The Sympathetic Villain In Game Of Thrones

This paper will focus on the television show Game of Thrones, a fantasy drama series that centers around seven noble families fighting for the rule over a mythical land. The shows main antagonist (which I will try to complicate in my essay) is the brutal and calculating leader of one of the seven noble families. I want to read Game of Thrones as a show that, depending on the way you look at it, truly doesn’t have an explicit good or bad side. In this series, what appears to be a ruthless villain in Tywin Lannister, is, in fact, a sympathetic character if you understand his life and his motives. Viewers of the show, think of Tywin as a villain because of the evil acts he plots and executes on the other noble families in this fantasy world. However, if we can overlook the evil actions, we can see that Tywin is a very decisive and powerful character. I will point to specific evil actions that Tywin has done throughout the series, but through my close

Tess argues that a villain who is unpredictable and untrustworthy is a sympathetic villain because they keep us readers on edge. What the villain is going to do next keeps us engaged with the whole story and complicates how we look at them because we are constantly trying to figure them out. Collins argues that we are meant to read about “three dimensional villains” with complicated pasts and complicated motives in order to sympathize and really enjoy them as a character. Game of thrones is a show that directly focuses on villains. Tywin Lannister is definitely a villain that keeps us on edge. From his mental battles with his children to his ruthless and brutal orders, Tywin has never ceased to surprise us. I will work to forward Collins argument about how a “three dimensional villain” can’t be a villain at all through my close reading about Tywin’s ruthless, but well thought out and honest,