Lannisters Are Where It’s At
Epic awesomeness.
Ah, Memorial Day weekend. A perfect time for grilling, drinking, socializing, and binge-watching episodes of Game of Thrones. Actually, forget the first three because Bear and I holed ourselves up in his parents house and saw no one and went nowhere because we were glued to the TV.
I will preface this by saying I’ve never read anything by George R. R. Martin. I attempted GAME OF THRONES once, but got bored and put it aside. For shame, JJ! fantasy fans will decry. You’ve read everything by J. R. R. Tolkien, including THE SILMARILLION and THE LAYS OF BELERIAND and you couldn’t get through GAME OF THRONES? Yes, yes, I will admit it. I can read pages upon pages of dry, boring Tolkien and couldn’t finish Martin. However, I will probably give him another try at some point.
But you see, I didn’t realize, until I started watching Game of Thrones, that there was a reason to be reading.
Say hello to my latest love, Tyrion Lannister.
Why did no one introduce me to Tyrion Lannister before? I love sarcastic, trickster types who are sympathetic and admirable and best of all…SELF-AWARE! People, people, this was a serious lapse. Tyrion Lannister, I love you. I love you so much. (Peter Dinklage needs to win the Emmy like…right now. Also, for some reason I like him much better blond. And he’s got the world’s greatest voice. ♥)
The thing that surprised me most about Game of Thrones was that it wasn’t a “quest” fantasy, unlike Tolkien and unlike a myriad of other sword-and-sorcery books on the fantasy shelves. No, Game of Thrones is pure politics, and it’s FASCINATING. I am totally enthralled by what’s happening in Westeros, and you know what? Not much is actually happening in Westeros. There is a lot of whoring and killing, but there is also politicking. I eat this stuff up. (See also: my love of the political machination bits of the KUSHIEL series.) And as always, my favourites are the overly ambitious, morally bankrupt characters, i.e. the majority of House Lannister.
Oh, where to begin. You want fucked up? Look no further than the scions of House Lannister. Crazy, tyrannical, autocratic father? Check. Whacked out, really ambitious, spurned in love queen? Check. Sarcastic imp of an unloved son? Check. Incest? Check. Incest between twins? Check and check. Why is it that I love the unlovable so? I do. Jamie Lannister, in particular. Sure he’s sleeping with his twin sister and fathering inbred children (is it worse because they’re twins?), but I get the sense he’s got his own story to tell. And for all his moral grossness, he seems to genuinely love his dwarf brother (but not in that way…although in this universe, who the hell knows?). *sniffle* I’m such a sucker for truly awful people in fiction.
(There is some psychological insight to be gleaned from my obvious love of complete psychopaths. I’m not sure what.)
On the flip side, I also love me some Daenerys, who is badass and totally awesome and not morally despicable. But when it comes down to it, there are the outright awful people and the awesome people, and I always find myself siding with the outright awful. I wonder why.
Anyway, do the rest of you watch Game of Thrones? Are you as enamored of the Lannisters as me?
Oh dear. I was introduced to these books last year and they are addicting once you get into it. Haven’t started watching the show yet because we don’t have HBO but my parents are recording it for me. Tyrion is probably one of the most interesting characters and I do enjoy his sections in the book. You should get back into them. :)
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OH GOD YES I love the Lannisters so much (and I am starting to like Littlefinger as well) – and it shouldn’t surprise me, really, cause, you know I AM BENJAMIN LINUS’ NUMBER 1 FANGIRL. I always like the scheeming, smart, wacky creeps with issues.
What does surprise me is how much I like Ned Stark. I blame Sean Bean, who is good at playing jaded and dignified. And I am not entirely sure Dany is all that noble – she does seem surprisingly ok with her husband’s plan to rape and murder in her name. ..
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I would fight you to the death for the title of Benjamin Linus’ NUMBER 1 FANGIRL. ;-)
I don’t think there’s a single person on the show I don’t like. Even Ned! Poor Ned. So honourable. So naive.
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Oh man Team Ben Linus, oh man JJ yes.
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“(but not in that way…although in this universe, who the hell knows?)”
LOLS.
“I’m such a sucker for truly awful people in fiction.”
Me too! Although I wouldn’t say I side with them; merely that I find them fascinating. In real life, less so. But in fiction, they are so often the engines of story and change. In fiction, they often force you to think about what you *think* you know — they challenge you.
Anyhoot, no, I don’t watch the series (no HBO, and no real desire to watch TV of any kind lately) and I haven’t read the books. But I hear enough about the series to sort of feel like I do. :P
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So, add me to the list saying “read this!” I just started them last month but I gobbled up the first three. I too am Team Lannister. Mostly. Incest Wondertwins Powers Activate!
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Oh man, those Lannister twins–I remember doing a double-take the very first time I read that early in GoT….I was like “What? Did he really go there? Wow, he did!” and it was fascinating. I also loved Sansa (oh man, that Joffrey!) and Daenerys. Jon Snow was lovable too, as is our endearing Ned. Gah, everyone!! I need me some HBO noooow.
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I’ve never read the books but I’m watching in the UK on Sky Atlantic and love it! Tyrion and Arya are my favourites by far. I sympathise with Ned but he’s a totally unaware plank. Really loving Aidan Gillen as Littlefinger. Peter Dinklage as Tyrion is fantastic and I was also immensely gratified to see Charles Dance crop up as Tywin Lannister in the most recent ep. I had little sympathy for Robert Baratheon but think Mark Addy did a great job. Joffrey Lannister is my least favourite character and should be punched in the face on sight. The fact that Tyrion did so in ep 2 only adds to his brilliance.The actor playing Joffrey is brilliant at conveying his complete loathsomeness, however. I reckon I’ll probably check the books out at some point too.
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Game of Thrones! So so so awesome (apparently enough to bring me out of habitual lurker mode…). It has become a Monday Ritual to watch the series with my flatmate. I fell in love with the books when I was about sixteen and have been dying for “Dance with Dragons” to come out. I definitely think you should give the books another shot because as much as I love the series the emotional complexity of many of the characters goes so much further in the books.
As for the Lannisters I SO AGREE WITH YOU. I have a firm character ranking of characters and two of my top 3 are the Lannister Boys. It goes:
1) Arya (She claimed this rank right off the bat because I will always have a soft spot for girls who kick butt in spite of being a Lady and sometimes cross dress. And without being spolerific all I will say is that Arya secured her spot as my favourite as soon as she started her “Prayer List” in the second Book and I was all DAY-UM Girl)
2) Tyrion. OBVS! I both worship him for his wit and want to just hug him for the emotional angst he has (DEAR LORD JUST WAIT UNTIL YOU MEET THE LANNISTER’S FATHER!)
3) Jaime. I honestly could not have cared less about Jaime in the first two books even though I probably should have laothed him for the whole Bran tossing and Jory killing thing. Or maybe I did loathed him once. But I cannot remember that because Book 3 happened and well…it’s no coincidence that when my original copy of the third book literally fell to pieces the place it fell apart was in the middle of a Jaime chapter.
(And Incidentally number 4 is Gendry. Just had to be said because, while he’s a near inconsequential plot point as the King’s Bastard in Book 1 as it goes on…he’s Gendry!)
Even Cersei I have the mad respect for. I mean Cersei has been known to seriously tick me off, especially when you add the Joffrey factor (ENABLER MOTHER) and when you see her through Tyrion’s eyes, but my stance on Cersei is simple: Her Evil must be respected and when later on a character who does not seem to properly fear the hell out of Cersei the way she deserves shows up, the new upstart is the one I want to punch. That is some Cersei Lannister Power right there.
Dany is a funny one for me because on one hand her naivete ticks me off sometimes, and I can’t wait for the Khalessi to get a clue. On the other hand she has easily two of my favourite chapters in the whole series (*flails just thinking about the last chapter of book 1 and the House of the Undying in the sequels*)
Then there’s the characters I really want to face punch (and I mean that in a complimentary way to the books) Joffrey, Littlefinger, That training guy on the wall whose name I can’t remember and Sansa. Who I never quite forgave for book 1.
I could ramble on like this for ages about the awesome that is George R.R Martin if you let me… I’ll shut up now.
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I had the same experience with the novels. I just started watching the t.v. series this weekend…went through the first three episodes and LOVED them all. I agree about Tyrion Lannister as well. Your post was a bit of a spoiler but not really because I KNEW that freaky little prince had the twins as parents. (He does, right?) I can’t help but love Stark best at this point. I’m a total Sean Bean girl.
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