From: EndOfDiscOne | #177
You've responded to me about Tyrion/ACoK before because I said he owns ACoK, but not that he dominates everyone. By that I mean he gets the most screentime and is consistenly an awesome character, which is true. He's the one guy in King's Landing who schemes for the good of the kingdom despite the fact that everyone hates him.
While you may have been the motivation behind one of my responses in the past, I have seen more and more of the deification of Tyrion as we approach the second season.
I think Tyrion is a fascinating character, largely because he is a very flawed character (what a surprise in these novels). One of those flaws is his ego. He's always taken pride in his intelligence, as he believes that that is all he has. Unfortunately, his confidence in his intelligence is not always for the best.
From: Eeeevil Overlord | #178
When he does play the game (for example the business with Pycelle) he does pretty damn well out of it, I'd say. It's just that time spent under the milk of the poppy when Tywin's back and all his manoeuvring is undone in a matter of days.
Yes, he plays the game well in a few instances. But ultimately, he loses.
Sure, it was always a temporary position. Of course, people are predisposed to hate him. And you can say he "succeeds" in that he saves the city.
But "you win or you die". You have to look at the long term results of Tyrion's tenure in King's Landing.
Character by character... JUST looking at clash.
LITTLEFINGER: Tyrion pisses him off with the bait and switch on Harrenhall. Littlefinger gets it anyways, along with a substantial amount of credit for saving the city. Plus, Tyrion's "secret weapon" against Cersei, the Kettleblacks, are actually Tyrion's men. And he has a patsy in to make sure his plot to abscond with Sansa is all set up. Littlefinger clearly benefits at Tyrion's expense. Again, that's just looking at Clash of Kings.
VARYS: Tyrion even admits that he is just replacing Littlefinger's men with Varys' and that he is overdependent on the eunuch. Varys feeds him what he needs to in the book, and plays everyone. This becomes even more clear later. "Oh wow, Jaime was able to surprise Varys in his own chambers, that sounds legit"
CERSEI: Cersei manages to get a Kingsguard knight to take out Tyrion. That's part of the game too. Up until then, he manages to curb a few of Joff's actions, and he takes out a few informers, but in the end, it is CERSEI'S move that takes Tyrion out of the action. He may have been doing well in the war of attrition, but she won the big battle and the "war".
Hell, even Pycelle ends up back on the council to end the book, and Pycelle was a Lannister patsy all along. So while he revealed that Pycelle was selling him out to Cersei, what good did that really do?
Tyrion played. Tyrion played better than most. And circumstances were against him. But those circumstances are part of the game. He uses the advantages of his high birth and family power to his benefit, while being a dwarf and having other family members being problematic is a disadvantage. And in the end, the three major players in king's landing came out ahead at Tyrion's expense to end clash, and it only went downhill from there.
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Luster: Yeah, that's the most intense method of consuming cocaine.