5 Worst Things Tyrion Lannister Ever Did On Game Of Thrones, Ranked

For most "Game of Thrones" fans, Tyrion Lannister, the main character brought to life on the HBO series by Peter Dinklage, is a hero — albeit a flawed one. After George R.R. Martin created this beloved figure in his fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire," which serves as the source material for (most of) "Game of Thrones," Dinklage, who won an astonishing four Emmy Awards as Tyrion, perfectly portrayed Tyrion's wit, charm, and intelligence. Often rudely referred to as "the Half-Man" or "the Imp," Tyrion, who is canonically a dwarf, is usually the smartest person in the room. Even though Dinklage apparently had to be convinced to take on the role for fear that it would "stereotype" him — Dinklage was born with achondroplasia, which affected his bone growth and means he is four feet and five inches tall as an adult — we're certainly all grateful that he did. It's impossible to imagine any other performer so perfectly embodying Tyrion in every single way, and it's impossible to imagine "Game of Thrones" without either Tyrion or Dinklage.

Here's the thing, though. Tyrion isn't perfect. Yes, he's entertaining, an absolute delight to watch, and always has a quip or bon mot at the ready, and more to the point, he is essentially "good." Things aren't black and white in the world of "Game of Thrones," though, and arguable protagonists like Emilia Clarke's Daenerys Targaryen manage to do plenty of bad things throughout the narrative too. So what are the worst things Tyrion ever does on "Game of Thrones?" Here they are — and they're ranked from "pretty bad" to "completely unforgivable." Also, this should go without saying, but full series spoilers ahead!

Look, nobody — and we mean nobody — thinks it's a good thing that Daenerys torches the majority of the Westerosi capital of King's Landing in the final season of "Game of Thrones." In fact, this third-act turn from Daenerys generated some pretty understandable controversy, but we're not here to talk about Daenerys. We're here to talk about Tyrion — who, like the show's audience, surveys the queen's destruction in pure shock and horror, wandering through the mostly ruined city amidst ash and bone to see the destruction she's wrought. How he handles the whole thing, though, is not great.

Shortly after Daenerys declares victory to her armies, Tyrion messily quits his job as her Hand of the Queen by tossing his neat little pin down a flight of stairs; this is taken as treason by the Dragon Queen, and Tyrion is summarily imprisoned. While he's in the remaining prison cells (that weren't destroyed), Tyrion, for some reason, is allowed to talk to his ally and Daenerys' lover (and nephew) Jon Snow (Kit Harington), and in the process, he encourages Jon to take Daenerys out for the good of the realm. He also notes that Jon's assumed half-sisters — who are actually his nieces, because, as we know, Jon is the legitimate son of Daenerys' brother Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark, sister of Jon's alleged illegitimate father Ned Stark (Sean Bean) — Arya and Sansa, played by Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner, will face danger when they refuse to "bend the knee" to their new queen Daenerys.

Improbably, this works. Jon, driven by self-righteousness and Tyrion's "wisdom," stabs Daenerys before she even gets a chance to sit on the Iron Throne she's coveted for so long. Daenerys wasn't in the right, but surely Tyrion could have just talked to her?

Morality is a tough thing on "Game of Thrones," which makes it difficult to compile a list like this. Was it technically right for Tyrion to murder two people in the midst of his daring escape from King's Landing during the Season 4 finale of the series? No, not really. Was it satisfying to watch? Yes, and here's why.

Season 4 is a tough stretch for our guy Tyrion. As King's Landing prepares for the royal wedding between the secretly illegitimate King Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) and his bride-to-be Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer), Tyrion tries to avoid his nephew's wrath whenever possible ... but after Joffrey spends most of his wedding ceremony bullying his uncle and is subsequently poisoned, he quite literally points the finger at Tyrion. Because Joffrey's mother, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), hates her younger brother with a passion, she encourages the narrative that Tyrion is behind the king's murder ... and it's an understatement to say the trial goes poorly. So, for that matter, does the trial by combat, where Tyrion's chosen champion Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) is absolutely obliterated by Cersei's over-powered champion Gregor Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson).

Here's the issue, though. After Cersei's twin and lover — and Tyrion's only brother — Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) quietly frees his brother, Tyrion slips into the quarters occupied by his cruel father Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) and is particularly surprised to find his own lover, Shae (Sibel Kekilli), in his father's bed. Because Shae betrayed Tyrion at his trial by claiming he coerced her into a relationship, Tyrion kills her and then snipes his dear old dad with a crossbow while Tywin is on the toilet. It's all understandable, but still pretty bad behavior.

Again, morality isn't always cut and dry on "Game of Thrones," and one of the show's most interesting quandaries — in its early seasons, at least — is that no character is ever truly "good" or "bad," but simply making the decisions they need to in order to survive. This is true of Tyrion's strategy during Season 2's Battle of Blackwater Bay, which makes the middle entry of this ranking potentially its most fascinating. As Baratheon forces prepare for a fight at King's Landing during what's known as the War of the Five Kings — a war Joffrey kickstarted by beheading Ned Stark, whose only crime was correctly pointing out that Joffrey isn't a Baratheon at all but the product of Cersei and Jaime's incestutous relationship — Tyrion, then Joffrey's Hand of the King, is leading the Lannister forces. Presented with a difficult fight, Tyrion strategizes with his right-hand man and master of whispers Varys (Conleth Hill), taking note of various tunnels underneath the capital city.

The bad thing Tyrion does during the penultimate episode of Season 2, "Blackwater," isn't utilizing those tunnels to send his soldiers to safety. No, the bad thing he does is that he uses a substantial portion of wildfire to booby-trap an unmanned ship in the harbor, which lays waste to the Baratheon forces and kills hundreds of their men. While it makes sense that Tyrion would use the wildfire, which can only be referred to as a "cheat code" to win this water-based battle, it feels even worse in retrospect when Cersei uses it to blow up half the city for making her mad ... and even Tyrion, during the battle itself, surveys his ruin with shock and horror.

Asking Jon Snow to kill Daenerys Targaryen is, incredibly, not the worst thing Tyrion does before "Game of Thrones" comes to a rushed and bitter end. The worst thing Tyrion does during the ending of "Game of Thrones" is he chooses the next King of the Seven Kingdoms, and if we may say so ourselves, he chooses wrong.

Why Tyrion, a political prisoner at this point in the story, is given carte blanche to choose the realm's next monarch is honestly anybody's guess. Inexplicably allowed to attend the all hands on deck nobility convention hastily convened in the wake of Daenerys' murder — for which, it should be noted, both Jon and Tyrion are being more or less held responsible and held prisoner by the late queen's army the Unsullied — Tyrion makes a passionate plea:

"What unites people? Armies? Gold? Flags? Stories. There's nothing in the world more powerful than a good story. Nothing can stop it. No enemy can defeat it. And who has a better story than Bran the Broken? The boy who fell from a high tower and lived. He knew he'd never walk again, so he learned to fly. He crossed beyond the Wall, a crippled boy, and became the Three-Eyed Raven. He is our memory, the keeper of all our stories [...] Who better to lead us into the future?"

Here, Tyrion is talking about Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), a guy so non-essential to the larger narrative that he doesn't even appear in Season 5 of "Game of Thrones" and whose story is easily surpassed by his sisters Arya and Sansa. At least Tyrion is summarily "punished" for this ... and is named Bran's Hand of the King, despite not wanting the job at all. 

As "Game of Thrones" enters its final two seasons, everyone gets dumber to ensure that some of the most boneheaded plotlines can continue without interruption ... and sadly, that includes Tyrion. Truthfully, Tyrion doesn't even get to do all that much during Seasons 7 and 8 of "Game of Thrones" (except order the murder of the queen and pick the next king at the very end), but if we're listing his crimes — and we are — we must talk about Tyrion's stupid quest to steal a singular wight.

Wights, as a reminder, are the mostly brainless ice zombies created by the White Walkers to build their army, and Tyrion's big idea here is that Jon and a few other helpful idiots can travel north of the Wall, find a single wight, and bring it home to prove to Cersei that they have bigger fish to fry. The larger purpose here, of course, is that Tyrion thinks Cersei will stop fighting Daenerys if she realizes the bigger threat is a giant army of unkillable ice zombies heading right towards Westeros, but this leads us to an important question: has Tyrion ever met his own sister? Cersei, who has blown up a large swath of King's Landing with wildfire at this point in the story, would probably just be excited that she could try to use an ice zombie to take Tyrion and Daenerys out in one fell swoop.

This mission is both a success and massive failure. Yes, they capture a single wight, but Jon and his gang also get attacked by White Walkers, lose two of their number in the process, and even get one of Daenerys' three dragons killed and renanimated before they head home. Great job, Tyrion.