The Imp

Tyrion is the third and youngest child of Tywin Lannister and the brother of Jaime and Cersei Lannister. He is a malformed dwarf with mis-matched, different coloured eyes and is described in the books as having very pale blonde hair. His mother died while giving birth to him and this, along with his physical appearance, causes him to be hated by both his father and Cersei. However, Jaime, as the only one of Tyrion's immediate family to treat him with familial affection, enjoys a close relationship with Tyrion early in the series. He is intelligent, witty, and shares his father's skill for political maneuvering. He also has read widely and appears to be a quick and accurate judge of character. Because he is an outcast, he displays sympathy for other outcasts and the mistreated. In A Game of Thrones, he attempts to befriend Jon Snow. In A Dance with Dragons, he reveals that he wanted to go off on adventures and see the world at an earlier age, in the footsteps of Gerion Lannister, one of his uncles who had been kind and supportive of him, but his father forbade it and instead gave him charge of the drains and sewers of Casterly Rock; Tyrion takes pride in that the drains never ran better than when he was in charge of them.

In his youth, Tyrion married Tysha, a young peasant woman he and Jaime rescued from a band of rapists. After two weeks of marriage, his father compelled Jaime to convince Tyrion that Tysha was a prostitute and that the rescue had been a ruse. Tywin's garrison then raped Tysha and Tywin forced Tyrion to do the same. Tyrion remains traumatized by this event throughout the novels; it also gave birth to his cynical view on love and his hatred for his father. After Jaime became a Kingsguard, though his father would never accept it, Tyrion becomes the only son who could father children to further Tywin Lannister's line.