He reveals the truth: The girl was a prostitute Jaime hired for Tyrion (45.Tyrion.96), and Tywin then forced Tysha to, let's say, work the barracks, and made Tyrion watch to teach him a lesson. When he was thirteen, Tyrion married a woman named Tysha, but his father quickly spoiled the honeymoon. But we learn there is a reason in Tyrion's past for his wishy-washy love. Tyrion can be totally in love with her one moment and thinking " it is only the gold and jewels the whore loves" (45.Tyrion.101) the next. Time and again, Tyrion uses knowledge to turn his disadvantages into advantages. Way to read the situation quickly and accurately, Tyrion, and then take charge. If Tyrion is going to fight, then he knows the other men must also fight, or else they will be considered "less than dwarfs" (60.Tyrion.38). When the knights and sellswords are too afraid to attack Stannis's forces, Tyrion rallies them, and in the rally, he springs a trap. He pulls a similar move during the assault on the King's Gate. In this case, he gets Pycelle nervous and, like a bad poker player, easier to read and manipulate. Tyrion knows his "green-and-black eyes squirm" and so he makes "good use of them" (18.Tyrion.26). When speaking with Tyrion over breakfast, Pycelle can't keep his gaze on Tyrion's mismatched eyes. Tyrion knows how people think, he knows what people think about him, and he uses both to his advantage. But his power of knowledge is more than just memorizing a bunch of facts. He shows his love by studying late into the evening, reading and learning (30.Tyrion.2). The secret to Tyrion's success is that he doesn't shortchange the power of knowledge. And we have a hunch Joffrey doesn't readily forget moments such as this. At one point, he slaps Joffrey in the face for inciting the crowd to riot (42.Tyrion.43), and while we sure love it, Joffrey seems to take it personality. Of course, Tyrion might grow a little too enamored of power. Perhaps most importantly, though, he keeps King's Landing from falling apart under Joffrey's rule. (30.Tyrion.64)Īnd he certainly gets an A for effort: He takes control of the city guard by replacing Janos Slynt with Jacelyn Bywater he roots out Cersei's informant on the small council, Grand Maester Pycelle he moves Tommen and Myrcella away from King's Landing to safer places and he commissions a chain boom and a ton of wildfire to strategize a way to defeat Stannis's superior fleet. His stunted legs might make him a comic grotesque at a harvest ball, but this dance he knew. Small wonder that both of them were dead, while Tyrion Lannister had never felt more alive. The only way to defeat my sister is to play her own game, and that was something the Lords Stark and Arryn would never do. Men like that… too honest to live, too noble to s***, Cersei devours such fools every morning when she breaks her fast. In a telling moment, Tyrion thinks about what makes him and his predecessors, Jon Arryn and Ned Stark, different: Tyrion? Nothing doing until he becomes the Hand. His sister, Cersei, is the Queen, so she has political clout his father is the richest man in the kingdom, so he has economic sway and his brother is one of the most talented knights in the Kingsguard, so he has strength. Tyrion has never been the one with power before. Tyrion must protect the people of King's Landing and also try to keep Joffrey from, well, being too Joffrey.Īnd what does he think of all this? He loves it (26.Tyrion.35). With Lord Tywin fighting the Starks, Tyrion has taken the position in his father's place. Tyrion still has all that going for and against him, only now he has the added responsibility of being the Hand of the King. But because he was an unattractive dwarf, life could be pretty difficult for him, too-people tended to treat him harshly, and he had to use his smarts to get out of some tight situations. He was a smart and funny guy, who lived the playboy lifestyle thanks to his father's fat checkbook. You might recall Tyrion from A Game of Thrones. Readers simply love this guy, and A Clash of Kings is his moment to shine, since Tyrion will be taking over for Ned Stark as most prolific point-of-view character. He's funny, witty, and gets no respect, no respect at all. Tyrion Lannister is the Rodney Dangerfield of Westeros.
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