Personality Analysis: Tyrion Lannister

Warning:

Crude humor

Trait (cont'd)

Personality

Tyrion Lannister

Tyrion Lannister is intelligent, quick-witted, and sarcastic. He spares no one from their flaws and making highly inappropriate jokes against himself and others

He is very self-conscious for being a dwarf and is named "the Imp" usually behind his back, though he hides his feelings behind his jokes

Often bribes his way out of trouble when words fail him

Drinks as often as he can

Has few friends in his family and a couple men at the Wall

Shows kindness to the Starks of Winterfell and sometimes to his nervous, tongue-tied, but loyal squire, Podrik

Dislikes his nephew Joffrey and often shames or humiliates him when he acts immature

Tyrion has few impulsive moments, such as striking King Joffrey when he behaves poorly and taking Shae to King's Landing after specifically being told not to by Lord Tywin. However, his primary trait would be that he is conscientious. Tyrion is well organized in how he acts. While he is an offensive dwarf and speaks to the queen regent in ways that would get most people's tongues cut out, he does so to get a point across. He speaks plainly and manipulates others to serve him, including his cousin to be his spy and multiple wildling tribes to bring him and Bronn to safety, and later to fight against Stark and Baratheon armies.

Despite the anger towards him, Tyrion remains a reliable character, staying true to his family words, "A Lannister always pays his debts."

Tyrion is open-minded rather than resistant due to his non-conformity. As Lord Tywin's son, he would be expected to be respectful in formal occasions. Tyrion rejects formalities except for a few times when speaking to Sansa Stark. Past that, he makes a joke of his trial in the Vale and fakes being extremely drunk at his wedding feast to "drunkenly" threaten to castrate the king. He also humiliates Joffrey at the king's own wedding by turning Joffrey's joke against him.

Whether Tyrion's behavior stems from his conscious or unconscious, from his Big Five traits or his environment, it is up to the theorists. What is proven is that Tyrion Lannister is intelligent and purposefully offensive when it serves him, and even when it does not. Tyrion proves himself to be the Imp in behavior as well as height.

Trait

The trait approach classifies people based on certain traits. A trait is an aspect of someone that is relatively stable throughout time.

Synopsis

A Song of Ice and Fire takes place in a medieval-age continent known as Westeros, with seven united kingdoms

Tyrion is the second son of Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock. The Lannisters are the richest family of the Seven Kingdoms

Seen as a curse on the family by all but his much preferred elder brother Jaime and uncle Kevan, Tyrion has grown to have a sharp tongue to defend himself from jokes at his own expense

Blamed for sending an assassin on Bran Stark and murdering Jon Arryn, though he escapes execution when a mercenary named Bronn steps in to represent him in trial by combat and defeats the champion of the Vale after Tyrion makes a mockery of the affair with his confessions

Served as the King's Hand while his father was at war and was able to defend King's Landing from invasion by Stannis Baratheon, though receives little thanks

Constantly argues with the Queen Regent, Cersei, who is his sister, and humiliates Joffrey when he has childish rants in futile attempts to make him realize that he acts like a boy and not a king

Blamed for assassination of King Joffrey and escapes with Jaime's help, though he kills Lord Tywin during a confrontation before leaving

The Big Five personality factors for Tyrion would be extroversion, emotional stability, mixed agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness.

Tyrion displays extroversion in many situations. When in trial at the Vale, he openly confesses many crude "crimes" and makes a mockery of the trial. He speaks openly to anyone, whether it be the sellsword Bronn, his father Lord Tywin, his sister the queen regent, and even to King Joffrey, who despises him. Tyrion is very talkative and seems to have an optimistic view on life, believing that whatever he cannot talk his way out of, his gold will be the answer. He tells Bronn that he likes living.

Tyrion displays emotional stability up until his trial for being accused of poisoning Joffrey and his angry departure from Jaime at the end of the third book. Before that point, he takes a relaxed approached at whatever comes his way. He casually turns threats against him around, such as when he turned his impulsive cousin Lancel into his spy against Cersei. He deals with his sister's anger in a calm and sarcastic way to spite her, though he keeps himself safe from harm.

Tyrion is one of few good-natured Lannisters. He is kind to the Starks and a friend to Jon Snow. He sees Joffrey's cruelty and is the only one willing to call the boy out on it and mutiple times feels the need to knock sense in him, sadly with little luck. Tyrion trusts few people, though some of the few he does trust is somewhat misguided. He knows Bronn seeks gold, but relies on him. He loves Shae, though he knows she is only around for his money as well. He places trust in the mysterious Lord Varys, though he knows the previous Hand, Ned Stark, was executed while being helped by the lord. Even his uncle Kevan, who has always been kind to him, believes Tyrion is responsible for Joffrey's murder.

At the same time, Tyrion is antagonistic in the fact that he is, put plainly, rude. He drops his manners when speaking to most anyone, making inappropriate jokes in the presence of those who despise him. Many times he is told that his tongue will be the death of him, though he proves that to be wrong at every chance he gets.

Socio-cognitive

Humanistic

The socio-cognitive approach focuses on the person's environment, reinforcements, and punishments. A person's behavior is all that has been reinforced.

The humanistic approach bases behavior on a person's subjective evaluation of himself. It assumes people strive be their best

Tyrion's crude comments and sarcasm stem from his inability to reach the self-actualization stage. He stands short of the social stage, and his ego, status, and self-esteem constantly takes hits from those around him.

Tyrion receives no unconditional positive regard from anyone, save for Jaime and Kevan. His mother died birthing him and his father, sister, and other family members consider him a curse to House Lannister.

During the battle for King's Landing, Tyrion stopped Stannis' navy, which was a major part of the Baratheon strength. When many became fearful of the fires that raged in the battlefield, Tyrion rallied the men and led a group into battle. Despite what he did, Cersei and the other lords and ladies of the city tend to disregard Tyrion's efforts and give the victory to Tywin, who led his forces in near the end and destroyed most of what remained to Stannis.

Tyrion had little respect even when he served as Hand, and he is often spoken of as "Halfman" or "the Imp", opposed to his brother's nickname "the Lion"

With all his physical shortcomings and the negativity he receives, Tyrion can only be the better man by out-witting everyone else.

Tyrion's sarcastic behavior is reinforced since it spites those who berate him and gives him a sense of empowerment. Because he is a dwarf, he is not taken seriously by many, so his own rude behavior is punished on a mediocre level.

He sees that people will always make fun of him for what he is, so he has come to face the facts that he will never change. He jests about himself to make his disfigurement into his armor. In doing this, being called "Imp" hurts him less.

Tyrion spent most of his childhood learning to perceive people's feelings from their facial expressions. He knows just how far he can go before his words put him in more trouble than he wants. He jokes lightly only with Tywin is the only one that can hurt him and would be willing to.

Tyrion relies heavily on the wealth of Casterly Rock, knowing it is the wealthiest place in all the Seven Kingdoms. As most places, including King's Landing, are in debt to the Lannisters, it makes the family very powerful. Tyrion has learned to use that to his advantage.

Psychoanalytic

The psychoanalytic approach is a psychological perspective that suggests behaviors are influenced by unconscious desires that begin in infancy and continue through the rest of a person's life

Tyrion's ego tends to give into the pleasure-seeking id rather than the superego more often than not. He spends much time with the prostitute Shae and drinks heavily when he can. He also takes a detour in his escape to confront his father and ends up killing Tywin for a lie Tywin and Jaime held for years, rather than just letting it go.

However, his moral sense does take charge when he decides not to consummate his forced wedding with young Sansa Stark, knowing she does not want him.

Tyrion displays fixation at the oral stage. If there is wine on the table, he will take it and ask for more. Though he is not a true alcoholic, as he does not have withdraw symptoms when kept away from the drinks, he does drink heavily when given the chance.

He also displays a large amount of sarcasm, another oral fixation. Due to his physical state, he learned to have a quick comeback and often a rude one to protect himself.