Game Of Thrones: 10 Characters We Didn't Want To Like

3. Tywin Lannister

In the overall balance of Game of Thrones, Tywin does not fall into the "good guy" category. Still, despite the audacity of not being a Stark, he's so very competent that it's hard not to root for him at least a little bit. Lacking the crippling scruples of the Starks (excluding Arya) and the fanatical rigidity of Stannis Baratheon, he has the freedom to actually be effective in his endeavors. Were it not for the stories of his children, we would originally not have had a great deal of reason to dislike him for any reason other than the fact that his surname is "Lannister." Of course, the stories of his children involve shipping Cersei off to the misery of a marriage to Robert Baratheon, bullying Jaime out of his dyslexia, and inflicting upon Tyrion a lifetime of punishment for being born a dwarf, so...that's not great. Nevertheless, his entrance at Harrenhal in "Garden of Bones" in Season 2 was downright heroic, riding in on a white horse in time to save Gendry from torture and to compliment Arya on the forethought to pose as a boy for travel. Similarly, his strut into the throne room just in time to stop Cersei from poisoning Tommen in ""Blackwater" was--for lack of any better words--totally awesome, and even if you had been pulling for Stannis to win the battle, it was difficult not to be impressed with Tywin at that moment. More intelligent than Cersei and less self-indulgent than Tyrion, Tywin is fairly successful at running the Seven Kingdoms in Joffrey's name. Granted, he is not the most sympathetic character of the bunch, but--considering that most of his cruelties stem from his need to deal with the terrible decisions of his children and grandson--we can squint our eyes and forgive him for some of his ruthlessness. What is unforgivable, however, no matter how hard we squint, is his role in the Red Wedding. Although there is never an entirely clear explanation of the depth of his involvement in the affair, he was clearly a key player in its orchestration. With his determination to swiftly wed Tyrion to Sansa Stark and his resolution to finish things once and for all with the North, Tywin obviously had a heavy--if physically absent--hand in the massacre. After all, the intricacies of the Red Wedding were not exactly in the domain of Walder Frey, and it was not exactly "The Dornishman's Wife" that signaled the attack at the Twins.