Tyrion Lannister

Tyrion was born at Casterly Rock in 273. His mother, Joanna Lannister, died giving birth to him, and Tywin never forgave him for it: he raised him furious and ashamed of the newborn's deformity. Jaime and Cersei, nine years older, already lived in a world he was shut out of from the cradle.

At thirteen, riding with Jaime, he rescued a peasant girl named Tysha from bandits. He fell in love, courted her, and bribed a septon to marry them in secret. They were happy for barely two weeks — she sang him a tune, "The Seasons of My Love," which he would whistle for the rest of his life — until Tywin found out about the wedding.

Tywin didn't argue with his son: he punished him. He made Tyrion believe Tysha was a whore Jaime had hired, handed her to a group of guards in front of him, and finally forced Tyrion himself to take her too, a gold coin changing hands so he'd understand exactly what a Lannister is worth. At sixteen he asked to travel, as his uncles Gerion and Tygett once had; his father put a broom in his hand instead and sent him to clean out the sewers of Casterly Rock.

Tyrion traveled to Winterfell with King Robert's retinue. After Bran Stark's fall, he forced his nephew Joffrey to offer his condolences to the boy's parents, striking him when words weren't enough, and watched how each of his siblings reacted to the chance that Bran might survive.

When the court headed back south, he rode north instead to see the Wall, alongside First Ranger Benjen Stark and the newly sworn Jon Snow. There he saw firsthand the conditions the Night's Watch lived in, and Lord Commander Jeor Mormont asked him to describe them to the king and to his father. He grew close to Jon in a way that surprised even himself: "My weakness is dwarfs, bastards, and broken things," he admitted, and before they parted he promised to do the same for Bran.

Heading south again, he stopped at Winterfell despite Robb Stark's cold welcome, and gave Maester Luwin the plans for a special saddle so Bran could ride. Not long after, Catelyn Tully had him seized — Petyr Baelish had told her the dagger used against Bran was his — and took him to the Eyrie, where Lysa Tully tried him for that attempted murder and for the death of her husband, Jon Arryn, and sentenced him to the sky cells.

Tyrion demanded trial by combat; the sellsword Bronn fought in his name and beat Lysa's champion. On the road through the Mountains of the Moon, hill clansmen surrounded them, and he bought their loyalty with promises of weapons and glory. Three hundred clansmen followed him to his father's army, which had invaded the Riverlands during his arrest, and fought in the vanguard at the Green Fork. After the victory over Roose Bolton, with Jaime now a captive at Riverrun, Tywin fell back to Harrenhal and sent Tyrion to King's Landing to act as Hand in his place, to keep Joffrey from repeating mistakes like the execution of Eddard Stark.

Tyrion arrived in King's Landing with the letter naming him Hand of the King in his father's place. Cersei was furious and threatened him with a dungeon cell; he calmed her down by promising to free Jaime. From then on they pretended to work together, while actually fighting each other for every inch of power.

He allied himself with Varys: together they eased out Janos Slynt, who ended up in the Night's Watch, and put Jacelyn Bywater in command of the gold cloaks instead. To find out who was loyal to Cersei on the council, he told Petyr, Varys, and Grand Maester Pycelle three different versions of the same plan; when Cersei confronted him with the one that had reached her through Pycelle, he had the maester locked up. He also struck a deal with Dorne, betrothing his niece Myrcella to Prince Trystane Martell and offering Doran a seat on the council.

He prepared the city for the coming siege: ordering fishing boats built, opening the kingswood to hunting, sending the gold cloaks out to gather food. He had a great chain forged to seal off Blackwater Bay and had the pyromancers brew huge stores of wildfire. He kept his relationship with Shae hidden — only Varys found out, and helped him keep her hidden — and turned down the peace terms Robb Stark sent through Cleos Frey; in exchange for Jaime, he offered only Sansa, Arya, and a handful of Stark bannermen.

When Stannis Baratheon attacked by river, Tyrion burned his fleet with wildfire and sealed the bay with the chain. Sandor Clegane refused to go out, terrified of the flames, so it was Tyrion who led the sortie from the city. On one of the sunken ships, Ser Mandon Moore tried to kill him and left half his face disfigured; his squire, Podrick Payne, saved his life.

It took Tyrion weeks to recover from the wound, and when he did he found that Tywin had claimed the glory of the victory along with the office of Hand, leaving him Master of Coin instead. He asked to be named heir to Casterly Rock; his father refused and, on top of that, forced him to marry Sansa Stark. They were married for more than a month without him forcing her to consummate it — something that earned him mockery, and her, gratitude.

After Joffrey was murdered at his own wedding, Sansa vanished and both of them fell under suspicion. Cersei had Shae testify against him, humiliating him before the whole court. Bronn refused to be his champion, and Tywin offered to spare his life in exchange for a confession and a black cloak on the Wall; Tyrion chose trial by combat instead, and Oberyn Martell volunteered to fight for him.

Oberyn died, and Gregor Clegane won the fight, though gravely wounded. Sentenced to death, Tyrion was freed from his cell by Jaime and a reluctant Varys; during the escape, Jaime confessed that Tysha had never been a whore, that the whole thing had been a lie ordered by Tywin. Tyrion couldn't forgive it, and left his brother behind swearing revenge.

Following Varys through the passages beneath the Red Keep, he forced him to lead the way to the Hand's chambers. There he found Shae, wearing nothing but the chain of office, and strangled her with it. He found his father on the privy afterward and killed him with a crossbow. Before fleeing across the Narrow Sea, he made his feelings about his sister plain: "I never liked you, Cersei, but you were my sister, and I never did you any harm. You've ended that."

On the far side of the sea, Tyrion was already a marked man: many believed him guilty of killing both his father and his king, though only the first was true. Back in King's Landing, the bounty Cersei put on his head got several dwarfs and children who had nothing to do with him killed instead.

He arrived drunk at Illyrio Mopatis's mansion in Pentos, who told him about Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons. Illyrio sent him toward Volantis aboard the Shy Maid, alongside a man called Griff, his son Griff the Younger, septa Lemore, and the Halfmaester Haldon; along the way he went by Yollo, then Hugor Hill. Slowly he pieced together that Griff was really Jon Connington, a disgraced former Hand of the King, and that his son was none other than Aegon Targaryen, Prince Rhaegar's youngest son. When Stone Men attacked the boat, Tyrion fell overboard; Griff dove in after him and saved him.

At Selhorys, on Haldon's orders, he played a game of cyvasse against a customs officer named Qavo Nogarys. In Volantis, a brothel gave him away: Jorah Mormont recognized and captured him, intent on bringing him to Daenerys to win back her favor. On the way to arrange passage out of the city, a dwarf woman named Penny tried to kill him; in time she became a travel companion instead.

A Yunkish slave ship captured Tyrion, Penny, and Jorah, and a man named Yezzan zo Qaggaz bought them. He forced Tyrion and Penny to ride pigs in a mock tournament, without telling them that two lions would be released at the end of the show. Daenerys Targaryen found out in time and stopped it, knowing neither of them could defend themselves with wooden weapons.

When their new master died, the three of them escaped. Tyrion arranged for them to join the Second Sons, Ben Plumm's mercenary company, signing notes promising great riches once he became Lord of Casterly Rock. His real plan was different: to talk the company into abandoning Yunkai for Meereen, a war Yunkai had already lost without knowing it yet.