148 ASOS 5 Tyrion I: The Dwarf Lives

Tyrion rises from his sickbed to be seen up and about the castle. The more he is recognized as not about to die of his wounds, the lower the likelihood Cersei or her creatures will feel they can use his bedrest as pretext to administer a fatal dose of milk of the poppy, as Pycelle confessed doing to Jon Arryn. Tyrion visits Tywin in his own former chambers, loudly declaring he'd like them back, but Tywin has no intention of returning to the field and is furious with Tyrion for having brought shame on House Lannister by so openly visiting Alayaya. However, Tyrion is so bitter about his demotion that, when pressed by Tywin to name what he has come for, he asks for Casterly Rock, his supposed birthright. Tywin says "Never" and that he'll hang the next whore he finds in Tyrion's bed.

"The part I played?"

Tyrion expected to be seen as the city's savior for his many triumphs, from the sortie he led to his wildfire trap, alliances through marriage arrangements and more. But he was unconscious for the awards ceremony and everywhere he looks sees his credit stolen:

• by Renly's ghost for winning the battle

• by Tywin for routing Stannis and knighting the sellswords Tyrion was going to knight

• by Littlefinger for the Tyrell allegiance

• by Bronn for adopting a flaming green chain as sigil

Similarly, Bronn feels irked that the Kettleblacks were knighted without having fought. Bronn's sigil refers specifically to his having survived the Battle of the Winch Towers. Tyrion didn't see or think about the winch towers, but holding them must have been the fiercest and bloodiest part of the battle. Stannis's ships, held in by the chain, loosed soldiers the chain was meant to keep from landing further up the bank. They would have massively swarmed the winch towers as if lowering the chain would save them from being burnt alive. While Tyrion wants sole credit for his ideas, like the Tyrell alliance, it took the men on the ground making major efforts to realize those ideas.

Tywin, who knows how to take credit, even to steal it, seems to have a surprisingly accurate tally of who contributed in what way despite not having been present. He gives Tyrion sole credit for the chain and the Dornish allegiance but not for the wildfire, which was ordered by Cersei, or the Tyrell allegiance brokered by Littlefinger. In contrast, Tyrion is so focused on the credit he's being denied he doesn't see he's denying credit to others and even trying to steal credit himself, as from Cersei for the wildfire production order. He gives less credit than he receives, receives more than he deserves, and only feels slighted. Yet, painfully, Tyrion has a poor understanding of how to get credit for his contributions. He set balls in motion, but did not take pains to be seen as the city's savior. On the contrary, Tyrion could see he would be demonized. It all comes back to Tyrion's preoccupation with his scapegoating.

Your Brother's Birthright

The unspoken reason Tyrion is so concerned with credit is that he still deeply feels his early scapegoating in Joanna's death. Tyrion's previous choral chapter in A Clash of Kings focused on the event of Tyrion's birth with maester as stand-in for wet nurse. In that chapter, Tyrion dreamed of a feast, hearing songs of his deeds sung in praise, and seeing his father smile in approval. When Tywin chastizes Tyrion for wanting "a little bloody gratitude," saying "Mummers and monkeys require applause," he means to council Tyrion that a powerful man is content in his pride, but also denies Tyrion the fatherly affection he craves.

The most important scene of the chapter is this much misunderstood conversation between Tyrion and Tywin. It's often cited as proof father hated son when, layered, it actually reveals the tragic impossibility of communication between two like minds, too wrapped in their secret plans to confide in each other. The best example of this is Tyrion's refraining from telling Tywin that Ser Mandon turned on him. Tywin, who is still searching for Tyrek because nobody gets away with abducting a Lannister, would have been pointedly interested in the information that kingsguard were being used as catspaws against his family. He'd have set his Red Wedding letters all the way aside for that. Yet, Tyrion doesn't hint at it. He's so sure Cersei sent Mandon and that Tywin won't believe that, that it seems a lost cause. Except, Cersei didn't send Mandon.

What Tywin doesn't tell Tyrion, when Tyrion asks for Casterly Rock, is that he felt sharply the sleight by Aerys of naming Jaime to the kingsguard and has always intended to undo it. The real reason Tywin blusters in his increasingly fervent rant against Tyrion is not because he means what he's saying but because he's scrambling for a reason other than the truth he doesn't even like to think about. Caught off guard, Tywin aims to hurt Tyrion into backing all the way off. Not understanding he has touched on an old but open wound, Tyrion takes his father at his word and this misunderstanding adds fuel toward Tyrion's murder of Tywin.

Tyrion comes to Tywin just to be seen alive because he thinks Cersei is trying to kill him. He has no intention to ask for Casterly Rock. But Tywin is busy writing Red Wedding letters and doesn't have time to be there emotionally for his son, especially since he's not an emotionally supportive person and is so wroth with Tyrion for shaming their house by frequenting Alayaya that the room feels icy. Tywin, who is planning on promoting Tyrion but hasn't fixed on the best way to use him yet, asks what he wants as his reward mostly as a way to indicate he's busy. Tyrion, doesn't have it in him to ask for parental love because he's afraid he'll be denied it. So Tyrion asks for Casterly Rock as a retort to being brushed off. Casterly Rock is his birthright, just like parental love is his birthright. He should be able to expect the ancestral castle to fall to him even without contributing to the family mission. Yet, he went above and beyond, was injured in battle, and has only been demoted for it. Entitled and demanding, Tyrion can't see he's being unreasonable and that lashing out in his sarcastic request for his birthright is unwarranted. He's devastated by what appears a final reveal that he is totally unloved by his father, even all but disowned.

Reveal: It was Tywin Who Had Alayaya Whipped

Tywin has an issue with whores. Most likely, it relates to his guilty conscience at secretly frequenting whores. However, it seems conflated with anger about how his father shamed their house with his lowborn mistress. There may be something in future books to add to what appears an open topic.

Mnemonic device "The Dwarf Lives"

1. Tyrion's venturing out

2. Tyrion's early scapegoating. Tywin accuses Tyrion of not being his and of having killed his mother. The implication is that Tywin had reason to suspect Joanna's pregnancy was a result of her violation by Aerys, but did not press her to abort (the previous chapter's reference to the dangers of abortion bring this to mind) out of concern for her health, only to have her die in childbirth.

3. Tywin's lingering inferiority complex and deeper issues related to Tytos's mistress and whores generally.

Ironies

It's men with accolades that sound pathetic who were actually most heroic in battle. Bronn is proud of having survived the Battle of the Winch Towers and later, Arya will encounter a lord who glories in having held a small bridge. Yet, these are the bloodiest, most fiercely contested points of battle. When Stannis's ships, trying to escape, encountered the chain in the water,

Constructions

Wedding preparations foreshadow Tyrion's marriage to Sansa

Setup for Tyrion kills Tywin in their heated argument

Setup for the Red Wedding in Tywin's letter writing

foreshadowing of Aeron's iron hinge