Tyrion's parentage

[Aetta]

We already know his parents. He's not Jon Snow where there is doubt and mystery.

Right, my friend, and the author has pretty much said, in the nicest way possible, that his books are not that heavily laced with these types of mysteries. GRRM already debunked Gerold being Arthur Dayne's son, for instance, yet I bet you'll find a recent thread here that puts that theory out there.

[Hodor the Articulate]

I'd laugh if this was true, but Dany turns out to be a secret Stark or something.

We already know his parents. He's not Jon Snow where there is doubt and mystery.

I think there's a bit of a double standard when it comes to this theory and R+L=J. Why does everyone readily accept that Ned is not Jon's real father, but balk at the idea of Tyrion not being Tywin's? The books do not give concrete evidence that Jon isn't a Stark bastard, either (in fact, Jon constantly thinks of his father), and I think it changes Jon's dynamic with Ned and House Stark. Yet, we we accept it because of the overwhelming evidence for R+L=J.

[Rooseman]

Tyrion was named by has father, GRRM confirmed this.

- Aerys wouldn't give him such a Lannister-name

- Why would Tywin even let Aerys name him, if he didn't know he was his bastard?

- Why would Tywin raise Tyrion as his son, if he was Aerys' bastard?

Makes. No. Sense.

I'm willing to bet all my money against Tyrion not being Tywin's son. Besides, we already have three dragons with Daenerys, Jon and Aegon. One of them is a mummer's dragon, to be sure, but black or red - a dragon is still a dragon.

[Maia]

Tyrion may be a Lannister name, but when I look at the map of the remains of Valyria I see a city named Tyria. Could it be a pure coincidence? I doubt it.

Nor is there any reason to think that Jaime is a non-Lannister name. After all, in the TPaTQ it was the older Lannister brother (heir and then lord) who was called Jason, while the younger was called Tyland. The Ty-names may be specific to the Lannisters, but they don't necessarily denote the senior branch nor were they the most frequently used royal names as far as we know.

And GRRM may have thrown a bone to the fans with saying that "Ned" named Jon, but it wouldn't be inaccurate to describe Ned as Jon's "father" either, because no matter who sired Jon, he was a father to him. Ditto Tywin and Tyrion.

Re: Tyrion's hair, he doesn't have any black in his hair. It is uniformly very, very light blond, so that people often think that it is white at first, exactly like in the description of Prince Maekar in "The Hedge Knight". He does have black in his beard,though, as well as the same distinctive shade of blond as his hair is and normal Lannister yellow. Where the black could have come from is a fair question.

I have seen people's beards sometimes being significantly darker than their hair, as well as 3-colored (my dad had black hair when he was younger, but his beard, when he once grew it had black, red, and blond streaks), but not black on an otherwise blond man. Maybe description of Aerys's mother could provide a clue, though. Since, unlike iRL blonds, Targaryen looks are more dominant than not.

Oh, and another thing, from the snippets I have heard about the upcoming World book and story:

Targaryens have a consistent history of producing twisted and deformed babies. Sometimes even with unrelated partners, like in Maegor's case. Who usually didn't survive, granted. But Tyrion wasn't expected to survive either.

[wdcarla]

I hope this theory is doesn't turn into reality. It would be horrible for the story. I mean the central point of Tyrion arc was his relation with his father how they despised each other even though Tyrion was truly the one who ressembled him the most. However I don't think it's completely out of possibility that Tyrion is a Targ. Apparently Aerys may have raped Johanna and Tyrion may be immune to sickness. I mean when he fell in the river, he didn't get grayscale but the other guy (can't remember his name did). Penny is getting sick while he isn't. Anyway I hope he is a lannister and nothing else.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

Tyrion was named by has father, GRRM confirmed this.

- Aerys wouldn't give him such a Lannister-name

- Why would Tywin even let Aerys name him, if he didn't know he was his bastard?

- Why would Tywin raise Tyrion as his son, if he was Aerys' bastard?

Makes. No. Sense.

I'm willing to bet all my money against Tyrion not being Tywin's son. Besides, we already have three dragons with Daenerys, Jon and Aegon. One of them is a mummer's dragon, to be sure, but black or red - a dragon is still a dragon.

1. Aerys would give him that name if he didn't want Tywin to know. What's the best way to hide that the father isn't a Lannister than to give him a Lannister name?

2. Tywin wouldn't know Aerys had anything to do with it. Aerys gives the name to Joanna. Joanna mentions to Tywin that she wants to name the baby Tyrion if it's a boy. Tywin honors what he thought was Joanna's wish for naming the child.

3. Tywin wouldn't know for sure and would not take the chance of killing his own son.

4. GRRM did not say "Tyrion was named by his father." He said "most likely" Tyrion was named by his father, Daenerys by her mother, and Jon by Ned. The "most likely" can apply to all three, or just to Tyrion, but given that he qualified the statement with those two words, there is room for it not to be the case. GRRM is a tricksy authorses. That guy is hard to pin down.

And Tyrion being a chimera doesn't destroy anything because Tywin and Aerys would both be his father.