July 03, 2011

Tyrion I

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in HBO's "Game of Thrones"
Tyrion is cramped in a cabin on some ship, getting mean drunk. He is haunted by his memories and tries to drench them in wine, but he clearly fails. His thoughts are flickering between Tysha, the death of his father, and his last words. “Where whores go” roams his mind as much as a constant headache and sea sickness. While he lies there, he remembers how he left his father’s solar to rejoin Varys, who brought him to the harbor on the ship he is no on. He muses why he didn’t kill Varys, not getting a satisfying answer. 

In his drunken state, he tries to weigh his options, not yet wanting to realize he has none. He is on a ship bound to the Free Cities, and he can’t control his destiny right now. Instead, he makes up pipe dreams about going to Dorne and crowning Myrcella like he plotted with Oberyn Martell, or to go North and join the Night’s Watch after all. More than anything, however, the thought of Tysha haunts him, and he tries desperately to find out “where whores go”, so he can go there as well and find her.

When the ship finally arrives at port, he is crammed into a barrel and rolled to his destination, which is revealed as the mansion of Illyrio Mopatis. Illyrio greets him, but Tyrion is in no state to talk sense and is quickly brought to his new chambers, where he can finally find some sleep. On the next day, he is washed by servants – slaves in all but name – and fed in the kitchen, where he muses about taking the ugly, old cooks into bed. He then finds the wine cellar of Illyrio, getting drunk in the luxurious gardens of the mansion, where talks nonsense about Dorne to a washerwomen, proposing to marry her. She doesn’t understand a word and leaves. He is informed by a beautiful servant girl that speaks the Common Tongue that Illyrio wants to dine with him and that she is at his service. It quickly becomes apparent that she is the whore of Viserys Targaryen, although Tyrion doesn’t puzzle it out himself, yet too clouded by wine. Instead, realizes that he doesn’t want her, instead frightening her by threatening to strangle her and getting a uncanny satisfaction of her fear. He then goes to Illyrio. 

The two men engage in conversation, circling around each other and skirmishing with words. When the first dish is served – mushrooms in butter and garlic – Tyrion suspects them poisoned, a thought that Illyrio first reinforces, only to dissolve the situation by eating them himself. Tyrion sobers up enough over the hinted threats by Illyrio to finally take him seriously and listen to him. At the end of their table conversation, Tyrion has to admit to himself that crowning Myrcella would be self-serving only and kill the girl, and him in the process, and that it is not a viable strategy. Cunningly, Illyrio uses the vacuum in Tyrion’s thought this revelation leaves, and proposes him to ally with Daenerys, without yet revealing her complete identity, instead hinting at “the dragon has three heads”. With that, the chapter ends. 

It is devastating to see what has become of Tyrion. He was bitter after losing the trial by combat at the end of “A Storm of Swords”, granted, but since Jaime confided the truth, his whole world came crumbling down. He hates Jaime now nearly as much as he hates Cersei, and his father as well. However, he still keeps a strange awe of Tywin Lannister, even as he has killed him, fearing his wroth even in death. His whole ploy about going to Dorne and crowning Myrcella is only a last attempt to hurt Cersei, and in the end, he has to admit that to himself, and in the process admit to himself also that he is truly lost. His life doesn’t have any purpose left; he is expelled from his home, never to return, without power or money, left only with his hideous appearance. 

Illyrio Mopatis, for whom he has only contempt – clearly inhabited from his father, who loathed the “cheesemongers” as cowards and spineless lickspittles – uses this to his maximum advantage, probably urged and advised by Varys. Tyrion will continue in his following chapters to mock Illyrio and the other merchant princes as “cheesemongers” and making up many half-witted jokes with “cheese” and the smell of it to denounce them. He has become bitter and doesn’t really care about the consequences anymore. It seems almost as if he half-consciously wants to be killed and tries to provoke his surroundings to that end; clearly, there is not much compassion left in him. He terrorizes servants and other weak people just because he can, something he wouldn’t have done before. The events have hit him hard. 

The mushrooms served by Illyrio are an important point in this chapter. Tyrion realizes the immediate danger he is in clearly for the first time, and Illyrio uses it in order to reinforce his doubts and fear and to get him to sober up in respect to getting clear thoughts again. He also mentions that poisoned mushrooms are a light way of committing suicide, hurting only a bit and killing you quickly. Tyrion is really tempted to take one of the mushrooms as he still thinks they are poisoned and to end his life then and there, and we will see that the option is with him the entire book, since he will later pluck some really poisonous ones and hide them in his clothing to kill himself should he find himself in a pointless situation. Under no circumstances will he fall into Cersei’s hands alive. With this decision he regains a bit of confidence and freedom of action, not much, but it’s a first step of a long journey ahead. 

In the conversation with Illyrio, two interesting side notes can be found. The first one is the disdain of Illyrio regarding the arms of Westeros. When Tyrion rushes forward to defend the honor of his family name, claiming he is “a lion still”, Illyrio only laughs and mocks this Westerosi mentality, stating that he could lock up Tyrion with a real lion and see if the beast acknowledges him as his own. Tyrion has then grudgingly to admit that he is no lion and just bears the picture. In a second note, Illyrio mentions that Pentos is ruled by prince from a noble family who is given every luxury he wants, but if something bad happens – bad harvest, storm, something like that – he is ritually slain. Not exactly a position you want to be in, clearly.

19 comments:

  1. Another chapter that was previewed early. Oh, how far Tyrion has fallen, and how terribly.

    I truly think his hatred for Jaime is temporary. He knows his father too well not to understand that Jaime would not have been given a choice, plus I seem to remember a line where Tyrion, musing on killing his father, somewhat worries what Jaime will think.

    My own opinion of the actual killing is that it did no good for Tyrion. I'm sure he's wanted to kill his father his whole life, but as with most fantasies, the reality is never what you think it will be. Any satisfaction Tyrion garnered was short lived, and now his own guilt is eating away at him in ways I'm sure he never expected. The price of kinslaying?

    The shadow that Tywin still casts over his life might be contributing to this. Dead or alive, Tywin Lannister will never be remembered as weak or indecisive! But he'll never speak again, and Tyrion's issues with him will remain forever unresolved. I think that, more than anything, is going to play hell with him.

    But on the bright side, he has more immediate issues to deal with, like no longer having the money, prestige, or protection of the Lannister name and gold to shield him. Aahh, rude awakening for our favorite dwarf! It makes it almost amusing to see his prideful sneering, when he no longer has anything to be prideful about. Being a Lion means nothing in the end, if you can't punish those who threaten you with the real thing! Tyrion's journey is only beginning, and it will be a rough one...

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  2. I agree with your interpretation. The actual killing will have set him off. You should not underestimate the information about Tysha, however. He truly loved the woman, and to learn what he had to learn must be traumatizing.

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  3. Oh, I agree. I just don't know if his rage against Jaime will outlast his fear of being alone. He will forge a new life, I'm sure, but Jaime was the one member of his family that he loved, and who loved him back. It's huge that Jaime lied, but it's also true that Jaime has always been there, while Tysha has been a memory for a long, long time.

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  4. I think it's also significant to mention WHY Jaime confessed; this has haunted him his whole life as well! If that doesn't say he loves Tyrion, I don't know what does.

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  5. I think you underestimate this. Tyrion loved Jaime for one reason only, because he was kind to him in arranging the whore for him. When he learns that that was a lie, that reason is gone and makes way for hate. Jaime was a helping hand for his father's worst betrayal to him. The hate is entirely justified and will not go away easily.

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  6. Yes, Jaime had a certain affection for Tyrion, but it also grounds on the lie. He felt guilty about it, for the rest of his love, trying to make up for it with some affection.

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  7. I do not for a moment believe that Tyrion only loved Jaime because of the whore. Neither do I believe that Jaime only had a mild affection for Tyrion. If guilt was the ONLY motivator for Jaime's love for his brother, he'd never have scolded Cersei when she abused him that time that Oberyn and his sister were visiting. I think you're underestimating their affection for each other, there are many scenes of mutual affection between them.

    My particular favorite is when Jaime is thinking of how to make Bolton's man turn around and return to Harrenhal with him. The first person he thinks of in his desperation is Tyrion, and draws INSPIRATION from him! That was kinda awesome!

    Oh, and this is duckchick from TOTH. Forgot to tell you that!

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  8. I would make no claim about that's the only thing ^^ I just think it's the root. The rest of it developed over time, constantly reinforced. After some time, Jaime will have partly forgotten that it was mostly the guilt. His affection will have become genuine, but the guilt still gnaws at him. The nature of the affection changes.
    But not for Tyrion. He loved Jaime for the lie, and for the affection shown to him. When he realized that the initial experience was a lie, everything else had to be a lie too. He will look down on all of it, thinking of it as a pure lie to cover up the initial one.

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  9. "But not for Tyrion. He loved Jaime for the lie, and for the affection shown to him. When he realized that the initial experience was a lie, everything else had to be a lie too. He will look down on all of it, thinking of it as a pure lie to cover up the initial one."

    Hmm, you've read more than me, but I still can't agree with this idea. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that. :)

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  10. There is no more information back in the book to back my opinion up, so yes, we have to disagree on it :)

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  11. What do you think of Tyrion's issues with Daddy-o? Do you think he might find peace, or is this the beginning of a looooong road through hell?

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  12. I think it will haunt him to the end of his days, but he will find some way to live with it, as Eddard did with the promise he gave Lyanna, for example. Still remembering, still haunted, but going on.

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  13. Along with most people I think. No one ever manages to perfectly resolve their lives I think, they can only make the best of it, endure, and live. By now every character will have baggage that will be with them for the rest of their days I think.

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  14. Did you get the feeling when reading this chapter that it felt as if Tyrion was just going through the motions of being Tyrion?

    Like, he tried to make some witty comebacks and what not but the sting was gone. Very sad to see - especially considering that his guilt was totally unnecessary.

    About Jaime and Tyrion, I have to go with Stefan on this. Raquel, the example you give of Jaime stopping Cersei from hurting Tyrion, is not love. It's basic compassion. If you see someone (a stranger) being tortured, you'd go and help them wouldn't you? Jaime's 'love' for Tyrion is based off the guilt Jaime felt for his role in what Tywin did to Tyrion. I'm not saying Jaime hates Tyrion and vice versa, but I don't think they the healthiest sibling relationship either.

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  15. Did anyone else feel that Ilyrio's character seemed odd in this chapter. He seems out of kilter with the earlier glimpses we have of him. He seems more frivolous and witty than he did before. At first, I thought this was someone else posing as him.
    Am I alone?

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  16. Well, we only saw him with Viserys before, who didn't exactly treasure "witty" and "frivolous", so I think it's him ;)

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  17. why do you think the servant girl was viserys woman?

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  18. Because she said she served the king.

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  19. i just re-read the part myself and i tend to agree with you now..but i also feel this could be another reference to aegon, who is also king, but your probably right

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