For many viewers of Game of Thrones, the Lannisters are essentially the bad guys. They are the cunning and conniving politicians who stand in huge contrast with the noble and honorable Starks. There is an exception, though: fan-favorite character Tyrion Lannister. He is often an unexpected ally for sympathetic characters, and this ranges from giving words of wisdom to a young Jon Snow to trying to protect Sansa Stark from being devoured by life in King's Landing. Throw in all of his meme-worthy quips, and it's easy to see why Tyrion is so beloved.

However, if you scratch the surface, it's easy to see that Tyrion is more like his family than you think. He is not above torturing his enemies, raping helpless women, and dooming the entire Seven Kingdoms to satisfy his sense of vengeance. Watching the show over a period of several years essentially amounts to watching the rise and fall of Tyrion Lannister, as he goes from being a wise but misunderstood "imp" to one of the most dangerous men in the entire world.

In this sense, he is actually much worse and much more dangerous than his siblings, Jaime and Cersei. Jamie has been given a redemptive arc and Cersei has been punished by her own actions, but Tyrion has repeatedly escaped consequences and continued to wreak havoc on the world around him.

Still don't believe us? Here are 15 Reasons Why Tyrion Is Actually The Worst Lannister!

15. Doesn't realize he is being set up

When it comes to Lannisters, Tyrion is supposed to be the smart one. He's well-read, knows how people think, and generally manages to land on his feet in almost any situation. However, he somehow doesn't realize that he is being set up in the first season, despite some obvious clues.

First off, he makes the bold choice to heavily hint to Jaimie and Cersei that he knows that they tried to murder Bran. Considering Cersei's long history of both abusing Tyrion and exacting bloody revenge, he should have been extra wary from this point on. Despite this, he is set up perfectly by Petyr Baelish and captured by Catlyn Stark.

Speaking of Baelish, he never follows up on the man setting him up, despite knowing Petyr lied about who owned the dagger and Petyr even showing him the dagger later. For being one of the smartest men in Westeros, Tyrion not only let his guard down severely, but let the man who nearly got him killed go without any punishment whatsoever. This Lannister, it seems, is fine with not paying some of his debts.

14. Makes too many enemies

Eventually, Tyrion lands in the most improbable position of becoming Hand of the King. Theoretically, this is going to be his time to shine, as he finally has the raw political power and influence to go along with his famous family name. It's fun for audiences to watch him kick ass and take names as he bosses around the Small Council and tries to put out the various fires burning in King's Landing.

However, Tyrion ends up making way too many enemies in way too short a time. The Small Council doesn't trust him, and he has more hatred from Cersei than ever before after he marries Myrcella off to Dorne. This ends up explaining why his father is able to so thoroughly sweep the rug out from under him when he takes the Hand of the King title away from Tyrion.

If he had played the game of thrones a bit smoother, Tyrion may have had more allies to him. Instead, most of the people around him were happy to see him taken down a peg.

13. His rape of a Volantene slave girl

One of the things about the Game of Thrones TV show that irks fans of the books is the tendency to whitewash Tyrion. That is, while some of his fouler deeds still make it to the screen, there are some real atrocities from the books that are omitted entirely. And such scene comes from the time that Tyrion, on the run from King's Landing, repeatedly rapes a slave girl.

It occurred when he was visiting a brothel. He is given a young woman known only as the “sunset girl,” and her back is covered from the scars of previous whippings. George R.R. Martin's text provides some pretty icky details here, with Tyrion mentally noting that “she did not prove the liveliest of partners” and that she had eyes that “looked dead.” Knowing she's punished for disobeying her masters, Tyrion grimly thinks he has just had sex with a dead woman. He's filled with shame and thinks “this was a mistake”... which doesn't keep him from raping her again, after which she runs away.

The point of the scene was illustrating how far Tyrion had fallen, but it's tough to reconcile this rapist with the charming acting of Peter Dinklage on screen.

12. He rapes Tysha on his father's command

Another bit of Tyrion whitewashing revolves around the character of Tysha. She is the young woman that Tyrion believes he saves from her assailants, and they eventually marry. Jaimie tells him she was a he hired so that Tyrion could have sex for the first time. When Tyrion's father finds out what happened, he has fifty of his men rape Tysha over and over, paying her for each one.

However, a nasty detail from the books that the series leaves out is that Tyrion participated in this gang rape of his wife. He notes in the book that his penis “betrayed” him, which seems to indicate that he knows how wrong this is.

Nonetheless, he participates and rapes the woman he loves, which is part of why he feels so devastated when he eventually finds out that she was not actually a prostitute and that this was merely a lie encouraged by Tywin.

11. He throws himself into battle

Of course, Tywin Lannister may not have been able to take Tyrion's power and prestige away so easily if Tyrion had not been injured in battle. Tyrion gets injured helping to defend King's Landing during the Battle of Blackwater, and Tywin assumes power while Tyrion recovers. What is oddest about this injury, though, is that it never should have happened in the first place.

Tyrion felt that the men of King's Landing needed more leadership than Joffrey was providing, which is certainly fair enough. However, Tyrion had the option of remaining safely on the ramparts and directing the battle. He still would have been a visible leader inspiring his troops, and his keen mind would have been better directing troops than wading into the fray.

If the so-called smartest Lannister had simply done the smart thing, he would have been able to keep his father from tearing down everything that he had worked so hard to build.

10. Openly insulting Joffrey

The first time that Tyrion became the stuff of meme legends was when he slapped Joffrey. As the boy who would be king became both whinier and more sadistic, audiences always enjoyed seeing Tyrion use a combination of sarcasm and slaps to bring Joffrey down to size. However, this ends up as a huge example of Tyrion's big brain not really thinking about the long game.

Joffrey is able to use his eventual position as king to torment Tyrion in every way, from pouring drinks on him to forcing his marriage to Sansa Stark. While some of this could be attributed to Joffrey's natural cruelty, it seems clear that most of it was motivated by Joffrey's need to get revenge against his uncle... the same uncle who slapped and berated him in public, humiliating Joffrey in front of those he was destined to rule. If Tyrion could have been a bit more diplomatic with his nephew, it would have spared him a world of pain.

9. He relationship with Shae

Shae always represented a danger to Tyrion that he was just too lovestruck to see. It was one thing to enjoy sex and fellowship with her when he expected to die the next day in combat. However, Tyrion bringing her to King's Landing was one of the worst decisions he ever made. It made him vulnerable in entirely new ways and may have actually sealed his fate in court.

First of all, Shae's mere presence in King's Landing put a lot of people in danger. Tywin is already aware of their prior relationship, so every moment in King's Landing puts her life in danger. Her presence also makes some of his later actions even more problematic, such as his forced marriage to Sansa Stark. And when she gets fed up enough about Tyrion, she ends up testifying against him in court and framing him for the murder of Joffrey.

The blame for some of Tyrion's darkest days can be laid directly on his inability to leave Shae far behind him.

8. His trial outburst

Speaking of that trial, there was no time in Tyrion's life that he needed more to keep his wits about him and play it cool. Things were looking pretty bleak for him due to the public's general antipathy towards him after Shae's explosive false testimony. Interestingly, though, he had an unexpected way out if he pleaded guilty.

Specifically, Tyrion was offered the same deal that was once offered to Ned Stark. All he had to do was it to this crime he did not commit and he could go spend the rest of his days living comfortably (albeit coldly) at The Wall. And he seemed fine with this arrangement, but he eventually lost it in court. He itted to everything people were accusing him of and then some, ensuring that his reputation in Westeros was forever destroyed.

7. Risking his life Betting against The Mountain

Tyrion compounds the stupidity of his courtroom outburst when he requests trial by combat. To his credit, this stunt had worked for him once before after he was captured by Catelyn Stark. However, Tyrion had a number of clues that his champion, Oberyn Martell, would not have been able to win the battle against Gregor Clegane, better known as The Mountain.

Martell is a very skilled fighter, and he is renowned for his fighting prowess across the entire world. At the same time, this was bound to be the most emotional fight of his life, as his family has long wanted vengeance against Clegane for raping his sister, Elia, and killing her and her children. It is very likely that Martell could have won if his head and heart were not dominated by the need for revenge, and he manages to die gruesomely in combat, sealing Tyrion's fate.

Once more, Tyrion should have simply taken the sweetheart deal to plead guilty, or tried to find a champion less likely to get himself killed.

6. Killing His Father

When Tyrion kills his father, Tywin, it is a dramatic moment for viewers and also a cathartic moment for Tyrion.  After all, Tywin is one of the worst parents on the show. Arguably, however, it is the worst possible thing that Tyrion could have done to the people of the Seven Kingdoms. Tyrion ultimately chooses himself over the kingdom, which is despicable in its own right, but it also goes against his professed beliefs.

Tyrion talks a really good game about wanting to help restore peace and stability to the increasingly-chaotic kingdom. He expresses similar thoughts to Daenerys later on, which is one of the reasons he is put in a position of prominence in her kingdom.

However, despite what a terrible person he could be, Tywin Lannister was the embodiment of a stable kingdom: he was wise, battle-hardened, and he knew how to keep the king in line. By killing Tywin, Tyrion effectively put Cersei in charge of the Seven Kingdoms. Considering that he knew how terrible she was more than anyone, Tyrion must have known he was dooming countless lives in a single moment. Not that this stopped him, of course.