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House Lannister

Tropes:

• Animal Motifs: Lions, which they are often called. More subtly, Jaime even starts to physically resemble one when he gains a full Beard of Sorrow.
• Beauty Is Bad: The most kind-hearted adult Lannister is Tyrion, the least attractive. The increasing compassion of Jaime is juxtaposed with his increasing scruffiness.
• Big Screwed-Up Family: Neither Tywin nor his descendants would be called well-adjusted, apart from Myrcella and Tommen.
• Blondes are Evil: Two characteristics of the Lannisters are their blonde hair and their ruthlessness/lack of empathy for anyone outside their family.
• Catch Phrase: "A Lannister always pays his debts". It's more quoted in universe than their actual family motto, "Hear me roar".
  • "As rich as a Lannister" is another common saying about the family.
• Deadpan Snarker
• The Empire
• Evil Is Sexy
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: To the House of Lancaster and Medieval England in general. The show's version of Lannister armor combines features from Ancient Rome, The Renaissance, Feudal Japan, and the german men-at-arms of the Russian film Alexander Nevsky, which in turn were a reference to Nazi Germany, as is Tywin's dream about a thousand-year dynasty.
• Fiction 500: They're the wealthiest of the great houses of Westeros. This is owed to gold mining and money lending, especially to the Crown itself. The books also mention trade with Essos
• King of Beasts: Their sigil is a lion. Cersei outright uses this parable to comfort her son Tommen during the Siege of King's Landing.
• Leitmotif: The instrumental for 'The Rains of Castamere' (a song that was written in series about Tywin's ruthlessness) is played when a Lannister does something particularly amazing or nefarious, such as Cersei threatening Littlefinger, Tyrion blackmailing Lancel, Tywin executing his men in Harrenhall following Ser Amory's assassination, Tyrion's speech at the Battle of Blackwater, Tywin's cavalry crushing Stannis' force, and Jaime saving Brienne from the bear pit.
• Nay Theist: One thing Tywin and his children all agree on is that the Gods (whose existence they don't deny), in Tyrion's words, are vicious cunts. Except Jaime, who's more of a Hollywood Atheist.
• Pride: The recurring theme of House Lannister.
• Royally Screwed Up: Oh, dear lord.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: This is a basic family survival strategy. Casterly Rock has access to a gold mine, making them bloody rich.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Jaime and Tyrion get by on Tywin's reputation as well as his gold.
• Tangled Family Tree: It's not touched on much, but Cersei and Jaime's inbreeding produced such a situation, although the Lannisters would never acknowledge it as it invalidates Joffrey's claim to the throne. Joffrey is Cersei and Jaime's son and nephew, Tyrion's double nephew, Tywin's double grandson, and his siblings' brother and cousin. It only gets more complicated when marriage alliances are arranged with the Tyrells.
• The Unfettered: They tend to be remarkably ruthless in playing the Game of Thrones.
• We Have Reserves: Every time the Starks and the Tullys shatter a Lannister host (which happens a lot), they just raise another. And now, with the Tyrells coming into the war on the Lannisters' side, this is literally true, since the Reach is (in terms of area) the largest region of Westeros after the North (which is sparsely populated), as well as the most fertile and densely populated.

"The lion does not concern himself with the opinions of the sheep."

Played By: Charles Dance

"It's the family name that lives on. That's all that lives on. Not your personal glory, not your honor, but family."

Father of the three Lannister siblings, and grandfather to Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen. Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West.

Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Every conversation he's had with his children since his introduction has pretty much been a variation of "Gods, I can't believe how much you absolutely suck".
• Affably Evil: He's cordial in the rare occasion when he's not holding contempt towards his interlocutor.
• Ambition Is Evil: In his own words, his dream is to "establish a [Lannister] dynasty that will last a thousand years". Robert is even more generous, summing Tywin's goal up as "wanting to own the world". As the ruling patriarch of the house which he nearly saw destroyed by his weak father, Tywin will do anything to maintain his family's greatness, no matter how vicious.
• Archnemesis Dad: To Tyrion, to almost absurd levels. They completely and totally hate each other.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Tywin is a two-time Hand of the King, and the Warden of the West (a position only equal to three others^note The Wardens and Paramount Lords of respectively The South/The Reach, the East/The Vale, and the North/The North and only inferior to the King himself and his Hand). Hand in hand with his titles, Tywin is a capable commander, and was the commander who struck the killing blow to King's Landing and the Targaryen royal family in Robert's Rebellion.
• Badass: We're introduced to Tywin while he's calmly skinning a massive stag and judging by the blood on his face and armor (Clearly not his own blood) in Blackwater, it is evident he fought right beside his soldiers.
  • Badass Baritone
  • Badass Beard/Beard of Evil
  • Badass Bureaucrat: Was previously Hand of the King to Aerys II. And is currently Hand of the King to Joffrey.
  • Badass Grandpa: Is a grandfather in-universe (to Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen).
  • Four Star Badass: In suppressing House Stark.
  • Badass Boast: "The Rains of Castamere" is one put to song. Tywin isn't afraid to wipe out your entire House if you cross him.
  • Badass Longcoat: A black leather one in season 3.
• Bad Boss: His employees aren't any better though and it's hard not to be when you're Surrounded by Idiots. He's actually rather friendly with Arya. That is until he hands her over to the service of Ser Gregor Clegane.
• Bait the Dog: After saving Arya from Polliver, and spending a few weeks with Arya as his cupbearer, mentioning how she reminds him of his own daughter at that age, and generally making the audience smile at their interactions, he leaves and specifically gives her to Gregor Clegane, with strict orders to stop him from ever getting drunk no less, his less than stellar record with children and females in general notwithstanding.
  • Similarly he "rewards" Tyrion, who carried out his job as Hand of the King in Tywin's stead with extreme competence and success on all fronts, including personally saving the City and thus allowing the Lannisters to keep fighting the war, despite having literally all the odds being against him and almost everyone else trying to sabotage him out of idiocy or spite (or both), with near disowning him for having been slept with a whore and having Bronn as his right hand man, utterly disgrearding and mocking his successes as being of zero importance, and finally engages in an exceedingly cruel and nasty (not to mention completely undeserved) Reason You Suck Speech against Tyrion as being a worthless freak who does not deserve to bear the family name and who is nothing but a joke and an embarrasment to him. What a dick.
• Berserk Button: Tywin does NOT take Tyrion's demand for inheritance of Casterly Rock well.
  • He also does not like being questioned by his children.
• Big Bad/Dragon-in-Chief:
  • Hierarchically, Joffrey is about as close to a Big Bad as the show currently has (outside of the White Walkers), but since Tywin is out in the field acting as a military surrogate for Joffrey, many people (both in-universe and in real life) view him as a Big Bad figure. Once he settles in King's Landing and starts serving as Hand of the King, Tywin's status as de facto ruler of the realm is even more clear, as unlike his children he does manage to completely nullify Joffrey.
  • He was also The Dragon to King Aerys until he resigned. And when Robert's Rebellion tilted in favor of the rebels, Tywin became The Starscream and ordered King's Landing to be sacked in Robert's name
• Big Damn Heroes/Villainous Rescue: Twice! Once at Harenhal when he stops the torturing and killing of prisoners through Pragmatic Villainy and then again when he and the Tyrells saves King's Landing from being overtaken by Stannis' troops in "Blackwater".
  • The Cavalry: Even more straight the second time.
• Cavalry Betrayal: During the last days of the Mad King, his forces entered King's Landing as allies and then proceeded to sack the city in Robert's name.
• The Chessmaster
• Cool Old Guy: His scenes in season 2 serve to show him as not some fire breathing psychopath, but rather as a driven, determined and understandable man...who just so happens to be the Big Bad. He still has his darker elements, as he is willing to be surprisingly brutal when he believes someone tried to kill him, and orders Gregor Clegane to brutalize the subjects of his enemies to put pressure on them and deny them resources, but he does this out of cold-blooded pragmatism, not because he enjoys it.
  • However, Season 3 immediately starts subverting this. Despite being supposedly pragmatic, logical, and able to show kindness even to those "beneath" him, he is just as much a hateful and intolerant Jerkass towards Tyrion as Cersei. Despite Tyrion's plans and actions being crucial in the defense of Kings landing (and thus to the Lannisters as a whole) he coldly dismisses Tyrion's service as having been nothing but him "bedding whores as always", and openly mocks these efforts to Tyrion's face before utterly ripping Tyrion to pieces as a "ill-formed spiteful creature" who "killed his mother", and saying he would rather die than give Tyrion his rightful inheritance.
• Comically Serious
• Composite Character: Lesser one... His introduction "dressing" a deer is actually from Randyll Tarly, Sam's father.
• Control Freak: Of the highest, most unhealthy order.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: His audiences are completely one-sided and anyone who dares to argue with him gets verbally demolished. The only exception has been Arya Stark, and to a certain degree, Lady Olenna.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Although not to the level of, say, his sons, and placing particular emphasis on "deadpan". This is most evident during his dealings with his subordinates. For example:
    Polliver: (to Arya, while dressed as a boy) What are you looking at?! Kneel! Kneel or I'll take your lungs out, boy!
    Tywin: You'll do no such thing. This one's a girl, you idiot.
  • And again in "The Old Gods and the New:"
    Tywin: (to Amory Lorch) My cupbearer can read better than you.
• Disproportionate Retribution: What is his reaction to some Houses rebelling against his? Wipe them all out. It also should be noted that many of his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to his children are delivered after one of them begins to display a hint of insubordination. He essentially psychologically tears them apart the moment they try to smart-mouth him.
• The Dreaded: Even a vicious madman like Joffrey would think twice before crossing Tywin, according to Cersei. Tyrion concurs, defining Westeros as "Seven Kingdoms united in fear of Tywin Lannister". When Joffrey actually summons Tywin for a report on his activities, it's abundantly clear that he does indeed fear him.
• Establishing Character Moment: His aloof, stern patriarchism is laid bare in his very first scene, a conversation in his tent with Jaime, while gutting a deer, which produces many of his defining quotes.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Played with. See Pragmatic Villainy. He isn't disgusted by the torture, but by the waste of resources.
  • It is implied that he was angry at a nine year old Cersei for having a servant girl (also nine) beaten until she lost an eye for stealing^note There's never a hint that the girl actually did it, plus... this is Cersei we're talking about a necklace.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Shows shades of this in "Kissed by Fire" in which he expresses confusion and annoyance that Tyrion is outraged by his "reward" of having Sansa Stark forcibly married to him despite the fact that this would give Tyrion both a beautiful wife and also control of the North due to Sansa seemingly being the sole Stark heir left once Robb is out the picture, thus making Tyrion one of the most powerful men in Westeros, and finds his reasoning for Tyrion's horror ( I.e. it would be disgustingly cruel forcing her to marry him so soon after her traumatic ordeal at Joffrey's hands, and more importantly the fact that she is still a child) idiotic.
• Evil Genius: Especially compared to the dumb scumbags that make up most of his ranks.
• Evil Old Folks
• Evil Overlord: Deconstructed. He only resorts to Kick the Dog and Disproportionate Retribution to ensure that his family name is respected and feared (unless the target happens to be Tyrion).
• Fiction500: Often referred to as the richest man in the Seven Kingdoms; Robert owes him three million gold dragons, and he has no trouble forking over eighty thousand more to provide prize money for a tourney. A common saying is that Tywin Lannister is so rich that he "shits gold."
  • According to Forbes magazine, he is worth 2.5 billion American dollars in the books. That makes him exceedingly wealthy by the standards of a modern economy.
• Freudian Excuse: The reason why he's such an hardass is because his father's magnanimity nearly lead to the bankruptcy and ruination of his house. Despite this, he still has very fond memories of the man. The loss of his wife while giving birth to Tyrion is also a factor in his cold attitude toward life.
• The Good Chancellor: Surprisingly for his horrible personality, yes. His twenty-year reign as Hand of the King to Aerys II Targaryen was considered the most stable and prosperous period Westeros had experienced since Aegon's Landing. And considering that he kept a guy commonly known as "the Mad King" in check, that's really saying something. After Aerys fired him, however, things went to shit pretty quickly.
• Hyper Awareness: Sees through Arya's disguise at first glance, and is obviously aware that she's not a commoner.
  Tywin: This one's a girl, you idiot.
• I Have Many Names: Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West, Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, Hand of the King and Savior of the City (of King's Landing), which is ironic considering the previous time he led an army to KL was to sack itfrom the books...
  He also holds the honorific title of Shield of Lannisport
  .
• Inadequate Inheritor: He views Tyrion as this. And it is especially grating for him given that Jaime can't inherit due to being a member of the Kingsguard and Cersei being a woman, thus second to Tyrion in line to inherit Casterly Rock.
• Jerkass: It is revealed in "Baelor" that Tyrion once made the mistake of falling in love with and marrying a whore his brother had secretly hired to sleep with him. So when Tywin found out, he ordered his entire garrison to rape her (each soldier paying, of course) and forced Tyrion to watch from beginning to end.
  • Jerk With A Heart Of Jerk: He occasionally says something that might indicate that he's not as bad as people think...but he usually tells them in no uncertain terms his entirely pragmatic reasons for saying it if he's questioned about it.
• Just a Kid: Invoked by Tywin on the verge of war with Robb.
  Tywin: Green boy. One taste of battle and he'll run back to Winterfell with his tail between his legs.
  • Ironic that he would fall for this, seeing as how The Rains of Castamere suggest Tywin's own enemies once thought the same of him.
• Kick the Dog: Any possible redeeming qualities go right out the window when Tyrion is in the room.
• Nay Theist: Cersei quotes him in "Blackwater" as saying "The gods have no mercy, that’s why they are gods”, and notes that Tywin does believe in the gods- he just doesn't like them. Along the lines of a typical Hollywood Atheist backstory, he developed this attitude after the death of his beloved wife. Tywin also views his son Tyrion, whom he intensely dislikes, as a cruel lesson by the Gods to teach him humility because Tyrion can still fly Lannister colors despite Tywin's dissaproval of him.
• Nice to the Waiter: Treats Arya, who is working as his cupbearer, with a surprising amount of respect, largely because he is amused by her, and obviously enjoys the company of a bright youngster more than that of his rather pedestrian retainers and warlords.
• Noble Demon: While he really isn't a nice guy, he still does have numerous principles, particularly Family Honor.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Done intentionally as an intimidation tactic to psyche out Joffrey. As he not-so-subtly explains just how little concern he has for Joffrey as a person compared to his concern for the realm, he steps closer and closer to the Iron Throne until he's looming over the little shit. For the rest of the conversation Joffrey is visibly sinking back into the throne and looks terrified that Tywin may well strike him, or worse.
• Odd Friendship: Not quite a friendship per se, but as noted above, he's developed something of an unusual liking and attachment to Arya.
• Old Soldier: Tywin has fought in at least two previous wars.
  Tywin: 'The War of Five Kings' they're calling it. This will be my last war. The one I'll be remembered for.
• Papa Wolf:
  • To Jaime at least. When Amory Lorch accidentally sends a letter bearing valuable information to a House allied with the Starks Tywin goes (by his standards,) berserk and tells him that should any more harm befall Jaime as a result of this, Amory will be in a world of hurt.
  • He intentionally defies it with Tyrion — only going to war after his capture to defend the House name, and being annoyed when Tyrion turns out to still be alive.
• The Patriarch: His very first appearance has him giving Jaime an impassioned speech about the importance of the family legacy. While skinning a deer. He orders his children around all he wants (even Cersei, who technically outranks him), and even his psychopathic "boss" and grandson King Joffrey (who outright threatens to kill his own mother and tried to assassinate his uncle) is scared of him.
  Tywin: Your mother's dead, before long I'll be dead, and you...and your brother, and your sister, and all of her children. All of us dead, all of us rotting in the ground. It's the family name that lives on. It's all that lives on. Not your honor, not your personal glory, family.
• The Perfectionist: Comes up a lot. Tywin is obsessed with House Lannister's reputation, never misses an opportunity to point out his children's flaws and disrespects anyone that does not live up to his standards (which is pretty much everyone).
• Perpetual Frowner: Tywin never smiles, ever. From the books...
  Lord Tywin is reputed to have smiled on four occasions: when he married his wife, Joanna, when Aerys Targaryen made him Hand of the King, when Jaime was born, and when he exterminated the family that had mocked and humiliated his amiable father and destroyed their castle. Since then, just the threat of him smiling again has been enough to get people to do pretty much whatever he wants.
• Pet the Dog:
  • To Tyrion and Arya, who show some modicum of competence in the sea of idiots he regularly deals with. He also mentions that when Jaime was young, he couldn't read because of being dyslexic, so he sat down with his son for four hours every night and struggled through the arduous process of teaching his son how to read.
    Tywin: I taught my son Jaime to read. The Maester came to me one day, told me he wasn't learning. He couldn't make sense of the letters. He reversed them in his head. The Maester said that he had heard of this affliction, and said that we must just accept it. HA! After that I sat Jaime down for four hours every day until he learned. He hated me for it. For a time. For a long time. But he learned.
  • Also, to Arya:
    Tywin: Sit. Eat.
    Arya: I'll...eat later, in the kitchens.
    Tywin: It's not polite to refuse a lord's offer. (Arya sits). I suppose you've been underfed your whole life.
    Arya (mouth full): I eat a lot; just don't grow.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Played with. He knows Ser Loras is gay, and considers him to be mentally ill. However he doesn't show any disgust really towards Loras, and would be fine with him guarding Joffrey. His views also seem more reasonable when compared to Joffrey, who wants all homosexuals put to death. All in all, his views almost border on Pitying Perversion.
• Pragmatic Villainy: One of his defining features, as Tywin saw his house nearly destroyed by his good-hearted and gentle father. As a result, Tywin is brutal and vicious, but only when there is a profit to be gained from it; for example, he stops the torture of prisoners in Harrenhal upon arrival, because exploiting their skills for free is more useful. But when he suspects an assassin attempting to kill him, he immediately orders a decimation of the garrison, along with torture and interrogation of anyone suspected of aiding or knowing about the assassin.
  • The one place where he breaks this rule is in his treatment of Tyrion. He is relentlessly cruel to Tyrion, never recognizing any of his accomplishments and constantly expressing dissapointment for character flaws that are largely the result of his own psychological abuse. Most of Tywin's Kick the Dog moments are concerned with his treatment of Tyrion.
• Pride:
  Tywin: The lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of the sheep.
• Pulling The Thread: He casually begins picking apart Arya's deception over time, noting small things like addressing him as "my lord" instead of "milord" to figure out that she's actually nobleborn instead of a commoner like she's pretending. However, he seems more amused by how clever Arya is than upset at the deception.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: If ever there were a grand master at this, it is Tywin Lannister. He's given at least one to each of his children — telling Jaime that his personal glory is ultimately worthless, Tyrion that he'll never honor any claim he has to Casterly Rock because of his irresponsible and lecherous behavior (also because he's a dwarf who killed his mother during childbirth), and Cersei that his lack of confidence in her is not because she's a woman, but because she's not as smart as she thinks she is — and always has one on hand for moronic subordinates as well.
• Replacement Goldfish: He tells Arya that she reminds him of Cersei when she was young, and something in his voice makes it sound like he regrets how things went. In the books...
  He and Cersei were originally quite close, but a series of events including Tywin failing to get her married to Rhaegar Targaryen and instead marrying her to Robert strained their relationship to the point it's at now
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!:
  • Implied to be a philosophy of his in particular and Lannisters in general.
  • He does seem to have two unbreakable principles that he's cracked into the skulls of his children and the entire Seven Kingdoms: "A Lannister never breaks his word" and "A Lannister always pays his debts." Of course, he rarely needs to give his word or get into debt in the first place (Note that those two can easily be given a more sinister spirit).
  • However, he seems more than willing to break the second principle when the debt is owed to Tyrion (in this case basic gratitude or even acknowledgement of the fact he did his job well).
• So Proud of You: Thoroughly trampled upon. His children are, in descending order: Queen Regent of the Seven Kingdoms, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and the royal Master of Coin—not to mention his grandson is the King himself—and he's not impressed one rat's ass by any of them. In fact, he seems incredibly disappointed in the lot of them, given their collective penchant for, in his words "madness and stupidity" — and all things considered, he's not far off with most of that. The only one who isn't a complete idiot is Tyrion, whom he hates anyway for being a dwarf, constantly drinking and whoring, and accidentally causing his wife's death (of course, some think the drinking and whoring might have something to with his son's treatment).
  • To wit, he has these words for his children and says them to them.
  [To Jaime] "You are blessed with many abilities few men possess...and what have you done with these blessings, eh? You served as a glorified bodyguard to two kings. One a madman, the other a drunk."
  [To Tyrion] "You are a low-born, ill-made, spiteful little creature filled with envy, lust, and low cunning."
  [To Cersei] "I don't distrust you because you are a woman. I distrust you because you are not as smart as you think you are."
• Surrounded by Idiots: See above. He considers his eldest two children to be stupid in their ways, and he makes it clear when he notices Arya that he considers everyone in the fortress to be the equivalent of blind cattle in terms of intellect, both for wasting good talent and for not noticing a girl dressed as a boy. The only subordinates that he seems to consider remotely competent are Tyrion and, ironically, Arya.
  • In the Books...
    Tywin's first reign as Hand of the King is remembered as one of the most prosperous and peaceful in recent memory. Not impressed? He was hand to the Mad King, Aerys II, and things only started really going downhill once Aerys got rid of him as Hand, which was one of the linchpins on the Rebellion starting. Prior to going insane and firing him (during which Tywin served the bulk of his time as Hand), Aerys II was actually shaping up to be one of the better Targaryen kings, until he was imprisoned during a minor rebellion and went flying off the deep end.
  • His reaction to Lorch's death is less "Guard! There's an assassin loose in the castle!" and more "Guard! Ugh, now I have to replace this moron...."
• Tall Blond and Snarky
• Underestimating Badassery: He totally underestimates Robb's skill as a commander. He wises up after a while.
• The Unfettered: His ruthlessness is only hampered by pragmatic concerns. Nothing stands in the way of his family name and ultimately his kins are only tools or pawns to achieve the goal.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Tyrion not only carried out his father's orders in Kings Landing in reigning in Joffrey and Cersei, but he personally planned the city's defense, fatally weakened Stannis's forces, and personally led the fight against the remaining attackers despite Cersei and Joffrey's idiocy and spitefulness hampering him at every turn (including trying to assassinate him on the battlefield). Without these efforts Tywin's relief force would have been facing a far larger, better organised, and pretty much untouched army, who by the time he arrived would have likely killed both his grandson and daughter, as well as have taken the city and thus making his attempted counter attack both pointless and nigh suicidal. Tywin "thanks" Tyrion by ignoring him for several weeks as he was wounded, and when Tyrion brings up his grievances, he gives his son a few concessions such as a larger room "more suited to your name", a position where he can continue serving his family, and a suitable wife in due time. He flatly refuses to officially make Tyrion his heir, unleashes a spiteful tirade about how much he hates Tyrion, and threatens to kill the next whore he catches him with.
• Uriah Gambit: Tyrion especulates that he's put on the vanguard during a battle to invoke this. Tywin is not amused to see his son again in the aftermath.
• Villainous Widow's Peak
• “Well Done Son” Guy: The Kingslayer himself turns into a little boy in his father's presence. Tyrion doesn't fare much better. Nor does Cersei.
  Tywin: [to Jaime] You going to say something clever? Go on, say something clever.
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Tywin is highly resentful at Tyrion for his malformations (which caused Tywin's wife to die giving birth), and whoregoing ways. What's worse (from his point of view) is that Jaime can't inherit the titles and lands of House Lannister due to being a sworn brother of the Kingsguard.
• Wicked Cultured

"When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."

Played By: Lena Headey

"Everyone who isn't us is an enemy."

Twin sister of Jaime and older sister of Tyrion. Queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros by marriage and Queen Regent to Joffrey.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Heroism: Although still one of the villains, Cersei is more sympathetic here than she is in the books. Not that this is particularly difficult. However if the anecdote Tyrion regales us of in season 3 combined with Cersei's instant dislike of Margarey Tyrell are any indication, she's closing in fast on her book counterpart.
• The Alcoholic: Season two sees an increasing number of scenes where she has a cup close to hand. During the attack of Stannis Baratheon on King's Landing, she's pretty much drunk throughout. Between Cersei and Tyrion it seems like a safe bet that the Lannisters are genetically predisposed to alcoholism.
  • In the Books...
    Other Lannisters from (relatively recent) Westerosi history that would also stand as evidence of this genetic predisposition, such as Lord Tytos Lannister, Tywin and Kevan's father. This may go a long way in explaining why Tywin has such a grudge against it.
• Analogy Backfire: When Ned confronts her on her incestuous relationship with Jaime she responds that the Targaryens did the same thing for centuries. The same Targaryens that produced the "Mad King" Aerys... even more of a backfire when Joffrey turns out to be more like Aerys than anyone thought. She even directly lampshades this in the second season when she confesses to Tyrion how sad she is that Joffrey turned out like he did. But, as Tyrion points out, she may have actually beaten the odds the Targaryens confronted (that every other Targaryen goes mad), in that two of her three children by incest are actually extremely decent people.
• Anti-Villain: Type I, in contrast with the books. Cersei is not genuinely evil as such, but is exceptionally nihilistic and cynical. She behaves ruthlessly because she believes that it is a prerequisite for survival. She also has sadistic tendencies, due to her desire to share her own internal pain with others.
• Arranged Marriage:
  • With Robert. She initially saw it as a Perfectly Arranged Marriage up until Robert came to her drunk and called her by his late betrothed's name on their wedding night.
  • Tywin commands her to marry Ser Loras. She's not amused.
• Battle Ballgown: She sports one of these in the last half of "Blackwater," though as the next entry down makes it abundantly clear it's just all for show.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: In "Blackwater" she obtains nightshade from Maester Pycelle and angrily retorts that she knows what 10 drops of it does (kill you) and also has Ilyn stand guard over the women taking shelter for the purposes of killing them if the Red Keep is breached. And at the climax of the battle she opts to sit on the Iron Throne with Tommen and is just about to give them both poison when her father bursts in.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Cersei played the game well enough when Robert was alive, but since his death she just can't keep up. Her plan to be the Woman Behind The Throne failed spectacularly when Joffrey orders Ned Stark executed and she's powerless to stop him. Then in Season 2 Tyrion constantly manages to out plan her with ease.
• Blondes are Evil
• Brother-Sister Incest / Twincest / Villainous Incest: with Jaime.
• Corrupt Politician: "When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die."
• Deadpan Snarker: Has her moments of this, especially in season 2
• Domestic Abuse
• Despair Event Horizon: Although she doesn't become a monster, after she and Robert have a conversation, where it initially looks like they're going to reconcile and improve their relationship, she is then rejected by Robert. This scene ends with Robert asking her how she feels, and her responding that she doesn't feel anything. Her subsequent actions make a lot more sense in light of this.
• Driven to Suicide: If wasn't for Tywin breaking the door in "Blackwater", she would do it, with her son Tommen, because she was convinced the city would fall to Stannis.
• Dumb Blonde: While Cersei isn't a complete moron, Tywin's assessment of her was perfect when he said that she is nowhere near as intelligent as she thinks she is. Her main flaw is that she continually underestimates people, and her level of misguided arrogance about her supposed political brilliance, prevents her from seeing that she is wrong. She lost control of Joffrey almost immediately after he became king, and her attempts to dispose of Tyrion were laughable failures.
• Enfant Terrible: Was no more charming when she was younger, as Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour reveals below.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She genuinely loves her children and twin brother... but not enough not to hop into bed with Lancel while Jaime's away.
• Even Evil Has Standards: She does not approve several of Joffrey's actions, such as ordering Ned Stark's execution and ordering a massacre of children.
  Cersei: Robert was a drunken fool, but he didn't enjoy cruelty.
• Evil Counterpart: To Catelyn.
• Evil Matriarch
• Freudian Excuse: Her hatred for Robert stems from him using her as a Replacement Goldfish for Lyanna.
• God Save Us from the Queen: She is not a pleasant person and is grooming Joffrey to follow in her footsteps. In "You Win or You Die," she fully metamorphoses into this trope when she orchestrates a Hunting Accident for Robert. Tyrion initially assumes it was her who gave the order for the purge of Robert's bastard children, and she doesn't admit that it was something Joffrey really shouldn't have done.
• Heel Realization: It's begun to dawn on her as of "A Man Without Honor" that doing everything in her power to protect and prop up Joffrey isn't such a good idea any more. She more-or-less admits to Tyrion that she made him a monster, figuratively, and literally, and the guilt is starting to eat away at her.
• Hidden Depths: Doubly so when Stannis's invasion approaches; she quotes Tywin on the subject of war and surprisingly she's the one who thinks up a defense via wildfire. She orders its mass-production and keeps this plan hidden from Tyrion, who takes over it anyway.
• Hoist By Her Own Petard: In Season 3. Jealous of Margaery's influence over Joffrey, Cersei enlists Littlefinger to find anything that she can use against the Tyrells. Littlefinger discovers that they plan to betroth Loras to Sansa. Littlefinger tells Cersei, Cersei tells Tywin, and Tywin decides to take the initiative by marrying Tyrion to Sansa and Cersei to Loras with the consent of neither.
• Hot Mom
• Hypocrite:
  • How dare you promise my baby Myrcella to some unhappy Arranged Marriage like mine and Robert's - oh, let's poke Sansa again about beheading more of her family members before her wedding to my monstrous son.
  • In Season 3 she smugly smiles when Tywin orders Tyrion to marry Sansa - and nearly breaks in tears when he orders her to marry Loras in turn.
• If Only You Knew: She threatens Tyrion that one day he'll love one woman and she will take her away just to spite him. That's precisely what happened to Tyrion's first love, Tysha. Tyrion's response is to stare at her with utter disdain and leave without saying a word.
• I Just Want to Be You: According to Lena Headey this is Cersei's Freudian Excuse for her incest with Jaime. There's subtle hints of it in the show too, such as Cersei discussing what she would do in Jaime's place, lamenting the fact that she was born a woman, and even doning an armored dress when the battle of the Blackwater looks to be turning in Stannis's favor.
  • In Season 3, it is implied that she prefers metallic accoutrements to her dresses because she associates it with armor.
• Infant Immortality: Averted. She mentions to Catelyn and later discusses with Robert how their first child died shortly after birth due to a fever.
• Jerkass: Unfriendly or hostile by default, petty, vindictive and an overall unpleasant person to be around. It goes without saying that she Hates Small Talk.
• Kick the Dog: An almost literal incident, when she has Sansa's direwolf killed because Arya's direwolf - who attacked Joffrey to defend her mistress - is unavailable. In general, her treatment of Sansa when the latter is a hostage of the Lannisters in King's Landing, though this is strangely mixed with occasional Pet the Dog moments.
• Kissing Cousins: With Lancel.
• Lady Macbeth: She's behind some of Robert and Jaime's callous or outright evil decisions.
• Love Is A Weakness: She believes this, because Love Makes You Dumb and compels you to do things you know you shouldn't to keep them happy and safe. The only people Cersei advises Sansa to love are her children since a mother has no choice in that.
• Love Makes You Evil: Apparently she used to have feelings for Robert when they married, but domestic abuse and Robert's love for Lyanna brutally changed that. Her relationship with Jaime doesn't seem to bring out the best in her either.
• Mama Bear: She goes to extremes when it concerns protecting her children: when it looks like Stannis Baratheon will sack King's Landing, she even prepares to poison her youngest to spare him from getting murdered by the victorious enemy troops.
• Manipulative Bitch
• Meaningful Name: Cersei is likely named in tribute to Circe (pronounced the same way) — the beautiful, duplicitous sorceress from The Odyssey.
• Mood Whiplash: Due to Tywin's Wham Line. Just before that, she had been shamelessly gloating over the fact that Tywin was going to force Tyrion to marry Sansa. And then Tywin tells her of his plans for her, and she's brought nearly to tears.
  Cersei: I am Queen Regent!
  Tywin: You are my daughter and you will do as I command!
• My Beloved Smother: She tried to be this for her children but has so far failed at it, rather spectacularly with Joffrey becoming an uncontrollable monster, Myrcella being spirited off to Dorne specifically to get her out of Cersei's clutches, and with Tommen being virtually a non-entity to her.
• My God, What Have I Done?: As Joffrey rises to ever new heights of cruelty and perversion, she finally acknowledges that having three inbred children with her twin brother wasn't such a great idea - considering what it did to the Targaryens - to say nothing of putting the most unstable of them on the Iron Throne itself. She breaks down in tears from the sheer knowledge that the son she loves (despite everything) is a psychopath. Nevertheless, in later episodes she undergoes a mild Selective Obliviousness
• Not So Different: Not explicitly pointed out in-universe, but Cersei doesn't look quite so morally superior to her philandering husband when we find out that she doesn't love Jaime enough to not quite literally get in bed with Lancel when he's captured by the Starks. So much for their pure Targaryen-esque love. In the second season, she proves to be as much of a bad ruler as he was, if not more so, and rapidly develops a similar fondness for drowning her sorrows in wine.
• Pet the Dog:
  • She convinces Joffrey to do something nice for Sansa during "Lord Snow," referencing her own unhappy arranged marriage.
  • On the event of Sansa's first menses, she counsels her on how best to survive a marriage to Joffrey
  • During Tyrion's wedding, she tries to divert a lecherous Joffrey away from Sansa. A somewhat weak, not pressed attempt but well-intentioned nevertheless.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Knows full well that a tame wolf is better than a dead one, so she plans to have Ned stripped of titles and lands and sent to the Night's Watch. Her plan fails when her son orders Ned's death. There is an element of Even Evil Has Standards here, albeit expressed in a cruel Ironic Echo- since Ned planned to exile her rather than allowing her and her children to be murdered, it is sort of "fair" to "only" plan to exile the Starks rather than killing them.
  • And in the second season even she seems taken aback by Joffrey's order to kill Robert's bastard children, not necessarily because of personal standards, but because something like murdering children and babies draws the wrong type of attention. She even seems offended that Tyrion initially thinks she was the one who ordered it. From the books...
    In the books, the purge of Robert's bastards was all her idea and Joffrey was unaware/uncaring of it, making for another point where Tyrion had to rein her in.
  • Subverted later on, when she withholds the plans for the city's defense from Tyrion just to spite him.
• Pride: A theme for the Lannisters. They all have a slightly different take on it.
  Cersei: He's attacked one of my brothers, and abducted the other. I should wear the armor, and you the gown.
  Robert: [hits her]
  Cersei: I shall wear this like a badge of honor.
• Princess Classic: She seemed to have been this when she was young but the double standard between her and Jaime embittered her.
• Regent for Life: One of the reasons she's turning progressively against Joffrey with each passing episode is that he ruined her plan to become his Regent for Life. It's her own damn fault for being a moron, but still.
• Sanity Slippage: She was much more calm, collected and rational in the first season than she is in the second. Her loss of Jaime and Joffrey's increasingly out of control attitude, complemented by her father's suddenly dismissive attitude towards her don't seem to be doing well for her mental faculties. Her despair over daughter Myrcella's impending Arranged Marriage can't help, either. She comes within inches of poisoning Tommen during "Blackwater" when she thinks that Stannis is about to break down the door.
• Smug Snake: She is not as brilliant as she thinks. Witness her dinner with Tyrion in "The Prince of Winterfell", where she gloats over the fact that she's holding Tyrion's whore hostage, while both Tyrion and the viewers know she's got the wrong woman altogether. Not that that makes Tyrion any less pissed at her contemptible behavior.
  • Her own father even points out that she overestimates her own intelligence; see below.
• Too Clever by Half: Quite a good schemer, at first. When the game gets more complex, she gets outplayed and struggles to grasp that she's in over her head.
  Lord Tywin: I don't distrust you because you're a woman. I distrust you because you're not as smart as you think you are. You've allowed that boy to ride roughshod over you and everyone else in this city.
• Troubled Abuser
• Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: She proudly recalls the time she had a 9 year old servant girl beaten to blindness for stealing a necklace, when she was of the same age.
• Villainous Breakdown: She's in this mode for the entire episode Blackwater, although it's a less hammy example then usual.
• Wham Line: From her father:
  Tywin: You'll marry Ser Loras.
• What an Idiot: Despite having some cunning in plotting, Cersei is far less intelligent than she thinks she is. She shows herself in several instances to be a terrible ruler and often makes mistakes out of spite or carelessness. Apparently, she cares nothing about public sentiment and doesn't realize that throwing people out of her city will draw their ire and how the ire of the mob is dangerous for kings and queens. Her understanding on the actual military threats posed by Stannis Baratheon and Robb Stark is likewise tenuous at best. Of course, a lot of these may be due to her rapidly becoming a not very functioning addict.invoked
  Tyrion: Listen to me, 'queen regent'. You're in danger of losing the people.
  Cersei: The people? Heh. You think I care?
  Tyrion: You may find it difficult to rule over millions who want you dead.
• With Us or Against Us: "Everyone who is not us is an enemy."
• Women Are Wiser: She appears wiser compared to many in court, as she's certainly wiser than Robert, not as impulsive as Jaime (there are sugar-high toddlers who are less impulsive than Jaime), nor as stupid and violent as Joffrey. However those are only comparisons against very extreme characters, and she makes a lot of mistakes once she thinks she has become the power behind the throne.
  • She is also completely right about Margaery Tyrell not being as harmless as she seems. Joffery ignores her.
• The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask: As Joffrey is only 16, she's technically the ruling sovereign of the Seven Kingdoms; her official title is even "Queen Regent". She even tries to assert her authority as such early on, but Joffrey takes a shotgun to that notion with six little words: "Ser Illyn, bring me his head!"
  • She still attempts to rule while Joffrey spends his time performing various cruelties, but Tyrion compromises much of her power for herself.
• Wicked Cultured
• You Should Have Died Instead: Strongly implied to be a factor in hating Tyrion. Leads to what is probably her best comeback.
  Cersei: Mother gone. All for the sake of you. There's no bigger joke in the world than that.

"I don't blame him, and I don't blame you. We don't get to choose who we love."

Played By: Nikolaj Coster Waldau

Jaime: "By what right does the wolf judge the lion? By what right-?!" (Jaime seizes).

Brienne: "Help us! The Kingslayer!"

Jaime: "Jaime. My name's Jaime."

Twin brother of Cersei, and older brother of Tyrion. A member of the Kingsguard, and Lord Commander after the forced retirement of Ser Barristan.

Tropes:

• The Ace: Generally considered to be one of the greatest swordsman in Westeros, if not the greatest. Subtly combined with Brilliant, but Lazy. When he tries, he's almost as cunning, charismatic and socially dominating as his father and little brother, but he's personally unambitious and is only ever recognized in-universe for his sublime swordsmanship and pretty face.
• Adaptational Villainy: He gets quite a few more Kick the Dog moments than in the books, most notably murdering his cousin Alton Lannister, who idolised him, as part of an escape attempt, which incidentally makes him a kinslayer, the only thing worse than a kingslayer. Mind you, Jaime in the books was Out of Focus until the third volume so he initially seemed like a grade-A prick there too.
• Affably Evil: It's kind of hard to remember to hate the guy when he's joking with Tyrion or trading war stories with Jory Cassel. And then he brutally stabs the latter through the eye. Quite the turnaround to further remind the audience of the "evil" part.
• Ambition Is Evil: Averted. Jaime is the the Lannister with the worst reputation but the least ambitious one; Tywin is disappointed by his lack of ambition, Cersei lobbies for his appointment as Hand of The King but Jaime shows little to no interest in holding office and Tyrion fails in the evil department, although he does love the game.
• An Arm and a Leg: Locke chops off his hand out of spite.
• Anti-Hero: In the third season, the reveal of his heroic Hidden Depths and the selfless deeds he commits establish him firmly in this category.
• Anti-Villain: His characterization in the first two seasons. A man who doesn't hesitate to kill a child or a kin for his own benefit but who possesses some sympathetic traits and standards.
• Armor-Piercing Question: To Brienne
  Jaime: Tell me if your precious Renly commanded you to kill your own father and stand by while thousands of men, women, and children burned alive would you have done it? Would you have kept your oath then?
• Arrogant Swordsman Guy: A gifted man full of hubris. It starts to wear off in Season 3, slowly at first, what with getting his ass kicked by Brienne, and conclusively after "Walk of Punishment", a turning point where most of the arrogance is well and truly gone. After all, it's hard to be a swordsman of any kind with no sword hand.
• Badass
• Badass Boast
  Jaime: "I'm going to open your lord up from balls to brains and see what Starks are made of."
• Badass Decay: Certainly seems to be going through this in-universe as from the beginning of the series we see him having a rougher go than he should be fighting an older man, being captured, beaten by a woman, and finally having his hand cut off and with it all of his prodigious prowess as a swordsman. He may be the first Badass Woobie we've ever seen.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: When commenting that Renly really wasn't Brienne's type.
  Jaime: "You weren't Renly's type I'm afraid. He preferred curly haired little girls like Loras Tyrell."
• Bait the Dog: Two humanizing scenes have him bonding with Jory and his cousin Alton. Jory gets a callous answer in the end and before long, both of them are rather casually killed by Jaime.
• Big Brother Instinct: Toward Tyrion.
• Big Damn Heroes: He returns to Harrenhal just in time to rescue Brienne from a live bear.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: The source of his infamous nickname: Kingslayer. Even worse for him, in that it was Aerys that he killed, and while almost everyone is happy for such a monstrous man to be dead, they still dislike Jaime for having broken his oath to protect the king. Somewhat justified by the high premium that is (at least publicly) placed on honor.
• Blood Knight: Loves a good fight, but is also courageous and (in most case) honorable, as demonstrated by him sparing Ned after one of his men "taints" the victory by stabbing Ned in the leg.
• Blond Guys Are Evil
• Break the Haughty: Despite numerous forces attempting to break him down (see Humiliation Conga below), Jaime remains as smug and arrogant as ever right up until the moment where he loses his hand.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Shows no greater ambition that to be a member of the Kingsguard. This contrasts with his father who remade the Lannisters as the strongest house, his sister who tried to make herself the power behind the throne, and his brother who basically ruled King's Landing. Jaime displays cunning with his manipulation of Steelshanks and Locke, but rarely uses it.
• Brother-Sister Incest / Twincest / Villainous Incest: With Cersei.
• Byronic Hero: The darker end of this trope.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Why Ned doesn't trust him since he killed King Aerys even though he was supposed to protect the King.
  • It's somewhat ironic that he's seen this way given that his loyalty and love for his family are his most significant redeeming traits. In fact, one of the main reasons he killed Aerys was because he was forced to choose between his king and his family. Obviously, Kingsguard being what they are, everyone's within their rights to dispute the decision he made, but seriously—can you blame him?
• Conflicting Loyalty: Likes to remark that the oaths about honoring your family and honoring your King are forced to be helplessly contradictory sooner or later.
• Country Matters
• Crippling Overspecialization: While he's perfectly cunning and intelligent for a warrior, Jaime has built his entire life, career, reputation and self-respect arround being one of the best swordsmen in the kingdom.
  It's a good thing I am who I am. I'd have been useless at anything else.
• Deadpan Snarker: He tends to slip at least one of these into every conversation he makes. But of particular note;
  King in the North! You know, I expect you to leave me at one castle or another for safekeeping but you just drag me along camp to camp. Have you grown fond of me Stark, is that it? I've never seen you with a girl.
• Defrosting Ice King: Towards Brienne
• The Dog Bites Back: It's been implied that his murder of Aerys was a case of this. In the books...
  This is confirmed, since among other things Jaime was forced to stand by and listen as Aerys brutally raped his wife Rhaella, and Jaime would "go inside" his own mind when that happened, implying that it left him with a degree of PTSD.
• The Dragon/Co-Dragons: He's trusted by Lord Tywin with half of the Lannister forces and attains some glory in the field, but his war days are quickly ended when he gets ensnared by Robb Stark.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Not his first scene, but being able to shove a child out a window with only a flippant little comment about "The things I do for love" is a pretty big moment.
  • Gets a second one in "The Kingsroad" while talking to Jon Snow.
  • His first scene where he gets a significant number of lines to himself, onscreen, in fact, is the scene where he's joking around with Tyrion in the brothel. That episode is Jaime in a nutshell, really — dangerous, doesn't mind killing children, loves his family.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He and Cersei are clearly very much in love, and he's very protective of his brother Tyrion.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Knocks down a soldier who unceremoniously stabs Ned in the leg during his duel with the latter. When talking with his father in "You Win or You Die," he comments that this act made him spare Ned's life as killing him in this situation wouldn't be "clean." Tywin basically replies that standards are for pussies.
  • He also feels contempt for rapists.
  • Why he killed Aerys.
  • Unlike his father, sister, and his son, he has no problem with homosexuality and even sympathises with them, given his own affection.
• Fair Cop: The youngest Kingsguard in history when he was appointed, a record he still holds.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Brienne, eventually.
• Foil: To Ned and, later, Brienne; his code of flexible morality contrasts their strict adherence to their own code of honor.
• Guile Hero: After losing his sword hand, he's forced to rely on his wits and cunning to accomplish tasks, such as playing on Steelshanks' sense of self-preservation to help him save Brienne from the bear pit.
• The Heart: Subtle, but there. He's the only Lannister who likes all the other Lannisters, and the only Lannister all the other Lannisters like. When he's captured by Rob and imprisoned for a season and a half, the rest of his family practically starts tearing each other to pieces.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: He considers himself this. Shown to be at least partially true in Season 3, when he reveals that he assassinated Aerys Targaryen to prevent him burning King's Landing to the ground.
• Heroic BSOD: After losing his hand, he completely shuts off from the world and refuses to eat until Brienne snaps him out of it.
• Hidden Depths: On rare occasions he has demonstrated considerable empathy with others, much like Tyrion. He sympathises with Renly and Brienne for suffering for their love, and is genuinely distraught that he is so hated and held in contempt by the entire realm, including by men he admires and likes.
• Humiliation Conga: After his fight with Eddard Stark, he's berated by his father for being rash and stupid, and then subsequently defeated in the field and captured by Robb Stark. He then spends the next year or so as a prisoner trotted from camp to camp and kept in a grubby pen, covered in his own filth. When he's finally freed from captivity, he's escorted, in chains, by a stoic woman whom he's constantly at odds with. His attempted escape ends with him losing a sword fight to said woman, being recaptured by the enemy, and, finally, losing his sword hand.
• Hollywood Atheist: He seems to hold no faith for the Old Gods nor the New and seems to be disdainful of religious people, if his exchange with Catelyn is an indication. He even uses the old 'Problem of Evil' thing.
  If your gods are real, and if they're just, why is the world so full of injustice?
• Hot Dad: He is the biological father of Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella.
• I Have Your Brother: Has been captured by the Starks, who plan to use him as a hostage against Cersei.
  • From the books
    Also the reason why The Mad King kept Jaime in the capitol during Robert's Rebellion, even though all the other White Swords was sent out to fight—Ser Barristan Selmy, Ser Jonothor Darry and Prince Lewyn Martell of Dorne to the ruby ford, where the latter two died alongside Rhaegar Targaryen; and Ser Oswell Whent, Ser Arthur Dayne, called "Sword of the Morning," and Lord Commander Gerold Hightower, the White Bull himself, to the tower of joy in Dorne, where Eddard Stark and his companions slew them whilst trying to rescue Lyanna. Aerys's plans were very straightforward: if House Lannster were to raise its banners in rebellion, Aerys could easily have Jaime killed. The Mad King had already made this threat to Prince Doran Martell—"I have your brother in the Kingsguard AND your sister as my daughter-in-law"—which is why Dorne fought for House Targaryen.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: After he loses his hand happens to him literally... off his horse... into the mud... before he drinks piss.
• I Did What I Had to Do: His rationale for killing Aerys.
• In-Series Nickname: The Kingslayer. He really doesn't like it. He assassinated Aerys, the last Targaryen king, which emptied the throne for Robert. However, it also gave him a really bad reputation because he was a member of the Kingsguard, who were supposed to defend the king with their lives. This has made the people see him as a man who will quickly change his loyalty when it suits him. From the books
  His other nicknames are Oathbreaker and the Young Lion
• Jerk With A Heart Of Jerk ->with a Heart of Gold: Consistently arrogant, and has a knack for causing the audience to want to see him killed. Not necessarily all that far from being completely unsympathetic, although he is saved from this by having ''some'' standards.
• Jerkass Has a Point: When Catelyn tries to insult him by calling him 'Kingslayer' Jaime points out that the king in question was an insane monster. Cat calls him out on taking vows as a knight and Jaime counters by saying that several of his vows clashed. Then Jaime points out that Ned Stark, while honourable, was not without his flaws either.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: In the third season, right after performing a more-or-less selfless act of good, he resumes being cocky and overconfident and karma catches up with him in the form of having his right hand chopped off.
• Knight in Shining Armor: A literal knight in literally shining armor, he certainly looks the part. His actions, on the other hand...
  • Knight in Sour Armor: His general perception of chivalry after how he has been treated for his "kingslaying" as the least honorable man in Westeros despite having a damn good reason for having done so.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: He seems to be one of the very few people who genuinely loves and cares for Tyrion, and he thus reacts badly when Tyrion's safety is threatened. Cersei also mentions that he would have killed Robert if he found out about the Domestic Abuse in "You Win or You Die."
• The Knights Who Say Squee: He admits to having made a fool out of himself as a boy when he got to be the squire of his hero Ser Barristan Selmy for a day.
• L Is For Dyslexia: When he was a boy. Tywin refused to accept the negative diagnosis of the Maester and sat him down for four hours every day until he learned. For this, Jaime resented his father for a long time.
• Lack of Empathy: Aside from his immediate family, Jaime has a lot of trouble understanding the emotional state of other people. Or at least taking such into account when thinking. This is either because he's genuinely an idiot in regards to this, or much like his brother, he can't resist a snark.
• Licked by the Dog: A subtle one, but it's worth noting that there are very few things that every single member of the Lannister family agrees on: they all think gold is awesome, they all appreciate a devastating and witty insult, and they all love Jaime.
• Logic Bomb: Argues this about all the contradictory oaths he swore as a knight and member of the Kingsguard.
• Love Makes You Evil: "The things I do for love," indeed.
• Magical Database: Of lords and their sigils. Given his proficiency at duels and tournaments he's probably fought at least one member of every house at some point.
• Master Swordsman: Ironically, one of the few remaining knights of the Kingsguard who actually earned that position and isn't just a Lannister political appointee.
• Memetic Badass: In-universe; everyone knows he's an accomplished fighter.
  Littlefinger: I bet on Ser Jaime in the jousting, as any sane man would...
• Moral Event Horizon: In-Universe, many people, including Ned Stark, consider his Bodyguard Betrayal of Aerys to be this. In reality it was pretty much the polar opposite to this trope, but no one other than Brienne knows nor cares at this point
• Mr. Fanservice
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • In his youth, Jaime engineered a Rescue Sex scenario in the benefit of Tyrion. His younger brother, unaccustomed to kindness, felt in love and married the girl, who was actually a sex worker. Tywin put an end to it; he pimped her out to his whole guard and forced Tyrion to watch, leaving him mentally scarred for life.
  • On the way back to King's Landing, hears that Locke rejected Brienne's father's offer of a ransom, since he found a mere 300 gold dragons an insult coming from an island full of sapphires. Now where did he get that idea? Oh.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
  • His first truly selfless act, convincing Locke to not rape Brienne, eventually results in his hand being chopped off.
  • His murder of The Caligula in his backstory got him a reputation for Chronic Backstabbing Disorder that haunts him to this day.
  • Buying a whore to give his little brother some experience ended with her being gang raped on his father's orders to psychologically torture Tyrion.
• The Oathbreaker: Breaking the oath of the Kingsguard makes many see him as the lowest of the low, though he makes it clear that his oaths were inherently contradictory.
• Oh Crap:
  • When Robb interrogates him and brings out Grey Wind, where he's literally seeming as if he's about to piss himself. So much for 'not fearing death'.
  • When Brienne curbstomps the three Northmen he's open-mouthed, having twigged that, yeah, she probably could beat him. A suspicion that's confirmed when he actually does fight her and she damn near ruins him.
  • When Locke presses his knife right into his eyeball he starts crying. Then, after a second or two of pure shock he screams his guts out when Locke cuts off his hand with a giant "OH FUCK!" look on his face.
• Ooc Is Serious Business: In season 3 after losing his hand there are subtle signs that Jaime is changing, as he rants about why he hates being called Kingslayer after years of silence and shows hints of sexual attraction to a woman other than Cersei.
• Parental Favoritism: Jaime is the Lannister who receives the least disdainful treatment from Tywin, even getting proud compliments on occasion. It helps that they have shared a single scene in the whole series, where Jaime is briefly scolded for wasting his unique skills serving as a glorified bodyguard.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: He stabbed the Mad King in the back.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Despite the clear animosity between them, he tells Ned that his father and brother were very brave and genuinely means it.
    Jaime: He was very brave, your brother. And your father too. They didn't deserve to die like that.
  • Even though he was quite happy to mock Renly's sexual orientation just to get a rise out of Brienne, he shortly afterward expresses some very genuine empathy for them, with a subtle implication that he had his own relationship with Cersei in mind.
    Jaime: "I don't blame him. And I don't blame you. We don't get to choose who we love."
  • After he and Brienne are captured by Locke, he warns her that they most likely intend to rape her and then attempts to persuade her not to fight back so she doesn't get herself killed as well. When that fails, he ends up saving her himself by persuading Locke that she'd be much more valuable to him if she's alive and un-raped.
• Pride: Often comes across as very arrogant and uncaring of others. However his father Tywin points out this is merely how he wants to be viewed.
  Jaime: I could care less [sic] what anyone thinks of me.
  Tywin: No, that's what you want people to think of you.
  • In noticeable contrast to his brother Tyrion, who realises the importance of gaining a friend in your enemy's camp, Jaime briefly bonds with the Stark's captain of the guard, Jory Cassel (who's come to deliver a message) over their past experience in the Greyjoy rebellion, only to coldly reject the man when Jory asks if he can leave the message with Jaime. Mind you Jaime kills Jory not long after, so maybe he's right not to get close but the incident shows how Jaime alienates himself even from those who might otherwise admire him.
• Quizzical Tilt: Jaime's reaction after seeing Brienne slay three soldiers without any effort.
• Reality Ensues: After snatching a sword from Brienne and freeing himself, Jaime challenges her to a sword fight. Being malnourished and weakened from his time as a prisoner of war, the battle goes decidedly in Brienne's favour.
• Red Baron: The Kingslayer.
• Sincerity Mode: Seems to go into this as he's trying to explain what's going to happen to Brienne when they are captured by Stark bannermen. One of his heart of gold moments.
• Single-Target Sexuality: He tells Catelyn Stark that he has only ever been with Cersei and no-one else. Before using that little fact to point out her husband Ned did not show her any such loyalty when he fathered a bastard. Subverted ever so slightly in the episode "Kissed By Fire", where he checks out Brienne in the bath for a second when feverish.
• Sympathetic Murderer: He killed King Aerys, thereby damning him as dishonourable scum in the eyes of the whole kingdom, in order to save the whole of King's Landing and his father from a wildfire trap that the Mad King had lain beneath the city.
• Sympathy For The Hero: Shows some for Ned, as well as Ned's father and brother.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Break his oath to protect the Mad King, or stand by and let thousands of innocents die. The nickname Kingslayer ought to clue you in on what Jaime chose.
• Too Clever by Half: Gifted, influential and smart-mouthed, he loves to casually upstage chivalric foes but eventually goes too far and overplays his hand.
• Tragic Villain: He knows that he's detested by society, all for a single act that he considered heroic and which saved countless lives.
• Troll: With Brienne. It's amazing that she hasn't strangled him yet. Probably because she swore to get him to King's Landing safely (for a given value of safe) but still, Jaime cannot shut up.
  Brienne: I will NOT let you provoke me.
  Jaime: I already have!
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: By mid-Season 3, his relationship with Brienne approaches that of an old married couple.
• What You Are in the Dark: Jaime's most compassionate acts in his life are known only to Brienne. In the first case he killed the Mad King to save King's Landing from a wildfire explosion that would have murdered hundreds of thousands of innocents, and in the second he lied to Locke to spare Brienne's life.
• Wicked Cultured
• The Worf Effect: Is defeated with almost contemptuous ease by Brienne in the second episode of Season 3, demonstrating just how incredibly good she is.
  • Worf Had The Flu: Mostly because he'd been chained up with inadequate food and exercise prior to his journey with Brienne, making him completely out of practice, and he still has chains on his wrists and ankles when he instigates the fight.
• Worthy Opponent: He seems to regard Lord Eddard Stark as one, especially after Eddard was capable of holding his own in a fight against Jaime.
  "Brave man that Ned Stark, but terrible judgment." - Jaime on the man, after receiving a letter demanding that Tywin appear at Kings Landing to explain the actions of Gregor Clegane.
  • However, he also clearly has a lot of resentment for the "Honorable Ned Stark" for not even giving him a chance to explain why he killed Aerys, and judging him as being a dishonorable monster for this genuinely well intentioned and heroic action, despite Ned not being as squeaky clean as others believed.

"Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you."

Played By: Peter Dinklage

Tywin Lannister: "You are an ill-made, spiteful little creature full of envy, lust and low cunning. Men's laws give you the right to bear my name and display my colors, since I cannot prove that you are not mine. And to teach me humility, the gods have condemned me to watch you waddle about, wearing the proud lion that was my father's sigil, and his father's sigil before him. But neither gods nor men will ever compel me to turn Casterly Rock into your whorehouse."

The youngest Lannister sibling, brother of Jaime and Cersei. He has dwarfism. He is currently serving as Joffrey's Master of Coin, chief treasurer of the Seven Kingdoms.

Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Suffered under one and still does, as Tywin's ascendancy keeps hurting him well into his adulthood.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: He is repeatedly described as horribly ugly in the books, while Peter Dinklage is quite attractive. His Mismatched Eyes have also been removed, and a grievous injury suffered later in the series has been changed from a cut off nose to a large (and admittedly rather hideous, although Margaery finds it attractive) scar. On the other hand, he appears to have put on some years in the adaptation; Tyrion is the younger sibling of Jaime and Cersei but looks older than both (which is sensible, considering Dinklage is in his forties). His facial deformity in the books probably translates to looking older than his years onscreen.
• The Alcoholic: He's definitely very high-functioning, but that doesn't change the fact that he's almost never seen without some kind of booze. Tywin is particularly annoyed by this and tends to withhold Tyrion's cups during their interactions.
• An Axe to Grind: He prefers to fight with an axe, probably because his stature would make using a sword extremely awkward.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Tyrion confesses to childhood pranks like putting goatshit in his uncle's boots, and masturbating into a pot of turtle stew "that I do believe my sister ate, or at least I hope she did!"
• Anti-Villain/Anti-Hero: In the most technical sense, Tyrion is loyal to, and furthering the goals of, the 'villainous' House Lannister.
• Arranged Marriage: Tywin orders him to marry and impregnate Sansa to stop the Tyrells from marrying her to Loras.
• Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: He and Shae have the most positively adorable scene in "Dark Wings, Dark Worlds" that drips with this trope.
• Badass
  • Badass Bookworm: Who would expect him to beat a highwayman to death with nothing but the point of a kite-shield?
  • Badass Army: Has his own personal force of mountain clansmen, who have proven to be the Lannisters' most effective front-line offense and defense.
  • Badass Boast: "I will hurt you for this. A day will come when your joy will turn to ashes, and you will know the debt is paid."
  • Four Star Badass: Proves himself to be quite the strategist and a capable commander in Blackwater. Bonus points for leading a counterattack.
  • Took a Level in Badass: The highwayman is his first kill. By the time he leads the defense of King's Landing against Stannis, he has taken several.
• Batman Gambit: The way he fishes The Mole in the Small Council. He feeds each member a different version of the same story and tells them to not tell Cersei, so when he is confronted by Cersei over one of the versions he knows who's the one spilling the beans to her. Somewhat hilariously, Tyrion tells the most ridiculous version to Varys (that he plans to marry Myrcella to Theon Greyjoy), who sees through Tyrion's gambit immediately, but says nothing, due to his budding friendship with Tyrion.
• Because I'm Good At It: The reason he gives for carrying on with his lifestyle of plotting and scheming, even though he's lost his authority, been denied any kind of reward for all his hard work, and he's been targeted for assassination more than once.
• Berserk Button: Not as obvious as most examples, but Tyrion has a special hatred for people who abuse the weak, as seen by what he does to Janos because he carried out Joffrey's purge of Robert's bastard children, including infants held in their mother's arms and didn't even blink.
  • Reinforced by his outright fury and disgust at Joffrey and Meryn's treatment of Sansa in "Garden of Bones", delivering a very subtle, but very dangerous threat to the former and openly threatening to have Bronn kill the latter.
    Meryn: No one threatens His Grace in the presence of the Kingsguard!
    Tyrion: I'm not threatening the King, ser, I am educating my nephew. Bronn, the next time Ser Meryn speaks, kill him. That was a threat. See the difference?
  • Even though Cersei thankfully didn't manage to get hold of Shae, Tyrion is still furious at her treatment of poor Ros, and his Badass Boast of how he'll make her pay for it one day has at least some genuine weight behind it.
  • Tyrion once again proves that he can't stand making the innocent suffer when he calls out his father on his order to marry him to Sansa Stark:
    Tyrion: Joffrey has made this poor girl's life miserable since the day he took her father's head. Now she's finally free of him and you'll give her to me?! That's cruel, even for you!
  • As of "Second Sons", Joffrey seems to have become Tyrion's new berserk button due to him personifying all of the above cruelty and sadism towards innocents and those unable to defend themselves, including himself and Sansa, as well as finding out that he was the ungrateful cunt who tried to have him assassinated despite literally being the only reason he even survived the siege of Kings Landing still a king and still with a head attached. While he clearly had nothing but disgust and contempt for the little shit beforehand as shown by repeated imp-slapping, their interactions during Tyrion and Sansa's wedding show just how much he truly despises his nephew to the point of loudly and furiously threatening to castrate him in public after Joffrey threatens to rape Sansa.
• Blackmail: How he turns Lancel into his mole, by threatening to tell Joffrey that Lancel is playing bedwarmer to Cersei.
• Brains and Brawn:
  • How he views his relationship with Jaime: "My brother has his sword, and I have my mind".
  • His initial role with Bronn and the Hill Tribes. Later on, Tyrion displays some talent for violence and Bronn's own brand of cleverness shows up.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: He's very fond of this verbal structure.
  Tyrion: "What do you want, Bronn? Gold? Women?... Golden women?"
• Bookworm
• Bodyguard Betrayal: During "Blackwater", by a member of the Kingsguard, though this isn't a perfect example in that the betrayal is somewhat tangential, (i.e. the king's bodyguard attacks the king's right-hand man.) Meanwhile Tyrion's own bodyguard (squire, technically), Podrick Payne, shoves a lance through the attacker's face. Tyrion learns later that Joffrey and not Cersei was the "mastermind" of this half-assed, highly conspicuous plot.
• Byronic Hero: The lighter end of this trope.
• The Chessmaster
• Character Tics: Has a penchant for whistling when he's happy, and gets happier if this sign of his incoming presence is annoying somebody else.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Despite his infamous habit of whoring, Tyrion has so far been shown to treat all the women he sleeps with well, and is disgusted whenever he sees them being treated badly. Given his disgust for people who treat weaker people badly and his personal history this makes perfect sense.
• Cool Uncle: To the younger two of Cersi's children, at least. To Joffrey... well, Jaime may be known as the Kingslayer, but Tyrion is shaping up to be the Kingslapper. It's later revealed that the failed assassination attempt during the Battle of the Blackwater was planned by Joffrey, as revenge for all the times Tyrion completely humiliated him.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Death by Childbirth: His mother died giving birth to Tyrion. Part of Tywin and Cersei's animosity stems from it, as they consider him some sort of murderer because of his tragic birth.
• Depraved Dwarf: Subverted. Despite his bad reputation and taste for booze and whores, he's a much better person than his siblings and is a fundamentally decent guy.
• The Dog Bites Back: Tyrion has been treated like crap ever since the Battle of the Blackwater, as he was maimed in an assassination ordered by his nephew, rejected by his father, unappreciated for his efforts and forced into a betrothal he didn't want. So when Joffrey tries to organize a bedding for him and Sansa with a rape-y undertone, Tyrion publicly threatens to geld him with a knife.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: After holding the fort for the family during a brief but good chancellorship, he brings himself to ask his father for some recognition and consideration, but Tywin rewards him with a callously devastating "The Reason You Suck" Speech instead.
• Everyone Has Standards: Tyrion is disgusted by Janos Slynt murdering a baby, and revokes his title and sends him off to the Wall. Tyrion, while a member of the closest thing to a "villainous" faction in this series, fits this trope rather than Even Evil Has Standards due to being a good person at heart.
• Fatal Flaw: His inability to shut his mouth. He has on more than one occasion gotten himself into as many bad situations as he has out of them because of his mouth.
• Freudian Excuse: In "Baelor," it's revealed that when Tyrion was sixteen, Jaime hired a whore to pretend to be rescued from rapists and sleep with him. He fell madly in love and married her, but a fortnight later Tywin found out and cruelly told him the truth, and then forced him to watch as she was paid to have sex with/be raped by his entire garrison. It's not difficult to see how he became a wee bit cynical, particularly regarding his family or why he seems more comfortable hiring sellswords and prostitutes than seeking out real friends and lovers.
• Friendly Rivalry: With Varys.
• Genre Savvy: To an exceptional degree. As soon as he sees a slightly unruly crowd in King's Landing, he has guards quickly escort his nephew Tommen to safety before Joffrey angers the mob into violence.
• The Good Chancellor: Joffrey's much needed counterbalance. In no small part, the Lannister banner was narrowly sustained thanks to his brief but brilliant stint as acting Hand of the King.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Inverted. Thanks to the above Bodyguard Betrayal, he now sports what would quite readily qualify for Evil Scars if he were actually evil.
• Guile Hero: Although his being a Lannister may cause other characters to see him in a more villainous light, there is no doubt of his incredible ability to charm, manipulate, bluff, and talk his way out of a bad situation. For example: laying the groundwork for Bronn to champion him a full episode before he even knew there'd be a trial by combat. He's also able to talk his way from a situation where he's likely to be murdered by hill tribesmen to getting said hill tribesmen to serve as his bodyguards.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: He's dismayed when he discovers that the people blame him for Joffrey and Cersei's actions, who he has actually tried to stop, mostly because he is a dwarf.
• Hyper Awareness: Likely inherited from his father; Tyrion is very adept at reading people quickly. In "The Old Gods And The New" he actually sees the riot coming just by looking over the crowd and tries to get everyone to safety before it sparks.
• Inadequate Inheritor: He's openly told so by Lord Tywin, who disregards that Tyrion is his lawful heir and laments that he cannot disprove Tyrion's lineage.
• Indy Ploy: Half his gambits simply seem to come completely off the top of his head, and he gets away through a combination of quick wits, a razor tongue, extensive knowledge of everyone's weaknesses, and sheer balls. The other half are meticulously planned out deceptions.
  • Of note is when he blackmails Lancel into becoming his mole. There's no indication that he even planned it. Lancel shows up at his door, and in the middle of the subsequent conversation, Tyrion just seems to decide "I need a mole. You fit.(blackmail ensues)"
  • Pulls of a masterful one against Cersei in "The Prince of Winterfell", when she tells him that she's captured his whore, and then brings her out so Tyrion can see she's really alive. Thing is, it's actually Ros, not Shae, but Tyrion plays along and pretends she really is the one he loves, keeping Cersei ignorant about Shae. You can actually see the wheels turning in his head as he figures out how to play this.
• In-Series Nickname: Often referred to insultingly as "The Imp" and "Halfman," not that he's all that insulted, and he's the first to admit that he's a dwarf or to make jokes about becoming "Quarter-Man". His Hillman allies even take Half-Man as a battlecry as do the Kingsguard during the battle of Blackwater. Shae calls him "My Little Lion". The one nickname he's seemed actually bothered by is "demon monkey", and only because he's blamed for the King's atrocities by the angry mob.
• In Vino Veritas: When Tyrion is exceptionally drunk he lets hidden sides of himself rise to the surface. He told Shae and Bronn about his disastrous first marriage in a very depressed tone, and at the drunkest he's been on screen he angrily threatened to castrate Joffrey when pushed too far.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's cynical, sarcastic, crude, drunk, and a lover of whores, but he is also one of the kindest characters in the series. Witness his interactions with his niece Myrcella and nephew Tommen, Jon Snow, Bran Stark, and Sansa Stark.
  Tyrion: I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards, and broken things.
  • In his own ticked off way, he even seems to be trying to help Joffrey to become a better ruler for a while (yes, the "help" does involve a lot of smacking, but at least the smacking comes with advice that is actually useful, and that Joffrey actually seems to listen to every now and then). Eventually, however, he gives up on him as a lost cause.
• Kid with the Leash: Essentially how Tywin views his relationship with the wildling clans.
• Knight in Sour Armor
• Licked by the Dog: His nephew and niece clearly loving him is our first clue that he is a rare decent Lannister, and he is shown to adore them in return.
• Like Father, Like Son: His dad being more of a jerk aside, out of Tywin's 3 kids, Tyrion is easily the most similar to him. Both seem to possess Hyper Awareness, both are adapt at forging alliances, both are capable commanders AND politicians.
• Love Makes You Evil: He's implied that he expects this to happen to him at some point.
  Tyrion: I'd kill for you, you know that? I expect I'll have to before this is over.
• Marital Rape License: Ultimately declines to exercise his with regards to Sansa.
• Minored In Asskicking: His best and preferred weapon are his mind and his tongue but he has killed someone with just a shield. Tyrion's definitely taken some night classes since becoming Hand of the King, to the point where he leads the defense of King's Landing in the Battle of Blackwater.
• Mr. Vice Guy: A notorious whoremonger and party animal. He settles down considerably after hooking up with Shae.
• My Family Right or Wrong: "My dear brother, you wound me. You know how much I love my family." Of course, while he's being entirely sarcastic when he says it, he does tend go along with what's expected of him in the end — if not exactly in a manner the rest of his family approves of.
• Nay Theist: He seems to hate the gods almost as much as his father.
  Tyrion: The Lord of Light wants his enemies burned. The Drowned God wants them drowned. Why are the gods such vicious cunts? Where's the god of tits and wine?
  Varys: In the Summer Isles, they worship a fertility goddess with 16 teats.
  Tyrion: We should sail there immediately.
• Never Heard That One Before: Expressed through facial dialogue whenever he's told to keep a low profile or some other variant of "stay low."
• No, Except Yes: This exchange in "Nightlands":
  Janos: I won't have my honor questioned by an imp!
  Tyrion: I'm not questioning your honor Lord Janos... I'm denying its existence.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: His life story in a nutshell, but especially in "Blackwater".
• Noodle Incident: Tyrion's confession about the jackass and the honeycomb in the whorehouse, part of one of his Poke the Poodle incidents from his youth, is interrupted by an indignant Lysa, and we never hear the rest, despite Lord Robin wanting to know the end.
• Not so Above It All: The usually cool and snarky Tyrion finally loses it when Joffrey's stupidity nearly gets them all ripped apart by a mob in "The Old Gods and the New".
  Tyrion: We've had vicious kings and we've had idiot kings but I don't know if we've ever been cursed with a vicious idiot for a king!
• Only Sane Employee: Bordering on Only Sane Man. Tywin acknowledges this by appointing him "Hand of the King" in his stead.
• Oh Me Accents Slipping: Peter Dinklage's American accent leaks through at times.
• OOC Is Serious Business: Look Not so Above It All above.
• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Given that Westeros is just a few degrees off a Standard Fantasy Setting, Tyrion's being a human with dwarfism counts as an aversion.
• Pet the Dog: Occasionally has moments of these. He designs an adaptive saddle for the crippled Bran to allow him to ride a horse, gives friendly advice to Jon Snow, protects Sansa from Joffrey and condemns the massacre of Robert's bastards.
• Poke the Poodle: He presents several pranks he played as a child as crimes worth confessing before court.
• Pragmatic Hero
• Pride: Believes that having too much pride is foolish and it's better to wear your flaws openly;
  Tyrion: Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armour, and it can never be used to hurt you.
• Promoted to Opening Titles: Sort of. Peter Dinklage has always been in the opening ("...and Peter Dinklage"), but as of Season 2 he is billed first, as opposed to Sean Bean, who was demoted to head on a spike at the end of the first season.
• Really Gets Around: His love of whores is infamous. Just look at his opening scene.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He is given nearly the same twice, first by Cersei, then by Tywin. Both blame him for the death of their mother/wife.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Jaime's red and also to Joffrey's sanguinary red.
• Refuge in Audacity:
  • His confession to the court and most of the times he saves his own life by talking his way out of danger. He even notes that he's always been lucky.
  • This is how he seemingly gets away with all but openly insulting Joffrey to his face; as noted above, he even threatened to kill a Kingsguard if he spoke again, in court, in front of the King himself!
  • During "The Old Gods And The New" he not only gets away with calling Joffrey an idiot to his face, he then slaps him again (while he's king) and then waves his hand in front of Joffrey, saying "And now I've struck a king! Did my hand fall from my wrist?"
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: This is his own self-effacing protest when Tywin names him Master of Coin. While he's one of the brightest political minds in Westeros, he hasn't got a clue when it comes to ecconomics. See Bronn and Pod: he has no idea how much he's even paying the former and is legitimately surprised to learn he's not even paying the latter.
• Rousing Speech: Both times he is forced to go into battle.
• Scars Are Forever: Is badly wounded by Ser Mandon Moore of the Kingsguard during the Battle of Blackwater, leaving a hideous wound. Tyrion ends up with three pretty serious scars (one on his forehead, one on the bridge of his nose, and one on his right cheek), but they're far less serious than those in the book, in which his face is virtually hacked off and he loses his nose entirely, an outcome indirectly alluded to by Cersei.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Like father, like son. His go-to solution in problematic situations is to attempt to buy his way out. However, his particular skill is offering money in a charismatic and audacious way, which allows him to win the loyalty of those he pays off.
• Short Blond and Snarky
• The Strategist
• Talking the Monster to Death: His favorite tactic. When he's put on trial, he delivered a hilarious monologue, which made the nobles of the Eyrie more sympathetic to him and convinced Bronn to come over to his side. His talking also keeps him from being killed by Shagga, and gets him faithful soldiers too.
• Troll: Which is also his biggest weakness. Tyrion's Fatal Flaw is that he just can't help snidely mocking people even in situations where it would be a really bad idea to do so.
• The Unfavourite: "All dwarves are bastards in their father's eyes."
• “Well Done Son” Guy:
  • Tyrion's expression when Tywin told him he's sending him to King's Landing as his substitute 'cause "You're my son." is heartbreaking. In the books...
    He's furious with Tywin instead, assuming this means that Tywin is giving Jaime up for dead and is making Tyrion his Replacement Goldfish.
  • Seen in again in the third season premiere where he wanted Tywin to acknowlege his successes as Hand of the King and officially name Tyrion the heir to Casterly Rock. Not only does Tywin deny him both but he gives Tyrion a "The Reason You Suck" Speech instead.
• White Sheep/Token Good Son: To the Lannister family. Peter Dinklage described him as the "Good Bad Guy" or the "Bad Good Guy."
• Wicked Cultured
• Worthy Opponent: Tyrion doesn't hate his adversaries and isn't above recognizing and praising their virtues, what allows him to analytically assess'em, unlike the more dismissive Lord Tywin.
• Younger Than They Look: He's in his early thirties, but Peter Dinklage is in his early forties and looks his age.

"Better than seeing their heads mounted on the city gates! Stannis will execute them all."

Played By: Ian Gelder

"Both Baratheon brothers have taken up against us. Jaime captured, his armies scattered...it's a catastrophe. Perhaps we should sue for peace."

Lord Tywin's younger brother and second in command. Uncle to Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion, and father to Lancel, Martyn, and Willem Lannister.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the books he's described as being a little chubby and having round shoulders.
• Adaptation Dye Job: In the books Kevan is blonde whereas TV Kevan has Gelder's gray hair.
• Number Two: To his brother Lord Tywin.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • In "Fire and Blood" Kevan is willing to make peace with the Starks since the Lannisters only went to war with the Starks and Tullys because Catelyn humiliated Tywin by kidnapping Tyrion, which pales in comparison to their bigger problem of Robert's brothers challenging Joffrey's claim to the throne. As Tyrion explains, the peace deal would have worked if Joffrey hadn't killed Ned, destroying any chance of Robb stopping his war efforts.
  • In season 2 he advises Tywin to tell Joffrey and Cersei to flee King's Landing before Stannis attacks, and regroup at Casterly Rock. Tywin completely rejects this idea, and while it would be politically disastrous for the Lannister family if they fled, it is clear that his refusal is largely because of his own pride.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Is far nicer than his brother, as demonstrated by his relief in seeing Tyrion back safe and sound in "The Pointy End" - a stark contrast to Tywin's own reaction.
• Token Good Teammate: Compared to the rest of Tywin's bannermen.

"More wine, Your Grace?"

Played By: Eugene Simon

Robert Baratheon: "Who named you, some half-wit with a stutter?"

King Robert's squire and cousin to Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion.

Tropes:

• Alliterative Name: Lampshaded by Robert, who asks (in his usual "sensitive" manner) if Lancel was named by a halfwit with a stutter.
  • Robert's line also works as a Take That to Sir Lancelot du Lac of Arthurian Legend, of which Lancel is a clear spoof.
• Butt Monkey:
  • He's Robert's squire, which basically makes him a professional Butt Monkey.
  • Tyrion quickly shoots down any possibility Lancel might've had to use use his position with Cersei to gain power, instead using the relationship as blackmail to essentially make Lancel his bitch and spy on Cersei for him.
  • Even Cersei gets to punch him... right after she was lamenting that nobody ever taught her how to fight!
• Dirty Coward: Surprisingly, averted. He fights well at the Battle of the Blackwater until taking an arrow wound, and even after that he's still the only Lannister commander save Tyrion and Bronn who still seems to care more about winning the battle then saving his own skin right up to the end. He also tries to oppose Cersei's disastrous decision to withdraw Joffrey from the battlefield, but she shuts him up by punching his arrow wound.
• The Dog Bites Back:
  • He doesn't seem smart enough to have come up with it on his own, but Robert's treatment of him probably made serving him the wine that made him groggy enough for a boar to take him down a lot easier.
  • His attempt to stop Cersei withdrawing Joffrey from the field during the Battle of Blackwater has elements of this, as his tone suggests that even if it wasn't necessary for their survival to oppose Cersei on this, he has gotten fed up with taking crap from her and everyone else.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady
• Dumb Blond: Or Jumpy And Easily Terrified Blond, but it doesn't seem to occur to him that a breastplate stretcher isn't a real thing.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain.
• Kick the Dog: Insults and spreads lies about Robb Stark and his troops to Sansa's face while Joffrey is threatening to kill her for her brother's "crimes", just to twist the knife.
• Kissing Cousins: With Cersei.
• The Mole: Becomes Tyrion's to spy on Cersei after he threatens to reveal Lancel's affair with Cersei to Joffrey.
• Non-Action Guy: Changes in the battle of the Blackwater, where he fights though he's clearly scared shitless, and later works to get Joffrey to safety.
• Pretty Boy
• Replacement Sibling: While Jaime is at war and later captured by the Starks Lancel and Cersei become quite close. Incest and all. From the books...
  Lancel is said to resemble a young Jaime, accounting for Cersei's choice of bed-warmer.
• Small Name, Big Ego: "What's our next move?" Oh, Lancel, it's so cute how you think that you and Cersei are partners in crime. She's not sleeping with you for your brains.
• Snipe Hunt: Robert likes to send him on these. "Go fetch the breastplate stretcher!"
• Took a Level in Badass: Despite being dragged into the fight by the Hound, he holds his own in battle during Blackwater, retreating only after he takes an arrow wound. He even stands up to Cersei, though the aforementioned arrow wound makes it rather easy for her to put him in his place.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In Season 2. Tyrion quickly puts him in his place and makes him a Butt Monkey once again.

"I'll remember it all, until I die. That was the best day of my life."

Played By: Karl Davies

Another cousin to the main three, captured by Robb Stark and used as a negotiator.

Tropes:

• Ascended Fanboy: Of Jaime, since he got to squire for him when he was younger.
• Canon Foreigner: Partly substituting Cleos Frey, to avoid spending time explaining his connection to the Lannisters. Although Cleos didn't get killed by Jaime.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Killed by Jaime after telling him he's his number one fan and that he would do anything to help him.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Is not mentioned after his death, neither by his murderer nor his jailers. All we see is his bloodied face.
• Hero Worshipper: The sheer depth of his admiration for Jaime is apparent in nearly his every word, which only makes it more shocking and tragic when Jaime kills him in a bid to escape captivity.
• Mauve Shirt
• Nice Guy: No wonder he's just a distant cousin.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Killed in the first scene where he is given real dialogue.
• Shout Out: When Jaime is trying to locate Alton in the family tree he asks if his mother is "the fat one", only to correct himself by saying "No, there is only one fat Lannister. If she was your mother you would know it." The book counterpart to Alton, Cleos Frey, is the son of Genna Lannister, an aunt of Jaime that is notoriously obese.

House Baratheon of King's Landing

Tropes:

• Puppet King: Played with, a lot. Cersei tried and failed miserably to turn Joffrey into her puppet. Tyrion and Tywin (Joffrey's Hands) have had more success, excluding Joffrey almost entirely from actual rule, while still being unable to control his ludicrously psychotic behavior, which occasionally causes major problems. And now Margaery has Joffrey wrapped around her little finger, much to Cersei's dismay and Tywin's amusement.
• Royally Screwed Up: Even worse than the Lannisters, even though both Tommen and Myrcella are good kids, due to Joffrey's complete and utter insanity.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Tywin Lannister, probably the most powerful (and certainly the richest) person in Westeros, backs the Baratheons of King's Landing to the hilt, allowing them to pretty much do whatever they want, no matter the obstacles. Unfortunately, this has also extended to the borrowing of money, leading to the Baratheons of Kings Landing acquiring astronomical amounts debts, debts they are largely unable to service.
• Tall, Dark and Handsome: Averted, and one of the main indications that House Baratheon of King's Landing has no true connection to House Baratheon of Storm's End, every single one of whose (male) members, going back hundreds of years, have been black haired.

"The king can do as he likes!"

Played By: Jack Gleeson

"Everyone is mine to torment!"

The elder son of King Robert and Queen Cersei. Officially, at least. Jaime Lannister, the queen's own twin brother, is his biological father, and that of his siblings.

Tropes:

• 0% Approval Rating: NOBODY likes him. Even his own family members are no exception, except maybe Cersei. Same goes for the audience.
  • Averted in Season 3, in which Margaery's popularity with the smallfolk has splashed onto Joffrey, making him seemingly beloved by the people of the capital
• Adaptational Villainy: Not that he's not a psycho in the books. Its the fact that TV!Joffrey is the one who orders both the massacre of Robert's bastards and the assassination attempt on Tyrion during the battle of the Blackwater (if Cersei is to be believed). He also considers making homosexuality a crime punishable by death, and flat-out murders Ros by hogtying her to a bedpost and riddling her with crossbow bolts for no other reason than because he just felt like doing it. However, he does some equally horrific things in the books that don't make it into the show, especially his penchant for shooting peasants from his window with his signature crossbow, as well as his decision to fling a group of Stannis sympathizers from the trebuchets installed on the walls of King's Landing, so it's a bit of a wash.
• Age Lift: Was 12 in the books. Is 17 in the show. This is something of a case of Pragmatic Adaptation, as there is a clear limit as to how far you can push it when your actor is 20 years old.
• Asexuality: For a show that oozes sex, and sexual politics like Game Of Thrones, Joffrey is a markedly asexual character. His only pleasures come from either witnessing or inflicting suffering on others, but they're clearly not sexual pleasures. Him watching Ros torture Daisy with that stag head mace plays more like a sports fan watching his favourite team repeatedly score on the opposition as opposed to a sadomasochistic voyeur getting turned on by the violence. And his threat to invoke Droit du Seigneur on Sansa seems to be more for the sake of humiliating Tyrion than any actual desire for her.
• Authority In Name Only: Joffrey may have his arse plonked firmly on the Iron Throne, but it's obvious to everyone that Tywin is the sole reason he continues to keep it.
• Bad Bad Acting: During the ceremony in which he dismisses Sansa and takes Margaery as his bethroted, it is clear he's putting on a show for the court. He even turns to his mother in anticipation for her line before she starts speaking.
• Bastard Bastard: It's revealed that he's not Robert's son, but the product of Jaime and Cersei's incest. In the second season he learns of it through Stannis' pronouncement and asks his mother about the terrible rumor he's heard about her and "Uncle Jaime". Though he outwardly denies it he might believe it deep down, given that he orders the murder of Robert's illegitimate children as a form of insurance.
• Berserk Button: Reacts with rather insane fury whenever someone whom he sees as "beneath" him acts in a way he sees as "out of line", be it the Starks not acting like cowed serfs towards him (be it Arya not letting him mutilate her lowborn friend by hitting him with a stick, causing him to try and flat out murder her while screaming in rage, executing Ned Stark thus starting a bloody war out of spite, and physically and emotionally torturing Sansa despite her having shown nothing but devotion towards him, simply because her wish to marry him offended him somehow), a peasant throwing manure at him (orders the entire crowd executed), his mother furiously slapping him when he mocks her for Robert's infidelity (promises to have her executed if she ever raises a hand against him again), or most awesomely, his uncle publicly promising to cut off his genitalia if he does not stop tormenting him and Sansa (which reduces him to sputtering in near homicidal rage).
  • Since he is the epitome of Dirty Coward however, he takes any insult from those with the power and spine to truly hurt him (i.e. Tyrion and Tywin in their role as Hand of the King, Arya when holding a sword at his throat, or Sandor when he finally snaps) by whimpering and either begging for mercy or shutting the hell up immediately.
• Bastard in Sheep's Clothing: Briefly pretends to be a decent guy in front of Sansa. He puts up the same charade for Margaery.
• Big Bad: At least one of the candidates to the title.
• Blond Guys Are Evil
• Boisterous Weakling: He tries to live up to Robert's standards of jovial badassery, but his disastrous upbringing turned him into an arrogant, sadistic weasel who couldn't fight if his life depended on it.
• Bondage Is Bad: He gets his rocks off from violence and pain, as demonstrated in "Garden of Bones"
• The Bully
• The Caligula: Seems to be quickly shaping up into this after taking the throne. He just seems to want to inflict pain and death.
  • One of his lines from the season 3 trailer is rather telling:
  Joffrey: Everyone is mine to torment!
• Celibate Villain: Despite being an otherwise through-and-through Caligula, Joffrey doesn't actually want to have sex with anyone (and, as the king, he's had more than enough opportunity). He just wants to kill and maim them. What interest he does show in sex is perfunctory and indeed functional: the production of heirs. Possibly the only time he looks awkwardly aroused is when he's imagining Margaery killing things.
• Character Development: In a rather horrible way. Joffrey quickly develops from a bullying wimp that nobody has much nice to say about to a Caligula-esque psychotic whom everybody hates after he obtains the Iron Throne - to the point that he's compared to another famous monster in Westerosi history: Aerys II.
• Dirty Coward: He acts tough, (particularly when he is certain of being in a position of authority) but when Arya points a sword at him he cries like a baby. There's also the scene when Tyrion bitch-slaps him, repeatedly. Then in the second season, not only does he not do anything when Tyrion outright calls him a "vicious idiot king," but Tyrion gets away with slapping him again. He panics very quickly during the Battle of the Blackwater and runs off when he hears that his mother has called for him, his voice visibly cracking as he does so.
• Droit du Seigneur: During "Second Sons" he essentially threatens Sansa with this, saying that it doesn't matter which Lannister puts a baby in her.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Halfway, played for Dramatic Irony; despite being the series reigning champion for both stupidity and petty sadism, he is properly and seriously worried about Daenerys, her Dragons, and what will happen if she brings them to Westeros. A kingly thought for once -a worry already expressed by Varys- but that Lord Tywin contemptuously dismisses.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons / Wrong Genre Savvy: Joff actually gets this about once a season. In Season 1, he mentions that Westeros should have a standing, professional army loyal only to the crown, noting the fuedal system of each lord having it's own army is barbaric. This is actually a rather progressive stance, but his way of going about it is completely impractical. In season 2, he deduces that after the Greyjoys take the north, it's the perfect time to strike against Robb Stark. Normally, he'd be right, but he's completely overlooking the more pressing threat of Stannis bearing down on the capital. Here, the situation is similar; he's ignoring the more pressing threat of Robb Stark and cowering in fear over something that, from his perspective, is nothing more than a rumor half the world away. All of this is in stark contrast to Robert, who was firmly a case of Jerkass Has a Point in regards to the threat Dany posed.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He is baffled when Margaery stops to donate some toys and spend time with the children in an orphanage of Flea Bottom. During dinner, we hear Joffrey speak of her work (in a positive light, mind you) as if charity were some strange and obscure concept.
  Joffrey: Well as Ser Loras said, Lady Margaery has done this sort of, uh...charitable work before.
• Evil Counterpart: To Robert's actual (but illegitimate) son, Gendry. Sadly (but fortunately for Gendry), they haven't met as of the end of season 2.
• Evil Gloating: Doubles as Evil Is Hammy.
  Joffrey: If we want Robb Stark to hear us, we'll have to SPEAK LOUDER!
• Evil Is Petty: He mocks Tommen for crying while Myrcella is sent to Dorne. At Tyrion's wedding he takes away his uncle's stool so that Tyrion has to ask Sansa to knell for the fastening of the bridal cloak, causing the guests to laugh at Tyrion.
• The Evil Prince: Can you believe this is a subversion? He's a prince, he's evil, but he has nothing to do with his predecessor's death. In fact, Joffrey's sitting next to Robert's deathbed, who he considers his real father, is the character's one starkly single good act done in the show so far.
• Foil: To Gendry. Gendry's poor, hardworking, clever, brave, kind, and Robert's son. Joffrey's none of these things.
  • And to Stannis and Robb. Both of them lead their armies from the frontlines, Joffrey, for all his bravado, doesn't.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Starts shouting for people to be killed the second they say something that he doesn't like. When he gets hit with a flung cow patty in "The Old Gods And The New" he flips out and orders the entire crowd executed. This....backfires rather spectacularly.
• He-Man Woman Hater: He has shades of this. He genuinely doesn't seem to like any girls (or anyone, for that matter) for the right reasons. He resents his Arranged Marriage to Sansa in the first season, abuses her and a pair of prostitutes in the second and, in the third, is outright telling his mother - the only woman he seemed to have any respect for - to shut up. His line about how intelligent women should "(only) do as they're told" is rather telling. Scarily, the only time he does seem to show genuine interest in a woman is when Margaery is expressing interest in killing things.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: When Joffrey says something stupid and Tyrion is around, odds are good that bitch slaps will ensue. The humor comes from the fact that he deserves it, and that a dwarf that he towers over is the one slapping him. Observe the Kingslapper at work.
• Hypocrite: Responds with scorn when Tommen cries while Myrcella is being sent away, while conveniently forgetting that he was on the verge of tears when King Robert was on his deathbed, and that Arya and Nymeria forced him to tears when the former kicked his ass and the latter bit his arm.
• I Call Her "Vera": His sword Hearteater. He boasts that once Stannis attacks King's Landing, he'll cut him a smile with it and even forces Sansa to kiss the blade for luck. Naturally, it never gets drawn during the battle. From the books...
  In the books, Joffrey giving his swords ridiculously grandiose names is something of a running gag. The one Arya threw in the river was called Lion's Tooth.
• Insane Equals Violent: One of the most horrifying examples ever, to the point that the only way Sansa can to describe him is, "He's a monster".
• I Just Want To Be Loved: Jack Gleeson mentions in Inside HBO's Game of Thrones that deep down, Joffrey wants his father's acknowledgment and the peoples' love. But obviously, between his psychopathy, entitlement issues, his mother's rearing, his father's less-than-stellar example as King, and the little fact that everyone hates him, his chances of ever getting his wish are somewhat slim.
• Jerkass
  • Jerk With A Heart Of Jerk: The one time he acts like he might do the right thing (ie: sparing Eddard Stark), he chops the man's head off. Why? Because he promised to be "merciful", not to actually spare his life.
• Joffrey in Leather Breeches: For Sansa, in Season One. Mind you, she wakes up to what sort of person he is once he has her father executed. invoked
• Madness Mantra: The moment something doesn't go his way, he immediately starts screaming for executions.
  Joffrey: Kill them! KILL THEM ALL!
  • It's worth noting how remarkably similar this is to Aerys II's own Madness Mantra: "Burn them all."
  • Tyrion lampshades this In-Universe as well, noting how incest has created another Aerys.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: While Joffrey is a jerk, his actor, Jack Gleeson, is a nice, humble kid as seen in this interview.
  • George RR Martin sent him a letter after the first season ended: "Congratulations on your first season of television. Everyone hates you."
  • It can get pretty funny how protective of Gleeson everyone involved with the show can get in interviews, because Joffrey's such a detestable character that they really are concerned that his association with the role will haunt him for his whole life.
  • According to Sophie Turner (Sansa), when filming their scenes (most of which involve Joffrey abusing Sansa), the moment the cameras stop rolling, Gleeson immediately asks if Sophie is all right.
• Non-Action Guy
• Not So Different: From Viserys, who considered his father (and by extension him) as being usurpers of the throne. Informed Attractiveness and fair hair, a product of sibling incest, spoiled entitled brat, egomanical, insane, wants people killed for the slightest mishap, abuses his siblings, brags about personally killing his opponents while being a total coward, and is loathed by more or less everyone in their entourage.
• Open Secret: Thanks to Stannis, his bastardy is known to all.
  • All the Genre Savvy members of the court: Varys, Littlefinger and Pycelle, already knew but kept it to themselves for their own plots and benefit.
  • In Series 3, when he openly contemplates raping Sansa on her wedding night to Tyrion, he notes that it doesn't matter which Lannister impregnates her in the end, as long as one does. While one could argue that he was alluding to being a Lannister through his mother, the fact he doesn't refer to himself as also a Baratheon, makes his choice of words very interesting!
• Orcus on His Throne/Non-Action Big Bad: Justified because:
  • 1.- He's NEITHER a battle commander nor a warrior.
  • 2.- Leaving King's Landing would be a political suicide. As pointed out by Tywin, the only reason Joffrey is considered more than a "claimant" to the Iron Throne because he actually sits on it.
  • 3.- Abandoning his seat would give someone the chance to seize it, as it happened to Robb.
• Pet the Dog/Even Bad Boys Love Their "Papas": He was genuinely distraught over Robert's death.
• Phallic Weapon: His crossbow, made especially obvious in a season 3 scene where he shows it off to his wife-to-be with much excitement.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: In "Dark Wings, Dark Words" he's openly misogynistic, saying that smart women do as they're told. He also says that he's considering making homosexuality, which he considers a degeneration, a crime punishable by death. More to the viewers than the other characters though, since this is more Deliberate Values Dissonance than unheard moral values for his day and age.
• Prince Charmless: So very much.
• Puppet King: Cersei tried to groom him into one. Horribly subverted two episodes after he takes the throne when he goes off-script in front of thousands of people and Cersei is powerless to stop him. And then in "The North Remembers" he threatens to have her killed the next time she slaps him and goes over her head to have all of his father's suspected bastards killed.
• The Purge: In season 2, he orders the Goldcloaks to kill Robert's bastard children, including infants. Even Cersei seems taken aback by this.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He hasn't indulged in this particular vice (yet) but, during Sansa's wedding, he threatens to rape to her to her face. And that, if she resists, his guards will hold her down while he does the deed.
• Royal Brat: His book counterpart was very nearly the Trope Namer.
• Sadistic Choice: Very fond of giving these to people, such as making a bard who offended him choose between losing his tongue or his hands.
• Shirtless Scene: He's given one in season 3.
• Slouch of Villainy: Tends to have very bad posture while on the Iron Throne (though its design doesn't help matters).
• Smug Snake: To those he has power over, Joffrey is abusive, threatening, and shamelessly overconfident. However, the instant that someone actually stands up to him, he shows off the cringing coward he truly is.
• The Sociopath: The only person he's shown even the slightest affection for is his father.
• Spanner in the Works: His impulsive decision in "Baelor" shatters both Cersei's and Varys' plans.
• Stupid Evil: Lannisters aren't known for their humanitarian impulses, but most of them are at least pragmatic about their cruelty and know when restraint would further their interests better. Joffrey, by contrast, tends to do the most vicious thing possible in any given situation, even when it amounts to shooting himself in the foot. In fact the cleverer, morally dark Lannisters' immediate problems all come from Joffrey's poor decisions, something Tywin realizes when he appoints Tyrion as Hand of the King, to try and do a little bit of damage control. It's discussed by Tyrion in "The Old Gods and the New";
  Tyrion: We've had vicious kings and we've had idiot kings, but I don't know if we've ever been cursed with a vicious idiot before!
  • In "The Climb", Tyrion realises that it wasn't Cersei, but Joffrey, who ordered the assassination attempt on him during the Battle of the Blackwater, due to Tyrion being unafraid to call him out on his antics. He admits in retrospect, it should have been obvious who was responsible.
  Tyrion: So he wants me dead, fine, but his stupidity! He could have had me poisoned and no-one would have known! But the King, orders the Kingsguard, to murder the Hand of the King, in full view of his own army... the boy's an idiot!
• Teens Are Monsters
• Tyrant Takes the Helm
• Warrior Prince: He's trying to be this and is very confident about it. Despite being liberally slapped around by a man half his size on fairly regular basis. Everyone else in King's Landing, including his own mother, are rightfully pessimistic on that.
  Joffrey: If my uncle attacks King's Landing I'll ride out to meet him!
  Tyrion': I'm sure your men will line up behind you.
  Joffrey: They say Stannis never smiles. I'll give him a red smile. From ear to ear.
  Tyrion: *As Joffrey leaves* Imagine Stannis' terror.
  Varys: I am trying.
• Wimp Fight:
  • His so called fight with Arya. As described by Robert : "You let a little girl disarm you?"
  • When Sansa makes a threatening comment, he takes a step backwards. He retreats after a comment, made by someone who acted like an obedient puppy throughout the season.
• “Well Done Son” Guy: A tragic and twisted example in that many of the atrocities he commits are actually done in a misguided attempt to gain his father's love and respect. Attempting to act tough and manly and instead actually being monstrous in trying to live up to Robert's standards.
• Would Not Hit A Girl: Subverted in a way. He doesn't do it himself, because that wouldn't be kingly. So he has his bodyguard Ser Meryn do it for him.
  • Subverted completely at the end of episode 6 of Season 3. In the episode Joffrey shown admiring his work, after torturing and killing Ros by tying her up and shooting her many times with his crossbow.
• You Monster!: Ser Loras casually describes Prince Joffrey as a monster in Season 1. Sansa calls Joffrey a monster, with great gravitas, when the Tyrells question his true character. Not that anyone who isn't Cercei has anything nicer to say about him.
• You Need to Get Laid: Bronn persuades Tyrion to do this for him by sending two prostitutes to his chamber, hoping that it might reduce his frustrations a bit. Unfortunately, they did not factor in that Joffrey's idea of sexual stimulation was similar to the same brutality he enacts on people in day-to-day affairs.
  Bronn: There's no cure for bein' a cunt. But the boy's at that age, he's got nothing to do save tear wings off flies. Couldn't hurt to get some of the poison out.

"I'm glad you are not dead."

Played By: Aimee Richardson

Tyrion (to Cersei): "Myrcella is a sweet, innocent girl and I don't blame her at all for you."

Robert and Cersei's only daughter, the middle child. Jaime Lannister, the queen's own twin brother, is her biological father, and that of her siblings.

Tropes:

• Arranged Marriage: To the youngest son of the Prince of Dorne, once both are of age.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the books she doesn't cry when she's shipped off to Dorne.
• Break the Cutie: She's sent away from her whole family to Dorne for her own protection.
• Children Are Innocent: She's nice to Sansa and seems genuinely excited to see her and Joffrey get married.
• Demoted to Extra: She wasn't exactly a large character in the book, but in the series she's only had speaking lines once, and been on screen a handful of scenes beyond that. Averted in Season 2, in which she gets a bit more time.
• Licked by the Dog: One of the early signs that the audience received that Tyrion is more than a drunken whoremonger is how much Tommen and Myrcella adore him.
• Nice Girl
• Pet the Dog: Proves that the Lannister family evil isn't genetic by asking about Bran's condition and being genuinely happy to hear that he will live.
• Put On A Barge: Sent off to Dorne to be married. From the books...
  In the books she isn't seen again until Feast for Crows, or what will be Season 5 if Dan and Dave have their way.

"Stags aren't evil. They only eat grass."

Played By: Callum Wharry

Robert and Cersei's second son, the youngest child. Second in line for the throne. Jaime Lannister, the queen's own twin brother, is his biological father and that of his siblings.

Tropes:

• Analogy Backfire: During the Battle of Blackwater, Cersei tells him of a Lion who was meant to be king, who was in a forest filled with evil things such as Stags. Tommen's response is to point out that Stags aren't evil creatures, they're good.
• Children Are Innocent: In sharp contrast to his brother, Tommen comes off as a genuinely sweet, nice kid, and is nice to Sansa.
• Demoted to Extra: Much like his sister. Averted in "Blackwater", where he has a minor role, whereas in the book he's not even present in King's Landing
• Licked by the Dog: Like his sister, he's the Dog in relation to his uncle Tyrion.
• Morality Pet: To Cersei.
• Nice Guy
• Pet the Dog: He doesn't enjoy the notion of Robb being killed by his brother at all, saying as much in front of his mother and more importantly Sansa.

King Joffrey's Court

"I'm not going to fight them. I'm going to fuck them."

Played By: Aidan Gillen

"Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail, never get to try again; the fall breaks them. And some, they're given a chance to climb, but they refuse. They cling to the realm, or the Gods, or love. Illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is."

Lord of Harrenhal and previously Master of Coin on King Joffrey's Small Council. Head of House Baelish, and now nominally Lord Paramount of the Riverlands (contested by House Tully).

Tropes:

• Adaptational Villainy: Delivering Ros to Joffrey.
• A Lady on Each Arm: Has greeted both Catelyn and Ned seated on a couch with two prostitutes he employs on either side of him.
• Ambition Is Evil: He was born without wealth, influence or a great title. By season 3 he's got all of those
  Varys: A man with great ambition and no morals. I wouldn't bet against you.
• Bad Boss: Occasionally shows his true colors to his sex workers.
• Beard of Evil: His little goatee thing.
• Beneath the Mask: Littlefinger is a sociopath, who only rarely lets slip just how ambitious he is, and how little he cares for others. Allowing Ros to be brutally killed by Joffrey is a stark example of just how bad he really is.
• Bullying a Dragon: In "The North Remembers," Littlefinger learns how much power he really has after he alludes smugly to and attempts to lord over the queen with the ‘rumor’ of Twincest going around about her and her brother. Cersei then showcases her own when, seemingly on a whim, she tells her guards to cut his throat before rescinding the order just before they follow through.
• Captain Obvious/Mr. Exposition: When someone mentions seeing a knight decapitate a horse, he tells Ned, "That sounds like someone we know... the Mountain!" While he is being deliberately condescending and provocative at the time, did he really think anyone could forget that?
• The Chessmaster: Unfortunately for Ned Stark, he's very skilled at navigating and manipulating the politics surrounding the Iron Throne to his own ends.
• Comforting the Widow: Attempts this on Catelyn, even bringing Ned's bones to her as an offering. She goes for her knife and tells him to get the hell out.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy: Sometimes, dishonest people who admit that they're dishonest can seem the most trustworthy. Littlefinger knows this.
  • This is the reason why Varys labels him as one of the most dangerous people in the kingdom.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Despotism Justifies the Means: "He would see this kingdom burn if he could be king of the ashes."
• Devil in Plain Sight: Is very obviously up-to-no-good, and is quite honest about this. People rely on him anyway.
• Dissonant Serenity: During Ned's execution, everyone else seems genuinely surprised and shocked by Joffrey's decision and try to coerce him out of it. Littlefinger doesn't move an inch, just standing there wearing that same damn smile as always! Possibly because he realized that it might benefit him, as seen in the next season where he attempts Comforting the Widow on Catelyn.
  • Possibly a call-back to his book-counterpart, whose doesn't have the widest range of facial expressions beyond smiling
• Faux Affably Evil
• Hyper Awareness: Watch him avoiding a Right Behind Me situation in "Fire and Blood", and that's just one of the times he shows it.
• In-Series Nickname: Littlefinger.
  • Though Bronn suggests "Lord Twatbeard" would be more appropriate.
• Jerkass
• Knowledge Broker: Seems to know everything about everyone, and in "The Wolf and the Lion" he proves his information gathering to be almost equal to that of Varys.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Non-Action Guy
• No Sense of Personal Space: Only towards Sansa, but he seems incapable of interacting with her without getting really close to her or touching her somehow.
• Not So Badass Longcoat: While Baelish may enjoy wearing longcoats of varying finery and style, he is nothing close to being called "badass" in that sense.
• Order Versus Chaos: Firmly on the side of Chaos, compared to Varys' Order. He even encourages disorder, viewing chaos not as a hopeless pit, but as a ladder to allow ambitious people like him to seize opportunities and rise beyond their meager stations.
• Pet the Dog: The first episode of Season 3 confirms that he did recognize Arya when she was playing the part of Tywin's cupbearer in Season 2. Not only did he not tell any of the Lannisters, (despite the fact that delivering Arya to them could be worth a lot) he informs Sansa about Arya being alive, just because the news will make Sansa happy.
• The Resenter: Being a petty noble without lineage or combat skill, he has great resentment and ill-intent toward those who possess both of these.
• Self-Deprecation: At least he's honest about how dishonest he is. Ned Stark should have listened.
  Littlefinger: I did warn you not to trust me.
• Self-Made Man
• Self Proclaimed Liar
• Shame If Something Happened: After finding Ros crying over Mhaegen's murdered baby he tells her she reminds him of girl he purchased from a Lyseni pleasure house, very expensive and beautiful but she was constantly sad. Since she was a bad investment he sold her to a Lord who wanted to transform her and who derived pleasure from stuff most men would consider unthinkable. In "The Climb" he follows through on the threat by delivering her to Joffrey.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: It's becoming a pattern for Littlefinger to have his attempts to win someone over, threaten them and/or gloat be quite rudely interrupted. Ned, Cersei and Catelyn have all separately pulled this on him, and all three have gone for his throat or threatened to do so, and Ned even chokeslams him into a wall.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Ros at least seems to think he's this in regards to Catelyn, since when asked about who or what he's into she responds that despite running a whorehouse he's never seemed particularly interested in the other women there. And now he seems to be transferring this to Sansa. Varys also taunts him with this after he announces plans to marry Lysa Arryn, referring to her as having always been his "second choice" after Catelyn.
• Sleazy Politician: He openly advertises that he's a weasel.
• The Sociopath: According to Varys. Littlefinger proves him right by delivering Ros to be used by Joffrey for target practice.
• The Starscream: Pulls one on Ned. And if you think he did it out of loyalty to the Lannisters, think again.
• Travelling at the Speed of Plot: In season 2 he travels from King's Landing to Storm's End (in the Stormlands), then from there to Harrenhal (in the Riverlands), and then from there to Highgarden (in the Reach), and then finally back to King's Landing. Thanks to the exact length of time season 2 takes place over being unclear, many fans joke he has a jetpack.
• The Unfettered: Although he verges on outright sociopathy like his book counterpart.
  Varys: He would see this kingdom burn if he could be king of the ashes.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: To Catelyn.
• Unusual Euphemism: Averted. Despite the sexual connotations of his nickname, its origins are completely mundane (at least, according to him): he was a small kid, and he came from a place in the Vale called 'The Fingers;' thus, "Littlefinger."
• Villainous Crush: On Catelyn, obviously. It's been stated by the actor and implied in the show that he has this for Sansa as well, whom he says reminds him of Catelyn.

"The storms come and go. The big fish eat the little fish, and I just keep on paddling."

Played By: Conleth Hill

Ned: "Tell me something, Varys. Who do you truly serve?"

Varys: "The realm, my lord. Someone must."

Master of Whispers (IE The Spymaster) on The Small Council.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Villainy: Thanks to his vast influence, he's able to have the sorcerer who castrated him in his childhood delivered to him in a shipping crate with his lips sewn shut. Though, given the sorceror's apparently extreme cruelty, he's probably gotten off easy, thus far. But who knows what Varys will do to him...
• Ambiguously Evil
• Ambiguously Gay
  Varys: Podrick, is that it?
  Tyrion: "Is that it"? Nice touch. As if you don't know the name of every boy in town.
  Varys: I am not entirely sure what you are suggesting.
  Tyrion: I am entirely sure that you are entirely sure of what I am suggesting.
• And I Must Scream: During his castration, he was apparently given a drug to prevent him from moving, but which kept him fully conscious and all of his senses intact during the whole thing.
• Anti-Hero: A dark version. Unscrupulous Hero, maybe. While he is a schemer, isn't always trustworthy, and has a positively terrifying sense of vengeance, he does at least seem to be most interested in doing what is good for the realm, at least in the long run.
• Anti-Villain: Type I.
• Badass Boast: See his page quote.
• Bald of Ambiguous Evil
• Benevolent Boss: According to him, his "little birds" are treated very well for their services (certainly better than Littlefinger's prostitutes).
• Best Served Cold: After being castrated by a sorcerer and thrown out to die, he decided to do absolutely whatever it took to live, and then to gain power. After nursing his grudge for several decades, he finally gets to act on it.
• The Bus Came Back: Took a short but noticeable ride on the bus between the end of Season 2 and "Walk of Punishment."
• The Chessmaster: Part of his job considering he has to attempt to outwit other information brokers like Littlefinger.
• Deadpan Snarker: Eighty percent of his conversations with Littlefinger and Tyrion are snark. Examples are his conversation with Littlefinger in the Season 1 finale, and this exchange with Tyrion:
  Tyrion: (after Joffrey has just gone into detail as to what he plans to do to Stannis) Imagine Stannis' terror.
  Varys: (flatly) I am trying.
  • And when Bronn jokingly suggests throwing books to repel Stannis' siege of the city:
  Varys: We don't have that many books.
• Does Not Like Magic: And has a pretty solid reason for it, too.
• Eunuchs Are Evil: Invoked by Grand Maester Pycelle. It may or may not be true. Lampshaded by Varys himself when he asks with exasperation at the imprisoned Eddard being leery about the water he offers, "Why is it no one ever trusts the eunuch?" Varys' later behaviour, however, demonstrates that he really isn't completely benevolent, and may have only been as kind to Ned as he was, because it could make him feel better about other things he'd done, and he knew it wouldn't cost him anything.
• Even Ambiguous Evil Has Standards: The Black Magic practiced by the Lord of Light religion disturbs him, and the thought of a follower of that religion sitting on the Iron Throne terrifies him.
• Friendly Rivalry: To Tyrion. Not so much to Littlefinger, probably on account of his more jerkish attitude.
  • Friendly Enemy: To Littlefinger. This is deconstructed by the fact that Littlefinger's ambition actually scares Varys, and that their aims are completely different, as one fights for order and the other for chaos. In season 3 it's shown that their friendly snarking is just a light veneer.
• Groin Attack: As a young boy, he was ritualistically castrated against his will by a Red Priest. The priest then burned his severed genitals on a pyre as a sacrifice.
• Immigrant Patriotism: The only non-Westerosi born member of the Royal Council (he's from one of the Free Cities), and yet he claims his primary allegiance is to the realm as a whole, as opposed to his own self-enrichment or the further the goals of a particular faction. Whether or not he's telling the truth is hard to determine
• In the Hood: When going incognito, Varys wears a hooded cloak.
• Is That a Threat?: Varys makes coy, veiled threats to Tyrion in their first scene together, but Tyrion angrily cuts the bullshit and bluntly calls him out on it. He then threatens to throw Varys into the sea if he ever threatens him again, which Varys retorts with his page quote shown above.
• Knowledge Broker
• My Master, Right or Wrong: He served Aerys as faithfully as he serves Robert, knowing full well that the first was mad and the second was a fool. But...
• The Needs of the Many: When asked where his allegiances lie, he says he serves the realm, not the ruler. This is his justification for going along with the plan to assassinate Daenerys, and for trying to prevent Littlefinger from gaining even more power.
• Never Live It Down: In-universe, everyone can't seem to go one sentence without mocking him for being a eunuch.
  • Never Heard That One Before: Varys seems to have long since resigned himself to this and to respond with barbed sarcasm.
• Noble Demon
• Non-Action Guy
• No Sell: As Ros discovered, it's very hard to seduce someone who has no genitals.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The assassination attempt on Daenerys that he orchestrated was bungled, and Khal Drogo EXTREMELY pissed off, pushing him to start preparing an invasion of the Seven Kingdoms.
  • Fridge Brilliance: "Delay, you say. Move fast, I reply." Varys wants Khal Drogo to invade. Who's to say the bungling wasn't deliberate?
• OOC Is Serious Business: Any time Varys drops his Sissy Villain act and politely mocking tone of voice, you know it's come time to be afraid. The sorcerer is a prime example of what Varys is capable of when he gets serious.
• Order Versus Chaos: Claims to fight for order, in contrast to Littlefinger.
• Put on a Bus: Ends Season 2 by telling Tyrion he won't be around for a while, and is conspicuously absent from the first two episodes of Season 3.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: A poignant, competent advisor and not a particularly wicked schemer by the standards of the Court. His vocal concern for the realm seems genuine enough.
• Red Baron: It isn't made explicitly clear in the show, but Varys' nickname "The Spider" isn't his own idea; the other members of the court gave it to him due to his "web of information." Varys never claims or uses the nickname himself.
• Self-Made Man: Even more than Littlefinger, who was at least a minor noble. After Varys was castrated and thrown into the slums of the Free Cities, he became a pocket thief and whore. There, he learned to extract secrets from his clients. Gradually expanding his power, he eventually gained enough influence to earn him his seat in the Royal Council.
• Shotacon: Implied
• Sissy Villain: As with Eunuchs Are Evil, the half of the trope indicating villainy is in doubt, but the first half is blatant. Really, when everyone already knows you're a eunuch, what the devil's the point of wasting time embarrassing yourself by trying to look butch? Mostly, though, it's an act. When he gets truly angry he drops his usual polite, facetious tone and his voice becomes considerably lower, such as when he threatened Tyrion in season 2 and Littlefinger in season 3. An excellent example is how he speaks to Ned when trying to convince him to give a false confession and demands him to serve the realm.
• Sole Survivor/Zen Survivor: As he implies to Tyrion in the quote above.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: His main form of conversation with those he sees as worthy opponents, such as Tyrion and particularly Littlefinger.
• The Spymaster: He claims his "little birds" are everywhere.
• Sympathy For The Hero:
  • The Starks are a traitor family and arch-enemies of the defacto rulers of the city, whom he serves. He shows covert sympathy for the Starks a number of times anyway. Book!Varys provides the quote for the trope.
  • He's supportive of Tyrion in the aftermath of Blackwater and informs him about the attempt on his life and of his demotion.
    There are many who know that without you this city faced certain defeat. The king won't give you any honors, the histories won't mention you, but we will not forget.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Whatever he does, is for the good of the realm.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gives one to Ned Stark after Robert's death, asking him what on earth possessed him to flat-out confront Cersei after piecing together her secret.
• Wild Card
  My role is to be sly, obsequious and without scruples. I'm a good actor, My Lord. As I said, I'm no hero.

"A dying mind is a demented mind, Lord Stark. For all the weight they're given, last words are usually as significant as first words."

Played By: Julian Glover

Jaime: "I urged [the Mad King] to surrender peacefully. But the king didn't listen to me; didn't listen to Varys, who tried to warn him. But he did listen to Grand Maester Pycelle, that grey, sunken cunt."

The resident Maester in the Red Keep, and a member of King Robert Baratheon's Small Council.

Tropes:

• Absent-Minded Professor: Subverted; he seems to be indulging in a little Obfuscating Senility.
• Covert Pervert/Dirty Old Man: He uses whores despite being sworn to celibacy.
• Evil Old Folks
• Hey, It's That Guy!: GENERAL VEERS!!
• Horrible Judge of Character:
  • Of all of the Kings he's served, he identifies Joffrey as the one he respects the most and thinks of most positively. However, the circumstances in which he says this suggest that he might be lying, knowing that whatever he says could reach Joffrey's ears.
  • During Robert's rebellion, he told Aerys II that the Lannisters could be trusted as friends. Once inside King's Landing, Tywin proceeded to sack the city, as Varys and Jaime had foreseen. But then again, he claims he was already a servant of Tywin when Tyrion confronts him.
• Humiliation Conga: Tyrion, Bronn and Timett, son of Timett, come to arrest him while he is with a whore, cut off his beard and threaten to cut off his manhood and feed it to the goats.from the books...
  In the books it was Tyrion and Shagga, son of Dolf, and Shagga did cut off his manhood... Which, in a brilliant little piece of Un Entendre, it turns out meant the beard.
• Interrupted Intimacy: His session with the prostitute Daisy was interrupted by Tyrion, Bronn, and Timett.
• Ironic Echo: Once Tyrion loses his status and power and is bedridden, he delivers this line:
  Pycelle: (toss a coin to Tyrion, with a smirk on his face) For your trouble.
• Jerkass: See his treatment of Sansa after Ned's arrest.
• Karma Houdini: He has betrayed several Hands of the King (and at least one King) over the years in order to stay safe.
  • Defied when Tyrion, being far more savvy, sets him up to reveal himself as The Mole and promptly has him arrested and tortured to some degree.
• Obfuscating Stupidity/Obfuscating Disability: Pretends to be much more frail and absent-minded than he really is in order to fly under the radar. It obviously has served him well, as he's managed to survive in the Deadly Decadent Court of King's Landing for sixty-seven years.
• Out-Gambitted: Tyrion pulls this by telling him, Littlefinger and Varys three different stories about who he'll marry Myrcella off to, and when Cersei confronts him about Pycelle's version Tyrion knows he's The Mole and has him arrested.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: He might look like Dumbledore, but he's pretty much just a Lannister yes-man.
  • He was also a Yes Man to Robert and Aerys before him. It's how he's managed to survive King's Landing for so long.
• Smug Snake: See the aforementioned scene between Pycelle and the injured Tyrion.
• Throwing Off The Disability: In the first season finale, he does a series of exercises that a frail old man shouldn't be able to do before changing back into his robes, adopting his usual stooped posture, and shuffling out the door. He completely drops the act in the beginning of "Valar Morghulis" to intimidate Tyrion.
• Wizard Beard: Despite the fact that Maesters are not magic users, Pycelle most certainly has one. Tyrion has Bronn cut most of it off when arresting him, mostly because he can.
• Yes Man: To House Lannister, specially to Tywin Lannister.

"Joffrey is my king. The rest doesn't matter."

Played By: Dominic Carter

Tyrion: "I'm not questioning your honor, Lord Janos. I'm denying its existence."

The commander of King's Landing City Watch (a.k.a. the Goldcloaks) and a sitting member of the Small Council.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Villainy: In the books its not him who kills baby Barra but a subordinate. He was, however, fully complicit in the atrocity so he was still very much a villain.
• A Man Of Wealth And Taste: Fancies himself one after his elevation to Lord.
• Bald of Evil
• Beard of Evil
• Bodyguard Betrayal: To Ned Stark.
• The Brute: To King Joffrey's Big Bad.
• Call It Karma: In "The Night Lands" Tyrion, acting as Hand of the King, considers the way he killed a baby without question the last straw, and has him replaced, arrested and sent to the Wall.
• Humiliation Conga: Stripped of lands and titles, of command over the City Watch, and sent to the Wall
• Just Following Orders: His reason for carrying out the purge of Robert's bastards.
• Nouveau Riche: Created Lord of Harrenhal and leading House Slynt for betraying Ned Stark and helping Joffrey secure the throne.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Tyrion exiles him to Castle Black at the Wall, partly for crossing the line when he murdered a baby, and partly because he can't trust Janos not to betray him in turn after he already betrayed Eddard Stark, the previous Hand of the King.
• Sent to the Wall
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Invokes this in "The Night Lands". He's wrong.
• Smug Smiler: Look at his expression when Littlefinger ridicules Ser Barristan.
• Only in It for the Money: According to Littlefinger, Slynt and the Goldcloaks will serve whoever pays them.
• Would Hurt a Child: After one of his men refuses to kill a baby bastard daughter of Robert Baratheon, he steps up and does it himself.

Played By: Wilko Johnson

The mute royal executioner or "The King's Justice".

Tropes:

• Ambiguously Evil
• Bald of Evil
• Evil Old Folks
• The Speechless: His tongue was cut out under orders of the Mad King.
• My Master, Right or Wrong/Punch Clock Villain: He kills or maims people whenever ordered to because that's his job.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast
• Off with His Head!: His method of execution
• Perpetual Frowner: Ilyn is rarely seen without a belligerent scowl.
• Torture Technician

"I had two cups of wine."

Played By: Tony Way

An alcoholic knight reduced to being a court fool.

Tropes:

• The Alcoholic
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: In Season 3.
• Demoted to Extra: His book counterpart is much more prominent in the second and third books.
• In-Series Nickname: "Dontos the Red", he has red hair and it doubles as an Incredibly Lame Pun when you consider his taste for wine.
• Fat Idiot
• Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Sansa convinces Joffrey that death would be too good for him and Joffrey makes him his new jester.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: From Knight to Fool.

The Kingsguard

• Adapted Out: So far, Balon Swann, which results from the fact that no Kingsguard is mentioned being killed in the Riots of King's Landing...leading to Ser Balon being named as his replacement.
  • However, one of the season three trailers show Tywin being accompanied by four Kingsguard. Since Jaime is not yet in King's Landing, Mandon Moore is dead, the Hound deserted, Arys Oakheart is with Myrcella in Dorne, and Loras is not made a Kingsguard like in the books..at least not yet, this means that following the Battle of the Blackwater there are only three Kingsguard in the Red Keep (Ser Meryn, Ser Boros, and Preston Greenfield stand-in). Therefore by the moment of that trailer, at least one more member of the Kinsguard has been named as a replacement of Ser Mandon or the Hound.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Thoroughly averted. The only one that lives this trope is the dismissed Ser Barristan, while Jaime is a subversion.
• Praetorian Guard/Co-Dragons
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Instead of the pure white, sigil-less armor of the books, the TV Kingsguard wear gold/bronze plate with white enameling. Also, their armors display a crown engraved in the chest. Also in that, in the books, there are many named Kingsguard bit characters, but, on the show, none of them, with the exception of Barristan Selmy, Jaime Lannister, and Meryn Trant, have any lines.
• My King Right Or Wrong: They are supposed to serve the King regardless of how heinous or insane he or his orders are. This is why Jaime is despised for killing Mad Aerys even by the enemies of Mad Aerys.

"No one threatens His Grace in the presence of the Kingsguard!"

Played By: Ian Beattie

"I take my orders from the King!"

A member of the Kingsguard.

Tropes:

• Beard of Evil
• The Brute: Led the Lannister Mooks after the House Stark guard.
• Butt Monkey: Gets shit on repeatedly by Tyrion and Bronn.
• Composite Character: The scene in which he beats Sansa and rips her dress under Joffrey's orders is carried out by Boros Blount in the books.
• Dirty Coward: He doesn't dare to speak when Tyrion tells Bronn to kill Meryn if he says another word. Later, his loyalty to Joffrey provides a convenient excuse to not leave the castle walls in order to save Sansa during a city riot.
• The Dragon: To Cersei.
• Mook Lieutenant
• My King Right Or Wrong: Brutal as they are, he doesn't question the orders of King Joffrey I. Also his only redeeming trait.
• Praetorian Guard
• Punch Clock Villain
• Surrounded by Idiots: Says so when Syrio Forel knocks out all his men with a wooden sword.
• Would Hit a Girl: If the King orders him to do it.

"The lads caught a groom and two maids trying to sneak away with a stolen horse and some gold cups."

Played By: James Doran

Another member of the Kingsguard.

Tropes:

• Alliterative Name
• Ascended Extra/Composite Character: In the books he is not present when Cersei reveals Tyrion she has the woman she believes to be his lover under arrest. Nor is he the one that, prior to the Battle of the Blackwater, informs Cersei that a groom and two maids attempted to flee the Red Keep with a horse and gold. These actions are carried out by the Kettleblack brothers.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Pulls one on Tyrion during the Battle of the Blackwater.
• The Dragon: To Queen Cersei. At least that's what Varys says.
• Demoted to Extra: Never mentioned in the first season. Also, his exchange with Tyrion when the latter arrives to a small council meeting to introduce himself as Hand of the King was cut.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: When he betrays Tyrion, Podrick saves him at the last second by driving a lance through Mandon's head.
• Remember the New Guy

House Clegane

Tropes

• Animal Motifs: Their sigil is three dogs, and their members are often compared to them. Sandor is gruff, but loyal and honorable in his own way; Gregor is Tywin's Right-Hand Attack Dog for all purposes.
• The Brute: Oh yeah.
• Rags to Riches: The Clegane's grandfather was the kennelmaster serving Lord Tytos, who knighted him for saving his life from a lioness.

"SWORD!"

Played By: Conan Stevens & Ian Whyte

Tywin: "I always thought you had a talent for violence."

Called "The Mountain That Rides", a massive knight in the service of House Lannister and older brother to The Hound.

Tropes:

• Ax Crazy:
  • Just after a few minutes of screentime he's already rammed a lance through a man's throat and gotten a backstory that involves burning half his brother's face off in cold blood when they were children.
  • After losing a joust to Ser Loras Tyrell, he pulled his sword, beheaded his horse and then tried to kill his unarmed opponent. Just like any sane person would do.
  • From the books...
    His first outstanding act of brutality was during the Sack of King's Landing. He and Ser Amory Lorch made it into the Red Keep, where The Mountain found Rhaegar's wife, Elia of Dorne, cradling her infant son Aegon at the breast. Clegane took the baby and smashed his head against the wall, and then raped Elia with her son's blood and brains still decorating his hands. Oh, and then he killed her, mostly because Tywin Lannister hadn't told him not to.
  • Also personally picks out which prisoner is going to be tortured to death every day at Harrenhal.
  • And he murders every Northern captive in Harrenhal before leaving as a final "fuck you!" to the Stark army, even the nobles that could have been ransomed for money, without caring about the fact that he is setting a precedent and the Starks could very well retaliate by executing their far more numerous Lannister prisoners.
• Beard of Evil
• BFS
• Big Brother Bully: To Sandor.
• Black Knight
• The Brute: Seven feet tall (yes, really, both actors are that tall), massively muscular, and apparently psychopathic.
• Badass: Capable of cutting off a horse's head off with one swing.
  • Badass Baritone: Ian Whyte's voice is both sinister and magnificent.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Tywin advises Arya to not serve him wine. It makes him worse.
• Cain and Abel: Cain to Sandor's Abel. Apart from being the source of Sandor's burns, the two of them appeared quite willing to fight to the death in full view of the court for very little reason.
• The Dragon: To Tywin Lannister.
• The Dreaded: Feared for his cruelty, especially since he's currently leading a band of psychopaths through the Riverlands.
• Establishing Character Moment: His first joust and of course, "Sword!"
• Evil Is Bigger
• Evil Sounds Deep
• Giant Mook
• Hair-Trigger Temper: See Ax Crazy above.
• In-Series Nickname: "The Mountain That Rides."
• Kick the Dog:
  • Beheading his own horse after he loses a joust.
  • Torturing prisoners to death just because there is no room left in the dungeons, and executing the prisoners that had room as psychological warfare.
• Mook Lieutenant: Reinforced in Season 2, where he drops his trademark black armor and black & yellow colors for the usual red Lannister soldier garb.
• Psycho for Hire: Tywin Lannister is his "employer" and unleashes him on the peasantry of those who he feels have acted against Lannister interests.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Seems to be his day job, when he's not "accidentally" killing people in tourneys.
• The Red Baron
• Self-Made Orphan:
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Abandons Harrenhal, not before massacring all the North and Rivermen captive there.
• Shoulders of Doom: Gregor's armour looks awesome. Alas, he does not have it in the second season, wearing standard Lannister gear.
• Sore Loser: Poor horse...
• The Other Darrin: In season two, Gregor is played by veteran stuntman Ian Whyte, as Conan Stevens went to New Zealand to film The Hobbit.
• The Quiet One: In the first season, he's only said two things, "Sword!" and screaming. As of Garden of Bones, he's had a few more lines, but is hardly what one would call verbose.
• You Have Failed Me: Apparently the reason why he beheads his horse after losing to Ser Loras.

"A dog doesn't need courage to chase off rats."

Played By: Rory McCann

"The world is built by killers."

Called "The Hound," personal bodyguard to Prince Joffrey Baratheon. His face is horribly burned. Now a member of the Kingsguard.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: His facial burns are much less extensive than they are described in the book series (but still fairly gruesome all the same). Apparently the actor couldn't see out of a truer-to-the-book prosthetic, which would naturally be rather important when filming swordfights.
  • Considering a book-accurate prosthetic would need to look more like Two-Face from The Dark Knight this is not terribly surprising.
• Age Lift: From 27 in the books to... late 30s?
• Anti-Villain: Type I. While a brutal warrior, Sandor both demonstrates compassion (primarily towards Sansa) and honour.
• Badass: Goes toe-to-toe with his giant, Ax Crazy brother Ser Gregor and at the "Battle of Blackwater" quite literally cleaves men in half.
  • Badass Beard/Beard Of Ambiguous Evil
  • Badass Longhair
• Bad Guys Do The Dirty Work: The Hound's massive, Ax Crazy brother Ser Gregor attacks Ser Loras after losing a joust to him. Sandor jumps in and blocks the blow because he hates his brother, not because he cares about Ser Loras.
• Battle Cry: One that also happens to be a particularly vulgar threat directed at own men.
  Sandor: "Any man dies with a clean sword, I'll rape his fucking corpse!"
• BFS: Carries one of these, though only uses it in specific circumstance, such as open battle, or against his brother, who uses an even bigger one. He has a short sword for quick draw.
• Big Damn Heroes: Saves Sansa single-handedly from an attempted gang rape in "The Old Gods and the New." Heroic music and all.
• Blood Warrior: Insists that "killing's the sweetest thing there is". And he further goes on to say that everyone who has ever done it loves it on some level.
• The Brute/The Dragon: To Joffrey. However, his Screw This, I'm Outta Here at the Battle of Blackwater has put an end to this.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: Clearly much better fighter than Joffrey
• Cain and Abel: Abel to Gregor's Cain. Gregor burning his face seems to be only the tip of the iceberg between them and he's more than willing to "defend" Ser Loras.
• The Champion: Is supposed to serve as one to Joffrey. He actually is one towards Sansa. He offers to protect her from the brunt of Joffrey's malice, but admits he might not succeed.
• Declaration of Protection: With Sansa. He genuinely despises the abuse she goes through, saves her from an Attempted Rape and clearly states he's going to protect her from Joffrey when they'll eventually marry.
  Sandor: You'll be glad of the hateful things I do, one day, when you are Queen and I will be all that stands between you and your beloved King.
• Diagonal Cut/Half the Man He Used to Be: Cuts two people in half during the battle of Blackwater, one like this, one clean across the belly.
• Don't Call Me Sir: People often mistake him for a knight and call him "Ser". He doesn't like this, since he hates knights.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He defends Ser Loras from his brother Gregor when the latter goes batshit and immediately goes on one knee after being told to by the King, and goes against Joffrey's orders to protect Sansa. At one point he actually abandons Joffrey's side to find and rescue Sansa in the middle of a massive riot.
• Face Your Fears: Despite being terrified of fire, he still manages to win when Berric Dondarrion fights him with a Flaming Sword.
• Freudian Excuse: It's not exactly used to justify his behavior, but Littlefinger does tell Sansa that the Hound's scars come from his brother pushing his face into a fire when he was eight years old because he played with one of Gregor's toys.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: His horribly disfigured face can be... off-putting to say the least.
  Sandor(to Sansa): Look at me! Stannis is a killer. The Lannisters are killers. Your father was a killer. Your brother is a killer. Your sons will be killers some day. The world is built by killers, so you better get used to looking at them.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: His reaction to seeing a man burn to death in front of him during the Battle of Blackwater.
  "Fuck the water. Bring me wine."
• Jerkass
• Kick the Dog: Mycah the Butcher's Boy.
  Sandor: He ran... but not very fast.
  • Applies to the Stark guardsmen that he butchers in the throne room once Slynt has betrayed Ned. Also a case of Punch Clock Villain.
• Lightning Bruiser
• Neck Lift: In "The Old Gods And The New" he does this to one of the men trying to rape Sansa. Then he disembowels the man with his dagger.
• Noble Demon: The Hound does not lie. When the Brotherhood tries to blame Gregor's crimes on him he revokes the accusation, but when they bring his actual crimes he admits them without hesitation.
• Pet the Dog: It becomes exceedingly clear that he cares a lot about Sansa; despite being gruff to her, he treats her kindly, and even asks her to flee the city with him in "Blackwater." And then he offers to take Arya to the Freys to meet up with her mother and sister despite the fact that he knows Arya would rather kill him.
• Punch Clock Villain: Looks like one. While he blatantly admits that he loves killing, he's also completely obedient to whoever he's serving and has a soft spot for Sansa, showing her small kindnesses wherever he can. He also stood up to his brother's attempt to kill Loras.
• Rage Helm: His helmet looks like a snarling dog.
• The Rival: He and Bronn have a lot in common, as he points out. He'd also rather like to rip Bronn's head off for no other reason than Bronn working for Tyrion and being a bit grating on the nerves.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: They call him "The Hound" for a reason. He's an expert at locating and tracking people. He's even able to find and rescue Sansa in the middle of a riot in King's landing.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: At the Battle of Blackwater.
  "Fuck the Kingsguard. Fuck the city. Fuck the King."
• Sitcom Archnemesis: To Tyrion.
• The Stoic: The most emotion you get out of Sandor comes from brief flickers of expression on his face.
• Submissive Badass: Subverted. Joffrey would certainly like him to be this and he plays the part for a decent amount of time. Up until his cluster, precision, awessauce hybrid desertion at the Blackwater.
• Think Nothing of It: He refuses to be thanked or complimented for saving Sansa.
• Tranquil Fury: A particularly brutal example. Sandor rarely shows any emotion while slaughtering people. When he rescues Sansa from would-be rapists he does so with a grim, emotionless expression while ruthlessly gutting the rioters.
• Two-Faced
• Why Did It Have To Be Fire? Due to how he got his own burns, he is uncharacteristically unnerved by the sight of wildfire during "Blackwater". Visibly shaken he then threatens the man leading the fire arrow volleys that he'll strangle him with his own entrails should any land near him. The final straw however is when he sees a man burning alive charging toward him. It causes him to freeze up, quit from the battlefield and demand a strong drink.
  • Probably also the reason why, when its demanded to return to the defense, he tells the Kingsguard and Joffrey to go fuck themselves.
• Would Hit a Girl: In "Blackwater", Sandor notes that he has put several women in the ground, and that Bronn has too.
• Would Hurt a Child: Killed Mycah the Butcher's Boy when Joffrey commanded it. When he learns Arya did the deed Mycah was accused of, he says he should have killed her.

Other Lannister Bannermen, Retainers and Household

"Double. I'm a knight now. Knights are worth double."

Played By: Jerome Flynn

Tyrion: "Just because I pay you for your services, doesn't diminish our friendship."

Bronn: "Enhances it, really."

A mercenary who accompanies Catelyn and Tyrion to the Eyrie. Afterwards, begins to serve Tyrion as his personal bodyguard, enforcer, and general sword-for-hire. He is knighted after the Battle of the Blackwater.

Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Tyrion predicts that Bronn was beaten by his father. He concedes the point before adding wryly that his mother hit harder. He isnt't joking; his mother once broke his nose when she was actually aiming for his brother according to a story he tells in "Blackwater".
• The Ace: He even can sing!
  • The Archer: Fills this spot in "Blackwater", and is as good as you'd expect.
  • Master Swordsman
• Badass: He talks the talk when he walks right up to a pissed off Sandor, still smiling. He definitely walks it during Blackwater.
  • Badass Beard/Perma Stubble
• Affably Evil: If he isn't being paid a slip a knife in your back, he really is a friendly drinking buddy.
• Big Damn Heroes: During the battle of Blackwater, he shows up just in the nick of time to save The Hound when the latter freezes up at the sight of a man being burned alive.
• Bling of War: Refuses to wear the attire of the City Watch because a cloak slows you down in a fight and the gold prevents concealment.
• British Accents: Flynn portrays him with a Rotherham accent (not Flynn's own natural accent) which makes him sound disturbingly like the Chuckle Brothers.
• Brutal Honesty
• The Cast Show Off: In "Blackwater", former pop singer Jerome Flynn gets to make use of his lovely singing voice.
• Combat Pragmatist: When confronted with a big Knight in Shining Armor and a full-body shield, he David Versus Goliaths it, dodging continually away until his opponent gets tired.
  Lysa: You do not fight with honor!
  Bronn: No. [nods at dead foe] He did.
• Composite Character: Takes over some of Ser Jacelyn Bywater's role in season two.
• Country Matters: What he thinks of Joffrey.
• Cutting the Knot: How does the Commander of the City Watch keep peace and order and prevent widespread looting on the eve of a major siege by a hostile power? By having the boys round up all the known thieves, of course. Tyrion and Varys give each other a glorious look that says, "It can't really be that simple." But yes. Yes, it is.
• Deadpan Snarker: Seems to have much the same sense of humor as Tyrion.
• The Dragon: Tyrion's.
• Dual Wielding: Wields both his longsword and kukri-like dagger when he and Tyrion are accosted by the mountain clans.
• Duel to the Death: When he decides to champion Tyrion.
• Even Antivillainy Has Standards:
  • Played with when Tyrion asks him if he would kill an infant without question if he ordered Bronn to do so. Bronn stresses the "without question" part; he'd carry it out, but he'd need a pretty handsome payment before doing something like that.
  Bron: Without question? No... I'll ask "how much?".
  • With regard to Joffrey.
    Bronn: There's no cure for being a cunt.
  • While Bronn normally radiates a calm apathy toward the horrible things he sees others do, he does seem to detest Ser Meryn Trant.
    "You're a grub in shining armour who's better at beating up little girls than fighting men."
• Genre Savvy: His accurate remarks and predictions are drawn from personal experience most of the time. Made evident when he discusses sieges.
• Hidden Depths: Bronn is actually quite the talented singer.
• I Am X, Son of Y: He's not really in to that whole "Who's your daddy" thing.
  Tyrion: And here we have Bronn, son of...
  Bronn: You wouldn't know him.
• Insult Backfire: Meryn Trant tries to insult Bronn's new knighthood. It does not go well.
  Meryn: You're no knight.
  Bronn: Pod?
  Podrick: Ser Bronn of the Blackwater was anointed by the King himself.
  Meryn: You're an upjumped cutthroat. Nothing more.
  Bronn: That's exactly who I am. And you're a grub, in fancy armor, who's better at beating little girls than fighting men. Now, I have an appointment with Lord Tyrion.
• Interrupted Intimacy: His session with the prostitute Mirelle gets interrupted by Podrick.
• Knight of Cerebus: Inverted. During his time offscreen things got very dire for Tyrion, indeed. And then he shows up again, and makes everything hilarious.
• Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: He quickly excuses himself in "Baelor" when Tyrion and his new concubine begin to get busy while he's still there.
• Only in It for the Money: He's very clear to Tyrion that he's serving him solely for the riches, even though he does consider him a friend (the pay really "enhances" their friendship, he says). However, he still expects to get paid — not even friends get freebies. From the Books...
  However, he's quite a bit less Only in It for the Money on the show than in the books, where he never really becomes friends with Tyrion and makes ever-larger financial demands.
  Tyrion: I thought we were friends.
  Bronn: We are, but I'm a sellsword. I sell my sword. I don't loan it out as a favor to a friend.
• Punch Clock Hero/Punch Clock Villain: One of Bronn's most defining features is that he quite simply doesn't give a crap about anything. Kings, knights, maesters, thugs, and, as he notably points out, women and children. He really just doesn't care who he has to kill as long as Tyrion's paying him the money.
• Rank Up:
  • Promoted to commander of the city watch by Tyrion in season 2, replacing Janos Slynt. It lasts until the end of the season, though, as he's dismissed by Tywin. He turns out to be almost as ruthless as Janos Slynt, though he never kills children. In anticipation of Stannis' siege, Bronn has his men round up and kill all the known thieves, because they steal all the food when a siege begins.
  • Rewarded with a knighthood after the battle of Backwater.
• Servile Snarker: Not afraid to speak his mind to Tyrion, which is one reason Tyrion keeps him around since he knows Bronn will tell him the truth.
  Tyrion: Stannis has more infantry, more ships, more horses. What do we have?
  Bronn: There's that mind of yours you keep going on about.
  Tyrion: Well, I've never actually been able to kill people with it.
  Bronn: Good thing. I'd be out of a job.
• Staring Down Cthulhu: At the beginning of "Blackwater" he stares down Sandor Clegane, who's intent is very much to murder him. He later ends up saving Clegane himself during the ensuing battle.
  Sandor: You like fucking, and drinking, and singing. But killing... that's the thing you love. You're just like me. Only smaller.
  Bronn: And quicker.
• Straight Man: To Tyrion.
• Street Smart: Another facet of his unique, worldly wisdom. This makes him a very effective City Watch commander.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Sandor during the Battle of Blackwater.
• Why Don't You Just Kill Him: Prefers this philosophy when it comes to handling problems, and is rather blunt and unapologetic about it.
• Would Hit a Girl: Bronn admits that the first person he killed was a woman who attacked him with a weapon. Shae still doesn't approve.
• Would Hurt a Child: Depending on the prize, of course. He does directly tell Tyrion that while he'd probably still do it, unlike Janos he'd at least think about it for a moment.

"Don't trust anybody. Life is safer that way."

Played By: Sibel Kekilli

Shae:"Cities make me want to fuck."

Tyrion:"And...so did the country."

A camp follower that Tyrion takes a special interest in and brings with him to King's Landing, where she is later made Sansa Stark's handmaiden.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the book, she is described as having more of an innocent, Girl Next Door appeal, whereas Sibel Kekilli goes with a much more overtly-sexual Monica Bellucci angle. Not that anyone's complaining.
• Adaptational Badass: TV!Shae is not afraid of using a knife.
• Adaptational Heroism: More kind and compassionate compared to the character from the books.
• Age Lift: Book!Shae is described as being probably just eighteen or so.
• Ascended Extra: In the books, her scenes mostly consisted of interacting with Tyrion. In the show, particularly the second season, she interacts with a lot more characters, and becomes Sansa's handmaiden a lot lot earlier.
• Berserk Button: Does not like people talking about her parentage.
• Camp Follower
• Chastity Dagger: Carries one in her garter.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Has definitely become this as of Season 3, interrogating Tyrion brutally about his interest in and history with other women (Sansa and Ros, respectively).
• Cluster F-Bomb: The way she overuses the F word may suggest that she's not familiar with more appropriate Common (English) words for "Have Sex".
• The Confidant: To Sansa, after being made her handmaiden. To the point where HBO's website now lists her as part of the Stark household. Particularly noticeable in "The Climb", where Shae is aware of Sansa's engagement to Ser Loras Tyrell, and apparently did not even tell Tyrion about it.
• Did You Think I Can't Feel?: She gets really pissed when, after all they have been through, Tyrion assumes she's still only with him for the money.
  Tyrion: I'm a monster, as well as a dwarf! You should charge me double.
  Shae: You think I'm here for money?
  Tyrion: That was the arrangement we made. I pay you and you lie to me.
  Shae: Oh, I'm a poor little rich man and nobody loves me, so I make jokes all the time and pay them to laugh. Fuck your money.
• Foreign Fanservice: Due to her accent, which is later Jossed/Hand Waved as being Lorathi.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: in sharp contrast to the novels, where she's Only in It for the Money and has no particular loyalty or feelings to anyone. By the second season, she has very little in common with her pagebound counterpart.
• Knife Nut: Although "Nut" might be pushing it a little, she's been shown to have both an affinity for and some skill with knives in recent episodes, to the point where even Ilyn Payne gives her a wide berth.
• Mysterious Past: It's implied that she was raised in high class family, but she curtly refuses to discuss the matter.
• Mysterious Woman
• Ninja Maid: She chases down and threatens another handmaiden at knife-point to protect Sansa.
• Promotion to Opening Titles
• Protectorate: Over Sansa.
• Stripperific
• What The Hell Is That Accent: An in-universe example - Shae's accent is clearly out of place in English-accented Westeros. Lampshaded when Tyrion asks and she simply responds, "Foreign."
  • In "Blackwater", Cersei pegs her accent as Lorathi. This seems to be a combination of a joke/ fantasy Accent Adaptation, in that Jaqen is also supposed to be from Lorath, and is played by fellow German Tom Wlaschiha.

"Yes, my Lord."

Played By: Daniel Portman

Cersei: "Odd little boy."

Tyrion: "I have a certain sympathy for odd little boys."

Tyrion's trusted young squire. Hails from a lesser branch of House Payne, the family of Ilyn Payne.

Tropes:

• Adorkable
• Age Lift: In the books he's twelve when introduced.
• Alliterative Name
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: Tyrion fixes that though.
• Big Damn Heroes: Saves Tyrion in "Blackwater" from being killed by Ser Mandon Moore of the Kingsguard.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Kills Ser Mandon by driving a spear through the back of his skull.
• Demoted to Extra: Completely cut from season 1. In season 2 he hardly speaks and is pretty much part of the furniture, although often remarked upon as "odd." Then comes "Blackwater."
  • Averted in Season 3
• Memetic Sex God: Seems to be becoming one in universe after he returns the money Tyrion gave him for an orgy with three whores. Apparently they liked him so much they didn't take his money, Bronn and Tyrion ask him for details ... copious details.
• The Quiet One
• Undying Loyalty: Despite Tyrion's fall from power, Pod still remains loyal to him, even more so than Bronn, as he's not even paid by Tyrion.
  • He even returns back to Tyrion the fee the latter paid Pod's whores, despite Tyrion not expecting it back.

"This is your last chance. In the name of King Joffrey, drop your weapons."

Played By: Fintan McKeown

Another knight sworn to House Lannister.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the books he's described as fat and pig-like, and had a history of being unnecessarily cruel and very stupid. In the TV series he looks a lot more Bad Ass, but his stupidity becomes pretty apparent in later episodes of season two. See Never Learned To Read below.
• Beard of Evil
• Black Knight
• The Brute: To Tywin Lannister's Big Bad and Ser Gregor's The Dragon.
• Death by Adaptation: Type 2. From the Books...
  The second murder Jaqen H'gar commits for Arya is that of Weese, the steward of Harrenhal understewart, for whom Arya works and who had hit her. Amory Lorch still dies, but almost a full book later and not at the hands of either Arya or Jaqen.
• Dumb Muscle
• For the Evulz: Seems to have graduated in the same knight school as Ser Gregor - i.e. be as much of a jerk as you can as long as you are still loyal to House Lannister.
• Just in Time: Arya has Jaqen kill him when he tries to report to Tywin that she stole one of his missives. He drops dead in Tywin's doorway.
• Mook Lieutenant
• Never Learned To Read: He sent a letter regarding the Lannister plans to the wrong House. A House that is loyal to the Starks.

"That's a fine little blade. Maybe I'll pick my teeth with it."

Played By: Andy Kellegher

A man-at-arms under the command of Ser Amory Lorch.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Attractiveness
• Bald of Evil
• Composite Character: Of the books' Polliver and Raff the Sweetling.
• Dumb Muscle
• For the Evulz
• I Lied: Tells the injured Lommy that he'll carry him, then sinks a sword in Lommy's throat.
• Jerkass
• Kick the Dog: Killing Lommy.
  • His behavior while guarding prisoners is hardly better.
• Would Kill a Child

"Is there gold and silver in the village?... Are there any gems?... Where is the Brotherhood?... Who's helping them?"

Played By: Anthony Morris

A torturer and interrogator serving under "The Mountain".

Tropes:

• Asshole Victim
• Blond Guys Are Evil
• Catch Phrase: "Where's the Brotherhood? Is there gold hidden in the village? jewels?"
• Death by Adaptation: Type 2. He takes the place of Chiswyck, a man-at-arms sworn to the Mountain.
• For the Evulz: After he gets a prisoner to confess, he has the torture continue just to kill the man.
  • The Tickler's set of four questions never changes, nor does his non-chalant way of asking them. It looks more like he is playing a creepy killing ritual than trying to obtain information at all.
• Icy Blue Eyes
• In Universe Nickname
• Neck Snap: His death.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: It's enough for Jaqen H'ghar, however.
• The Nondescript/They Look Just Like Everyone Else: He has a totally average, unremarkable appearance and carries out his horrible actions with casual nonchalance.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: He calmly eats a pear while supervising people being tortured to death. Appropriately, after Jaqen kills him, Jaqen is seen standing casually with a pear in hand.
• Torture Technician