Tyrion Lannister

> "*Let me give you some counsel, bastard. Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.*"
> ― Tyrion Lannister, to Jon Snow
>
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**Tyrion Lannister**, famously known as the **Imp** and the **Halfman**, is a man of House Lannister and the youngest son of Lord Tywin Lannister and Joanna Lannister, as well as the young brother to Cersei Lannister and Jaime Lannister. He serves as the Hand of the King to King Joffrey I Baratheon, his nephew. He was found guilty of the murder of Joffrey and was sentenced to death. He is currently in exile amongst the Second Sons in Essos.

## Appearance and Personality

Tyrion is an ugly dwarf, with stubby legs, a jutting forehead, mismatched eyes of green and black, and a mixture of pale blond and black hair. His unique stare has been said to make most people uncomfortable, which Tyrion tries to use to his advantage.

Tyrion is highly intelligent, sophisticated and possesses a keen cunning. A sharp-tongued man with a ferocious wit and an inability to suffer fools gladly, Tyrion is a practical and sly individual who has been disillusioned throughout his entire life to the cruelties of the world. As a result of monstrous and prejudicial treatment at the hands of his father and sister, and almost everyone who has ever met him, Tyrion has developed a thick skin against other people's opinion of him, and even resolves t ouse it to his advantage. Many people underestimate him for being a dwarf, and are often shocked by how capable he is at outwitting them.

He craves for love and respect from his family, but there are precious few with whom he has a good relationship. His worst relationship is with his father Tywin, who has hated him from birth and considered him an embarrassment to the name of Lannister. Despite this, even Tywin is capable of recognising that Tyrion is the cleverest of his children, and isn't above trusting him with some responsibility. Cersei, on the other hand, has never ceased to hate him, despite anything that happens between them. Tyrion and Cersei have a mutual tendency to think about killing each other, but despite this Tyrion has never personally threatened her (at least, not until the War of the Five Kings). Jaime is the only immediate relative to truly respect and love him, and has been a good brother for most of their lives. However, this changes perhaps forever after the events of Tyrion's trial for Joffrey's murder.

Tyrion is by no means a flawless man: he has indulged for most of his adulthood in wine and women, and the multiple traumas he has suffered since childhood have spurred him further into these vices. Despite this, he is deeply compassionate towards those who have suffered, almost exclusively: he treats Sansa Stark kindly, and is impressively reluctant to engage sexually with her, knowing that she is a child, and that she despises him and his entire family.

## History

Tyrion was born to Tywin and Joanna Lannister and is their youngest child. Joanna died birthing Tyrion, and as a result of Joanna's death and Tyrion's dwarfism, his father Tywin Lannister resents him. Tyrion has two older siblings, twins Jaime Lannister and Cersei Lannister. Jaime and Cersei were eight years old at the time of their mother's death. Like their father, Cersei also resents Tyrion for their mother's death, but Jaime always treated Tyrion well.

As a teenager, Tyrion and his brother Jaime found a girl being attacked on the road. While Jaime ran off the attackers, Tyrion took the girl to an inn and comforted her. They had sex and Tyrion secretly marries the girl. He is happy with her for a fortnight. It was not known by Jaime that subsequently the two were married. When Tywin found out, he was furious. He had Jaime confess that the girl was a prostitute and that he had staged the attack to make Tyrion happy. She was to pretend to act as if she was about to be raped and then to allow Tyrion to seduce her. Tywin had 50 of his soldiers have sex with Tysha in front of Tyrion, making him go last. Tyrion has never stopped thinking about Tysha, as this was the only time of his life that he was happy.

## Recent Events

### A Game of Thrones

Tyrion Lannister goes to Winterfell with King Robert Baratheon's party. He meets Jon Snow, the 14-year old illegitimate son of Eddard Stark. As Tyrion is a societal outsider due to his dwarfism, Jon is an outsider in society due to his illegitimacy. Tyrion advises Jon to never forget who he is and to use it as armour so it cannot be used to hurt him. Brandon Stark, Eddard Stark's 7-year old son, falls from a tower and then an assassin tries to kill him as he lay unconscious. Littlefinger identifies the knife used in the murder attempt as one that he lost to Tyrion Lannister on a bet. Bran's mother Catelyn Stark believes this and takes Tyrion prisoner at the Inn at the Crossroads. Although he was innocent, Catelyn took him to the Eyrie, where he was imprisoned. Tyrion insists on a trial by combat. There, Bronn, a sellsword, agrees to fight for his life and duels Ser Vardis Egen. After winning the duel, Bronn escorts Tyrion back to the army of his father Tywin Lannister in the Riverlands. Tyrion fights bravely in the Battle of the Green Fork and his father decides to send him to King's Landing, to act as Hand of the King. While fighting in his father's army Tyrion met Shae, a prostitute from Essos, who he falls in love with, and also accompanied him to King's Landing. He also gets a squire by the name of Podrick Payne.

### A Clash of Kings

Tyrion becomes the Hand of the King in the absence of his father, which angers his sister. In order to hide Shae, knowing Cersei will try to harm her in order to harm Tyrion, he sets her up in a manse outside of the Red Keep. Tyrion takes elaborate precautions to prevent being followed when he visits her. He visits a brothel and takes a whore named Alayaya up to a room. Going into a tunnel which takes him to a stable, he can then ride in disguise to Shae's manse. Later when the city is too dangerous, he has her become the maid of Lollys Stokeworth. He winds up having a power struggle with Cersei, who is acting as queen regent while her son Joffrey Baratheon is an underage king. Tyrion makes decisions to anger Cersei, including marrying her daughter Myrcella Baratheon to a prince of Dorne and trying to get Joffrey to fight in the Battle of the Blackwater. His cunning won the Battle of the Blackwater, because he consulted alchemists to use Wildfire, which defeated Stannis Baratheon and his fleet. He winds up injured during the battle and wakes up with his nose mostly gone and a hideous scar across his face. He is then replaced by Tywin Lannister as the Hand of the King.

### A Storm of Swords

Tyrion is appointed as Master of Coin, replacing Petyr Baelish. He is forced into a political marriage with Sansa Stark, who is repelled by him. His father wants him to consummate the marriage, but he refuses because he knows Sansa doesn't want to. Shae doesn't seem to care about his marriage, which makes him wonder if she ever loved him. Later, at Joffrey's wedding feast, they have an argument. When Joffrey is poisoned later that night, people assume Tyrion is guilty, when in fact it was Olenna Tyrell who poisoned him. After a trial by combat, he is sentenced to death, but Varys and his brother Jaime Lannister helps him escape. Jaime tells him the truth about Tysha, which makes him vow to one day kill Jaime. Tyrion tells Jaime that Cersei is being unfaithful and confesses to killing Joffrey. He does this to hurt Jaime, and it is successful. Jaime leaves him with Varys and is stunned. As Tyrion is being lead out of the Red Keep, he realizes that he is near the Tower of the Hand, and he takes the opportunity to kill his father Tywin. He flees across the Narrow Sea to Essos, and Cersei offers a lordship to anyone who can return him.

### A Feast for Crows

Tyrion is still crossing the Narrow Sea and regarded as a kingslayer and kinslayer, although only the latter is true. Meanwhile, in King's Landing, Cersei offers rewards for his head, but the heads brought to her are not his (therefore, the reward winds up killing innocent children and dwarves).

## Quotes

### Quotes by Tyrion

> "*Let me give you some counsel, bastard. Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.*"
> ― Tyrion Lannister, to Jon Snow
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> "*Why, Jaime, my sweet brother, you wound me. You know how much I love my family.* "
> ― Tyrion Lannister, to Jaime Lannister
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> "*My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer and I have my mind... and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge. That’s why I read so much, Jon Snow.*"
> ― Tyrion Lannister, to Jon Snow
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### Quotes about Tyrion

> "*He is a bigger man than he seems, I think.*"
> ― Garlan Tyrell, to Sansa Stark
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