The Lannisters are a dysfunctional bunch, to say the least. There’s Tywin, a ruthless leader who favors his family’s legacy over anything else. Then you have Cersei and Jaime, two incestuous twin siblings who have three bastard children, with two of them becoming kings. Then there’s Tyrion, the dwarf of Casterly Rock.
Throughout his entire life, Tyrion has endured so much ridicule and hate from his family due to his height, except for Jaime. Throughout Game Of Thrones’s eight seasons, Tyrion would be the victim of many things at the hands of his spiteful family. Luckily, Tyrion has been able to outsmart them as well. Here are the five worst things Tyrion did to his family and five things they did to him.
(They Did To Tyrion) Cersei And Tywin Blame Tyrion For Joanna’s Death
Tyrion’s mother, Joanna, tragically died giving birth to him. As one might expect in this time period, procedures such as giving birth aren’t the greatest. Therefore, it’s not a huge surprise that many mothers may have died during the process.
Still, that didn’t stop Tywin and Cersei from blaming Tyrion for Joanna’s untimely demise. It also didn’t help that Tyrion was born with dwarfism, meaning the Lannister would be forever tainted in Tywin’s eyes. None of this was Tyrion’s fault but he’d go his entire life being blamed for his own mother’s death.
(Tyrion Did To Them) Set Myrcella Off To Dorne
After becoming Hand of the King, Tyrion immediately pulled a scheme to see who’s truly loyal to him. This led Tyrion to tell Pycelle of his plans to marry Myrcella Lannister to Trystane Martell of Dorne. Not surprisingly, Pycelle informs Cersei on Tyrion’s plans.
Tyrion was then forced to carry on with his plan, shipping Myrcella off to Dorne. While Dorne is a relatively peaceful place, it was still a giant risk considering relations between the Martells and Lannisters are rocky after Robert’s Revolution. This comes to fruition in season five where Myrcella is poisoned by Ellaria for Prince Oberyn’s death.
(They Did To Tyrion) Joffrey Tried To Have Tyrion Killed During The Battle Of Blackwater
Joffrey doesn’t have the greatest relationship with his Uncle Tyrion. To be fair, Uncle Tyrion occasionally slaps his nephew to put him in his place, despite Joffrey being the king.
This all comes into play during the Battle of Blackwater where Tyrion led a successful attack. As the swords and arrows are flying, Tyrion catches a glimpse of a Lannister soldier and is relieved to take a breath. To Tyrion’s shock, the Lannister soldier attempts to kill him. Luckily, he only gets a slash across the face before he’s killed by Podrick. Tyrion initially believed it was Cersei who ordered the attack but it’s later revealed to be Joffrey.
(Tyrion Did To Them) Blackmailed Lancel Lannister
As Hand of the King, Tyrion needed to always have an upper-hand on his sister, especially considering what happened to the last man to hold that position. Tyrion gets a great opportunity to spy on his sister when he’s informed that Cersei is sleeping with their cousin, Lancel.
Lancel immediately begs Tyrion to not tell King Joffrey. Tyrion realized that Lancel is more useful alive than dead. He essentially blackmails his cousin into giving him all of Cersei’s secrets. Poor Lancel was just caught up in a heated sibling rivalry.
(They Did To Tyrion) Tywin Forced Tyrion To Marry Sansa
In an effort to forge new alliances, Tywin orders his children to marry. He tells Cersei she must marry Loras Tyrell, which Cersei has issues with. Tywin then informs Tyrion that he must marry Sansa Stark in order to lay claim to the North with an heir.
Aside from the fact Sansa hates Lannisters, Tyrion also points out that she’s just a child. While it’s clear that Sansa views Tyrion as being kind-hearted, he’s still a Lannister at the end of the day. Their wedding is extremely awkward and Tyrion becomes heavily intoxicated by the end of it, even going as far as threatening to castrate King Joffrey. By the end of it, Tyrion does not go through with the bedding ceremony out of respect for Sansa.
(Tyrion Did To Them) Demanded A Trial By Combat
Tyrion fully understands that he doesn’t stand a chance in the trial for Joffrey’s murder. Cersei is clearly pulling all the strings. Jaime pleads with Tywin to spare Tyrion. He goes as far as offering to take his place as ruler of Casterly Rock, in exchange, Tyrion gets sent to the Wall. Without hesitation, Tywin accepts, revealing that this is what he wanted all along.
Tyrion is told by Jaime to accept Tywin’s decision. However, during the trial, Shae comes out and betrays Tyrion, breaking his heart completely. In order to spite everyone around him, Tyrion ends up demanding a trial by combat, ruining all plans that Tywin had just made.
(They Did To Tyrion) Tywin Sentenced Tyrion To Death
In order to get revenge on The Mountain, Prince Oberyn Martell offers to be Tyrion’s champion in the trial by combat. During the fight, it’s obvious that Oberyn is the better fighter. Unfortunately, Oberyn’s thirst for vengeance gets the better of him. Seconds after taunting The Mountain, Oberyn gets knocked off his feet.
Clegane brutally kills Oberyn as everyone watches in horror, Tyrion most of all. In a matter of seconds, Tyrion’s fate had been sealed. As he’s trying to process what just happened, he has to hear his own father sentence him to death.
(Tyrion Did To Them) Killing Tywin
The night before his execution, Tyrion is suddenly broken out of his cell by Jaime. Before Tyrion makes his way to the dock, he decides to tie up and important loose end. As he makes his way into Tywin’s room, Tyrion is betrayed one last time as he sees Shae laying naked on Tywin’s bed.
In a scuffle, Tyrion kills Shae then makes his way to his father, who’s sitting on the privy. All the years of abuse and neglect led up to this moment as Tyrion drives two arrows into Tywin’s chest. Tywin being killed on the privy by his dwarf son is about as poetic as the show gets. So much for that family legacy.
(They Did To Tyrion) The Tysha Incident
When Tyrion was young, he and Jaime had rescued Tysha from some men on the road. Tyrion and Tysha immediately fell in love and got married. It’s then revealed that this was all set up by Jaime to make Tyrion feel good. Upon learning of this, Tywin abolishes the marriage and has all of his guards take Tysha and force Tyrion to watch.
That’s bad enough. However, in the books, this ends the same but with a crucial difference. It turns out, Tysha and Tyrion’s love was real but Tywin couldn’t stand to have his son marry a commoner. He forced Jaime to lie and tell Tyrion it was all set up. Jaime confesses all of this to Tyrion as he’s rescuing his little brother from execution.
(Tyrion Did To Them) Pledged Himself To Daenerys
After he kills his father and travels across the world, Tyrion is an alcoholic nihilist who couldn’t care less about the quarrels of kings and queens. It isn’t until he meets Daenerys that he decides his purpose. He not only gives her proper council but he ends up becoming her Hand.
Tyrion siding with Daenerys is perhaps the biggest betrayal to his family since the Lannisters and Targaryens are enemies after Jaime killed The Mad King. Tyrion realizes the extent of what he’s done during the assault in Season 7 where Daenerys’s dragons and armies completely obliterate the Lannister army on the road. You can see the hint of regret on his face as he watches thousands of men burn to death. The show’s series finale also makes this a questionable choice.
