Tyrion is a dwarf; because of this he is sometimes mockingly called the Imp and the Halfman. He is one of the major POV characters in the books
Tyrion was born the third child of Tywin and Joanna Lannister. Joanna died giving birth to him, and as a result his father blamed him for her death and hates him for that and for his deformity. Tyrion finds himself excluded from regular family life, especially by his father and by his sister, who abused him during his childhood.
As a child, Tyrion knew he would never be a knight, and so thought to become the High Septon instead, since that crystal crown added a foot to one's height. When Tyrion was thirteen, he and his brother Jaime rescued a common girl, Tysha, from some bandits, and thoughts of love quickly replaced those of priesthood. While Jaime went after the bandits Tyrion took care of Tysha. To his amazement Tysha liked him, and they eventually made love. Tyrion became so enamoured by her that he bribed a septon and married her in secret. Tysha would sing the Myrish song "The Seasons of My Love". Their happiness lasted only two weeks, however, before Tyrion’s father got news of the wedding. Lord Tywin commanded Jaime to say that Tysha was a prostitute whom Jaime had hired for Tyrion’s benefit. Because the “whore” had presumed to marry a Lannister, Tywin had his entire guard rape Tysha for a silver each and then made Tyrion go last for a gold coin, because a Lannister is worth more.
After his brother’s proposed marriage to Lysa Tully fell through when Aerys named Jaime to the Kingsguard, Tywin offered Tyrion as a replacement, only to be told by Hoster Tully that his daughter required a “whole man”.
When Tyrion became a man at sixteen, he was forbidden from taking a tour of the nine Free Cities as his uncles Gerion and Tygett had done. Instead, Tywin gave him charge of all the cisterns and drains at Casterly Rock.
Lets start from A DANCE WITH DRAGONS page 577 about Tyrion Lannister;"Prince Aerys (the Mad King)... as a youth, he was taken with a certain lady of Casterly Rock, a cousin of Tywin Lannister. When she and Tywin wed, (Aerys/Mad King) drank too much win at the wedding feast and was heard to say that it was a great pity that the lord's right to the first night had been abolished... the liberties (that Aerys/Mad King) took during the bedding." Ser Barristan to Dany
A FEAST FOR CROWS
Page 533
"The Imp is no longer my brother, if he ever was." Cersei Lannister
Page 503
"... but Tyrion is Tywin's son, not you. I said so once to your father's face, and he would not speak to me for half a year." Aunt Genna to Jaime
A STORM OF SWORDS
Page 880
"You... you are no... no son of mine." Tywin's last words, spoken to his killer Tyrion.
Page 502
"Aerys had chosen [Jaime] to spite his father, to rob Lord Tywin of his heir."
If this isn't a red herring (and I hope it is) There are a couple of choices:
1.King Aerys was Tyrion's father.
2.King Aerys was Cersei and Jaime's father.
In favor of Tyrion, he's been interested in dragons since he was a child (GoT). Tywin said that he wasn't his son. Tywin was always cruel to Tyrion. Tyrion's hair is closer to Targaryen bleach blond, than Lannister blond. Tyrion doesn't get the greyscale because (just like Dany) he doesn't get sick.
In favor of Cersei/Jaime, Barristan said that the Aeyrs took "liberties" on Tywin's wedding night... so the older children would be the offspring. Jaime & Cersei seem to have been born to love each other (just as the Targaryen's do) and Cersei's only other attraction was to Rhaeger who would be her half-brother. Cersei gets fascinated with fire.
I'm somewhat surprised at how mis-interpreted some basic human behavior here is.
The whole "you're no son of mine" is not a hint or whatever, it's just Tywin throwing one last insult at Tyrion, expressing his hate and disgust and dislike of him.
Same with Cersei's comment, she hates Tyrion and she'd love it if he wasn't actually her brother and she'd probably love to believe it but I'm pretty sure deep down she knows he is her brother and she's really pissed off because of that, to be linked in any way whatsoever to this person she hates so much.
Same goes for Tywin. I think both actually "know" that Tyrion is really their son/brother, they just despise him so much they actually try to convince themselves that he's not. That's just human behavior, there's no secret meaning there.
When you write some test in school and you know you suck and you can only have failed it you still try to convine yourself, hold out hope, "maybe it'll still be enough, maybe I'll still make it.", just for an example many should understand.
Martin throws some hints about some things here and there but you CAN over-interpret things.
I'm 100% convinced Tyrion is Tywin's son, only Tywin and Cersei hate him so much and for Tywin him being a dwarf+his wife having died in childbirth is enough to loathe Tyrion, there doesn't have to be some secret reason like him actually being Aerys son or whatever.
Tyrion being interested in dragons also is not some secret hint. Hell, dragons are cool and in that world they actually existed, which child would not be fascinated by them. Only Tyrion, being highborn, actually was able to read more about them than the peasants and watch the dragons' skulls etc.
If Aerys actually had taken Tywin's wife at all and/or before Tywin their whole relationship would have been VASTLY different, Tywin wouldn't have become Hand and he actually might have had Aerys killed some way. There was no way he could have borne such a slight.
As for Cersei being attracted to Rhaegar - by all accounts he was one magnificent man, both in qualities as in looks, probably one of the few men actually looking at least as good or better than Jaime. There doesn't need to be some secret half-brother relationship between Cersei and Rhaegar for her to be attracted to him.
Also, Rhaegar wasn't the only man she was attracted to. She also said she was attracted to Robert when they were married, him also being quite a hunk apparently. She only grew to hate him when he grunted Lyanna's name during their wedding night.
All three Lannister children feature the Lannister looks and not a bit of Targaryen. Tyrion's paler hair is just designed to even further illustrate how deformed he is compared to his oh so beautiful and perfect siblings.
Overall - I think you read too much into some things and misinterpret others.There are many, many hints in this series and many red herrings - e.g. the new one about Jon Snow - but not absolutely every line has to hint at something secret.
Why people hate Tyrion Lannister?
Okay, you’re totally allowed to do that. If I’m honest with myself, I can think of probably fifty reasons off the top of my head that Tyrion might get on your nerves/piss you off/make you want to bash him over the head with a rock. (I mean, ngl, if you really hate Tyrion Lannister - like, not just dislike him, but actively, aggressively hate him - we’re probably not going to make good fandom friends. BUT that doesn’t mean I don’t respect your right to do so; we can happily ignore each other! That’s the great thing about tumblr - all these little sections of fandom that allow you to find people who think similarly. Or who don’t, when you want a discussion!) So my issue is not with the fact that people dislike Tyrion, but with the reasons why people dislike him. (I’ve heard the same thing said about Sansa and Catelyn and other characters, and I agree there 100% as well. But again, I’m probably biased concerning these two as well.)
So recently I’ve seen it suggested that the reason Tyrion employs prostitutes is that he enjoys having some sort of “sexual domination” over women. I’m sorry, but, to me, coming to this conclusion seems to imply some purposeful misreading of Tyrion’s character as presented by the text. We know why Tyrion turns to prostitutes. It’s because hedoes not believe any woman could ever come to truly love him. Because he literally believes that paying a woman is the only way she will ever sleep with him willingly. And there’s no reason for him to think differently; the ‘Tysha incident’ taught him that. Just last night, I saw someone comment that it seems odd that Tyrion, after suffering the sexual domination of his father, sought out sexual domination of prostitutes. And yeah - that would be weird.
But that is not what is happening here. Speaking of pre-ADwD Tyrion (I’m not touching ADwD Tyrion because I’ve already talked about that at length in other posts, and I don’t think I’m capable of discussing the subject briefly), at least, it’s of essential importance to him that all his sexual relations are consensual. That the women he sleeps with want to sleep with him. And that is why he turns to prostitutes. Because, as Tywin taught him so harshly - when Tyrion was only thirteen fucking years old - the only way a woman is going to come to him consensually is for money.
Again, I don’t understand how this could not be clear from the text. I really don’t. Because we see what Tyrion does with Shae. It’s nothing kinky or subversive - actually, it’s pretty vanilla. He wants her to pretend to love him. Because that’s the only kind of love he’s ever going to get - the kind that’s bought and paid for. That’s pretty fucking tragic, to me, at least.
From this point, I’m going to move to another point of contention when it comes to Tyrion: what moves him not to sleep with Sansa on their wedding night. I think it’s pretty clear given what we’ve just discussed. He doesn’t sleep with Sansa because Tyrion only wants to sleep with women who want to sleep with him - and Sansa definitely doesn’t. Again, the other day I saw it said on tumblr that this is an essentially selfish reason; he wants to feel loved, and he can’t if the person he’s sleeping with is obviously repulsed by/terrified of him. And yes, that’s all true. BUT. Isn’t it also true that the fact that he feels there’s something intrinsically wrong with sleeping with a woman who doesn’t want him - even in a society that says it’s her duty to do so - means he has some basic grasp of morality (beyond that dictated to him by Westeros’ misogynistic mindset)? Why would it even bother him if he didn’t? (Remember, even in ADwD, he only considers sleeping with women who would rather not sleep with him once he’s made the mental leap to “I’m already such a bad person it’s entirely hopless for me to even try anymore.” Even then, he thinks of this as something a bad person does.)
To me, twisting the decision Tyrion makes into something entirely selfish is not that much different from saying, “Well, she only stopped that person from being hit by a car because she would have felt guilty if she hadn’t! Therefore, risking her life to save that person was ultimately a selfish decision.” Really, by this logic, pretty much any decently moral decision can be made into something selfish.
But, even if it’s accepted that Tyrion did something decent by not touching Sansa because she didn’t want him to, we are then told he’s STILL selfish, because he’s hurt and upset that she doesn’t want to. Now, please note I’m not denying that Sansa has it worse in this situation, but let’s take a look at Tyrion’s position. He’s married to a woman who can’t stand the sight of him. She’s openly told him she’s never going to be able to stand the sight of him (and OF COURSE I can’t blame her, but still). He’s keeping a concubine in secret. If his father ever finds out about this concubine, he’ll lose her too, because Tywin forbid him to have her. (Not that Shae even really loves him, but at least she can bring herself to pretend to.) So really, he’s been forbidden from ever having a loving relationship. Of any kind. I don’t know about you, but I’d be feeling pretty damn sorry for myself too. And if that’s selfish, I don’t really give a fuck.
Because it sucks.
And finally, I don’t really have a good segue here, but I just want to touch on this because it’s been brought up a lot lately. (Actually, who am I kidding? It’s brought up a lot always.) The idea that Tyrion killed Shae because he was a misogynist. I’m just going to come right out and say right away that I’m not arguing that Tyrion isn’t a misogynist - because everyone in ASoIaF, even the women, have misogynistic tendencies. Because THEY LIVE IN A MISOGYNISTIC SOCIETY. Even the most fair-minded of them have internalized at least some of the bullshit they’ve heard their whole lives. And I’m also not arguing that Tyrion’s murder of Shae was justified. (For the record, I’m not really sure murder is ever justified. So.)
What I am arguing is that the reaction people are expecting Tyrion to have to Shae’s betrayal is completely unrealistic. Fandom seems to think Tyrion should have confronted Shae that night in Tywin’s bedchambers by saying: “Gee, Shae! You just implicated me in a murder I didn’t commit while humiliating me via my disability in front of the entire court! But that’s okay! Please tell me why you did this.” And I just wonder: Is there anyone in the world who would have reacted this way? Really? Again, I’m not saying killing Shae was the right thing to do! But he didn’t do it because he was a misogynist. Or because she’d exercised her “power” as a woman when she testified against him. He did it because she’d betrayed him. Really betrayed him. In a way Bronn never did.
Sure, Bronn didn’t stand for Tyrion, but he also didn’t actively participate in his downfall either. By testifying against him, Shae pretty much guaranteed that Tyrion would be put to death - and that didn’t really appear to be a source of conflict for her at all. (I will concede that we don’t know this for sure, as we see this all from Tyrion’s very limited point of view, but remember, that’s how he sees it too.) So looked at like that, it’s really not that hard to believe that - after losing everything, culminating in the love he thought Jaime had for him, as well as the love he’d tricked himself into believing he shared with Shae - Tyrion might snap and do something horrible. Horrible, but - in my opinion - not unforgivable. Because it was motivated by extreme human emotion and instability. Tyrion’s convincing himself that Shae loved him had far more to do with his issues with his self-worth than it did to do with any internalized misogyny.
(I actually rather think that, had Shae broken down and told Tyrion she did what she did out of fear for her own life - which I personally don’t believe for a second, but it’s a valid theory - Tyrion wouldn’t have hurt her at all. But that’s entirely speculation.)
I guess what I’m saying here with all of this is that Tyrion fucked up. Not just in his murder of Shae, but in tons of ways throughout the series. But to boil all of Tyrion’s flaws down to his misogyny - and to pretty much reduce his character to only that, while simultaneously erasing some important aspects of his disability experience and how that affects his self-worth - is really over-simplifying a character GRRM put a lot of effort (hundreds of pages of it!) into.
When it comes to ASoIaF, you can come up with some pretty solid reasons to dislike any character - that’s kind of the point, I think! Because you can also come up with some pretty solid reasons to like them. For me, Tyrion - even with all his flaws - is entirely relatable. Even when his actions are frustrating and sometimes downright upsetting, I can always see why he acts the way he does. While I can’t always support his actions, I can always understand them. And that, my dears, is a feather in GRRM’s metaphorical cap!
But that is not what is happening here. Speaking of pre-ADwD Tyrion (I’m not touching ADwD Tyrion because I’ve already talked about that at length in other posts, and I don’t think I’m capable of discussing the subject briefly), at least, it’s of essential importance to him that all his sexual relations are consensual. That the women he sleeps with want to sleep with him. And that is why he turns to prostitutes. Because, as Tywin taught him so harshly - when Tyrion was only thirteen fucking years old - the only way a woman is going to come to him consensually is for money.
Again, I don’t understand how this could not be clear from the text. I really don’t. Because we see what Tyrion does with Shae. It’s nothing kinky or subversive - actually, it’s pretty vanilla. He wants her to pretend to love him. Because that’s the only kind of love he’s ever going to get - the kind that’s bought and paid for. That’s pretty fucking tragic, to me, at least.
From this point, I’m going to move to another point of contention when it comes to Tyrion: what moves him not to sleep with Sansa on their wedding night. I think it’s pretty clear given what we’ve just discussed. He doesn’t sleep with Sansa because Tyrion only wants to sleep with women who want to sleep with him - and Sansa definitely doesn’t. Again, the other day I saw it said on tumblr that this is an essentially selfish reason; he wants to feel loved, and he can’t if the person he’s sleeping with is obviously repulsed by/terrified of him. And yes, that’s all true. BUT. Isn’t it also true that the fact that he feels there’s something intrinsically wrong with sleeping with a woman who doesn’t want him - even in a society that says it’s her duty to do so - means he has some basic grasp of morality (beyond that dictated to him by Westeros’ misogynistic mindset)? Why would it even bother him if he didn’t? (Remember, even in ADwD, he only considers sleeping with women who would rather not sleep with him once he’s made the mental leap to “I’m already such a bad person it’s entirely hopless for me to even try anymore.” Even then, he thinks of this as something a bad person does.)
To me, twisting the decision Tyrion makes into something entirely selfish is not that much different from saying, “Well, she only stopped that person from being hit by a car because she would have felt guilty if she hadn’t! Therefore, risking her life to save that person was ultimately a selfish decision.” Really, by this logic, pretty much any decently moral decision can be made into something selfish.
But, even if it’s accepted that Tyrion did something decent by not touching Sansa because she didn’t want him to, we are then told he’s STILL selfish, because he’s hurt and upset that she doesn’t want to. Now, please note I’m not denying that Sansa has it worse in this situation, but let’s take a look at Tyrion’s position. He’s married to a woman who can’t stand the sight of him. She’s openly told him she’s never going to be able to stand the sight of him (and OF COURSE I can’t blame her, but still). He’s keeping a concubine in secret. If his father ever finds out about this concubine, he’ll lose her too, because Tywin forbid him to have her. (Not that Shae even really loves him, but at least she can bring herself to pretend to.) So really, he’s been forbidden from ever having a loving relationship. Of any kind. I don’t know about you, but I’d be feeling pretty damn sorry for myself too. And if that’s selfish, I don’t really give a fuck.
Because it sucks.
And finally, I don’t really have a good segue here, but I just want to touch on this because it’s been brought up a lot lately. (Actually, who am I kidding? It’s brought up a lot always.) The idea that Tyrion killed Shae because he was a misogynist. I’m just going to come right out and say right away that I’m not arguing that Tyrion isn’t a misogynist - because everyone in ASoIaF, even the women, have misogynistic tendencies. Because THEY LIVE IN A MISOGYNISTIC SOCIETY. Even the most fair-minded of them have internalized at least some of the bullshit they’ve heard their whole lives. And I’m also not arguing that Tyrion’s murder of Shae was justified. (For the record, I’m not really sure murder is ever justified. So.)
What I am arguing is that the reaction people are expecting Tyrion to have to Shae’s betrayal is completely unrealistic. Fandom seems to think Tyrion should have confronted Shae that night in Tywin’s bedchambers by saying: “Gee, Shae! You just implicated me in a murder I didn’t commit while humiliating me via my disability in front of the entire court! But that’s okay! Please tell me why you did this.” And I just wonder: Is there anyone in the world who would have reacted this way? Really? Again, I’m not saying killing Shae was the right thing to do! But he didn’t do it because he was a misogynist. Or because she’d exercised her “power” as a woman when she testified against him. He did it because she’d betrayed him. Really betrayed him. In a way Bronn never did.
Sure, Bronn didn’t stand for Tyrion, but he also didn’t actively participate in his downfall either. By testifying against him, Shae pretty much guaranteed that Tyrion would be put to death - and that didn’t really appear to be a source of conflict for her at all. (I will concede that we don’t know this for sure, as we see this all from Tyrion’s very limited point of view, but remember, that’s how he sees it too.) So looked at like that, it’s really not that hard to believe that - after losing everything, culminating in the love he thought Jaime had for him, as well as the love he’d tricked himself into believing he shared with Shae - Tyrion might snap and do something horrible. Horrible, but - in my opinion - not unforgivable. Because it was motivated by extreme human emotion and instability. Tyrion’s convincing himself that Shae loved him had far more to do with his issues with his self-worth than it did to do with any internalized misogyny.
(I actually rather think that, had Shae broken down and told Tyrion she did what she did out of fear for her own life - which I personally don’t believe for a second, but it’s a valid theory - Tyrion wouldn’t have hurt her at all. But that’s entirely speculation.)
I guess what I’m saying here with all of this is that Tyrion fucked up. Not just in his murder of Shae, but in tons of ways throughout the series. But to boil all of Tyrion’s flaws down to his misogyny - and to pretty much reduce his character to only that, while simultaneously erasing some important aspects of his disability experience and how that affects his self-worth - is really over-simplifying a character GRRM put a lot of effort (hundreds of pages of it!) into.
When it comes to ASoIaF, you can come up with some pretty solid reasons to dislike any character - that’s kind of the point, I think! Because you can also come up with some pretty solid reasons to like them. For me, Tyrion - even with all his flaws - is entirely relatable. Even when his actions are frustrating and sometimes downright upsetting, I can always see why he acts the way he does. While I can’t always support his actions, I can always understand them. And that, my dears, is a feather in GRRM’s metaphorical cap!
