Tywin Lannister & Tyrion Lannister - Magnificent Bastards and Fan Theories

[gemfyre]

So I'm big on the whole Jon is Lynna and Rhaegar's son theory.  It makes sense.  But we all know GRRM, even if it does turn out to be true, God knows what he'll do with that information.

I did impress myself though by figuring out the whole "Tyrion is a Targaryen" thing BEFORE reading that it was a popular theory.  So, what brought me to the conclusion?  (this was written as a chain of thought, so I digress often)
- It's revealed that Aerys II Targaryen was fond of Joanna Lannister.  Tywin marrying her would have been the start of their falling out.  It's also known that Aerys often raped his own wife, Queen Rhaella, and probably forced himself on any other unfortunate woman of the court he took a liking to.  He liked Joanna Lannister, the assumption is clear.
- Joanna Lannister died giving birth to Tyrion, so she only had to keep a secret for 9 months, after that she was dead, and kind of unable to reveal anything.  I was about to say, maybe this was a relief for Tywin, but honestly that's not fair.  There is no doubt in my mind that Tywin loved Joanna completely, but I do wonder how they would have dealt with keeping such a secret had she survived.
- Cersei (perhaps following Tywin's lead - and probably also heavily influcenced by Maggy's prophecy) detests Tyrion from day one - to her he's nothing but a hideous dwarf who killed her mother (it would seem that Cersei feels that Joanna's death was a deliberate act on Tyrion's part) and who will also be her downfall (the "Valonquar").
- We all know Tywin is a smarter than how he treats Tyrion.  He doesn't really think that Tyrion is responsible for Joanna's death, it was just an unfortunate accident.  But, if Tywin is aware that Tyrion is not actually his, but Aerys's, there's already room for resentment.  Tywin seems to build a wall of denial about the whole thing and this helps him keep the secret (and keep his family name clean), but of course, deep down the truth is there, and Tywin lashes out at Tyrion because it won't go away.
- I wonder where Tywin received his sense of family honour, because obviously Tytos, his own father, as a terrible example.  But somewhere along the line Tywin came to believe that the Lannister name must never be sullied, and as soon as his father died he set about fixing all the mistakes he made to make House Lannister great once more.  Even if Tyrion is not his son, he wouldn't dare reveal that because it would stain the Lannister name.  Instead, he realises Tyrion's value.  He has a far greater intellect than Cersei and Jamie (not saying they are dumb, but neither reads day and night and ends up with a brilliant head for war strategy) and when it becomes necessary, Tywin has no problem sending Tyrion to King's Landing to be hand in his stead.  Tywin KNOWS Tyrion will do as good a job of it as he would himself.  Tywin is nothing if not a practical and pragmatic man.
- But Tywin also holds grudges and resents.  Tyrion may have his uses but he is also (assuming fan theory is correct), the bastard son of Aerys II Targaryen.  I think we can safely say it would have been rape.  Joanna seemed to be as devoted to Tywin as he was to her.  In some ways, in Tywin's eyes this is better (at least Joanna didn't WANT Aerys), but of course it's also worse (the king, who was once a good friend, raped his beloved wife).  Westeros seems to be all about tarring everyone in an arbitary group with the same brush.  Northerners and Martells hate Lannisters as a rule, even if you are a Lannister and start proving yourself a decent person (i.e. Jamie and Tyrion) you're still villified by the majority of the realm, for simply having the last name Lannister - a fact that you couldn't help.  Bastards are even worse off.  Bastards are considered creatures of lust and transgression, they will always be untrustworthy subverts that will sully your good name.  I guess, even if Tywin DOESN'T believe this bullshit, he knows the realm as a whole does, so he dare not reveal that his own family harbours a bastard.
- That doesn't change the fact that Tywin knows, and Tywin feels that gives him free rein to be a complete asshole to Tyrion.  More of an asshole than he is to most people.  He crosses the Moral Event Horizon early on with the whole Tysha debacle (what is it with these characters having names starting with "Ty"?)  That one he even dragged Jamie down into...
- Okay, so did the Tysha thing happen before or after Jamie joined the Kingsguard?  After he joined the Kingsguard it makes sense that Tywin would be an ass to him, but before... Jamie was his golden son, did he do it just so he could have Jamie prove how devoted he was to his dear dad?  Tywin seems to be the least of an asshole towards Cersei.  He tries to marry her to the Prince (Rhaegar - of course, this failing cemented the animosity between Tywin and Aerys).  His marrying her off to Robert was not an act of spite, he did that because he wanted his daughter to be Queen and his grandson to be King.  When Joffrey proves to be less than ideal (probably due to Cersei's parenting style) Tywin acts as hand and keeps a rein on him, he does the same for Cersei until his death, where Cersei quickly starts to lose the plot (but Cersei's actions are a whole other story).
- What was I saying?  Oh yes, Twyin is an ass to Tyrion.  When Tyrion is captured by Catelyn his concern is that it reflects badly on the Lannisters, not that his son has been kidnapped (he saves that ire for when Jamie is captured by Robb Stark).  He seems a little put-out when Tyrion arrives with the Hill Clans on the battlefield, but quickly sets about putting Tyrion in the position of greatest peril.  When that doesn't work he sends Tyrion off to be Hand of the King to the sadistic, bratty Joffrey.  Tyrion takes the opportunity and does a good job, but at the end of it all, Tywin makes sure that Tyrion receives none of the glory for his good deeds, most of them people don't even realise happened.  He does no favours marrying Tyrion (his unfavoured son) to Sansa (the daughter of a traitor, who was not good enough for King Joff).  He does it purely to secure a hold on the North.  He insists that Tyrion not take Shae to King's Landing because it would reflect badly but mostly because he doesn't want Tyrion to be happy.
- The whole Tywin, Tyrion and whores thing.  Tywin probably developed a bit of a hatred for whores and mistresses because of his own father's penchant for having them about.  When Tytos dies, Tywin makes his mistress walk through the streets of Lannisport naked and shamed before sending her off elsewhere.  When Tyrion manages to find love at the tender age of 13 (honestly, getting married was probably incited Tywin's rage most of all), Tywin cannot abide it and crosses that moral event horizon to make Tyrion believe she was just some whore who was pretending to love him.  So it's Tywin's actions that make Tyrion believe that all the love he'll ever recieve will come from those paid to give it, and being a Lannister, Tyrion figures, I have plenty of money, fine, I'll buy all the love I need.  It reminds me of Theon returning to Pyke and being blamed for becoming a Stark when it was Balon who gave him up in the first place.
- Tyrion starts to let down his guard with Shae.  He begins to believe that she truly does love him.  Come his trial we see that he is sadly mistaken.  Cersei gives Shae a better offer and she takes it.  When Cersei reneges afterwards Shae goes to Tywin to tattle on his trecherous daughter and maybe get a better offer still (at least she's smart enough to realise that trying to return to Tyrion would be a bad idea).
- At the very end, Tywin states outright, "You are no son of mine."  In the end, Tyrion has proved him right, that a bastard will always be a bad seed and despite his greatest efforts, Tyrion will still dirty the Lannister name (although Jamie and Cersei are doing a pretty good job of doing the same).  The irony of course is, if he hadn't been a resentful ass to Tyrion, he could have had a massively useful ally that would cement the greatness of the house.