0:01 i wish
0:05 i was the monster you think i am
0:08 i wish i had enough poison for the whole
0:11 pack of you i would gladly give my life
0:15 to watch you all swallow it [Music]
0:17 [Music]
0:19 tyrion lannister is a complicated
0:22 character with a lot of iconic quotes i
0:23 think his first great quote from the
0:26 books and the show alike is actually his
0:28 advice to jon snow a proud young man who
0:30 can't stand being called a bastard
0:33 despite his typical mocking attitude
0:34 tyrion tells him never forget what you are
0:35 are
0:38 the rest of the world will not
0:40 wear it like armor
0:42 and it can never be used to hatch why am
0:44 i starting the video straight off with
0:47 this it's because it is in a way
0:50 brilliant advice for jon snow or for
0:52 anyone depending on the situation and
0:55 how exactly you interpret that quote to
0:57 the extent just googling the quote comes
0:59 up with endless different articles and
1:01 blog posts people have written about the
1:03 wisdom of the quote
1:05 business insider psychology today geek
1:08 wisdom so on and i find it kind of
1:10 hilarious because false all these
1:14 articles are definitely partly correct
1:17 this advice and worldview also underpins
1:19 pretty much everything that goes wrong
1:22 for tyrion in the books it's an attitude
1:24 that kind of cements his own downfall
1:27 we'll get to that later though i am a
1:29 therapist i have made tons of videos
1:32 analyzing the psychology and behavior of
1:34 characters in the past recently i did a
1:36 video on tywin lannister now we're
1:39 talking about tyrion who is much more
1:41 complicated i think to discuss due to
1:43 the fact he is completely different in
1:45 the books to how he is in the show for
1:47 which i'm going to focus this video much
1:49 more on the book version but it should
1:52 still be understandable if you only know
1:54 the show just you need to know that
1:56 going in though as ever please add your
1:58 own thoughts in the comments things i
1:59 miss out and everything because there is
2:02 so much to try and fit into a single
2:04 video and that's the best thing about
2:05 youtube comments how they can add to a
2:09 video but yeah apart from that let's get going
2:34 [Music]
2:37 let's start with the blindingly obvious
2:40 shall we um tyrion is a dwarf in a world
2:43 that looks down on dwarfs like they are
2:45 some wretched creatures to
2:48 either ridicule or be disgusted by he is
2:52 humiliated shamed dehumanized simply for
2:55 who he is made much worse by the fact
2:57 his father adds even more shame and disgust
2:58 disgust
3:00 blaming him for the death of tyrion's
3:02 own mother joanna and seeing him as the
3:04 bane to tywin's pride when other people
3:07 treat you like someone disgusting or
3:10 tell you you're a vile creature it's very
3:11 very
3:13 very hard not to end up at least partly
3:15 feeling that about yourself and i don't
3:17 just mean ugliness there but also
3:20 badness and ugliness not just of
3:22 appearance but of who he is inside the
3:24 two are kind of scenes of reflection of
3:26 each other here people tend to say when
3:28 we are seen as bad or treated as bad
3:31 that we end up becoming bad ourselves
3:33 and i think i'm paraphrasing a much more
3:35 eloquent quote there but um i don't
3:37 think that's entirely true i don't think
3:38 we become
3:41 bad whatever bad even means that's a
3:43 question of its own i don't think people
3:46 necessarily do but they are given a very
3:48 big internal pressure that can then push
3:51 them in that direction because you do
3:53 end up with this doubting voice in your
3:55 head saying what if everybody is right
3:58 about me what if tywin is right what if
4:01 i am horrible what if it is my fault my
4:03 mum died what if the gods made me a
4:06 dwarf as punishment for how vile i truly
4:08 am doubts that might be particularly
4:10 strong in childhood as well but
4:13 tyrion's a rational man he
4:16 rationally knows some people are just
4:18 dwarf it's not realistically a
4:19 punishment that's just how the world
4:21 happens to be rationally i think he
4:23 knows his dad is also
4:25 pretty horrible i'd say
4:27 that his dad is unfair to treat him the
4:29 way he does and he might
4:31 logically understand that but it doesn't
4:34 remove the part of him that also feels
4:36 the opposite if understanding something
4:39 rationally was enough to heal therapy
4:40 would be very easy you'd just tell
4:42 someone it's not your fault and that
4:44 would be the end of it you know it might
4:46 be good to tell someone that but it
4:49 doesn't resolve everything the point is
4:51 what do you do when you've grown up
4:53 partly believing you might be a bad
4:55 person whatever you take that to mean i
4:57 think that depends on you unable to win
5:00 your family's approval here impossible
5:02 for anyone to possibly love you someone
5:05 who makes the world a worse place part
5:07 of you then might naturally want to
5:10 fight against that idea and prove no i'm
5:12 not a monster so you might be keen to
5:14 help out a wayward jon snow which itself
5:16 is interesting in how he helps him
5:19 partly offering kindly advice and
5:20 generally looking out for him but also
5:22 partly taunting and insulting him at the
5:24 same time which i guess is in a very
5:26 small way getting to do both things at
5:28 once help and also project his own
5:30 humiliated feelings onto another and
5:32 he's very keen to make a saddle for bran
5:35 enjoying how he proves rob stark's
5:37 mistrustful opinions of him wrong i
5:39 think generally you can even say the way
5:41 tyrion deliberately sets himself apart
5:43 from his family the rational part of him
5:46 that says i'm not the monster my father
5:49 is if anyone my scheming evil sister i
5:51 am a good person who actually cares
5:54 about the weak and so by setting himself
5:56 up as completely different to him he can
5:58 project all the negative feelings back
6:02 their way they are horrible to people he
6:04 is kind i can even be kind
6:06 kindness is not a habit with us
6:08 lannisters i fear but i know i have some somewhere
6:09 somewhere
6:11 and so he's quite keen to be different
6:13 in lots of ways they'll be proud and
6:16 dignified lannisters so i'll spend my
6:18 time in brothels and taverns instead that's
6:19 that's
6:21 i guess it's even spending time in the
6:23 complete opposite places to them i'll go
6:25 off talking to the bastard of winterfell
6:27 or exploring the wall arguably there
6:29 could be a part of him thinking
6:31 it's also these highborn noble lords and
6:33 ladies that look down on me the most
6:35 that make me stick out like a sore thumb
6:38 in contrast to them so i'll spend my
6:41 time with the lowborn instead the [ __ ]
6:43 and cutthroats the people where i look
6:45 less out of place although actually also
6:48 the people where he gets to be one above
6:50 them at the same time due to his riches
6:52 and title in fact we'll get to that
6:53 generally though a side of tyrion
6:56 deliberately setting himself apart and
6:58 probably relishing in how he can rebel
7:00 against his father that way tywin
7:02 doesn't want me sleeping with [ __ ] so
7:05 i'll do exactly that there's two issues
7:07 with all of this though the first one is
7:10 that tyrion says he chose to help bran
7:12 because i pretend to spot my heart
7:14 cripples bastards and broken things the
7:16 thing is there's a difference between
7:19 empathy and pity i suppose and when i
7:21 look at a lot of tyrion's kindly actions
7:22 i sometimes wonder if he leans more
7:25 towards pity than genuine empathy i
7:27 don't know you might disagree with this
7:29 empathy is about having deep compassion
7:32 and feeling for how someone else feels
7:35 pity is more about feeling sorry it's
7:36 about having an understanding of how
7:39 someone else feels and perhaps feeling
7:41 bad for them but not actually feeling
7:44 their emotions yourself i think it also
7:47 can sometimes come with a power element
7:50 to it as well where in feeling sorry for
7:52 them they're placed lower down than you
7:54 i'm so sorry you're struggling with this
7:56 bad thing that i'm not struggling with
7:59 and i'm so much better than you know i
8:00 kind of wonder if we get that with
8:02 tyrion perhaps hence his eagerness to
8:05 torn jon snow even as he helps him it
8:08 all makes him feel higher up than this
8:11 bastard boy or this crippled bran but i
8:13 think in a dance with dragons he largely
8:15 pities the dwarf penny without ever
8:17 truly understanding her strengths i
8:20 guess he kind of does but when tyrion
8:21 has a tender spot in his heart for the
8:24 weak the suffering exploited the
8:26 vulnerable it is because he knows how it
8:29 feels to be vulnerable and humiliated
8:31 yes but not because he wants to truly
8:33 help them grow beyond those feelings so
8:36 much as projects that side of himself
8:39 onto them getting to them both feel
8:41 better than them but also getting to
8:43 feel good for helping them getting to
8:45 partly feel like he's helping and
8:47 symbolically healing himself through the
8:49 healing of another i guess not truly
8:52 healing but the satisfactory illusion of
8:53 it i can talk more about that point if
8:57 it's not clear ask me in the comments um
8:59 the other issue though with this side of
9:01 tyrion trying to do good trying to prove
9:03 not just to the world but also
9:05 critically to himself that he isn't a
9:07 monster in fact i think when you factor
9:09 in how his father has often stated he
9:12 wanted tyrion dead it's also probably a
9:14 quest to prove to himself that he
9:17 deserves to exist which is awful um you
9:20 get in a clash of kings
9:22 tyrion's attempt to become
9:23 the hero
9:25 partly there are arguments against this
9:27 statement that will become important
9:30 later on but while tywin is off
9:32 nobody burning innocent civilians to
9:35 death he names tyrion to be hand of the
9:38 king in his dead why tyrion tywin says
9:40 it's because you're my son which is his
9:42 usual manipulation to partly
9:44 secretarianism but i think it's largely
9:47 because tywin does know tyrion possesses
9:48 useful abilities
9:50 that his relationship with both joffrey
9:52 and cersei already means he's not just
9:55 gonna be a yes man to them and also i
9:57 think tywin believes that once he does
10:00 return to king's landing he'll easily be
10:02 able to sweep away any power tyrion
10:04 might have amassed in his absence either
10:07 way tyrion has temporary but very real
10:10 power with which he plans the defense of
10:12 king's landing against the invaders he
10:14 saves the city he even leads to charge
10:17 himself of a rallying cry he is in many
10:19 ways certainly from his perspective the
10:22 hero of king's landing and even the
10:23 motivations he talks about in the books
10:26 are going to king's landing to do
10:29 justice rather than all the scheming of
10:31 others you know he'll beat them at their
10:33 own scheming game sure but he'll do it
10:35 for justice such as replacing jello
10:38 slint for killing babies and in his
10:40 feverish state after the battle of black
10:42 water he dreams of a celebratory feast
10:45 where he's hailed as the hero his dad is
10:48 even smiling with approval at him and
10:50 quite naturally tyrion's main hopes and
10:53 motivations are the wish to be accepted
10:55 by this world he's born into not to be
10:57 demonized by the highborn to win their
11:00 approval to be accepted by his father
11:03 this is what he wants if tyrion doesn't
11:04 like feeling like the monster all the
11:06 time there's a limit to how much of a
11:08 difference it can make by just doing
11:10 small kind acts and showing pity to
11:13 those more vulnerable or broken as he
11:15 puts it than him that's not going to
11:17 change wide of people's perception of
11:19 him tyrion wants a greater external
11:21 validation from others
11:23 of course he wants his father's approval
11:25 the tragedy however is that even in that
11:27 moment where he believes he has been
11:29 hero proved he's the total opposite of
11:32 the monster even then he wins no
11:34 approval at all no one's opinion of him
11:37 changes the effect this all has on
11:40 tyrion this rejection here is
11:47 i should be clear it's not just that
11:49 tyrion does something heroic in his eyes
11:52 and doesn't win approval or acceptance
11:53 for it it's that
11:56 he does something heroic then is left
11:58 alone to heal in a lonely chamber his
12:00 father takes all the credit takes back
12:02 the tower of the hands the power
12:05 reaffirms his disgust for his son all
12:07 the allies tyrion built up and king's
12:09 landing start to disappear he is blamed
12:11 for a murder he didn't commit for which
12:13 his father may or may not be intending
12:16 to have him executed his lover turns
12:18 against him and nobody at all speaks out
12:21 on his behalf that is as big as
12:23 rejection ever gets
12:26 everybody has rejected you your family
12:28 your lover your allies and the society
12:32 as a whole tyrion tried to be the hero
12:34 and was met with people wishing his
12:37 death that must hurt a lot and
12:40 to begin with tyrion is a bit defeated
12:42 here impotent might even be the word
12:44 you'd use especially in the context of
12:46 his own father taking away all his power
12:48 to which i do think a good addition in
12:50 the show is this scene between elena and
12:52 tyrion where she tells him i was told
12:54 you were drunk impertinent and
12:56 thoroughly divorced
12:58 you can imagine my disappointment at
13:00 finding nothing but a brow-beaten
13:01 bookkeeper i love the reaction on
13:03 tyrion's face there it's a great
13:05 addition to the show that underpins
13:08 tyrion's emotional state perfectly right
13:10 now even his famous wits are left
13:13 largely speechless against elena tyrell
13:16 here tyrion in himself feels reduced to
13:18 nothing you know as much as david and
13:20 dan did some horrendous stuff with the
13:22 story later on when they still had
13:24 decent guidelines around them and
13:26 probably weren't burnt out working on it
13:27 for so long without getting the sense to
13:29 really have anyone else to come in and
13:30 help them when they had all that they
13:33 were capable of adding some pretty good
13:34 written scenes but yeah tyrion in
13:37 himself feels reduced to nothing here
13:40 until he gets pushed too far where he
13:43 explodes wonderfully in the trial partly
13:46 really because tywin just can't help his
13:48 added need to humiliate others
13:50 particularly his son by bringing in shay
13:52 and turning her deliberately against him
13:53 he's just got to add that extra
13:56 humiliation hasn't he i suppose i take
13:58 all of this slow journey from failed heroics
13:59 heroics
14:01 long-suffering defeatism then this
14:04 bitter explosion of revenge as tyrion
14:07 giving up on not being the monster i
14:09 think that's quite a
14:11 simple poetic literary based and
14:13 psychology-based way to put it all in
14:16 but it's worth saying anyway um instead
14:18 just embracing the role fully if this is
14:20 what they see me as
14:22 regardless of what i do if i can't
14:25 change their that opinion then screw it
14:27 i'll become that monster i'll own it
14:29 i'll haunt them in revenge
14:31 teach them what happens when you treat
14:33 someone good as a monster this is their
14:35 doing i'm going to gather them for it
14:37 you know which is a way of twisting it
14:39 all on his head and a way of giving him
14:42 a huge feeling of power the total
14:44 opposite of impotence no wonder this
14:46 change is so appealing to him what's
14:48 more there's a a certain kind of
14:51 liberation i think most villains would
14:52 feel or even talk about in certain
14:55 stories when they just let go of what
14:57 society expects them what their own
15:00 conscience expects and choose instead to
15:02 fight against it basically i'm going to
15:04 be that monster and get the satisfaction
15:07 of having my revenge against all of them
15:09 and also absolve myself with the guilt
15:11 with the idea that they have made me
15:13 into this you know in the show tyrion
15:15 though comes out of all of this trial as
15:18 still basically a good person which
15:19 makes his outburst there feel a little
15:22 sudden and extreme in the books though i
15:25 think he is a villain and i think he's
15:27 set to become increasingly
15:30 brutal and villain villain-ish villainous
15:31 villainous
15:33 once he meets daenerys he could be
15:35 perhaps a very bitter voice in her ear
15:38 that will feed the more extreme brutal
15:40 sides of her character he might be the
15:42 one to bring that out of her but we do
15:44 have to recognize that tyrion has been
15:47 bitter and vengeful already he has spent
15:49 a childhood dreaming of killing both his
15:51 sister and his father in book one he
15:54 plots to reduce the veil to ash in
15:55 revenge against lice that are arresting
15:57 him he stamps on the singer marillion's
15:59 hands breaking all his fingers just
16:01 because he makes fun of tyrion when
16:03 maester paracel shares his secret to the
16:05 queen he has his clansmen scare him to
16:07 the point of wetting himself threatening
16:10 to castrate him before shaving off his
16:12 famous beard stripping him of his title
16:14 and throwing him into a cell he
16:16 humiliated lancel various others and
16:19 generally cannot contain himself from
16:20 making many
16:23 angry extreme threatened people most
16:25 obviously in threatening to geld the king
16:26 king [Music]
16:27 [Music]
16:30 then you'll be [ __ ] your own bride
16:33 with a wooden [ __ ]
16:35 or telling sir say all her joys will
16:37 turn to ash they will come
16:40 when you think you're safe and happy and
16:42 your joy will turn to ashes in your
16:45 mouth a very angry vengeful side bursts
16:47 out of tyrion when he feels slighted
16:49 aside at complete odds with the
16:52 supposedly composed calm empathetic
16:54 witty joker i think we can draw two
16:57 things from all of this one is that
16:59 tyrion cannot stand laughter any better
17:01 than tywin can which is unsurprising you
17:04 know not only would he have grown up
17:05 inheriting tywin's belief that being
17:08 laughed at is a great insult and a sign
17:10 of your weakness and it all needs to be
17:12 crushed but tyrion would have also been
17:15 forced to endure a horrendous amount of
17:18 humiliation for being a dwarf for
17:20 supposedly killing his mother when she
17:22 died in childbirth there's even the
17:24 theory that tyrion is actually the child
17:26 of king heiress and tywin's wife joanna
17:28 which i don't think is going to be true
17:30 but there's certainly enough suspicion
17:32 that tywin might have partly worried
17:34 that was the case and that would add to
17:36 his disdain for tyrion all of it makes
17:39 humiliation a horrible horrible
17:42 experience to prevent at all possible costs
17:43 costs
17:44 for which
17:47 yes a lot of the time tyrion tries to
17:49 outwit others in response that's his
17:50 strength he can't
17:52 intimidate people physically really but
17:55 he can turn mockery back on them that
17:57 feels good that makes him feel powerful
18:00 instead of powerless my mind is a weapon
18:02 my brother has his sword king robert has
18:04 his warhammer and i have my mind the
18:06 problem is our wetting people doesn't
18:09 stop them say the way tywin's death
18:11 stare and brutal history would make
18:14 anyone too afraid to laugh at him openly
18:16 outwitting someone might shut them up in
18:18 the short term but it will also leave
18:20 them angered
18:22 eager to retaliate somehow they'll keep
18:25 trying to one-up his great wits hence no
18:29 amount of smarts or slabs stop joffrey
18:30 from relishing a chance to try and
18:32 humiliate tyrion but sure he might be
18:34 able to run rings around joffrey
18:36 verbally and others but it won't stop
18:40 them dumbly repeatedly calling him in
18:42 and when being called impurge tyrion
18:44 he'll want to do more to stop that
18:46 completely hence the rage of course
18:48 tyrion grew up with a hell of a lot of
18:50 anger the only way you wouldn't growing
18:52 up in his situation was if it was all
18:54 suppressed into an empty numbness or
18:57 that kind of defeated impotency that
18:59 we've already seen i suspect his
19:01 drinking also makes the rage worse as
19:03 does his father as much as i said tyrion
19:05 wanted to be the hero as hand of the
19:08 king to earn approval and validation
19:10 really much more than that he wanted to
19:12 lord it over people who have looked down
19:15 on him he wanted power over this world
19:18 of the highborn the dwarf the monster
19:20 the one they laughed at but now i hold
19:24 it all the power the city the girl this
19:26 is what i was made for and gods forgive
19:28 me but i do love it
19:31 he wants power in a way that is very
19:33 similar to what i talked about with
19:35 tywin in his video but just suddenly
19:38 different tywin wants power to build up
19:41 this image of himself and to deny anyone
19:43 the opportunity to ridicule and poke
19:46 holes in that image tyrion wants power
19:48 yes to stop people ridiculing him but
19:50 also for the very
19:52 personal pleasure of having power over
19:54 these people i think there's a stronger
19:56 element of revenge there revenge not
19:59 just against individuals like uh
20:01 marillion who mocked him or leicester
20:03 who imprisoned him but also this general
20:07 society that does or he imagines to look
20:09 down on him this general society he
20:11 projects onto as a faceless bullying
20:13 enemy that's and because it does very
20:16 much build up his ego to feel like the
20:18 brilliant schemer one step ahead of
20:20 everybody hence how he's constantly
20:22 telling himself how brilliant a job he's
20:24 doing to the extent he doesn't really
20:26 notice any of his mistakes anyway this
20:29 was the second point to draw out the
20:31 side of tyrion that wants to be more
20:35 like tywin people generally fear tywin
20:36 the way tyrion wants to be feared himself
20:37 himself
20:40 why because tywin dials his aggression
20:42 up to 100 whenever his ego is wounded and
20:43 and
20:45 obliterates his enemies so
20:48 tyrion tries to do the same the example
20:50 of threatening cersei that all her joys
20:53 will turn to ash is the perfect example
20:55 she has taken aliye her captive who she
20:58 thinks is tyrion's mistress at the time
20:59 and she's done it because she thinks
21:01 tyrion is deliberately trying to hurt
21:03 her and send her sons away she doesn't
21:05 actually have tyrion's mistress shay so
21:08 it's not a great worry for him here all
21:11 tyrion has to do was tell sir say that
21:14 was not his intention he has to talk to
21:16 her try working with his sister ease
21:18 this rivalry here but he doesn't like
21:21 being slighted and he wants to be the
21:23 all-powerful tywin who is in command of
21:25 all interactions so
21:27 he resorts to aggressive threats instead
21:30 he does nothing to dissuade cersei's
21:32 paranoia even though that would be good
21:34 for him he does nothing because he
21:36 relishes the chance to hurt her and to
21:39 try and make her fear him i think the
21:40 sibling rivalry between all three
21:42 lannisters is fascinating but i think it
21:44 would be better to talk about that in a
21:46 video on cersei in particular so we'll
21:48 leave that for there unlike taiwan these
21:51 threats don't work for tyrion
21:54 why well for one he is a dwarf who isn't
21:56 physically intimidating um all his
21:59 threats kind of just reaffirm people's
22:01 belief that he's this vile wretched
22:03 creature he's also no lord with true
22:06 power alongside which despite his
22:07 successes and battles he's never going
22:10 to be a battle commander that could for
22:12 example um reduce a whole castle to
22:15 ruins or flood one and deliver on his
22:17 threat so clearly in that way and the
22:19 rest of his behavior the drinking the
22:22 women the lack of loyal allies to rally
22:24 to his side can just make his threats
22:27 look a bit small and ridiculous even
22:29 when they might not necessarily be in
22:32 that sense the rage the vengeful sides
22:34 the part of him that gives into this
22:36 monster rather than fights against it was
22:37 was
22:39 always there his change doesn't come
22:42 from nowhere of course tyrion growing up
22:44 has been left with rage and bitterness
22:47 and i should say trauma which may inform
22:49 his explosive responses people then
22:51 react to that as though it proves he's a
22:54 monster which will again then make him
22:57 feel even more doomed to this image
22:58 people have thrust onto him whilst it's
23:00 certainly not inevitable he'll become
23:02 that and i certainly don't like the
23:03 phrase that the abused becomes the
23:06 abuser because he doesn't have to be
23:08 things might actually have gone quite
23:10 differently for him in this story for
23:12 now there was another reason for me
23:13 mentioning this more vengeful side of
23:16 tyrion it's because at his trial where
23:17 he is condemned for the murder of
23:19 joffrey that he obviously didn't commit
23:24 he declares i'm guilty of being a dwarf
23:27 you are not on trial for being a dwarf oh
23:28 oh
23:31 yes i am the reason everyone is against
23:33 him everyone wants him dead despite the
23:35 good he has done despite the role he has
23:37 played as the hero
23:40 is because he's a dwarf that certainly
23:42 makes him a far easier target for other
23:44 people's projection yes but it's not
23:47 entirely true either [Music]
23:50 [Music]
23:52 so this is a section of the video that i
23:54 could have easily just titled despite
23:56 the show consistently telling you tyrion
23:58 is the smartest person in westeros
24:00 whilst also showing through his foolish
24:03 actions that he's the exact opposite
24:05 a tyrion in the books was never actually
24:07 meant to be seen as that smart to begin
24:10 with it's a very snappy title
24:13 it's all to say that tyrion spends his
24:16 time as hands of the king feeling very
24:18 smug about his accomplishments seeing
24:20 himself as a brilliant schemer who's
24:22 unmatched in his ability to play the
24:24 game all the while varys and
24:26 littlefinger are kind of running rings
24:29 around him but tyrion does do a lot of
24:31 clever scheming things to get ahead he
24:33 replaces janos slint as head of the city
24:35 watch not for justice really but because
24:37 he wants someone he's in charge of as
24:39 head of the city watch rather than
24:42 someone in his sister's pocket which is
24:44 also why he throws pycelle in the
24:46 dungeons why he tries to get lancel
24:49 lannister to spy for him and various
24:51 other changes he does a lot of it in
24:53 clever ways he gets people like bronn
24:56 with other sellswords on his side and
24:58 the clansmen and it all amasses him a
25:01 great deal of power
25:03 temporarily we see often that tyrion has
25:05 a tendency to turn to mercenaries for
25:08 support it makes sense because tyrion
25:11 has access to vast wealth and he's not
25:13 the jaime lannister sword he might be
25:16 able to inspire loyalty not readily
25:18 anyway tyrion would have to spend a huge
25:20 amount of time over the course of his
25:22 life building up a very good reputation
25:25 for himself showing people a nobler side
25:27 to himself let's say and even then it's
25:30 going to be difficult buying sell swords
25:32 are much simpler also i just think emotionally
25:33 emotionally
25:35 tyrion likes sellswords because it's
25:38 straightforward he knows exactly what
25:40 they want and therefore knows exactly
25:42 how to keep them on his side it doesn't
25:45 require complex manipulation and favor
25:47 and all sorts else which i think is
25:50 similar to what we see with women here
25:52 tyrion turns to sex workers because he
25:54 doesn't truly believe anyone would
25:56 actually love him he seeks out this half
25:58 illusion of love in that sense it's
26:00 unsurprising that he likewise turns to
26:02 sell swords for friends or at least
26:05 allies so that is true but self swords
26:07 also have the massive disadvantage that
26:10 they can be easily put aside and holds
26:13 no true loyalty to tyrion as much as
26:14 bronn likes tyrion he won't fight for
26:16 him as his champion against gregor
26:19 clegane tywin cleverly makes brun a
26:20 knight giving him more than tyrion
26:24 himself can give him more so though all
26:27 of tyrion's threats his vengeful acts
26:29 and eagerness to humiliate others the
26:32 way he has been humiliated in the past
26:34 that all creates a hell of a lot of
26:36 enemies pythal becomes his enemy to even
26:39 very petty degrees here like
26:40 deliberately dropping a scroll his
26:42 attempts with lancel don't really work
26:45 and make another possible enemy joffrey
26:47 despises him due to tyrion's treatment
26:50 of him cersei also hates him and as i
26:52 said tyrion does nothing to dissuade her
26:53 paranoia and
26:55 rivalry whilst he may never have gotten
26:57 on well with these people they didn't
27:00 necessarily need to bear a burning
27:02 resentment towards him such a resentment
27:04 that of course they speak against him at
27:06 his trial of course no one speaks on his
27:09 behalf sure it's still a farcical
27:12 trial but that's politics anyone's going
27:14 to use anything they can against their
27:15 enemies when they get the chance
27:17 tyrion gives them so much ammunition to
27:20 do so um in that sense i think tyrion
27:22 ends up on trial as much for his own
27:25 actions as for being a dwarf the only
27:27 true friend he has left by the end of
27:29 this trial is his brother jamie and it
27:31 doesn't take long for tyrion to burn
27:34 that bridge too [Music]
27:36 [Music]
27:38 i talked a bit about the story of taisha
27:41 in my video on tywin it's a dramatic
27:44 experience for both taisha and tyrion and
27:45 and
27:47 i can only imagine what tyrion must feel
27:49 about it which is what i'm going to do
27:51 imagine what tyrion must feel about it um
27:52 um
27:54 a lowborn girl he married living two
27:57 weeks of loving bliss until his father
28:00 found out had jamie tell tyrion she was
28:02 the sex worker who never actually loved
28:03 him before
28:06 tywin forced tyrion to watch her be
28:09 passed between all of his guards
28:11 then back to tyrion
28:12 forced to have sex with her again in
28:15 front of them only this time obviously
28:19 very little love tyrion felt incredibly
28:21 humiliated and angry at his father about
28:23 this i don't need to even say that of
28:25 course he did he probably also felt
28:28 stupid and ashamed of himself as though
28:31 thinking obviously taisha didn't love me
28:33 of course jaime had paid her to pretend
28:35 how could i be so stupid he might have
28:37 felt embarrassed for believing her and
28:39 being so vulnerable with her when it was
28:41 a trick which then might have turned to
28:44 anger towards taisha herself that
28:46 feeling that she'd tricked him it might
28:47 not have done but that's certainly
28:49 possible tyrion might have felt angry at
28:51 himself for believing it was love and it
28:53 all would have been an experience to
28:54 tell him
28:56 nobody will ever love you it's not
28:59 possible you're a fool for even wanting
29:01 to believe it don't believe in love
29:02 although of course it means more than
29:04 that to tyrion it's not just believing
29:07 in love it's believing in the idea that
29:09 someone can accept him for who he is
29:10 believing that he's
29:13 deserving of existence of love of being
29:15 there that's a huge amount of feeling
29:17 and emotional weight to place on a
29:19 relationship with another person but of
29:21 course you know and i wonder if this
29:23 explains part of his controlling nature
29:26 towards shay she is quite a capable girl
29:28 who challenges him particularly in the
29:30 show but in the books tyrion slaps her
29:33 he is a bit more controlling and whilst
29:36 he does eventually decides to marry her
29:38 off for her own safety it takes him
29:39 a great deal longer to come to that decision
29:40 decision
29:42 rather than the noble act of trying to
29:45 get a free in the show if nobody will
29:47 ever truly love him as much as he tries
29:49 to convince himself that shea loves him
29:51 in the book she never does but he so
29:53 tries to convince himself because he
29:55 desperately wants to believe
29:58 despite that he can't quite trust her
30:00 and wants to keep her close and controlled
30:01 controlled
30:04 but i imagine more than anything the
30:07 taishi experience left tyrion with a
30:09 mass amount of guilt
30:11 guilt for two possible things one being
30:14 that if he hadn't foolishly married her
30:15 she'd never have suffered such horrible
30:18 trauma the second guilt is that if a
30:20 side of tyrion did hate taisha probably
30:22 unconsciously hated her for the
30:24 experience whilst
30:25 also still loving her at the same time
30:27 perhaps he even chose to hate her
30:29 despair himself missing her quite as
30:32 much it would seem all his feelings are
30:34 a conflicted muddled mess of lots of
30:37 things love anger sadness hatreds embarrassment
30:38 embarrassment
30:40 shame but if a side of him did hate or
30:43 even feel anger towards tysha how
30:46 intensely guilty that then must have
30:48 left him when he eventually found out
30:50 that she wasn't a sex worker that she
30:53 did genuinely love tyrion jaime had just
30:55 been forced to lie under tywin's orders
30:58 finding out that means he'd spent years
31:00 upon years feeling anger towards the
31:03 only person who ever loved him years
31:04 upon years not searching for her
31:07 condemning her memory it's an intense
31:09 guilt it's then unsurprising how he
31:12 flips to the complete opposites
31:14 idealizing taisha to the absolute max as
31:16 though to make up for his previous anger
31:18 probably also out of a desperate hope to
31:20 go back to the way things were and also
31:22 probably a level of splitting between
31:25 his two big relationships with women
31:28 taisha is the idealized good one shea is
31:31 the bad one who betrayed him and drew
31:33 out his murderous rage and absolute
31:35 split between the two there the thing i
31:37 find perfect for tyrion's story is the
31:40 introduction of penny in that sense a
31:42 dwarf just like him for which they built
31:44 up a level of friendship however tyrion
31:47 has no interest in anything further he's
31:49 got this idealized image of taisha to
31:51 chase instead and he just prefers to
31:52 keep her
31:56 as someone to pity someone i think it
31:57 seems like he's increasingly becoming
31:59 harsh and dismissive towards although we
32:01 have to wait for winds of winter to
32:03 actually be released before we can know
32:05 for sure at the very least she reflects
32:08 tyrion's split feelings here between
32:10 someone good to partly admire i think he
32:12 does sort of admire her and then also
32:15 the side of her that reminds him of shay
32:17 and draws out his anger that makes it
32:19 all very difficult for tyrion to truly
32:22 get close not necessarily romantically
32:24 either taisha i guess in that sense is
32:26 the closest thing tyrion ever had to a
32:28 good female role model because he never
32:30 knew his mum and cersei was certainly
32:32 not a good example as an older sister
32:35 shea in the end betrays him um who else
32:38 has there been despite some flaws i
32:40 think penny could have a positive effect
32:42 on tyrion i think that's possible i
32:43 think she shows his potential to
32:46 possibly change for the good she is not
32:48 chained to her pride and insecurities
32:49 like tyrion she is not compelled to say
32:51 what she likes to people the way tyrion
32:53 can't help mocking and leads himself
32:54 into trouble she could really give him
32:56 the chance to come to terms with who he
32:59 is as a dwarf and a person not hating
33:02 himself for it but i think his feelings
33:04 of women are too um
33:06 that's not what the word is troubled i
33:08 guess to really let her have an effect
33:10 on his heart again not necessarily romantically
33:11 romantically
33:14 plus instead he has this idealized dream
33:17 of taisha who even if he found her again
33:18 would not
33:20 be able to pick up where they left off
33:22 probably i expect she'd want nothing to
33:24 do with him but they only knew each
33:26 other for two weeks as much as i say she
33:28 might have been a good female role model
33:30 that's no time at all perhaps that's me
33:32 even putting a load of idealization onto
33:34 her based on tyrion's idealization maybe
33:36 i'm getting caught up in his thoughts
33:39 there um tyrion likes penny but he
33:41 doesn't truly want to be like penny i
33:43 guess you can say even now he still
33:45 wants to be like tywin perhaps in the
33:47 same way tywin doesn't want to think he
33:50 is anything like tyrion tyrion doesn't
33:52 want to think he is like penny i don't
33:54 know um i need to re-read their scenes
33:55 to think about that more let me know
34:03 i said the advice to make your weakness
34:06 your armor was kind of at the heart of
34:09 tyrion's downfall or dissent anyway
34:11 such advice could be good if it meant
34:13 recognizing the strengths within your
34:15 weaknesses accepting them for that and
34:18 trying to build on it most weaknesses
34:20 are also a strength in many ways
34:23 for tyrion though it seems to more mean
34:25 shielding himself against the rejection
34:27 not even just fronting that you don't
34:29 care about people's insults which can be
34:33 okay but needing a real armor to defend
34:35 yourself in a way that just teaches you
34:37 the dwarfism is something he should feel
34:39 bad about is something he needs to
34:41 deeply defend against i hope that makes
34:43 sense it's quite the subtle but
34:46 important difference many rejections he
34:48 has suffered consistently across his
34:49 life to the point he quite
34:52 understandably struggles to bear it anymore
34:53 anymore
34:56 how do you go on then trying your
34:58 absolute hardest to be a good person to
35:00 set yourself apart from your family to
35:02 be accepted by the world as someone
35:05 noble and worthy of belonging
35:08 if your every painstaking attempt to do
35:10 so only leads to further crushing
35:13 rejection that's incredibly hard so he
35:15 forged a lot of shields and armor
35:18 fronting his humor twisting mockery back
35:21 on others being as lowly and gruesome as
35:23 he said to be in his drinking and
35:26 rudeness and endless sex not that it is
35:28 necessarily gruesome but that's how it
35:30 seemed you know i suspect even his very
35:32 impulsive need for pleasures are a
35:34 defense of their own too and then also
35:36 being more of that monstrous image in
35:39 the darker crueler sense of the word
35:42 yeah i am that monster so what that
35:45 sense of liberation i talked about
35:46 freeing yourself from having to care
35:49 about who you are in a way that doesn't
35:51 actually free you so much as just
35:52 suppress your resentment about yourself
35:54 by embracing the person he's accused of
35:56 being he shuts himself off from the
35:58 projection but also
36:01 at no point really comes to terms with
36:03 himself it doesn't resolve the burning
36:06 part of tyrion that hates himself for
36:08 not being tall for not being someone
36:10 that people wouldn't be able to vilify
36:13 which is why penny is a great example of
36:15 the very difficult but better journey he
36:17 could take towards something slightly
36:19 happier what we do know anyway is a
36:21 stage performance area watches of
36:24 westeros with a very devious
36:26 stereotypical image of tyrion taking
36:29 stage a version of tyrion that fails to
36:31 show all of the humanity at his center
36:33 that we've come to know and like him for
36:36 yet also paints a stark image of the
36:39 sort of person he is becoming which here
36:40 could feel like a good place to conclude
36:43 the video but there's more i want to say
36:45 this video has already been quite
36:47 haphazard and all over the place which
36:49 can happen when you're talking about a person
36:50 person
36:52 a character
36:54 because people themselves are haphazards
36:56 and a bits all over the place if you're
36:58 honing someone down to a clear defining
37:00 point you're probably missing something
37:01 you know
37:03 all the same this video may be about to
37:06 get even more haphazard
37:14 well it's quite different methods um
37:15 arming yourself against your
37:18 vulnerabilities is exactly what tywin
37:20 does tyrion takes on that lesson and it
37:23 leaves him massively conflicted
37:25 throughout the story on the one hand he
37:27 hates his father for the way he treats
37:29 tyrion he hates his sister for the way
37:32 she treats him and the general world of
37:33 the high born too the general word of
37:35 everyone i guess he's a child who dreams
37:38 of owning a dragon who would start fires
37:40 deep below casterly rock and pretend he
37:42 was a lost targaryen prince with his own
37:45 dragon a boy who just wishes he belonged
37:47 to a different family i think a very
37:49 common wish children can have such as
37:52 the sort of story harry potter taps into
37:53 which i talked about in my wish
37:56 fulfillment video here you know i don't
37:58 seem to fit in with his family i don't
38:00 much like them or want to fit in
38:02 necessarily either with the exception of
38:05 jamie and my uncle they seem horrible
38:07 i'll dream of some other family where i
38:10 do actually belong maybe i'm just here
38:12 as a mistake maybe i'll find there's
38:14 another family that wants me or maybe
38:16 i'll find him a targaryen the greatest
38:18 family of all and i'll end up being
38:20 revered the lannisters would have to
38:22 look up to me then rather than the other
38:24 way around wanting to have an identity
38:26 set apart from this house lannister
38:28 where he doesn't belong and partly
38:30 doesn't want to belong either and part
38:33 of this hatred then fuels vengeance he
38:35 imagines burning his father and his
38:38 sister with dragonfire he enjoys
38:40 enraging his sister feeding her hurt and
38:42 paranoia even when it leads to bad
38:45 consequences for him just as he enjoys
38:47 mocking his father knowing full well how
38:50 his father hates mockery it's the best
38:53 revenge he's able to really exact an impulsive
38:54 impulsive
38:58 flip and throw of wit which also makes
39:00 tywin feel a little less scary in his
39:02 eyes i suspect when tyrion is afraid of
39:04 tywin particularly when he was young
39:06 finding ways to mock his father would
39:09 ease some of that fear make tywin seem a
39:11 little less towering and impossibly
39:14 powerful until eventually that is tyrion
39:17 realizes he doesn't have to fear him he
39:20 can kill him that actually tywin is just
39:23 as flawed and hypocritical and exactly
39:26 like tyrion himself which i'll get on to
39:27 in a second so yeah on the one hand he
39:29 hates his family and wants revenge shame
39:31 as he wants revenge against this general
39:34 society when he can't exact revenge on
39:36 his powerful father or even directly his
39:39 sister he exacts it on weaker targets
39:41 like janos slint and pycelle and then on
39:43 the other hand he wants his father's
39:46 approval which also makes sense if tywin
39:48 is the central figure for all of this
39:50 shame and humiliation that tyrion is
39:52 made to feel and
39:54 you obviously hate tywin 4 making you
39:56 feel that winning his approval would
39:59 make all the shame come to an end it
40:01 would not just remove it but also
40:02 somewhat resolve
40:04 all of the paths tyrion was put through
40:06 or at least be imagined to resolve and
40:08 stop it so he's caught in this weird
40:10 space of hating tywin but also feeling
40:13 dependent upon him desperate to win his
40:15 affection hence his eagerness to learn
40:18 from tywin and try to emulate him if my
40:20 father could see just how much i'm
40:22 actually like tywin maybe then he'll
40:25 love me except in tywin's case he
40:27 probably wouldn't the more tyrion is
40:30 like him the more it horrifies tywin to
40:32 be confronted with who he actually is
40:34 himself therefore the more he needs to
40:36 resist that realization which ultimately
40:39 means tyrion can't win there being like
40:42 his father doesn't work and he's also
40:44 too dependent to actually just break
40:46 away helpfully in a way that would
40:48 probably be the best for him doubly
40:50 difficult to break away when he
40:52 financially depends entirely on being a
40:54 lannister if it wasn't for the lannister
40:56 name and riches he would have absolutely
40:59 no power at all so then he is very much
41:01 caught between wanting to be a lannister
41:04 and not wanting to be a lannister and
41:06 not able to do anything there really and
41:08 then there's where the feelings of good
41:10 and bad come into all of this wanting to
41:12 prove to himself and to the world that
41:14 he's not the monster but that's
41:16 intricately tied to winning his father's
41:18 approval and being like him which
41:20 kind of means becoming the monster so
41:22 that's very confused and then comes with
41:24 a level of guilt for wanting to be like
41:27 his father at all a guilt he largely
41:29 chooses to suppress wanting to be
41:31 praised by others but also wanting to
41:33 exact revenge on them feeling pity for
41:36 outcasts but not often true empathy a
41:38 desperation to believe in love and that
41:41 he is worthy of love and even just of
41:43 existence but also a great and bitter
41:46 anger when he feels that desperation to
41:49 believe has been tricked tyrion is a vast
41:50 vast
41:53 vast array of complex confused feelings
41:56 to which your head would just spin in
41:58 his situation i don't find it at all
42:00 surprising he's as impulsive as he is in
42:02 that context at least there's then
42:04 something he can grapple on to sex and
42:07 wine and things although the sex is
42:10 really more a search for intimacy and
42:12 company and acceptance and the
42:13 drunkenness probably shuts off a lot of
42:16 these hurricane of feelings tyrion's
42:18 conclusion for everything is somewhat correct
42:19 correct
42:22 he is a victim he has been on trial his
42:25 whole life for being a dwarf and various
42:28 other things the trial where his abusive
42:31 father is quite fittingly the judge i am
42:34 the victim and if that makes me a
42:36 monster then i'm a victim for being
42:38 turned into that as well at the same
42:40 time the only way out of feeling
42:42 victimized is to take on a level of
42:45 agency and responsibility to try and
42:47 change to not be powerless against these
42:50 pressures something it is very very hard
42:52 to do without support and someone
42:54 believing in him how do you learn to
42:56 believe in yourself when nobody else
42:58 believed in you to begin with
43:00 no wonder he wanted to believe shay
43:02 loved him no wonder he wants to believe
43:04 he can find taisha again i said it would
43:06 have been a revelation to discover lord
43:09 tywin lannister isn't this invincible
43:11 imposing figure but a devious hypocrite
43:14 who sleeps with shay and probably other
43:17 women and doesn't in the end [ __ ] gold i
43:18 don't know if that's a good revelation
43:21 or not on the one hand it gives tyrion a
43:23 feeling of power over his father and it
43:25 gives him some sense of understanding of
43:27 who he really is but on another level it
43:30 proves he is exactly like his dad
43:33 exactly like this man he hates how do
43:34 you then come to terms with yourself
43:36 realizing that and realizing you're
43:38 exactly like the person you most hate
43:40 doubly hard to believe you can be
43:42 anything different when your similarity
43:45 is laid out so clearly in that moment
43:47 what does killing his father represent
43:50 um i suppose you could argue it's
43:52 killing off the part of tyrion that is
43:54 like his dad but i don't think that's
43:55 the case i think it's
43:58 very edible um in killing tywin he can
44:01 finally take up his own place as tywin
44:04 for good or ill it wasn't really an
44:06 experience that gave him closure just
44:08 fed his vengeance and the intoxicating
44:11 power he gains from it i think i guess i
44:13 wanted to finish this video saying
44:16 tyrion's story paints a very real and
44:18 horrifying struggle many of us do go
44:20 through the fear that we might turn into
44:23 our parents even when we hate everything
44:25 they stand for and i think it's made
44:27 doubly scary because there will be times
44:30 where we recognize themselves in us and
44:32 we might act out in all sorts of ways
44:34 they used to and
44:37 those situations scare us but we don't
44:39 have to be and shouldn't expect to be
44:41 absolutely nothing like our parents we
44:43 don't have to be total opposites to them
44:45 if we can forgive ourselves for some of
44:47 our similarities for the times we are
44:50 similar then we can give ourselves trust
44:52 and confidence and the belief to be
44:54 different i think sometimes we'll get
44:55 things wrong but that doesn't mean we
44:58 are doomed certainly not if we're aware
45:00 enough to spot when it happens and when
45:02 i talk about forgiving ourselves i don't
45:04 mean just going oh it's fine that
45:07 happened and forgetting it i mean going
45:09 that wasn't good no
45:11 i can be honest to myself about that
45:13 without having to distance myself from
45:16 it but i can also trust myself to grow
45:18 we can forgive our faults far easier
45:20 when we believe we have space to grow
45:22 beyond them with time then if we can be
45:25 aware enough and emotionally reflective
45:27 enough to recognize the similarities
45:30 scary as it might be and to reflect on
45:32 that fear and the guilt and
45:34 possible anger at ourselves and
45:36 everything else i think if we can do
45:38 that and we can like sensibly think
45:40 about what would help us grow are there
45:42 certain situations i struggle with in
45:44 particular that might be better
45:46 avoiding or getting support with i don't
45:48 know that's a bit jambled um there's a
45:50 lot to it i didn't want this to become a
45:51 massive point when i'm supposed to be
45:54 talking about tyrion here i just felt
45:56 like having talked for a long time about
45:59 a potentially good person
46:01 increasingly turning into his abusive
46:02 father i just wanted to say that doesn't
46:04 have to be the story for everyone i
46:06 didn't want to give that impression it
46:08 might not even be the story for tyrion
46:11 we don't know where george rr martin is
46:13 going with things how it's going to end
46:17 i will be fascinated to find out so um
46:19 sorry this was
46:21 all over the place even more so than my
46:23 videos usually are there's just so much
46:26 to say and it's hard to put it all into
46:29 clear points as i said before i am not a
46:31 song of ice and fire book nerd i've only
46:33 very recently read them for the first
46:34 time so please
46:35 please
46:37 add your more informed thoughts in the
46:39 comments those of you who know more than
46:40 me let me know what i missed and what i
46:44 got wrong and what i got right um
46:46 all the same if you enjoyed this give it
46:48 a like subscribe if you want more game
46:50 of thrones the song of ice and fire
46:52 analysis and
46:54 other analysis videos anything that i do
46:56 um i've done quite a bit on this channel
46:58 support me on patreon if you want help
47:00 to keep this channel going as well but otherwise
47:01 otherwise
47:03 hopefully see you next time
47:05 and ever a special thank you guys to
47:07 janice mcmahon luke core chitra caber
47:10 michael gallagher in squares samara
47:12 saucy joshua c follier and chad
