my mind has been developing this delusion world in which tywin lannister was the mad king’s sugar baby. aerys was “vain, proud, and changeable, traits that made him easy prey for flatterers and lickspittles” (awoiaf p.190). upon becoming king, he fired his father’s older and wiser hand and named tywin in his place, making tywin the youngest hand in the entire history of the seven kingdoms, but how did we get there?
there were childhood friends. tywin served as a page in court and we know from genna that tywin mistrusted laughter due to hearing too many people laughing at his father. at this point in time, the lannisters were a laughingstock or at least tywin wholeheartedly believed this, so the subsequent friendship he makes with the crown prince thrusts him upwards in status and into higher scrutiny. tywin is the elder, but aerys is the prince. they spend years together with the established dynamic of aerys being the one with power and tywin (albeit his friend) his servant. it is only when tywin dares to step outside this master/servant dynamic aerys has cooked up, that they begin to fall apart.
they go to war together. aerys chooses tywin, a newly made knight, to knight him. this was the war of the ninepenny kings, he could have chosen gerold hightower. he could have chosen roger reyne, or any number of distinguished knights and commanders, but no he chose tywin who had likely just been knighted himself. for added context, during this war tywin’s father stayed at home with his mistress rather than taking to the battlefield. nearly a year later, aerys is crowned and tywin is named hand of the king. as hand of the king, tywin is allowed any expense, any decision, literally allowed to do anything he wants at aerys’ leave (up until their toxic breakup era).
something that always fascinated me within this was why after gaining power of his own merit and name does he make his father’s mistress do a walk of atonement? at first, i believed this to be a way to embarrass his father further from the grave and cement his notoriety. however, right after he forces the walk of atonement, aerys and tywin rule the kingdom from casterly rock for a year (awoiaf p.194). if we believe that tywin has a subconscious or conscious shame in regards to using aerys’ fondness for him (whether you want to see it romantically or not) for seize of power and political gain, the walk of atonement is so interesting as it is a public self-flagellation of a transactional relationship that he himself mirrors. it is after this very act that aerys holds court (and tywin) at casterly rock, the scene of the crime in a sense. here tywin is, like his fathers mistresses in the same very home, flattering and bootlicking the same man for money, influence, and power. it is only after this year in casterly rock where tywin is forced to reconcile with these similarities that their relationship dissolves.
in conclusion, tywin was playing sugar baby to aerys and their relationship soured when tywin decided he wished for power that was truly his own rather than through aerys.
