Tyrion Lannister, played by Peter Dinklage, is the youngest child of Tywin and Joanna Lannister, and the brother of Jaime and Cersei Lannister. Tyrion is a dwarf, and due to his appearance, has been the object of much ridicule from other nobles and even his own family. As such, Tyrion has favored intellectual pursuits, and is known for his quick wit.

Early Life

Tyrion was born at Casterly Rock. His mother, Joanna, died giving birth to him. For the rest of his life, Tyrion's father and sister would resent him for this, blaming him for Joanna's death.

Despite this, Tyrion made the most of his upbringing, taking to books and learning, to compensate for his lack of physical prowess. At the age of 16, he met a peasant woman named Tysha, and fell in love with her. The two were secretly married, until Tyrion's father Tywin found out, and forced Jaime to confess that it was all a ruse. Tysha was a prostitute, and Jaime had paid her for the arrangement in an effort to make Tyrion happy.

After this, Tywin gave Tyrion a job at Casterly Rock in an effort to keep him occupied, putting him in charge of organizing and maintaining the castle plumbing. This gave Tyrion an opportunity not only to foster leadership skills he would use later in life, but also to build a secret chamber under the castle that he would use as his private escape.

To the North and Back

Following the death of the Hand of the King, Jon Arryn, King Robert Baratheon decides to travel north to personally name Eddard Stark as his new hand. Tyrion decides to join the royal caravan, and at Winterfell, meets and befriends Jon Snow.

Tyrion accompanies Jon on his way to Castle Black to join the Night's Watch, wishing to see The Wall for himself. There he meets Yoren, a recruiter for the Watch, and the two decide to travel to King's Landing together.

After Bran Stark seemingly falls from a castle tower and is crippled, Tyrion stops by Winterfell on his way to the capitol to design a harness that will allow him to continue to ride horses.

He makes another stop at the Crossroads Inn, where he is accosted by Catelyn Stark and accused of trying to murder her son, Bran. He is captured by several knights present there, and plans are made to take him to the Eyrie to face trial. During the journey there, Tyrion meets and befriends a mercenary named Bronn.

At the Eyrie, Tyrion finds that the Lady of the Vale, Lysa Arryn, is also blaming him for the death of Jon Arryn. Tyrion requests a trial by combat, and Bronn steps in as his champion, defeating Ser Vardis Egen and winning Tyrion's freedom. Bronn and Tyrion form a pact, with Tyrion promising to pay Bronn double what anyone offers to betray him.

The War of the Five Kings

Meanwhile, war has broken out in the Riverlands, and House Lannister has marshaled its forces to attack House Tully.

En route to King's Landing, Tyrion is captured by members of the hill tribes, but manages to gain their allegiance. The hill tribesmen take Tyrion to where his father is camped with the Lannister army, and Tywin agrees to honor their arrangement, drafting the hill tribes into the Lannister army as they prepare for a major engagement against an army led by Robb Stark.

Unfortunately for Tyrion, the hill tribes refuse to fight unless he is also on the field with them, and Tywin readily acquiesces, ordering Tyrion to the front lines. Tyrion survives the battle, despite being knocked unconscious, only to find out that Robb Stark had tricked them, using this as an distraction to attack and capture Jaime Lannister.

Tywin dispatches Tyrion to the capitol, nominally to serve as Hand of the King to Joffrey Baratheon, but in actuality to help prevent Joffrey from making any more destructive decisions.

At King's Landing, Tyrion finds his authority undermined by his sister, Cersei Lannister]. To compensate, Tyrion has several of Cersei's supporters removed, including replacing the commander of the City Watch with Bronn.

After learning of Renly Baratheon's assassination, Tyrion correctly surmises that Stannis Baratheon will now turn his attention to attacking King's Landing. Tyrion organizes the defense of the city, luring some of Stannis's fleet into a trap and destroying many of his ships with wildfire. When Stannis still successfully manages to land troops on the beaches of King's Landing however, Tyrion personally leads the defending soldiers. On the field, he is betrayed and attacked by Ser Mandon. Tyrion is saved by his squire, Podrick, but is wounded and passes out.

Upon waking, he realizes that the battle has been won by reinforcements led by his father, although Tyrion has been stripped of his title, and is receiving none of the recognition for maintaining the defenses of the city.

After recovering from his wounds, Tyrion is made Master of Coin, replacing Petyr Baelish who has left to marry Lysa Arryn in the Vale. As the war draws to an end, Robb Stark is betrayed and assassinated at the Twins, and Tywin arranges for Tyrion to marry Sansa Stark, in an attempt to lay claim to Winterfell. Tyrion acquiesces, but refuses to consummate the marriage.

Tyrion and Sansa attend King Joffrey's wedding to Maergery Tyrell, but when the king is killed by poison, blame immediately falls on Tyrion and his wife. Sansa flees the capitol, while Tyrion is arrested and accused of regicide.

Refusing his father's offer to allow him to join the Night's Watch, Tyrion instead demands a trial by combat, nominating Prince Oberyn Martell as his champion. As the accuser, Cersei Lannister chooses Ser Gregor Clegane as her champion.

In the duel, Oberyn initially seems to have won, but prolongs the fight unnecessarily, and is killed as a result. Tyrion is sentenced to death, but due to his brother's interference, manages to escape before his execution. As he flees the city, Tyrion encounters his father once more, and kills him with a crossbow.

Travels in Essos

With the help of Varys, Tyrion leaves Westeros for Essos, arriving in Pentos. There, Varys convinces Tyrion to help him support Daenerys Targaryen's claim to the Iron Throne, and the two travel to Meereen, passing through Volantis on the way there.

In Volantis though, Tyrion is kidnapped by Jorah Mormont, who ironically plans to take Tyrion to Daenerys. They travel through the ruins of Old Valyria by sea, but are attacked by Stone Men, people driven mad by greyscale. The pair is forced to abandon their boat, and continue their journey on foot. They do not make it far however before they are accosted by slavers, who plan on selling them to the fighting pits in Meereen.

Forced to become gladiators, they by sheer chance encounter Daenerys at Daznak's Pit, and are brought to her in the Great Pyramid. After speaking with him for some time, Daenerys decides to make Tyrion one of her advisers. Tyrion helps Daenerys to navigate Meereen's politics as she attempts to not only rule over the city, but also to prepare for eventually invading Westeros.

At the Great Games in Daznak's Pit, Tyrion narrowly avoids death in an attempted coup, and watches in awe as Daenerys is saved by her dragon, leaving the city on its back. In her absence however, Tyrion struggles to maintain order in the city, although he finds help after reuniting with Varys.

Daenerys returns sometime later to find that that the city is under siege by a fleet of ships organized by Daenerys's enemies in Slaver's Bay. Daenerys breaks the siege with her dragons, burning the fleet.

Shortly after, Tyrion is present as Daenerys receives Yara and Theon Greyjoy, who have traveled from Westeros to forge an alliance with the Dragon Queen. They offer their ships to her, and Daenerys accepts, finally having a means to take her army west across the Narrow Sea.

Tyrion is named Hand of the Queen, accompanies Daenerys and her new fleet, as her invasion begins.

The Invasion of Westeros

Acting as her Hand, Tyrion continues to advise Daenerys during her war efforts. He convinces her against using her dragons to attack King's Landing, as it will result in massive civilian deaths, and will not endear her to the people of Westeros.

Instead, he helps to form a plan in which King's Landing is besieged by their allies in House Tyrell and Dorne, while Daenerys's Unsullied army sails to the other side of the continent to assault Casterly Rock. Tyrion's plan quickly fals apart however, as Euron Greyjoy destroys the fleet heading to Dorne, capturing the leadership of the Greyjoy and Dornish forces. Meanwhile in the west, the Unsullied arrive to find that Casterly Rock has been all but abandoned, a ruse to lure Daenerys's army there while a Lannister army sacks Highgarden, ending the Tyrell line.

As they plan their response, Tyrion reunited with Jon Snow, who has traveled south to meet with Daenerys and ask for her help. Tyrion advises Daenerys to listen to Jon, and advises Jon to declare his allegiance to her.

After learning of her military defeats however, Daenerys refuses Tyrion's counsel and leads an attack on the Lannister army in the Riverlands. Tyrion is present and watches in horror as Daenerys's dragon decimates thousands of soldiers, and in the aftermath, is unsuccessful in talking Daenerys out of executing Randyll and Dickon Tarly.

Nevertheless, Tyrion continues his effort to rein in Daenerys's more destructive impulses, and convinces her to let Jon Snow lead a party north to try and bring back proof of the army of the dead. Tyrion helps to organize a meeting between Cersei Lannister and Daenerys, promising to give her a reason to declare a truce.

After bringing a "live" wight back to Dragonstone, at the cost of one of Daenerys's three dragons, Tyrion accompanies Daenerys's allies to a meeting with Cersei at the Dragonpit. He manages to convince Cersei to not only call a ceasefire, but is also surprised by her announcement that she will be sending the Lannister armies north to aid in the fighting, unaware that this is a trick.

Tyrion then joins Daenerys on her journey back north, realizing that she has fallen in love with Jon Snow.