Tyrion Lannister

***Note: This page is only about the book version of the character since the show version doesn't do anything villainous.***

**Lord Tyrion Lannister** is a main character in *A Song of Ice and Fire* and its TV Adaptation *Game of Thrones*. Tyrion Lannister is a member of House Lannister and youngest child of Lord Tywin Lannister and Lady Joanna Lannister. His older siblings are Cersei Lannister, the queen of King Robert I Baratheon, and Ser Jaime Lannister.

## What makes him sympathetic?

* Tyrion lost his mother when she died during his birth.
* He was abused his entire childhood by his father, Tywin, and his sister, Cersei.
* He was born with deformities due to his dwarfism which means that he is smaller than the other people and he also has trouble keeping up with them. Because of his condition, he is called the Imp and most people think that he is evil and scheming.
* He genuinely cares about his older brother, Jaime, who was the only person from his immediate family who didn't abuse him.
* At the age of 13, he fell in love with a young girl called Tysha and married her. When his father found out about it, he ordered his men to gang rape her. Tyrion was also forced to participate. His brother, Jaime, lied to Tyrion that she was a whore because he genuinely believed that he would protect him this way.
* He genuinely cares about his niece and nephew, Tommen and Myrcella.
* In the first book he expresses sympathy for Jon Snow and tries to encourage him and share some wisdom with him.
* He genuinely likes Lord Mormont and sympathises with his situation.
* Tyrion makes a special saddle for Bran because he feels bad about him after he has broken his legs and wants to help him learn how to ride a horse.
* He is wrongfully convicted for Bran's attempted murder by Catelyn Stark and is forced to stand trial where is nearly executed.
* When he meets with Bron, Tyrion starts liking him and becomes friends with him.
* When he meets with Shae, Tyrion falls in love with her.
* Even though she had abused him throughout their childhood, Tyrion still tries to be nice to his sister, Cersei, and even attempts to calm her down when she is crying.
* He tries to save his brother, Jaime, from Stark captivity.
* When he sees how Sansa is treated, Tyrion feels bad for her, protects her from Joffrey, tries to cheer her up and promises her that he would return her back to her family and later when he marries her, he doesn't force himself on her when he sees that she doesn't to sleep with him.
* He feels disgust because of the murder of Robert's bastards (which includes a baby) and because one of the men even killed the mother even though he wasn't ordered to. As a result, Tyrion punishes the men by sending them to the Night's Watch and ordering the death of Allar Deem.
* When he learns that Cersei had threatened a group of blacksmiths that she would break their knees if they don't meet their quotas, Tyrion assures them that nothing bad would happen to them.
* When Joffrey dies, for a moment Tyrion feels bad for him despite the way he had treated everyone beneath him.
* Tyrion is wrongfully convicted for Joffrey's murder and put on trial.
* Tyrion is hurt when he sees that his uncle, Kevan, also thinks that he has murdered his nephew and tries to convince him otherwise but to no avail.
* During his trial, Tyrion is betrayed by his lover, Shae, who gives a false testimony against him which causes him to become even more nihilistic.
* When his brother, Jaime, rescues him from the Black Cells, Tyrion learns from him that Jaime had lied that Tysha was a whore which causes Tyrion to feel betrayed by his older brother (the person he trusted the most). Later, Tyrion also learns that Jaime genuinely believes that Tyrion had murdered Joffrey which causes him to feel even more betrayed.
* Tyrion is forced to run from King's Landing to save his life and in the process he loses everything in his life. He feels betrayed by his brother and over, he is branded as traitor and there is a price for his head, he loses all of his wealth which comes with his family name, etc. This causes him to become depressed and even to think about commiting suicide. While he indulges in revenge fantasies against people in general and even expresses desire to rape and kill his sister, it's understandable, considering all the hardships he had suffered.
* Even though he rapes a slave prostitute, he later feels extremely remorseful about it, tries to apologise and even gives money to her owner, so that he wouldn't punish her. This shows that despite his nihilism, he still has humanity left.
* Along his way to Daenerys Targaryen he befriends a female dwarf named Penny. He sympathises with her because she had lost her brother because of the price on Tyrion's head.
* When he, Jorah Mormont and Penny end up as slaves, Tyrion saves them all by using his wits despite the way Jorah had previously treated him.