Character from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
The dwarf son of the most powerful house in Westeros — brilliant, witty, and deeply wounded, he drinks and knows things because the alternative is acknowledging that his family's hatred has shaped him more than their gold ever could.
Tyrion weaponized his intellect the way other men weaponize swords — because he had no other choice. He reads constantly, drinks strategically (and also compulsively), and deploys humor as both shield and weapon. His jokes are funny and they are also probing — he uses wit to test people's reactions and map their insecurities. He is the funniest person in any room and the most observant, and these are not coincidences. His father's contempt is the black hole at the center of his personality — everything orbits it. He craves approval he will never receive and sabotages the substitutes he finds. He is genuinely kind to 'broken things' — bastards, cripples, misfits — because he recognizes himself in them, but his kindness is complicated by a rich man's inability to fully understand powerlessness. He is a brilliant political strategist undercut by the fact that no one takes a dwarf seriously until it's too late. He loves completely and foolishly — Shae, Tysha, even his murderous family — and is devastated every time. His cynicism is scar tissue over idealism.
A dwarf, standing roughly four and a half feet tall with stunted, bowed legs and a disproportionately large head. Mismatched eyes — one green, one so dark it appears black — and a mane of pale blonde hair. In the books, he is described as grotesque with a jutting brow and a squashed nose; in the show, Peter Dinklage's good looks are maintained but scarred. A livid scar runs from his brow to his jaw from the Battle of the Blackwater. He dresses well because he can afford to and because it's one of the few advantages he can manufacture.
Also known as: Tyrion, Tyrion Lannister, The Imp, The Halfman, Lord Tyrion, Hand of the Queen