Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones)

Tyrion is the youngest son of Tywin Lannister. Being a little person, he gets little respect from his father, but is as intelligent as his brother Jaime is skilled with a sword.

Background
As a dwarf, Tyrion Lannister feels like an outcast in his own family. As he says himself, had he been born a commoner, he would have been left in a forest to die. The fact that his mother died giving birth to him has made his family look at him with even more shame. The son of Tywin Lannister, Tyrion hails from one of the oldest and wealthiest families in the Seven Kingdoms, and was raised at Casterly Rock. What his brother Jaime has in looks and physical prowess, Tyrion makes up for in intelligence and cunning. While Jaime and Tyrion get along amiably, his relationship with sister Cersei is much colder. At most, she tolerates her brother. Tyrion relishes earthly delights, being all too familiar with the whorehouses of the Seven Kingdoms.

Season 1
While accompanying his family to Winterfell after the death of Jon Arryn, Tyrion gets to know Ned Stark's bastard, Jon Snow. Tyrion sees a kindred spirit, having felt like the bastard of his family due to his short stature. His intellectual curiosity causes him to follow Snow and Benjen Stark to the Wall, wanting to see the largest structure ever built in Westeros. While there Lord Commander Mormont and Maester Aemon plead with Tyrion to send word to King's Landing about the state of the Night's Watch, hoping that the throne will send more able bodied men their way. When returning from the Wall he makes a stop at Winterfell where he is recieved rather coldly by Robb Stark. This is, however, somewhat lessened when he gives the Starks a blueprint for a special saddle for Bran, based on the design of Tyrion's own saddle, that will let him ride a horse again. Continuing on his way south, he happens to make a stop at the same inn as Catelyn Stark. Believing Tyrion to be responsible for crippling Bran and sending an assassin after him, she rallies several of the soldiers at the inn and takes him captive.

Tyrion is bound and bllindfolded, but instead of taking him to Winterfell, his captors take him south towards the Vale of Arryn, to throw off any would be pursuers. On their way there, they are attacked by a group of savage mountain men. After the fight, Tyrion is unbound and befriends a mercenary by the name of Bronn who has been traveling with Catelyn since they left the inn. When the group reaches the Eyrie, they are greated by Catelyn's sister Lysa Arryn and her son Robin, who is still stuck to his mother teat. Lysa accuses Tyrion of killing her husband, Jon Arryn, and Robin gets very excited by the prospect of seeing the little man "fly" out the Moon Door, a circular hatch in the middle of the audience chamber that has a drop of several hundred feet. Before the trial, Tyrion is given ample time to contemplate things in one of the

Through the gaoler Mord, Tyrion announces that he is ready to confess his crimes, but once at the trial he only confesses to often enjoying the company of prostitutes and secretly ruining his sister's food with his own bodily fluid. Lysa does not want to hear any more from Tyrion's mouth, but then Tyrion demands a trial by combat. Both sides have to choose a champion, and the trial's outcome is decided by their fight to the death. At first, Tyrion chooses his brother Jaime, but Lysa rules that he needs a champion that can fight right now, it seems like no one will help Tyrion until Bronn walks forward and volunteers to fight for the dwarf. Lysa chooses Ser Vardis Egen. Compared to Egen, who fights in plate armor and a large shield, Bronn is rather agile, as he uses little armor, and does not even use a shield. In the end, Bronn stabs Vardis in the neck and kicks him out the Moon Door. Tyrion and his new mercenary friend travel back through the Vale, and are once again set upon by a group mountain men led by a chieftain called Shagga. Tyrion convinces them to fight for him in return for a promise of arms that will allow them to take over the Vale. Tyrion and his band of fight-happy new friends make their way to where his father's army is camped, currently campaigning against the Starks. Tywin greets his son coldly, but agrees to arm the mountain clans if they fight for him. Tywin orders Tyrion and his men to fight in the vanguard, that is to say the front of the army and therefore the most dangerous position. Meanwhile, Bronn has picked up a prostitute, Shae, for Tyrion. The three have drinking game before the ensuing battle and Tyrion tell the story of how he lost his virginity to - and married - a whore. When his father found out, Tywin gave the woman to his guardsmen and made his son watch.

The next morning, Bronn wakes a hung-over Tyrion, informing him that the Northerners have come early. After a short speech in front of his men, he is accidentally knocked out by one of his own wild men's hammers during their frantic rush towards battle. By the time Tyrion wakes up, the battle is over, and he is being dragged across the battlefield by Bronn. After the battle Tywin sends Tyrion to King's Landing to act as Hand of the King in his stead, and bring the court "to heel". Despite being explicitly forbidden to do so, he takes Shae with him.