We see it the moment Tommen takes over as king in the series. I feel that, compared to how secondary Tommen is in the source material, Tommen is a lot more developed and they took the time to take him from a clueless child to something a bit more dimensional.
He is naive and doesn’t see through anything others do, including Maergery’s manipulations. He says he understands that Cersei is capable of certain deeds, but he doesn’t see it at all when she’s directing her more nefarious intents towards him.
The poor kid gets thrown in the middle of conflicts he doesn’t understand, and he tries to do his best with them despite his clearly peaceful nature. He’s like a lamb, honestly.
But what really alarms me the most is that he feels guilty over other people’s actions, and takes on the guilt that belongs to them.
Technically, Cersei screwed herself over. Yes, she made those mistakes because she is being so indirect about her attempts to get power, because she doesn’t believe she could get her will obeyed if she simply went around giving orders. That’s the type of sexist settings that’s been set up where in her case, she would just directly use violence if she could to get people to obey. Because she feels she can’t resort to that, she is being indirect about getting her way.
And one of those indirect things ultimately backfire on her pretty badly. And contrary to the books where we don’t see any kind of reaction from Tommen, in the show, he completely takes on her guilt. All the guilt that belongs to her, he’s the one feeling it, and he blames himself for the things others have caused. It’s unbelievable.
When Cersei gets taken prisoner and is forced through the walk, he says he couldn’t defend her, and blames himself for it. He genuinely feels torn over it. Margaery comes to him after Loras is taken, and even though none of it is his doing or his fault, he immediately feels responsible and as if this is either his fault, or something he must repair immediately. Obviously, he is so shockingly naive he has no idea what to do. He can’t read people at all and it’s alarming. I really feel that none of this would have gone this far, in fact, if he someone else other than Tommen had been ruling, because no one else would have put up with any of this.
Maegary gets taken prisoner after Loras and he feels like it’s his fault he couldn’t stop it. Really, it absolutely should be Cersei who realises that she caused this, and not Tommen who shoulders guilt that isn’t his.
I think Tommen shouldn’t have been shoved into the position of a ruler, because he takes seriously in a clueless and earnest sort of way where he doesn’t know what he is doing in the slightest, but he wants to fix things anyway from a place of complete cluelessness. And most importantly, he is too easily guilt-tripped. Sexism states he’s the king therefore he should act, but he takes it in the part of him that shoulders everyone’s guilt: it’s not compatible. Anyone can guilt him into doing their bidding because he will immediately try to appease them, especially if it’s a “loved one” or someone who has endeared themselves to him.
Anyway, poor kid, he doesn’t deserve to get ripped apart by everyone around him.
