#tymeta

[kingofthelannisterpride]

Meme

Day 15: Who is their closest friend, and why? What do they like to do with this person? Do they have any rivals? Who and why? Have they ever been betrayed? By who, and how did it affect them?

Joanna is probably his closest friend - she understands that he does what has to be done, and she supports him. She gave him his children, who he loves in his way, but also sees as tools to further his goal. The whole "I am a knight, and Cersei is a queen" thing.

I think Aerys saw Tywin as a rival (but then, he saw everyone like that, so whatever)...but I don't think Tywin really reciprocated? He 'knows his place', so to speak - his daughter would be able to marry into the royal family, but he himself would never really compete, except in extreme circumstances. But in a general sense, I don't think Tywin feels like he has real rivals, because he's in a class of his own. The Starks and Tullys are constrained by their much-vaunted honour. The Iron Islanders can only harry coasts, and pretty much everyone hates them anyway, so there's a common enemy. House Baratheon seem to mind their own business, in the sense that Robert just drank and whored, so he didn't even try to compete. Dorne's always been a wild card, so he probably just tries to put them 'out of sight, out of mind' for the most part. And the Tyrells are upstarts, no matter how cunning, and Tywin believes that noble blood will prevail and all that shit.

Uh...by his children? Jaime and Cersei's relationship could spell the end of House Lannister, and it also personally betrays his more conservative values and values of family.

[kingofthelannisterpride]

Meme

Day 14: Do they, or have they in the past, had a mentor? What was their relationship with this person, and how has it changed since then? What sort of education have they had? Do they want more? Who was their idol growing up? Who was the first person they fantasized about?

I think that's kind of the point with Tywin's formative years - he didn't have an idol. His father was largely incomptent--if a very nice bloke, by all accounts--and Aerys' paranoia would have also been alienating. So he really hasn't had anyone - as far as any lord in Westeros can be a 'self-made man', Tywin is. Because House Lannister couldn't possibly get any lower than it was in 260AC (Reyne-Tarbeck shindig).

He would have had a standard education, delivered by a maester, that prepared him for his responsibilities as a lord and liege lord. He would have probably supplemented that himself by reading historical accounts of other successful lords and emulating their policies.

[kingofthelannisterpride]

Meme

Day 13: Where (and when) did they grow up? How did they view it as a child, and did that change as they matured? How do they feel about the place now?

Gettin' real tired of these childhood questions.

He grew up in Casterly Rock, under the reigns of Aegon V Targaryen and Jaehaerys II Targaryen. As a very young child, the Rock would have genuinely felt like a home, with the influence of his mother and younger siblings. As he got older, however, it became more of a burden - seeing it deteriorate under Tytos' (mis)management made it ever clearer to Tywin that that would be his responsibility. It acquired a new kind of symbolism.

Seeing it now, therefore, is the symbol of all of his blood, sweat and tears. Casterly Rock's mines are the richest, Lannisport is still prosperous, and (to Tywin's mind) the Lannisters are unstoppable.

[kingofthelannisterpride]

Meme

Day 12: Describe their best and worst memories from childhood.

Really didn't want to do this, either.

But I guess if we count 17 or 18 as still being a child, even though it doesn't entirely match up to Westerosi society, the crushing of the Reyne-Tarbeck Rebellion would have definitely been a highlight - no more would House Lannister bow and scrape and laugh it off. Tywin (certainly now) believes that he is the hero in his own story, something that makes him more compelling as a 'villain', and that was probably one of his more positive defining moments.

Worst memory would probably be the day Genna was promised to Emmon Frey - because no matter how fiercely Walder Frey and Tytos 'shook in their boots', he was 10, and he couldn't protect his little sister. And he vowed to himself that he would never feel that powerless again.

[kingofthelannisterpride]

Joanna Lannister

Send my muse a kink and I’ll rate it

scale: fuck no | no thanks | eeeh | not sure | I’d give it a shot | sure why not |omfg yes | there go my pants | holy fuck take me now

The marriage to Joanna was, in my opinion, partly to do with lurve, and partly to do with strengthening the House - as the Southron Ambitions Theory identifies, people married primarily within their own regions, to stabilise their power base, unless they were making alliances.

At the time Tywin and Joanna got married, House Lannister was weak, because Tytos was basically the archetypal ‘nice guy’ - “you wanna marry my daughter? Sure, go for it. You’ve got hostages from my house? Fine, I’ll give you back your husband. You can’t pay your debts back this month? Whatever, man, there’s always next month.” So Tywin would have had to try to stabilise the Westerlands before he could even think about looking further afield.

Joanna represents all sorts of things for Tywin - love, companionship, status (because a) she was a babe, b) every self-respecting lord needs someone to mind the home), legacy…everything. And then she died.

[kingofthelannisterpride]

⚖

Philosophy meme

Does your muse agree that “fortune favours the brave”?

No. The bold, perhaps, the cruel, absolutely, the cunning, every goddamn time. But the brave? Ned Stark was brave. Jon Arryn was brave. Rhaegar Targaryen was brave. They faced the overarching powers in their lives, and they were not successful (Jorah Mormont: “Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died.”)

So, no. Bravery makes people stupid, as Roose Bolton (the nearest thing Tywin has to a real kindred spirit, except Tyrion) points out with Ramsay - lack of fear, or even acting in spite of it, is never a good move, and you will neither survive nor thrive. Backstab and bitch to get rid of some opponents, then crush the rest in glorious battles that will go down in songs.

[kingofthelannisterpride]

Does Tywin believe that Joffrey would have, in time, made a good king or would he always have needed managing and handlers?

I don’t think he would have given him the chance, to be honest. Let’s be real, Tywin’s waited almost his whole life for House Lannister to have some kind of stake in the throne - he’s not about to let Joffrey screw it up now. If Tywin had been in King’s Landing on the day of Ned’s judgement, we all know that Ned would be chilling at the Wall now (well, freezing his balls off and worrying about Benjen, but whatever).

I think part of the problem with Joffrey is that the only nominal King he’s ever met (because we all know who should be King) is his ‘father’, who, quite frankly, was a shit king. So, Joffrey is torn between his father, his mother and his grandfather - somewhere on the internet, Jack Gleeson said that he was talking to one of the producers, and that Joffrey might actually like Sansa deep down, but Robert’s his only role model of how a husband should treat his wife, so…and a lot of Sansa/Cersei parallels have been made in the show to support that idea.

Basically, if Tywin had been in King’s Landing during Joffrey’s upbringing, he’s still be fucked up, but only about as much as his parents and uncle.

[kingofthelannisterpride]

2, 4, 21

2. Does your character have any noteworthy features? Freckles? Dimples? A scar somewhere unusual? etc.

Dat nose game. Seriously, though, with Tywin (from my perspective), it’s more about the overall demeanour than individual details. Yes, he has a piercing gaze and an aquiline nose, blahblahblah. But it’s the intimidation that he exudes and the fear and respect that he demands that make him a striking figure.

4. Do they have any verbal tics? Do they have trouble pronouncing certain words or getting their thoughts across clearly?

Aside from the ‘L’ word? No. Everything is about efficiency, with both words and actions. He speaks in clipped sentences, and is mainly very formal, except with close family or in crack!verses. And even then, it’s a close call.

21. Your character has been granted 3 wishes; what would they wish for and why?

The first two are going to sound so heartless, but hear me out. All Tywin has ever wanted is to have a strong House and legacy, and for that House to have a stable foothold on the throne. So, provided there were no repercussions, Tywin would wish for:

a) Tyrion’s death (because of the fact that Tyrion undermines the honour of the House he worked so hard to build up, and is seen as a curse)

b) Joffrey’s death (because Tommen is a much more stable and controllable puppet ruler)

c) Joanna to be alive as she was before her death - no wight!Joanna, please