Tyrion Lannister is easily one of the most popular characters on Game of Thrones. Though he doesn’t get much respect from the people of Westeros, the audience recognizes him as a brilliant, funny, and brave man. He is also one of the few people in the show that seems to want to do good.
Despite all of his good qualities, Tyrion is far from perfect. He’s made plenty of mistakes throughout the series including some rather big ones. Though his good deeds may balance it all out in the end, it’s hard to ignore the times Tyrion was wrong. Here are some of the worst things Tyrion Lannister has done on Game of Thrones.
Ignoring The Night’s Watch
While the rest of Westeros was fighting over who would sit on the Iron Throne, the Night’s Watch was busy dealing with a far greater threat of the Night King and his army. Sadly, the Night’s Watch was seen as a bit of a joke in Westeros and they received little help.
However, Tyrion is smarter than most lords of the land and he even visited Castle Black and met some of the leaders of the Night’s Watch. Despite respecting the men in charge, Tyrion still didn’t do much to answer their calls for help which could have put an end to the threat sooner.
Hitting Joffrey
The fact that watching Tyrion hit Joffrey in the face became such a cheer-worthy moment on the show speaks to how hated Joffrey was as a character. Tyrion was one of the only people willing to stand up to his sadistic nephew and it was fun to see him humiliate the little punk. But it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
Tyrion knew Joffrey would one day become king and yet he seemed to do everything he could to make sure Joffrey hated him. Joffrey certainly needed someone like Tyrion to put him in his place, but hitting him repeatedly was like signing his own death warrant.
Killing Shae
Whenever two people seem to have a happy and loving relationship on the show, it’s almost certainly going to end in tragedy. Tyrion’s relationship with Shae was filled with danger but the tragedy of it came when Shae testified against Tyrion in the trial of Joffrey’s murder.
This was a heartbreaking moment for Tyrion but it only got worse when he found Shae in Tywin’s bed. After a brief fight, Tyrion strangles Shae to death. While it could be argued that it was self-defense, there was almost certainly a revenge aspect to it and the moment haunted Tyrion for a long time after.
Negotiating With The Masters Of Slaver’s Bay
When Tyrion joined Daenerys’ team, it seemed like a perfect alliance and he was just the kind of intelligent person she needed advising her. However, his career as her advisor did not go as smoothly as he planned.
After Daenerys goes missing from Meereen, Tyrion seeks to end the fighting with the Masters of Slaver’s Bay by negotiating with them. He suggests they end slavery in their cities, but gives them seven years to abolish it completely. Not only does this deal allow slavery to continue but the masters still attack Meereen.
Trusting Cersei
There probably aren’t any siblings in Westeros that hate each other as much as Tyrion and Cersei. This brother and sister duo have never seen eye-to-eye and their feud has turned deadly on several occasions. But Tyrion was always willing to put his grudge aside for the greater good. Unfortunately, Cersei never was.
When the most powerful people in Westeros meet in King’s Landing to discuss the threat of the Night King and his army, Cersei agrees to join forces with others to fight the common enemy. Foolishly, Tyrion trusts her despite their history together and is, of course, betrayed by her shortly after.
Killing Tywin
There are plenty of dysfunctional family relationships on the show but Tyrion’s relationship with his father Tywin is one of the worst. Tywin mistreats and disrespects his son constantly and admits to contemplating killing him on occasion. So it’s not too surprising that Tyrion ends up murdering his father.
Even though their relationship was horrible, this was a dark moment for Tyrion. He could have escaped without going to visit his father one last time but the years of abuse sent him over the edge. It was a decision that forever stained Tyrion’s reputation.
His Trial Outburst
Tyrion is often the smartest person in whatever room he is in and he is sometimes too smart for his own good. When he is put on trial for the death of Joffrey, Tyrion takes every opportunity to make the situation worse for himself. Once Shae testifies against him, he stops holding back at all.
In an intense speech, he maintains his innocence while stating that he wishes he had killed Joffrey and everyone else in King’s Landing who have treated him so poorly. He’s certainly entitled to be angry at such injustice, but that probably wasn’t the wisest thing to do when his life was on the line.
Poor Military Plans
People see Tyrion as a grotesque villain but he has proven he is one of Westeros’ great heroes. This is especially evident during the Battle of Blackwater when Tyrion uses Wildfire and leads the attack to help defend the castle. But when serving as Hand of the King to Daenerys, Tyrion’s military tactics prove less successful.
It seems that every time Tyrion tries some clever plan against Cersei’s army, she is one step ahead of him and makes him look like a fool. This leads to some pretty serious defeats of Daenerys’ army, taking out virtually all of her allies and making the Queen of Dragons unhappy.
Betraying Varys
Tyrion and Varys had a charming friendship throughout the series. Both these men were outcasts but smarter than pretty much everyone else. They seemed to enjoy each other’s company and had been through a lot together. But like most relationships in Westeros, it ended in tragedy.
Varys understands before Tyrion does that Daenerys is not the right person to sit on the Iron Throne. He tries to make Tyrion see this but Tyrion remains stubborn and finally tells Daenerys of Varys’ betrayal, resulting in his friend being burned alive.
Staying With Daenerys
Daenerys’ transition to Mad Queen was one of the most shocking things to happen in the show, but the writing was on the wall well before she burned King’s Landing. And as clever as Tyrion is, he failed to see it coming until it was too late.
Tyrion should have listened to Varys when he acknowledged the queen’s descent into madness. Daenerys was even threatening to burn the city because of Cersei’s actions and Tyrion was still trying to reason with her. Though he might have hoped there was still some reason within her, a lot of the blood from King’s Landing is on his hands.
