I’ll admit it: I relapsed. I wanted to read comedies to change up what I was reading…and I really tried. I read Tina Fey’s Bossypants, which was great. And hilarious. But then, I found myself looking up the fifth Song of Ice and Fire book, A Dance With Dragons. So obviously I had to buy it. Begrudgingly, I started reading what I knew would be a depressing, dreary, and soul-shattering tale about the demise of many of my favorite characters. I’m only about 25% of the way into the book and yes, it is very depressing. It is dreary, gloomy, and many other rejected Disney dwarf names. George R.R. Martin has a unique way of crushing the hopes and dreams of all of his readers with just a few words. But, for me, there is a saving grace in these books: Tyrion.
Tyrion Lannister has made me realize the true importance of a character that offers comic relief in an otherwise very serious story. I’m not trying to trivialize Tyrion’s place in the story or make it seem as if his own, super complicated story line isn’t pivotal to the plot; I think that Tyrion’s character is probably the most important one in all of the series, simply because he does offer a bit of relief for the reader in between Martin tearing out your soul and putting it through an obstacle course of emotions.
Throughout the series, Tyrion has always been a sympathetic, extremely intelligent, and humorous character. He is the character that you can always root for as a reader, whereas other characters throughout the series have made some questionable decisions that make you consider your loyalty to them. Even when Tyrion is killing someone, he is usually 100% justified and you support his decision. In the days of the bromance of Bronn and Tyrion, I found myself actually laughing out loud while I was reading. Of course that laughter quickly turned to horrified sobs, but at least I had laughed. There are some characters that come in and out of the books to provide some additional comic relief, but most of that burden lies on Tyrion’s slightly smaller, capable shoulders.
In any story, I think it is important for there to be a buffer between the drama and the reader. Whether that is a humorous narrator or a snarky character, without these voices most of the books that I read would throw me into dark, dismal places that I would never be able to climb out of. Tyrion in ASoIaF, Stephano and Trinculo in The Tempest, and even Stiva from Anna Karenina, Anna’s fun-loving, rambunctious brother, make these books much more tolerable and slightly less depressing. I know that George R.R. Martin has claimed that the final scene of the series should be snow drifting across a graveyard of all of hischaracters, but I really hope he can let Tyrion live. At least until the end of this book. Please???
-There’s Always Money in the Beaunana Stand