Now in parts of Essos it might be that there genuinely is always a free company a couple of days away (unlikely really, but given military logistics in ASoIaF, not wholly ridiculous) but none of them are in Westeros, and the idea that the mercenaries will have to reach Westeros first doesn't seem to be considered.

And indeed this button to hire emergency troops 'on the spot' is really the only reason ever to use mercenaries, as it's always more cost-efficient to just build up your own armies if you have the time to do so. Some of the 'he can just hire mercs' may come from video games like Total War or Crusader Kings where - from what I recall at least, I haven't played one in a couple of years - mercenaries tend to either hang out in a region waiting for someone to hire them, or effectively exist in a void waiting to pop up wherever needed at the drop of a coin. Honestly, it feels like people really overrate how Tywin would perform in such a scenario. They aren't going to stay onboard a sinking ship. People also assume all his vassals would stick by him in such a scenario but I think that is overly optimistic. People would smell blood on the water/know which way the wind was blowing. In such a scenario Tywin is no longer on top. The 'rule through fear' method only works when you are on top. Literally everyone would jump on the chance to take them out. If the incest was discovered the Lannisters were finished. So I don't get why people make this assumption. If throwing money at things was enough to fix them House Lannister wouldn't be in such a state.The more gold Tywin throws around the more value his remaining gold loses Tywin has a lot of money but he doesn't have an infinite amount, at the very least he'd have to mine more gold which takes away troops from the war effort If Tywin starts hiring en masse, the sellswords will start charging more and more. I think this is a bit of a silly assumption to make, because:įirstly, it would take time to ship sellswords there, and he'd have to contact them first, he had to get the Brave Companions over prior, and any ships can be intercepted by the Royal Fleet, not to mention some of the companies are quite far away and Tywin went to war, he could just use his gold to hire every single mercenary company in existence/bribe everyone and win/cause a load of damage this way. Frequently I see quite a lot of people discussing how in the event the incest was revealed etc.

Game of thrones a song of fire and ice