The Holy Connection An Alternative Exploration of Existence
Life puts you down in more than one ways, while indeed, it’s not the life that is putting you down, it’s the people around you and how you react to the comments that they pass on to you. If we talk about life, on the other hand, life gives you opportunities to overcome all perceptions and judgments that people put upon you and gives you chances to frame your statement. Now we all have that difficult phase wherein people take advantage of our disability to establish a situation where the person receiving this comment is hammered down on a psychological level. Have you ever been crippled to such an extent that the statement or perception of a person towards actually affects your whole life? Have you ever felt a disability been thrust upon you in such a way that it becomes a reality for you, even though it may not be so? Have you experienced what it feels like to be a product of shame?
All this is true in some cases, but there is this one TV series where amidst hordes of negative characters, bloodshed, and gore, there is one character who stands out in his ability to sprinkle an intense show with all the necessary wit and humor that is required to balance it out.
This is a character who stands out and flaunts all the disability that he has and makes magical use of everything that world uses against him as a sword while he uses it to shield his point of view in an “eat and let eat” the world. This dude right here is Tyrion Lannister, a true dwarf-sized inspiration for many. He is the sole reason most of us watch Game of Thrones in the first place. Tyrion, the dwarf bastard son of the Lannister King, Tywin Lannister is often looked upon as something shameful or as a black spot in the House of Lannister, but does that pin him down? Absolutely no! Tyrion’s weakness may be many in number, like his dwarfish height, him being a bastard child, his weird fetishes and many more, but his strength is his wit and his very precise selection of words that cut deeply into an opponent’s self-esteem.
The “wow” moments of Game of Thrones are for many reasons like the production value, the graphic usage, the script but most of the “wow” moments are because of what Tyrion shot out in an instance where it was least expected. His selection of words when threatens his sister Cersei Lannister goes something like this “I will hurt you for this. A day will come when your joy will turn into ashes, and you will know the debt has been paid” made everybody’s jaw drop. The boldness of his speech, the look in his eye, the desperation for vengeance, made the sequence an enticing one to remember.
Similarly, at Joffrey’s wedding, when Joffrey humiliated Tyrion by calling him a ‘monster’ in the presence of a vast audience, Tyrion wasn’t ashamed or upset. He instead had a strong, beautiful comeback “Oh, monster! Perhaps you should speak to me more softly then. Monsters are dangerous and, just now, kings are dying like flies.” A king of that status would never expect such a reply, not from a bastard at least and no other being would be that gutsy enough to say it out that straight to King, but then again, we are talking about Tyrion here. There was also this conversation between Cersei and Tyrion as to how Cersei never thought that Joffrey would be such a rebel, such a rogue king; a statement for which I doubt if there would be any better reply than this, “It is hard to put a leash on a dog, once you’ve put a crown over his head.”
Tyrion has a great sense of understanding about the art of conversation. He knows what is essential when it comes to rule people and what is essential to guide people, so in his words; “You might find it difficult to rule over millions who want you dead.” He knows whom to spare and whom to serve to the god of death, his selection goes on his belief that “when you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say”
He is very much aware of what the world can say to him to put him down, but that doesn’t affect him in any way, so he gives excellent advice. From one bastard to another, “Let me give some advice bastard. 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”.
Now Tyrion believes in gods too, but he is in search of gods who have some genuine motives and is hence, in a quest for the “Gods of tits and Gods of wine.” These are the gods we all want to worship; well some of us at least. Tyrion is a motivator too; he fills up his fellow men with a rage and an inspiration to fight by saying, “Don’t fight for a king. Don’t fight for his kingdoms. Don’t fight for honor, don’t fight for glory, don’t fight for riches because you won’t get any. This is your city that Stannis means to sack; that’s your gate he’s ramming. If he gets in, it will be your house he burns, your gold he steals, your women he rapes. Those are brave men standing at our door. Let’s kill them” if this doesn’t boil a soldier’s blood, nothing will.
Tyrion is the guy who makes you hang on tight for the next season of GoT to be out. No doubt there are dragons and the seven kingdoms, the assassins, the incestuous affairs, the murder, the blood but amongst all this, there’s Tyrion and that’s the power, a diamond in a brimstone world.
There are many such instances where Tyrion has shined through the darkest corners. He has inspired me and many others like me to accept the lacking in us and use it as a shield to frame our version of reality, to live the way we want to live. He inspires us to live life the way it is meant to be lived and not just be a nail that will be hammered into your coffin. If the world doesn’t agree with your terms, you can always say, “I just want to stand on top of the Wall and piss off the edge of the world.”
