Tywin Lannister

Lord Tywin Lannister is a character in Game of Thrones. He is played by Charles Dance and debuts in the seventh episode of the first season.

Tywin is the head of the powerful House Lannister, one of the richest and most influential families in Westeros. He is a widower with three children, Jaime, Cersei and Tyrion, and a younger brother, Kevan, father of Lancel.

You Win or You Die
Lord Tywin leads an army of sixty thousand men to the borders of the Riverlands. He commands his son Jaime to take half their men and besiege Riverrun, the childhood home of Catelyn Stark, to punish her for taking Tyrion prisoner. Though he despises and hates his misshapen, perverse little son, he also regards any affront to him as an affront to the honor of House Lannister as a whole, one that must be punished. Tywin is incredulous that Jaime didn't capture Eddard Stark when he had the chance on the basis that he didn't win their fight 'fairly' because a Lannister soldier interfered.

The Pointy End
Tyrion arrives at the Lannister army with the leaders of the hill tribes, Shagga, Timett and Chella, whose allegiance he has won in return for the Lannisters supplying their army. Tywin agrees to the alliance, and is amused when the hill tribes say they will only fight if Tyrion is with them on the field. Learning that the Stark army is moving to meet him in battle, Tywin triumphantly predicts victory, since Robb Stark is an unproven, untested green boy. However, Tyrion notes that Robb is belligerent and cleverer than he looks. He suggests that Tywin would like him, to Tywin's bemusement.

Baelor
The Lannister armies prepare for battle. Tywin tells his son Tyrion that he means to use the hill tribe forces to give them an edge against the Stark forces, essentially to be used as cannon fodder. He orders Tyrion to lead them from the front of the vanguard. Tyrion angrily accuses his father of trying to kill him.

Tyrion, Bronn and Shae swap stories the night before the battle. Tyrion reveals that when he was very young, he and Jaime found a young common girl in distress from bandits. Whilst Jaime chased the bandits off, Tyrion comforted the girl. They ended up getting married, but when Tywin found out he was furious and got Jaime to reveal the truth: the girl was a prostitute and Jaime set the situation up to do something nice for his little brother. Tywin paid her for everyone of his guards to have sex with her and forced Tyrion to watch.

Fire and Blood
Lord Tywin and his allies comment on their recent setbacks as they not only lost to the Starks and had Jaime captured by them, they now face a new threat with the Baratheon brothers. Because his grandson's actions destroyed any hope for peace between the Starks and the Lannisters, Tywin orders Tyrion to go to King's Landing in his stead as Hand of the King so they may keep Joffrey under control if Cersei fails. Despite being told not to Tyrion has Shae follow him to King's Landing.

In the books
In the Song of Ice and Fire novels, Tywin is a ruthless, pragmatic leader and a formidable general and strategist, although he prefers to orchestrate events from behind the scenes rather than leading from the front. His father was a weak ruler who was mocked by many of his vassals. When Tywin became Lord, he destroyed two of these lesser houses, cowing the rest into respect and obedience. He was the Hand of the King under King Aerys II Targaryen for twenty years before a series of insults saw him resign the position. When Robert's Rebellion erupted, Tywin took no part. When it became clear that the rebels would be victorious, Tywin betrayed Aerys by sending his army to sack King's Landing, delivering Robert Baratheon his final victory of the war. Tywin pledged fealty to Robert in the aftermath of the conflict, and Robert agreed to marry Tywin's daughter Cersei.

Tywin is proud of his son Jaime, a great warrior, but loathes his youngest son Tyrion, blaming him for the death of Tywin's wife, Joanna, in childbirth.