Will Game of Thrones see Ser Bronn of the Blackwater turn his coat once again, or is Jerome Flynn just talking about his character’s friendships?
Even though Ser Bronn of the Blackwater is common-born, he has survived some of the biggest battles of Game of Thrones, mostly on the side of the Lannisters: first Tyrion, now Jaime. After all, he is a mercenary (albeit one with a title and the promise of a castle) and the Lannisters have that little saying about money.
But “The Spoils of War” pointedly showed Bronn losing his purse of money that Jaime gave him after the sack of Highgarden. It was a lingering shot; the coins spilled out over the ground, and one has to suspect that that shot made it into this episode for a reason. It might be as simple as showing how fleeting riches are, but that seems like too much of a surface interpretation.
Instead, you might even begin to ask if Bronn might be doubting whether or not Jaime can actually give him that castle or will stay true to that side after seeing Drogon in flight, even after he managed to actually injure the dragon.
Combine that with what Jerome Flynn had to say to the Making Game of Thrones blog, and it might be time to start theorizing:
"“He doesn’t have total disregard for Jaime, but he has a bond with Tyrion that’s hard for him to ignore. […] If Bronn’s got a fondness for anybody in the world, I’d say Tyrion is probably close up there.”"
Admittedly, Flynn also said the following, which seems to poke a hole in this grand theory before we can really even get it off the ground, assuming he’s talking about the season for Bronn as a whole:
"“He knows there¹s [sic] enough loyalty there [with Jaime] to be rewarded quite handsomely in gold.”"
However, one has to wonder if Flynn’s talking about the entire season or just the season up to “The Spoils of War.” He does specify in that answer that he’s speaking in the context of “the episode,” though.
So, if the tides of war start turning towards Daenerys, will Bronn remember that he was close to Tyrion Lannister first? Jaime can pay the bills for now, but dragons really do make things seem a little hairier. That specificity about “the episode” makes this a little more likely. When HBO asked Flynn if people should worry about Bronn, he responded with this:
"“I think it depends on if you care for him.”"
Speaking as someone who cares about Bronn because he’s funny and also has a pretty decent singing voice without having to be Ed Sheeran and making a cameo, I think we might have to worry that Bronn will switch sides and might die because of it (or might just die anyway, since there’s a war on and all).
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Even if Bronn does follow the money, Tyrion and his queen do have some funds left to their name, and in the grand scheme of things, dying rich in dragon fire might not seem quite as appealing as living to possibly get his castle from an old friend.