Tag: character review

The Greatest Dwarf Known to Man

I think we can all agree that one of the most loved characters in Game of Thrones is the dwarf, Tyrion Lannister.  The dwarf, second son of Tywin Lannister, has advanced greatly as a character in the show.  He’s gone from being a wanton little drunk, to being a wise Hand of the Queen.

The journey that Tyrion has taken has been one of trial and error and controversy.  When we meet him in Season 1, he’s plying his ‘trade’ in a brothel in Winterfell upon arrival in the pilot episode of the series.  He’s the black sheep of the Lannister family; having bad relations with his father and sister.  However, he is very close with his elder brother, Jaime Lannister, and his niece and nephew, Myrcella and Tommen Baratheon.  Nobody can fault Tyrion for not thinking of his family and putting them first.  He just also has to think of himself every once in a while.

In the first season, Tyrion is a little drunk runaround with no power, and he knew it.  That’s why he had all the time in the world to drink and sleep about.  In the second season, he is given power by Tywin Lannister, his father, to act as Hand of the King in his stead during the war.  Tyrion comes into Kings Landing with fire and brimstone; basically to clean house and control the temperamental and impulsive behavior of his nephew, Joffrey Baratheon.  Joffrey immediately takes an even greater dislike to him because Tyrion is challenging him every step of the way and basically calling him an idiot.  Tyrion takes control of Kings Landing when Stannis Baratheon lays siege to it.  They ‘win’ because of the timely arrival of Tywin and the Tyrell forces, but they really won because of Tyrion’s ingenuity.  At the end of the second season, Tyrion has been pushed to the side by his family.

In the third season, Tyrion still has a position on the small council, but it is now a minor role as Tywin is Hand of the King.  He is merely a pawn in the clutches of his family, forced to marry Sansa Stark so as to get an heir to Winterfell.  However, Tyrion takes pity on her in light of all she suffered at the hands of Joffrey previously.  He does not consummate their marriage and instead does everything he can to protect her.  However, that all changes when Joffrey is mysteriously poisoned at his wedding in the fourth season and he is accused of the crime.  Near the end of the fourth season presents Tyrion with a great betrayal: the companion, Shae, whom he was very fond of, lied about him at his trial and was in fact, sleeping with his own father.  Needless to say, the end of season three was very emotional for Tyrion.

Season 5 sees him being escorted by Varys to Slaver’s Bay, where Daenerys has taken up residence and is freeing the slaves.  However, he gets drunk and separated and is kidnapped by a banished Ser Jorah Mormont.  They journey together and run afoul of dragon scale diseased people and slavers.  That is how Tyrion eventually meets Daenerys Targaryen.  At first, they are suspicious of each other: he’s the brother of the man who killed her father; and she’s the daughter of the Mad King, who wanted to burn everyone.  They start off on rocky ground and have to work their way up to a level of respect and trust that we find them at in the latest season.  Of course, they don’t like ways the other does certain things, and they have to talk it out.  But, that’s when Drogon lands and flies off with Daenerys, leaving Tyrion in charge of a(nother) battle torn city.

And… Season 6, Tyrion is dealing with Missandei and Greyworm, both of whom think his more diplomatic approach to, well… everything, is not how Daenerys would want it.  Tyrion gets frustrated that nobody sees the benefit of his plans.  Nobody except Varys.  The Master of Whispers works with Tyrion to get sh*t done around the city in Daenerys’ absence.  And then, she returns with a hoard of Dothraki at her back and an awesome Season 6 battle finale (for Daenerys) takes place.  She now she has an armada and an army.  She also now has a Hand.  Daenerys asks Tyrion to be her top adviser and he accepts.  We don’t know his reasons until the next season.

Season 7 sees both the Queen and her Hand in difficult straights.  They land on Dragonstone easily enough, but it’s easy to take an abandoned castle.  However, doom follows them when they start to lose allies.  First, the Greyjoy fleet under Yara is destroyed by the one under Euron.  Then, the Sand Snakes are defeated and Ellaria Sand is imprisoned beneath the Red Keep per Cersei’s orders.  And… Greyworm and the Unsullied army are trapped at Casterly Rock (also Euron’s fault).  Because she was following Tyrion’s advice when all the sh*t went down, Daenerys blames him to an extent, and turns to the visiting Jon Snow.  Since Tyrion and Jon had a decent relationship when they met previously, Tyrion really doesn’t have a problem with it.  Or, does he?  He finagles the meeting between Cersei, Jon, and Daenerys.  He even convinces Cersei to join them in the fight against the Night King (even though we as the audience know that she’s really trying to stab them all in the back).  And then he sees Jon going into Daenerys’ cabin and he looks disappointed.

Disappointed because he loves her.  Daenerys seems to have that effect on men.  The only problem is, she seems to be oblivious to ones that will really make her happy.  Not saying Jon is a bad guy by any means; he’s just not the guy for her.  Both her and Tyrion are rulers, and I personally believe that they should rule together.

And on that note, it’s been real!

Ani-View: Homunculi – Superior Bodies & Complexes

I’ve already done a review of FMAB, but I decided to also focus on the villains of that piece.  Of course I’m talking about the homunculi and their creator, Father.  Everyone knows the history of the homunculi differs from the original series to Brotherhood.  Their story in the original was interesting: they are the souls of people that died and were almost resurrected by the ones they love.  Lust was initially Ishvalan, and Scar’s brother tried to bring her back to life, but unfortunately, Lust was the outcome.  Envy was the miscarriage from Van Hohenheim’s first marriage.  His name certainly suits the way he feels towards Edward and Alphonse.  But, we’re not discussing them.  We’re doing Brotherhood.

  1. Father – originally called ‘the dwarf in the flask’, Father is the head of the homunculi.  Created from the blood of Slave 23, later Van Hohenheim, Father desires to attain the perfect form, knowledge, and immortality.  He is an emotionless being after he separates all his feelings from his soul.  Father’s desire is to turn the country into a transmutation circle, so that he can use human souls as a sacrifice to obtain this.  He wants to become like God, which for a previous dwarf in the flask, is a tall order.  Also, very heretical of him.
  2. Pride – the arrogant, the first homunculus.  Pride was given the original form of Father back when he was in the flask.  Trapped in the body of a child called Selim Bradley, Pride is the right hand homunculus to Father.  Pride fancies himself above not only all humans, but even his fellow homunculi.  Living up to his name, Pride can’t stand to be defeated by measly mortals.  He controls an army of souls within his own Philosopher’s Stone; and it’s ironic that it took only two souls to defeat him: Solf J. Kimblee, and Edward Elric.
  3. Wrath – the furious, the King of Amestris.  Wrath was born from normal parents, but was chosen to be part of the program to choose the puppet king.  He went through rigorous training and was then turned into a homunculus.  He is the only homunculus (besides Greed) who shows some semblance of free will.  He chose his own wife and technically died on his own terms and with a smile on his face.  Wrath was a homunculus I disliked, but I didn’t hate him.  In the end, he was a homunculus we all could respect.
  4. Envy – the jealous, the shapeshifter.  Envy is a character most people hate with a passion because of what he did to most of the characters.  He killed Major Maes Hughes, started the war in Ishval, and personally (basically) tortures Dr. Tim Marcoh.  Envy is the most open with his distaste towards humans, constantly belittling them and saying they’re easily manipulated.  However, it is revealed that the reason he is so cruel is because (true to his name) he is jealous of them.  He is jealous of their strength and the bonds they form.  Humans aren’t so weak after all!
  5. Lust – the lascivious, the seducer.  Lust tends to pick on men because of her abilities.  Lust makes her comments about humanity in general, but she does like sniping about men.  She targets Jean Havoc for information about Mustang, and then her final fight takes place against Col. Roy Mustang.  It is fascinating, her final battle against the Flame Alchemist.  Lust follows orders from Father without hesitation, but she has no goals or ambitions of her own.  In that regard, she’s a little ambiguous.  However, that does not stop her from being a dangerous and beguiling enemy.
  6. Greed – the avaricious, the Ultimate Shield.  Greed is the most diverse because he was basically two characters in one.  Or was it three?  You have the first Greed, he simply defected from Father because he wanted to promote his own agenda.  Greed can not be trusted because his first priority is always his own interests.  The first Greed only wanted to have power, money, sex, status, women, and glory.  That is still a limitless achievement.  But, he gets captured by Wrath and re-assimilated by Father.  Greed Part Deux took control of Ling Yao’s body.  This Greed is a little more complex.  At first, he follows Father, but when memories start resurfacing, he turns like his predecessor.  Of course, we have to remember that Greed is also Ling Yao, and the Prince of Xing whispers in the homunculus’ ear.  In the end, Greed does find out what he was really greedy for.  Acceptance and friendship.
  7. Gluttony – the voracious, the failed portal.  Gluttony is an odd one.  He was usually paired with Lust and they were an odd couple: a tall, sensuous creature; with a squat and ravenous ball.  Gluttony cared for her in a way; which is why he was so angry when Mustang killed her.  Gluttony does not really have much else going for him.  But, there’s only one other homunculus who is more one dimensional than Gluttony.
  8. Sloth, the indolent, the one dimensional.  Life is such a pain.  That’s his line, not mine.  And that about says it all.

And those are all the homunculi for FMAB.  Some are more colorful than others, but they all had some purpose to play throughout the series.  They were all pieces of their Father’s plan and cogs in his machine.

And on that note, it’s been real!