Read an Excerpt
Chapter 5 Guilty of Being a Dwarf by KIMBERLY S. ENGELS Who are we? Are we defined by our physical characteristics? By how others perceive us? By our own choices? A complex combination of all of these things? In an intensely dramatic scene, Tyrion Lannister, on trial for killing the king, declares that he is guilty of a crime—the crime of “being a dwarf.” He further asserts that “I have been on trial for my entire life.” With this declaration, Tyrion directly confronts a life-long struggle—that all of his choices are judged against the backdrop of his “crime” and social status as a dwarf. However, throughout his life, Tyrion is aware of his ability to challenge and transcend the social categories he is born into and attempts to be his own person. His journey exemplifies Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist concepts of nausea, bad faith, and authenticity. What does this mean? Jean-Paul Sartre argues that human beings are free to create their own identities—they are, as he puts it, “radically free.” In his lecture Existentialism Is a Humanism, he famously says that human existence precedes human essence. When he says “Existence precedes essence,” Sartre doesn’t mean simply that human beings are capable of making choices about what to do, but that they are free to choose who they are and to create their own values. Many religious traditions and theories of human nature are grounded in the belief that we have an unchanging true self or soul. Sartre rejects this, and as he says, “gets rid of the blue print” of human nature. However, we only choose our own essence within the constraints of characteristics that we cannot control—for example our race, biological sex, physical limitations, or cultural heritage, which he calls “facticity.” These traits not only place limitations upon what we can accomplish, they affect how we are perceived and treated by others. Sartre argues that “bad faith” arises when we either accept our facticity without recognizing our freedom to transcend it, or, alternatively, focus only on our freedom of choice without recognizing that some of our characteristics are beyond our control. If we deny certain unchangeable aspects about ourselves, we’re living in bad faith. Similarly, if we deny that we are anything but those characteristics, we are lying to ourselves about our freedom. Instead of living in bad faith, we should live “authentic” lives. Authenticity is usually associated with reflecting on one’s “true self,” but according to Sartre there is no “true self.” Authenticity means acknowledging our facticity and recognizing that we have the freedom to choose what to make of it. In the series premier, Jon Snow shows offense when Tyrion refers to him as a bastard. Tyrion in turn gives him a piece of advice, “Never forget what you are, the rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you” (“Winter Is Coming”). Jon Snow exemplifies bad faith by hiding from his social categorization as a bastard—something he cannot change. Tyrion recognizes that people will always judge Jon for this just as they judge him for being a dwarf, and suggests that Jon own it and use it to his advantage. Authenticity is not easy. We are often tempted to fall back on existing social categories to define us, avoiding the burden of choosing our own path. Sartre refers to the accompanying anguish as “nausea.” Nausea is the feeling of sickness and dread we get when we realize that we are the ones responsible for creating ourselves through our choices, and cannot rely on an inherent nature to define us. To avoid nausea, many retreat into bad faith. More than any other character, Tyrion exemplifies Sartre’s existentialism and how people are a complex, multifaceted product of their facticity and the choices they make. In Tyrion’s full acceptance of himself as a dwarf and his determination to still be his own person, he embodies Sartrean authenticity. I Am Guilty What does Tyrion mean when he says he is, “guilty of being a dwarf ”? Tyrion is pointing out that because of his facticity as a dwarf he is judged more harshly by others. Now, this is a very real challenge that people can face due to a disability, their race, their looks, sexual orientation, or other social categories. Tyrion’s presumed guilt is first evident when he is presupposed guilty by Catelyn Stark for the attempted murder of her son Bran. Upon hearing that the specific dagger wielded by Bran’s attempted assassin was last seen in Tyrion’s hand, Catelyn instantly jumps to the conclusion that Tyrion was guilty of conspiring to murder him (“Lord Snow”). When captured, Tyrion refuses to falsely confess that he is the one who conspired to have Bran killed. He does make a confession however, “I am a vile man, I confess it. My crimes and sins are beyond counting. I have lied and cheated, gambled and whored . . . You want specifics, I suppose?” before presenting a very humorous list of some of his practical jokes. Here we see Tyrion’s authenticity: he refuses to confess to a crime he did not commit but takes responsibility for the things he has done (“A Golden Crown”). Tyrion is also presumed guilty by his own family. When Tyrion jokes with his sister Cersei when she is upset about a ruling decision he made, she ends the conversation with a jab that Tyrion’s finest joke was killing his mother with his birth (“The Night Lands”). After Tyrion plays a key role in staving off Stannis’s attack on King’s Landing, his father Tywin strips him from his position as Hand of the King and refuses to believe he had any role in saving the city, calling him a drunk and “illmade, spiteful little creature,” who is lying about his accomplishments. Tywin repeats Cersei’s accusation that Tyrion killed his mother during childbirth. Tywin demonstrates that he too judges Tyrion as a criminal by nature and refuses to believe that he could be a brave, wise, or effective leader (“Valar Dohaeris”). The climax of Tyrion’s guilty verdict comes when Joffrey is murdered at his own wedding ceremony in “The Lion and the Rose.” In a scene that gave many characters (and viewers!) pleasure, Joffrey convulses and chokes to death from poison, and Cersei is instantly convinced that Tyrion is responsible for her son’s demise. This is a moment for which Cersei has been waiting a long time—when he is finally caught in the act of being the monster that she and others have always believed him to be. Tyrion is not only instantly judged guilty by Cersei but by all those around him. Tyrion’s Authenticity Despite his presumption of guilt, Tyrion refuses to be defined by his label as a monster and builds his own essence, accepting that he cannot change the guilty verdict forced upon him. It would be easy for him simply to fall back into a state of bad faith—either by believing that he will always be nothing more than a dwarf and thus to embrace the guilt forced upon him, or by denying that his facticity as a dwarf affects his possibilities. But Tyrion is more authentic than any other character, accepting that his actions are always subject to intense scrutiny, while at the same time using his power of choice. One striking way that Tyrion acts as his own person is by showing sympathy for others he sees having similar experiences to his own. When Tyrion encounters Bran and builds him a saddle that will allow him to ride a horse despite his accident, Tyrion states that he has a weakness for “cripples, bastards, and broken things” (“Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things”). Tyrion’s own experience of being considered broken fostered in him a sense of empathy for marginalized others. When Tywin orders Tyrion to marry Sansa in “Kissed by Fire,” he protests that Sansa is still a child and should not have to suffer being married to a dwarf. Tyrion seems genuinely more concerned with Sansa’s happiness than his own, and knows Sansa has no control over her predicament. After the wedding, in the bedroom chamber, he tells Sansa that they will only sleep together if and when she actively wills to do so. With this act he shows virtue and compassion far beyond the other men in King’s Landing (“Second Sons”). Tyrion shows he will use the power of his choice to be a compassionate person in spite of circumstances beyond his control, promising Sansa that even in these dire straits he will act justly. Tyrion also strives to be a cautious and wise ruler in the time he serves as the King’s Hand, approaching ruling decisions with acumen and caution, even though his efforts go unappreciated. He shows skilled strategy as Hand of the King when Stannis’s army is approaching King’s Landing. Due to his size and stature, Tyrion has never been able to get what he wants through brute force, so it is natural that he comes up with a unique plan for defeating Stannis. You remember the scene—he sends a single ship leaking Wildfire out into the sea into the midst of Stannis’s ships, then sends fire arrows onto the surface of the water, causing an explosion that devastates Stannis’s fleet! When Joffrey cowardly retreats from the battle, Tyrion stays and rallies the troops, using his stature to shame the rest of the men into defending the city, “If I am half a man, what does that make all of you?” (“Blackwater”). While his ruling efforts go unappreciated, he accepts what he cannot change and defines his own essence in spite of it. The Monster You Say I Am Now, let’s return to where we began: Tyrion’s dramatic speech in the “Laws of Gods and Men.” Tyrion’s outburst is the result of frustration built over the years as he attempted to be his own person while always being met with a presumption of guilt. At his trial, witness after witness testifies against him, including his lover Shae. With frustration and rage Tyrion directly confronts his accusers. He snarls, “I saved you. I saved this city and all your worthless lives. I should have let Stannis kill you all! Yes, I am guilty. Guilty. Is that what you wanted to hear?” Asked if he admits to killing the king, he responds, “No. Of that I am innocent. I am guilty of a far more monstrous crime. The crime of being a dwarf! I have been on trial for that my entire life.” He denies killing Joffrey, but says he wishes he had. He addresses the crowd once more, growling, “I wish I was the monster that you say I am.” Tyrion expresses a desire he has never explicitly acknowledged until now. Embracing his social categorization would enable him to avoid the nausea that accompanies the acceptance that existence precedes essence, and the deep burden that comes with self-creation. A belief that being a monster is his pre-given essence would relieve him from the sickness that accompanies the responsibility to choose. We then see a different side of Tyrion, in which he finally embraces the accusation of others. After he has lost the trial by combat, his brother Jaime sets him free, and he does not slip away quietly into the night (“The Children”). He enters the King’s quarters and encounters Shae, who has slept with Tywin. In the past, Tyrion may have left the situation in order to take the moral high ground and prove that he is not a monster. But having embraced the verdict of others, he strangles Shae, takes a crossbow, and finds Tywin sitting on the toilet. When Tywin mocks him and calls Shae a whore, Tyrion shoots him. Has Tyrion finally become the monster that others have accused him of being all these years? Tyrion’s choice was made against the backdrop of a presumption of guilt that he could never fully escape, and a betrayal from both his lover and his father. Although Tyrion appears to have given in to a moment of weakness, the upside of Sartre’s existentialism is that he still has the opportunity to change himself through his choices. In Seasons Five and Six, we see Tyrion do just that. Someone to Look Up To Immediately following the murders it appears that Tyrion is willing to resign from the burden of self-determination and, in bad faith, accept a predestined future. Drunk and hopeless, he tells Lord Varys, “The future is shit, just like the past” (“The Wars to Come”). But Lord Varys insists he still has a choice: to drink himself to death, or come to Meereen to meet Daenerys Targaryen. Tyrion chooses the latter. As he continues his journey, he even does away with some of his old habits. Meeting a prostitute on the road to Meereen, he finds himself, to his own surprise, unable to sleep with her (“High Sparrow”). Realizing that aspects of his past behavior are not desirable moving forward, he resumes the burden of self-responsibility. Tyrion’s authenticity returns; he does not hide from his physical condition and the social categorization that accompanies it. When Missandei speaks of Tyrion saving her life during the battle in Meereen,“I would be dead if it were not for the . . . little man,” he corrects her: “Dwarf. I believe that’s the word” (“Mother’s Mercy”). As Tyrion grows to have faith in Daenerys, we see him flourish with a friend who finally appreciates his talents. Tyrion sees something unique in Daenerys—possibly because she does not judge him with the harsh presumption of guilt that has characterized his life. He also sees some of himself in her. Her life path has been shaped by the difficulty of being the daughter of the notorious Mad King, which she refuses to allow to control her life path. Rewarding his wise ruling decisions in stabilizing Meereen, Daenerys names Tyrion Hand of the Queen. While preparing their army to sail to Westeros, Tyrion recalls how he had long ago stopped believing in things, but he cannot help believing in Daenerys (“The Winds of Winter”). Tyrion shows a remarkable change from his previous resignation that his future was destined to be just as awful as his past. And this shows the power of Sartre’s existentialism. His philosophy is often interpreted as pessimistic because it argue that our lives are inherently meaningless and that we are responsible for who we are, leading to nausea and bad faith. But Sartre insists that his philosophy is extremely optimistic— it provides us with an opportunity to create our own meaning and identity for those willing to take on this difficult task. While maintaining awareness and unwavering acceptance of the things about himself that he cannot change, Tyrion chooses to foster the best that is in him: his unique empathy and sympathy for marginalized others, his acumen and creativity, and his adherence to his own moral code. Sartre’s message is always the same—Tyrion’s essence is his for the making: he is the dwarf who roared and the Hand of the Queen.
