The Anger of Lord Tywin: Gerion/Tyrion (Spoilers Extended)
I thought it was interesting to note how much Tyrion and Gerion Lannister parallel each other in the anger they have caused Tywin.
Tywin Lannister & His Views/Treatment of Gerion & Tyrion
Blame for the Death of Tywin's Mother/Wife
Tywin blames Tyrion for the death of his wife Joanna:
"You ask that? You, who killed your mother to come into the world? You are an ill-made, devious, disobedient, spiteful little creature full of envy, lust, and low cunning. -ASOS, Tyrion I
I would assume he blames Gerion for the death of his mother Jeyne:
In 255 AC, Lord Tytos celebrated the birth of his fourth son at Casterly Rock, but his joy soon turned to sorrow. His beloved wife, the Lady Jeyne, never recovered from her labor, and died within a moon's turn of Gerion Lannister's birth. Her loss was a shattering blow to his lordship. From that day forth, no one ever again called him the Laughing Lion. -TWOIAF, The Westerlands: House Lannister Under the Dragons
similar to how his father's joy left, so did Tywin's:
His lordship suffered great personal loss as well, for his beloved wife, Lady Joanna, died in 273 AC whilst giving birth to a hideously deformed child. With her death, Grand Maester Pycelle observes, the joy went out of Tywin Lannister, yet still he persisted in his duty. -TWOIAF, The Westerlands: House Lannister Under the Dragons
and:
He was not the same man after she died, Imp," his Uncle Gery told him once. "The best part of him died with her." -ASOS, Tyrion V
Both Makes "Japes" of the Game
While Tyrion is extremely cunning (and very lucky) and know how to play the "game", he also makes japes of it:
Tyrion smiled crookedly. "Take heart, Father. At least Rhaegar Targaryen is still dead."
"I had hoped you might have more to offer us than japes, Tyrion," Lord Tywin Lannister said. -AGOT, Tyrion IX
Gerion seems somewhat similar:
That shadow Tywin cast was long and black, and each of them had to struggle to find a little sun. Tygett tried to be his own man, but he could never match your father, and that just made him angrier as the years went by. Gerion made japes. Better to mock the game than to play and lose. But Kevan saw how things stood early on, so he made himself a place by your father's side." -AFFC, Jaime V
Relationship with Tywin
Like Tyrion, Gerion and Tywin have a stormy relationship:
Tywin despised his father, the weak-willed, fat, and ineffectual Lord Tytos Lannister, and his relations with his brothers Tygett and Gerion were notoriously stormy. He showed more regard for his brother Kevan, a close confidant and constant companion since childhood, and his sister Genna, but yet even in those cases, Tywin Lannister appeared more dutiful than affectionate. -TWOIAF, The Targaryen Kings: Aerys II
Relationship with Commoners
Similar to Tyrion and Tysha, Gerion had a relationship with a commoner:
Joy Hill - daughter of Gerion and Briony -TWOIAF, Appendix: Lannister Lineage
and:
Joy is my late uncle Gerion's natural daughter. -AFFC, Jaime VII
The Free Cities/Fate of Gerion
Gerion gifted Tyrion with books:
"A scribe, long dead," said Haldon. "He spent his life traveling the world and writing about the lands he visited in two books he called Wonders and Wonders Made by Man."
"An uncle of mine gave them to me when I was just a boy," said Tyrion. "I read them until they fell to pieces." -ADWD, Tyrion III
and encouraged him in "japes" (apparently this is actually not possible for a dwarf)
The truth was rather different. His uncle had taught him a bit of tumbling when he was six or seven. Tyrion had taken to it eagerly. For half a year he cartwheeled his merry way about Casterly Rock, bringing smiles to the faces of septons, squires, and servants alike. Even Cersei laughed to see him once or twice.
All that ended abruptly the day his father returned from a sojourn in King's Landing. That night at supper Tyrion surprised his sire by walking the length of the high table on his hands. Lord Tywin was not pleased. "The gods made you a dwarf. Must you be a fool as well? You were born a lion, not a monkey."
Tyrion wanted to follow Gerion's footsteps:
His uncle Gerion liked to set him on the table during feasts and make him recite them. I liked that well enough, didn't I? Standing there amongst the trenchers with every eye upon me, proving what a clever little imp I was. For years afterward, he had cherished a dream that one day he would travel the world and see Longstrider's wonders for himself.
Lord Tywin had put an end to that hope ten days before his dwarf son's sixteenth nameday, when Tyrion asked to tour the Nine Free Cities, as his uncles had done at that same age. "My brothers could be relied upon to bring no shame upon House Lannister," his father had replied. "Neither ever wed a whore." And when Tyrion had reminded him that in ten days he would be a man grown, free to travel where he wished, Lord Tywin had said, "No man is free. Only children and fools think elsewise. Go, by all means. Wear motley and stand upon your head to amuse the spice lords and the cheese kings. Just see that you pay your own way and put aside any thoughts of returning." -ADWD, Tyrion III
Before Gerion disappeared heading off to Vayria:
If interested: Characters who have seen the "Doom" of Valyria (Spoilers Extended) : asoiaf (reddit.com)
"I know some sailors say that any man who lays eyes upon that coast is doomed." He did not believe such tales himself, no more than his uncle had. Gerion Lannister had set sail for Valyria when Tyrion was eighteen, intent on recovering the lost ancestral blade of House Lannister and any other treasures that might have survived the Doom. Tyrion had wanted desperately to go with them, but his lord father had dubbed the voyage a "fool's quest," and forbidden him to take part.
And perhaps he was not so wrong. Almost a decade had passed since the Laughing Lion headed out from Lannisport, and Gerion had never returned. The men Lord Tywin sent to seek after him had traced his course as far as Volantis, where half his crew had deserted him and he had bought slaves to replace them. No free man would willingly sign aboard a ship whose captain spoke openly of his intent to sail into the Smoking Sea. "So those are fires of the Fourteen Flames we're seeing, reflected on the clouds?" -ADWD, Tyrion VIII
It is theorized that Gerion is the current Shrouded Lord (Legacy Character)
They do have some differences (which still piss off Tywin):
Jaime," she said, tugging on his ear, "sweetling, I have known you since you were a babe at Joanna's breast. You smile like Gerion and fight like Tyg, and there's some of Kevan in you, else you would not wear that cloak . . . but Tyrion is Tywin's son, not you. I said so once to your father's face, and he would not speak to me for half a year. -AFFC, Jaime V
TLDR: There are plenty of similarities and parallels in the anger/resentment that Tywin has toward his son Tyrion in Tywin's brother Gerion as well.
Posted Jun 30, 2021, 1:20 AM UTC