History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireTywinLannister

** In terms of personality, reputation and physique, Tywin resembles Edward Longshanks -- tall, intimidating and ruthless. Longshanks' suppression of the Second Barons' War, which included the defeat of Simon de Monfort (who had a Silver Lion on Red Field sigil) at the Battle of Eversham and his reputation as the Hammer of the Scots (whose national sigil is the Lion Rampant -- a Red Lion) both of which are combined in the suppression of House Reyne of Castamere (Red Lion on Silver Field) and his successful defeat of the Northmen (a FantasyCounterpartCulture of Northen England and Scotland). This is alluded to when Pycelle [[spoiler:at Tywin's funeral]] notes that while Tywin was never King, he was all a King should be. As with Edward's marriage to his second cousin Eleanor of Castile, the otherwise harsh Tywin was also HappilyMarried to his cousin Joanna and devastated by her death.

** In terms of personality, reputation and physique, Tywin resembles Edward Longshanks -- tall, intimidating and ruthless. Longshanks' suppression of the Second Barons' War, which included the defeat of Simon de Monfort (who had a Silver Lion on Red Field sigil) at the Battle of Eversham and his reputation as the Hammer of the Scots (whose national sigil is the Lion Rampant -- a Red Lion) both of which are combined in the suppression of House Reyne of Castamere (Red Lion on Silver Field) and his successful defeat of the Northmen (a FantasyCounterpartCulture of Northen England and Scotland). This is alluded to when Pycelle [[spoiler:at Tywin's funeral]] notes that while Tywin was never King, he was all a King should be.

* {{Opportunistic Bastard}}: Despite his ruthlessness he has moments of this, he pulls a Walder Frey during Robert's Rebellion, committing his forces only when the result of the war is clear and then slaughtering the Targaryen Royal Family to overcompensate for being a Johnny-come lately.

* DyingAlone: [[spoiler:His last moments are spent in agonizing pain, dying on the privy after taking an arrow to the crotch, courtesy of Tyrion before he departs for the Free Cities.]]

->''"If your enemy defies you, serve him steel and fire. But if he bends the knee, you must help him back to his feet, else no man will ever kneel to you".''

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: He was already the lord of Casterly Rock in all but name long before his father died. Notably, during the Reine-Tarbeck rebellion, Tytos ordered Tywin to stand down, but Tywin was such an accomplished warrior by that point that all the vassals disobeyed Tytos's order and followed Tywin to war.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: He was already the lord of Casterly Rock in all but name long before his father died. Notably, during the Reine-Tarbeck rebellion, Tytos orders Tywin to stand down, but Tywin was such an accomplished warrior that all the vassals disobeyed Tytos's order and answered Tywin's summon to war.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Was already the lord of Casterly Rock in all but name while the previous lord was still alive. During the Reyne-Tarbecks rebellion, Tywin and his brothers technically had no legal authority to mobilize the Lannister army because Tytos was still the lord of the Rock and gave no permission for Tywin to fight the rebels. Tywin still managed to assemble an army and win the war anyway because the lords were more willing to obey a proven warrior like him than a weak-willed man like Tytos.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: His lifelong stubbornness and disdain for his youngest son kills him; even as Tyrion has him at crossbow-point with his pants down, he keeps badmouthing Tyrion's wife and treating his son like a joke. Tyrion does not take it well. Moreover, Tywin had previously pointed out to Tyrion that his son ''talks too much'', and yet Tywin couldn't keep his own mouth shut when Tyrion had him at crossbow-point. In addition, Tywin made sure throughout his life that he was so powerful no one would ever dare laugh at him, which is what he hated most. At his funeral, the crowd is snickering about how he died by being shot in the groin on the toliet.]]

* {{Foil}}: To Walder Frey. Tywin is just as much of a petty and treacherous schemer as Lord Frey, probably even more so, and they're both widely hated throughout Westeros. However, the difference between them is that Tywin has enough power and prestige to demand respect from those around him no matter how dishonorable his actions are.
** They are both notorious fence sitters. Walder Frey only sided with the rebellion once it was clear they would win, something that people mock him for to this very day. Tywin did the same thing when he sacked King's Landing in Robert's name at the end of the war and only Ned Stark and House Martell were willing to call him out on it.
** Walder Frey is a DirtyOldMan who has dozens of wives and mistresses and countless offspring. Tywin married once and had three kids. When Joanna died he refused to remarry and makes it his children's responsibility to produce heirs. [[spoiler:Also, while Walder Frey wears his debauchery on his sleeves, Tywin keeps his use of whores secret to avoid public scrutiny.]]
** Both of them have very low opinions of their children, but they'll be damned if anyone else disrespects them. Also, both of them to are desperate to get their children married into Great Houses. Walder Frey struggles to find appropriate matches for his children because no one wants to marry into his family, Tywin struggles to get his kids married because they fight against it every step of the way.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Was already the lord of Casterly Rock in all but name before his father's death. During the Reyne-Tarbecks rebellion, Tywin and his brothers technically had no legal authority to mobilize the Lannister army because Tytos was still the lord of the Rock and gave no permission for Tywin to fight the rebels. Tywin still managed to assemble an army and win the war anyway because the lords were more willing to obey a proven warrior like him than a weak-willed man like Tytos.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: During the Reyne-Tarbecks rebellion, Tywin and his brothers technically had no legal authority to lead the Lannisters to war. His father Tytos was still the lord of Casterly Rock and didn't want Tywin to fight the rebels. Tywin managed to assemble an army and win the war anyway because the lords of the Westerlands would rather listen to a proven badass like him than a weak-willed man like Tytos, even if the latter is their legal liege lord.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: During the Reyne-Tarbecks rebellion, Tywin and his brothers technically had no legal authority to lead the Lannisters to war. His father Tytos was still the lord of Casterly Rock and didn't want Tywin to fight the rebels. Tywin managed to assemble an army and win the war anyway because of the lords of the Westerlands would rather listen to a proven badass like him than a weak-willed man like Tytos, even if the latter is their legal liege lord.

** Likewise, his image as a powerful, effective military commander and politician, while not necessarily unearned, is largely engineered by his acumen for image politics and is more or less an exaggeration of whatever skills he truly possesses. Throughout the War of the Five Kings, hRobb Stark is always one step ahead of him; the [[spoiler: Red Wedding]], one of his "greatest accomplishments" happened largely as a result of luck and a combination of events rather than strategic skill on his part. His image as a humorless patriarch with a distaste for whores [[spoiler:is also a lie, born out of a desire to maintain the reputation of the House]]. He's also not as smart as he wants himself to be perceived as; [[spoiler:he dies because he is unable to conceive the idea that so cruelly dismissing his son's first wife as just a whore (even when Jaime had outright told Tyrion ''she wasn't'') could possibly get him killed]].

** When he is confronted by Tyrion [[spoiler: while on the privy and held at crossbow-point, Tywin acts like his usual cold, serious, no-nonsense-self in a clear attempt to show no fear or humiliation. We discover just how fake this demeanor is when Tyrion finally makes good on his promise to shoot him and Tywin's reaction is one of wide-eyed shock and horror: "You... you shot me!" As he dies, we're seeing a man overwhelmed with panic and distress, not the unflappable, dignified badass he's presented himself as throughout the series.]]

** [[spoiler:However this was only due to a lot of luck, such as Balon Greyjoy's moronic attack on the North which didn't work but did lead to the fall of Winterfell and the supposed death of Robb's brothers, Renly's death and Stannis being delayed in getting to King's Landing, and Edmure misinterpreting Robb's instructions and preventing Tywin leaving the Riverlands. Tywin spent much of the war being thoroughly beaten by a man young enough to be his grandson, meaning his supposed strategic genius is up for debate.]] There is also speculation that his relative dismissal of Tyrion's accomplishments at the Battle of the Blackwater was a way for him to reclass the event as ''Tywin's'' victory to help his soldiers forget the extensive set of defeats at the hands of younger men throughout the war. So, he's attempting to gaslight ''his own son'' in order to save face.

* WhenHeSmiles: Played with. As mentioned above, he has not smiled in recent memory, but Tyrion is present on several occasions when Tywin ''almost'' smiles, but instead of being a heartwarming moment, the look is described as "terrible", probably because the context suggests it would be a SlasherSmile. The only time a true smile appears on Tywin's face is [[spoiler:after he has been killed, and even then the maesters say the smile is not genuine, and is only a tightening of the facial muscles as the body starts to decompose.]]

* WickedPretentious: Tywin makes a big deal about maintaining regal composure in public, but he can stray into hypocrisy sometimes, like when he arranges for [[spoiler: his enemies to be killed over dinner, something that's the epitome of bad taste in Westeros; plus, despite calling it unfitting, he's apparently been seeing whores secretly for some time.]]

-->'''Genna:''' Jaime, I've known you since you were a child still suckling at Joana's teat. You laugh like Gerion; you fight like Tyg; there is even some of Kevan in you, else wise you would not wear that cloak; but Tyrion is Tywin's son, not you. I once said so to your father's face and he refused to speak to me for half a year. Men are such great fools. Even the ones who come every thousand years.

** While he has the reputation for being TheDreaded and an aura of invincibility, Tywin never wins a battle without numerical superiority and has indeed suffered famous defeats, being repeatedly outsmarted and outfought by Robb Stark in the field, and in the backstory being humiliated by Victarion and Euron Greyjoy who torched his fleet at Lannisport, leading the Westerlands to be rescued by Stannis Baratheon at Fair Isle. Not only that, he personally loses a pitched battle against [[GeneralFailure Ser]] [[IdiotHero Edmure]] [[UpperClassTwit Tully]]. With greater numbers.

** Likewise, his image as a powerful, effective military commander and politician, while not necessarily unearned, is largely engineered by his acumen for image politics and is more or less an exaggeration of whatever skills he truly possesses; the [[spoiler: Red Wedding]], one of his "greatest accomplishments" happened largely as a result of luck rather than skill on his part. His image as a humorless patriarch with a distaste for whores [[spoiler:is also a lie, born out of a desire to maintain the reputation of the House]]. He's also not as smart as he wants himself to be perceived as; [[spoiler:he dies because he is unable to conceive the idea that so cruelly dismissing his son's first wife as just a whore (even when Jaime had outright told Tyrion ''she wasn't'') could possibly get him killed]].

** Catelyn Tully arrests Tyrion with the help of several Riverlands bannermen. Even though Tyrion is his least favorite son, Lord Tywin invades the Riverlands in a deliberate campaign of atrocity, just to show that nobody messes with House Lannister. The reason he does is to ensure that House Lannister's name remains feared throughout Westeros, as houses that don't protect their honor tend to fall quickly.

** [[spoiler:However this was only due to a lot of luck, such as Balon Greyjoy's moronic attack on the North which didn't work but did lead to the fall of Winterfell and the supposed death of Robb's brothers, Renly's death and Stannis being delayed in getting to King's Landing, and Edmure misinterpreting Robb's instructions and preventing Tywin leaving the Riverlands. Tywin spent much of the war being thoroughly beaten by a man young enough to be his grandson, meaning his supposed strategic genius is up for debate.]]

* InsaneTrollLogic: Immediately after the gang rape of Tysha, Tyrion's first wife, he tells Tyrion to his face that only a whore will ever love him or have sex with him because she's being paid for it. He then becomes enraged when Tyrion hangs out with prostitutes and sellswords in earnest, having taken the lesson to heart. He also somehow thinks that a woman who been raped and then gets money thrown at her after the fact by (one of) rapist(s) is a de-facto whore, because paid sex was paid for. Worse, he declares that he would never outright order the rape of a woman. Ladies like Elia Martell, probably not -- but, smallfolk? Not ''real'' women, apparently.

* RomanticismVsEnlightenment: Firmly on the Enlightenment side, as he has an extraordinarily unromantic view of power, war and even love.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: His lifelong stubbornness and disdain for his youngest son kills him; even as Tyrion has him at crossbow-point with his pants down, he keeps badmouthing Tyrion's wife and treating his son like a joke. Tyrion does not take it well. Moreover, Tywin had previously pointed out to Tyrion that his son ''talks too much'', and yet Tywin couldn't keep his own mouth shut when Tyrion had him at crossbow-point.]]
** [[spoiler: In addition, Tywin made sure throughout his life that he was so powerful no one would ever dare laugh at him, which is what he hated most. At his funeral, the crowd is snickering about how he died by being shot in the groin on the toliet.]]

** [[spoiler: In addition, Tywin made sure throughout his life that he was so powerful no one would ever dare laugh at him, which is what he hated most. At his funeral, the entire crowd is snickering about how he died by being shot in the groin on the toliet.]]