Analyzing Evil: Tywin Lannister

hello everyone and welcome to episode 70 of analyzing evil featuring tywin lannister from a song of ice and fire and game of thrones a terrifying man poised at the head of various power apparatuses in this brutal world tywin is one of the greatest fictional examples of a ruthless and pragmatic man who will do whatever it takes to ensure the continued prosperity and advancement of his family at the expense of anyone who dares to interfere with his machinations however tywin is far from being alone when it comes to devious behavior as horrifying actions done in service to advancing the power of the powerful at the expense of others is quite the common thing in the world of a song of ice and fire and this story is rife with powerful men and women who sow great amounts of terror and misery in their own right men like balon greyjoy and his house of reavers and plunderers joffrey baratheon and ramsay bolton and their utterly disgusting sadism and cruelty and of course the mad king aerys targaryen a man who was quite fond of burning man alive for his own pleasure though these men and many more like them are presented to us in exceedingly horrific and diabolical ways there are in my opinion four men who stand far above the rest in terms of villainy at least in the age that this story takes place and they earn these lofty positions at the height of villainy not because of their in-your-face brutality sadism or insanity though some of those qualities certainly play into it but because of how sane and competent they are how what they do is a result of their unbreakable wills utter lack of morality and the sheer scope of their plots schemes and actions that cause death and destruction for thousands without them ever having to lift a finger themselves and those four are tywin lannister bruce bolton peter baelish and euron greyjoy well the euron we encounter in the books at least however tywin stands tall above even these three all of them have far-reaching and sinister plans and the lengths they're willing to go to to see those plans become a reality are endless ruse will do anything to solidify his hold on the north and prove himself a powerful lord who deserves fear and respect peter will do anything to claw his way onto the iron throne and gain everything in the world that he so desires and euron will do anything to learn the dark secrets of the world so he can mount it as a god of chaos and destruction tywin is much the same in his willingness to do anything to accomplish his goals but he has something under his belt that these three have only claimed in a much smaller way when compared to his greatness success and not just success but success on such a scale that there are a few others who we can say have rivaled his nefarious achievements and in this video we're going to explore everything that made taiwan into the cold and calculating beast he is a man who through sheer force of will elevated his house from the laughing stock of the realm to that of royalty to accomplish this we're going to be looking at everything we're given about tywin in a world of ice and fire the five books in the main series that have been released so far and of course the tv series and to give this video some structure we'll be looking at tywin in four different sections that correspond to the most important eras of his life those being his first 20 years his time serving as hand of the king for ares targaryen his time spent as warden of the west following robert's rebellion and his time spent as hand of the king to joffrey and tommen before we sum up everything we've learned at the end of this video but before we begin let's get cozy with our sponsor for this video campfire more than 150 000 writers use campfire to organize improve and showcase their writing organize your stories in campfire right with over a dozen modules like character sheets timelines relationship webs and a manuscript editor that lets you reference your notes while you write 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more thank you campfire for sponsoring this video now without further ado let's begin tywin lannister was born in the year 242 ac to titus lannister and his wife jane marbrand legend has it that the newborn tywin bit his grandfather's finger when he ruffled his hair an occurrence that would mark the first display of the innate ferocity tywin held within him we aren't given too much information about tywin's early childhood but it's been said by his sister jenna that tywin was big even when he was little and the only account were given of his pre-teenage years seems to confirm this as when tywin was only 10 years old his father proposed marrying off his sister to the second son of lord walder frey a proposition that many viewed as an insult but one that no one had the courage to speak out against save for the young tywin whose opposition to the match reportedly made his father turn as white as mare's milk and caused lord frey to quiver where he sat now part of the reason that tywin was such a fearsome child was because of his innate personality but there's another element in his upbringing that caused this young man to behave in such a hard way his father titus was known all across the realm as the laughing lion an amiable and jovial man who could see the good in every man and because of his good nature he was a man who was easily taken advantage of where lord gerald lannister tywin's grandfather had brought house lannister great prosperity during his reign his son tytos had the exact opposite effect as he loaned out countless sums of gold to houses who only laughed at him when he asked for them to repay him and his lacks approach to ruling the westerlands made it so thieves and robber knights could raid the countryside with near impunity being gentle and kind aren't bad traits to have but problems arise when your kindness translates into cowardice and by all accounts titus lannister was a coward a man who would sooner laugh at any insult you threw at him rather than meet it with any kind of reproach and not being a confrontational person isn't exactly a bad thing either but people in positions of power can't afford to suffer slights like the ones levied at titos and expect to garner any respect from those that they rule now tywin being a well-educated young lord likely grew up receiving quite a few history lessons and i'm sure many of those were centered around the storied history of his house tales telling of noble lannisters like their progenitor land the clever or great kings of the rock like tibble the thunderbolt but in his day there were no such heroes no noble lions reigning over a fearsome pride there was only his weak-willed father the laughing lion and because he was made to watch men of lesser houses ridicule his father as he blundered at nearly every chance he was given tywin grew resentful of the ruin that his father was bringing to his once great house and by extension resentful of his lack with father so much so that tywin began to mistrust laughter viewing it not as a jovial expression of one's mirth but the bane of his house it's for these reasons that tywin constructed himself to be the opposite of his father and his person as his father was the opposite of his own in terms of his contribution to their house's prosperity so the already stern nature tywin took his inherent traits to an extreme becoming the dignified well-mannered and strong-willed man his father wasn't and where other lordlings had men to emulate tywin needed only himself to guide him towards the path he believed he needed to take for the glory of his house however with tywin being so young and his father still the head of his house voicing his concerns was the only course of action he could take for the time being to make matters worse not long after tywin called his father out for his poor judgment he was sent off to king's landing to serve as a page in the court of king aegon v though this would enable his father to continue running their house this opportunity to serve at court proved to be invaluable in shaping tywin into the leader he needed to be and here is where tywin would first meet the young prince aries the future mad king and the heir to storm's end stephen baratheon two men who could be considered tywin's only true friends in his youth and his chance would have it his future wife and cousin joanna lannister served as a lady in waiting to princess raela for a time which would be time spent together that i'm sure helped to move the impenetrable heart of tywin lannister towards a deep affection for her tywin would spend his time amongst the lords and ladies of the royal court until he was 18. gaining knowledge and experience that would prove invaluable to him as the future head of house lannister and at some point during this time period tywin would earn his knighthood when the war of the nine penny kings broke out in 260 ac tywin his brothers kevin and tiggett and his friend stephan and aries were sent off to join the fighting in the stepstones waging battle alongside legendary figures like serbarist and selmy and sir gerald hightower the contribution that the westerlands made in terms of men was substantial as lord titos had sent his brother jason to the stepstones with 11 000 men to fight in the war however this was seen as yet another cowardly move by tywin as it was his belief that a lord should accompany his forces to the battlefield something the craven titus would never dream of doing so now after fighting in a year-long war and living eight years at court learning the ways of the world tywin resolved to return to casterly rock with his brothers to do what his father couldn't assure the position of house lannister as one of the premier powers in the seven kingdoms to accomplish this mighty task tywin needed to restore dignity and respect to his laughable house so he sent ravens to all the lords in the westerlands who had taken loans from his father and demanded that they either immediately pay back their debts or send a family member to serve as a hostage until there came a time where they were able to repay their debts after which he sent out his brother kevin with 500 knights to cleanse the westerlands of robber knights and outlaws as they went from keep to keep to demand repayment from these lords orders that his meek father initially protested against but he soon after fled to the comfort of his mistress leaving his son to rule in his stead for the time being some like sarhara swift chose to obey and they promptly surrendered a hostage to the lannisters but more still chose to ignore these seemingly laughable edicts chief among them being the lord roger rayne and walder and tarbeck the heads of the failing yet most powerful lannister vassals lord rain simply gave no reply but lord tarbeck took it a step further and wrote to casterly rock confident that he could cow lord titus and force him to rescind his son's edicts but lord tarbeck was met with a surprise it was not lord titos who greeted him but his son tywin who promptly threw him into a dungeon as stated in a world of ice and fire tywin surely assumed that the tarbecks would yield once they had learned their lord had been taken captive but quite the opposite happened as lady ellen tarbeck sent forces from tarbach hall to kidnap several lannisters three members of the lannisters of lannisport and sir stafford lannister son of tywin's late uncle jason lannister who died fighting on the stepstones this may have escalated to all-out conflict had it not been for lord titos as soon after he managed to steal himself away from his mistress long enough to mediate this conflict that is in lord tarbeck's favor of course releasing him from the dungeons and forgiving all of his debts to house lannister after which lord rain hosted an impressive feast at castamere a feast where these lords gave their pledges of eternal friendship but of course that wasn't the end of tywin's determination and within a year he sent out ravens to castamere and tarbeck hall demanding that lords roger and waldron appear at casterly rock to answer for their crimes and this action as well as the events that would follow when tywin showed the world what kind of man and lord he truly was as tywin predicted the lord starbuck and reign refused to comply with his demands instead sending letters declaring their intent to engage in open rebellion against their liege lords without asking his father for consent tywin called forth his banners and descended on tarbach hall with an army consisting of 500 knights and 3 000 men at arms catching lord tarbeck unprepared and giving him no time to marshal his own forces what ensued was something quite common in westeros a battle between noble houses but the aftermath of this battle is what separates tywin from other lords other lords might have executed the rebellious lord walderon and installed his heir as ruler of their house or perhaps they would plunder their lands to a certain extent and take a few hostages with them to ensure they wouldn't revolt again actions that might have provided the desired effect for house lannister as such an example being said in this world is often enough to curtail any thoughts of rebellion from other houses for the foreseeable future but tywin lannister isn't your typical lord he's the lord and he wants everybody to know what happens when you deign to challenge the true power of casterly rock and to do that he must ensure that his subjects feel one emotion above all others in their hearts when they hear the name lannister fear a fear that's conveyed to us in a few pages from a world of ice and fire that i'd like to read for you now in a short brutal battle the tarbecks were broken and butchered lord walder and tarbeck and his sons were beheaded together with his nephews and cousins his daughter's husbands and any man who displayed the seven-pointed blue and silver star upon his shield or surcoat to boast of tarback blood and when the lannister host resumed its march to tarbeck hall the heads of lord waldron and his sons went before them impaled on spears at their approach lady ellen tarbeck closed her gates and sent forth ravens to castamere summoning her brothers trusting in her walls lady tarbeck no doubt anticipated a long siege but siege engines were readied within a day and those walls proved little help when one great stone flew over them and brought down the castle's aged keep lady ellen and her son teon the red died in the keep sudden collapse all resistance at tarback hall ended soon after and the gates were thrown open to the lannister host tywin lannister then ordered tarbeck hall to be put to the torch the castle burned for a day and a night until not remained but a blackened shell the red lion arrived in time to see the flames two thousand men rode with him all he had been able to gather in the short time available tywin lannister had three times his strength most accounts agree some insist that the lannisters outnumber the reigns five to one hoping that surprise might carry the day roger rayne commanded his trumpets to sound the attack charging headlong towards sir tywin's camp after the first shock the lannisters recovered quickly and their numbers soon began to tell lord rain had no choice but to wheel and flee leaving near half his men dead upon the field a rain of crossbow bolts chased his riders from the camp one took lord rain between the shoulders punching through his back plate the red lion rode on only to fall from his horse less than half a league farther on he had to be carried back to castamere the lannister host arrived at castamere three days later like casterly rock the seat of house reign had begun as a mine rich veins of gold and silver had made the reins near as wealthy as the lannisters during the age of heroes to defend their riches they had raised curtain walls about the entrance to their mine closed it with an oak and iron gate and flanked it with a pair of stout towers but all the while the mine shafts had gone deeper and deeper and when at last the gold gave out they had been widened into halls and galleries and snug bed chambers a warrant of tunnels and a vast echoing ballroom to the ignorant eye castimere seemed a modest holding a fit seat for a landed knight or small lord but those who knew its secrets knew that nine tenths of the castle was beneath the ground it was to those deep chambers that the reigns were treated now feverish and weak from loss of blood the red lion was in no fit state to lead sir reynard his brother assumed command in his stead less headstrong but more cunning than his brother reynard knew he did not have the men to defend the castle walls so he abandoned the surface entirely to the foe and fell back beneath the earth once all his folk were safe inside the tunnels sir raynard sent word to sir tywin above offering terms but tywin lannister did not honor sir reynard's offer with a reply instead he commanded that the mines be sealed with pick and axe and torch his own miners brought down tons of stone and soil burying the great gates to the mines until there was no way in and no way out once that was done he turned his attention to the small swift stream that fed the crystalline blue pool beside the castle from which castimere took its name it took less than a day to damn the stream and only two to divert it to the nearest mine entrance the earth and stone that sealed the mine had no gaps large enough to allow a squirrel to pass let alone a man but the water found its way down sir reynard had taken more than 300 men women and children into the mines it is said not a one emerged a few of the guards assigned to the smallest and most distant of the mine entrances reported hearing faint screams and shouts coming from beneath the earth one night but by daybreak the stones had gone silent once more no one has ever reopened the minds of castamere the halls and keeps above them put to the torch by tywin lannister stand empty to this day a mute testament to the fate that awaits those foolish enough to take up arms against the lions of the rock now as was said in these pages this is a harrowing reminder of the power of the lions of the rock but the power of house lannister is only a secondary assertion here as the power of a great house without a man at the helm to utilize that power is like a hammer lying in the dirt useless until someone picks it up and useless still if that person hasn't the will to use it properly only when that power is manifested through the will of a person willing to use its full strength is its potential realized and that is infinitely more important tito's lannister held the immense power of his house within his grasp but he was a man ill-suited to use it a cowardly lion retreating from the greatness afforded him in favor of comfort and admiration tywin lannister was no such coward and as sir harris swift said when tywin first sent his ravens demanding repayment of all loans taken from house lannister the lion has awoken this could be taken as a reference to the entirety of house lannister but i believe when sir harris specified a singular lion he meant a singular lion tywin lannister perhaps the greatest lannister to ever sit at the helm of his house no longer would the realm laugh at the housecats the lions of lannister had been reduced to now they would know that there truly was a lion left to assert the vast power of his pride a lion who commanded respect fear and even admiration a lion who didn't believe in the half-measures taken by other lords when maintaining their power but one who would not tolerate even a modicum of disrespect from his subjects which we can see when the famous song written about tywin's exploits during the tarbeck reign revolt the reigns of castamere was used by lord tywin as a simple yet effective tool to intimidate anyone who dared to show any hint of conflict with his interests as tywin only needed to send a single bard to the offending house and have them play that song at their court showing them what horrid misfortune would follow if they dared to go through with their intentions to undermine his house in any way now the thing you have to understand about tywin's brutality is that he uses it as a tool of necessity not as a source of cruel entertainment or satisfaction gained from the torture or deaths of his enemies where other barbaric kings and lords like joffrey or ramsay bolton revel in the fear they inspire through the violent expressions of their power tywin a man who we could say is almost entirely without joy takes no joy in ending his enemies in such lavish shows of brutality either he simply does it because it's extremely effective because above all else tywin is the ultimate pragmatist and that's perhaps the most dangerous aspect of his entire person a complete devotion to the idea of pragmatism in the hands of a man who will do anything necessary to advance his own interests is the most terrifying thing imaginable as a man who is able to disregard any sense of morality while also maintaining his sanity makes for a person who isn't an abhorrent sadist or a murderous madman but a level-headed individual who can order entire villages to be put to the torch while giving that command as much thought as one would give to breathing however being an extreme pragmatist isn't all terrible as having this mindset immensely amplifies a person's capabilities as a leader and tywin is no exception because his mind is centered around logic and rationality tywin is able to approach every situation presented to him in the most effective way possible and this is one of the primary reasons why it's widely considered that ares ii appointing tywin as hand of the king was the wisest decision he had ever made during his reign ares was a hedonistic man with grand dreams that he quickly grew bored of he wanted to build a second wall 100 leagues north of the existing one and claim the lands in between he wanted to build a white city entirely of marble on the south bank of the blackwater because he detested the stink of king's landing when a dispute with braavos occurred he declared he would build the largest fleet in history and bring the titan to its knees proclamations which quickly fell to the wayside as his interests were pointed from one item to the next like a hummingbird flitting between flowers on the other hand tywin was described as diligent decisive tireless fiercely intelligent just and stern and owing to this vast disparity in their personalities and actions it was often said that ares wore the crown and tywin ruled the realm and how effectively he ruled the realm is described quite well by this passage in a world of ice and fire it was tywin lannister who settled the crown's dispute with the bravosi by repaying the monies lent to jiharis too with gold from casterly rock thereby taking the debts upon himself tywin won the approbation of many great lords by repealing what remained of the law's egg on the fifth had enacted to curb their powers tywin reduced tariffs and taxes on shipping going in and out of the cities of king's landing lannisport and old town winning the support of many wealthy merchants tywin built new roads and repaired old ones held many splendid tournaments about the realm to the delight of knights and commons both cultivated trade with the free cities and sternly punished bakers found guilty of adding sawdust to their bread and butcher selling horse meat as beef in all these efforts he was greatly aided by grand maester pycelle whose accounts of the reign of ares ii give us our best portrait of these times all of these wide-reaching reforms and courtesies given to those in power earned time and respect outside of the respect he had already garnered from his show of force in the westerlands but there's an important distinction to be made here as to why tywin made these decisions in the first place everything tywin does is directly tied to his desire to supplant his house as the supreme power in westeros and the way in which he accomplishes this feat is nothing short of brilliant every policy every word spoken every action taken is all done for the betterment of his house no matter the cost to others which we can see in both the reforms he made upon ascending to hand of the king and how he dealt with his enemies the reigns and the tarbecks tywin lannister isn't holy without empathy but he is incredibly apathetic and unconcerned for the well-being of anyone who isn't a member of his house that's not to say that tywin hates the small folk or other lords he simply doesn't care about them one way or another tywin sees people not as people but as cogs in the machine that he's looking to take control of and in order to do so he must enmesh himself in the members of his house with the existing power structures please his subjects and peers at certain times and displease them at others for example as we learned earlier tywin declared that all bakers should immediately stop mixing sawdust into their dough and all butchers stop selling horse meat as beef or they would face severe punishment for their actions which at face value seems to be a policy implemented out of concern for the well-being of the people of westeros however if in that moment it were more advantageous to tywin's plans to ignore these actions i have no doubt in my mind that tywin would turn a blind eye to these practices or even encourage them you see a man like ned stark whose moral compass is relatively sound would have likely tried to circumvent these issues in any way he could no matter the circumstances as ned is a noble man who's intimately concerned with the well-being of his people but not tywin if his own interests were better served by people starving he'd ensure they'd starve and appeasing other lords with reforms aimed at improving their own power and wealth only occur on tywin's watch because at that particular moment in time it was in his best interest to earn the loyalty and admiration of these lords not because he felt the need to provide even a minuscule amount of happiness and prosperity to others the same could be said for his willingness to forgive all the crown's debts to the iron bank of braavos by repaying them with his own funds and taking on the loan himself as such an action moves the central power in westeros the royal family closer and closer to house lannister to the point where they become dependent on their power wealth and resources more than any other house in the kingdom just as tywin intended so yes tywin was an effective hand of the king but he was only as effective as he needed to be to ensure that his goals regarding the position of his house were realized and perhaps because of this he wasn't exactly loved for the effort he put into ruling the kingdom though this is mostly because of his personality and the attitudes his fellow lords and subjects had towards their hand is given to us in a passage from a world of ice and fire yet despite these accomplishments tywin lannister was little loved his rivals charged that he was humorless unforgiving unbending proud and cruel his lords bannermen respected him and followed him loyally in war and peace but none could truly be named his friends tywin despised his father the weak-willed fat and ineffectual lord titus lannister and his relations with his brothers tiggett and garrion were notoriously stormy he showed more regard for his brother kevin a close confidant and constant companion since childhood and his sister jenna but yet even in those cases tywin lannister appeared more dutiful than affectionate even so tywin commanded respect from those around him respect that king aerys felt none of and as could have been predicted by the attitudes towards both men at the time ares began to grow distrustful and envious of his hand believing that he was trying to supersede his own power with the power of house lannister and the successes of his hand nodded the king turning him into a jealous and spiteful man whose gratitude for his friend's service to his kingdom began to sour as the years passed the tension between the two would only grow after tywin married the one person in his life who was able to bring him joy lady joanna a woman that aries had lusted after during her time serving as a lady in waiting to his own wife rhaella yet another source of jealousy for ares now tywin's relationship with his wife is interesting as it was reported that she was the only person who could bring him joy even making him laugh on three separate occasions according to grand maester pycelle but i have to wonder if some of the joy he felt in her presence wasn't necessarily derived from her person but because of the crucial role she played in ensuring the future of house lannister there's no doubt that tywin enjoyed a loving relationship with his wife and enjoyed her company because he had a genuine connection with her but it stands to reason that her position as the bearer of the children who would ensure the prosperous future of his house played a part in why he enjoyed her so much for above all else family is what matters most to tywin though his relationship with ares would continue to suffer from here on out tywin would experience a joy in his life that he hadn't known prior to being a married man a joy that was expanded greatly upon the birth of the twins jaime and cersei in the year 266 ac within that same year tywin would receive yet another boon which came in the form of his blundering father's death an event which likely caused tywin some grief but i'm sure he felt more relief knowing that his father's inadequacies could no longer plague their house after his father's death tywin even went so far as to have his father's mistress perform a walk of atonement down the streets of lannisport punishment for this baseborne girl helping herself to his mother's jewels and for being a negative influence on his father unfortunately for tywin's ambitions though his grasp on power in king's landing would slowly start to decay after ares returned to the city as now not only did the king harbor ill feelings towards his hand but he was openly trying to defy him at every turn ruling against his hand in any decision he made and replacing council members with men of his own choosing and when those decisions he ruled against turned out to be folly he blamed his hand all the same in order to preserve his own image at the expense of tywin's legacy not only that but in 273 ac joanna lannister would unfortunately die bringing tywin's third child tyrion into the world an event that many say caused any joy that lived within tywin lannister to die that very day because of how his son came into the world by quote-unquote killing the only person that tywin had likely ever felt true love for he deeply resented tyrion for killing his mother to enter the world and more importantly because tyrion was born a malformed dwarf as i imagine if tyrion had been born without any afflictions tywin would have been quicker to accept him as one of his own rather than condemn him as a monster this is an incredibly interesting aspect of tywin's character though as his hatred of his son seemingly contradicts everything that he represents tywin is a man who could suffer the mockery of countless individuals including a king and still find it in himself to ignore all of it keep his pride and continue serving these people an incredibly resilient and stalwart man with a brilliant strategic mind who can't seem to find it in himself to see his son as another member of his family and the value he could bring to his cause eventually he does give tyrion a chance which we'll cover later on but for the majority of his life tyrion is treated as nothing more than a worthless creature who was only born as a result of the god spite for the magnificence of tywin and house lannister which is sort of par for the course when it comes to the attitudes of most westerosi towards people that are born with disabilities however though this plays into tywin's distaste for his son it ultimately comes down to the fact that his wife perished to birth tyrion and as someone who's never found someone he truly loved a person taking away that person would be an extreme that a man like tywin is unable to forgive but we'll cover tywin and tyrion's relationship more later on in this video now even though king aerys moktai went over the death of his wife tywin chose to continue his position as hand of the king suffering his duty for the sake of his continued interests at court and the good of his family's position tywin would continue to act as the faithful servant of his once good friend aerys targaryen hosting a tournament in lannisport in honor of prince viserys's birth a momentous occasion that tywin thought would be a good time to attempt to entwine his family with that of royalty that no amount of debt to his household could ever hope to achieve the marriage of one of his own to a member of the royal family specifically the heir to the iron throne rhaegar targaryen but as was to be expected along with tywin's request to have his son jaime serve as squire to rhaegar king aerys refused this match adding with his refusal a pointed statement about how the daughter of a servant to the king has no place marrying the king's heir however the lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of the sheep even if those sheep happen to be wearing the skin of a dragon and tywin continued in his duty as aries mental state declined surely realizing that serving his hand afforded him better opportunities in his endeavors than surrender to ares jokes would an event would occur a year after this tournament that would forever alter the already shifting dynamic in king's landing the defiance of duskendale taking king aerys hostage dennis darklin the lord of duskendale sought to restore his house in the town of ruledover to its former glory by asking the hand of the king to grant duskendale a charter one akin to the charter provided to the dornish many years past but as tywin believed this would set a dangerous precedent where autonomy from the crown was concerned he refused this proposal and in a grand plot that could be considered close in scope to the cunning of even tywin lannister that is if it hadn't been so foolish lord darklin invited the king to hear his proposal in duskendale a proposition which the increasingly reclusive aries would have surely rebuked had it not been for his hand profusely advising him that he should refuse to see lord darklin and considering that ares was in the habit of doing the exact opposite of what tywin wanted he accepted lord darklin's proposal and promptly made his way to duskendale where he was interned in its dungeons not long after his arrival in order to rescue the king lord tywin mustered a force to surround duskendale threatening to put every man woman and child to the sword in typical tywin fashion as he blockaded the city from both land and sea despite lord darklin's claims that should anyone breach his walls he would execute the mad king this monumental event in the history of westeros served as yet another opportunity for tywin to gain the upper hand in the realm as whatever the outcome of this event tywin would win no matter what if ares survived duskendale business would continue as usual and considering tywin came to his aid personally ares would have no cause to question the loyalty of his hand after the fact and if ares died well tywin said it best himself they had a better king and rhaegar seated on his horse right next to him so either way this moment would prove to be a victory for the lord of lannister however tywin was unable to predict just how badly arie's imprisonment would affect his deteriorating mental state and though the king was already slowly slipping into a state of madness his time spent in the dungeons beneath the dunfort fractured his mind so totally that he was now fully lost to any efforts to turn his mind from the darkness that had overtaken it tywin persisted in his duty despite the constant interference and suspicion from ares even going so far as to bring cersei to court in 281 ac as he continued to find a suitable match for her tywin suffered ares mad machinations and silence for years after the defiance of duskendale but all that would change when ares stabbed at the one thing tywin valued above all else his family and more specifically its station in the world and the legacy would leave behind and ares accomplished this by naming jaime to the kingsguard giving him a position that required him to renounce his land in titles and become celibate depriving tywin of his heir and the chance to populate his house with more lannister children from his line which isn't really true considering he has another son but that son is a monster to his father unfit to helm a great house unbeknownst to lord tywin this was actually partially his children's fault as jaime conspired with cersei to earn himself a position at court so he could remain with her but considering that tywin had no way of knowing this the blame fell squarely on the shoulders of king aerys and though he had weathered countless slights up to this point this was the final straw that caused tywin to abandon his king and retire from his position something that sealed aries fate far more than robert baratheon's hammer did i'm not going to go into too much detail here about robert's rebellion as i'm sure the majority of you are quite familiar with it by now but tywin showed one of his many advantageous qualities here that i've waited to cover until now but one that he's displayed already in abundance patience next to tywin's pragmatism in terms of importance in his success is his patience you could say that this is a component of his pragmatism but regardless tywin's restraint when it comes to nearly every situation provides him with unending opportunities to succeed where his enemies fail throughout this story we're often told that tywin is typically the last person to speak when he's engaged in a discussion a trait that you can find in nearly every wise and effective leader as not only does this give taiwan the opportunity to hear the opinions of others and reform his own if necessary but it ensures that he always has the final say in any situation consolidating the points made by others with his own to determine the most suitable course of action his patience doesn't only apply to discussions either rather patience can be found in nearly every aspect of tywin lannister's life take for example his willingness to suffer the jabs and slights aimed at him by king aerys and his fellow lords a lesser man might be coaxed into lashing out irrationally at these individuals harming himself further in the process but tywin's unending patience allows him to quite literally choose his battles he takes drastic action when necessary as we saw when he eliminated house tarbeck and house reign but those drastic actions are only taken after heavy consideration of the pros and cons of the situation and are not manifested as a result of a temperamental man raging for blood and perhaps the best example of lord tywin's patience is the way in which he handled robert's rebellion in a world of ice and fire tywin's decision to storm king's landing is described as being done in service to the realm a man coming to the aid of the people when they most needed him but as we've already established though tywin might provide aid to others at certain times he always has an ulterior motive and asserting that he marched on king's landing to save the realm couldn't be further from the truth choosing to sit on the sidelines until nearly the last minute tywin ensured that no matter the outcome of the war he could present himself as a loyal servant of either side and if it were robert who had met this end on the trident instead of rhaegar i'm certain that he would have joined forces with him to suppress the remaining rebels and prove himself a friend of the throne and its heir and this action provides further proof that tywin lannister is willing to do anything and everything to get ahead in life and no bonds of friendship alliances or sense of morality will deter him from doing what is best for his own family not to mention that to prove his loyalty to the newly crowned king robert he ordered the deaths of a woman and her children to present to robert as a token of his goodwill though i'm sure that tywin would have found a comfortable place in the court of victoria's targaryens as luck would have it robert's victory was the greatest boon to his ambitions yet for his desire to directly intertwine himself with the royal family through marriage died when rhaegar married elia martell but now with the unwed and unpromised roberts had upon the iron throne his chance to ascend his house to the heights of royalty presented itself once more and due to both his important position in the hierarchy of westeros and his brutal show of support for robert's cause he was able to secure the marriage of cersei to the new king creating from this golden opportunity he was given a lannister queen and not just that but a future lannister king a king whose deference to the will of his mother and larger-than-life grandfather would even see to it that a lion be added to his royal standard an action that a targaryen would never dare entertain save for the rebellious queen rhaenyra who quartered her royal standard with the sigils of house velaryon and aaron and with the end of robert's rebellion began the most prosperous era for house lannister since tywin had taken the reigns of power seated at casterly rock and ruling as warden of the west tywin would enjoy a life of relative peace a peace which was disrupted by the greyjoy rebellion but this event didn't last long and for nine years after baylon declared himself king tywin and the realm would know peace once more during this time cersei would give birth to three children with lannister blood and the baratheon name solidifying his family's position in the royal family a position that was further augmented by the continued reliance the crown had on the gold of casterly rock this is all the essential information we're given about tywin that helps us understand who he is and how he came to be the man we become more intimate with in the mainline series of books but now it's time to take a look at his appearances there where we can really get into the finer details of his character now as i said earlier tywin is a man who is able to weather jabs and slights when necessary if it suits his aims but when those jabs and slights become dangerous to the continued prosperity of his house he has no choice but to take action like with the tarbecks and the reigns at the beginning of the first book in this series and season 1 of the show tywin is forced to come to the aid of his son tyrion as he's been accused of plotting to assassinate bran stark as even though tywin's relationship with tyrion is rocky at best he isn't a man who would suffer such a heavy insult aimed at the integrity of his family so to rouse the riverlords and go ned stark into starting a conflict he sends the mountain to raid the riverlands with no banners covert operations meant to terrify the local populace through raids raids that are made by supposed brigands that can't be traced back to lord tywin making him able to assert that it was the riverlords who first started any conflict when they inevitably martial their forces to demand that lord tywin answer for the crimes of his bannermen yet another example of tywin's brilliance where tactics are concerned however it's not until taiwan actually marches on the riverlands personally that we're given any personal encounter with him and in the book that happens when tyrion finds his father's war camp after escaping his imprisonment in the vale and this first encounter gives us the perfect opportunity to cover his appearance as far as the books are concerned we're given this vivid interpretation of his appearance tywin lannister lord of casterly rock and warden of the west was in his middle fifties yet hard as a man of twenty even seated he was tall with long legs broad shoulders a flat stomach his thin arms were corded with muscle when his once thick golden hair had begun to recede he had commanded his barber to shave his head lord tywin did not believe in half measures he razored his lip and chin as well but kept his side whiskers two great thickets of wiry golden hair that covered most of his cheeks from ear to jaw his eyes were a pale green flecked with gold now charles dance's portrayal is similar in a few different ways namely in height and build but his pale green eyes hold no gold within them his hair is intact but receding and he keeps a full beard yet trimmed thinly but the most important difference between the two can be found in their mannerisms specifically their penchant for smiling we find the show's version of tywin smiling at many different moments throughout this series and while they aren't overtly wide or jovial they're still present nonetheless his literary counterpart however is infamous for how little he smiles so much so that he's only ever been recorded as smiling four times thrice when his late wife managed to bring him enough joy to cause one and once when jaime was born otherwise tywin doesn't smile at all and in fact even a hint of a smile on his hard face is seen as a dreadful proposition which is best said by tyrion in storm of swords every once in a very long while lord tywin lannister would actually threaten to smile he never did but the threat alone was terrible to behold such a small detail holds so much weight to it as when a man's smile hides more malice than mirth the sight of him alone is enough to inspire terror in nearly anyone not to mention that this smile is backed up by a fearsome reputation though it's true that the show's version of tywin smiles more often charles dance still does a great job of portraying the intensity of this man and aside from small details like this i believe him to be a near-perfect representation of the character so while i'll be supplementing our evaluation of his person with any information given to us from the books we're going to primarily judge tywin based on the speech patterns and mannerisms we're given in the show and there's no better place to start than the first time we encounter tywin in the show a scene that can't be found in the books but one that serves as a worthy addition to this story here we find jaime reading the edict sent to tywin about the crimes of his bannermen and how he's meant to make his way to court to answer for them as tywin skins of freshly killed deer an edict that in the books was instead given directly to the mountain and not to tywin himself since we've already become somewhat familiar with tywin's brand of tactics in the previous sections this information might seem redundant but for the majority of people who enjoy this series this is their first impression of tywin and the impression he gives is one of a stern and haughty man one who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty which is shown to us both when he's speaking with his son and quite literally as he plunges his hands directly into the carcass of a dead animal here he chastises jaime for attacking ned stark pointing out the inherent disadvantages that come with making such a bold and rash decision as we covered earlier tywin is a man who has a plan for every eventuality and he always takes the time to consider the potential upsides and ramifications that are present in any given situation and though again he isn't afraid to get his hands dirty he knows that violence should never be the first solution when approaching any situation there were far too many variables present in this scenario that could have afforded tywin in his house several advantages depending on how they approached it as there was plenty of political maneuvering that could have been accomplished here prior to jaime's decision to engage ned stark in open combat the other problem tywin has with jaime's actions is the fact that what he did was a half-measure something that the brutally thorough tywin doesn't believe in as while he believed jaime confronting ned stark in the first place was an unwise decision tywin knows that even an unwise decision has its perks and had jaime taken the life of ned stark in that moment not only would he have eliminated a dangerous rival to their house but killing him could have also been construed as being an honorable thing to do considering that ned's wife had taken his brother hostage and with ned dead that would allow the lannisters to fully control the narrative surrounding that situation but with ned alive to sing the song of treason by accusing jaime of committing crimes against the hand of the king and by extension the crown this forces lord tywin to play his hand in a specific way and eliminates any options he had prior to this occurrence this is also our first encounter with tywin's commanding way of speaking tywin never uses a few familiar phrases when asking a person to do something like telling them they should or could do something and he never requests anyone to do anything by suggesting something to them or asking if they'll do something for him no tywin tells people what to do and he doesn't offer you his opinion on any matter he exerts his will and expects the person he's speaking to to follow his orders leaving little room for questions on the matter at hand we'll bring the catalan stark's girl hood home and remind her that lannisters pay their debts oh that's not an opinion it's a fact who served as a glorified bodyguard for two kings i need you to become the man you were always meant to be not next year not tomorrow notice how every time tywin speaks here he is in complete control of the conversation and part of the reason this works so well for him is because of his fearsome reputation but a reputation attached to a person of no substance has no use and tywin's commanding presence alone is enough to cow most people into submitting to his will especially members of his own family now his manner of speaking isn't the only thing that contributes to his intimidating presence when engaging in conversation as body language has a great deal to do with it as well keeping his back to jaime as he speaks to him tywin appears only marginally concerned with the conversation taking place and more so with the activity he's currently engaged in and he uses this tactic to subtly convey to the people he's conversing with that whatever matter they find to be important holds little weight when compared to even the most menial tasks that he's currently performing actions taken to further unnerve the person he's speaking to in order to undermine their personal agenda in favor of his own when he does decide to pause what he's doing to address someone directly he makes sure to look them in the eyes with an unflinching stare that causes further unease and when he's ready to make his final point he gets close to them and gives them the same stare issuing his final command or assaults on their character to immediately cow them into acting according to his will the final push in an already tywin-dominated conversation that seals it with fear this use of body language to instill fear into his conversational opponent isn't always used by tywin but his blunt language nearly always is and along with his use of stern commanding words we often find tywin to be quite condescending as we see in his introduction in the book and the second scene we see him in in the show once tyrion presents himself at the lannister war camp in typical taiwan fashion he receives him coldly remarking that the rumors of his demise were unfounded proceeding afterwards to gloat about jaime's accomplishments on the battlefield thus far whilst ridiculing his son for his shortcomings comparing him to his brother and remarking that jaime wouldn't have allowed himself to be captured obviously tywin acts this way here because of his severe distaste for his son but he talks this way with nearly everyone else as well and as everything we've covered regarding tywin's personality so far can be found in almost every scene he's in throughout this story i will be mentioning these components briefly as we move forward but to point out every instance of his quirks in detail would be redundant now a welcome change made in the show are the scenes we get involving arya and tywin as though watching roose and arya interact in the books is interesting the chance we're given to delve more into tywin's character here is invaluable when looking into his person but before we continue talking about tywin and arya i'd first like to mention something that we've only briefly touched upon so far and that's tywin's willingness to have veritable human monsters in his employ the mountain is obviously the most well-known and we get to see the brutality of another in the second season sir amory lorch but in the books there's another person and group who causes unending misery for others on the orders of lord tywin fargo hoat and his brave companions characters that are replaced by roose bolton's men led by locke in the show all three of these men and their retinues serve the same purpose they brutalize others on the orders of lord tywin now you can't blame a leader for every war crime committed by their side but because tywin directly orders these men to do what they do we certainly can in this instance tywin allowing these men to act the way they do hearkens back to the way he handled the reign tarback revolt ordering these men to burn pillage and kill to incite fear into his enemies lay waste to their supplies and reduce their ranks with impunity not to mention that sir amory and the mountain are the ones who killed rhaegar's children during the storming of king's landing with that aside let's get back to the scenes with tywin and arya the first big takeaway here is that even lord tywin enjoys the company of others and he says it's much to arya at one point we aren't given anything close to this relationship in the books and depending on how you feel about the joyless tywin were given there these scenes might be too far out of character for him and i partially agree considering how stern he's supposed to be but i think this relationship and what tywin reveals to arya during his conversations with her add a few great elements to his character that enhance it greatly for example the scene where he talks to arya about teaching jaime to read reveals something about tywin that you probably wouldn't assume about him otherwise if he hadn't told this story here that being that not only does he care about his family's position in the world but he actually cares about them enough to perform his role as a father in more ways than just giving his children expectations to meet and having his servants take care of the rest granted his son being able to read is absolutely crucial if he's one day going to inherit the title of lord of lannister so you could say that tywin is still performing this duty with the future of his house and mind but this story still reveals that at one point in time tywin did have a more personal connection to his children the last conversation he has with arya reveals another contradiction in tywin's character but a contradiction that makes quite a lot of sense tywin tells arya that the war of five kings will be his last war and win or lose it's this war that he'll be remembered for his success or failure in this endeavor will be his legacy a person's legacy is partly made from the facts of their life their accomplishments deeds misdeeds and their overall character but one's legacy is often judged differently depending on who's looking at it which means that a person's legacy is also comprised of something that tywin claims to pay no mind to opinions aegon the first conquered the seven kingdoms and established a dynasty that lasted almost 300 years and to some he's remembered as the man who united the seven kingdoms under one banner bringing peace to a fractured realm of petty kings and feuding lords but to others he's a beast who invaded a land that he had no right to claim with three hellish monsters monsters that proceeded to massacre countless people all for the sake of establishing his own kingdom as much as tywin claims otherwise he very much cares about the opinions of others even if those opinions can be construed as fact like when he's speaking to jaime and comments on their house's position and how they're no longer a house to be feared if one of their own can be taken with impunity and in the books we even see him requesting that a letter be burned declaring that joffrey was a bastard commanding the recipient of the letter sir harris swift to never speak of such filth again an action that doesn't befit a man who pays no mind to what others think if there were any lannister who could have claimed to not care about the opinions of others it would have been tywin's father taito's lannister a man who suffered insult with a laugh and likely forgot he had been insulted shortly after if tywin truly didn't care what others thought of him he'd be a man like his father but he's not he's a man who will do anything to make sure that his family is powerful wealthy and feared and in order to do that one needs to be mindful of their actions and how they present themselves to others in order to shift their opinions of them the way they desire and though he'd never claim he cared one way or the other the fact that he's concerned with his legacy and the impact it will have on future generations of house lannister shows that he indeed does fortunately for tywin his legacy becomes quite secure after the battle of blackwater a decision that was actually forced upon tywin here rather than one he made freely as george martin laid out on a response to a fan letter in july 1999 where he stated that tywin's decision to march on king's landing was a calculated gamble as after securing the throne for his grandson by defeating stannis tywin enters the last phase of his life the phase of his life where the throne is sat securely by a lannister and all around him lie lannisters and their sycophants to ensure that this throne forever stays a fixture of his house striding into a throne room atop a brilliant white horse a horse that defecates on the floor of the throne room just as freely as tywin plays with the nobles of westeros we see a man who now has a firmer grasp on absolute power than he's ever had before earlier in this video we discussed how tywin views people not his people but cogs in the machine he's running and though we've been exposed to his demands for his family's fealty to his will when looking at his relationship with tyrion so far it's after he assumes his role as hand of the king to joffrey where we really get to see how much power he has over his children and grandchildren there's a term used to describe a parent who thinks only of themselves when engaging with their children a narcissistic parent and tywin fits the bill a narcissistic parent is someone who is so full of themselves that they don't have the capacity to view their children as anything more than a possession narcissistic parents often enjoy their children when they're young but once they've aged to the point where they begin to form their own opinions and defy their parents a narcissistic parent begins to detest their children and their opposition to their own desires tywin isn't a rosy person to be around by any means and he doesn't enjoy the company of virtually anybody but as we learned earlier he did seem to show interest in his children when they were younger and he enjoyed the company of arya a child but now that they've aged the most that his children can expect to get from their loving father is a command tywin's narcissism is interesting though as rather than being a person who's full of himself his vanity is centered more around his house i can't imagine tywin getting off on his own reflection but i can imagine him exacting great pleasure from hundreds of lannister banners fluttering in the wind on a battlefield or feeling immensely pleased with himself whenever anyone shows reverence for his family regardless of how deep-seated his narcissism is everyone around him is made to suffer his vain self-importance and this self-importance is present in his continued struggle to make his house the supreme power in westeros which he's much closer to accomplishing now than he was prior to the battle of the blackwater as i mentioned earlier but with a war raging three out of the seven kingdoms still in open rebellion another neutral one who holds contempt for the lannisters and the rumors about joffrey's parentage still persisting there's still an enormous amount of work left to do before the power of house lannister is completely secure but with new alliances with house martel and tyrell and a new renewed position as hand of the king comes certain new opportunities as not only is tywin hand this time around but he's given the opportunity to truly rule where before under ares he was only able to partially exert his overwhelming power as ares would try to undermine him at every turn with a figurehead on the throne tywin can now not only consume the royal family and make it his own but the entire realm as well plans for which he immediately begins implementing by betrothing tyrion to sansa and cersei dolores or willis in the books a character that's absent from the show in doing so he claims six of the nine realms of westeros for house lannister the north under tyrion and sansa the reach under loris and cersei the west under himself which is a position he plans to give jaime after he convinces him to leave the king's guard dorne for myrcella and tristain thanks to tyrion the storm lands under tommen once he's dealt with stannis and of course the crown lands due to his progeny sitting on the iron throne not only that but lord baelish is sent to secure the eerie and in the books he's named lord paramount of the trident ensuring that wherever a person steps foot in westeros they tread on lands friendly too or claimed by house lannister save for the iron islands which i'm sure doesn't bother tywin all too much but of course a good part of the claims house lannister has to these lands are in name only until the war is done a war that comes ever closer to ending after tywin conspires with the lord's frey and bolton to implement one of the most heart-wrenching actions we bear witness to in this story the red wedding with this singular act tywin destroys the northern threat to the south and puts a figurehead in place to rule the north until sansa and tyrion's child comes of age yet another brutally efficient move on the part of tywin a move that as brutal as it is actually ends up saving more lives than it ends up taking as tywin points out when discussing this issue with tyrion where he challenges him to explain why it's more noble to kill 10 000 men in battle then a dozen at dinner to which tyrion responds by challenging his father in turn on his intentions asking him if he did this in order to save lives which of course he didn't he did it to quote protect the family or more appropriately himself and his aspirations for his family again tywin may have the right of the situation here as war is a dirty business that costs thousands of lives and if one can take an action that will save thousands of lives at the expense of a few others it's like that you should but there's two important distinctions to be made here that prevent this from being done with any sort of good in mind the first of course being that tywin doesn't care morally one way or another if ten thousand men were to die in battle he might care because that would be a loss of ten thousand men that he could otherwise use for other purposes but he personally doesn't care for them or their families the second thing to consider here is that this act wasn't done on behalf of some liberation effort this act was done in order to secure the power of a house that wishes to dominate the entire continent of westeros the good guys didn't obtain a victory here and the outcome of this event and a lannister victory in this war only furthers the power of one family at the expense of everyone else though surely the realm would prosper in some way for a time just as it did for a time under tywin's leadership when he was hand of the king to ares but unfortunately for tywin the war still rages even after this misdeed and he has many obstacles blocking his path that have nothing to do with the war he had the tyrells trying to steal sansa prince oberyn arriving in king's landing to exact justice on house lannister and the mountain he has his own children opposing his designs for them all of these things are dealt with in time for the most part but time brings even more problems with it and one surfaces quite quickly after the red wedding during the golden wedding the death of king joffrey only this is yet another boon rather than a problem joffrey was a woefully ineffectual and cruel king and had he lived it was likely that as soon as tywin were to die the realm would suffer just as it had during the later years of king aerys reign as it's doubtful that joffrey would have grown out of his psychopathy growing into an adult that would have been capable of causing more misery for westeros than we could imagine that problem is solved with the ascension of tommen though who by all accounts would serve as a good king with the help of his advisors of course a loss has been suffered in that tommen will no longer be heir apparent to storm's end but it's still possible that he could claim the title while still being king and his children would undoubtedly assume the position once he's had any all was falling into place for tywin and house lannister and it was looking as if the foreseeable future would be dominated by lions but now we've arrived at the final stage of tywin's life a stage of his life that didn't have to be his final one but is for one reason the way he's treated his youngest son tyrion we've talked a bit about tywin's relationship with his son throughout this video but now it's time that we delve into that relationship fully as you know tywin despised tyrion from birth blaming him for the death of the only person he had ever truly loved an act which the wrathful lord tywin was unable to forgive i don't imagine that tywin was the most pious man but like nearly everyone else in westeros he did believe in the gods in combination with his love for his late wife that made him unable to forgive his son as he viewed him as a punishment sent by the gods to show him humility making him able to directly blame his son for his wife's death no matter how irrational that belief is because of this belief he would torment his son for the entirety of his life more than anyone else that he tormented giving him menial jobs like putting him in charge of all the drains and cisterns and casterly rock when he came of age and he ridiculed him for being the good humored person that he was one that liked to make jokes and perform the acrobatics taught to him by his uncle garion then of course is the worst thing tywin subjected his son to aside from his trial the forced gang rape of tyrion's new wife and how he made tyrion watch and participate in it i'm sure we're all familiar with the story but i'd like to read it for you how tyrion told it to shay in the books when i was 13 i wed a crofter's daughter or so i thought her i was blind with love for her and thought she felt the same for me but my father rubbed my face in the truth my bride was a jaime had hired to give me my first taste of manhood and i believed all of it fool that i was to drive the lesson home lord tywin gave my wife to a barracks of his guardsmen to use as they pleased and commanded me to watch and to take her one last time after the rest were done one last time with no trace of love or tenderness remaining so you'll remember her as she truly is he said after he was done with her my father had the marriage undone it was as if we had never been wed the septon said for a father to subject his son to this is horrendous and thereafter i have no doubt that lord tywin lost what little faith in his youngest son he had from here on out tyrion would do all that he could to prove that his father was right about him that he was a lecherous imp whose purpose in life was to spend drink and until he found himself in early grave something happened though that caused lord tywin to view his son in a different light the capture of jaime this part is left out in the show but after tywin names tyrion acting hand of the king in the books he thinks to himself that his father is preparing for the worst that jaime has been captured and will never return and now if that's the case tyrion was the only son he had and as we know family is the only thing that matters to tywin and the only one left to continue his legacy is the monster that he's despised since the day he was born so he gives tyrion a chance and tyrion does a splendid job with that chance he sets king's landing on the right course manages to control joffrey to an extent and he organizes the best possible defense he could of king's landing even going so far as to command the defense from the front lines these accomplishments may have earned tyrion a great amount of praise from his father if it hadn't been for one sorry stipulation lord tywin had made before sending him off to perform his duty that being his demand that tyrion not take shay to court because of this he was only partially recognized for his achievements as he was still rewarded with a high position in the royal court and a match to a woman of noble birth but these rewards were in fact duties and they're markedly inferior when compared to the work he put in and his father was well aware of that but the worst of it comes during tyrion's trial for murdering joffrey whether or not tywin was fully aware that his son didn't murder joffrey is unknown but he was very much willing to judge him guilty of committing this crime all the same perhaps to show that he may have believed him after all lord tywin was gracious enough to give his son the option of taking the black if he confessed something that tyrion was willing to do in exchange for his life but ever the spiteful man who seeks to totally ruin his enemy tywin had to get in one last bitter jab at his son before removing him from his sight for the rest of his life and that jab came in the form of shay the woman tyrion had come to love during the course of this story a woman he had to send away across the sea to ensure that she wouldn't be killed by his family in the show we see tywin take cersei aside and request that shea be brought to his chambers before the royal wedding and it's perhaps there that he was able to convince her to turn against his son regardless shea returns to king's landing on the orders of tywin and proceeds to accuse tyrion of all manner of crimes before he requests a trial by combat a trial that unfortunately ends in his father's favor and that should have been that tyrion was to be executed shortly thereafter and tywin would have continued to rule the kingdoms in his grandson's dead however tywin's most beloved treasure ended up being his undoing family as jaime the only person in all of house lannister who loved tyrion comes to his rescue a second chance that tyrion used to climb to his father's bedchambers to exact the truth from him before he makes his journey across the narrow sea only tyrion finds shea in his father's bed a direct contradiction of tywin's virulent opposition to prostitutes and afterwards tywin alone on the privy is made to answer for the crimes committed against this son and the realm suffering a shot through the gut with a quarrel stating that tyrion is no son of his but as tyrion points out he is his son telling tywin that he's his father writ small in the books a claim that's backed up by his aunt jenna in a feast for crows a claim that becomes all the more apparent after we find shea in tywin's bed and that was tywin lannister's greatest error ostracizing his son for his perceived faults and for a crime he didn't commit shunning the one member of his family that could have ensured the continuation of everything he had built after his demise a son who was not only gifted with the intelligence of his father but the tenderness of his forefather the little lion who could fit into the gargantuan shoes of his great father the little lion who tore out his father's heart in the end and at this end who was tywin lannister he was a man born into the richest house in all of westeros a stern boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth and the promise of inheriting the great power of a noble house in the future unfortunately for tywin he was born the first son to possibly the weakest lannister ever to helm the house and he spent his youth languishing in the light of his father's constant missteps an experience that would cause the already hard-natured tywin to become a joyless man whose entire focus was set on restoring glory to his house over the course of his life tywin would prove himself to be a hyper-intelligent austere and ruthless man who more than anyone else in his lifetime decided the course of history in westeros making himself a part of nearly every conflict event and misfortune that occurred during this time guiding the realm towards enriching and empowering his own house no matter the cost to others all of this he accomplished through his own commanding presence and ironclad will a man so dead set on reaching his goals that nothing else in the world mattered a man who shaped himself into the embodiment of ambition and determination in the beginning of this video i made the claim that tywin stands tall above all the other evil doers in this story and everything we've discussed so far about him has a part to play in that distinction but there are two things in particular that solidify this notion the first is that many of the monsters you see in this story like joffrey baratheon walder frey bruce bolton ramsay bolton the mountain amory lorch and vargo hoat are all able to commit many of the horrendous acts they commit because they're directly backed by the one man who can give them the power to act on their violent impulses tywin lannister sure they all have the ability to do what they please to a certain extent without tywin backing them but that's nothing compared to what they do after they're given the blessing of the lion lord tywin is the master of monsters the god of suffering the man who orders men to put entire villages cities and acres of land to the torch killing thousands of innocents in the process and depriving others of the resources they need to survive that alone should be enough to give tywin the distinction of being the primeval in this story but what makes tywin the worst of the worst is the fact that he manages to make all of these horrible things a reality while being the true king of westeros he isn't some rabid lord desperately trying to gain power by haphazard and brutal means he's the puppet master the tactician the financier the man with the plan who can mold all existing power structures into an extension of his will there were some lulls in his power but for nearly his entire life tywin lannister was the true power in westeros figurehead kings were manipulated the opposition was destroyed and the realm bled profusely for the power of tywin and house lannister i ask you what is more terrifying than a man who's willing to lie cheat manipulate kill and destroy just for the sake of his own power and the power of his family ramsay bolton might flay his victims joffrey might cut their heads off and mount them on spikes and the mountain may cleave his foes in half with his greatsword but standing behind all of them to allow their brutal power to flourish is the true king and a true king doesn't need to show his brutality personally no he only needs to let the realm know that every terror that descends upon the populace is a direct result of his influence the majestic might of a lion lord with near absolute power and no mercy and a man totally in control of evil thank you all for tuning in to this episode of analyzing evil and i hope you've enjoyed what are your thoughts on tywin did i miss anything let me know down below and leave a suggestion for a villain you'd like to see featured in a future episode while you're at it if you like this video hit that thumbs up button and make sure to subscribe if you haven't already a big thank you to all of my subscribers and to my patrons and a most vile thank you to those whose names you're seeing on screen now join the channel's discord server and reddit to interact with myself and the community and follow me on the social media platforms listed below to keep up with the channel as always thanks for watching and i'll be seeing you soon

Channel: The Vile Eye

Views: 956,301

Keywords: ASOIAF, Geroge RR Martin, Tywin, Jaime, Tyrion, Jon SNow, Sansa, Ned Stark, Bolton, Tyrell, Lannister, Glover, Targaryen, Martell, Aryn, Greyjoy

Id: 8l3s2DdYR7o

Length: 69min 17sec (4157 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 28 2022