Game of Thrones - Tyrion Lannister / Characters

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Hand of the King Lord Tyrion Lannister

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"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

Voiced By: Dafnis Fernandez (Latin American Spanish), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese), Márcio Simões (Brazilian, Seasons 1-6), Claus Peter-Damitz (German)

"Tyrion Lannister is one of the few people alive that can make this country a better place. He has the mind for it, he has the will and he has the right last name."

— Varys

The youngest Lannister sibling, son of Tywin and brother of Jaime and Cersei. As Tyrion was born a dwarf and his mother died during childbirth, he is resented by Tywin and Cersei, while Jaime is the only relative who is nice to him. At the beginning of the series, knowing that no one will ever take him seriously, Tyrion uses his status as a Lannister to live his life with wine and prostitutes.

Tyrion's life changes forever when Catelyn Stark accuses him of trying to murder Bran Stark, and imprisons him for it. Tyrion uses his intelligence to escape, and after a series of unexpected events, he is sent by his father to impose order on the capital of King's Landing, as well as his nephew Joffrey, the new king, as civil war begins. He serves as acting Hand of the King, doing a great job of protecting the city, but when his father returns, Tyrion is demoted to Master of Coin, losing much of his power and becoming vulnerable to the machinations of his enemies. When Joffrey is murdered, Tyrion becomes the victim of a rather obvious frame-up. After a rather blatantly biased trial and being betrayed by his lover Shae, Tyrion demands a trial by combat to determine his fate, only for his champion, Oberyn Martell, to be killed by Gregor Clegane during the trial. Following this, Tyrion is sentenced to death by Tywin. The night before his execution he is freed from his cell by Jaime, only to flee Westeros with the help of Varys after killing Shae and Tywin.

Initially driven into despair by the events that transpired against him Varys gives him a new lease in life by sending him to Meereen to meet Daenerys Targaryen. After getting to know each other better, Daenerys trusts Tyrion's valuable advice, and eventually names him her Hand of the Queen. Tyrion admires and even falls in love (platonically) with Daenerys. Together, the two return to Westeros, and Tyrion plans to help her win the Iron Throne. However, fate has different ideas...

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0% Approval Rating: At the beginning of the series, Tyrion is hated by most Starks and Northerners because they believe he tried to kill Bran (which is not true). In Season 2, Tyrion discovers that he is hated by all the people of King's Landing, who blame him for his supposed role in the war and food shortages in the city. This is justified because there is no way for them to know that almost everything bad that is happening in the city is Joffrey or Cersei's fault, and that Tyrion is actually the only one who is doing anything to help the people's situation (although his motives are not altruistic). The situation gets worse at the end of Season 4, when Tyrion is framed for Joffrey's death and kills his own father, Tywin, while fleeing King's Landing. After that, everyone in Westeros believes that Tyrion is a monster, and even in Essos, when Season 6 shows a play in Braavos about the War of the Five Kings, in which Tyrion is portrayed in the most negative way possible. Even at the end of the series, Tyrion's situation barely improved, as although he is the Hand of King Bran Stark, he continues to be hated by most of Westeros for his role as Daenerys' main ally in her campaign that resulted in the destruction of King's Landing.
Abled in the Adaptation: In the books, Tyrion actually lost his nose in the assassination attempt on him during the Battle of Blackwater. Here, the attempt only left him with a typical facial scar, although Cersei tells her brother that she had heard he had lost his nose when she sees him again. In the books he also has deformed legs that make it difficult for him to walk and very painful to kneel, giving him a pronounced waddling gait that the show version lacks.
Abusive Parents: Tyrion suffers under one during most of his life, as Tywin's ascendancy keeps hurting him well into his adulthood.
Action Survivor: He's not really trained for combat but nonetheless participated in a number of battles.
Adaptation Deviation: A notable case. A large foundation for Tyrion's love of whoring involves how, as a youth, he and his brother Jaime had rescued a girl named Tysha from a rape. Tyrion then fell in love with her, and married her not long after. Soon enough, Tywin discovered this, and had Tysha gang-raped by an entire garrison of soldiers as a result, and Tyrion found out that Tysha was none other than a whore hired by Jaime to lift his spirits. So Tyrion figured, since no one could ever truly love him, he threw his lot in with prostitutes. In the books, it's revealed Tysha was not a whore, and genuinely loved Tyrion — it had all been a lie set forth by Tywin, whose motive for the aforementioned gang-rape was simply because he couldn't stand seeing a Lannister wed to one of the smallfolk (alternatively, he just didn't want to see Tyrion happy, for once in his life). This revelation shakes Tyrion to the core and leads him down a darker path, where he ends up actively seeking the destruction of his house. But since the Tysha reveal was excised from the show, Tyrion's character goes a different direction. In the show, he doesn't seek retribution against his family members, and is more motivated by the potential that Daenerys has to upheave the destructive system that has laid waste to Westeros for decades.
Adaptational Attractiveness: He is repeatedly described as horribly ugly in the books, while Peter Dinklage is rather handsome. 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 (Dinklage is the oldest of his on-screen siblings — one year older than Coster-Waldau and four years older than Headey). His facial deformity in the books probably translates to looking older than his years onscreen.
Adaptational Dumbass:
- While In-Universe considered one of the most intelligent characters in both the books and the TV series, in the books Tyrion is a voracious reader who consistently shows in-depth knowledge in a variety of fields. His series counterpart, while often clever, is shown to be much less of a scholar.
- Meanwhile, as the series has progressed past the books, Tyrion is becoming infamous even In-Universe for his series of really bad political and military decisions made as Dany's Hand of the Queen, decisions which have left Dany in a considerably worse position than when she started. Though it's as yet unknown if his book counterpart will follow suit in the final two books, it would be wildly out of character for him to do so.
- Book Tyrion isn't necessarily established as a particularly talented with foreign languages (though he would no doubt say that he enjoys a cunning linguist as much as anyone). But Tyrion on the show is actively bad at speaking Valyrian, and his poor attempts are played for laughs.
Adaptational Heroism: Taken to such extremes that he's practically a different character altogether. Tyrion was explicitly described by George R.R. Martin as a villain and the most morally gray character in the books. Although Tyrion has some moments of altruism or compassion, he also partakes in all sorts of horrendous acts including raping slaves and setting loose ravaging barbarians on civilians out of spite. In the TV Series, Tyrion starts out as a cynical and fun Jerk with a Heart of Gold, with many of the negative aspects he has in the books being cut or diminished in the adaptation, and as the seasons progress, especially in the second half, he becomes a standard hero. Some of the main differences between the two versions of the character are:
- In the books, Tyrion is almost as egocentrical as his father Tywin, openly loves power and authority, and is a bit more concerned with his family's actions from the viewpoint of how it affects their image than the actual morality of those actions.
- When Tywin announces his plans to betroth Cersei to Willas Tyrell in the books, Tyrion takes pleasure in the announcement knowing that it would make Cersei miserable. This doesn't happen in the show, with Tyrion even showing a look of sympathy toward Cersei when Tywin dresses her down for refusing to marry Loras, despite Cersei taunting him about his betrothal to Sansa just moments earlier.
- In the books, after marrying Sansa, Tyrion even stands naked in front of her but he finally gives up when he realizes how much Sansa is disgusted and afraid of him, and insists that he will not have relations with her until the day comes when she wants to. Despite this, Tyrion still desires her sexually and feels guilty about it. In the TV series, Tyrion does not strip before her, does not show any sexual desire for her, and their relationship is more friendly in contrast to the unhappy and cold married life they have in the books.
- In the books, Tyrion has his hilltribes abduct Tommen when Cersei captures Alayaya (the prostitute Roz filled in for as the one Cersei thought was Tyrion's lover in place of Shae), and he warns Cersei that any harm inflicted on Alayaya will be returned on Tommen (although in all fairness, he was bluffing). This is why Tywin is so spiteful when Tyrion awakens from the Battle of Blackwater — Tywin heard Tyrion threatened his nephew with bodily harm over a whore.
- In the books, Tyrion orders Bronn to assassinate a bard who is blackmailing him and threatening to expose his relationship with Shae. He doesn't show any kind of regret about it. In the TV series, this subplot was completely cut.
- In the books, Tyrion unconsciously treats Shae as little more than a slave who has no say in anything outside of the bed, and has a few moments where he gets physically violent with her (though he feels awful about them). Also, his killing of Shae happened in cold blood and was essentially a spiteful act of vengeance for her turning on him during his trial, but here he's essentially forced to do it to prevent her from exposing Tywin's death and is genuinely remorseful afterwards. Shae did grab the knife first as well; Tyrion was mainly acting in self defense.
- In the books, he shamelessly rapes a sex slave in Volantis, before remarking in his internal monologue "what a horrible little creature I am". The show version of this scene instead has a sex slave approach him, offer him consensual sex, and Tyrion nobly decline.
- Following his exile from the books, he grew darker and more cruel because of his family's treachery and agrees to support Daenerys on the condition he can personally murder Jaime and rape Cersei as a reward. In the show, Tyrion actually Took a Level in Kindness, wants to help Daenerys win with the least possible bloodshed and still shows sympathy to his relatives, despite them being his enemies at this point.
Adaptational Wimp: In terms of battle prowess alone, the adaptation makes a bigger point of Tyrion being Minored in Ass-Kicking. In the way to the Vale, for instance, Tyrion kills several dozens of Tribesmen using ambushing tactics and an axe, while in the show he barely manages to kill one of them with a shield. Of course, by the Battle Of Blackwater Bay Show Tyrion Took a Level in Badass, but he's still lagging behind Book Tyrion in the same battle.
Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- His marriage to Sansa, a constant source of misery and humiliation for both of them in the books, actually manages to reach the level of a sort of amiable friendship, at least before the Red Wedding ruins everything. They even settle on a sort of Amicable Exes deal when they meet again in the final season.
- He never has his tragic falling-out with Jaime in the show, parting from him on good terms after Jaime rescues him from the Black Cells. While Jaime expresses a desire to kill him after Tyrion murders Tywin, he gets over it eventually.
Age Lift: The incident with his first wife Tysha happened when he was 13 in the books. In the show, he was 16 when it happened.
Agent Scully: Despite or because of being well-versed in ancient lore, Tyrion is shown on several occasions to be extremely skeptical of manifestations of magic returning to the world. It's implied, especially where dragons are concerned, that as in other aspects of his life, he used to believe but had his idealism crushed. When Tyrion meets Jon Snow, he makes it clear that he does not believe in the stories of supernatural creatures beyond the Wall, and acts in complete disbelief when Varys tells Tyrion that Daenerys has three dragons. He finally changes his attitude toward this when he sees one of Daenerys' dragons with his own eyes in Season 5, and in Season 7, he accepts Jon's stories about the White Walkers more easily.
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. By Season 5, Varys is trying to keep him functional, as the first thing Tyrion does when he gets out of the crate in which he crossed over to Essos is grab a bottle of wine and drink until he pukes. Daenerys criticizes Tyrion for his drinking, but in Season 6, there are only a couple of scenes in which he appears without a glass or decanter of wine nearby. By the time he returns to Westeros, though, he largely seemed to have kicked the habit or reduced it dramatically.
Tyrion: It's not easy being drunk all the time. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
All Love Is Unrequited: Peter Dinklage revealed in interviews that Tyrion fell in love with Daenerys, something corroborated by the script of the season 6 episode "The Winds of Winter," the leaked season 7 scripts, and a brief dialogue with Jon in the series finale. This is only subtly suggested in the TV series, through the character's stares at his queen, and helps to explain some of his actions in the final seasons. Unfortunately, as with Shae, even this unrequited platonic love ends in a tragic way, with Daenerys clearly seeing him only as her Hand, who she initially believes is faithful to her, and then falling in love with Jon. After a series of tragic events, including Tyrion trying to save his siblings and Daenerys later laying waste to a surrendered King's Landing, Tyrion resigns as Daenerys's Hand in protest to her actions and Daenerys has him arrested for treason. While imprisoned, Tyrion tells Jon that while he knows Jon loves Daenerys, admitting he loves her too, he urges Jon to assassinate Daenerys to stop her destruction, which a reluctant Jon eventually does.
All of the Other Reindeer: No matter what Tyrion does, all of the heroic actions he did to protect King's Landing during the Battle of Blackwater Bay, nobody stands in his defense in his trial for the crime of regicide. Not one kind word, with the public regarding him as an evil dwarf and everyone automatically believing Cersei's rather obvious scapegoating and lying witnesses:
Tyrion: I am guilty of a far more monstrous crime. I'm guilty — of being a dwarf!
Tywin: You are not on trial for being a dwarf.
Tyrion: Oh, yes I am! I've been on trial for that my entire life!
Almighty Janitor:
- In a literal version, Tyrion tells Varys that at the age of sixteen, when Tywin Lannister assigned his son the job of running the sewers and cisterns of Casterly Rock, Tyrion revolutionized it and made it perfect to spite his father.
- More traditionally, Tyrion also qualifies for the trope in general since his accomplishments during his tenure as Hand of the King- including his strategies during Stannis’s siege on King’s Landing that practically won them the battle- get swept under the rug by Tywin and the rest of the Lannisters simply out of spite.
Always Someone Better: Although Tyrion believes he is the smartest person in the royal court and family, he is eventually tricked by Littlefinger in Season 4 (who frames him for Joffrey's death) and by Jaime and Cersei in Seasons 7 and 8 (who anticipated his plays at Casterly Rock).
Amicable Exes: With Sansa, asking after her wellbeing in Season 7 when Jon visits Dragonstone. When they reunite in Season 8, they're able to banter about their marriage, and Tyrion can accept Sansa's criticism of him trusting Cersei's word.
Anger Born of Worry: When Jaime picks up a spear and charges at a downed Drogon and Dany, all Tyrion can do is beg him to "Flee, you fucking idiot!"
And Starring: In Season 1. He becomes the top-billed actor afterwards.
Annoying Younger Sibling: Tyrion confesses to childhood pranks like putting goat shit 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-Hero: Tyrion is far more noble than either his father or sister, but unlike Ned Stark or Jon Arryn, Tyrion knows how to play the game of thrones and tries to play it well. He becomes a more standard hero starting in Season 5, when he abandons the Lannister cause and becomes Daenerys's ally.
The Anti-Nihilist: While talking with Jaime about Bran being crippled:
Jaime: Even if the boy does live, he will be a cripple. Worse than a cripple. A grotesque. Give me a good clean death.
Tyrion: Speaking for the grotesques, I beg to differ. Death is so terribly final, while life is full of possibilities.
Anti-Villain: In the first four seasons. While he is mostly a good person at heart, in the most technical sense, Tyrion is loyal to, and furthers the goals of, the 'villainous' House Lannister, which includes helping maintain his tyrannical nephew's hold on the Iron Throne while knowing he is illegitimate and thus not the rightful King. He recognizes that the family's path to power doesn't need to involve stepping on the heads of every other noble house in the realm, and that trying to do so will have consequences. In the simplest terms, Tyrion is a good man and a good ruler who fights for the "evil" Lannisters because they are his family. Until his trial, where a mixture of not being defended by anyone for a crime he did not commit and being betrayed by Shae, the woman he loved, makes Tyrion finally snap after years of mental and emotional abuse. Once Tyrion escapes from his cell with the help of Jaime, he proceeds to kill Shae in self-defense as well as murder his father before fleeing Westeros. From season 5 onwards, after making an alliance with Daenerys, he becomes a Anti-Hero.
Apologetic Attacker: He sobs out an "I'm sorry" just after strangling his former lover Shae to death, once he finds her in Tywin's bed and she attacks him.
Appropriated Appellation: Played with. He is known by several derogatory nicknames ("imp", "dwarf", "half-man") and he dislikes them all. While it appears that he continues to so dislike, "imp" has been used in affectionate tones as well (by Bronn for instance). As for "half-man", after Tyrion led a sortie against enemy troops, his troops used "half man" as a war cry.
Arch-Enemy: To his sister, Cersei, and to his father, Tywin. Suffice it to say that Tyrion doesn't have the best relationship with his family.
Armor-Piercing Question: When he volunteers to lead a sortie during the Battle of the Blackwater. The soldiers are in disbelief and think about fleeing, but he shuts them all down.
Tyrion: They say I'm half a man. What does that make the lot of you?
Arranged Marriage: Tywin orders him to marry and impregnate Sansa to stop the Tyrells from marrying her to Loras. He chooses not to impregnate her yet, but when she is ready.
Association Fallacy: Most Westeros nobles, especially the Starks, treat him coldly just for being a Lannister.
At Least I Admit It: Most Lannisters are morally bankrupt and sexual deviants behind closed doors, while Tyrion flaunts his personal flaws and whoring exploits, much to his family's chagrin.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: He and Shae have the most positively adorable scene in "Dark Wings, Dark Words" that drips with this trope.
Awful Wedded Life: His brief "marriage" to Sansa was becoming a kind of quasi-friendship but the Red Wedding ruined that forever and Tyrion is at a loss at what to do with her since she doesn't speak to anyone and regards Tyrion as complicit in her family's massacre.
Badass Army: Had his own personal force of mountain clansmen, who had 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 in your mouth, and you will know the debt is paid."
Badass Bookworm: Who would expect him to beat a highwayman to death with nothing but the point of a kite-shield? In Season 2 he successfully led the defense of King's Landing, albeit with the aid of last-second reinforcements from Tywin.
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. Even better, he tells his actual plan (to marry Myrcella to Trystane Martell) to Pycelle, whom he obviously suspects most of being Cersei's spy. He's right. And hilariously, Tyrion tells the most ridiculous version to Varys (that he plans to marry Myrcella to Theon Greyjoy), because Tyrion clearly suspects him the least. Varys, of course, sees through Tyrion's gambit immediately, but says nothing, due to their budding friendship (and also because he's almost certainly as interested as Tyrion in learning the identity of Cersei's spy).
Beard of Sorrow: Grows a rather impressive one in Season 5, following his killing of Tywin and subsequent exile from Westeros. Ultimately decides to keep it, though, even after finding purpose and returning to Westeros as Daenerys' Hand.
Because I'm Good At It: The reason he gives for carrying on with his lifestyle of plotting and scheming, even though Shae begs him to leave with her after "Blackwater"; 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, but he likes playing the game.
Tyrion: I can't. I belong here. All these bad people are what I'm good at — out-talking them, out-thinking them, it's what I am. And I like it. I like it more than anything I've ever done.
Benevolent Boss: Just ask his squire Podrick Payne.
- Attempts to be this while overseeing Meereen, with mixed results.
Beauty Equals Goodness: Inverted. He's considered to be the ugliest and most repulsive Lannister in-universe,^note but is also one of the few in his House who can be considered genuinely heroic and caring.
Big Brother Instinct: Has this towards most younger characters who are in similarly disadvantaged situations to his own. Just watch him talk to Sansa, Podrick, or Bran. He runs the gamut from cool older brother to protector, and even seems to be trying to correct Joffrey until the little pissant becomes a lost cause. He also does this a bit with Daenerys once he bonds with her over the fact both their fathers were terrible people.
Big Brother Worship: Tyrion adores Jaime, the one close kin who has always been protective and kind to him since childhood. Unlike in the books, Jaime remains an unbroken pedestal. ^{In the books...}
Bigger Is Better in Bed: It's suggested a couple of times he has a Gag Penis, or at least the equivalent for a dwarf, which is something he's rather proud of. In his very first appearance in the whorehouse in "Winter Is Coming" he claims "The gods gave me one blessing" and when a slaver is Essos wants to castrate him for his "magic dwarf cock", Tyrion is offended at the notion he has a common dwarf cock.
Tyrion: You can't just hand a dried cock to a merchant and expect him to pay for it! He has to know it came from a dwarf! And how could he know unless he sees the dwarf?
Slaver: It will be a dwarf-sized cock.
Tyrion: Guess again!
Bittersweet Ending: Tyrion loses the one sibling he loved, his best friend and is compelled to betray the queen he also loved and admired. Most of the inhabitants of Westeros hate him and blame him for everything that has gone wrong, and he will not be remembered by the history books. Furthermore, with the love disillusionment he had with Shae and Daenerys, it is unlikely that Tyrion will ever fall in love again. However, he is able to oversee the beginning of a more peaceful era doing what he does best as Hand of the King, this time with a trustworthy and competent Small Council.
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?

Tyrion [to Joffrey]: 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!
Broken Pedestal: He believes that Daenerys will be a kind and just queen, and follows her loyally, until the moment she massacres the citizens of King's Landing with dragonfire despite them having already surrendered. While she is giving her post-victory speech to the Dothraki and Unsullied, Tyrion walks up to her, takes off his Hand of the Queen brooch that she gave him, and flings it down the steps.
Brutal Honesty: Tyrion doesn't hesitate to speak his mind when he thinks the situation calls for it. This often gains him respect for his earnestness, but also lands him in problems from time to time when his abrupt input is not appreciated. Daenerys, however, appreciates his honesty, which results in her initially taking him on as her advisor, and then ultimately, her Hand (a position in which brutal honesty is required).
Bookworm: "My brother has his sword, and I have my mind"
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.
Born Lucky: He outright claims to be this. Key word: claims.
- That said, while he gets into more than his share of scrapes, he tends to have remarkably good luck when his life is on the line. At the end of the series, he has fought in the front lines of several major battles despite not being a fighter, been framed for a capital crime twice, had an assassination attempt made on him, been on the bad side of several monarchs, been attacked by the Stone Men, and been captured by slavers, and he’s still standing.
Break His Heart to Save Him: To Shae, in "The Lion and the Rose". It backfires. Horribly.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: While most of the court of King's Landing cannot stand him, it's clear to everyone that Tyrion is ridiculously competent at whatever he turns his attention to. During the Battle of the Blackwater, Tyrion not only planned the defense of King's Landing, but also was responsible for wiping out nearly all of Stannis' fleet in one fell swoop. ^{From The Books...}
Butt-Monkey: He spends much of Seasons 3 and 4 being on the receiving end of jokes and undesirable tasks, chiefly because he's the Token Good Teammate and Only Sane Man who doesn't think killing your enemies in underhanded brutal ways and expecting people to live with it is realistic or healthy in the long run. He complains to Shae at the start of Season 4 for essentially reduced to being the Lannisters' PR man when it comes to dealing with Sansa and Oberyn Martell while receiving nothing but scorn from his father, sister and nephew. By the end of Season 4, we only know of two allies he can really count on, barring potentially Sansa: Jaime and Varys.
Byronic Hero: The lighter end of this trope. While he might not be physically attractive, he is quite charismatic, very passionate, driven, jaded, and emotionally unstable.
Call to Agriculture: Wants to own a vineyard and make his own wine.
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.
- His reliance on alcohol also increases over time, to the degree that his reaching for a decanter of wine in virtually ever scene becomes a tic.
Tyrion: That's what I do. I drink, and I know things.
Celibate Hero: Once infamous for whoring, Tyrion seems to lose his sex drive after killing Shae. He finds himself unable to sleep with a prostitute in Volantis, and he makes no attempt to seek a sex partner after that. In season 8, he tells Jaime that whoring is no longer an option for him, and adds: "Things would be easier if it were. The perils of self-betterment."
Characterization Marches On: In the first 4 seasons, Tyrion was portrayed as a cynical Jerk with a Heart of Gold with a prodigious degree of cunning and a ruthless edge - a depiction that was closer to his book counterpart. The later seasons have changed his overall presentation. While still a Deadpan Snarker, Tyrion is now much more heroic, often going out of his way to be a Nice Guy to everyone he meets. Furthermore his supposed brilliance is now more of an Informed Attribute. Lately his biggest contributions have come from the emotional support he provides for others, or being able to clear the names of other people such as Jon Snow or Jaime Lannister rather than any plans he's drawn up. This has been noted in-universe, and in season 8 Daenerys is seriously considering replacing him as hand because of it. It's implied that this is because as he became more of a Nice Guy he also lots his ruthless edge and the cunning that came with it.
The Charmer: During Season 5, he manages to win over a skeptical whore in Volantis, with no money and unable to fall back on his family name. He can't go through with sleeping with her, but it's impressive smooth-talking nonetheless.
The Chessmaster: Showed off his skill in this throughout his entire stint as Hand of the King, politically outmaneuvering any possible rivals and even getting one ahead of Littlefinger at one point. There was also his brilliant tactical planning at the Battle of Blackwater. Recognition of this savvy talent of his is what convinces Daenerys to name him her Hand.
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. He outright refuses to sleep with Sansa when they're supposed to be consummating their marriage until she's ready. And if she's never ready? His reaction says it all.
Tyrion: And so my watch begins.
Clear My Name:
- Accused of an attempt on Bran's life, because Littlefinger claims that the dagger found on the assassin belonged to Tyrion. Tyrion beats the charges thanks to Bronn winning the Trial by Combat.
- Tyrion is in the wrong place at the wrong time during a wedding, is accused of killing Joffrey and faces a trial for it.
Chekhov's Gun: Early in the series, he mentioned that his father gave him the task of designing the sewers beneath Casterly Rock, the Lannister family home, in order to humiliate him, and boasts that he made them extremely efficient. Several seasons later, he reveals that he'd installed secret passages meant for sneaking whores into and out of the castle, which become equally effective at sneaking a small sabotage squad of Unsullied into the castle later on.
Commonality Connection: He forms one with Daenerys when they compare their terrible childhoods.
Conflicting Loyalty: After the invasion of Westeros doesn't go quite as planned, Daenerys accuses him of deliberately pulling his punches because he doesn't want to kill his family. The truth is more complicated. Tyrion wants Jaime to live (being the only Lannister left who ever actually loved Tyrion), but doesn't give a damn about Cersei, who would kill him on the spot. However, in the Season 7 finale Cersei doesn't have him killed, and he instinctively gives her a goblet of wine to share.
Cool Uncle: To Tommen and Myrcella. They're noticeably the only characters in the Lannister family besides Jaime who are openly loving towards him and their scenes together show Tyrion is far more than just a hedonist. To Joffrey... well, Jaime may be known as the Kingslayer, but Tyrion is the Kingslapper. He even admits to Cersei that Tommen and Myrcella dying broke his heart, because he honestly loved them.
Cultured Badass: He's very well-read. In Season 1, when Jon asks Tyrion why he reads so much, Tyrion says he'll never be a great warrior so his mind is his best weapon, saying that a mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone.
Custom Uniform: He is one of two Lannisters whose battle armor includes a full metal cuirass instead of lamellar plate (even Tywin and Jaime wear those and they have seen a lot more battles than Tyrion). The other was Joffrey, but he was a king.
Deadpan Snarker: Hands down the snarkiest character in the show, Tyrion is physically compelled to make sarcastic remarks about everything and anything, which combined with his silver-tongued nature makes him absurdly quotable.
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.
Death Glare: If looks could kill, Joffrey would have dropped dead when he asked Tyrion to kneel during "The Lion and the Rose". Not that he lasted much longer than that anyway. Later, at the end of Tyrion's trial, when he demands a trial by combat, he shoots Tywin a look of pure, seething hatred.
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.
Despair Event Horizon: In "The Laws of Gods and Men", Tyrion crosses this when Shae testifies against him and humiliates him. He's reduced to a seething mass of rage.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Spent his whole life trying to earn respect and a purpose. In the second season, when Varys deflects his question of "What do you want?" by asking him the same thing, he admits to Varys that he enjoys being acting Hand of the King because it's an opportunity to do something good with his life. He is visibly moved in the Season 6 finale when Daenarys makes him her official Hand.
Did Not Think This Through:
- In Season 6, he attempts to forge a truce with the Great Masters of Slaver's Bay to help pacify Meereen in Dany's absence. He thinks he had achieved that, only for them to decide to invade Meereen later on, requiring Daenerys to save them with her dragons.
- He plans devises an attack on Casterly Rock in Season 7 to deprive House Lannister from their valuable resources. While the Unsullied force sent to besiege it is successful, it turns out the castle has no strategic value (since their gold mines have dried up) and they have been lead to a trap by House Greyjoy. To make matters worse, the only reason his army managed to take Casterly Rock was because the Lannister bulwark has long since moved to the Reach and besiege the stronghold of their Tyrell allies, leading to Tyrion's side losing a massive chunk of their army.
- Revealing to Daenerys that Varys was conspiring against her to instill Jon as the next king may have re-affirmed his loyalty to the Queen, but ultimately becomes one of the factors that completely drives her to insanity and leads to the fiery sacking of the King's Landing.
Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: At Tyrion's wedding to Sansa, Joffrey insults Tyrion when he continues abusing (and threatening to rape) Sansa even though she should now be untouchable due to being under Tyrion's marital protection and being Joffrey's aunt by marriage. Tyrion reacts by loudly and furiously threatening to castrate him in public, despite the king's reputation for insane brutality (and, true to form, Tyrion comes out unscathed, at least physically). In the end, he doesn't get to foreshorten Joffrey, but neither does Joffrey get to have his way with Sansa. Indeed, it's the only time in the series where Joffrey ultimately doesn't get what he wants.
Distressed Dude: Tyrion spends a large amount of time as a prisoner or captive for a wide range of factions and people. First he's captured by the Starks, and later is a prisoner of the Vale. Then he's imprisoned by his own family after falsely being accused of killing his king. After that, he gets captured by Jora Mormont, who takes him to queen Daenerys, but on the way there they both get captured by slavers. He still manages to get a meeting with Daenerys, who captures him until deciding to release him and make him her advisor. But just before the end of the series, he gets imprisoned by Daenerys again for turning against her.
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 steak knife which leads to a Stunned Silence.
- After being treated like dirt by him for almost his entire life, Tyrion kills Tywin before fleeing Westeros.
Do Wrong, Right: Tyrion can't resist making aside, snarky comments and after-action reviews about inept assassinations and transparent frame-ups:
- He denies any involvement in the attempt on Bran's life, pointing out he'd have to be an idiot to give the assassin his own blade.
- When Joffrey tries to have him killed, Tyrion can understand the king wanting him dead, but not the stupidity of having a Kingsguard murdering the Hand of the King in full view of his own army.
- Tyrion takes some intellectual offense at being accused of an assassination so half-assed that it blatantly makes himself the primary suspect.
  Tyrion: I would like to think if I were arranging a royal assassination, I'd plan it in such a way that I wouldn't be standing there gawking like a fool when the king died.
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.
Elite Man–Courtesan Romance: Tyrion falls in love with Shae, a camp-follower she mets in the Riverlands and then takes to court.
Enraged by Idiocy: Usually vents it with derision when it comes to people of average intelligence and below, Tyrion has a limit and takes out his wrath on Joffrey.
Everyone Has Standards:
- Tyrion is disgusted by Janos Slynt murdering a baby, and revokes his title and sends him off to the Wall.
- He's also openly disdainful of Joffrey's monstrous actions and pettiness, especially the way he abuses, mistreats, and spites Sansa just because he can.
The Exile: After escaping through the help of his brother Jaime and Varys, both he and Varys escape to an unknown destination after Tyrion kills Shae and Tywin.
Fatal Flaw:
- His inability to stop snarking and just shut up. He has gotten himself into as many bad situations as he has out of them because of his mouth.
- His love for his family. He hates Cersei, but also loves her at the same time, as shown when he tries to talk her down in Season 7 to form a truce against the White Walkers, because he doesn't want her dead. He also loves Jaime, even though Jaime is the idiot that started the feuds with the Starks in the first place and enables Cersei. Dany accuses him of letting his love for his brother blind him to the reality that Jaime has a reputation of being a man without honor and maybe he's sabotaging her campaigns subconsciously. In Season 8, when Cersei manages to take Missandei hostage, he begs her to surrender and free Missandei or her life and her baby's life is forfeit. Cersei considers that point for a moment, and then stupidly kills Missandei.
- His Desperately Craves Affection tendencies - For all his smarts and ability see what he assumes to be threats to the kingdom, when it comes to himself, he ends up holding the Idiot Ball, he has been betrayed/harmed at one point by almost everyone bar Jon and Jorah, He seems to have a blind spot for people showing him even a slight bit more than a veneer of kindness.
Foil: Come Season 7 and he has become one to his own brother Jaime. Both men are in service to queens in opposite sides of the war and they genuinely believe they are going to make the world a better place once their victory is complete. They also manage to massively disappoint them due to fatal strategic mistakes they make, such as Tyrion's plans lead to Danaerys' westerosi-based allies quickly crumbling in Season 7 and Jaime's defeat in Blackwater Rush, resulting in both Daenerys and Cersei disregarding their advice to take matters into their own hands.
Four-Star Badass: Proves himself to be quite the tactician and a capable commander in Blackwater. Bonus points for leading a counterattack.
Frame-Up: Is framed for Joffrey's poisoning, even though Tyrion looks extremely confused after his nephew's death. It's ultimately a rather poor job, considering that anyone who knows Tyrion would know that, if he did have Joffrey killed, he'd be smart enough not to be holding the poisoned goblet and looking on in Stunned Silence not five feet from the victim.
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. Though the two of them get to Vitriolic Best Buds or as close as they can be in the world with Varys even considering him the Big Good for King's Landing in Season 2.
Friend to All Children: He has a soft spot for kids (even the children of the enemies such as the Starks), and especially his younger nephews. Except for Joffrey.
Frontline General: At the Battle of Blackwater Bay, Tyrion personally leads a counter-attack outside the city walls and even manages to personally kill an enemy officer.

G-L

General Failure: Comprehensively averted until Season 7; where his strategy for Daenerys's conquest of Westeros falls apart almost immediately — which severely strains Daenerys' trust in him (but luckily not enough to sack him). To be fair it's not entirely his fault. He had been away from Westeros for nearly two years and the intel he based his strategy off of was outdated — Ellaria Sand and Olenna Tyrell rather stupidly withheld the information, even as he explained his strategy right in front of them.
Generation Xerox: Much like his father Tywin, Tyrion becomes the Hand of a Targaryen monarch before turning against said monarch in the end of a brutal war.
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. Varys even commends him on his turn as the Hand noting that he did better than both Jon and Ned because while they "disdained the game", Tyrion played it well and succeeded in reining in the king far better than his predecessors. Later, Tyrion moves on to play this same role in Dany's court, offering her a much-needed voice of reason after Barristan's death. Dany eventually names him Hand of The Queen, finally giving him the recognition he so desired.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Thanks to the above Bodyguard Betrayal, he sports scars that look somewhere between Anti-Hero Scars and Evil Scars. Margaery comments that they actually lend a dashing look and don't detract from his appearance (in contrast to the scars he receives in the books — see Adaptational Attractiveness).
The Grotesque: As explained by Oberyn Martell, when Tyrion is first born, all anyone in Casterly Rock, particularly Cersei, can talk about is the monstrous appearance of the youngest Lannister. It is claimed that he is a hermaphrodite with a claw, a red eye, and a tail. While he is not this in actuality, his dwarfism alone is certainly enough for him to be tragically mistreated in the archaic society in which he lives.
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.
Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: He is falsely accused in Season 4 of killing his nephew, the King, and is sentenced to death by his own father, who fully knows he's innocent but wants to get rid of him, anyways. When freed by Jaime on the night before his execution, he pays one final visit to his father and commits a double homicide that will almost certainly taint his reputation for the rest of his life.
Hates Their Parent: While all of Tywin's children resent him to high and varying degrees, Tyrion despises him the most as Tywin mistreated him the most out of all his children. His evergrowing contempt and enmity for Tywin eventually culiminates in Tyrion killing him after he had him falsely convicted of killing Joffrey.
Heel–Face Turn: After spending the majority of the show's early seasons actively furthering the goals of House Lannister (one of the show's most morally dubious factions), he becomes a key ally of the (relatively) more heroic Daenerys after being cast out and betrayed by the entirety of his family (sans Jamie).
Heartbroken Badass: Come Season 5, and poor Tyrion is still clearly devastated over his murder of Shae.
Heroic BSoD: Tyrion is in despair after his traumatic ordeal in King's Landing, Varys takes him out of it.
Tyrion: (to Daenerys) I had given up on life until Varys convinced me you might be worth living for.
Hero with Bad Publicity: He's dismayed when he discovers that the people blame him for Joffrey and Cersei's actions, which he has actually tried to stop, mostly because he is a dwarf. Not only that, he is also framed for Joffrey's death, and submitted to a Kangaroo Court where all his achievements are discredited and his personal lifestyle mocked at which points he publicly expresses contempt for his unjust reputation, deciding that he no longer cares about his reputation or trying to be a "hero" to gain the acceptance of a pack of ingrates. When he's eventually released by his brother, he decides to murder his father out of vengeance, righteous anger and hatred, permanently tarnishing his reputation in the eyes of Westeros.
History Repeats: Aerys Targaryen's first Hand of the King was Tywin Lannister. Before departing for Westeros, Aerys' daughter chooses Tywin's son as her Hand, in what constitutes his second stint at the post. Coincidentally, both he and Dany are the youngest children of their families and were bullied by Smug Snake older siblings who were spiteful that they lost their mothers due to their births.
Honest Advisor: Takes this role in Tywin's war council and in King's Landing whenever he's not acting as an executive power himself. Tywin listens to his input, but Joffrey and Cersei do not. Tyrion eventually becomes Daenerys's honest advisor once he's recognized as this after a single conversation.
Hourglass Plot: The man described by his own father as the "least of the Lannisters" ends up becoming the most universally liked of the family by the time of Season 7, the only one liked by the rival factions of House Targaryen and House Stark, and acts in the Season 7 finale in the Dragonpit Summit as the linchpin of Westeros.
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.
I Am X, Son of Y: He introduces himself to the Mountain Clans as Tyrion, son of Tywin, of Clan Lannister. He introduces the clansmen to his father in the same way.
I Coulda Been a Contender!: Played with. Tyrion tells Varys that because of his dwarfism and his father's hatred for him as an Inadequate Inheritor, he never expected to have a real opportunity for his talents and his tenure as Acting Hand of the King is the only real chance he has had to apply himself in a meaningful way.
I Just Want to Be Loved: Having been starved of love all his life, Tyrion deeply craves validation from those close to him. Most especially his father, who often expresses how much he loathes him every chance he gets. When he's made Hand for a brief period, Tyrion's very visibly taken aback by Tywin simply acknowledging him as his son.
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 off 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 see the wheels turning in his head as he figures out how to play this.
Informed Attribute: Tyrion presents himself to Dany as a brilliant strategist and politician, and Dany appoints him Hand of the Queen. The thing is his record during her service is not quite good. As Meereen he served as a good hand but made terrible errors in diplomacy, namely in grossly underestimating (over Missandei and Grey Worm's objections) the lengths to which the slaveowners would go to keep their property and that they would bite any sweetheart deal he could come up with, and this led to the city being under siege until Dany came to save the day. Then his strategy for Dany's Invasion at the start of Season 7 has produced failure after failure, being Out-Gambitted by his own brother, failing to anticipate Euron Greyjoy attacking and kidnapping Yara and the Martells and moreover having Dany's wide-open advantage eaten away in short time, although to be fair that was Olenna Tyrell's fault for not telling Tyrion the full story.
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 battle cry 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.
Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: Does it to himself when quitting as Daenerys' Hand of the Queen after she massacres King's Landing, removing the brooch and throwing it down the steps in a show of disgust.
In Vino Veritas: When Tyrion is exceptionally drunk he lets hidden sides of himself rise to the surface. He tells Shae and Bronn about his disastrous first marriage in a very depressed tone, and at the drunkest he's been on screen he angrily threatens to castrate Joffrey when pushed too far.
Irony:
- You probably figured it out by now, but Tyrion, the child Tywin hates the most, is out of his siblings the most similar to daddy. See Like Father, Like Son.
- The Lannister which Tywin hated the most ends up succeeding him as Lord of Casterly Rock.
Jerkass Has a Point:
- Early on in the series he is rude to Theon but completely nails how moronic Balon Greyjoy was to launch a rebellion when they were vastly outnumbered by Robert and correctly points out to him that Balon is a dick who will see him as pathetic for getting so attached to his captors.
- When Jorah is mad at him for getting him exhiled Tyrion retorts that he wasn't the one who sold Danerys out and that Jorah can't blame anyone but himself for how his shitty actions have ruined his own life.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- He's blunt,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 (and everyone else, for that matter) gives up on him as a lost cause.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Tyrion has clearly snapped by the end of his trial, but his murders of Tywin and Shae cement how far he's gone from the noble anti-hero he once was.
Kangaroo Court: The court being convened against Tyrion is composed of three judges, two of whom would almost certainly have voted for his conviction and a sentence of death (if not for Tyrion demanding trial-by-combat): Lord Tywin Lannister, Lord Mace Tyrell, and Prince Oberyn Martell.
Kid with the Leash: Essentially how Tywin views his relationship with the wildling clans.
Kill the Ones You Love: Not done for the usual reasons but when he encounters Shae in his father's bedchambers, he strangles her to death after she pulls a knife on him. Afterwards, he apologizes to her corpse and admits to his father that he still loved her.
Knight in Sour Armor: Despite his cynical outlook of the world, Tyrion still tries to do the right thing.
Laser-Guided Karma:
- For the longest time, Tyrion got away with slapping Joffrey around and having an acid tongue because of his previous position as King's Hand and for being a Lannister. This tragically changes after Joffrey's assassination. Tyrion's less than pleasant relationship with his fellow nobles makes him a very easy scapegoat with many using his personality flaws against him.
- Of a benevolent sort, he's always been kind to Sansa and protective of her despite his Conflicting Loyalty to the Lannisters. Sansa remembers that he rescued her when Joffrey had her beaten and nearly stripped naked, and refused to sleep with her after they got forcibly married because she was a kid without any consent in the matter. Tyrion also did all he could to comfort her after the Red Wedding; Sansa wanted to be alone not because Tyrion was complicit in his family's dirty dealings — which he was— but because all of his kindness couldn't erase the trauma. As Dany's hand, Tyrion reaches out to Jon so he and Dany can meet and discuss an alliance. Jon decides to go since, while he's never met Dany at this point, he knows Tyrion from their Season 1 interaction and feels Tyrion is a good man. In turn, this leads to Jon and Dany meeting, falling in love, and the North allying with the Dragon Queen. Sansa also has a good opinion of Tyrion based on their Season 1-4 interactions, saying he was always kind to her. In Season 8, Tyrion and Sansa are able to banter about their marriage while hiding from the wights, and Sansa trusts Tyrion enough to tell him Jon's secret, which in turn allows Tyrion to realize that Dany needs stability.
Last of His Kind: As of the final episode in the series, Tyrion is the last surviving child of Tywin Lannister and the only known Lannister left in all of Westeros. Or at least, of the Casterly Rock branch—it's unknown if more distant relations of Tyrion may have survived. It's also dubious whether he will sire an heir, given how closed off he's become after everything that has happened.
The Leader: During the Defense of King's Landing arc of Season 2, Tyrion is The Leader of the defenses with his own crew with Bronn as his Number Two and The Lancer and Varys serving as The Smart Guy. He graduates to Big Good when he leads the armies in battle against Stannis giving them a Rousing Speech that unleashes a Heroic Second Wind.
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. There's also Podrick's adorable Undying Loyalty towards him.
Like Father, Like Son: His dad being more of a jerk aside, out of Tywin's three kids, Tyrion is easily the most similar to him. Both seem to possess Hyper-Awareness, both are cunning and adept at forging alliances, both are capable commanders AND politicians who have low tolerance for idiocy, which they express in different ways. The massive irony is that, of all Tywin's children, Tyrion is by far his worthiest successor (and, indeed, is his legal heir, Jaime being barred from inheritance as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard), and yet Tywin and Tyrion hate each other more than anyone else (overlapping with You Are What You Hate, because each sees too much of himself in the other). ^{From the books...}Tyrion's aunt, Genna Lannister points this out to Jaime. Jaime has strong similarities to Tywin's brothers (Gerion's smile, Tyg's fighting and Kevan's knighthood), "but Tyrion is Tywin's son", the one who truly resembles their lord father. She said that much to her brother Tywin once and Tywin stopped talking to her for half a year.
- Invoked in "The Children." Tyrion paraphrases this trope while explaining his actions in the episode to Tywin; after all, how would Tywin act when an enemy is in a disadvantageous position and is insulting him? The fact that said enemy is Tywin himself on the toilet insulting the just-murdered Shae while Tyrion covers him with a crossbow doesn't change the answer to that question.
Little "No": During the battle of the Loot Train in the Reach, Tyrion can only beg Jaime from afar to turn on his heels and flee the battle instead of making his suicide attack on a downed Drogon and Daenerys.
Lovable Rogue: Tyrion fills a similar niche in the cast to Han Solo or Captain Jack Sparrow, as the resident charismatic anti-heroic Deadpan Snarker. He constantly defies his noble superiors and authorities (including his own father), leading to many memorable moments such as slapping and talking down to Joffrey and an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech in "The Mountain and the Viper".
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.

M-R

The Man Behind the Man: He becomes this for Joffrey in Season 2 as his acting hand of the King and is notably somewhat of a good guy example. He then gets ousted from the position by his father, Tywin Lannister, in "Blackwater" and even while he was the man behind the man to Joffrey, Tywin was the man behind the man to Tyrion. This causes the smallfolk of Kings Landing to hold Tyrion personally responsible for the city's ills even though Joffrey started the war.
Marital Rape License: Ultimately declines to exercise his with regards to Sansa.
Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: Tywin seems to actively loathe Tyrion for killing his beloved Joanna, and the fact that he's a stunted dwarf doesn't help matters. Cersei shares in this disdain for Tyrion, blaming him even when they were both kids and wishing death upon him for his "murder".
Tyrion: [to Cersei] She was my mother too.
Meaningful Look: In "Second Sons", he raises his glass in pity to Loras, and his eyes say, "You're next to get married." Loras, who is already quite frustrated from the day's events, sighs and turns his head away.
The Mentor: He serves as this to Jon briefly in his period of adjustment with the Night's Watch, he's also one to Podrick Payne. Tyrion also tries to educate his nephew, but Joffrey is a lost cause.
Minored in Ass-Kicking: His best and preferred weapons 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. Bronn witnessed his killing with a shield, figured he'd make good use of a war axe, and offers one to him in recommendation. He does in the battle.
Mirror Character: To Theon Greyjoy. Both are desperately trying to earn the love or, at the very least, the respect of their respective fathers, who believe that they are a disappointment and a dishonor for their family name. Both commit morally wrong or even monstrous acts to achieve their goals: Tyrion basically does everything to save the reign of the cruel and sadistic Joffrey, who has demonstrated many times that he is unworthy of the throne, while Theon takes Winterfell, betrays the Starks, who was his family for a decade, and kill innocent people, including children. Their arc in Season 2 ends with them failing miserably in their attempts: Theon is betrayed by his own men and becomes a hostage to Ramsay Snow, while Tyrion, despite keeping King's Landing standing long enough for Tywin and the Tyrells to save the day, is disfigured in battle, almost dies and receives no honor or reward for his deeds. And, of course, both continue to be hated by their respective fathers.
Morality Pet: He's one to his older brother Jaime prior to the latter's Character Development into a more heroic figure, being on amicable terms with him in contrast to his father and sister.
Motor Mouth: Nothing too bad, as he always makes sense, but Tyrion does earn a reputation for never shutting up. He's physically incapable of remaining silent for too long and almost always feels the need to break silences and strike up a conversation. This sadly bites him hard in his trial for Joffrey's murder.
Mr. Vice Guy: A notorious whoremonger and party animal. He settles down considerably after hooking up with Shae. Tyrion's penchant for whores later comes to be used to paint Tyrion in a negative light during Tyrion's trial for Joffrey's murder.
Tyrion: Drinking and lust; no man can match me in these things. I am the god of tits and wine.
My Country, 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 to go along with what's expected of him in the end — if not exactly in a manner the rest of his family approves of.
- This becomes a source of conflict for him after Sansa's Heroic BSoD following the Red Wedding and when he meets Oberyn Martell. Both of them lost family members to atrocities ordered and/or enabled by his father and King Joffrey and he's torn between obvious sympathy and compassion for their plight and his loyalty to Lannister hegemony. This ends up backfiring on him spectacularly since his public disapproval of his nephew leads people to accuse him of disloyalty in his Kangaroo Court trial. He then decides once and for all that he will no longer be a loyal Lannister retainer and shoots his father's plans to save face and send him to the Wall. When the trial by combat ends in failure for him, he's released by Jaime so as to flee Westeros, but before he leaves he burns his final bridge by killing his father.
- Of course, it's one thing for Tyrion to fight Lannisters he dislikes (Tywin and Cersei) but another for him to fight against Lannisters he likes, namely Jaime, and in Season 7, Dany rebukes him for suggesting a softball strategy rather than a ruthless one because he doesn't want to go against Jaime. This becomes obvious when after Dany listens to his suggestion to lay siege and encircle the capital, they come upon the Lannister train carrying the pillage of the Reach back to the city near Blackwater, and the resulting war sees Jaime charging at Dany with a spear all the while Tyrion watches in horror muttering "No" to his brave, foolish, Cersei-serving brother.
My God, What Have I Done?:
- He immediately feels remorse for killing Shae, and he is clearly upset while he's strangling her.
- In Spoils of War Tyrion reacts with horror upon seeing Lannister soldiers being burned alive by Drogon and slaughtered by the Dothraki all as a result of Dany following his advice to lay siege and encircle the capital with her army rather than using her dragons to take over.
- In his private meeting with Cersei in The Wolf and the Dragon, he's almost in tears as he admits that he truly loved Myrcella and Tommen and the fact he had more than a hand in both their deaths, particularly Myrcella's makes him "sorrier than you'd ever know".
- In The Bells, his face when seeing King's Landing being devastated by Daenerys and Drogon a few days after he renewed his allegiance to her by selling Varys out says it all.
My Greatest Failure: Murdering Tywin. Not only because it caused the deaths of Myrcella and Tommen, but Tyrion has also realized that upon reflection, even after everything Tywin did, he was still Tyrion's father and part of Tyrion still loved Tywin just for that (the same part of him that wanted Tywin to love him). His admission to Cersei that he hates himself for doing it is a clear sign that Tyrion will likely never forgive himself and would undo it if he could.
My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: He's barely fluent in Valyrian, so once he gains the need to use the language more in Meereen, he often tends to mess up words here and there. It's best shown when he tries to explain that his Valyrian is a bit rusty:
Tyrion: My Valyrian is a bit nostril.
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 sixteen 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." In the penultimate episode of Season 6, he acknowledges that every person who's tried to make fun of his height all use the same five or six jokes while thinking they're clever.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Season 7 can be summarized as "Tyrion Lannister Ruins Everything". Let's list his failures in order:
- Proposes a military strategy that results in all of Daenerys's Westerosi allies being killed or captured.
- Allows Cersei to play him in order to convince the heroes that she will join them against the White Walkers, giving her the chance to retake the continent.
- Convinces Jon and Daenerys to send an expedition north to capture a wight. After it predictably goes horribly wrong, he then fails to dissuade Daenerys from bailing out their allies. This allows the Night King to gain access to an undead dragon. In short, Tyrion broke the wall for a scheme that was doomed from the start.
- Sending Myrcella to Dorne to get her away from Cersei ends up being a horrible idea, as after Oberyn's death the Sand Snakes decide to take it out on Myrcella to punish Cersei and ultimately succeed in killing the innocent girl, as well as Trystane and Doran, to boot.
- While few can deny Tywin had it coming, Tyrion silences the one person left basically holding the Iron Throne together at that point, leaving Tommen to be pushed around by far more dangerous influences, culminating in Cersei killing most of House Tyrell and usurping the crown for herself.
Nice Guy: By Season 6 he's lost most of his jerkassery from the first few seasons and become a calming, supportive influence to Danaerys. Unfortunately in that it means he seems to have lost the ruthless intelligence he had, trying in vain to negotiate with Cersei twice only to have it backfire in the worst possible way culminating in Danaerys' utter bloodbath during The Bells.
Noble Fugitive: After escaping his cell with the help of Jaime and Varys, Tyrion proceeds to flee Westeros after killing Tywin and Shae.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: His life story in a nutshell, but especially in "Blackwater".
No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Tyrion's background and motivations are essentially a sympathetic take on the caricature William Shakespeare made of Richard III—but with the Byronic Hero tendencies, interest for power to prove himself, and linguistic prowess dialed way up. He is, in practice, a Ricardian revisionist Richard transplanted back to a Yorkist-Lancastrian blend of cutthroat family in the Lannisters.
- On a more positive, consistent-with-symbology note, Tyrion rallying the defenders during the Battle of Blackwater (as well as suffering a facial injury for it) evokes Shakespeare's Henry V—both in his eponymous play and his real-life injury in the Battle of Shrewsbury. His relationship with Tywin is essentially the pre-kingship Prince Henry's tension with his father, the eponymous Henry IV, dialed to extremes.
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. In Season 6, he finally gets a ripe opportunity to tell the full story after he manages to get Missandei and Grey Worm in a relaxed, wine-sipping mood. As it turns out, fate still refuses to let him tell the story, as the Good Masters chose that moment to besiege Meereen.
Not Afraid to Die: By the time Tyrion reaches Daenerys, he expresses apathy at the threat of her executing him, basically considering anything left in his life an amusement at best.
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!
- In "The Laws of Gods and Men", he completely snaps after Shae's betrayal, where the abuse and humiliation he's been through his whole life reaches its tipping point and in a rage calls out the entire court for being ungrateful for all he did for them as acting Hand of the King, wishing that he had just let Stannis kill all of them.
- In "The Children", he kills Shae, and then coldly shoots his father with a crossbow.
Odd Friendship:
- With Jon Snow; they bond on the road to the Wall in Season 1 despite their families' animosity for each other. This revives again in Season 7 when a letter from Tyrion referring their conversation ("All dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes") inspires Jon to accept Tyrion's invitation to meet him.
- Later on, with Varys. Their relationship goes from Friendly Rivalry in earlier seasons to a combination of this and Vitriolic Best Buds by Season 5.
- Considering the nature of this series, the fact Tyrion and Dany become friends almost instantly qualifies due to being unusual.
One Degree of Separation: Tyrion travels the world from the Wall to King's Landing, to Pentos and to Meereen, and becomes the first of the main cast to interact with every major character and faction, making him the linchpin of the series. He has met Jon Snow and the Night's Watch, Robb and Bran Stark at Winterfell, Catelyn Stark and Lysa Arryn at the Vale, King's Landing and the Decadent Court (Lannisters, Littlefinger, Varys, Joffrey, Tyrells, Martells). Once in Essos, he meets Daenerys and Jorah Mormont, and he's the one who breaks Jorah the news about his late father. This becomes clear when he reunites with Theon Greyjoy in Season 6 and brings back their last meeting at Winterfell and it becomes even more obvious when in Season 7, he serves as the common friend for both Daenerys and Jon Snow, being the only man who knows both of them.
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. To be fair, Westeros is not Earth, so there really is no hard and fast rule as to what the local accents sound like.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Look at Not So Above It All above.
- When Daenerys gives Tyrion the badge and position of Hand of the Queen the usually wisecracking Tyrion is left stunned and can only kneel to his new queen in gratitude.
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.
- Then again, we are talking about a man with a medical condition who grows a beard, drinks heavily, fights with surprising tenacity given an axe or a crossbow, harbours some serious personal grudges and temper issues, and makes a big deal about Casterly Rock's gold mines...
Patricide: A rather heroic example, to be honest.
Pay Evil unto Evil: Tyrion's nastiness is usually directed at those who deserve it.
- He treats Lancel like total dogshit but since Lancel accused Robb Stark of using vile sorcery to torment Sansa it's more satisfying than anything else.
- Slapping your young nephew would usually make you a cunt but when that nephew is Joffrey who constantly abuses you it's perfectly understandable.
- After being wrongly sentenced to execution by Tywin, Tyrion has had enough of his father's abuse and kills him with a pair of crossbow bolts.
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. In "The Lion and the Rose", he is the only person trying to cheer up Jaime (by spilling wine on purpose, to show that it does not matter, and then by finding him a trusty swordsman to train with), instead of kicking him while he's down.
Poke the Poodle: He presents several pranks he played as a child as crimes worth confessing before court.
Pragmatic Hero: Unlike Ned or Jon Arryn, Tyrion does enjoy playing the game of thrones, and tries to play it well.
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.
- Despite this, it does stick him that his father doesn't acknowledge any of his skills and contributions, even denying him the seat of the ancestral house which is his by right. He admits this to Jaime who chides him for his spiel during his trial, noting that there's only so much he can stand up to abuse before snapping.
Promoted to Opening Titles: Sort of. Peter Dinklage has always been in the opening ("... and Peter Dinklage"), but as of Season 2, he's billed first, as opposed to Sean Bean, who was demoted to head on a spike at the end of the first season.
Proverbial Wisdom: He tries this stunt on Queen Daenerys, who promptly accuses him of passing off his own opinions as ancient wisdom. Tryion denies that he would ever do this. To her.
Really Gets Around: His love of whores is infamous. Just look at his opening scene. Once he marries Sansa, however, he stops sleeping around, much to Shae's chagrin. And once Shae dies, all notions of romance disappear (though he and Dany do exhibit chemistry later that neither act upon).
"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.
- Gives a very much long-awaited and well deserved one to the entire court of King's Landing during his trial, calling them out for all their ungratefulness for the Battle of Blackwater and their betrayals, among other things.
- He gives a short but scathing one to Ellaria Sand for the callous murder of his niece.
Redemption Demotion: In the early seasons, he achieves a number of victories as a deeply cynical Anti-Hero who is (albeit somewhat reluctantly) on the side of the villainous Lannisters. In later seasons, he finds reason to believe that the world could be better than it is and becomes more and more of a Nice Guy in the service of The High Queen Daenerys... and also begins to have absolutely every single plan he makes backfire spectacularly. Justified in that most of his failures result from trusting people he shouldn't have or foregoing an advantage in order to save lives, neither of which is a mistake he would have made back when he was an unapologetic Jerkass.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Jaime's more hotheaded red and also to Joffrey's sadistic red.
Refuge in Audacity:
- His confession to the court and most of the time, 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?"
- In "Second Sons", after threatening to castrate Joffrey in front of everyone, he pretends to be drunker than he really is in order to defuse the situation, which works due to some unexpected help from Tywin to smooth things over.
- When Joffrey starts demanding that Tyrion join the humiliating dwarf joust in "The Lion and the Rose", Tyrion retaliates by challenging Joffrey to join instead. Not only does he sarcastically claim that the show so far has been a poor imitation of the King's bravery in the field of battle, but he also warns Joffrey that one of the dwarf performers — specifically the one playing the part of Joffrey himself — might just try and rape him.
- He neatly flips Daenerys's probing "prove your worth" question back onto her, asking if she is worthy of his service. Unlike the other times he attempts the trope, this appears to quite impress her.
Renaissance Man: From politics to war strategy to engineering to municipal works administration, Tyrion knows his stuff.
Tyrion: That's what I do. I drink, and I know things.
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 economics. 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. He does pick up on Littlefinger's shady dealings with the Iron Bank of Braavos, though, with him expressing concern that the Kingdom has a bigger problem to deal with after the War.
Rousing Speech: Both times he is forced to go into battle.
Tyrion: Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let's go kill them!

S-Z

Sad Clown: His joking, fun loving nature masks the Trauma Conga Line of abuse he suffers from both his father and society. This becomes apparent in his trial, where he's not at all funny, but deadly serious and frightening.
Sanity Slippage: Season 4 shows him facing this as he suffers betrayal and humiliation in a Kangaroo Court, feeling more powerless than he ever did and finding his father at his most unmerciful moreover. He finally snaps at his trial giving a bitter speech about his oppression as a dwarf and then upon being released by his brother, he pays a final visit to his father and murders him, after finding his lover Shae in his bed.
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.
The Scapegoat: For Joffrey's murder. Tywin uses him so he can get a show of justice, not actually caring if Tyrion is innocent or not. Margaery and Loras go along with it to protect Olenna, the actual poisoner.
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.
Secret-Keeper: Shares with Daenerys the real reason why Jaime killed her father, Aerys, at the same time revealing that Jaime told him the truth, which did not happen in the books.
- On the other hand, he declines her request to tell her why he killed his father, which he says is a secret he might tell someday, if given enough wine.
Self-Made Orphan: Although he, of course, didn't actively try to kill his mother, he is undoubtedly viewed as this by Cersei and apparently Jaime following his murder of Tywin. Tyrion admits as much.
Tyrion: I killed my mother Joanna Lannister on the day I was born. I killed my father Tywin Lannister with a bolt to the heart. I am the greatest Lannister killer of our time.
A Shared Suffering: For once, his empathy is reciprocated by Cersei after their father begins to command her around, making her miserable too, the treatment that Tyrion has enjoyed his whole life.
Sherlock Scan: When talking with Cersei in Season 7, he's quickly able to deduce she's pregnant by the way she touches her belly and because when he pours some wine, Cersei doesn't reach for it.
- In Season 2, he also correctly figures out Lancel is sleeping with Cersei due to some choice phrasing Lancel uses and because he smells of lavender oil, Cersei's favourite scent.
Shield Bash: He kills his first man with this method.
Significant Wardrobe Shift: In the first four seasons, Tyrion often wears red clothing, which is the color that symbolizes House Lannister. From Season 5 to the end of the series, after Tyrion killed Tywin and sided with Daenerys, he never wears clothes in that color again, preferring to wear dark clothes, symbolizing his break with House Lannister and his new alliance with House Targaryen.
Skeptic No Longer: Growing up in the Crapsack World of Westeros, and especially his family, made Tyrion a cynical man and so he never had any faith in anything even himself. However, after meeting Daenerys and seeing the wonders she can do, Tyrion admits to her that he now believes in her and her vision for the future. When he meets Jon Snow again in Season 7, Tyrion even admits that he now believes his tale of White Walkers when the Tyrion of the first season sarcastically referred to the things beyond the Wall as "Grumkins" and "Snarks".
Sleazy Politician: Played with, he has some of the traits such as drinking and whoremongering but is ultimately a fettered, earnest statesman. Tyrion knows well that politics are inherently sleazy and corrupt and doesn't disdain this aspect of the dirty game, which makes him a very good player.
Snark-to-Snark Combat: You want to know how close Tyrion is to somebody? See how often he shares a verbal spraying match with them. The biggest examples being Bronn, Varys and Daenerys who all willing to knock Tyrion down a peg and he's just as often willing to do the same.
So Proud of You: When he talks with Sansa, in Season 8, he's relieved that A, she is alive and safe, and B, she has grown up, learned to play the game, and is now his equal.
Sole Survivor: As of "The Bells", he's the last known living member of House Lannister.
Spoiled Brat: Bronn accuses Tyrion of this, and from the perspective of an amoral sellsword raised in the gutter it's certainly true. You're de facto heir to the richest, most powerful family in the Seven Kingdoms, married to a beautiful Princess Classic and due to inherit half of Westeros (albeit the colder half) — who cares if you're the No-Respect Guy, your sister hates you and your father's always been a cunt? Though Bronn does admit your immediate family barring your brother passively trying to kill you kind of sucks.
The Strategist: Both in the political game and in a battle, as he showed off during the Battle of Blackwater. Indeed, so brilliant was his defense, that despite limited resources, small number of troops and facing backstabbing from his own side, he successfully held the City's defenses and kept Stannis from breaching the gate long enough for his father and the Tyrells to relieve them.
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 results in him getting faithful soldiers too. Later, when visiting Dany's dragons Rhaegal and Viserion, he seems to make a connection with them and manages to talk them out of burning him alive.
Tap on the Head: While leading the Vale hill tribes into battle, Tyrion accidentally gets whacked by one his own soldier's warhammer and knocked out, causing him to miss the entire battle of Green Fork. This is a sharp contrast to the books, in which Tyrion not only participates, but performs quite admirably in it.
Then Let Me Be Evil: In The Laws of Gods and Men, after Shae testifies against him, Tyrion declares his hatred for the people of King's Landing and says that he wishes that he truly were the monster they think he is. In The Children, he tells his father that he is Tywin's son, right before killing him. It ends up subverted, however; while serving Daenerys, he does all he can to minimize the casualties from her having dragons.
Token Good Teammate: Of House Lannister as well as the Only Sane Man in the first four seasons. He's one of the only members of the family who thinks of the common folk's well-being and is consistently disgusted and disturbed by Joffrey's actions. Unlike most of House Lannister, Tyrion is a good man at heart.
Took a Level in Badass: The tribesman on the way to the Eyrie is his first kill. By the time he leads the defense of King's Landing against Stannis, he has taken several. He also saves Missandei from a Son of the Harpy in the Daznak's Pit.
Took a Level in Dumbass: Throughout the first four seasons, Tyrion repeatedly demonstrated a keenness towards strategy and planning, to the point where even his father Tywin, the person who literally hates him more than anyone else, had to begrudgingly admit to his skill and wit. But upon entering Daenerys' service at Season 5, Tyrion repeatedly ends up making tactical blunders, which end up costing Dany thousands of men and one of her own dragons. He even remarks to Sansa that he believes Cersei will come to Dany's aid in the face of the White Walker threat (she won't), a notion that the now-hardened Stark girl finds ludicrous.
Sansa: I used to think you were the cleverest man alive.
Took a Level in Kindness: He becomes noticeably nicer to those around him following his induction into Daenerys's court in Season 5. Most of this is likely because, rather being a pariah in the midst of a Decadent Court, he is situated amongst well-meaning individuals who value his advice.
Tragic Hero: Of sorts, Tyrion's open animosity towards Joffrey really comes back to bite him when he is tried for Joffrey's murder. When Jaime offered him a chance to falsely confess his guilt in order for Tywin to spare him and send him to The Wall, Tyrion refused and demanded a Trial of Combat out of pride and anger, which nearly gets him killed and forces him into exile.
Tranquil Fury: On the rare occasions Tyrion gets very angry he shouts, such as when he struck Joffrey after the riot in King's Landing. But when his anger is driven by pure hatred he speaks much more calmly, as when he threatened Cersei after discovering that she was torturing Ros, and when he promised to geld Joffrey if he insisted on a bedding at Tyrion's wedding. Further, when Joffrey calls him a "little monster", he replies with:
Tyrion: Oh, I'm a "monster". Well then, perhaps you should speak to me more softly, then. Monsters are dangerous and, just now, kings are dying like flies.
- As he is about to kill his father Tywin, Tyrion speaks so softly you can just barely hear what he is saying.
Tritagonist: In the final two seasons, Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen clearly become the protagonists of the series, with their actions of trying to save Westeros from the threat of the White Walkers and take Cersei from the throne. This is reflected even behind the scenes, when actors Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke were promoted at the awards, of Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress to Lead Actor and Lead Actress. In this case, it could be argued that Tyrion Lannister is the Tritagonist. Tyrion is the character with the most appearances in the series, having appeared in 67 of the 73 episodes. Since the beginning, he was the character who had the largest number of interactions with most of the characters in the series. As Dany's hand and one who has spent time with Jon Snow, Tyrion is who convinces Dany to meet with Jon for his potential support against Cersei and initially acts as a mediator for when they discuss terms of their alliance, also being the one of the first to notice feelings developing between Dany and Jon.
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. Some of these return as tragic Call Backs in "The Laws of Gods And Men" when the likes of Ser Meryn and Maester Pycelle use these snide remarks as testimony against him in his regicide trial, acting as though they were legitimate threats and actions, rather than the humorous quips they really were.
The Un-Favourite: Un-favouritism is too mild a word. When he was born, his father thought about abandoning him to die in the sea. For all of Tyrion's life, Tywin wouldn't have minded if Tyrion dropped dead and seems to display disappointment when his son shows up alive after being in harm's way. Tyrion tries to take it in stride.
Tyrion: [to Jon Snow] All dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes [...] If I had been born a peasant, they might have left me out in the woods to die. Alas, I was born a Lannister of Casterly Rock.
Tyrion: [to Cersei] Father will be furious... Must be odd for you, to be the disappointing child.
Unperson: Played for Laughs. The "A Song of Ice and Fire" tome, despite detailing the entire history of what went down in the show, doesn't mention him once.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- His murder of Tywin had unintended and terrible consequences. Though utterly ruthless, Tywin had been the primary force keeping Westeros in a state of (fragile) peace. Worse, his death gave Cersei free reign and allowed the Sparrows to move on Kings Landing, setting off a chain of events ending with thousands dying in a Wildfire explosion and Cersei sitting on the Iron Throne.
- Tyrion, like Jaime, knew about the Wildfire caches buried underneath King's Landing's street, and underneath its multiple monuments. During his time as Hand, he used some of it at Blackwater but left the rest where it was underneath the city, ready for someone to use it. By failing to report or act on his knowledge, he is culpable in Cersei's atrocity.
- His demand of Trial by Combat indirectly results in the deaths of several characters, not counting the ones he killed himself. Oberyn Martell dies in the fight, which leads to Ellaria Sand's attempt at a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. This ultimately results in the deaths of Doran Martell, Trystane Martell, Areo Hotah, and Tyrion's own niece, Myrcella. (Eventually, the Sand Snakes, in an attempt to get this revenge, throw in their lot with Daenerys Targaryen which results in all four of their deaths.) Also, it allows the Mountain to reach the dead/near death state necessary for Qyburn to experiment on him, creating an arguably stronger and nastier zombie-Mountain to serve as Cersei's muscle.
- In Season 7, Tyrion's plans backfired immeasurably on his allies: his strategy to have King's Landing being captured by their Westerosi allies while the Unsullied take Casterly Rock leads to the Greyjoys and the Dornish leaders being taken out, the Unsullied trapped inside an empty Casterly Rock whereas the bulk of the Lannister army sacked and destroyed House Tyrell, effectively robbing Daenerys of all her allies from the continent. His suggestion to bring a wight South and show it to Cersei in order to propose a truce between their enemies lead to the death of the only Red Priest in Westeros, the White Walkers gaining a dragon and using it to breach the Wall, all for practically no gain since Cersei has backed out from the proposed alliance.
- Being a loyal servant of Daenerys, he decides to protect his queen from any infighting in her faction and reveals Varys' conspiracy against her after being the one who told Varys about Jon Snow's true parentage. Tyrion wants to make sure everyone among Dany's followers remains loyal to her but unfortunately, learning of Varys's betrayal contributes further to Dany's Sanity Slippage and she ultimately snaps after King's Landing surrenders to her, burning down the city and its citizens.
Ungrateful Bastard: Although Tyrion was only trying to keep the peace with Danaerys he still sells Varys out, the same man who saved Tyrion from Tywin 4 seasons prior.
Vitriolic Best Buds: The only kind of friendships Tyrion likes to cultivate:
- With Bronn, and even with Jaime and later with Varys, who at first, he sees as another schemer who could strongarm him for his relationship with Shae. They gradually come to enjoy the competence and company of the other, amicably bickering at every chance. Then Varys goes out of his way to help Tyrion, gives the Lannister a new purpose in life and becomes the only man in the world Tyrion trusts, besides Jaime. He later develops this with Jorah, albeit complicated by the latter's hopeless longing for Daenerys.
- His bond and dynamic with Daenerys is this as well. She likes Tyrion and listens to his advice and is about the only character who has his number (prevents him from drinking, makes him get to the point, and successfully gets him on the defensive) but alongside this, many of their interactions in Season 7 have a frustrated Daenerys listing his failures, while Tyrion argues for the logic in his advice. However, despite everything, Dany and Tyrion care greatly for one another, with Daenerys warning him not to meet Cersei in private as she is worried for his safety while Tyrion defends Daenerys, recognizing her strong moral convictions and saying she is one of the only people he believes in.
- He and Jon Snow developed this bond in Season 1, where he was the only one from Robert Baratheon's contingent who decided to befriend Winterfell's illegitimate son. Tyrion and Jon lapse back into this dynamic during their reunion in Season 7:
Tyrion: The Bastard of Winterfell.
Jon Snow: The Dwarf of Casterly Rock.
"Well Done, Son" Guy:
- Tyrion's heartbreaking expression when Tywin tells him he's sending him to King's Landing as his substitute because, "You're my son." ^{From the books...}
- Seen again in the third season premiere when he wants Tywin to acknowledge 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 an unnecessarily brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech instead.
White Sheep: To the Lannister family. For his flaws, a decent man, and one of the terribly few adult Lannisters who is neither evil nor a moron and the only one non-Lannisters actually come to like on a personal level.
Peter Dinklage: The "Good Bad Guy" or the "Bad Good Guy."
Wife-Basher Basher: Is shown to be this when Joffrey is abusing Sansa, whether he was betrothed to her or not, especially at the wedding when he threatens to castrate Joffrey.
Worthy Opponent: Tyrion doesn't hate his adversaries and isn't above recognizing and praising their virtues, what allows him to analytically assess them, unlike the more dismissive Lord Tywin. Despite his tense interactions with the Starks, Tyrion acknowledges Robb's good qualities, and despite Catelyn trying to have him executed, he acknowledges that she's a fierce woman who loved her children and he regards their fates as a terrible crime. This is used against him during his trial. Several witnesses imply or outright state that he was a traitor because he did not express visible (or any) pleasure at the deaths of Robb and Catelyn. Quite the opposite, in fact. Because, a loyal Lannister would take joy in the deaths of their enemies, no matter how despicably they were killed.
Would Hit a Girl: Strangles Shae to death. Justified since she did pull a knife on him first before he even had the chance to consider a less violent option. He is immediately remorseful nonetheless.
You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Not stated outright, but his facial expression reeks of this when Cersei threatens to take from Tyrion someone he loves.
You Monster!: He doesn't say anything, but his face screams this when Daenerys puts King's Landing to the torch after it already surrendered.

Characters / Game of Thrones - Tyrion Lannister

Hand of the King Lord Tyrion Lannister

Played By: Peter Dinklage

Voiced By: Dafnis Fernandez (Latin American Spanish), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese), Márcio Simões (Brazilian, Seasons 1-6), Claus Peter-Damitz (German)

Video Example(s):

Tywin Lannister

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Tywin Lannister

Characters / Game of Thrones - Tyrion Lannister

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Hand of the King Lord Tyrion Lannister

Played By: Peter Dinklage

Voiced By: Dafnis Fernandez (Latin American Spanish), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese), Márcio Simões (Brazilian, Seasons 1-6), Claus Peter-Damitz (German)

Video Example(s):

Tywin Lannister

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Tywin Lannister