain the undisputed power in Westeros.

Conclusion: The Real Mastermind of the Regency

In the end, while Unwin Peake took the blame for Queen Jaehaera’s death, the evidence points decisively to Tyland Lannister. Tyland had the motive, the wealth, the access to the Faceless Men, and the clinical, unemotional pragmatism required to pull off such a high-stakes assassination.

By arranging the death of the last Green royal, Tyland Lannister permanently shifted the balance of power in Westeros. He paved the way for a Lannister-Aegon III alliance, fulfilling his duty to his House in a way that remains the most brilliant, albeit macabre, political move in Targaryen history. He was a Green in life, but a Lannister until the very end.

The Golden Hand & the Iron Throne: Why Tyland Lannister Orchestrated Queen Jaehaera's Death