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* TheStoic: Though he is ''very'' often contemptuous and snarky, he has little emotional range beyond this. However he does show more emotion than in the novels, where he only loses his icy cold demeanor once, when Tyrion asks him to acknowledge his rights to Casterly Rock. TV!Tywin loses his temper (though never his control) in several episodes, either because he's SurroundedByIdiots or [[ThePatriarch putting his children in line]], and once even gives a genuine (albeit short) laugh.
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* TheStoic: Though he is ''very'' often contemptuous and snarky, he has little emotional range beyond this. However he does show more emotion than in the novels, where he only loses his icy cold demeanor once, when Tyrion asks him to acknowledge his rights to Casterly Rock. TV!Tywin TV Tywin loses his temper (though never his control) in several episodes, either because he's SurroundedByIdiots or [[ThePatriarch putting his children in line]], and once even gives a genuine (albeit short) laugh.
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* TheCanKickedHim: He meets his demise in a most embarrassing position, that is, sitting on a latrine.
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* SlaveToPR: To an extent. Tywin does not care about winning the people's love, but is absolutely dedicated to ensuring that the name of House Lannister is respected, if not feared. As such, Tywin cannot stomach ''any'' slight upon his house or any of his family members (even if the object of ridicule is his most despised son Tyrion), and will wreak havoc upon ''anyone'' bold enough to slander the Lannister name.
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* SlaveToPR: To an extent. Tywin does not care about winning the people's love, but is absolutely dedicated to ensuring that the name of House Lannister is respected, if not feared. As such, Tywin cannot stomach ''any'' slight upon his house or any of his family members (even if the object of ridicule is his most despised son Tyrion), and will wreak havoc upon ''anyone'' bold enough to slander the Lannister name. All to retain the image that House Lannister is a house that will not tolerate any humiliation.
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* SlaveToPR: To an extent. Tywin does not care about winning the people's love, but is absolutely dedicated to ensuring that the name of House Lannister is respected, if not feared. As such, Tywin cannot stomach ''any'' slight upon his house or any of his family members (even if the object of ridicule is his most despised son Tyrion), and will wreak havoc upon ''anyone'' bold enough to slander the Lannister name.
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** [[spoiler:And at the end of the series, [[EverybodysDeadDave that's exactly what happens]]. Cersei and Jaime die in Daenerys's attack on King's Landing, leaving Tyrion, the son he despised, the last of House Lannister. Since Shae's death has killed Tyrion's sex drive to the point of near-celibacy, it's very unlikely he'll be able to have children, meaning that with his death, House Lannister will be extinct. In the end, Tywin's attempt to bring about a lasting golden age for his family instead led them to their doom]].
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* AdaptationalVillainy: He is a huge jerk in the books as well, but in the show his treatment to Tyrion is largely unjustified. In the books, Tyrion has many more negative traits, including a willingness to some degree to harm his own relatives and use them in his schemes, which Tywin loathes since family is everything in his eyes. With such aspects of Tyrion toned down for the show, Tywin's hatred of him is more personal and spiteful.
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* AdaptationalVillainy: AdaptationalVillainy:
** He is a huge jerk in the books as well, but in the show his treatment to Tyrion is largely unjustified. In the books, Tyrion has many more negative traits, including a willingness to some degree to harm his own relatives and use them in his schemes, which Tywin loathes since family is everything in his eyes. With such aspects of Tyrion toned down for the show, Tywin's hatred of him is more personal and spiteful.
** He is a huge jerk in the books as well, but in the show his treatment to Tyrion is largely unjustified. In the books, Tyrion has many more negative traits, including a willingness to some degree to harm his own relatives and use them in his schemes, which Tywin loathes since family is everything in his eyes. With such aspects of Tyrion toned down for the show, Tywin's hatred of him is more personal and spiteful.
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* BigBad: In Seasons 3 and 4, he occupies this for the other War of the Five Kings factions, especially the Starks and Baratheons. Tywin is the real muscle of the Iron Throne, and responsible for the worst atrocities of the war, such as sending Gregor Clegane to make the Riverlands a blasted wasteland and turning Harrenhal into a nightmare garrison and then the Red Wedding. That said, Tywin only did this because Catelyn kidnapped Tyrion and [[OverarchingVillain as the story unravels]] it's revealed that Tywin was not the primary cause of the whole conflict.
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* BigBad: In Seasons 3 and 4, he occupies this for the other War of the Five Kings factions, especially the Starks and Baratheons. Tywin is the real muscle of the Iron Throne, and responsible for the worst atrocities of the war, such as sending Gregor Clegane to make the Riverlands a blasted wasteland and turning Harrenhal into a nightmare garrison and then the Red Wedding. That said, Tywin only did this because Catelyn kidnapped Tyrion and [[OverarchingVillain as the story unravels]] it's revealed that Tywin was not the primary cause of the whole conflict. In the fourth season, he’s the primary power behind whether Tyrion will live or die in his trial for Joffrey’s assasination.
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** When Cersei is trying to weasel her way out of her betrothal to Loras, citing the Lannisters’ quiet rivalry with the Tyrell, Tywin notes that’s the reason a formal marital alliance with them is needed as, if they were true close allies, it would be pointless. This flies in the face with Tywin’s earlier offense at Aerys II’s refusal to marry Rhaegar to Cersei, stating that a marriage to unify the already allied houses made more sense than an alliance with a historically hard-to-mollify house such as the Martells.
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** In the books, Tywin (and Kevan) come up with the plan to send Tyrion to the Wall on their own, while here it takes Jaime begging for his brother's life. It is possible that this was Tywin's plan all along, and he simply seized upon the opportunity to blackmail Jaime.
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** Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death. [[spoiler:Even Cersei's brief seizure of the Iron Throne after Tommen's death was shaky at best, and she and Jaime both ended up dying after the Red Keep collapsed on top of them during Daenerys' attack on King's Landing. This leaves Tyrion, the son he despised and expressly forbid from inheriting Casterly Rock, the only one left who can inherit the place and carry on the family name. And by series' end, Tyrion is forced to live the rest of his life as Bran's Hand of the King, meaning that unless Tyrion decides to renounce his celibacy, what's left of Tywin's legacy will always be spent serving kings rather than being them]].
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** Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death. [[spoiler:Even Cersei's brief seizure of the Iron Throne after Tommen's death was shaky at best, and she and Jaime both ended up dying after the Red Keep collapsed on top of them during Daenerys' attack on King's Landing. This leaves Tyrion, the son he despised and expressly forbid from inheriting Casterly Rock, the only one left who can inherit the place and carry on the family name. And by series' end, Tyrion is forced to live the rest of his life as Bran's Hand of the King, meaning that unless Tyrion decides to renounce his celibacy, what's left of Tywin's legacy will always be spent merely serving kings the king, rather than outright being them]].a ruling power]].
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** Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death. [[spoiler:Even Cersei's brief seizure of the Iron Throne after Tommen's death was shaky at best, and she and Jaime both ended up dying after the Red Keep collapsed on top of them during Daenerys' attack on King's Landing. This leaves Tyrion, the son he despised and expressly forbid from inheriting Casterly Rock, the only one left who can inherit the place and carry on the family name]].
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** Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death. [[spoiler:Even Cersei's brief seizure of the Iron Throne after Tommen's death was shaky at best, and she and Jaime both ended up dying after the Red Keep collapsed on top of them during Daenerys' attack on King's Landing. This leaves Tyrion, the son he despised and expressly forbid from inheriting Casterly Rock, the only one left who can inherit the place and carry on the family name]].name. And by series' end, Tyrion is forced to live the rest of his life as Bran's Hand of the King, meaning that unless Tyrion decides to renounce his celibacy, what's left of Tywin's legacy will always be spent serving kings rather than being them]].
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* AdaptationalNiceGuy: When Arya poses as his cup-bearer, she brings out a softer and paternal side to him that's absent in the books.
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* AdaptationalNiceGuy: When Arya poses as his cup-bearer, she brings out a softer and paternal side to him that's absent in the books. Although ultimately he's still willing to leave her to the mercy of [[SerialRapist Gregor]] [[WouldHurtAChild Clegane]].
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* AllForNothing: Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death. [[spoiler: Except that Cersei directly managed to seize power, which even Tywin couldn't achieve, even though her rule is shaky.]]
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* AllForNothing: AllForNothing:
** Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death.[[spoiler: Except that Cersei directly managed to seize power, which even Tywin couldn't achieve, even though her rule is shaky.]] [[spoiler:Even Cersei's brief seizure of the Iron Throne after Tommen's death was shaky at best, and she and Jaime both ended up dying after the Red Keep collapsed on top of them during Daenerys' attack on King's Landing. This leaves Tyrion, the son he despised and expressly forbid from inheriting Casterly Rock, the only one left who can inherit the place and carry on the family name]].
** Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death.
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* ParentalFavoritism: He favors Jaime (by manipulating him to do what ''Tywin'' wants), while generally ignoring Cersei (because she's just a woman) and openly despising Tyrion (who is a dwarf). He trusts him with half of his army, praises him on occasion and considers him his heir even though by law Jaime cannot inherit as a member of the Kingsguard. Cersei and Tyrion, who both love Jaime, are still resentful of this blatant favoritism. Tyrion in particular points out that he will never be recognized for all his accomplishments even though he's by far Tywin's most capable descendant, while Jaime is still Tywin's designated heir even after forfeiting his inheritance, murdering a king, losing his sword hand and screwing his own sister, which caused a countrywide scandal and a SuccessionCrisis that almost destroyed the Lannister bid for the Iron Throne.
--> '''Tyrion:''' You're the golden son. You could kill a king, lose a hand, fuck your own sister, you'll always be the golden son.
--> '''Tyrion:''' You're the golden son. You could kill a king, lose a hand, fuck your own sister, you'll always be the golden son.
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** Ultimately, there's no speech he gives out that matches the spite and loathing when it comes to that which he gives to Tyrion, when the guy asks for a land that's his by ''birthright''.
--> '''Tywin:''' And I would let myself be consumed by maggots before mocking the family name and making ''you'' heir to Casterly Rock.
--> '''Tyrion:''' ...Why?
--> '''Tywin:''' ''Why''? You ask that?! You who killed your mother to come into the world? You are an ill-made, spiteful little creature. Full of envy, lust and low-cunning. Mens laws give you the right to bear my name and display my colors since I cannot prove that you are ''not mine''. To teach me humility the gods have condemned me to watch you waddle about wearing that proud lion which was my father's sigil, and his father's before him. But neither gods nor men will ever compel me to let you turn Casterly Rock into your whore house.
--> '''Tywin:''' And I would let myself be consumed by maggots before mocking the family name and making ''you'' heir to Casterly Rock.
--> '''Tyrion:''' ...Why?
--> '''Tywin:''' ''Why''? You ask that?! You who killed your mother to come into the world? You are an ill-made, spiteful little creature. Full of envy, lust and low-cunning. Mens laws give you the right to bear my name and display my colors since I cannot prove that you are ''not mine''. To teach me humility the gods have condemned me to watch you waddle about wearing that proud lion which was my father's sigil, and his father's before him. But neither gods nor men will ever compel me to let you turn Casterly Rock into your whore house.
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* TheGoodChancellor: Surprisingly for his [[AbusiveParents horrible]] [[{{Jerkass}} personality]], he seems this way for many people who aren't personally affected by him. His twenty-year reign as Hand to the Mad King was considered the most stable and prosperous period Westeros had experienced in recent memory. Under Joffrey (Mad King 2.0), he once again brings his competence to the table, making him the PuppetKing, chewing out Cersei and actually running Westeros. When the main part of the war is officially over, he turns to consolidating the Kingdom with new alliances with the Tyrells and Martells, as well as focusing on solving the crown's debts. He's still a ''huge'' asshole but someone with a day-to-day grasp of administration. And of course, weeks after his death, everything he did fell apart spectacularly like a house of cards.
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* GodzillaThreshold: Tywin is in such a bad position after the execution of Ned Stark that he ends up relying on Tyrion to bring Joffrey and Cersei to heel. Once everything's calmed down to an extent, and Tyrion requests ownership of Casterly Rock, Tywin dispenses with the pleasantries and lashes out at his son, proving that all along he'd only valued Tyrion for his intelligence and nothing more.
* TheGoodChancellor: Surprisingly for his [[AbusiveParents horrible]] [[{{Jerkass}} personality]], he seems this way for many people who aren't personally affected by him. His twenty-year reign as Hand to the Mad King was considered the most stable and prosperous period Westeros had experienced in recent memory. Under Joffrey (Mad King 2.0), he once again brings his competence to the table, making him the PuppetKing, chewing out Cersei and actually running Westeros. When the main part of the war is officially over, he turns to consolidating the Kingdom with new alliances with the Tyrells and Martells, as well as focusing on solving the crown's debts. He's still a ''huge'' asshole but someone with a day-to-day grasp of administration. And of course, weeks after his death, everything he did fell apart spectacularly like a house of cards.
* TheGoodChancellor: Surprisingly for his [[AbusiveParents horrible]] [[{{Jerkass}} personality]], he seems this way for many people who aren't personally affected by him. His twenty-year reign as Hand to the Mad King was considered the most stable and prosperous period Westeros had experienced in recent memory. Under Joffrey (Mad King 2.0), he once again brings his competence to the table, making him the PuppetKing, chewing out Cersei and actually running Westeros. When the main part of the war is officially over, he turns to consolidating the Kingdom with new alliances with the Tyrells and Martells, as well as focusing on solving the crown's debts. He's still a ''huge'' asshole but someone with a day-to-day grasp of administration. And of course, weeks after his death, everything he did fell apart spectacularly like a house of cards.
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** Can be considered a case of ValuesDissonance because he lives in a world were sex within marriage cannot legally qualify as rape.
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** Can be considered a case of ValuesDissonance DeliberateValuesDissonance because he lives in a world were where sex within marriage cannot legally qualify as rape.
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[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ('''Tywin Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesPetyrBaelish Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]
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[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ('''Tywin Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesTheonGreyjoy Theon Greyjoy]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesPetyrBaelish Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]
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[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ('''Tywin Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesPetyrBaelish Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]
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[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ('''Tywin Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesPetyrBaelish Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]
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[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ('''Tywin Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]
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[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ('''Tywin Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesPetyrBaelish Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]
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* TranquilFury: Very calmly establishes his power by sending Joffrey to his room. All without raising his voice.
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* TranquilFury: Very calmly establishes his power by sending Joffrey to his room. All without raising his voice. Indeed, one gets the impression that Tywin's just straight-up pissed at everyone ''all the time'', namely because he has no patience for stupidity and thinks he's SurroundedByIdiots for a good portion of his day.
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* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Tywin repeatedly states the importance of family throughout his time on the show, but fails to realize that a family is only as strong as the trust and love each of its members have for each other. As such, while he constantly strives to glorify the Lannister name, and cement its place in history as a powerful family dynasty, he mistreats and abuses all his children, practically ensuring that they'd be too screwed up to maintain power in the long-term.
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* NotSoAboveItAll: Even though Tywin has little patience for Joffrey's antics, he's shown suppressing a grin during Joffrey's "War of the Five Kings" reenactment-by-dwarf, which mocks his former rivals. Despite his aura of invincibility, he has never won a battle without overwhelming numerical superiority and once lost a battle to Edmure Tully, with greater numbers to boot.
* NumberTwo: Has served as Hand of the King twice in his life, with the first one lasting twenty years.
* NumberTwo: Has served as Hand of the King twice in his life, with the first one lasting twenty years.
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* NotSoAboveItAll: Even though Tywin has little patience for Joffrey's antics, he's shown suppressing a grin during Joffrey's "War of the Five Kings" reenactment-by-dwarf, which mocks his former rivals. Despite his aura of invincibility, he has never won a battle without overwhelming numerical superiority and once lost a battle to Edmure Tully, with greater numbers to boot.
* NumberTwo: Has served as Hand of the King twice in his life, with the first one lasting twenty years.
* NumberTwo: Has served as Hand of the King twice in his life, with the first one lasting twenty years.
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* FauxAffablyEvil: Has shades of this in his negotiations with Olenna, he puts on a polite facade but it's not enough to hide his fury over how the Tyrells tried to marry Sansa behind his back (from his perspective).
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* FauxAffablyEvil: Has shades of this in his negotiations with Olenna, he puts on a polite facade but it's not enough to hide his fury over how the Tyrells tried to marry Sansa behind his back (from his perspective).
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** A major change which softens Tywin considerably is the excising of the crucial conversation about Tyrion's first wife Tysha in the moment before his death. This was AdaptedOut of the show, and being perhaps Tywin's most despicable moment he comes off a lot nicer without it.
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** A major change which softens Tywin considerably is a change to the excising subplot of the crucial conversation about Tyrion's first wife Tysha. Tyrion wed her after saving her from being raped, but Jaime later admitted she was a whore he had bought for him and Tywin made Tyrion watch his guardsmen sleep with her for money. In the books when Jaime helped Tyrion escape the capital, he confessed Tysha in was ''not'' a whore and actually had loved Tyrion, but Tywin believed Tyrion shouldn't marry a commoner and so split them up, making Jaime lie to Tyrion. When Tyrion confronts Tywin about this, he is dismissive of the moment before his death. This deception and insists she was AdaptedOut of just a whore. In the show, both TheReveal about Tysha and being perhaps Tywin's attitude towards her are AdaptedOut, considerably lightening one of his most despicable moment he comes off a lot nicer without it. moments.
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* AbusiveParents: Not physically abusive, but psychologically and emotionally abusive to horrific levels. There's no positive reinforcement and constant DisappointedInYou speeches all around. He's especially vindictive to Tyrion, going out of his way to make his life a living hell. It's safe to say that his poor parenting is his most prominent negative quality, especially since fucking his cousin was indirectly responsible for Tyrion's birth defects.
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* AbusiveParents: Not physically abusive, but psychologically and emotionally abusive to horrific levels. There's no positive reinforcement and constant DisappointedInYou speeches all around. He's especially vindictive to Tyrion, going out of his way to make his life a living hell. It's safe to say that his poor parenting is his most prominent negative quality, especially since fucking his cousin was indirectly responsible for Tyrion's birth defects. Tyrion even spelled it out to all 3 of them that if Tywin behaved to him as a decent father, he would still have been alive.
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* AffablyEvil: Shows traces of this towards Arya when she was a [[KingIncognito noble fugitive incognito]], where he drops his guard in a rare moment, and without abandoning his statesman persona, he's grandfatherly towards Tommen. Averted otherwise, as he puts on a cold, unsmiling, and stern front when dealing with everyone else, or FauxAffablyEvil with Lady Olenna and becomes openly cruel in front of his son Tyrion.
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* AffablyEvil: Shows traces of this towards Arya when she was a [[KingIncognito noble fugitive incognito]], where he drops his guard in a rare moment, and without abandoning his statesman persona, he's grandfatherly towards Tommen. Averted otherwise, as he puts on a cold, unsmiling, and stern front when dealing with everyone else, or FauxAffablyEvil WorthyOpponent with Lady Olenna and becomes openly cruel in front of his son Tyrion.
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* AllForNothing: Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death.
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* AllForNothing: Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death. [[spoiler: Except that Cersei directly managed to seize power, which even Tywin couldn't achieve, even though her rule is shaky.]]
** His betrayal of the Targaryen crown. His Sack of King's Landing was to specifically overthrow them and install Robert as the true King of the Seven Kingdoms, for which he personally ordered Gregor Clegane to kill Rhaegar's children, which he managed to achieve. [[spoiler: But Tywin was unaware of the fact that Rheagar had his marriage with Elia annulled, removing his kids from the royal line, in favor of Lyanna Stark, his love. This effectively meant the children whose murders sullied the Lannister's name for quite a long time ''were the wrong kids''. The real heir to the Iron Throne was born far away beyond Tywin's reach, as Jon Snow. Ned Stark's BlatantLies along with several unrelated factors made Jon ironically the person Tywin strictly wanted to avoid.]]
** His betrayal of the Targaryen crown. His Sack of King's Landing was to specifically overthrow them and install Robert as the true King of the Seven Kingdoms, for which he personally ordered Gregor Clegane to kill Rhaegar's children, which he managed to achieve. [[spoiler: But Tywin was unaware of the fact that Rheagar had his marriage with Elia annulled, removing his kids from the royal line, in favor of Lyanna Stark, his love. This effectively meant the children whose murders sullied the Lannister's name for quite a long time ''were the wrong kids''. The real heir to the Iron Throne was born far away beyond Tywin's reach, as Jon Snow. Ned Stark's BlatantLies along with several unrelated factors made Jon ironically the person Tywin strictly wanted to avoid.]]
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** Tyrion's trial for regicide is another one. He decides to use Jaime's BigBrotherInstinct at seeing Tyrion humiliated before the court to force him to bargain leaving the Kingsguard for Casterly Rock, and at the same time force a FalseConfession from Tyrion and use that to send him to the Wall. It almost works.
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** Tyrion's trial for regicide is another one. He decides to use Jaime's BigBrotherInstinct at seeing Tyrion humiliated before the court to force him to bargain leaving the Kingsguard for Casterly Rock, and at the same time force a FalseConfession from Tyrion and use that to send him to the Wall. It almost ''almost'' works.
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* CurbStompBattle: His audiences are completely one-sided and anyone who dares to argue with him gets verbally demolished. The only exceptions have been Olenna Tyrell and Oberyn Martell. In literal military terms, his utter annihilation of House Reyne of Castamere could be seen as this. The same goes for the Red Wedding, in which he all but annihilates the enemy forces in a single night, destroying their leadership and (to the best of his and everyone else's knowledge) male family line.
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* CurbStompBattle: His audiences are completely one-sided and anyone who dares to argue with him gets verbally demolished. The only exceptions have been Olenna Tyrell and Oberyn Martell. In literal military terms, his utter annihilation of House Reyne of Castamere could be seen as this. The same goes for the Red Wedding, in which he all but annihilates the enemy forces in a single night, destroying their leadership and (to the best of his and everyone else's knowledge) male family line. Ironically, each of his children subsequently battled ''him'' in an increasing level, Cersei revealing about their incest, Jaime outright freeing Tyrion, and immediately later Tyrion ''killing'' him.
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* TheGoodChancellor: Surprisingly for his [[AbusiveParents horrible]] [[{{Jerkass}} personality]], he seems this way for many people who aren't personally affected by him. His twenty-year reign as Hand to the Mad King was considered the most stable and prosperous period Westeros had experienced in recent memory. Under Joffrey (Mad King 2.0), he once again brings his competence to the table, making him the PuppetKing, chewing out Cersei and actually running Westeros. When the main part of the war is officially over, he turns to consolidating the Kingdom with new alliances with the Tyrells and Martells, as well as focusing on solving the crown's debts. He's still a ''huge'' asshole but someone with a day-to-day grasp of administration.
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* TheGoodChancellor: Surprisingly for his [[AbusiveParents horrible]] [[{{Jerkass}} personality]], he seems this way for many people who aren't personally affected by him. His twenty-year reign as Hand to the Mad King was considered the most stable and prosperous period Westeros had experienced in recent memory. Under Joffrey (Mad King 2.0), he once again brings his competence to the table, making him the PuppetKing, chewing out Cersei and actually running Westeros. When the main part of the war is officially over, he turns to consolidating the Kingdom with new alliances with the Tyrells and Martells, as well as focusing on solving the crown's debts. He's still a ''huge'' asshole but someone with a day-to-day grasp of administration. And of course, weeks after his death, everything he did fell apart spectacularly like a house of cards.
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** Even though he was the BigBad, he was the one actually ''ruling'' the Seven Kingdoms pretty effectively, which his death manages to undo.
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** Made ironical and tragic that the Targaryen children who were murdered were ''completely innocent'' and unrelated to the Iron Throne anymore ([[AbusiveParents thanks to Rhaegar]]).
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* TheDreaded: The most feared person in the series during his life, someone who keeps Petyr Baelish, Varys, Tyrion, Olenna and even Joffrey intimidated from openly crossing him. The monstrous Ser Gregor Clegane, who is never shown to be respectful of anyone else [[spoiler: before being zombified by Qyburn]] fears and respects him and carries out his orders dutifully. Robb Stark likewise sees Tywin as his enemy. Tyrion defines Westeros as "Seven Kingdoms united in fear of Tywin Lannister".
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* TheDreaded: The most feared person in the series during his life, someone who keeps Petyr Baelish, Varys, Tyrion, Olenna and even Joffrey intimidated from openly crossing him. The monstrous Ser Gregor Clegane, who is never shown to be respectful of anyone else [[spoiler: before being zombified by Qyburn]] Qyburn fears and respects him and carries out his orders dutifully. Robb Stark likewise sees Tywin as his enemy. Tyrion defines Westeros as "Seven Kingdoms united in fear of Tywin Lannister".
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** His statement about how the House that places the family's needs first over it's members is hypocritical, self-serving, and in the context of encouraging Tyrion to engage in MaritalRapeLicense, absolutely repugnant, but in the long run, he's shown to be right. [[spoiler: The Baratheons and the Boltons are both extinct precisely because their individual members would not get along, and ultimately ended up killing one another. House Lannister themselves are in dire straits by Season 7 due to Tyrion aiding Daenerys in overthrowing his hated sister, all as a result of the family's internal frictions and feuds. Meanwhile, the Starks are BackFromTheBrink precisely because it's members love one another unconditionally, and are willing to put their House and family before their own ambitions and desires, with Sansa willing to sidestep her own claim on the North to support her half-brother Jon being a good example.]]
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** His statement about how the House that places the family's needs first over it's members is hypocritical, self-serving, and in the context of encouraging Tyrion to engage in MaritalRapeLicense, absolutely repugnant, but in the long run, he's shown to be right. [[spoiler: The Baratheons and the Boltons are both extinct precisely because their individual members would not get along, and ultimately ended up killing one another. House Lannister themselves are in dire straits by Season 7 due to Tyrion aiding Daenerys in overthrowing his hated sister, all as a result of the family's internal frictions and feuds. Meanwhile, the Starks are BackFromTheBrink precisely because it's members love one another unconditionally, and are willing to put their House and family before their own ambitions and desires, with Sansa willing to sidestep her own claim on the North to support her half-brother Jon being a good example.]]
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* TheDreaded: The most feared person in the series during his life, someone who keeps Petyr Baelish, Varys, Tyrion, Olenna and even Joffrey intimidated from openly crossing him, Robb Stark likewise sees Tywin as his enemy. Tyrion defines Westeros as "Seven Kingdoms united in fear of Tywin Lannister".
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* TheDreaded: The most feared person in the series during his life, someone who keeps Petyr Baelish, Varys, Tyrion, Olenna and even Joffrey intimidated from openly crossing him, him. The monstrous Ser Gregor Clegane, who is never shown to be respectful of anyone else [[spoiler: before being zombified by Qyburn]] fears and respects him and carries out his orders dutifully. Robb Stark likewise sees Tywin as his enemy. Tyrion defines Westeros as "Seven Kingdoms united in fear of Tywin Lannister".
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** Some of Tywin's insults often hit the mark. Whether it is calling Jaime a glorified bodyguard lacking ambition, Cersei not nearly as smart as she thinks she is, or Tyrion a fool for his drinking and whoring. In the case of the latter two, those prove to be FatalFlaw for them.
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** Some of Tywin's insults often hit the mark. Whether it is calling Jaime a glorified bodyguard lacking ambition, Cersei not nearly as smart as she thinks she is, or Tyrion a fool for his drinking and whoring. In the case of the latter two, those prove to be FatalFlaw for them.
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** He manages to zigzag between this and PetTheDog with his treatment of Tyrion (more in Season 1 than later). On the one hand, he never hesitates to tell Tyrion he considers him a drunken, lecherous freak who killed his mother and dreams of killing him without any stain on his conscience. On the other hand, he sometimes acknowledges Tyrion's talents, speaks to him as an equal when he isn't insulting his lifestyle, and in contrast to Cersei and Joffrey, he trusts Tyrion with power and authority.
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** He manages to zigzag between this and PetTheDog with his treatment of Tyrion (more in Season 1 than later). On the one hand, he never hesitates to tell Tyrion he considers him a drunken, lecherous freak who killed his mother and dreams of killing him without any stain on his conscience. On the other hand, he sometimes acknowledges Tyrion's talents, speaks to him as an equal when he isn't insulting his lifestyle, and in contrast to Cersei and Joffrey, he trusts Tyrion with power and authority. In a deleted scene, he clearly puts his faith in Tyrion before Pycelle.
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[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ('''Tywin Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]
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[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]] | Stark]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ('''Tywin Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]] | Lannister]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]
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[[WMG:[[center: [- ''Series/GameOfThrones'' '''[[Characters/GameOfThrones Main Character Index]]'''\\
[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ('''Tywin Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]
'''Only spoilers from the current season will be hidden, so beware spoilers if you're not up to date on the episodes.'''
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[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ('''Tywin Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]
'''Only spoilers from the current season will be hidden, so beware spoilers if you're not up to date on the episodes.'''
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!!Lord Tywin Lannister
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tywin_lannister.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"[[{{Pride}} The lion does not concern himself with the opinions of the sheep.]]"'']]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/CharlesDance
->''"It's the family name that lives on. That's all that lives on. Not your personal glory, not your honor, but family."''
Father ([[KissingCousins and paternal first cousin once removed]]) of the three Lannister siblings, and grandfather to Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen. Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West, Tywin Lannister is perhaps the most feared Lord in the Realm, and is certainly the richest. Calculating, harsh, and ruthless, he is famed as a brilliant administrator, who managed the Realm masterfully during his twenty years as Hand of the King to Aerys Targaryen and is a capable battle commander. He resumes the post under his grandson, King Joffrey and he leads the fight against Robb Stark in the War of the Five Kings, gaining the title "Protector of the Realm," traditionally one of the King's four titles, upon Tommen's coronation. Tywin's driving motive is in securing House Lannister's hold as the most powerful dynasty in Westeros, no matter the cost, which eventually gets Tywin killed by his son Tyrion after one confrontation too many. A remarkable individual acknowledged as the real power in King's Landing, when people talk of him it often sounds more like he's a force of Nature rather than a high lord. Even posthumously, the ones who knew Tywin speak highly of him, and his foes are greatly relieved once such a formidable adversary is no longer in the game.
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* AbusiveParents: Not physically abusive, but psychologically and emotionally abusive to horrific levels. There's no positive reinforcement and constant DisappointedInYou speeches all around. He's especially vindictive to Tyrion, going out of his way to make his life a living hell. It's safe to say that his poor parenting is his most prominent negative quality, especially since fucking his cousin was indirectly responsible for Tyrion's birth defects.
* TheAce: A darker than usual example, but he is the Lannister that sets the standard for all the others. He is ruthless and a better schemer than Cersei, he is a more renowned commander than Jaime and because he is willing to cross lines that Tyrion won't (such as say, violating guest right) he is a more effective war-time politician. He is TheDreaded for a very good reason.
* ActionDad: He's still a fearsome fighter even by the time Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion [[BadassGrandpa are already adults]].
* AdaptationalBadass: A FrontlineGeneral unlike the books as shown in Battle of the Blackwater.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Tywin is given some PetTheDog moments to show a softer side whereas in the books, he never lets his guard down:
** His 'disowning' of Jaime is not as harsh as in the book, either and instead he uses Tyrion's trial to con him into following in his original plan. He also tries to indulge in flattery to Cersei on occassion and even Tyrion in the moments before his death.
** A major change which softens Tywin considerably is the excising of the crucial conversation about Tyrion's first wife Tysha in the moment before his death. This was AdaptedOut of the show, and being perhaps Tywin's most despicable moment he comes off a lot nicer without it.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: When Arya poses as his cup-bearer, she brings out a softer and paternal side to him that's absent in the books.
* AdaptationalVillainy: He is a huge jerk in the books as well, but in the show his treatment to Tyrion is largely unjustified. In the books, Tyrion has many more negative traits, including a willingness to some degree to harm his own relatives and use them in his schemes, which Tywin loathes since family is everything in his eyes. With such aspects of Tyrion toned down for the show, Tywin's hatred of him is more personal and spiteful.
* AffablyEvil: Shows traces of this towards Arya when she was a [[KingIncognito noble fugitive incognito]], where he drops his guard in a rare moment, and without abandoning his statesman persona, he's grandfatherly towards Tommen. Averted otherwise, as he puts on a cold, unsmiling, and stern front when dealing with everyone else, or FauxAffablyEvil with Lady Olenna and becomes openly cruel in front of his son Tyrion.
* AgeLift: While many characters were made older for the show, Tywin deserves special mention, as in the books, at this point he is 57 years old, yet in [[Recap/GameOfThronesS4E6TheLawsOfGodsAndMen The Laws of Gods and Men]], his age is listed as ''67'', a full 10 years older, versus Jaime, who was aged by less than a decade.
** Also his age when he massacred House Reyne of Castamere, the inspiration of the Lannister's Theme-song. In the books, the [=DVD=]'s history of the great houses featured and hinted in the lyrics of the song ("Who are you, the proud Lord said, that I must bow so low?") claims that Tywin started to repair his weak father's blunders once he came of age at around 16. But in the show, Cersei remembers the dead Reyne's corpses hanging in Casterly Rock for the whole summer, meaning it must have taken place at max 35ish years ago, or when Tywin was at the lowest 32 years old.
* AllForNothing: Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death.
* AmbitionIsEvil:
** He is ruthless when it comes to playing the game of thrones and will do anything to keep his house on top. In his own words, his dream is to "establish a [Lannister] dynasty that [[ThousandYearReign will last a thousand years]]". Robert is even more generous, summing Tywin's goal up as "wanting to own the world". As the ruling patriarch of the house which he nearly saw destroyed by his weak father, Tywin will do anything to maintain his family's greatness, no matter how vicious.
** His ambition is also the main reason the Lannisters are a BigScrewedUpFamily -- in his eyes, his children have done nothing worthwhile with their lives and needed his help or name to achieve what little they did do. Jaime is a MasterSwordsman and becomes Commander of the Kingsguard, but Tywin sneers that he's just a glorified bodyguard, first to a mad king and then a drunk one. Cersei is Queen, but Tywin points out she didn't do much with her power other than raise her children, poorly. For Tyrion, he plain never trusted Tyrion with any power or authority and thus Tyrion never had a chance to prove himself, thus Tywin sees him as nothing more than a lecherous drunk. While he eventually realizes Tyrion's true worth and appoints him acting Hand of the King, and later Master of Coin, Tywin still sweeps his accomplishments in under the rug, claiming Tyrion did little more than what was expected of him and otherwise is ''still'' a lecherous drunk.
* ArchnemesisDad: To his son Tyrion, to almost absurd levels. They completely and totally '''''hate''''' each other. Tywin hates his son for killing his beloved wife in childbirth and being a whoremongering dwarf, while Tyrion hates his father for always treating him with contempt, and in particular for taking his first love Tysha from him and later sleeping with the woman he loved after hypocritically abusing him for his whoremongering all his life.
* AssholeVictim: His murder at Tyrion's hands was definitely a long time coming.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Tywin is a two-time Hand of the King, and the Warden of the West (a position only equal to three others and only inferior to the King himself and his Hand). Hand in hand with his titles, Tywin is a ruthless yet highly effective commander who struck the killing blow to King's Landing and the Targaryen royal family in Robert's Rebellion.
* BadassBaritone: His deep voice suits well with his commanding demeanor.
* BadassBeard: He sports a trimmed beard, thin on the sides and a bit thicker on the goatee.
* BadassBoast:
** "The Rains of Castamere" is a famous song about a young lord who annihilated an entire family of vassals who crossed him, and its protagonist is still walking around and death-staring everyone in his presence.
** When Cersei dares him to rein Joffrey in, Tywin simply responds with "I will". Tywin once again walks the walk, and is able to control Joffrey with lines such as "I'll make sure you understand that when ''I've won your war for you.''"
* BadassBureaucrat: Was previously Hand of the King to Aerys II. He becomes Hand of the King once again after King Robert dies. His true genius lies in the craft of political intrigue and public administration within his capacity as a statesman.
* BadassGrandpa: His EstablishingCharacterMoment has him skinning a stag he just hunted, showing him as quite fit and healthy for his age and even his [[TheCaligula sadistic]] grandchild who doubles as king cowers before him. The blood splatter on his face during Blackwater also shows that he fought alongside his men.
* BadassLongcoat: A black leather one in Season 3 and there is a reason he's considered as the BigBad by the Starks instead of Joffrey or Cersei.
* BadBoss: Justifed in most cases, as he's SurroundedByIdiots. He's actually rather friendly with Arya, as he recognizes her as intelligent and competent. That is [[BaitTheDog until he hands her]] over to the [[SuicideMission service]] of [[TheDreaded Ser Gregor Clegane]].
* BaitTheDog:
** After saving Arya from the Mountain's prison pen, and spending a few weeks with Arya as his cupbearer, mentioning how she [[MoralityPet reminds him of his own daughter at that age]], and generally making the audience smile at their father-daughter interactions, he leaves and specifically gives her to the Mountain, with [[SuicideMission strict orders to stop him from ever getting drunk no less]], his [[WouldHurtAChild less than stellar record with children]] [[RapeAsDrama and females]] notwithstanding.
** Initially, it seems that Tywin has changed his mind, he wonders if he was wrong about Tyrion being a stunted fool. He then appoints Tyrion Acting Hand and this drives Tyrion to do a magnificent job, personally saving King's Landing and thus allowing the Lannisters to keep fighting the war, despite having ''all the odds against him'' and almost everyone else trying to sabotage him out of idiocy or spite (or both). When Tyrion asks for his reward (which is actually his ''birthright''), Tywin proves that he hasn't changed one bit, bringing up his whoremongering, dismissing his successes and stating that Tyrion is a worthless freak who killed his mother and will never be more than the family embarrassment.
* BatmanGambit: He's quite good at setting up these:
** The Red Wedding is a result of his astute FlawExploitation of the fallout of the breakup of the Stark-Frey Marriage Alliance and the defection of the Karstarks after Lord Rickard's execution.
** Tyrion's trial for regicide is another one. He decides to use Jaime's BigBrotherInstinct at seeing Tyrion humiliated before the court to force him to bargain leaving the Kingsguard for Casterly Rock, and at the same time force a FalseConfession from Tyrion and use that to send him to the Wall. It almost works.
* BerserkButton: Tywin does not tolerate the slightest insubordination from his children or any slights on the family name, real or imagined.
* BigBad: In Seasons 3 and 4, he occupies this for the other War of the Five Kings factions, especially the Starks and Baratheons. Tywin is the real muscle of the Iron Throne, and responsible for the worst atrocities of the war, such as sending Gregor Clegane to make the Riverlands a blasted wasteland and turning Harrenhal into a nightmare garrison and then the Red Wedding. That said, Tywin only did this because Catelyn kidnapped Tyrion and [[OverarchingVillain as the story unravels]] it's revealed that Tywin was not the primary cause of the whole conflict.
* BigDamnHeroes:
** At Harrenhal, when he stops the wanton torturing and killing of prisoners through PragmaticVillainy, enslaving them instead and later in Season 2, when he and the Tyrells save King's Landing from being overtaken by Stannis' troops in "Blackwater", a straight example of TheCavalry, complete with triumphant Rains of Castamere over the credits.
** Podrick Payne was almost hanged for the actions of his master, but Tywin heard his family name in time, commuted the sentence and sent him to squire for Tyrion as punishment for the two of them. Though the two saw it as CoolAndUnusualPunishment.
* BlatantLies: When Oberyn asks him if he denies involvement in Elia Martell's murder, Tywin answers, "Categorically", but the uncharacteristic, deflective tone of his voice hints he's at least uneasy with the assertion. [[labelnote:From the books...]]Tywin states to Tyrion during a private conversation that he had explicitly ordered Rhaegar's children dead but never mentioned what should be done with Elia, and Gregor Clegane had simply [[RapePillageAndBurn filled in the blanks in his usual manner]]. Tyrion remains skeptical and later Oberyn tells Tyrion that Tywin was acting out of spite because Aerys spurned Cersei over Elia for Rhaegar's bride[[/labelnote]]
** His claims that he wouldn't let Tyrion be executed (while Tyrion was aiming a crossbow at him), despite Tywin ordering the execution himself. Charles Dance's delivery is so good and there's just enough of a kernel of truth to that speech that it's ''just'' possible to believe Tywin was telling the truth.
* BreakTheHaughty: In "The Children", Cersei manages to hurt Tywin about the one thing he cares about -- the family legacy -- by simply revealing to him that the rumors about the incest were true all along. Tywin is shocked and in denial, and then later Tyrion finds out that Father was a hypocrite whoremonger himself, permanently destroying his credibility and removing any ability to bargain for his life with Tyrion.
* BrutalHonesty: Lord Tywin makes no bones about ''anything''. Probably his most noteworthy example is when he tells Tommen that his older brother was a horrible King. Right after he died. When his body was in the same room as them. And Tommen and his older brother's mother next to him.
* CavalryBetrayal: During the last days of the Mad King, his army entered King's Landing as royalist allies and then proceeded to attack and pillage the city in Robert's name.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Slightly touched upon. He has Seven Kingdoms to run during an open rebellion and the ship of fools and schemers that he governs does not make it any easier. When Tyrion casually asks him if he's enjoying the position, Tywin finds the query outlandish and repeats back the question in disbelief[[labelnote: From the books...]] Kevan speaks earnestly about how Tywin is a stern but just man of duty doing a tough job for decades with little appreciation or reward.[[/labelnote]].
* CharacterTics: When he's nervous or enraged, he may keep a straight face, but watch as his hands squeeze and flex around a small object.
* TheChessmaster: Tywin is one of the most prolific in the series along with Varys and Littlefinger. His money, his army, his name, and his ability to verbally and physically dominate anyone he speaks to, make him one of the most powerful men in the kingdoms, and he's well-aware of it. Some examples of this are the calculated way he sacks kings landing and the way he orchestrates the red wedding. A smart-in theory but ultimately failed example is his plan to use Gregor Clegane to raid the riverlands so as to provoke [[HonourBeforeReason Ned Stark]] into striking back so as to capture Ned and get a speedy resolution to the brewing conflict, unfortunately Jaime Lannister threw a SpannerInTheWorks.
* CombatPragmatist: Tywin's main hat is his prioritizing maximum victory with minimum losses and he'll use every trick he can think of to achieve his political and military goals.
** What makes him a [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] here instead of an idiot that violated every principle of diplomacy and SacredHospitality in the worst way possible, however, is that he didn't take any active role in the matter -- he simply made some assurances to an already traitorous, ambitious, selfish ally of Robb Stark's, giving the betrayal a guaranteed reward if actually carried out; the actual betrayal, its nature, and all of the extreme diplomatic and cultural taboos involved were ''not'' Tywin's idea or something he had a direct hand in.
--->'''Tywin:''' Explain to me why it is more noble to kill ten thousand men in battle than a dozen at dinner.[[note]]Of course, he conveniently discounts the fact that said 10,000 were cowardly slaughtered, too.[[/note]]
** In the History and Lore videos, he justifies the Sacking of King's Landing as this; in his mind it decisively ended the war in one fell swoop of bloody violence rather than prolong it indefinitely and prevent additional casualties.
* TheComicallySerious: Seen with interactions with Tyrion during his wedding, as Tywin unexpectedly slip in to the role of straight man to his son. Other incidents include giving a version of TheTalk to Tommen in the Sept of Baelor, and trying to talk with [[LovableSexManiac Oberyn Martell]] in a brothel... with Oberyn offering him a seat ''right'' where a male prostitute had been laying with Oberyn.
* CompositeCharacter: His intro of butchering a stag is actually from Randyll Tarly, Sam's father. And his use of Arya as a cupbearer is taken from Roose Bolton.
* ControlFreak: Of the highest, most unhealthy order, in that he wants to control everything and everyone. Justified in that his father being the complete polar opposite and too laid back (Laughing Lion for a reason) caused House Lannister to be in the mess it was until Tywin restored them to power during his times as Hand of the King at least.
* CurbStompBattle: His audiences are completely one-sided and anyone who dares to argue with him gets verbally demolished. The only exceptions have been Olenna Tyrell and Oberyn Martell. In literal military terms, his utter annihilation of House Reyne of Castamere could be seen as this. The same goes for the Red Wedding, in which he all but annihilates the enemy forces in a single night, destroying their leadership and (to the best of his and everyone else's knowledge) male family line.
* DamnedByFaintPraise: After Tywin's death, Loras has to give his condolences to Cersei and he painfully struggles to say something nice about her father. He finally calls the deceased lord [[TheDreaded 'a force to be reckoned with']], then pauses for a moment, then rephrases it, then pauses again and finally repeats the original phrase. While the moment is awkward, the departed would find the words highly praising because that's precisely the image Tywin cultivated and relished.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: As noted by Oberyn Martell, after Clegane murdered Elia and her children, Tywin ordered their bodies to be brought to the Throne Room and wrapped in Lannister banners, and presented before Robert Baratheon as a token of fealty[[labelnote:From the books]]Tywin would justify this as both him playing the bad guy for Robert Baratheon, and having had to go to such extremes to prove his loyalty since the Lannisters effectively took until war's end to pick a side[[/labelnote]].
* DeadpanSnarker:
** Although not to the level of, say, his sons, and placing particular emphasis on deadpan. This is most evident during his dealings with [[SurroundedByIdiots his subordinates]]. For example:
---> '''Polliver:''' ''(to Arya, while dressed as a boy)'' What are you looking at?! Kneel! Kneel or I'll take your lungs out, boy!\\
'''Tywin:''' You'll do no such thing. This one's a girl, ''you idiot''.
** And again in "The Old Gods and the New":
---> '''Tywin:''' ''(to Amory Lorch)'' My ''cupbearer'' can read better than you.
* DeathByIrony: Goes by the motto of "a Lannister always pays his debts"... then gets killed by a Lannister who is most certainly paying his debt.
* DeathGlare: The non-verbal part of his imposing stance when someone antagonizes or displeases him. If looks could kill, his probably will. Special notice goes to his expression when Joffrey insults him at a Small Council meeting in "Mhysa" and the look he gives the crowd at Tyrion's wedding after they laugh when Joffrey humiliates Tyrion.
** And even that pales in comparison to the look he sends to Tyrion in "The Laws of of Gods and Men" at the end of Tyrion's trial. Tyrion returns it in kind.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: He will go down as one of the great conquerors; a FourStarBadass in war-time and a ReasonableAuthorityFigure in peace. It doesn't make him a nice person. Or mean that extremely PragmaticVillainy has a long shelf-life if you neglect the [[SketchySuccessor grassroots]] in the form of [[DesperatelyCravesAffection Tyrion]], [[TheAlcoholic Cersei]] and [[BrilliantButLazy Jaime]].
* DefiantToTheEnd: "You're no son of mine!". [[AbusiveParents Whatever else]] [[SacredHospitality you think of him]], Tywin's decision to denounce the man who just mortally wounded him rather than whimper or plead is worthy of respect.
* DirtyCoward: Not in the series, where he's [[FrontlineGeneral willing to fight along side his troops]] but Joffrey accuses him of being this during Robert's Rebellion, hiding at Casterly Rock and only joining once victory was all but guaranteed much like Walder Frey. Considering [[TranquilFury Tywin's reaction]], it's heavily implied that [[JerkassHasAPoint Joffrey struck a nerve.]]
* DiscOneFinalBoss: Serves as the main threat for the Kings Landing / War of the Kings storyline for several seasons, but dies after the exact first half of the series.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Any slight against House Lannister is met with ''extreme'' prejudice. His establishing moment in the backstory was wiping out the entirety of the Lannister vassal House Reyne for daring to think that they could stand up to the Lannisters. When he gives his speech about family reputation and fear, he really, really means it. He responds to Catelyn Stark taking Tyrion as a hostage by launching a RapePillageAndBurn campaign on the Riverlands to show everyone that ''you do not mess with the Lannisters'', even if it's the most worthless-in-his-eyes of Lannisters.
* DragonInChief:
** Hierarchically, Joffrey is the King of Westeros; Tywin is only his Hand, and not even that until Season 3. Yet Joffry is an incompetent fool of a ruler, and everyone on all sides of the war knows that Tywin is the real power behind the throne. This trope is lampshaded in "Mhysa".
--->'''Tyrion:''' You just sent the most powerful man [Joffrey] in Westeros to bed without his supper.\\
'''Tywin:''' You're a fool if you believe he is the most powerful man in Westeros.\\
'''Tyrion:''' A [[BlasphemousBoast treasonous]] statement. Joffrey is king.\\
'''Tywin:''' You really think a crown gives you power?
** He was also TheDragon as Hand to King Aerys until he resigned. When [[LaResistance Robert's Rebellion]] tilted in favor of the rebels, Tywin became TheStarscream and slaughtered Aerys' grandkids.
** This is further cemented when Tommen names him Protector of the Realm, which is a title reserved for the King; the kid knows who really runs things.
* TheDreaded: The most feared person in the series during his life, someone who keeps Petyr Baelish, Varys, Tyrion, Olenna and even Joffrey intimidated from openly crossing him, Robb Stark likewise sees Tywin as his enemy. Tyrion defines Westeros as "Seven Kingdoms united in fear of Tywin Lannister".
* DudeWheresMyRespect: He has this attitude towards Tyrion, feeling that he should be more grateful as [[WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency he wanted to just murder him when he was born but chose to raise him anyway]]. The fact that he expects the son he's treated like shit his entire life to be grateful for not murdering him as an infant speaks volumes about Tywin's character.
* EnragedByIdiocy: He's perpetually unamused, given that his standards are inhumanly high, has no tolerance for incompetence and Joffrey's reign has been a long parade of follies and disasters.
-->'''Tywin''': Madness, madness and stupidity! (''regarding Ned Stark's execution'')
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His aloof, stern patriarchy over the Lannister family is laid bare in his very first [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47MazYDnmaU scene]], a conversation in his war camp with Jaime, which produces many of his defining quotes. While he's [[RuleOfSymbolism butchering a stag]], no less.
* EtTuBrute: Missing [[TheDogBitesBack the bigger picture]], Tywin can hardly fathom it when Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion are successfully rebelling against the head of house Lannister. The line "You shot me", even shares the feeling of disbelief ("why, this is violence"); like that of which UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar expressed during his own assassination.
* EvilIsPetty: For all of his magnificence, the lord of Casterly Rock has done some extremely petty things:
** When he discovered Tyrion had married Tysha he had the marriage annulled. This is reasonable and it serves as a message to his son. However, afterwards he had his garrison rape her while making Tyrion watch, which was completely unnecessary and only showed where Cersei got her pettiness from[[labelnote:From the books...]]Tywin then made Tyrion go last and pay her a gold instead of a silver[[/labelnote]].
** When Tyrion asks him about inheriting Casterly Rock -- being at this point the rightful heir -- Tywin lashes out at him, blaming him for his wife's death, calling him stupid despite his brief and successful tenure as Hand of the King, and claiming he would rather die than make Tyrion his heir, despite Tyrion being the only one of his three children nearly as capable as himself.
** Cersei points out that Tywin is obsessed with the ''idea'' of a great family line, at the expense of the next generation thereof.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** Jaime is frequently the only evidence of Tywin Lannister being capable of feeling empathy for another ''living'' human being. Tywin even shows physical affection in the only scene they share before the war and is very anguished later by the captivity of his son. He is genuinely compassionate towards Jaime losing his hand and asks him to finally become his heir and leave the Kingsguard but Jaime's [[DidntSeeThatComing unexpected refusal]] makes him into a cold hard-ass again, mocking Jaime for not doing anything during the war, wasting his life as a glorified bodyguard and telling him that he can no longer count Tywin as his family.
** He genuinely loved his late wife, and holds Tyrion in such high contempt partly for causing his wife's death.
** He seems to like his brother Kevan, at least treating him as a good lieutenant and advisor, even though Tywin may have the final word.
** Tywin also showed some outward paternal concern for Tommen and becomes TheSvengali to him.
** He also admits that he loved his father Tytos even if Tywin despised his weakness.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: It comes out of PragmaticVillainy, but Tywin generally has little patience for the more vulgar form of evil indulged by Cersei, Amory Lorch and Joffrey.
** He regarded Ned Stark's execution as a moronically stupid move on the part of Cersei and Joffrey, and specifically sent Tyrion to the capital to do crisis management. Likewise, he dresses down Cersei for her constant backbiting against the Tyrells and criticized her decision to fire Ser Barristan Selmy saying it was "as insulting as it was stupid" pointing out that despite his age, it was not on his watch that Joffrey died.
-->'''Tywin''': Madness, madness, and stupidity.
** Tywin does have a code about family honor, even if Tyrion, "the least of the Lannisters" (in his words) is kidnapped, Tywin will go PapaBear though barely conceal his disappointment that Tyrion is alive. He repeatedly sends Tyrion on UriahGambit hoping he would die, because he can't kill him himself. He tells Tyrion that he didn't kill Tyrion the day he was born, even though he badly wanted to, because it would mean killing a Lannister.
** Even Tywin doesn't approve of Joffrey's treatment of Tyrion during the Purple Wedding as can be seen on the look of his face. Likewise, he is unwilling to see Tyrion (or rather, another Lannister) publicly humiliated and demonstrates this with a withering death glare when the crowd laughs at Joffrey's attempt to humiliate Tyrion at Tyrion's wedding to Sansa.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Shows shades of this:
** In "Kissed by Fire", he expresses confusion and annoyance over Tyrion's protests over his ''reward'' of a forced marriage to Sansa Stark, remarking that she's both beautiful and the remaining heir to Winterfell once Robb's dealt with. Thus, in Tywin's eyes Tyrion is ungratefully complaining about becoming one of the most powerful men in Westeros, rather than forcing a child who's suffered at Joffrey's hands to have to marry him and essentially ordered to exert MaritalRapeLicense.
** In "Mhysa", they once again have a clash of opinions over the Red Wedding. Tywin attempts to point out that it's no different than a victory on the battlefield, even sparing lives in the long run. However, Tyrion, despite not being adverse to cheating in war, believes that such an action crosses a line that will ''never'' be forgotten and may only serve to fuel a future conflict.
** Even when Tyrion has him at crossbowpoint on the privy and has made it very evident how he felt for Shae, Tywin continually dismisses her as "just a whore" when trying to compliment and reassure Tyrion of his esteem for him, not thinking Tyrion would be offended by such a callous dismissal of the woman he loved. Tyrion proves him dead wrong.
** This also plays into the Red Wedding. Tywin believes that it was enough to crush the Northern Rebellion once and for all and that they will see Robb as a cautionary tale of why they shouldn't march against the crown, believing that [[{{Pride}} because he says it's finished, it's finished]]. Tyrion however can see how the act will just embolden them further and increase their rage towards the crown and desire for independence. As we see later on, Tyrion was right that they wouldn't go down so easily and Robb ends up being seen as a martyr.
** He tends to dismiss the Starks as weak due in part to their noble nature. It's clear that HonorBeforeReason is a completely foreign principle to Tywin. House Lannister ends up paying dearly for this miscalculation in Season 6.
* EvilChancellor: Relatively speaking; after back-to-back runs at being TheGoodChancellor to a pair of evil kings in Aerys II and Joffrey. With Joffrey is dead and Tommen is king, the alignment switches back to Good King/Evil Chancellor. He was only technically a Good Chancellor in the first place by managing to be only slightly less [[StupidEvil evil and insane]] than the two kings he served under.
* EvilGenius: Even by the high standards of Westeros' top schemers, Tywin is regarded as TheAce. Littlefinger, Varys and Olenna Tyrell all have high respect for his intelligence and ruthlessness. His son Tyrion even allows that "[[{{Understatement}} father has a good mind for strategy]]".
* EvilGloating: Generally, he's not that vulgar in public but there are exceptions:
** In a private moment, he enjoys a smug satisfied expression watching Ned Stark's sword 'Ice' melted into two Valyrian swords and then throws the sword's wolf pelt sheath in the flames, celebrating the Lannisters triumph over the Starks.
** In the History and Lore videos, on King's Landing, he is positively proud of his cold and brutal betrayal of Aerys Targaryen, noting how the King "thought he was being clever" by keeping Jaime as a hostage against him. He also considers "The Rains of Castamere" as a quaint song and sends it as his go-to death threat to anyone who so much as thinks of resisting the Lannisters.
* EvilOldFolks: He's in his sixties and one of the most ruthless characters in the show.
* EvilOverlord: DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. He only resorts to KickTheDog and DisproportionateRetribution to ensure that his family name is respected and feared (unless the target happens to be [[TheUnfavorite Tyrion]]). He's also completely aware of his limitations, noting that his family is deeply mired in debt to the Iron Bank of Braavos and they need a firm marital alliance with the Tyrells to meet their obligations. He's downright reverential to the Iron Bank, calling it "a temple", so he's not going to ''consider'' bribing them or getting in their bad books, that's way more foresight than most overlords ever show.
* EvilPowerVacuum: His death creates one in Westeros. The hegemony he built crumbles almost overnight, with Lannister puppets like the Boltons going rogue and renegade religious factions like the Sparrows slowly take over the city and Cersei sabotaging his alliance with the Tyrells.
* ExactWords: Near the beginning of Season 3, Tyrion insisted he be rewarded for saving King's Landing. Tywin's promise, among various vague assurances, was that he would be given a proper wife. In "Kissed By Fire", Tywin points out this demand when ordering Tyrion to marry Sansa Stark.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Despite being killed while in the privy, Tywin remains as belligerent and arrogant as ever. Though he initially tries to talk his way out of death, he grimly accepts his fate after Tyrion fatally wounds him but not without cursing his son one last time, though Tyrion gets the last word in:
-->'''Tywin''': [[FamousLastWords You're no son of mine.]]\\
'''Tyrion''': [[ShutUpHannibal I am your son]]. [[YouAreWhatYouHate I have always been your son]].
* FantasyForbiddingFather: For one nameday, Tyrion asked for a dragon, quickly becoming the family laughingstock. Tywin quickly beat it into his head that dragons are extinct.
* FatalFlaw: His obsession with the Lannister family glory results in a lack of emotional intelligence and in his utter inability to give a shit about his children as individuals. This turns into a ''literal'' fatal flaw, as his abuse of his son Tyrion earns him a terminal case of crossbow-to-gut.
** He also shares his family's inability to just ''shut the'' '''''fuck''''' ''up'' when in mortal peril, which directly leads to his death.
* {{Fiction 500}}: Is often called the richest man in the Seven Kingdoms; King Robert (through the Iron Throne) owed him around three ''million'' gold dragons, and he has no trouble forking over eighty thousand more to provide prize money for a tourney. A common saying is that Tywin Lannister is so rich that he "shits gold." According to ''Forbes'' magazine, [[http://www.forbes.com/special-report/2012/fictional-15-12/tywin-lannister.html he is worth 2.1 billion American dollars in the books]]. That makes him exceedingly wealthy even by the standards of a modern economy. Due to massive war debts, however, he doesn't stay that rich forever, the Lannister's gold mines having dried up and most of the Lannisters' wealth spent financing Joffrey's time on the throne during the War of the Five Kings; it's the reason why he ends up allying with House Tyrell.
* FirstNameBasis: Strangely, unlike most other lords in the series he is usually referred to as "Lord Tywin" rather than "Lord Lannister".
* {{Foil}}: Tywin is essentially what his son Tyrion would be if he had fewer morals and was more focused on preserving the family name. Both are intelligent and cunning strategists, as much on the battlefield as when it comes to political intrigue. They have also served as Hands of the King, with both of them being competent in the position. Not only that, but they also have no problem with hiring prostitutes, not that Tywin would admit to ever doing so.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Has shades of this in his negotiations with Olenna, he puts on a polite facade but it's not enough to hide his fury over how the Tyrells tried to marry Sansa behind his back (from his perspective).
* FourStarBadass: Has never lost a war, as he proudly remarks to Arya and is a cunning and gifted military strategist. Also a FrontlineGeneral unlike his book counterpart.
* FreudianExcuse: The reason why he's such an hardass is because his father's magnanimity nearly led to the bankruptcy and ruination of his house. Despite this, he still has very fond memories of the man. The loss of his wife while giving birth to Tyrion is also a factor in his cold attitude toward life.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G-L]]
* TheGoodChancellor: Surprisingly for his [[AbusiveParents horrible]] [[{{Jerkass}} personality]], he seems this way for many people who aren't personally affected by him. His twenty-year reign as Hand to the Mad King was considered the most stable and prosperous period Westeros had experienced in recent memory. Under Joffrey (Mad King 2.0), he once again brings his competence to the table, making him the PuppetKing, chewing out Cersei and actually running Westeros. When the main part of the war is officially over, he turns to consolidating the Kingdom with new alliances with the Tyrells and Martells, as well as focusing on solving the crown's debts. He's still a ''huge'' asshole but someone with a day-to-day grasp of administration.
* HellBentForLeather: Has a fondness for black leather outfits.
* HiddenDepths: A deleted Season 3 scene reveals Tywin likes to fish. Together with his stag-skinning, it suggests Tywin, in his spare time, does prefer eating fresh food he prepared himself.
* HumiliationConga: Season 4 starts with him at the height of his power but it proves to be PrideBeforeAFall. Throughout the season, he is gradually weakened. He is forced to concede to the Tyrells in order to avoid bankruptcy after the war drained his house's finances. Due to the looming threat of Dany and her army he has to make amends with the Martells who despise his family with a passion. Then Joffrey dies on his wedding day and his plan of getting Jaime to renounce the Kingsguard fails. His alliance with the Martells ends, and he even loses the services of Ser Gregor as TheBrute. ''Then'', Cersei confirms that her children were the product of incest with Jaime, to Tywin's shock and disbelief. And ''finally'', Tywin gets offed by Tyrion, after finally being revealed as a hypocrite whoremonger much like his son.
* HyperAwareness:
** Sees through [[SweetPollyOliver Arya's disguise]] at first glance, and is obviously aware that she's not a commoner.
--->'''Tywin''': This one's a girl, you ''idiot''.
** In a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMXJlUIQP94 deleted scene]], Tywin wonders if he's the only one who sees through [[ObfuscatingDisability Pycelle's act]].
* HypercompetentSidekick: He is much, ''much'' capable as a ruler than the Kings he has served as Hand.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** The man who constantly preaches the importance of family destroys the bonds he has with his kids by psychologically abusing them. Tywin often wastes no time reminding his children of their shortcomings, all whilst ignoring ''his'' poor parenting as a huge reason why they are so flawed.
** The majority of his actions which are considered "best for the family" often boil down to what will most benefit ''himself'' first. [[CallingTheOldManOut Tyrion even calls him out]] on how Tywin never makes any personal sacrifices for the sake of the Lannisters, but expects his kids to do so in return... to which Tywin answers that [[IResembleThatRemark his sacrifice was to let Tyrion survive after childbirth]].
** Case in point, at one point or another Tywin has tried to force all three of his children into political marriages for the sake of the family legacy, and expects Cersei to remarry after Robert's death because she's still young and eligable. Tywin married his first cousin Joanna out of love, and as a Lannister herself she brought him no new wealth, lands, or armies. When she died, Tywin was in his prime at just over the age of 30, but never remarried.
** Likewise, he constantly condemns Tyrion for sleeping with prostitutes, but is revealed in his final episode to have no problem bedding them himself. Namely, Tyrion's former lover Shae.
** When Tyrion complains that his hill tribes in Season 1 are unruly Tywin is quick to preach that the responsibility of bad behavior from soldiers lies with their commander, but when Oberyn confronts him about Gregor Clegane however Tywin simply replies that men at war commit all kind of crimes without their superior's knowledge'[[labelnote:From the novels...]]Tywin insists that he never ordered Gregor to kill Elia but he did order Gregor to kill her children and only wishes that they did it cleanly[[/labelnote]].
** He is ''very'' disappointed that he has no suitable heir and criticizes Jaime for remaining on the Kingsguard and Tyrion for being a deviant. He also arranges for Cersei to marry Loras and have his children while she is still fertile. Not once does he ever consider remarrying, even though as a man his reproductive system has no expiry date and he could have more children. Not to mention that by the time of the series he has been widowed for ''over thirty years'' so there could have been several more adult Lannister children by now to make new alliances and maybe make up for the "disappointments" of his first three children.
** Also, his justification for the Red Wedding is that it's more noble to kill dozens at a dinner rather than thousands in battle.....which conveniently leaves out the fact that not only were Robb and his court slaughtered, but also his entire army, in a very cowardly way.
* HypocriticalHeartwarming: For [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk entirely selfish reasons]], Tywin is not thrilled when ''somebody else'' mistreats Tyrion, as no one messes with a Lannister publicly:
-->'''Tywin''': He's a Lannister! Maybe the lowest of the Lannisters, but he's one of us. And everyday that he remains a prisoner, the less our name commands respect.\\
'''Tyrion''' ''(lukewarmly)'': Kind of you to go to war for me.
* IcyBlueEyes: They reflect his cold personality quite well.
* IHaveNoSon: He disowns Jaime in "Two Swords" for refusing to leave the Kingsguard and become eligible to inherit Casterly Rock. Also his FamousLastWords after Tyrion mortally wounds him are that "you're no son of mine", for which Tyrion shoots him again.
* {{Irony}}:
** On account of YouAreWhatYouHate and a great deal of self-aggrandizement, Tywin's end goal of the Lannisters becoming the new Targaryens falls flat since he's only obsessed with the ''idea'' of his family line dominating Westeros but all his actions to make it work fail. He has no stable and fixed heir, partially because he refuses to accept Tyrion. His bad parenting, willful blindness, and outright abuse and neglect means that his children and his brother Kevan are left in almost the same precarious situation Lord Tytos left it.
** Tywin's insistence on being TheManBehindTheMan has led to him never actually ''teaching'' his family on how to effectively rule. This has left his heirs woefully unprepared with the reality of trying to run King's Landing. Jaime is completely disinterested, Cersei [[SmallNameBigEgo prides herself on being smarter than she actually is]], Tyrion is constantly undermined by a family that hates him, Joffrey is sociopathic and incompetent, and Tommen is completely ineffective.
*** He does make an effort to teach Tommen, but he runs out of time.
** Tywin hates Tyrion for being a dwarf whose complicated pregnancy killed his mother[=/=]Tywin's wife Joanna, who was his first love. This was ironic on two counts:
*** Tywin and Joanna were first cousins. Children born of people that closely related have an ever-so-slightly increased risk of birth defects. For what it's worth, Tywin's decision to take up with a first cousin (which was for love and not the purely politically advantageous marriage he desires for his children) may have contributed to Tyrion's condition.
*** Tywin doesn't seem to understand, even on his deathbed (death toilet?), ''why'' Tyrion's so pissed off at him for taking away Tyrion's first love - despite Tywin hating Tyrion his whole life for that exact thing.
** He continually emphasizes the importance of putting family first and claims that's what will keep the Lannisters in power. However, his treatment of his children and fixation on using them to further the Lannister name, turns the them into the most divided noble house and ultimately leads to their downfall. His relentless abuse of Tyrion leads to Tyrion killing him and fleeing to join Daenerys, his encouragement of Cersei's cruelty leads her to raising Joffrey in a similar manner and is murdered because he gets so out of hand. Even the marriages Twyin forces upon them don't help much, as Cersei's hatred of Robert leads to her killing him and ensuring she doesn't have any of his children. In contrast, families who he writes off as weak but genuinely care about each other manage to stay strong because of it. The Tyrells are a threat because they have good interpersonal relationships as well as cunning and the Starks -- against all odds and expectations -- are hanging in there and on the rise, thanks to their close ties and love for each other. And in fact the Starks take out the two dysfunctional families Tywin favoured -- the Boltons and Freys -- ''because'' they were such a mess.
** In perhaps the ultimate irony, Tywin was devoted to seeing the Lannisters become a great house that would last for centuries and felt that his father's poor management nearly destroyed it but the methods he used to achieve his goal have done just as much, if not more, damage and left House Lannister completely broke and under the rule of Cersei whose awful behavior is at least partially attributed to Tywin and who will likely bring about the end of House Lannister than Tywin had sought to prevent. Everything he accomplished has been completely undone.
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Tyrion calls him out on this, noting that Tywin automatically equates his personal ambitions with that of his family and that he makes his children compromise and face consequences that he himself has never done and will never do. Tywin's reply to that was that the great personal sacrifice he made [[WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency was not killing Tyrion as a baby]].
** Likewise, Tywin ''could'' have resolved the seeming unfittingness of his children by naming his brother Kevan as heir but then Tywin couldn't well claim that it was ''his'' great family line. Likewise, Kevan himself has a SketchySuccessor in the soon to become Brother Lancel.
* IWantGrandkids: ... as long as they're [[HeirClubForMen male grandkids from his eldest son.]] Ironically, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor he already has two of these]] but they're less than ideal, being officially Baratheons rather than Lannisters, and rather more importantly ''bastards born of incest between his son and daughter''.
* {{Jerkass}}: It is revealed in "Baelor" that Tyrion once made the mistake of falling in love with and marrying a whore his brother had secretly hired to sleep with him. So when Tywin found out, he ordered his entire garrison to rape her (each soldier paying, of course) and [[ForcedToWatch forced Tyrion to watch from beginning to end and then be the final participant]] -- then paying her more because a Lannister is worth more[[labelnote:From the books...]] Jaime eventually confessed in ''A Storm of Swords'', the Season 4 counterpart, that she wasn't actually a whore, she was a genuinely good poor girl who loved Tyrion and Tywin destroyed the only genuine love and happiness he ever had[[/labelnote]].
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** Some of Tywin's insults often hit the mark. Whether it is calling Jaime a glorified bodyguard lacking ambition, Cersei not nearly as smart as she thinks she is, or Tyrion a fool for his drinking and whoring. In the case of the latter two, those prove to be FatalFlaw for them.
** When Tommen is about to become king, Tywin gives him a talk about how everything he does must be dictated by wisdom, and wise people listen to their advisors for wisdom and expertise. It's entirely self-serving (he, himself, being Tommen's chief advisor) and horribly insensitive (he derides Joffrey's lack of wisdom, next to Joffrey's dead body). Still, every point he makes is entirely reasonable.
** His statement about how the House that places the family's needs first over it's members is hypocritical, self-serving, and in the context of encouraging Tyrion to engage in MaritalRapeLicense, absolutely repugnant, but in the long run, he's shown to be right. [[spoiler: The Baratheons and the Boltons are both extinct precisely because their individual members would not get along, and ultimately ended up killing one another. House Lannister themselves are in dire straits by Season 7 due to Tyrion aiding Daenerys in overthrowing his hated sister, all as a result of the family's internal frictions and feuds. Meanwhile, the Starks are BackFromTheBrink precisely because it's members love one another unconditionally, and are willing to put their House and family before their own ambitions and desires, with Sansa willing to sidestep her own claim on the North to support her half-brother Jon being a good example.]]
*** The latter is also a case of EvilCannotComprehendGood. Although Tywin is right about the need for families to stick together he fails to comprehend that it only works if there is genuine affection between family members.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He occasionally says something that might indicate that he's not as bad as people think but he usually tells them in no uncertain terms his entirely pragmatic reasons for saying it if he's questioned about it.
* JustAKid: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECewrAld3zw The Rains of Castamere]]'' suggest that Tywin's own enemies once thought this of him. Ironic that Tywin then makes a similar underestimation of Robb Stark.
* KarmicDeath: The proud lord of House Lannister is killed in the most humiliating spot possible by the son who he has emotionally abused and treated like dirt for almost his entire life. Better yet, he died the same way most of the people at the Red Wedding were killed: feathered with crossbow bolts by someone they least suspected would have the nerve to kill them.
** It's also rather fitting as Tywin made a point of being absolutely ruthless and pragmatic, striking when least expected, with the Red Wedding being the best example. In the end, he gets literally caught with his pants down and murdered while unarmed and in a compromised position, similar to how Robb died.
* KnightTemplar: Believes anything is justified it means House Lannister can keep on top.
* KickTheDog:
** MANY times, both in the past and present. Thus proving that for all his effectiveness at stabilising the realm, he is NOT a good person.
** He manages to zigzag between this and PetTheDog with his treatment of Tyrion (more in Season 1 than later). On the one hand, he never hesitates to tell Tyrion he considers him a drunken, lecherous freak who killed his mother and dreams of killing him without any stain on his conscience. On the other hand, he sometimes acknowledges Tyrion's talents, speaks to him as an equal when he isn't insulting his lifestyle, and in contrast to Cersei and Joffrey, he trusts Tyrion with power and authority.
--->'''Tywin:''' ''[to Tyrion]'' I always thought you were a stunted fool. Perhaps I was wrong.
** He also manages to zigzag it with Jaime: He can insult and disown him in a scene and still help him sheathe a Valyrian sword or let his son keep said sword:
--->'''Tywin:''' ''[to Jaime]'' Keep it. A one handed man with no family needs all the help he can get.
* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** When he chastises Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch for making very obvious mistakes.
** He chooses to give a lecture to Tommen (a full on PetTheDog moment by itself) right next to Joffrey's body (albeit a dead body that ordered Ned Stark's death and started an expensive, bloody war) as Cersei is grieving for her son. He even mentions what a terrible king Joffrey was and coldly ignores Cersei's "this is not the time or place" feeble complaint. Although its insensitive it doesn't change the fact Joffrey still was a terrible king and Cersei ''did'' do a poor job at raising him.
* LackOfEmpathy: If you wondered where Cersei and Joffrey got it from, it's Tywin. He will let the North and Riverlands be ruled by psychotic monsters if it means his family can win the war. But to be fair, the Starks started it by capturing Tyrion.
* LargeAndInCharge: Tywin is 6'3", all but runs Westeros and is usually both the tallest and most intimidating person in any room he's in, unless it's [[GiantMook The Mountain]] he's talking to.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Being a nearly professional dog-kicker for all his life, Tywin finally gets [[TheDogBitesBack bitten back]] by each of his children with suitably ascending level: his [[ParentalFavoritism "golden son"]] Jaime doesn't try to harm him but ignores his orders by refusing to carry a family name and then releasing his sentenced brother Tyrion from prison behind Tywin's back, the daughter [[HeirClubForMen he thought nothing more of beside selling her off for the sake of family legacy]] crushes his illusions about said legacy with a [[BrotherSisterIncest few simple words]], and his [[TheUnfavorite horribly mistreated]] youngest son, whom he always wished dead, ends up killing Tywin in a rather humiliating manner.
* LeanAndMean: He has a fairly slender frame, accentuated by his height, and he ''really'' lives up to the mean part.
* [[LikeFatherLikeSon Like Father Like Children]]: As an [[TheAce Ace]], Tywin has unrelenting ambition, martial skill, a brilliant mind, and forceful charisma. His children, while they surpass him in their own ways, unfortunately don't inherit all of his talents, to their detriment.
** Cersei is more ruthless in her ambition, but not only lacks her father's mind, she is also petty, selfish, and thoughtless to the consequences of her actions.
** Jaime is a fighter with skill several leagues higher than Tywin and has his (smaller) brand of cunning, but [[BrilliantButLazy lacks the ambition to exercise his full potential]].
** Tyrion is as brilliant and charismatic as his father, pulling off impossible tasks often while seriously disadvantaged, but the dwarf has no grand desires other than debauchery and recognition, and his deformity always means that people hate him, but don't fear him.
* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: Three seasons after his death and all of Tywin's gains for his house have fallen apart entirely. Cersei's disastrous attempts at playing politics culminates with her openly murdering thousands of people and crowning herself queen in a short-sighted play at saving her own skin. House Tyrell and Dorne both side firmly against the Lannisters and are ally with Daenarys' invading army to take them down. His greatest victory of eradicating the noble Stark family is undone thanks to the rise of the overlooked Stark children, who take down the very families he raised to power. Jon Snow and Sansa Stark retake the North and destroy the Boltons who Tywin installed as Wardens of the North, while Arya Stark kills Walder Frey, sending the Frey and Lannister's shaky hold on the Riverlands into chaos. To top it off, the Lannister family itself is in complete shambles, with Tommen, Kevan, and Lancel dead, Jaime leaving Cersei, and Tyrion actively aiding Daenerys' war efforts as Hand of the Queen.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M-R]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Towards his own children and both grandsons.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Twice has served as Hand of the King: first to Aerys Targaryen and secondly to his grandson Joffrey. His reign as Hand is seen (in-verse) as a time of prosperity, despite "The Mad King". He was also the true architect of the Red Wedding, by guaranteeing the Freys protection from retribution.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: The ''History and Lore'' videos cites this as his reason for betraying Aerys, largely due to the King refusing to allow Prince Rhaegar to marry Cersei, thus spurning the man who was running the kingdom for Aerys and insulting a vassal of one of the oldest houses of the kingdom, to say nothing of ordering Jaime into the Kingsguard to block him from being Tywin's heir. Tywin even {{Lampshades}} this, stating that if Aerys had been nicer to him and accepted his match, he would have remained loyal to the Crown.
** And then of course there's Tyrion, who despite the impossibility of the thing went far and beyond for the sake of House Lannister in order to please his father... up until Tywin pushes him one time too many, causing Tyrion to snap and leave King's Landing and his family behind... with two fatal crossbow bolts in Tywin's chest.
* MockMillionaire: Tywin reveals to Cersei that the Lannisters are no longer as wealthy as they used to be, with the Lannisters' gold mines having dried up three years before and most of the Lannisters' wealth spent backing Joffrey in the War of the Five Kings. Worse yet, a lot of the debt that they're owed is held by the Iron Throne, which itself is heavily financed by debts owed to the Iron Bank of Braavos.
* MoneyIsNotPower: Tywin swears by this, calling gold "just another rock." While their (formerly) outrageous wealth certainly helped, the Lord of Casterly Rock believes that true power comes from strong leadership. He was even able to maintain the illusion that all was well with their finances for some time.
* {{Narcissist}}: While a brilliant statesman and a highly skilled military strategist, he is also [[{{Pride}} extremely vain]], unrepentantly [[LackofEmpathy cruel]], and morbidly [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]]. In addition to having nothing but contempt for those less talented or of lower birth than himself, Tywin harbors no compassion or loyalty to ''anyone'' outside his family. By his own admission, he views anyone who is not a Lannister as either enemies or pawns to be exploited. Despite professing to do everything for his family's benefit, he regularly rides roughshod over its individual members' welfare to advance his own interests (which he selfishly equates with his entire household). Even when his own children protest his tyrannical grip over their lives, he coldly dismisses them or ruthlessly browbeats them into submission . Furthermore, he is pathologically obsessed with projecting an image of invincibility and infallibility as evidenced by his deep-rooted inclination to [[LeaveNoSurvivors wipe out all who challenge his authority with extreme prejudice]] and his grandiose plan to [[TakeOverTheWorld establish a dynasty that will rule Westoros for a thousand years]].
* NayTheist: Cersei quotes him in "Blackwater" as saying "The gods have no mercy, that's why they are gods", and notes that Tywin does believe in the gods -- he just doesn't like them. Along the lines of a typical HollywoodAtheist backstory, he developed this attitude after the death of his beloved wife. Tywin also views his son Tyrion, whom he intensely dislikes, as a cruel lesson by the Gods to teach him humility because Tyrion can still fly Lannister colors despite Tywin's disapproval of him.
* NewEraSpeech: Gives [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE7ZPSrm2rU one]], masquerading as an exercise in the [[Creator/{{Socrates}} Socratic Method]], to Tommen after Joffrey's death, indicating Tywin's vision of the future.
* NervesOfSteel: Is very nonchalant of Tyrion threatening to kill him, even after finally being shot down with a crossbow.
* NiceToTheWaiter: Treats Arya, who is working as his cupbearer, with a surprising amount of respect, largely because he is amused by her and obviously enjoys the company of a bright youngster more than that of his rather pedestrian retainers and warlords. Of course, this doesn't stop him casually giving her over to the monstrous Gregor Clegane once he has to leave.
* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed:
** Tywin is based in part on Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the "Kingmaker" and TheManBehindTheMan during the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses (along with [[{{Foil}} Roose Bolton]])[[note]]Neville's influence and dissatisfaction with Yorkist King Edward IV (noted to be similar to [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark Robb Stark]]) pretty much destabilized the House of York's fortunes, at least until Richard III. Tywin, of course, enabled Roose to enact the Red Wedding[[/note]].
** Some aspects of [[UsefulNotes/EdwardTheFirst King Edward I Longshanks]] and [[UsefulNotes/LEtatCestMoi King Philip le Bel]] are also at play. King Edward was tall, intimidating, ruthless and has very little respect for his offspring[[note]]For reference to this portrayal, see at least ''{{Film/Braveheart}}''; it is on record that Edward I vented badly on the clearly-incompetent Edward II before he died[[/note]], while King Philip was cold, unsmiling and icy. Edward won a famous victory in the Battle of Eversham against Simon de Montfort (whose sigil inspired that of House Reyne). King Philip ruthlessly purged UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar and introduced administrative efficiency only to have all his work wasted by his descendants who would start UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar. ''Literature/TheAccursedKings'' which deals with King Philip was an acknowledged influence on the books.
** His being an competent bureaucrat holding the realm together for problematic sovereigns [[note]]Aerys II and Joffrey[[/note]] may also take its inspiration from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Gaunt,_1st_Duke_of_Lancaster John of Gaunt]], patriarch of the [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet House of Lancaster]][[note]]which is almost blatantly where the name "Lannister" was derived[[/note]], who held England together during the problematic tenure of [[UsefulNotes/RichardTheSecond Richard II]][[note]]who interestingly shares the same number as Aerys the Mad[[/note]]. Tywin's personality, however, borrows more from [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare's]] fictionalization of his son, the elderly Theatre/HenryIV (at least in his eponymous plays): an active leader and administrator disappointed with the incompetence of their more outgoing, personable offspring (Prince Hal for Henry IV, Jaime and Tyrion for Tywin).
* NoNonsenseNemesis: Tywin likes things concise and to the point and wastes no time when an opportunity is at hand. He dislikes beating around the bush, and is very vocal about the unnecessary behavior he regularly encounters, be it lavish, humorous, erroneous or plain foolish.
* NoSell: After four seasons of Tywin cowing his children with a mere DeathGlare and TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, Cersei and Tyrion finally reject his efforts to dominate and manipulate them in "The Children": Cersei confirms that her children are bastards born of incest and therefore his legitimate bloodline is cut short, and Tyrion straight-up shoots him dead.
* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Done ''intentionally'' as an intimidation tactic to psyche out Joffrey: As he not-so-subtly explains just how little concern he has for Joffrey as a person compared to his concern for the realm, he steps closer and closer up to the Iron Throne until he's looming over the little shit.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: When Tywin approaches Oberyn in a whorehouse to talk, there are several naked whores on the bed, and they walk past Tywin. In the entire scene, Tywin never ogles any of them, remaining with his undisturbed icy glare at face-level. (Given that one of the first things we find out about Tywin is his [[{{Hypocrite}} public]] distaste for whores, this is probably very justified.)
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Robert used to rub him the wrong way by [[HatesBeingTouched patting him on the back]].
* OffingTheOffspring: He would never outright do it to Tyrion but he dreams about it and if he sees a chance to make it happen with a clean hand and guilt-free conscience, he'll make it happen.
** In Season 1, Tyrion speculates that his father is [[UriahGambit putting him on the vanguard of a battle to invoke this]], and Tywin is not amused to see his [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated son still alive]] in the aftermath.
** He reveals to Tyrion that he ''intended'' to kill him on the day he was born but Tywin could not bring himself to do it because Tyrion was ultimately still a Lannister.
** In Season 4, Tywin tells Jaime that he intends to declare Tyrion guilty in his trial for regicide, normally an instant death sentence, but provide Tyrion the chance to go to the Wall to join the Night's Watch, which itself puts his odds on surviving, what with the taint of regicide and the bitter cold of the North, at great risk. There's also the [[UriahGambit Wildling army that's approaching the Wall]], as he admitted to Oberyn Martell.
** After the TrialByCombat, Tywin finally has the legal mandate to officially sentence Tyrion to death and he does it without a second thought. When Tyrion confronts him after the prison escape, Tywin says that he wasn't going to do it but it's impossible to know if he was telling the truth.
* OldSoldier: Tywin has fought in at least two country-wide wars and the annihilation of rebel bannermen before that:
-->'''Tywin:''' 'The War of Five Kings' they're calling it. This will be my last war. The one I'll be remembered for.
* OnlySaneMan: Tywin sees himself as this more often than not, much to his own chagrin. As a result, Tywin has some small affection for anyone who proves to be more intelligent than his usual company.
** Inverted in relation to Jaime and Cersei's relationship. Despite it and Joffrey's true heritage being an open secret among characters, Tywin is genuinely shocked when Cersei confirms it, indicating that he either had no idea or just refused to believe it. It's also partially inverted with Tyrion as, while Tywin sees that he's useful, he insists on still treating him as a drunken hedonist who embarrasses the Lannister name.
* {{Opportunistic Bastard}}: Joffrey himself points it out during Robert's rebellion where Tywin effectively hid underneath Casterly Rock and only supported King Robert when all was decided. He effectively pulled a Walder Frey.
* NotSoAboveItAll: Even though Tywin has little patience for Joffrey's antics, he's shown suppressing a grin during Joffrey's "War of the Five Kings" reenactment-by-dwarf, which mocks his former rivals. Despite his aura of invincibility, he has never won a battle without overwhelming numerical superiority and once lost a battle to Edmure Tully, with greater numbers to boot.
* NumberTwo: Has served as Hand of the King twice in his life, with the first one lasting twenty years.
* PapaWolf: To Jaime at least. When Amory Lorch accidentally sends a letter bearing valuable information to a House allied with the Starks, Tywin goes ([[TheStoic by his standards]]) berserk and tells him that should any more harm befall Jaime as a result of this, Amory will be in a world of hurt. He intentionally defies it with Tyrion, admitting that he only went to war after Tyrion's capture to defend House Lannister's reputation and being annoyed when Tyrion turns out to still be alive.
* ThePatriarch: His very first appearance has him giving Jaime an impassioned speech about the importance of the family legacy while skinning a deer. He orders his children around all he wants, and even his psychopathic ''boss'' and grandson King Joffrey (who outright threatens to kill his own mother and tried to assassinate his uncle) is scared of him.
-->'''Tywin''': Your mother's dead, before long I'll be dead, and you...and your brother, and your sister, and all of her children. All of us dead, all of us rotting in the ground. It's the ''family name'' that lives on. It's ''all'' that lives on. Not your honor, not your personal glory, family.
* {{Patricide}}: His final fate, at the hands of Tyrion.
* ThePerfectionist: A defining feature. Tywin is obsessed with House Lannister's reputation, never misses an opportunity to point out his children's flaws and disrespects anyone that does not live up to his standards... which is everyone else but himself. On the other hand, his perfectionism is one of the major reasons he is aware of everything that goes on around him and what makes him a deadly strategist.
* PerpetualFrowner: Tywin's face is always a window to his discontent, or [[DeathGlare worse]], and he rarely smiles. [[labelnote:From the books...]]Lord Tywin is reputed to have smiled on four occasions: when he married his first cousin Joanna, when Aerys Targaryen made him Hand of the King, when Jaime and Cersei were born, and when he extinguished the two noble houses that had mocked and defied his weak-willed father. Since that last one, just the threat of him smiling again has been enough to get people to do whatever he wants... and when he can't be there to personally smile, he sends a musician to play a song about that last one.[[/labelnote]]
* PetTheDog: To those who show some modicum of competence in the [[SurroundedByIdiots sea of idiots]] he regularly deals with:
** While he may treat Tyrion with contempt most of the time, he does occasionally acknowledge him, such as appointing him as the (acting) Hand of the King. Granted, it was for pragmatic reasons, but it was still a big sign of respect and trust, especially when there were other male Lannisters about... too bad that Tywin seemed to feel that he had to dial up the insulting afterward as if to balance that out.
** Also, to Arya while she's his cupbearer. He shares with her personal anecdotes that Tywin would likely never share with anyone else, and she even manages to get a genuine laugh out of him with a joke she makes. He later tells her directly that he's taken a liking to her, though when she oversteps her bounds as his servant he sternly rebukes her.
** He also mentions that when Jaime was young, he couldn't read because of being dyslexic, so he sat down with his son for four hours every night and struggled through the arduous process of teaching his son how to read:
--->'''Tywin:''' I taught my son Jaime to read. The Maester came to me one day, told me he wasn't learning. He couldn't make sense of the letters. [[LIsForDyslexia He reversed them in his head.]] The Maester said that he had heard of this affliction, and said that we must just accept it. ''HA!'' After that I sat Jaime down for four hours every day until he learned. He hated me for it. For a time. For a long time. ''But he learned''.
** In "The Lion and the Rose", Tywin immediately rushes to shield Tommen from having to watch Joffrey's nightmarish death. In the next episode, he lectures Tommen on what it means to be a good king, gently coaxing him to tell Tywin what he thinks that means and Tywin carefully explaining why his suggestions are incorrect. He assures Tommen "I'm ''not '' trying to trick you", he wants to be sure Tommen understands what he's getting into so that he doesn't end up like his brother. Outside of his moments with Arya, it's about the only time we've seen Tywin actually act in a paternal manner.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Played with.
** He refers to the Northerners as "unwashed", but would treat women and savages with fairness [[EqualOpportunityEvil according to their competence]].
** He knows Ser Loras is gay and considers him to be mentally ill. Despite his personal feelings on the matter, he is nevertheless okay with the idea of Loras guarding Joffrey as he recognizes the knight's worth as a warrior. His views are also less intense in comparison to Joffrey's, who wants all homosexuals put to death. All in all, Tywin's opinion on gay men border on CondescendingCompassion.
** In terms of his own family, Cersei assumes he doesn't let her 'contribute' because she's a woman, but he ([[JerkassHasAPoint quite correctly]]) states that she isn't as smart as she thinks she is. He names TheUnfavorite Tyrion as Hand of the King in his stead after Joffrey kills Ned Stark because he wants Tyrion to do damage control, something he rightly assumes Cersei isn't capable of doing. However, despite Tywin's opinion of her intelligence, it becomes clear that he sees Cersei as a brood mare to be married off to make connections and babies precisely because she's a woman. As for Tyrion, though he's willing to put Tyrion to work and doesn't deny his skills, he still hates Tyrion because he's a dwarf and thus 'not a presentable Lannister', refusing to name Tyrion as his heir so long as Jaime, the Golden Boy of the family, may potentially take up that role. Though Jaime's vows to the Kingsguard disqualify him from serving that role, Tywin is convinced he can talk/bribe/extort Jaime into quitting somehow, coming awfully close in Season 4.
** He's also an avowed classist and makes it clear he thinks little of the smallfolk.
* PragmaticVillainy: One of his defining features, as Tywin saw his house nearly destroyed by his good-hearted and gentle father. As a result, Tywin is brutal and vicious, but (he believes) only when there is a profit to be gained from it; for example, he stops the torture of prisoners in Harrenhal upon arrival, because exploiting their skills for free is more useful. But when he suspects an assassin attempting to kill him, he immediately orders a decimation of the garrison, along with torture and interrogation of anyone suspected of aiding or knowing about the assassin. He is also fair and generous to his enemies after they surrender to him, not because he cares about them in any way... but because, as he points out to Joffrey, if you crush people who submit then no one will be willing to surrender in the future. [[labelnote:From the books...]]He's had enough of ''that'' last one after Aerys II violated that maxim by executing Houses Darklyn and Hollard after they capitulated. Tywin also disaproved with The Mountain's brutal murder of the Targaryen Children... [[VorpalPillow gentle words and a soft pillow]] [[DoWrongRight could have done the job with much less fuss.]][[/labelnote]] He also grudgingly respects Tyrion's political acumen and adaptability, putting his skills to use instead of just ignoring him altogether. Even naming Tyrion the Master of Coin, a job Tyrion himself balks at because he's never managed wealth in his life, seems to be because he believes Tyrion will do a good job.
** Bizarrely averted during the Harrenhall arc. He recognizes Arya as a highborn girl and instead of doing what we would expect from his character (or from any sensible person in that situation) -- determining her identity to see if she can be used as a hostage or bargaining material with someone -- he decides to... uh, chat with her. And then leave her with Ser Gregor's crew.
* {{Pride}}: His most defining trait. While this trope is precisely what drove Tywin to make House Lannister the most powerful one in Westeros, it also drove him to make it the most hated as well.
-->'''Tywin''': The lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of the sheep.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Has a larger screen-presence in Season 2.
* PullingTheThread: He casually begins picking apart Arya's deception over time, noting small things like addressing him as "my lord" instead of "milord" to figure out that she's actually nobleborn instead of a commoner like she's pretending. However, he seems more amused by how clever Arya is than upset at the deception.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: He never engages in it directly but he insists on Tyrion getting Sansa pregnant by any means necessary. When Tyrion says he won't rape her, Tywin is annoyed as it's clear he [[EvilCannotComprehendGood sees no issue with forcing his son to rape a teenage girl whose family he just had murdered and fails to see why Tyrion objects.]]
** Can be considered a case of ValuesDissonance because he lives in a world were sex within marriage cannot legally qualify as rape.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: If ever there were a grand master at this, it is Tywin Lannister. He's given at least one to each of his children -- telling Jaime that his personal glory is ultimately worthless, Tyrion that he'll ''never'' honor any claim Tyrion has to Casterly Rock because of his irresponsible and lecherous behavior (also because he's a dwarf who killed his mother during childbirth), and Cersei that his lack of confidence in her is not because she's a woman but because she's not as smart as she thinks she is. He always has one on hand for moronic subordinates as well and has no problem with summarizing the flaws of past rulers, [[KickTheSonOfABitch Joffrey included]], while the guy is lying in state with his mother by his side, and over her feeble and rather pathetic protests no less.
** In the last episode of Season 4, he suddenly becomes on the receiving end, first from Cersei who interrupts ''his'' speech to her to inform her father about her and Jaime's relationship, consequently ruining the former's delusions about the family legacy and becoming the first person in the series to shut Tywin up. After that comes Tyrion's turn... who brings a crossbow for the conversation and after giving a piece of his mind to Tywin shuts him up forever.
* {{Realpolitik}}: Tywin's political philosophy is largely seizing any opportunity for success and doing whatever must be done to see it through. To wit, the continued success of the Lannisters -- beyond military might, and the sheer amount of gold the family rests upon -- is due largely to Tywin's cold, critical knack for impersonal politicking. He'll ally with the enemy houses of the Boltons and Freys to betray the Starks, he'll marry his own grandsons into the rival Tyrell family, and (as much as he'd prefer not to) he'll even sell out his own [[TheBrute attack dog Ser Gregor Clegane]] to the Martells if it means solidifying the Lannister power base.
** Interestingly enough, in spite of his practice of {{Realpolitik}}, his second term as Hand of the King follows a similar trajectory to Ned Stark's tenure. Even though he's a [[TheUnfettered ruthless and feared administrator with almost no lengths to which he won't go to secure his family's power]], he still fails to prevent an assassination of the king, is made into a XanatosSucker by Littlefinger, agitates an old enemy who has one of his family in their power to the point of conflict, and dies.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He'll push through his ultimate decision at the end of every dispute, but he's willing to listen to reason if it genuinely suits his purposes. He was a very capable Hand to the Mad King for nearly two decades, for a reason.
** Despite his relationships with his children, he continues to practice PragmaticVillainy with them. While he ''loathes'' Tyrion, he trusts him as Hand until Tywin himself arrives to fill the role, and preludes a brutal TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in Season 3 by telling Tyrion he will be given quarters and a position more suitable for his talents and standing, and keeps his word by naming him Master of Coin. Cersei, on the other hand, is told outright that she is "not as clever as she thinks she is" and kept out of important decisions to the best of his ability.
** He is disgusted by Loras Tyrell's homosexuality, but still respects the young man's fighting skills and wishes to use them -- Tywin did allow Loras to command the vanguard at the Battle of Blackwater, after all, and even to do so [[PetTheDog wearing his late lover's armor]].
** He thinks Ser Gregor's torture of prisoners is a waste of time and stops it.
** He recognizes Arya as a girl very quickly. Later, he deduces (correctly) that she is i) a Northerner and ii) highborn, but realises that she is alone in the world and her actions are to protect herself.
** Despite his behavior before Joffrey, he ''is'' fully aware that Daenaerys will eventually bring her three dragons to Westeros; Tywin knows Dorne was the only country to withstand Aegon I and his dragons, so he is willing to bargain with Oberyn Martell.
* ReplacementGoldfish: He tells Arya that she reminds him of Cersei when she was young, and something in his voice makes it sound like he regrets how things went. [[labelnote:From the books...]]He and Cersei were originally quite close, but a series of events including Tywin failing to get her married to Rhaegar Targaryen and instead marrying her to Robert strained their relationship to the point it's at now.[[/labelnote]]
* RightForTheWrongReasons: He's absolutely correct about the importance of strong family ties as we see with the Starks. However, Tywin doesn't see any difference between what is best for the family and [[ItsAllAboutMe what will benefit him personally]].
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: A very hard-working and able administrator. Revealed as a character trait in his very first scene when he has a conversation with Jaime while skinning a deer, work he could easily have left to servants.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:S-Z]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Implied to be a philosophy of his in particular, and the Lannisters in general.
* SelectiveObliviousness: He genuinely never believed the "rumors" about Cersei's children all being Jaime's, despite what ''should'' have been obvious and indeed was deduced by Ned Stark[[labelnote:note]]specifically that the Baratheons' black hair is nigh-universally dominant, as is the case with all of Robert's bastards, whereas all three of his supposed children by Cersei are blond like the other Lannisters[[/labelnote]], and Tywin only finds out because Cersei told him point-blank to his face to spite him... and he still claims not to believe her right after mumbling "nonononoNO"!
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Tywin's ultimate goal was to bring House Lannister back from the brink and make it a great and feared house again but the methods he used to achieve his goal have left them on the brink of extinction.
* TheStoic: Though he is ''very'' often contemptuous and snarky, he has little emotional range beyond this. However he does show more emotion than in the novels, where he only loses his icy cold demeanor once, when Tyrion asks him to acknowledge his rights to Casterly Rock. TV!Tywin loses his temper (though never his control) in several episodes, either because he's SurroundedByIdiots or [[ThePatriarch putting his children in line]], and once even gives a genuine (albeit short) laugh.
* TheStrategist: Very much so, both as a military commander and a diplomat. What makes this combination deadly is that when Robb Stark outmatches him as a battlefield commander, Tywin can fall back on his secondary skills while Robb is still a raw youth in the case of politics and diplomacy.
* SurroundedByIdiots: He considers his eldest two children to be stupid in their ways, and he makes it clear when he notices Arya that he considers everyone else in the fortress to be the equivalent of blind cattle in terms of intellect, both for wasting good talent and for not noticing a girl dressed as a boy. The only subordinates that he considers remotely competent on a mental level are Tyrion and, ironically, ''Arya''... then again, most of the Lannister army ''is'' made up of psychopaths and dumb thugs. His reaction to Amory Lorch's death is less "Guard! There's an assassin loose in the castle!" and more "Guard! Ugh, now I have to replace this moron with some other moron...."
** In a deleted scene on the Season 3 DVD, Tywin reveals in a private meeting that he knows full well that Pycelle's appearance of a doddering old man is all an act and asks "am I really the only one who sees through this performance? Is it possible so many have been so stupid for so long?" (Pycelle admits even he can't believe it works so well).
* TheSvengali: To Tommen, the new king due to Joffrey's death, and who Tywin clearly intends to mold into a vehicle for Lannister dominance of the Seven Kingdoms, with the side effect that Tommen could probably have become one of Westeros' ''better'' kings, whereas Joffrey was already a lost cause before he came under Tywin's influence. Remember that Tywin was Hand of the King to Aerys Targaryen II for 20 years, and despite that king's madness those years are regarded as some of the best in living memory thanks to Tywin's administration.
* TranquilFury: Very calmly establishes his power by sending Joffrey to his room. All without raising his voice.
* TechnicianVersusPerformer: His leadership of the royalist forces against Robb Stark, essentially. Lord Tywin is a good soldier and strategist due to hard and careful work, while Robb is a born conqueror. Ultimately, Tywin's exploitation of the strategic imbalance between the Iron Throne and the Stark kingdom and plus Robb's personal missteps proves decisive in the Riverlands theater. Robb, on the other hand, had bet the whole war on winning enough battles.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: As much as he hates it, he does respect Tyrion as the most capable (or at least most trustworthy) of the lords in King's Landing. While he is harsh and abusive towards Tyrion, he does also speak to him as somewhat of an equal.
* ThousandYearReign: His aim for the Lannister legacy.
* TemptingFate: He sarcastically asks if Tyrion is going to kill his own father, which he does.
* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West, Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, Hand of the King and Savior of the City, which is ironic considering the previous time he led an army to King's Landing was to sack it. [[labelnote:From the books...]]He also holds the honorific title of Shield of Lannisport.[[/labelnote]]
* TooDumbToLive: He really drops the ball when calling Shae a whore when his son at crosspoint clearly told him not to.
* {{Troll}}: Doesn't show up very often but it comes up in his negotiations with Lady Olenna, "The uncertainty makes you uncomfortable".
* {{Ubermensch}}: He has a grand vision for the Lannister family, values competence and intelligence over titles and dominates every room he enters with his presence.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: His arrogance and successful record often leads him to assume that his foes are incompetent more often than they actually are, which sometimes comes to bite him:
** He totally underestimates Robb's skill as a commander in their early battles, especially glaring given 1: who his father was, and 2: the fact that Tywin himself was treated the same way as a youth. However, he quickly learns from his previous mistake and successfully conspires with Walder Frey and Roose Bolton to have Robb ''brutally'' assassinated.
** More subtly, on the diplomatic field it happens with Olenna Tyrell. While negotiating marriage arrangements between the family he acts willfully and blackmails the Queens of Thorns into accepting his ultimatum... Olenna relents and then goes the way around to protect her family's interests -- by murdering Tywin's grandson, the king, right under Tywin's nose. The best part? Tywin doesn't even know.
** And, of course, he underestimated Tyrion's ability to survive time and time again... until Tyrion held him at crossbowpoint.
* UndignifiedDeath: Dies by getting shot by his abused and loathed son Tyrion with two crossbow bolts whilst he was in the privy with his pants down[[labelnote:From the books...]]... and correspondingly his bowels loosen upon his death, with no gold to be found[[/labelnote]]. While he even lampshades it, thanks to [[TheStoic Tywin being Tywin]], he is still able to [[FaceDeathWithDignity bring forth ''some'' gravitas]] during the whole debacle.
* TheUnfettered: His ruthlessness is only hampered by pragmatic concerns.
* UngratefulBastard: Tyrion not only carried out his father's orders in Kings Landing in reigning in Joffrey and Cersei, but he personally planned the city's defense, fatally weakened Stannis' forces, and personally led the fight against the remaining attackers despite Cersei and Joffrey's idiocy and spitefulness hampering him at every turn, ''including'' trying to assassinate him on the battlefield. Without these efforts Tywin's relief force would have been facing a far larger, better organised, and untouched army, who by the time he arrived would have likely killed both his grandson and daughter, as well as have taken the city and thus making his attempted counter attack both pointless and nigh suicidal. Tywin ''thanks'' Tyrion by ignoring him for several weeks as he was wounded, and when Tyrion brings up his grievances, he gives his son a few concessions such as a larger room "more suited to your name", a position where he can continue serving his family, and a suitable wife in due time... then [[EvilIsPetty he flatly refuses to officially make Tyrion his heir, unleashes a spiteful tirade about how much he hates Tyrion, and threatens to kill the next whore he catches him with]].
** Taken UpToEleven in Season 4. Tywin admits, [[KickTheSonOfABitch in front of his dead body no less]], that Joffrey was not a wise king. So even if Tyrion was guilty, which of course he wasn't, Tywin and company should really be thanking him for the getting the millstone out of the way. Instead, Tywin lets him take the fall for Joffrey's oh-so-terrible murder. It's the equivalent of a wife and husband having a domestic argument and the husband grounding the child for daring to speak out against the horrible wife causing problems. Never have the words NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished been more appropriate as far as Tyrion's concerned.
* UnwittingPawn: For all his intelligence, experience and ruthlessness, Tywin Lannister falls prey to the same mistake Ned Stark did; he trusted ''Littlefinger'' and raised him to a position of supremacy in the Riverlands and allowed him to marry the widowed lady of the Vale, making him arguably the second most powerful man in Westeros besides Tywin himself. In return, Littlefinger killed Joffrey with the Tyrells, in part because Tywin [[ItsPersonal got Catelyn killed]] and partially because it would plunge the Seven Kingdoms into yet more chaos, which was a goal he [[ObviouslyEvil stated aloud to Tywin]] and kidnapped Sansa Stark from Kings' Landing, giving Littlefinger an avenue for control of yet another of the Seven Kingdoms... and Tyrion discovers that his predecessor's supposed "magic" at financing the Iron Throne was really ''heavy'' borrowing from the Iron Bank of Braavos, an entity which even Tywin doesn't dare cross.
* VillainousBSOD: When Cersei directly confronts him with her and Jaime's incest Tywin's trademark stoicism cracks, as he finally comes to realize that his family's claim to ultimate power -- and hence his legacy -- is predicated on a fiction that had been obvious to everyone but himself.
* VillainousBreakdown: A downplayed example at the beginning of the war, "They have my SON!". When Cersei reveals the truth about the "family legacy" he'd been so obsessed over, he is overcome by enraged silence, unable and unwilling to process what she tells him.
* VillainHasAPoint: Tywin is absolutely correct about Joffrey neither being a wise or a good king.
* VillainousWidowsPeak: A sharp blonde one. [[labelnote:In the books]]He instead [[BaldOfEvil shaves it all off.]][[/labelnote]]
* VisionaryVillain: His speech to Jaime and his discussions with his cupbearer Arya reveals that he aspires to the legacy of Aegon the Conqueror and wants to create with gold and sheer will what Aegon had done with three dragons: a dynasty of Lannister hegemony that would rival and even surpass the Targaryens.
* WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency: When asked by Tyrion when has he ever done something that was for the family and not for his own interests, he angrily reveals that he wanted to kill Tyrion at birth but refused to do so since Tyrion was still a Lannister; Tywin considered it '''going above and beyond''' that he didn't kill his son but instead raised and acknowledged him as such.
* WellDoneSonGuy: His children regularly seek his validation, but Tywin ignores their virtues just as often and is instead quick to highlight their shortcomings, much to their chagrin
-->'''Tywin:''' ''[to Jaime]'' You are blessed with many abilities few men possess...and what have you done with these blessings, eh? You served as a glorified bodyguard to two kings. One a madman, the other a drunk.\\
''[to Tyrion]'' You are a low-born, ill-made, spiteful little creature filled with envy, lust, and low cunning.\\
''[to Cersei]'' I don't distrust you because you are a woman. I distrust you because you are not as smart as you think you are.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: The Histoy and Lore videos indicate that he and King Aerys were tight as nails until the latter's madness and jealousy kicks in. Though it's not till it becomes absolutely clear that Aerys is doomed for deposal at Robert's hand that he fully turns on him.
* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Tywin is highly resentful at Tyrion for his malformations (which caused Tywin's wife to die giving birth) and whoring ways. What's worse from his point of view is that Jaime ''chose'' to join the Kingsguard and thereby be ineligible to inherit the titles and lands of House Lannister, and despite Tywin's exhortations to ask him to abandon the post Jaime is determined to reclaim his honor, something which Tywin regards as pointless.
** All three of his children only possess one of the qualities he values in a potential perfect heir: Cersei is ruthless, Jaime is strong, and Tyrion is clever. All three posses touches of the others' defining qualities, but none of them have that perfect balance Tywin seeks and seems to see in himself.
* WickedCultured: As one would expect of a massively rich upper-class patriarch, Tywin is very well-read, particularly when it comes to history.
* WorthyOpponent: Few people manage to hold their own against him, and he shows a certain respect for each of them in return:
** He considers Lady Olenna to be his intellectual equal and recognizes that she's the true head of House Tyrell, as he deals with her directly when arranging a marriage between their two families, and not with her son Mace, who is technically the Lord of Highgarden. She respects Tywin and considers him a quality rival.
** Tywin gains respect for Robb Stark, seeing him as an excellent battlefield tactician and an incredibly popular leader who is not going to lose through conventional means.
** While his hatred and contempt for Tyrion son is very evident, he still (ever so grudgingly) is aware of his son's intelligence, perception, and cunning, which is why he was willing to name him Hand in his stead and give him power during crucial times.
** He views his cup bearer at Harrenhal as more competent than all his advisers and she's one of the few people to get away with snarking at him, because Tywin enjoys that she's sharp and gutsy enough to match him. Of course ironies of ironies, what he doesn't know is that she's actually [[{{KingIncognito}} Arya Stark]], the daughter of his archenemy. Whether he would have been more impressed with her if he'd known she was the runaway Stark daughter and managed to survive right under his nose, or just angered at her brazenness was never explored.
* WouldHurtAChild: Infamously so, as discussed by Lady Stark who was dead worried about Sansa and Arya because the Targaryen children were butchered in their sleep on the orders of Tywin Lannister. The children of House Reyne weren't spared either, as Cersei ''boasts'' to Margaery.
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Rage is ultimately the source of Tywin's ruthlessness. With both the Red Wedding, and the rebellion of House Reyne, he has proven that anyone who even considers attacking or resisting him will be terminated with extreme prejudice. When one considers how his father's kindness and benevolence was abused and mocked while Tywin himself grew up this makes some sense.
* YouWouldntShootMe: States so regarding Tyrion when his son is pointing a crossbow at him. Tywin really doesn't believe that Tyrion has it in him to kill his father. When Tyrion does shoot him, it's obviously partly to prove that he ''can'', damn you -- and it takes Tywin quite a bit of time to comprehend that it in fact happened.
* ZergRush: His method for fighting Robb's forces is to continue to send wave after wave of enemies at him as opposed to actually use legitimate tactics or rely on skill. Although Robb wins every battle, [[WeHaveReserves Tywin has a greater number of forces.]] Naturally, this comes back to bite him in the ass when the losses finally pile up so that [[WonTheWarLostThePeace House Lannister is forced to band with House Tyrell for security]].
[[/folder]]
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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tywin_lannister.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"[[{{Pride}} The lion does not concern himself with the opinions of the sheep.]]"'']]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/CharlesDance
->''"It's the family name that lives on. That's all that lives on. Not your personal glory, not your honor, but family."''
Father ([[KissingCousins and paternal first cousin once removed]]) of the three Lannister siblings, and grandfather to Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen. Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West, Tywin Lannister is perhaps the most feared Lord in the Realm, and is certainly the richest. Calculating, harsh, and ruthless, he is famed as a brilliant administrator, who managed the Realm masterfully during his twenty years as Hand of the King to Aerys Targaryen and is a capable battle commander. He resumes the post under his grandson, King Joffrey and he leads the fight against Robb Stark in the War of the Five Kings, gaining the title "Protector of the Realm," traditionally one of the King's four titles, upon Tommen's coronation. Tywin's driving motive is in securing House Lannister's hold as the most powerful dynasty in Westeros, no matter the cost, which eventually gets Tywin killed by his son Tyrion after one confrontation too many. A remarkable individual acknowledged as the real power in King's Landing, when people talk of him it often sounds more like he's a force of Nature rather than a high lord. Even posthumously, the ones who knew Tywin speak highly of him, and his foes are greatly relieved once such a formidable adversary is no longer in the game.
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-F]]
* AbusiveParents: Not physically abusive, but psychologically and emotionally abusive to horrific levels. There's no positive reinforcement and constant DisappointedInYou speeches all around. He's especially vindictive to Tyrion, going out of his way to make his life a living hell. It's safe to say that his poor parenting is his most prominent negative quality, especially since fucking his cousin was indirectly responsible for Tyrion's birth defects.
* TheAce: A darker than usual example, but he is the Lannister that sets the standard for all the others. He is ruthless and a better schemer than Cersei, he is a more renowned commander than Jaime and because he is willing to cross lines that Tyrion won't (such as say, violating guest right) he is a more effective war-time politician. He is TheDreaded for a very good reason.
* ActionDad: He's still a fearsome fighter even by the time Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion [[BadassGrandpa are already adults]].
* AdaptationalBadass: A FrontlineGeneral unlike the books as shown in Battle of the Blackwater.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Tywin is given some PetTheDog moments to show a softer side whereas in the books, he never lets his guard down:
** His 'disowning' of Jaime is not as harsh as in the book, either and instead he uses Tyrion's trial to con him into following in his original plan. He also tries to indulge in flattery to Cersei on occassion and even Tyrion in the moments before his death.
** A major change which softens Tywin considerably is the excising of the crucial conversation about Tyrion's first wife Tysha in the moment before his death. This was AdaptedOut of the show, and being perhaps Tywin's most despicable moment he comes off a lot nicer without it.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: When Arya poses as his cup-bearer, she brings out a softer and paternal side to him that's absent in the books.
* AdaptationalVillainy: He is a huge jerk in the books as well, but in the show his treatment to Tyrion is largely unjustified. In the books, Tyrion has many more negative traits, including a willingness to some degree to harm his own relatives and use them in his schemes, which Tywin loathes since family is everything in his eyes. With such aspects of Tyrion toned down for the show, Tywin's hatred of him is more personal and spiteful.
* AffablyEvil: Shows traces of this towards Arya when she was a [[KingIncognito noble fugitive incognito]], where he drops his guard in a rare moment, and without abandoning his statesman persona, he's grandfatherly towards Tommen. Averted otherwise, as he puts on a cold, unsmiling, and stern front when dealing with everyone else, or FauxAffablyEvil with Lady Olenna and becomes openly cruel in front of his son Tyrion.
* AgeLift: While many characters were made older for the show, Tywin deserves special mention, as in the books, at this point he is 57 years old, yet in [[Recap/GameOfThronesS4E6TheLawsOfGodsAndMen The Laws of Gods and Men]], his age is listed as ''67'', a full 10 years older, versus Jaime, who was aged by less than a decade.
** Also his age when he massacred House Reyne of Castamere, the inspiration of the Lannister's Theme-song. In the books, the [=DVD=]'s history of the great houses featured and hinted in the lyrics of the song ("Who are you, the proud Lord said, that I must bow so low?") claims that Tywin started to repair his weak father's blunders once he came of age at around 16. But in the show, Cersei remembers the dead Reyne's corpses hanging in Casterly Rock for the whole summer, meaning it must have taken place at max 35ish years ago, or when Tywin was at the lowest 32 years old.
* AllForNothing: Almost everything Tywin accomplished is undone soon after his death.
* AmbitionIsEvil:
** He is ruthless when it comes to playing the game of thrones and will do anything to keep his house on top. In his own words, his dream is to "establish a [Lannister] dynasty that [[ThousandYearReign will last a thousand years]]". Robert is even more generous, summing Tywin's goal up as "wanting to own the world". As the ruling patriarch of the house which he nearly saw destroyed by his weak father, Tywin will do anything to maintain his family's greatness, no matter how vicious.
** His ambition is also the main reason the Lannisters are a BigScrewedUpFamily -- in his eyes, his children have done nothing worthwhile with their lives and needed his help or name to achieve what little they did do. Jaime is a MasterSwordsman and becomes Commander of the Kingsguard, but Tywin sneers that he's just a glorified bodyguard, first to a mad king and then a drunk one. Cersei is Queen, but Tywin points out she didn't do much with her power other than raise her children, poorly. For Tyrion, he plain never trusted Tyrion with any power or authority and thus Tyrion never had a chance to prove himself, thus Tywin sees him as nothing more than a lecherous drunk. While he eventually realizes Tyrion's true worth and appoints him acting Hand of the King, and later Master of Coin, Tywin still sweeps his accomplishments in under the rug, claiming Tyrion did little more than what was expected of him and otherwise is ''still'' a lecherous drunk.
* ArchnemesisDad: To his son Tyrion, to almost absurd levels. They completely and totally '''''hate''''' each other. Tywin hates his son for killing his beloved wife in childbirth and being a whoremongering dwarf, while Tyrion hates his father for always treating him with contempt, and in particular for taking his first love Tysha from him and later sleeping with the woman he loved after hypocritically abusing him for his whoremongering all his life.
* AssholeVictim: His murder at Tyrion's hands was definitely a long time coming.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Tywin is a two-time Hand of the King, and the Warden of the West (a position only equal to three others and only inferior to the King himself and his Hand). Hand in hand with his titles, Tywin is a ruthless yet highly effective commander who struck the killing blow to King's Landing and the Targaryen royal family in Robert's Rebellion.
* BadassBaritone: His deep voice suits well with his commanding demeanor.
* BadassBeard: He sports a trimmed beard, thin on the sides and a bit thicker on the goatee.
* BadassBoast:
** "The Rains of Castamere" is a famous song about a young lord who annihilated an entire family of vassals who crossed him, and its protagonist is still walking around and death-staring everyone in his presence.
** When Cersei dares him to rein Joffrey in, Tywin simply responds with "I will". Tywin once again walks the walk, and is able to control Joffrey with lines such as "I'll make sure you understand that when ''I've won your war for you.''"
* BadassBureaucrat: Was previously Hand of the King to Aerys II. He becomes Hand of the King once again after King Robert dies. His true genius lies in the craft of political intrigue and public administration within his capacity as a statesman.
* BadassGrandpa: His EstablishingCharacterMoment has him skinning a stag he just hunted, showing him as quite fit and healthy for his age and even his [[TheCaligula sadistic]] grandchild who doubles as king cowers before him. The blood splatter on his face during Blackwater also shows that he fought alongside his men.
* BadassLongcoat: A black leather one in Season 3 and there is a reason he's considered as the BigBad by the Starks instead of Joffrey or Cersei.
* BadBoss: Justifed in most cases, as he's SurroundedByIdiots. He's actually rather friendly with Arya, as he recognizes her as intelligent and competent. That is [[BaitTheDog until he hands her]] over to the [[SuicideMission service]] of [[TheDreaded Ser Gregor Clegane]].
* BaitTheDog:
** After saving Arya from the Mountain's prison pen, and spending a few weeks with Arya as his cupbearer, mentioning how she [[MoralityPet reminds him of his own daughter at that age]], and generally making the audience smile at their father-daughter interactions, he leaves and specifically gives her to the Mountain, with [[SuicideMission strict orders to stop him from ever getting drunk no less]], his [[WouldHurtAChild less than stellar record with children]] [[RapeAsDrama and females]] notwithstanding.
** Initially, it seems that Tywin has changed his mind, he wonders if he was wrong about Tyrion being a stunted fool. He then appoints Tyrion Acting Hand and this drives Tyrion to do a magnificent job, personally saving King's Landing and thus allowing the Lannisters to keep fighting the war, despite having ''all the odds against him'' and almost everyone else trying to sabotage him out of idiocy or spite (or both). When Tyrion asks for his reward (which is actually his ''birthright''), Tywin proves that he hasn't changed one bit, bringing up his whoremongering, dismissing his successes and stating that Tyrion is a worthless freak who killed his mother and will never be more than the family embarrassment.
* BatmanGambit: He's quite good at setting up these:
** The Red Wedding is a result of his astute FlawExploitation of the fallout of the breakup of the Stark-Frey Marriage Alliance and the defection of the Karstarks after Lord Rickard's execution.
** Tyrion's trial for regicide is another one. He decides to use Jaime's BigBrotherInstinct at seeing Tyrion humiliated before the court to force him to bargain leaving the Kingsguard for Casterly Rock, and at the same time force a FalseConfession from Tyrion and use that to send him to the Wall. It almost works.
* BerserkButton: Tywin does not tolerate the slightest insubordination from his children or any slights on the family name, real or imagined.
* BigBad: In Seasons 3 and 4, he occupies this for the other War of the Five Kings factions, especially the Starks and Baratheons. Tywin is the real muscle of the Iron Throne, and responsible for the worst atrocities of the war, such as sending Gregor Clegane to make the Riverlands a blasted wasteland and turning Harrenhal into a nightmare garrison and then the Red Wedding. That said, Tywin only did this because Catelyn kidnapped Tyrion and [[OverarchingVillain as the story unravels]] it's revealed that Tywin was not the primary cause of the whole conflict.
* BigDamnHeroes:
** At Harrenhal, when he stops the wanton torturing and killing of prisoners through PragmaticVillainy, enslaving them instead and later in Season 2, when he and the Tyrells save King's Landing from being overtaken by Stannis' troops in "Blackwater", a straight example of TheCavalry, complete with triumphant Rains of Castamere over the credits.
** Podrick Payne was almost hanged for the actions of his master, but Tywin heard his family name in time, commuted the sentence and sent him to squire for Tyrion as punishment for the two of them. Though the two saw it as CoolAndUnusualPunishment.
* BlatantLies: When Oberyn asks him if he denies involvement in Elia Martell's murder, Tywin answers, "Categorically", but the uncharacteristic, deflective tone of his voice hints he's at least uneasy with the assertion. [[labelnote:From the books...]]Tywin states to Tyrion during a private conversation that he had explicitly ordered Rhaegar's children dead but never mentioned what should be done with Elia, and Gregor Clegane had simply [[RapePillageAndBurn filled in the blanks in his usual manner]]. Tyrion remains skeptical and later Oberyn tells Tyrion that Tywin was acting out of spite because Aerys spurned Cersei over Elia for Rhaegar's bride[[/labelnote]]
** His claims that he wouldn't let Tyrion be executed (while Tyrion was aiming a crossbow at him), despite Tywin ordering the execution himself. Charles Dance's delivery is so good and there's just enough of a kernel of truth to that speech that it's ''just'' possible to believe Tywin was telling the truth.
* BreakTheHaughty: In "The Children", Cersei manages to hurt Tywin about the one thing he cares about -- the family legacy -- by simply revealing to him that the rumors about the incest were true all along. Tywin is shocked and in denial, and then later Tyrion finds out that Father was a hypocrite whoremonger himself, permanently destroying his credibility and removing any ability to bargain for his life with Tyrion.
* BrutalHonesty: Lord Tywin makes no bones about ''anything''. Probably his most noteworthy example is when he tells Tommen that his older brother was a horrible King. Right after he died. When his body was in the same room as them. And Tommen and his older brother's mother next to him.
* CavalryBetrayal: During the last days of the Mad King, his army entered King's Landing as royalist allies and then proceeded to attack and pillage the city in Robert's name.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Slightly touched upon. He has Seven Kingdoms to run during an open rebellion and the ship of fools and schemers that he governs does not make it any easier. When Tyrion casually asks him if he's enjoying the position, Tywin finds the query outlandish and repeats back the question in disbelief[[labelnote: From the books...]] Kevan speaks earnestly about how Tywin is a stern but just man of duty doing a tough job for decades with little appreciation or reward.[[/labelnote]].
* CharacterTics: When he's nervous or enraged, he may keep a straight face, but watch as his hands squeeze and flex around a small object.
* TheChessmaster: Tywin is one of the most prolific in the series along with Varys and Littlefinger. His money, his army, his name, and his ability to verbally and physically dominate anyone he speaks to, make him one of the most powerful men in the kingdoms, and he's well-aware of it. Some examples of this are the calculated way he sacks kings landing and the way he orchestrates the red wedding. A smart-in theory but ultimately failed example is his plan to use Gregor Clegane to raid the riverlands so as to provoke [[HonourBeforeReason Ned Stark]] into striking back so as to capture Ned and get a speedy resolution to the brewing conflict, unfortunately Jaime Lannister threw a SpannerInTheWorks.
* CombatPragmatist: Tywin's main hat is his prioritizing maximum victory with minimum losses and he'll use every trick he can think of to achieve his political and military goals.
** What makes him a [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] here instead of an idiot that violated every principle of diplomacy and SacredHospitality in the worst way possible, however, is that he didn't take any active role in the matter -- he simply made some assurances to an already traitorous, ambitious, selfish ally of Robb Stark's, giving the betrayal a guaranteed reward if actually carried out; the actual betrayal, its nature, and all of the extreme diplomatic and cultural taboos involved were ''not'' Tywin's idea or something he had a direct hand in.
--->'''Tywin:''' Explain to me why it is more noble to kill ten thousand men in battle than a dozen at dinner.[[note]]Of course, he conveniently discounts the fact that said 10,000 were cowardly slaughtered, too.[[/note]]
** In the History and Lore videos, he justifies the Sacking of King's Landing as this; in his mind it decisively ended the war in one fell swoop of bloody violence rather than prolong it indefinitely and prevent additional casualties.
* TheComicallySerious: Seen with interactions with Tyrion during his wedding, as Tywin unexpectedly slip in to the role of straight man to his son. Other incidents include giving a version of TheTalk to Tommen in the Sept of Baelor, and trying to talk with [[LovableSexManiac Oberyn Martell]] in a brothel... with Oberyn offering him a seat ''right'' where a male prostitute had been laying with Oberyn.
* CompositeCharacter: His intro of butchering a stag is actually from Randyll Tarly, Sam's father. And his use of Arya as a cupbearer is taken from Roose Bolton.
* ControlFreak: Of the highest, most unhealthy order, in that he wants to control everything and everyone. Justified in that his father being the complete polar opposite and too laid back (Laughing Lion for a reason) caused House Lannister to be in the mess it was until Tywin restored them to power during his times as Hand of the King at least.
* CurbStompBattle: His audiences are completely one-sided and anyone who dares to argue with him gets verbally demolished. The only exceptions have been Olenna Tyrell and Oberyn Martell. In literal military terms, his utter annihilation of House Reyne of Castamere could be seen as this. The same goes for the Red Wedding, in which he all but annihilates the enemy forces in a single night, destroying their leadership and (to the best of his and everyone else's knowledge) male family line.
* DamnedByFaintPraise: After Tywin's death, Loras has to give his condolences to Cersei and he painfully struggles to say something nice about her father. He finally calls the deceased lord [[TheDreaded 'a force to be reckoned with']], then pauses for a moment, then rephrases it, then pauses again and finally repeats the original phrase. While the moment is awkward, the departed would find the words highly praising because that's precisely the image Tywin cultivated and relished.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: As noted by Oberyn Martell, after Clegane murdered Elia and her children, Tywin ordered their bodies to be brought to the Throne Room and wrapped in Lannister banners, and presented before Robert Baratheon as a token of fealty[[labelnote:From the books]]Tywin would justify this as both him playing the bad guy for Robert Baratheon, and having had to go to such extremes to prove his loyalty since the Lannisters effectively took until war's end to pick a side[[/labelnote]].
* DeadpanSnarker:
** Although not to the level of, say, his sons, and placing particular emphasis on deadpan. This is most evident during his dealings with [[SurroundedByIdiots his subordinates]]. For example:
---> '''Polliver:''' ''(to Arya, while dressed as a boy)'' What are you looking at?! Kneel! Kneel or I'll take your lungs out, boy!\\
'''Tywin:''' You'll do no such thing. This one's a girl, ''you idiot''.
** And again in "The Old Gods and the New":
---> '''Tywin:''' ''(to Amory Lorch)'' My ''cupbearer'' can read better than you.
* DeathByIrony: Goes by the motto of "a Lannister always pays his debts"... then gets killed by a Lannister who is most certainly paying his debt.
* DeathGlare: The non-verbal part of his imposing stance when someone antagonizes or displeases him. If looks could kill, his probably will. Special notice goes to his expression when Joffrey insults him at a Small Council meeting in "Mhysa" and the look he gives the crowd at Tyrion's wedding after they laugh when Joffrey humiliates Tyrion.
** And even that pales in comparison to the look he sends to Tyrion in "The Laws of of Gods and Men" at the end of Tyrion's trial. Tyrion returns it in kind.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: He will go down as one of the great conquerors; a FourStarBadass in war-time and a ReasonableAuthorityFigure in peace. It doesn't make him a nice person. Or mean that extremely PragmaticVillainy has a long shelf-life if you neglect the [[SketchySuccessor grassroots]] in the form of [[DesperatelyCravesAffection Tyrion]], [[TheAlcoholic Cersei]] and [[BrilliantButLazy Jaime]].
* DefiantToTheEnd: "You're no son of mine!". [[AbusiveParents Whatever else]] [[SacredHospitality you think of him]], Tywin's decision to denounce the man who just mortally wounded him rather than whimper or plead is worthy of respect.
* DirtyCoward: Not in the series, where he's [[FrontlineGeneral willing to fight along side his troops]] but Joffrey accuses him of being this during Robert's Rebellion, hiding at Casterly Rock and only joining once victory was all but guaranteed much like Walder Frey. Considering [[TranquilFury Tywin's reaction]], it's heavily implied that [[JerkassHasAPoint Joffrey struck a nerve.]]
* DiscOneFinalBoss: Serves as the main threat for the Kings Landing / War of the Kings storyline for several seasons, but dies after the exact first half of the series.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Any slight against House Lannister is met with ''extreme'' prejudice. His establishing moment in the backstory was wiping out the entirety of the Lannister vassal House Reyne for daring to think that they could stand up to the Lannisters. When he gives his speech about family reputation and fear, he really, really means it. He responds to Catelyn Stark taking Tyrion as a hostage by launching a RapePillageAndBurn campaign on the Riverlands to show everyone that ''you do not mess with the Lannisters'', even if it's the most worthless-in-his-eyes of Lannisters.
* DragonInChief:
** Hierarchically, Joffrey is the King of Westeros; Tywin is only his Hand, and not even that until Season 3. Yet Joffry is an incompetent fool of a ruler, and everyone on all sides of the war knows that Tywin is the real power behind the throne. This trope is lampshaded in "Mhysa".
--->'''Tyrion:''' You just sent the most powerful man [Joffrey] in Westeros to bed without his supper.\\
'''Tywin:''' You're a fool if you believe he is the most powerful man in Westeros.\\
'''Tyrion:''' A [[BlasphemousBoast treasonous]] statement. Joffrey is king.\\
'''Tywin:''' You really think a crown gives you power?
** He was also TheDragon as Hand to King Aerys until he resigned. When [[LaResistance Robert's Rebellion]] tilted in favor of the rebels, Tywin became TheStarscream and slaughtered Aerys' grandkids.
** This is further cemented when Tommen names him Protector of the Realm, which is a title reserved for the King; the kid knows who really runs things.
* TheDreaded: The most feared person in the series during his life, someone who keeps Petyr Baelish, Varys, Tyrion, Olenna and even Joffrey intimidated from openly crossing him, Robb Stark likewise sees Tywin as his enemy. Tyrion defines Westeros as "Seven Kingdoms united in fear of Tywin Lannister".
* DudeWheresMyRespect: He has this attitude towards Tyrion, feeling that he should be more grateful as [[WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency he wanted to just murder him when he was born but chose to raise him anyway]]. The fact that he expects the son he's treated like shit his entire life to be grateful for not murdering him as an infant speaks volumes about Tywin's character.
* EnragedByIdiocy: He's perpetually unamused, given that his standards are inhumanly high, has no tolerance for incompetence and Joffrey's reign has been a long parade of follies and disasters.
-->'''Tywin''': Madness, madness and stupidity! (''regarding Ned Stark's execution'')
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His aloof, stern patriarchy over the Lannister family is laid bare in his very first [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47MazYDnmaU scene]], a conversation in his war camp with Jaime, which produces many of his defining quotes. While he's [[RuleOfSymbolism butchering a stag]], no less.
* EtTuBrute: Missing [[TheDogBitesBack the bigger picture]], Tywin can hardly fathom it when Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion are successfully rebelling against the head of house Lannister. The line "You shot me", even shares the feeling of disbelief ("why, this is violence"); like that of which UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar expressed during his own assassination.
* EvilIsPetty: For all of his magnificence, the lord of Casterly Rock has done some extremely petty things:
** When he discovered Tyrion had married Tysha he had the marriage annulled. This is reasonable and it serves as a message to his son. However, afterwards he had his garrison rape her while making Tyrion watch, which was completely unnecessary and only showed where Cersei got her pettiness from[[labelnote:From the books...]]Tywin then made Tyrion go last and pay her a gold instead of a silver[[/labelnote]].
** When Tyrion asks him about inheriting Casterly Rock -- being at this point the rightful heir -- Tywin lashes out at him, blaming him for his wife's death, calling him stupid despite his brief and successful tenure as Hand of the King, and claiming he would rather die than make Tyrion his heir, despite Tyrion being the only one of his three children nearly as capable as himself.
** Cersei points out that Tywin is obsessed with the ''idea'' of a great family line, at the expense of the next generation thereof.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** Jaime is frequently the only evidence of Tywin Lannister being capable of feeling empathy for another ''living'' human being. Tywin even shows physical affection in the only scene they share before the war and is very anguished later by the captivity of his son. He is genuinely compassionate towards Jaime losing his hand and asks him to finally become his heir and leave the Kingsguard but Jaime's [[DidntSeeThatComing unexpected refusal]] makes him into a cold hard-ass again, mocking Jaime for not doing anything during the war, wasting his life as a glorified bodyguard and telling him that he can no longer count Tywin as his family.
** He genuinely loved his late wife, and holds Tyrion in such high contempt partly for causing his wife's death.
** He seems to like his brother Kevan, at least treating him as a good lieutenant and advisor, even though Tywin may have the final word.
** Tywin also showed some outward paternal concern for Tommen and becomes TheSvengali to him.
** He also admits that he loved his father Tytos even if Tywin despised his weakness.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: It comes out of PragmaticVillainy, but Tywin generally has little patience for the more vulgar form of evil indulged by Cersei, Amory Lorch and Joffrey.
** He regarded Ned Stark's execution as a moronically stupid move on the part of Cersei and Joffrey, and specifically sent Tyrion to the capital to do crisis management. Likewise, he dresses down Cersei for her constant backbiting against the Tyrells and criticized her decision to fire Ser Barristan Selmy saying it was "as insulting as it was stupid" pointing out that despite his age, it was not on his watch that Joffrey died.
-->'''Tywin''': Madness, madness, and stupidity.
** Tywin does have a code about family honor, even if Tyrion, "the least of the Lannisters" (in his words) is kidnapped, Tywin will go PapaBear though barely conceal his disappointment that Tyrion is alive. He repeatedly sends Tyrion on UriahGambit hoping he would die, because he can't kill him himself. He tells Tyrion that he didn't kill Tyrion the day he was born, even though he badly wanted to, because it would mean killing a Lannister.
** Even Tywin doesn't approve of Joffrey's treatment of Tyrion during the Purple Wedding as can be seen on the look of his face. Likewise, he is unwilling to see Tyrion (or rather, another Lannister) publicly humiliated and demonstrates this with a withering death glare when the crowd laughs at Joffrey's attempt to humiliate Tyrion at Tyrion's wedding to Sansa.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Shows shades of this:
** In "Kissed by Fire", he expresses confusion and annoyance over Tyrion's protests over his ''reward'' of a forced marriage to Sansa Stark, remarking that she's both beautiful and the remaining heir to Winterfell once Robb's dealt with. Thus, in Tywin's eyes Tyrion is ungratefully complaining about becoming one of the most powerful men in Westeros, rather than forcing a child who's suffered at Joffrey's hands to have to marry him and essentially ordered to exert MaritalRapeLicense.
** In "Mhysa", they once again have a clash of opinions over the Red Wedding. Tywin attempts to point out that it's no different than a victory on the battlefield, even sparing lives in the long run. However, Tyrion, despite not being adverse to cheating in war, believes that such an action crosses a line that will ''never'' be forgotten and may only serve to fuel a future conflict.
** Even when Tyrion has him at crossbowpoint on the privy and has made it very evident how he felt for Shae, Tywin continually dismisses her as "just a whore" when trying to compliment and reassure Tyrion of his esteem for him, not thinking Tyrion would be offended by such a callous dismissal of the woman he loved. Tyrion proves him dead wrong.
** This also plays into the Red Wedding. Tywin believes that it was enough to crush the Northern Rebellion once and for all and that they will see Robb as a cautionary tale of why they shouldn't march against the crown, believing that [[{{Pride}} because he says it's finished, it's finished]]. Tyrion however can see how the act will just embolden them further and increase their rage towards the crown and desire for independence. As we see later on, Tyrion was right that they wouldn't go down so easily and Robb ends up being seen as a martyr.
** He tends to dismiss the Starks as weak due in part to their noble nature. It's clear that HonorBeforeReason is a completely foreign principle to Tywin. House Lannister ends up paying dearly for this miscalculation in Season 6.
* EvilChancellor: Relatively speaking; after back-to-back runs at being TheGoodChancellor to a pair of evil kings in Aerys II and Joffrey. With Joffrey is dead and Tommen is king, the alignment switches back to Good King/Evil Chancellor. He was only technically a Good Chancellor in the first place by managing to be only slightly less [[StupidEvil evil and insane]] than the two kings he served under.
* EvilGenius: Even by the high standards of Westeros' top schemers, Tywin is regarded as TheAce. Littlefinger, Varys and Olenna Tyrell all have high respect for his intelligence and ruthlessness. His son Tyrion even allows that "[[{{Understatement}} father has a good mind for strategy]]".
* EvilGloating: Generally, he's not that vulgar in public but there are exceptions:
** In a private moment, he enjoys a smug satisfied expression watching Ned Stark's sword 'Ice' melted into two Valyrian swords and then throws the sword's wolf pelt sheath in the flames, celebrating the Lannisters triumph over the Starks.
** In the History and Lore videos, on King's Landing, he is positively proud of his cold and brutal betrayal of Aerys Targaryen, noting how the King "thought he was being clever" by keeping Jaime as a hostage against him. He also considers "The Rains of Castamere" as a quaint song and sends it as his go-to death threat to anyone who so much as thinks of resisting the Lannisters.
* EvilOldFolks: He's in his sixties and one of the most ruthless characters in the show.
* EvilOverlord: DeconstructedCharacterArchetype. He only resorts to KickTheDog and DisproportionateRetribution to ensure that his family name is respected and feared (unless the target happens to be [[TheUnfavorite Tyrion]]). He's also completely aware of his limitations, noting that his family is deeply mired in debt to the Iron Bank of Braavos and they need a firm marital alliance with the Tyrells to meet their obligations. He's downright reverential to the Iron Bank, calling it "a temple", so he's not going to ''consider'' bribing them or getting in their bad books, that's way more foresight than most overlords ever show.
* EvilPowerVacuum: His death creates one in Westeros. The hegemony he built crumbles almost overnight, with Lannister puppets like the Boltons going rogue and renegade religious factions like the Sparrows slowly take over the city and Cersei sabotaging his alliance with the Tyrells.
* ExactWords: Near the beginning of Season 3, Tyrion insisted he be rewarded for saving King's Landing. Tywin's promise, among various vague assurances, was that he would be given a proper wife. In "Kissed By Fire", Tywin points out this demand when ordering Tyrion to marry Sansa Stark.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Despite being killed while in the privy, Tywin remains as belligerent and arrogant as ever. Though he initially tries to talk his way out of death, he grimly accepts his fate after Tyrion fatally wounds him but not without cursing his son one last time, though Tyrion gets the last word in:
-->'''Tywin''': [[FamousLastWords You're no son of mine.]]\\
'''Tyrion''': [[ShutUpHannibal I am your son]]. [[YouAreWhatYouHate I have always been your son]].
* FantasyForbiddingFather: For one nameday, Tyrion asked for a dragon, quickly becoming the family laughingstock. Tywin quickly beat it into his head that dragons are extinct.
* FatalFlaw: His obsession with the Lannister family glory results in a lack of emotional intelligence and in his utter inability to give a shit about his children as individuals. This turns into a ''literal'' fatal flaw, as his abuse of his son Tyrion earns him a terminal case of crossbow-to-gut.
** He also shares his family's inability to just ''shut the'' '''''fuck''''' ''up'' when in mortal peril, which directly leads to his death.
* {{Fiction 500}}: Is often called the richest man in the Seven Kingdoms; King Robert (through the Iron Throne) owed him around three ''million'' gold dragons, and he has no trouble forking over eighty thousand more to provide prize money for a tourney. A common saying is that Tywin Lannister is so rich that he "shits gold." According to ''Forbes'' magazine, [[http://www.forbes.com/special-report/2012/fictional-15-12/tywin-lannister.html he is worth 2.1 billion American dollars in the books]]. That makes him exceedingly wealthy even by the standards of a modern economy. Due to massive war debts, however, he doesn't stay that rich forever, the Lannister's gold mines having dried up and most of the Lannisters' wealth spent financing Joffrey's time on the throne during the War of the Five Kings; it's the reason why he ends up allying with House Tyrell.
* FirstNameBasis: Strangely, unlike most other lords in the series he is usually referred to as "Lord Tywin" rather than "Lord Lannister".
* {{Foil}}: Tywin is essentially what his son Tyrion would be if he had fewer morals and was more focused on preserving the family name. Both are intelligent and cunning strategists, as much on the battlefield as when it comes to political intrigue. They have also served as Hands of the King, with both of them being competent in the position. Not only that, but they also have no problem with hiring prostitutes, not that Tywin would admit to ever doing so.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Has shades of this in his negotiations with Olenna, he puts on a polite facade but it's not enough to hide his fury over how the Tyrells tried to marry Sansa behind his back (from his perspective).
* FourStarBadass: Has never lost a war, as he proudly remarks to Arya and is a cunning and gifted military strategist. Also a FrontlineGeneral unlike his book counterpart.
* FreudianExcuse: The reason why he's such an hardass is because his father's magnanimity nearly led to the bankruptcy and ruination of his house. Despite this, he still has very fond memories of the man. The loss of his wife while giving birth to Tyrion is also a factor in his cold attitude toward life.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G-L]]
* TheGoodChancellor: Surprisingly for his [[AbusiveParents horrible]] [[{{Jerkass}} personality]], he seems this way for many people who aren't personally affected by him. His twenty-year reign as Hand to the Mad King was considered the most stable and prosperous period Westeros had experienced in recent memory. Under Joffrey (Mad King 2.0), he once again brings his competence to the table, making him the PuppetKing, chewing out Cersei and actually running Westeros. When the main part of the war is officially over, he turns to consolidating the Kingdom with new alliances with the Tyrells and Martells, as well as focusing on solving the crown's debts. He's still a ''huge'' asshole but someone with a day-to-day grasp of administration.
* HellBentForLeather: Has a fondness for black leather outfits.
* HiddenDepths: A deleted Season 3 scene reveals Tywin likes to fish. Together with his stag-skinning, it suggests Tywin, in his spare time, does prefer eating fresh food he prepared himself.
* HumiliationConga: Season 4 starts with him at the height of his power but it proves to be PrideBeforeAFall. Throughout the season, he is gradually weakened. He is forced to concede to the Tyrells in order to avoid bankruptcy after the war drained his house's finances. Due to the looming threat of Dany and her army he has to make amends with the Martells who despise his family with a passion. Then Joffrey dies on his wedding day and his plan of getting Jaime to renounce the Kingsguard fails. His alliance with the Martells ends, and he even loses the services of Ser Gregor as TheBrute. ''Then'', Cersei confirms that her children were the product of incest with Jaime, to Tywin's shock and disbelief. And ''finally'', Tywin gets offed by Tyrion, after finally being revealed as a hypocrite whoremonger much like his son.
* HyperAwareness:
** Sees through [[SweetPollyOliver Arya's disguise]] at first glance, and is obviously aware that she's not a commoner.
--->'''Tywin''': This one's a girl, you ''idiot''.
** In a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMXJlUIQP94 deleted scene]], Tywin wonders if he's the only one who sees through [[ObfuscatingDisability Pycelle's act]].
* HypercompetentSidekick: He is much, ''much'' capable as a ruler than the Kings he has served as Hand.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** The man who constantly preaches the importance of family destroys the bonds he has with his kids by psychologically abusing them. Tywin often wastes no time reminding his children of their shortcomings, all whilst ignoring ''his'' poor parenting as a huge reason why they are so flawed.
** The majority of his actions which are considered "best for the family" often boil down to what will most benefit ''himself'' first. [[CallingTheOldManOut Tyrion even calls him out]] on how Tywin never makes any personal sacrifices for the sake of the Lannisters, but expects his kids to do so in return... to which Tywin answers that [[IResembleThatRemark his sacrifice was to let Tyrion survive after childbirth]].
** Case in point, at one point or another Tywin has tried to force all three of his children into political marriages for the sake of the family legacy, and expects Cersei to remarry after Robert's death because she's still young and eligable. Tywin married his first cousin Joanna out of love, and as a Lannister herself she brought him no new wealth, lands, or armies. When she died, Tywin was in his prime at just over the age of 30, but never remarried.
** Likewise, he constantly condemns Tyrion for sleeping with prostitutes, but is revealed in his final episode to have no problem bedding them himself. Namely, Tyrion's former lover Shae.
** When Tyrion complains that his hill tribes in Season 1 are unruly Tywin is quick to preach that the responsibility of bad behavior from soldiers lies with their commander, but when Oberyn confronts him about Gregor Clegane however Tywin simply replies that men at war commit all kind of crimes without their superior's knowledge'[[labelnote:From the novels...]]Tywin insists that he never ordered Gregor to kill Elia but he did order Gregor to kill her children and only wishes that they did it cleanly[[/labelnote]].
** He is ''very'' disappointed that he has no suitable heir and criticizes Jaime for remaining on the Kingsguard and Tyrion for being a deviant. He also arranges for Cersei to marry Loras and have his children while she is still fertile. Not once does he ever consider remarrying, even though as a man his reproductive system has no expiry date and he could have more children. Not to mention that by the time of the series he has been widowed for ''over thirty years'' so there could have been several more adult Lannister children by now to make new alliances and maybe make up for the "disappointments" of his first three children.
** Also, his justification for the Red Wedding is that it's more noble to kill dozens at a dinner rather than thousands in battle.....which conveniently leaves out the fact that not only were Robb and his court slaughtered, but also his entire army, in a very cowardly way.
* HypocriticalHeartwarming: For [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk entirely selfish reasons]], Tywin is not thrilled when ''somebody else'' mistreats Tyrion, as no one messes with a Lannister publicly:
-->'''Tywin''': He's a Lannister! Maybe the lowest of the Lannisters, but he's one of us. And everyday that he remains a prisoner, the less our name commands respect.\\
'''Tyrion''' ''(lukewarmly)'': Kind of you to go to war for me.
* IcyBlueEyes: They reflect his cold personality quite well.
* IHaveNoSon: He disowns Jaime in "Two Swords" for refusing to leave the Kingsguard and become eligible to inherit Casterly Rock. Also his FamousLastWords after Tyrion mortally wounds him are that "you're no son of mine", for which Tyrion shoots him again.
* {{Irony}}:
** On account of YouAreWhatYouHate and a great deal of self-aggrandizement, Tywin's end goal of the Lannisters becoming the new Targaryens falls flat since he's only obsessed with the ''idea'' of his family line dominating Westeros but all his actions to make it work fail. He has no stable and fixed heir, partially because he refuses to accept Tyrion. His bad parenting, willful blindness, and outright abuse and neglect means that his children and his brother Kevan are left in almost the same precarious situation Lord Tytos left it.
** Tywin's insistence on being TheManBehindTheMan has led to him never actually ''teaching'' his family on how to effectively rule. This has left his heirs woefully unprepared with the reality of trying to run King's Landing. Jaime is completely disinterested, Cersei [[SmallNameBigEgo prides herself on being smarter than she actually is]], Tyrion is constantly undermined by a family that hates him, Joffrey is sociopathic and incompetent, and Tommen is completely ineffective.
*** He does make an effort to teach Tommen, but he runs out of time.
** Tywin hates Tyrion for being a dwarf whose complicated pregnancy killed his mother[=/=]Tywin's wife Joanna, who was his first love. This was ironic on two counts:
*** Tywin and Joanna were first cousins. Children born of people that closely related have an ever-so-slightly increased risk of birth defects. For what it's worth, Tywin's decision to take up with a first cousin (which was for love and not the purely politically advantageous marriage he desires for his children) may have contributed to Tyrion's condition.
*** Tywin doesn't seem to understand, even on his deathbed (death toilet?), ''why'' Tyrion's so pissed off at him for taking away Tyrion's first love - despite Tywin hating Tyrion his whole life for that exact thing.
** He continually emphasizes the importance of putting family first and claims that's what will keep the Lannisters in power. However, his treatment of his children and fixation on using them to further the Lannister name, turns the them into the most divided noble house and ultimately leads to their downfall. His relentless abuse of Tyrion leads to Tyrion killing him and fleeing to join Daenerys, his encouragement of Cersei's cruelty leads her to raising Joffrey in a similar manner and is murdered because he gets so out of hand. Even the marriages Twyin forces upon them don't help much, as Cersei's hatred of Robert leads to her killing him and ensuring she doesn't have any of his children. In contrast, families who he writes off as weak but genuinely care about each other manage to stay strong because of it. The Tyrells are a threat because they have good interpersonal relationships as well as cunning and the Starks -- against all odds and expectations -- are hanging in there and on the rise, thanks to their close ties and love for each other. And in fact the Starks take out the two dysfunctional families Tywin favoured -- the Boltons and Freys -- ''because'' they were such a mess.
** In perhaps the ultimate irony, Tywin was devoted to seeing the Lannisters become a great house that would last for centuries and felt that his father's poor management nearly destroyed it but the methods he used to achieve his goal have done just as much, if not more, damage and left House Lannister completely broke and under the rule of Cersei whose awful behavior is at least partially attributed to Tywin and who will likely bring about the end of House Lannister than Tywin had sought to prevent. Everything he accomplished has been completely undone.
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Tyrion calls him out on this, noting that Tywin automatically equates his personal ambitions with that of his family and that he makes his children compromise and face consequences that he himself has never done and will never do. Tywin's reply to that was that the great personal sacrifice he made [[WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency was not killing Tyrion as a baby]].
** Likewise, Tywin ''could'' have resolved the seeming unfittingness of his children by naming his brother Kevan as heir but then Tywin couldn't well claim that it was ''his'' great family line. Likewise, Kevan himself has a SketchySuccessor in the soon to become Brother Lancel.
* IWantGrandkids: ... as long as they're [[HeirClubForMen male grandkids from his eldest son.]] Ironically, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor he already has two of these]] but they're less than ideal, being officially Baratheons rather than Lannisters, and rather more importantly ''bastards born of incest between his son and daughter''.
* {{Jerkass}}: It is revealed in "Baelor" that Tyrion once made the mistake of falling in love with and marrying a whore his brother had secretly hired to sleep with him. So when Tywin found out, he ordered his entire garrison to rape her (each soldier paying, of course) and [[ForcedToWatch forced Tyrion to watch from beginning to end and then be the final participant]] -- then paying her more because a Lannister is worth more[[labelnote:From the books...]] Jaime eventually confessed in ''A Storm of Swords'', the Season 4 counterpart, that she wasn't actually a whore, she was a genuinely good poor girl who loved Tyrion and Tywin destroyed the only genuine love and happiness he ever had[[/labelnote]].
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** Some of Tywin's insults often hit the mark. Whether it is calling Jaime a glorified bodyguard lacking ambition, Cersei not nearly as smart as she thinks she is, or Tyrion a fool for his drinking and whoring. In the case of the latter two, those prove to be FatalFlaw for them.
** When Tommen is about to become king, Tywin gives him a talk about how everything he does must be dictated by wisdom, and wise people listen to their advisors for wisdom and expertise. It's entirely self-serving (he, himself, being Tommen's chief advisor) and horribly insensitive (he derides Joffrey's lack of wisdom, next to Joffrey's dead body). Still, every point he makes is entirely reasonable.
** His statement about how the House that places the family's needs first over it's members is hypocritical, self-serving, and in the context of encouraging Tyrion to engage in MaritalRapeLicense, absolutely repugnant, but in the long run, he's shown to be right. [[spoiler: The Baratheons and the Boltons are both extinct precisely because their individual members would not get along, and ultimately ended up killing one another. House Lannister themselves are in dire straits by Season 7 due to Tyrion aiding Daenerys in overthrowing his hated sister, all as a result of the family's internal frictions and feuds. Meanwhile, the Starks are BackFromTheBrink precisely because it's members love one another unconditionally, and are willing to put their House and family before their own ambitions and desires, with Sansa willing to sidestep her own claim on the North to support her half-brother Jon being a good example.]]
*** The latter is also a case of EvilCannotComprehendGood. Although Tywin is right about the need for families to stick together he fails to comprehend that it only works if there is genuine affection between family members.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He occasionally says something that might indicate that he's not as bad as people think but he usually tells them in no uncertain terms his entirely pragmatic reasons for saying it if he's questioned about it.
* JustAKid: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECewrAld3zw The Rains of Castamere]]'' suggest that Tywin's own enemies once thought this of him. Ironic that Tywin then makes a similar underestimation of Robb Stark.
* KarmicDeath: The proud lord of House Lannister is killed in the most humiliating spot possible by the son who he has emotionally abused and treated like dirt for almost his entire life. Better yet, he died the same way most of the people at the Red Wedding were killed: feathered with crossbow bolts by someone they least suspected would have the nerve to kill them.
** It's also rather fitting as Tywin made a point of being absolutely ruthless and pragmatic, striking when least expected, with the Red Wedding being the best example. In the end, he gets literally caught with his pants down and murdered while unarmed and in a compromised position, similar to how Robb died.
* KnightTemplar: Believes anything is justified it means House Lannister can keep on top.
* KickTheDog:
** MANY times, both in the past and present. Thus proving that for all his effectiveness at stabilising the realm, he is NOT a good person.
** He manages to zigzag between this and PetTheDog with his treatment of Tyrion (more in Season 1 than later). On the one hand, he never hesitates to tell Tyrion he considers him a drunken, lecherous freak who killed his mother and dreams of killing him without any stain on his conscience. On the other hand, he sometimes acknowledges Tyrion's talents, speaks to him as an equal when he isn't insulting his lifestyle, and in contrast to Cersei and Joffrey, he trusts Tyrion with power and authority.
--->'''Tywin:''' ''[to Tyrion]'' I always thought you were a stunted fool. Perhaps I was wrong.
** He also manages to zigzag it with Jaime: He can insult and disown him in a scene and still help him sheathe a Valyrian sword or let his son keep said sword:
--->'''Tywin:''' ''[to Jaime]'' Keep it. A one handed man with no family needs all the help he can get.
* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** When he chastises Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch for making very obvious mistakes.
** He chooses to give a lecture to Tommen (a full on PetTheDog moment by itself) right next to Joffrey's body (albeit a dead body that ordered Ned Stark's death and started an expensive, bloody war) as Cersei is grieving for her son. He even mentions what a terrible king Joffrey was and coldly ignores Cersei's "this is not the time or place" feeble complaint. Although its insensitive it doesn't change the fact Joffrey still was a terrible king and Cersei ''did'' do a poor job at raising him.
* LackOfEmpathy: If you wondered where Cersei and Joffrey got it from, it's Tywin. He will let the North and Riverlands be ruled by psychotic monsters if it means his family can win the war. But to be fair, the Starks started it by capturing Tyrion.
* LargeAndInCharge: Tywin is 6'3", all but runs Westeros and is usually both the tallest and most intimidating person in any room he's in, unless it's [[GiantMook The Mountain]] he's talking to.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Being a nearly professional dog-kicker for all his life, Tywin finally gets [[TheDogBitesBack bitten back]] by each of his children with suitably ascending level: his [[ParentalFavoritism "golden son"]] Jaime doesn't try to harm him but ignores his orders by refusing to carry a family name and then releasing his sentenced brother Tyrion from prison behind Tywin's back, the daughter [[HeirClubForMen he thought nothing more of beside selling her off for the sake of family legacy]] crushes his illusions about said legacy with a [[BrotherSisterIncest few simple words]], and his [[TheUnfavorite horribly mistreated]] youngest son, whom he always wished dead, ends up killing Tywin in a rather humiliating manner.
* LeanAndMean: He has a fairly slender frame, accentuated by his height, and he ''really'' lives up to the mean part.
* [[LikeFatherLikeSon Like Father Like Children]]: As an [[TheAce Ace]], Tywin has unrelenting ambition, martial skill, a brilliant mind, and forceful charisma. His children, while they surpass him in their own ways, unfortunately don't inherit all of his talents, to their detriment.
** Cersei is more ruthless in her ambition, but not only lacks her father's mind, she is also petty, selfish, and thoughtless to the consequences of her actions.
** Jaime is a fighter with skill several leagues higher than Tywin and has his (smaller) brand of cunning, but [[BrilliantButLazy lacks the ambition to exercise his full potential]].
** Tyrion is as brilliant and charismatic as his father, pulling off impossible tasks often while seriously disadvantaged, but the dwarf has no grand desires other than debauchery and recognition, and his deformity always means that people hate him, but don't fear him.
* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: Three seasons after his death and all of Tywin's gains for his house have fallen apart entirely. Cersei's disastrous attempts at playing politics culminates with her openly murdering thousands of people and crowning herself queen in a short-sighted play at saving her own skin. House Tyrell and Dorne both side firmly against the Lannisters and are ally with Daenarys' invading army to take them down. His greatest victory of eradicating the noble Stark family is undone thanks to the rise of the overlooked Stark children, who take down the very families he raised to power. Jon Snow and Sansa Stark retake the North and destroy the Boltons who Tywin installed as Wardens of the North, while Arya Stark kills Walder Frey, sending the Frey and Lannister's shaky hold on the Riverlands into chaos. To top it off, the Lannister family itself is in complete shambles, with Tommen, Kevan, and Lancel dead, Jaime leaving Cersei, and Tyrion actively aiding Daenerys' war efforts as Hand of the Queen.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M-R]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Towards his own children and both grandsons.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Twice has served as Hand of the King: first to Aerys Targaryen and secondly to his grandson Joffrey. His reign as Hand is seen (in-verse) as a time of prosperity, despite "The Mad King". He was also the true architect of the Red Wedding, by guaranteeing the Freys protection from retribution.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: The ''History and Lore'' videos cites this as his reason for betraying Aerys, largely due to the King refusing to allow Prince Rhaegar to marry Cersei, thus spurning the man who was running the kingdom for Aerys and insulting a vassal of one of the oldest houses of the kingdom, to say nothing of ordering Jaime into the Kingsguard to block him from being Tywin's heir. Tywin even {{Lampshades}} this, stating that if Aerys had been nicer to him and accepted his match, he would have remained loyal to the Crown.
** And then of course there's Tyrion, who despite the impossibility of the thing went far and beyond for the sake of House Lannister in order to please his father... up until Tywin pushes him one time too many, causing Tyrion to snap and leave King's Landing and his family behind... with two fatal crossbow bolts in Tywin's chest.
* MockMillionaire: Tywin reveals to Cersei that the Lannisters are no longer as wealthy as they used to be, with the Lannisters' gold mines having dried up three years before and most of the Lannisters' wealth spent backing Joffrey in the War of the Five Kings. Worse yet, a lot of the debt that they're owed is held by the Iron Throne, which itself is heavily financed by debts owed to the Iron Bank of Braavos.
* MoneyIsNotPower: Tywin swears by this, calling gold "just another rock." While their (formerly) outrageous wealth certainly helped, the Lord of Casterly Rock believes that true power comes from strong leadership. He was even able to maintain the illusion that all was well with their finances for some time.
* {{Narcissist}}: While a brilliant statesman and a highly skilled military strategist, he is also [[{{Pride}} extremely vain]], unrepentantly [[LackofEmpathy cruel]], and morbidly [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]]. In addition to having nothing but contempt for those less talented or of lower birth than himself, Tywin harbors no compassion or loyalty to ''anyone'' outside his family. By his own admission, he views anyone who is not a Lannister as either enemies or pawns to be exploited. Despite professing to do everything for his family's benefit, he regularly rides roughshod over its individual members' welfare to advance his own interests (which he selfishly equates with his entire household). Even when his own children protest his tyrannical grip over their lives, he coldly dismisses them or ruthlessly browbeats them into submission . Furthermore, he is pathologically obsessed with projecting an image of invincibility and infallibility as evidenced by his deep-rooted inclination to [[LeaveNoSurvivors wipe out all who challenge his authority with extreme prejudice]] and his grandiose plan to [[TakeOverTheWorld establish a dynasty that will rule Westoros for a thousand years]].
* NayTheist: Cersei quotes him in "Blackwater" as saying "The gods have no mercy, that's why they are gods", and notes that Tywin does believe in the gods -- he just doesn't like them. Along the lines of a typical HollywoodAtheist backstory, he developed this attitude after the death of his beloved wife. Tywin also views his son Tyrion, whom he intensely dislikes, as a cruel lesson by the Gods to teach him humility because Tyrion can still fly Lannister colors despite Tywin's disapproval of him.
* NewEraSpeech: Gives [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE7ZPSrm2rU one]], masquerading as an exercise in the [[Creator/{{Socrates}} Socratic Method]], to Tommen after Joffrey's death, indicating Tywin's vision of the future.
* NervesOfSteel: Is very nonchalant of Tyrion threatening to kill him, even after finally being shot down with a crossbow.
* NiceToTheWaiter: Treats Arya, who is working as his cupbearer, with a surprising amount of respect, largely because he is amused by her and obviously enjoys the company of a bright youngster more than that of his rather pedestrian retainers and warlords. Of course, this doesn't stop him casually giving her over to the monstrous Gregor Clegane once he has to leave.
* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed:
** Tywin is based in part on Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the "Kingmaker" and TheManBehindTheMan during the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses (along with [[{{Foil}} Roose Bolton]])[[note]]Neville's influence and dissatisfaction with Yorkist King Edward IV (noted to be similar to [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark Robb Stark]]) pretty much destabilized the House of York's fortunes, at least until Richard III. Tywin, of course, enabled Roose to enact the Red Wedding[[/note]].
** Some aspects of [[UsefulNotes/EdwardTheFirst King Edward I Longshanks]] and [[UsefulNotes/LEtatCestMoi King Philip le Bel]] are also at play. King Edward was tall, intimidating, ruthless and has very little respect for his offspring[[note]]For reference to this portrayal, see at least ''{{Film/Braveheart}}''; it is on record that Edward I vented badly on the clearly-incompetent Edward II before he died[[/note]], while King Philip was cold, unsmiling and icy. Edward won a famous victory in the Battle of Eversham against Simon de Montfort (whose sigil inspired that of House Reyne). King Philip ruthlessly purged UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar and introduced administrative efficiency only to have all his work wasted by his descendants who would start UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar. ''Literature/TheAccursedKings'' which deals with King Philip was an acknowledged influence on the books.
** His being an competent bureaucrat holding the realm together for problematic sovereigns [[note]]Aerys II and Joffrey[[/note]] may also take its inspiration from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Gaunt,_1st_Duke_of_Lancaster John of Gaunt]], patriarch of the [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet House of Lancaster]][[note]]which is almost blatantly where the name "Lannister" was derived[[/note]], who held England together during the problematic tenure of [[UsefulNotes/RichardTheSecond Richard II]][[note]]who interestingly shares the same number as Aerys the Mad[[/note]]. Tywin's personality, however, borrows more from [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare's]] fictionalization of his son, the elderly Theatre/HenryIV (at least in his eponymous plays): an active leader and administrator disappointed with the incompetence of their more outgoing, personable offspring (Prince Hal for Henry IV, Jaime and Tyrion for Tywin).
* NoNonsenseNemesis: Tywin likes things concise and to the point and wastes no time when an opportunity is at hand. He dislikes beating around the bush, and is very vocal about the unnecessary behavior he regularly encounters, be it lavish, humorous, erroneous or plain foolish.
* NoSell: After four seasons of Tywin cowing his children with a mere DeathGlare and TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, Cersei and Tyrion finally reject his efforts to dominate and manipulate them in "The Children": Cersei confirms that her children are bastards born of incest and therefore his legitimate bloodline is cut short, and Tyrion straight-up shoots him dead.
* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Done ''intentionally'' as an intimidation tactic to psyche out Joffrey: As he not-so-subtly explains just how little concern he has for Joffrey as a person compared to his concern for the realm, he steps closer and closer up to the Iron Throne until he's looming over the little shit.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: When Tywin approaches Oberyn in a whorehouse to talk, there are several naked whores on the bed, and they walk past Tywin. In the entire scene, Tywin never ogles any of them, remaining with his undisturbed icy glare at face-level. (Given that one of the first things we find out about Tywin is his [[{{Hypocrite}} public]] distaste for whores, this is probably very justified.)
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Robert used to rub him the wrong way by [[HatesBeingTouched patting him on the back]].
* OffingTheOffspring: He would never outright do it to Tyrion but he dreams about it and if he sees a chance to make it happen with a clean hand and guilt-free conscience, he'll make it happen.
** In Season 1, Tyrion speculates that his father is [[UriahGambit putting him on the vanguard of a battle to invoke this]], and Tywin is not amused to see his [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated son still alive]] in the aftermath.
** He reveals to Tyrion that he ''intended'' to kill him on the day he was born but Tywin could not bring himself to do it because Tyrion was ultimately still a Lannister.
** In Season 4, Tywin tells Jaime that he intends to declare Tyrion guilty in his trial for regicide, normally an instant death sentence, but provide Tyrion the chance to go to the Wall to join the Night's Watch, which itself puts his odds on surviving, what with the taint of regicide and the bitter cold of the North, at great risk. There's also the [[UriahGambit Wildling army that's approaching the Wall]], as he admitted to Oberyn Martell.
** After the TrialByCombat, Tywin finally has the legal mandate to officially sentence Tyrion to death and he does it without a second thought. When Tyrion confronts him after the prison escape, Tywin says that he wasn't going to do it but it's impossible to know if he was telling the truth.
* OldSoldier: Tywin has fought in at least two country-wide wars and the annihilation of rebel bannermen before that:
-->'''Tywin:''' 'The War of Five Kings' they're calling it. This will be my last war. The one I'll be remembered for.
* OnlySaneMan: Tywin sees himself as this more often than not, much to his own chagrin. As a result, Tywin has some small affection for anyone who proves to be more intelligent than his usual company.
** Inverted in relation to Jaime and Cersei's relationship. Despite it and Joffrey's true heritage being an open secret among characters, Tywin is genuinely shocked when Cersei confirms it, indicating that he either had no idea or just refused to believe it. It's also partially inverted with Tyrion as, while Tywin sees that he's useful, he insists on still treating him as a drunken hedonist who embarrasses the Lannister name.
* {{Opportunistic Bastard}}: Joffrey himself points it out during Robert's rebellion where Tywin effectively hid underneath Casterly Rock and only supported King Robert when all was decided. He effectively pulled a Walder Frey.
* NotSoAboveItAll: Even though Tywin has little patience for Joffrey's antics, he's shown suppressing a grin during Joffrey's "War of the Five Kings" reenactment-by-dwarf, which mocks his former rivals. Despite his aura of invincibility, he has never won a battle without overwhelming numerical superiority and once lost a battle to Edmure Tully, with greater numbers to boot.
* NumberTwo: Has served as Hand of the King twice in his life, with the first one lasting twenty years.
* PapaWolf: To Jaime at least. When Amory Lorch accidentally sends a letter bearing valuable information to a House allied with the Starks, Tywin goes ([[TheStoic by his standards]]) berserk and tells him that should any more harm befall Jaime as a result of this, Amory will be in a world of hurt. He intentionally defies it with Tyrion, admitting that he only went to war after Tyrion's capture to defend House Lannister's reputation and being annoyed when Tyrion turns out to still be alive.
* ThePatriarch: His very first appearance has him giving Jaime an impassioned speech about the importance of the family legacy while skinning a deer. He orders his children around all he wants, and even his psychopathic ''boss'' and grandson King Joffrey (who outright threatens to kill his own mother and tried to assassinate his uncle) is scared of him.
-->'''Tywin''': Your mother's dead, before long I'll be dead, and you...and your brother, and your sister, and all of her children. All of us dead, all of us rotting in the ground. It's the ''family name'' that lives on. It's ''all'' that lives on. Not your honor, not your personal glory, family.
* {{Patricide}}: His final fate, at the hands of Tyrion.
* ThePerfectionist: A defining feature. Tywin is obsessed with House Lannister's reputation, never misses an opportunity to point out his children's flaws and disrespects anyone that does not live up to his standards... which is everyone else but himself. On the other hand, his perfectionism is one of the major reasons he is aware of everything that goes on around him and what makes him a deadly strategist.
* PerpetualFrowner: Tywin's face is always a window to his discontent, or [[DeathGlare worse]], and he rarely smiles. [[labelnote:From the books...]]Lord Tywin is reputed to have smiled on four occasions: when he married his first cousin Joanna, when Aerys Targaryen made him Hand of the King, when Jaime and Cersei were born, and when he extinguished the two noble houses that had mocked and defied his weak-willed father. Since that last one, just the threat of him smiling again has been enough to get people to do whatever he wants... and when he can't be there to personally smile, he sends a musician to play a song about that last one.[[/labelnote]]
* PetTheDog: To those who show some modicum of competence in the [[SurroundedByIdiots sea of idiots]] he regularly deals with:
** While he may treat Tyrion with contempt most of the time, he does occasionally acknowledge him, such as appointing him as the (acting) Hand of the King. Granted, it was for pragmatic reasons, but it was still a big sign of respect and trust, especially when there were other male Lannisters about... too bad that Tywin seemed to feel that he had to dial up the insulting afterward as if to balance that out.
** Also, to Arya while she's his cupbearer. He shares with her personal anecdotes that Tywin would likely never share with anyone else, and she even manages to get a genuine laugh out of him with a joke she makes. He later tells her directly that he's taken a liking to her, though when she oversteps her bounds as his servant he sternly rebukes her.
** He also mentions that when Jaime was young, he couldn't read because of being dyslexic, so he sat down with his son for four hours every night and struggled through the arduous process of teaching his son how to read:
--->'''Tywin:''' I taught my son Jaime to read. The Maester came to me one day, told me he wasn't learning. He couldn't make sense of the letters. [[LIsForDyslexia He reversed them in his head.]] The Maester said that he had heard of this affliction, and said that we must just accept it. ''HA!'' After that I sat Jaime down for four hours every day until he learned. He hated me for it. For a time. For a long time. ''But he learned''.
** In "The Lion and the Rose", Tywin immediately rushes to shield Tommen from having to watch Joffrey's nightmarish death. In the next episode, he lectures Tommen on what it means to be a good king, gently coaxing him to tell Tywin what he thinks that means and Tywin carefully explaining why his suggestions are incorrect. He assures Tommen "I'm ''not '' trying to trick you", he wants to be sure Tommen understands what he's getting into so that he doesn't end up like his brother. Outside of his moments with Arya, it's about the only time we've seen Tywin actually act in a paternal manner.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Played with.
** He refers to the Northerners as "unwashed", but would treat women and savages with fairness [[EqualOpportunityEvil according to their competence]].
** He knows Ser Loras is gay and considers him to be mentally ill. Despite his personal feelings on the matter, he is nevertheless okay with the idea of Loras guarding Joffrey as he recognizes the knight's worth as a warrior. His views are also less intense in comparison to Joffrey's, who wants all homosexuals put to death. All in all, Tywin's opinion on gay men border on CondescendingCompassion.
** In terms of his own family, Cersei assumes he doesn't let her 'contribute' because she's a woman, but he ([[JerkassHasAPoint quite correctly]]) states that she isn't as smart as she thinks she is. He names TheUnfavorite Tyrion as Hand of the King in his stead after Joffrey kills Ned Stark because he wants Tyrion to do damage control, something he rightly assumes Cersei isn't capable of doing. However, despite Tywin's opinion of her intelligence, it becomes clear that he sees Cersei as a brood mare to be married off to make connections and babies precisely because she's a woman. As for Tyrion, though he's willing to put Tyrion to work and doesn't deny his skills, he still hates Tyrion because he's a dwarf and thus 'not a presentable Lannister', refusing to name Tyrion as his heir so long as Jaime, the Golden Boy of the family, may potentially take up that role. Though Jaime's vows to the Kingsguard disqualify him from serving that role, Tywin is convinced he can talk/bribe/extort Jaime into quitting somehow, coming awfully close in Season 4.
** He's also an avowed classist and makes it clear he thinks little of the smallfolk.
* PragmaticVillainy: One of his defining features, as Tywin saw his house nearly destroyed by his good-hearted and gentle father. As a result, Tywin is brutal and vicious, but (he believes) only when there is a profit to be gained from it; for example, he stops the torture of prisoners in Harrenhal upon arrival, because exploiting their skills for free is more useful. But when he suspects an assassin attempting to kill him, he immediately orders a decimation of the garrison, along with torture and interrogation of anyone suspected of aiding or knowing about the assassin. He is also fair and generous to his enemies after they surrender to him, not because he cares about them in any way... but because, as he points out to Joffrey, if you crush people who submit then no one will be willing to surrender in the future. [[labelnote:From the books...]]He's had enough of ''that'' last one after Aerys II violated that maxim by executing Houses Darklyn and Hollard after they capitulated. Tywin also disaproved with The Mountain's brutal murder of the Targaryen Children... [[VorpalPillow gentle words and a soft pillow]] [[DoWrongRight could have done the job with much less fuss.]][[/labelnote]] He also grudgingly respects Tyrion's political acumen and adaptability, putting his skills to use instead of just ignoring him altogether. Even naming Tyrion the Master of Coin, a job Tyrion himself balks at because he's never managed wealth in his life, seems to be because he believes Tyrion will do a good job.
** Bizarrely averted during the Harrenhall arc. He recognizes Arya as a highborn girl and instead of doing what we would expect from his character (or from any sensible person in that situation) -- determining her identity to see if she can be used as a hostage or bargaining material with someone -- he decides to... uh, chat with her. And then leave her with Ser Gregor's crew.
* {{Pride}}: His most defining trait. While this trope is precisely what drove Tywin to make House Lannister the most powerful one in Westeros, it also drove him to make it the most hated as well.
-->'''Tywin''': The lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of the sheep.
* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Has a larger screen-presence in Season 2.
* PullingTheThread: He casually begins picking apart Arya's deception over time, noting small things like addressing him as "my lord" instead of "milord" to figure out that she's actually nobleborn instead of a commoner like she's pretending. However, he seems more amused by how clever Arya is than upset at the deception.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: He never engages in it directly but he insists on Tyrion getting Sansa pregnant by any means necessary. When Tyrion says he won't rape her, Tywin is annoyed as it's clear he [[EvilCannotComprehendGood sees no issue with forcing his son to rape a teenage girl whose family he just had murdered and fails to see why Tyrion objects.]]
** Can be considered a case of ValuesDissonance because he lives in a world were sex within marriage cannot legally qualify as rape.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: If ever there were a grand master at this, it is Tywin Lannister. He's given at least one to each of his children -- telling Jaime that his personal glory is ultimately worthless, Tyrion that he'll ''never'' honor any claim Tyrion has to Casterly Rock because of his irresponsible and lecherous behavior (also because he's a dwarf who killed his mother during childbirth), and Cersei that his lack of confidence in her is not because she's a woman but because she's not as smart as she thinks she is. He always has one on hand for moronic subordinates as well and has no problem with summarizing the flaws of past rulers, [[KickTheSonOfABitch Joffrey included]], while the guy is lying in state with his mother by his side, and over her feeble and rather pathetic protests no less.
** In the last episode of Season 4, he suddenly becomes on the receiving end, first from Cersei who interrupts ''his'' speech to her to inform her father about her and Jaime's relationship, consequently ruining the former's delusions about the family legacy and becoming the first person in the series to shut Tywin up. After that comes Tyrion's turn... who brings a crossbow for the conversation and after giving a piece of his mind to Tywin shuts him up forever.
* {{Realpolitik}}: Tywin's political philosophy is largely seizing any opportunity for success and doing whatever must be done to see it through. To wit, the continued success of the Lannisters -- beyond military might, and the sheer amount of gold the family rests upon -- is due largely to Tywin's cold, critical knack for impersonal politicking. He'll ally with the enemy houses of the Boltons and Freys to betray the Starks, he'll marry his own grandsons into the rival Tyrell family, and (as much as he'd prefer not to) he'll even sell out his own [[TheBrute attack dog Ser Gregor Clegane]] to the Martells if it means solidifying the Lannister power base.
** Interestingly enough, in spite of his practice of {{Realpolitik}}, his second term as Hand of the King follows a similar trajectory to Ned Stark's tenure. Even though he's a [[TheUnfettered ruthless and feared administrator with almost no lengths to which he won't go to secure his family's power]], he still fails to prevent an assassination of the king, is made into a XanatosSucker by Littlefinger, agitates an old enemy who has one of his family in their power to the point of conflict, and dies.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He'll push through his ultimate decision at the end of every dispute, but he's willing to listen to reason if it genuinely suits his purposes. He was a very capable Hand to the Mad King for nearly two decades, for a reason.
** Despite his relationships with his children, he continues to practice PragmaticVillainy with them. While he ''loathes'' Tyrion, he trusts him as Hand until Tywin himself arrives to fill the role, and preludes a brutal TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in Season 3 by telling Tyrion he will be given quarters and a position more suitable for his talents and standing, and keeps his word by naming him Master of Coin. Cersei, on the other hand, is told outright that she is "not as clever as she thinks she is" and kept out of important decisions to the best of his ability.
** He is disgusted by Loras Tyrell's homosexuality, but still respects the young man's fighting skills and wishes to use them -- Tywin did allow Loras to command the vanguard at the Battle of Blackwater, after all, and even to do so [[PetTheDog wearing his late lover's armor]].
** He thinks Ser Gregor's torture of prisoners is a waste of time and stops it.
** He recognizes Arya as a girl very quickly. Later, he deduces (correctly) that she is i) a Northerner and ii) highborn, but realises that she is alone in the world and her actions are to protect herself.
** Despite his behavior before Joffrey, he ''is'' fully aware that Daenaerys will eventually bring her three dragons to Westeros; Tywin knows Dorne was the only country to withstand Aegon I and his dragons, so he is willing to bargain with Oberyn Martell.
* ReplacementGoldfish: He tells Arya that she reminds him of Cersei when she was young, and something in his voice makes it sound like he regrets how things went. [[labelnote:From the books...]]He and Cersei were originally quite close, but a series of events including Tywin failing to get her married to Rhaegar Targaryen and instead marrying her to Robert strained their relationship to the point it's at now.[[/labelnote]]
* RightForTheWrongReasons: He's absolutely correct about the importance of strong family ties as we see with the Starks. However, Tywin doesn't see any difference between what is best for the family and [[ItsAllAboutMe what will benefit him personally]].
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: A very hard-working and able administrator. Revealed as a character trait in his very first scene when he has a conversation with Jaime while skinning a deer, work he could easily have left to servants.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:S-Z]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Implied to be a philosophy of his in particular, and the Lannisters in general.
* SelectiveObliviousness: He genuinely never believed the "rumors" about Cersei's children all being Jaime's, despite what ''should'' have been obvious and indeed was deduced by Ned Stark[[labelnote:note]]specifically that the Baratheons' black hair is nigh-universally dominant, as is the case with all of Robert's bastards, whereas all three of his supposed children by Cersei are blond like the other Lannisters[[/labelnote]], and Tywin only finds out because Cersei told him point-blank to his face to spite him... and he still claims not to believe her right after mumbling "nonononoNO"!
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Tywin's ultimate goal was to bring House Lannister back from the brink and make it a great and feared house again but the methods he used to achieve his goal have left them on the brink of extinction.
* TheStoic: Though he is ''very'' often contemptuous and snarky, he has little emotional range beyond this. However he does show more emotion than in the novels, where he only loses his icy cold demeanor once, when Tyrion asks him to acknowledge his rights to Casterly Rock. TV!Tywin loses his temper (though never his control) in several episodes, either because he's SurroundedByIdiots or [[ThePatriarch putting his children in line]], and once even gives a genuine (albeit short) laugh.
* TheStrategist: Very much so, both as a military commander and a diplomat. What makes this combination deadly is that when Robb Stark outmatches him as a battlefield commander, Tywin can fall back on his secondary skills while Robb is still a raw youth in the case of politics and diplomacy.
* SurroundedByIdiots: He considers his eldest two children to be stupid in their ways, and he makes it clear when he notices Arya that he considers everyone else in the fortress to be the equivalent of blind cattle in terms of intellect, both for wasting good talent and for not noticing a girl dressed as a boy. The only subordinates that he considers remotely competent on a mental level are Tyrion and, ironically, ''Arya''... then again, most of the Lannister army ''is'' made up of psychopaths and dumb thugs. His reaction to Amory Lorch's death is less "Guard! There's an assassin loose in the castle!" and more "Guard! Ugh, now I have to replace this moron with some other moron...."
** In a deleted scene on the Season 3 DVD, Tywin reveals in a private meeting that he knows full well that Pycelle's appearance of a doddering old man is all an act and asks "am I really the only one who sees through this performance? Is it possible so many have been so stupid for so long?" (Pycelle admits even he can't believe it works so well).
* TheSvengali: To Tommen, the new king due to Joffrey's death, and who Tywin clearly intends to mold into a vehicle for Lannister dominance of the Seven Kingdoms, with the side effect that Tommen could probably have become one of Westeros' ''better'' kings, whereas Joffrey was already a lost cause before he came under Tywin's influence. Remember that Tywin was Hand of the King to Aerys Targaryen II for 20 years, and despite that king's madness those years are regarded as some of the best in living memory thanks to Tywin's administration.
* TranquilFury: Very calmly establishes his power by sending Joffrey to his room. All without raising his voice.
* TechnicianVersusPerformer: His leadership of the royalist forces against Robb Stark, essentially. Lord Tywin is a good soldier and strategist due to hard and careful work, while Robb is a born conqueror. Ultimately, Tywin's exploitation of the strategic imbalance between the Iron Throne and the Stark kingdom and plus Robb's personal missteps proves decisive in the Riverlands theater. Robb, on the other hand, had bet the whole war on winning enough battles.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: As much as he hates it, he does respect Tyrion as the most capable (or at least most trustworthy) of the lords in King's Landing. While he is harsh and abusive towards Tyrion, he does also speak to him as somewhat of an equal.
* ThousandYearReign: His aim for the Lannister legacy.
* TemptingFate: He sarcastically asks if Tyrion is going to kill his own father, which he does.
* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West, Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, Hand of the King and Savior of the City, which is ironic considering the previous time he led an army to King's Landing was to sack it. [[labelnote:From the books...]]He also holds the honorific title of Shield of Lannisport.[[/labelnote]]
* TooDumbToLive: He really drops the ball when calling Shae a whore when his son at crosspoint clearly told him not to.
* {{Troll}}: Doesn't show up very often but it comes up in his negotiations with Lady Olenna, "The uncertainty makes you uncomfortable".
* {{Ubermensch}}: He has a grand vision for the Lannister family, values competence and intelligence over titles and dominates every room he enters with his presence.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: His arrogance and successful record often leads him to assume that his foes are incompetent more often than they actually are, which sometimes comes to bite him:
** He totally underestimates Robb's skill as a commander in their early battles, especially glaring given 1: who his father was, and 2: the fact that Tywin himself was treated the same way as a youth. However, he quickly learns from his previous mistake and successfully conspires with Walder Frey and Roose Bolton to have Robb ''brutally'' assassinated.
** More subtly, on the diplomatic field it happens with Olenna Tyrell. While negotiating marriage arrangements between the family he acts willfully and blackmails the Queens of Thorns into accepting his ultimatum... Olenna relents and then goes the way around to protect her family's interests -- by murdering Tywin's grandson, the king, right under Tywin's nose. The best part? Tywin doesn't even know.
** And, of course, he underestimated Tyrion's ability to survive time and time again... until Tyrion held him at crossbowpoint.
* UndignifiedDeath: Dies by getting shot by his abused and loathed son Tyrion with two crossbow bolts whilst he was in the privy with his pants down[[labelnote:From the books...]]... and correspondingly his bowels loosen upon his death, with no gold to be found[[/labelnote]]. While he even lampshades it, thanks to [[TheStoic Tywin being Tywin]], he is still able to [[FaceDeathWithDignity bring forth ''some'' gravitas]] during the whole debacle.
* TheUnfettered: His ruthlessness is only hampered by pragmatic concerns.
* UngratefulBastard: Tyrion not only carried out his father's orders in Kings Landing in reigning in Joffrey and Cersei, but he personally planned the city's defense, fatally weakened Stannis' forces, and personally led the fight against the remaining attackers despite Cersei and Joffrey's idiocy and spitefulness hampering him at every turn, ''including'' trying to assassinate him on the battlefield. Without these efforts Tywin's relief force would have been facing a far larger, better organised, and untouched army, who by the time he arrived would have likely killed both his grandson and daughter, as well as have taken the city and thus making his attempted counter attack both pointless and nigh suicidal. Tywin ''thanks'' Tyrion by ignoring him for several weeks as he was wounded, and when Tyrion brings up his grievances, he gives his son a few concessions such as a larger room "more suited to your name", a position where he can continue serving his family, and a suitable wife in due time... then [[EvilIsPetty he flatly refuses to officially make Tyrion his heir, unleashes a spiteful tirade about how much he hates Tyrion, and threatens to kill the next whore he catches him with]].
** Taken UpToEleven in Season 4. Tywin admits, [[KickTheSonOfABitch in front of his dead body no less]], that Joffrey was not a wise king. So even if Tyrion was guilty, which of course he wasn't, Tywin and company should really be thanking him for the getting the millstone out of the way. Instead, Tywin lets him take the fall for Joffrey's oh-so-terrible murder. It's the equivalent of a wife and husband having a domestic argument and the husband grounding the child for daring to speak out against the horrible wife causing problems. Never have the words NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished been more appropriate as far as Tyrion's concerned.
* UnwittingPawn: For all his intelligence, experience and ruthlessness, Tywin Lannister falls prey to the same mistake Ned Stark did; he trusted ''Littlefinger'' and raised him to a position of supremacy in the Riverlands and allowed him to marry the widowed lady of the Vale, making him arguably the second most powerful man in Westeros besides Tywin himself. In return, Littlefinger killed Joffrey with the Tyrells, in part because Tywin [[ItsPersonal got Catelyn killed]] and partially because it would plunge the Seven Kingdoms into yet more chaos, which was a goal he [[ObviouslyEvil stated aloud to Tywin]] and kidnapped Sansa Stark from Kings' Landing, giving Littlefinger an avenue for control of yet another of the Seven Kingdoms... and Tyrion discovers that his predecessor's supposed "magic" at financing the Iron Throne was really ''heavy'' borrowing from the Iron Bank of Braavos, an entity which even Tywin doesn't dare cross.
* VillainousBSOD: When Cersei directly confronts him with her and Jaime's incest Tywin's trademark stoicism cracks, as he finally comes to realize that his family's claim to ultimate power -- and hence his legacy -- is predicated on a fiction that had been obvious to everyone but himself.
* VillainousBreakdown: A downplayed example at the beginning of the war, "They have my SON!". When Cersei reveals the truth about the "family legacy" he'd been so obsessed over, he is overcome by enraged silence, unable and unwilling to process what she tells him.
* VillainHasAPoint: Tywin is absolutely correct about Joffrey neither being a wise or a good king.
* VillainousWidowsPeak: A sharp blonde one. [[labelnote:In the books]]He instead [[BaldOfEvil shaves it all off.]][[/labelnote]]
* VisionaryVillain: His speech to Jaime and his discussions with his cupbearer Arya reveals that he aspires to the legacy of Aegon the Conqueror and wants to create with gold and sheer will what Aegon had done with three dragons: a dynasty of Lannister hegemony that would rival and even surpass the Targaryens.
* WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency: When asked by Tyrion when has he ever done something that was for the family and not for his own interests, he angrily reveals that he wanted to kill Tyrion at birth but refused to do so since Tyrion was still a Lannister; Tywin considered it '''going above and beyond''' that he didn't kill his son but instead raised and acknowledged him as such.
* WellDoneSonGuy: His children regularly seek his validation, but Tywin ignores their virtues just as often and is instead quick to highlight their shortcomings, much to their chagrin
-->'''Tywin:''' ''[to Jaime]'' You are blessed with many abilities few men possess...and what have you done with these blessings, eh? You served as a glorified bodyguard to two kings. One a madman, the other a drunk.\\
''[to Tyrion]'' You are a low-born, ill-made, spiteful little creature filled with envy, lust, and low cunning.\\
''[to Cersei]'' I don't distrust you because you are a woman. I distrust you because you are not as smart as you think you are.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: The Histoy and Lore videos indicate that he and King Aerys were tight as nails until the latter's madness and jealousy kicks in. Though it's not till it becomes absolutely clear that Aerys is doomed for deposal at Robert's hand that he fully turns on him.
* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Tywin is highly resentful at Tyrion for his malformations (which caused Tywin's wife to die giving birth) and whoring ways. What's worse from his point of view is that Jaime ''chose'' to join the Kingsguard and thereby be ineligible to inherit the titles and lands of House Lannister, and despite Tywin's exhortations to ask him to abandon the post Jaime is determined to reclaim his honor, something which Tywin regards as pointless.
** All three of his children only possess one of the qualities he values in a potential perfect heir: Cersei is ruthless, Jaime is strong, and Tyrion is clever. All three posses touches of the others' defining qualities, but none of them have that perfect balance Tywin seeks and seems to see in himself.
* WickedCultured: As one would expect of a massively rich upper-class patriarch, Tywin is very well-read, particularly when it comes to history.
* WorthyOpponent: Few people manage to hold their own against him, and he shows a certain respect for each of them in return:
** He considers Lady Olenna to be his intellectual equal and recognizes that she's the true head of House Tyrell, as he deals with her directly when arranging a marriage between their two families, and not with her son Mace, who is technically the Lord of Highgarden. She respects Tywin and considers him a quality rival.
** Tywin gains respect for Robb Stark, seeing him as an excellent battlefield tactician and an incredibly popular leader who is not going to lose through conventional means.
** While his hatred and contempt for Tyrion son is very evident, he still (ever so grudgingly) is aware of his son's intelligence, perception, and cunning, which is why he was willing to name him Hand in his stead and give him power during crucial times.
** He views his cup bearer at Harrenhal as more competent than all his advisers and she's one of the few people to get away with snarking at him, because Tywin enjoys that she's sharp and gutsy enough to match him. Of course ironies of ironies, what he doesn't know is that she's actually [[{{KingIncognito}} Arya Stark]], the daughter of his archenemy. Whether he would have been more impressed with her if he'd known she was the runaway Stark daughter and managed to survive right under his nose, or just angered at her brazenness was never explored.
* WouldHurtAChild: Infamously so, as discussed by Lady Stark who was dead worried about Sansa and Arya because the Targaryen children were butchered in their sleep on the orders of Tywin Lannister. The children of House Reyne weren't spared either, as Cersei ''boasts'' to Margaery.
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Rage is ultimately the source of Tywin's ruthlessness. With both the Red Wedding, and the rebellion of House Reyne, he has proven that anyone who even considers attacking or resisting him will be terminated with extreme prejudice. When one considers how his father's kindness and benevolence was abused and mocked while Tywin himself grew up this makes some sense.
* YouWouldntShootMe: States so regarding Tyrion when his son is pointing a crossbow at him. Tywin really doesn't believe that Tyrion has it in him to kill his father. When Tyrion does shoot him, it's obviously partly to prove that he ''can'', damn you -- and it takes Tywin quite a bit of time to comprehend that it in fact happened.
* ZergRush: His method for fighting Robb's forces is to continue to send wave after wave of enemies at him as opposed to actually use legitimate tactics or rely on skill. Although Robb wins every battle, [[WeHaveReserves Tywin has a greater number of forces.]] Naturally, this comes back to bite him in the ass when the losses finally pile up so that [[WonTheWarLostThePeace House Lannister is forced to band with House Tyrell for security]].
[[/folder]]
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