Game of Thrones/Characters/House Lannister: Difference between revisions

* [[Cool Old Guy]]: His scenes in season 2 serve to show him as not some fire breathing psychopath, but rather as a driven, determined and understandable man...who just so happens to be the [[Big Bad]]. He still has his darker elements, as he is willing to be surprisingly brutal when {{spoiler|he believes someone tried to kill him}}, and orders Gregor Clegane to brutalize the subjects of his enemies to put pressure on them and deny them resources, but he only does this out of [[Pragmatic Villainy|cold-blooded pragmatism]], not because he enjoys it.

* [[Control Freak]]: Of the highest, most unhealthy order.

{{quote| '''Polliver:''' ''(to Arya, while dressed as a boy)'' What are you looking at?! Kneel! Kneel or I'll take your lungs out, boy!<br />

'''Tywin:''' You'll do no such thing. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|This one's a girl, you idiot.]] }}

* [[Dragon-in-Chief]]: Hierarchically, Joffery is about as close to a [[Big Bad]] as the show currently has (outside of the [[Bigger Bad|White Walkers]]), but since Tywin is out in the field acting as a military surrogate for Joffrey, many people (both in-universe and in real life) view him as a [[Big Bad]] figure.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: [[Playing With Tropes|Played with.]] See [[Pragmatic Villainy]]. He isn't disgusted by the torture, but by the waste of resources.

* [[Fiction 500]]: Often referred to as the richest man in the Seven Kingdoms; Robert owes him three ''million'' gold dragons, and he has no trouble forking over eighty thousand more to provide prize money for a tourney. A common saying is that Tywin Lannister is so rich that he "shits gold."

* [[Freudian Excuse]]: The reason why he's such an hardass is because his father's magnanimity nearly lead to the bankruptcy and ruination of his house. Despite this, he still has very fond memories of the man.

{{quote| '''Tywin:''' Green boy. One taste of battle and he'll run back to Winterfell with his tail between his legs.}}

* [[Nay Theist]]: Cersei quotes him in "Blackwater" as saying "The gods have no mercy, that’s why they are gods”, and notes that Tywin does believe in the gods- he just doesn't like them. Along the lines of a typical [[Hollywood Atheist]] backstory, he developed this attitude after the death of his beloved wife.

* [[The Patriarch]]: His very first appearance has him giving Jaime an impassioned speech about the importance of the family legacy. [[Foreshadowing|While skinning a deer]].

{{quote| '''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.}}

* [[Odd Friendship]]: Not quite a ''friendship'' per say, but as noted above, he's developed something of an unusual liking and attachment to Arya.

{{quote| I taught my son Jamie how to read. The Maester came for me one day and told me he wasn't learning. Couldn't make sense of the letters. [[L Is for Dyslexia|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.''}}

* [[Pragmatic Villainy]]: One of his defining features, as Tywin saw his house nearly destroyed by his good-hearted, gentle, and very weak father. As a result, Tywin is brutal and vicious, but only when there is a profit to be gained from it. He immediately stops the torture of prisoners in Harrenhal because there was nothing to be gained from it and they were wasting valuable laborers with useful trade skills. 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 does seem to have two unbreakable principles that he's cracked into the skulls of his children and the entire Seven Kingdoms: "A Lannister never breaks his word" and "A Lannister always pays his debts." Of course, he rarely needs to give his word or get into debt in the first place [[False Reassurance|(Note that those two can easily be given a more sinister spirit)]].

* [[So Proud of You]]: Thoroughly trampled upon. His children are, in descending order: Queen Regent of the Seven Kingdoms, a knight of the Kingsguard, and acting Hand of the King--not to mention his grandson is the King himself--and he's not impressed one rat's ass by any of them. In fact, he seems incredibly disappointed in the lot of them, given their collective penchant for, in his words "[[Always Chaotic Evil|madness and stupidity]]" -- and all things considered, [[Jerkass Has a Point|he's not far off with most of that]]. The only one who isn't a complete idiot is Tyrion, whom he hates anyway for being a dwarf and constantly drinking and whoring ([[Create Your Own Villain|of course, some think the two are related]]).

** <ref>Tywin's first reign as Hand of the King is remembered as one of the most prosperous and peaceful in recent memory. Not impressed? He was hand to fucking Aerys II, and things only started really going downhill once Aerys got rid of him as Hand.</ref>

** His reaction to {{spoiler|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...."

* [[Kick the Dog]]: An almost literal incident, when she has Sansa's direwolf killed because Arya's direwolf - who attacked Joffrey to defend her mistress - is unavailable. In general, her treatment of Sansa when the latter is a hostage of the Lannisters in King's Landing, though this is strangely mixed with occasional [[Pet the Dog]] moments.

* [[Kissing Cousins]]: With Lancel.

* [[Mama Bear]]: She goes to extremes when it concerns protecting her children: when it looks like Stannis Baratheon will sack King's Landing, she even prepares {{spoiler|to poison her youngest to spare him from getting murdered by the victorious enemy troops.}}

* [[Manly Tears]]: A cold, manipulative bitch like Cersei, only cries when she's trying to get something. But when she ''genuinely'' cries when she realises what her son [[Complete Monster|had become]], it almost causes to the viewer feels sorry for her.

* [[Smug Snake]]: She is not as brilliant as she thinks. Witness her dinner with Tyrion in ''The Prince of Winterfell'', where she gloats over the fact that she's holding Tyrion's whore hostage, while both Tyrion and the viewers know she's got the wrong woman altogether.

* [[Twincest]]: With Jaime.

* {{spoiler|[[Villainous Breakdown]]: She's in this mode for the entire episode Blackwater, although it's a less hammy example then usual.}}

* [[Villainous Incest]]: With Jaime.

* [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones]]: He and Cersei are clearly very much in love, and he's very protective of his brother Tyrion.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Knocks down a soldier who unceremoniously stabs Ned in the leg during his duel with the latter. When talking with his father in "You Win or You Die," he comments that this act made him spare Ned's life as killing him in this situation wouldn't be "clean." Tywin basically replies that standards are for pussies.

* [[Humiliation Conga]]: He got thrashed into the ground by Robb and his army was destroyed. Then he's taken as a prisoner and bargaining chip and tied to a pole (which is apparently covered in his own shit) in an unsanitary Northern stockade and ''then'' nearly got his head bitten off by Robb's direwolf. Then he manages to break out, but is captured by the Northmen a few hours later and his viciously beaten through a gauntlet of angry, burly men and nearly got his head hacked off by one ''seriously'' ticked off [[Badass Grandpa]]. And now he's traveling off to King's Landing under the protection of a woman who never misses an opportunity to manhandle him and who he's absolutely terrified of.

* [[Hollywood Atheist]]: He seems to hold no faith for the Old Gods nor the New and seems to be disdainful of religious people, if his exchange with Catelyn is an indication. He even uses the old 'Problem of Evil' thing.

* [[Hot Dad]]: He is the biological father of Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella.

* [[I Have Your Wife|I Have Your Brother]]: Has been captured by the Starks, who plan to use him as a hostage against Cersei.

* [[Jerkass]]: Consistently arrogant, and has a knack for causing the audience to want to see him killed. Not necessarily all that far from being completely unsympathetic, although he is saved from this by having [[Even Evil Has Standards|''some'' standards.]]

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Throwing Bran out of a tower window, obviously. {{spoiler|Also, developing a quick rapport with his cousin Alton, who greatly admires him, only to kill him in order to escape imprisonment.}}

* [[Chivalrous Pervert]]: Despite his infamous habit of whoring, Tyrion has so far been shown to treat all the women he sleeps with well, and is disgusted whenever he sees them being treated badly. Given his disgust for people who treat weaker people badly and his personal history this makes perfect sense.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]

* [[Depraved Dwarf]]: Subverted. Despite his bad reputation and taste for booze and whores, he's a much better person than his siblings and is a fundamentally decent guy.

* [[Freudian Excuse]]: In "Baelor," it's revealed that when Tyrion was sixteen, Jaime hired a whore to pretend to be rescued from rapists and sleep with him. He fell madly in love and married her, but a fortnight later Tywin found out and cruelly told him the truth, and then forced him to watch as she was paid to have sex with/be raped by his entire garrison. It's not difficult to see how he became a wee bit cynical, particularly regarding his family.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: To an exceptional degree. As soon as he sees a slightly unruly crowd in King's Landing, he has guards quickly escort his nephew Tommen to safety before Joffrey angers the mob into violence.

* [[Guile Hero]]: Although his being a Lannister may cause other characters to see him in a more [[Manipulative Bastard|villainous]] [[Magnificent Bastard|light]], there is no doubt of his incredible ability to charm, manipulate, bluff, and talk his way out of a bad situation. For example: laying the groundwork for Bronn to champion him a full episode before he even knew there'd be a trial by combat. He's also able to talk his way from a situation where he's likely to be murdered by hill tribesmen to getting said hill tribesmen to serve as his bodyguards.

* [[Hyper Awareness]]: Likely inherited from his father; Tyrion is very adept at reading people quickly. In "The Old Gods And The New" he actually sees the riot coming just by looking over the crowd and tries to get everyone to safety before it sparks.

* [[Indy Ploy]]: Half his gambits simply seem to come completely off the top of his head, and he gets away through a combination of quick wits, a razor tongue, extensive knowledge of everyone's weaknesses, and [[Refuge in Audacity|sheer balls]]. The other half are meticulously planned out deceptions.

* [[In-Series Nickname]]: Often referred to insultingly as "The Imp" and "Halfman," not that he's all that [[Appropriated Appellation|insulted]]. His Hillman allies even take Half-Man as a ''battlecry'' as do the Kings-guard during the ''Battle of Blackwater''.

** The one nickname he's seemed actually bothered by is when a protestor in the street refers to him as a "demon monkey" and only because he's blamed for the King's atrocities.

{{quote| '''Tyrion:''' I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards, and broken things.}}

* [[My Country, Right or Wrong|My Family Right or Wrong]]: "My dear brother, you wound me. You know how much I love my family." Of course, while he's being entirely sarcastic when he says it, he does tend go along with what's expected of him in the end -- if not exactly in a manner the rest of his family approves of.

* [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]: His life story in a nutshell, but especially in "Blackwater".

* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]]: [[Not So Different|Like father, like son]]. His go-to solution in problematic situations is to attempt to buy his way out. However, his particular skill is offering money in a charismatic and [[Refuge in Audacity|audacious way]], which allows him to win the loyalty of those he pays off.

* [[The Strategist]]

* [[The Unfavourite]]: "All dwarves are bastards in their father's eyes."

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Tyrion's expression when Tywin told him he's sending him to King's Landing as his substitute 'cause "You're my son." is heartbreaking.<ref>He's furious with Tywin instead, assuming this means that Tywin is giving Jaime up for dead and is making Tyrion his [[Replacement Goldfish]].</ref>

* [[Smug Snake]]: To those he has power over, Joffrey is abusive, threatening, and shamelessly overconfident. However, the instant that someone actually stands up to him, he shows off the cringing coward he truly is.

* [[The Sociopath]]: The only person he's shown even the slightest affection for is his father.

* [[Stupid Evil]]: Lannisters aren't known for their humanitarian impulses, but most of them are at least pragmatic about their cruelty and know when restraint would further their interests better. Joffrey, by contrast, tends to do the most vicious thing possible in any given situation, even when it amounts to shooting himself in the foot. In fact the cleverer, morally dark Lannisters' immediate problems all come from Joffrey's poor decisions, something Tywin realizes and appoints Tyrion as Hand of the King to try and do a little bit of damage control. It's [[Discussed]] by Tyrion in episode 2x06:

{{quote| '''Tyrion''': We've had vicious kings and we've had idiot kings, but I don't know if we've ever been cursed with a vicious idiot before!}}

* [[Demoted to Extra]]: She wasn't exactly a large character in the book, but in the series she's only had speaking lines once, and been on screen a handful of scenes beyond that. <ref>She should get more screentime in season two and on, since by ''A Storm of Swords'', she's become an active piece in the game of thrones.</ref>

* [[Hair of Gold]]

* [[Nice Girl]]

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Proves that the Lannister family evil isn't genetic by asking about Bran's condition and being genuinely happy to hear that he will live.

== Prince Tommen Baratheon (Callum Wharry) ==

* [[Demoted to Extra]]: Much like his sister.

* [[Hair of Gold]]

* [[Nice Guy]]

* [[Pet the Dog]]: He doesn't enjoy the notion of Robb being killed by his brother at all, saying as much in front of his mother and more importantly Sansa.

* [[The Red Baron]]

* [[Shoulders of Doom]]: Gregor's armour looks ''awesome''. Alas, he does not have it in the second season, apparently wearing standard Lannister guard gear.

* [[The Quiet One]]: In the first season, he's only said two things, "Sword!" and [[Ax Crazy|screaming]]. As of ''Garden of Bones'', he's had a few more lines, but is hardly what one would call verbose.

* [[You Have Failed Me]]: Apparently the reason why he beheads his horse after losing to Ser Loras.

* [[The Dragon]]: Tyrion's.

* [[Dual-Wielding]]: Wields both his longsword and kukri-like dagger when he and Tyrion are accosted by the mountain clans.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards|Even Antivillainy Has Standards:]] With regard to Joffrey.

{{quote| '''Bronn:''' There's no cure for being a cunt.}}

'''Bronn''': You wouldn't know him. }}

* [[Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone]]: He quickly excuses himself in "Baelor" when Tyrion and his new concubine begin to get busy ''while he's still there''.

* [[Punch Clock Hero]]/[[Punch Clock Villain]]: One of Bronn's most defining features is that he quite simply doesn't give a ''crap''. Kings, knights, maesters, thugs, and, as he [[Establishing Character Moment|notably points out]], {{spoiler|women and children}}. He really just doesn't care who he has to kill as long as Tyrion's paying him the money.

* [[Rank Up]]: Promoted to commander of the city watch by [[Take That Scrappy|Tyrion in season 2, replacing Janos Slynt.]]

* [[The Confidant]]: To Sansa, after being made her handmaiden.

* [[Foreign Fanservice]]: Due to her accent.

* [[Knife Nut]]: Although "Nut" might be pushing it a little, she's been shown to have both an affinity for and some skill with knives in recent episodes, to the point where even [[The Worf Effect|Ilyn Payne gives her a wide berth]].

* [[Mysterious Woman]]

* [[Black Knight]]

* [[The Brute]]: To Tywin Lannister's [[Big Bad]] and Ser Gregor's [[The Dragon]].

* [[Dumb Muscle]]

* [[For the Evulz]]: Seems to have graduated in the same knight school as Ser Gregor - i.e. be as much of a jerk as you can as long as you are still loyal to House Lannister.

* [[Blond Guys Are Evil]]

* [[Catch Phrase]]: "Where's the Brotherhood? Is there gold hidden in the village? jewels?"

* [[For the Evulz]]: After he gets a prisoner to confess, he has the torture continue just to kill the man.

** The Tickler's set of four questions never changes, nor does his non-chalant way of asking them. It looks more like he is playing a creepy killing ritual than trying to obtain information at all.

* {{spoiler|[[Killed Off for Real]]}}

* {{spoiler|[[Neck Snap]]: His death.}}

* [[The Nondescript]]/ [[They Look Just Like Everyone Else]]: He has a totally average, unremarkable appearance and carries out his horrible actions with casual nonchalance.

* [[The Snack Is More Interesting]]: He calmly eats a pear while supervising people being tortured to death. {{spoiler|Appropriately, after Jaqen kills him, Jaqen is seen standing casually with a pear in hand.}}

* [[Smug Smiler]]

{{reflist}}