Tyrion's prowess in battle is one of the more ridiculous things in all of ASOIAF

[Tolsimir]

No. You stated Stannis could easily defeat 20 or 30 times his number on the basis they were ill fed. Not likely. The stunted dwarf holds more weight than he does.

Are you kidding me? It would be a bigger surprise if Stannis would have lost that battle. He had 1.5k of heavy armored cavalry on his side and he flanked them by total surprise. Most of the wildlings had no armor and never saw any knights. After the cavalry crashed into them most just ran. Why do you think peasant rebellions were always a failure in real life, despite peasants outnumbering the knights? Because a trained horsemen easily counts for 10 or even more peasants.

[Woman of War]

I think Martin manged to describe Tyrion's character quite well by that scene of battle frenzy.

First we are made aware of what happens to a person in a battle situation like that. Martin of course could have chosen a more conventional hero character here but this would not have done very much for us readers: I guess none of us has ever been in in a situation where his or her life was directly threatend in a fight in such a bloody manner. So telling the situation via the POV of a character who is not a trained warrior, who is weak and physically limited is the best way to make us readers, untrained and mostly not used to being chopped to pieces, relive the scene in the closest and most dramatic manner. Here we all are Tyrion the rather imcompetent fighter.

And yet the handicapped man gets into what is described as battle frenzy. We see a highly rational and intelligent character who does not love unnecessary risks get into a state of irrational fury, not caring for or even feeling his wounds. This situation is as exceptional for Tyrion as it is for us, we could never get the same feeling if it had been described by a routine sellsword like, say, Bronn. So Martin is actually exaggerating in order to be more accurate for our, the readers', sake.

And Martin had to make a point here about the character Tyrion, who again and again tries against all odds, challenging fate, not cowardly at all. He wonderfully contrasts with the cowardice of Joffrey here, a topic that is often there with these two characters.

Tyrion so often is in a situation where he cannot win and yet tries, this is a Leitmotiv for his character.

So Martin may appear inaccurate on a superficial level while being very accurate when it comes to the characterization of Tyrion.

Apart from that there are athletes with achondroplasia, paralympics etc and Tyrion had at least a minimum training at arms and horseriding.

[KingInTheCave]

I like how some people are seriously trying to give plausible explanations for this.

[Woman of War]

I think my explanation is as plausible as direwolves and dragons.

Apart from that I was arguing that the narrative purpose of the description is a hundred times more important than the actual physical likelihood. And it is the story that counts, not nitpicking about orthopedic problems.

[Tim Thomason]

Yes it was pretty bad, though Martin tried to justify it by saying Tyrion had training at the Rock. Still this was no worse than Bran or Arya. We're supposed to belief that a 7 year old boy can out climb grown guards at Winterfell. Arya's chapters in Clash read like the normal things children imagine they can do, but it's actually true in her case. Very, very unbelievable.

What? Of course a 7-year-old boy can out climb grown guards at Winterfell. Bran is smaller, nimbler, less constricted, and takes deadly risks, all of which contributes him to being better than *any* adult he'd encounter in Winterfell when it comes to dangerous climbing. Except for maybe, early AGoT Tyrion.

[Woman of War]

Honestly, i think the physical likelihood is of no importance compared to the storyline value. But go on nitpicking :)

[svareff]

I always assumed that Tyrion's prowess in Blackwater's bay was more a matter of courage, superior weapons and armor, poor opponents, KGs backing him and a good dose of unreliable narration.

[Kolantero]

The show made it worse by having Tyrion easily sneaking up and chopping a grown man's leg with a single strike.

[Steinnis]

Tyrion had some training from a master at arms at the rock, given his natural ability with an axe and Bronn's tutorship of teaching him how to 'stay low' I'm sure Tyrion would of gave Ser Arthur Dayne a run for his money back in the day. Also most people in battle have very limited vision, since they're wearing a helm, Tyrion could sneak up and hack their legs off!

[Lord Reaver]

Tyrion doing anything in battle other than dying is one of the more ridiculous things in the entire series, yes. Right up there with Arya being a stone-cold killer at age 9.

[WastingSickness]

The one time Tyrion was in something like a genuine single combat, he very nearly died and used an unorthodox approach to turn thing around (spike through horse's belly). But at every battle, he's been a part of a massed charge of cavalry, with men guarding him.

About that spike... That particular episode seemed the most far fetched of all. I would have less trouble believing Tyrion broke his neck attempting to disembowel a horse using a helmet, than swallowing that load of rubbish. Add to that the convenient way the horse eschews crushing Tyrion, who was right underneath the animal's gut, and you have the makings of a truly cringeworthy scene.

[James Sucellus]

I called bullshit when a seemingly sensible father let his kids have savage, wild, untamed direwolves as pets.

Been enjoying the nonsense ever since.

[Ser Lepus]

I called bullshit when a seemingly sensible father let his kids have savage, wild, untamed direwolves as pets.

Been enjoying the nonsense ever since.

Those were puppies, then, and by the time Ned left for KL the direwolves were still the size of big dogs, and seemed quite domesticated (the girls even brushed the fur of their wolves...try to do that to a wild beast)

[mrunderhill]

What? Of course a 7-year-old boy can out climb grown guards at Winterfell. Bran is smaller, nimbler, less constricted, and takes deadly risks, all of which contributes him to being better than *any* adult he'd encounter in Winterfell when it comes to dangerous climbing. Except for maybe, early AGoT Tyrion.

I am not even sure if reply is serious or not. Safe to say a trained guard would be much faster, stronger and fitter. He should have no problem catching Bran. Martin just gets carried away with his favourite characters like Arya and Tyrion and realism goes out of the window.

[Cruella]

Little boys aren't fit to raise big dogs, let alone wolves. Hell, small dogs even. My mini-puddle's brother bit out a piece of meat out of palm of his owner, because he was agressive and didn't get proper discipline. It was all "how cute he is when he's angry" while he was a pup. Would you give bullterrier to 5 y.o., or 7 y.o., for that matter, to raise? With big dogs you need a strong will, common sense and preferably experience. Ned obviously read the script, and even so, look at poor Luwin. Mangled by Shaggydog.

[Toxspecific]

Heavily armoured knights running through an unprepared, undisciplined army with inferior weapons and armour and stuff, not unrealistic.

Small man wearing armour that singles him out as a member of the ruling amly and hence a glaring beacon for the enemies to come and try to kill, yet doesn't die despite constant participation in the battle, a bit unrealistic.

[Big Finger]

I think Tyrion's limitation could also be somewhat of an advantage. I know medieval warriors were trained to aim their blows at the torso and head, where they could inflict the most damage without exposing themselves. Aiming for the legs left their head open. As Tyrion is about waist height, he could have killed Stannis' mean before they were capable of dealing with such a small opponent. In addition, if Stannis' mean were wearing heavy helmets their vision may have been limited, and it is possible that Tyrion would have moved almost unseen.

Nevertheless, I think the way they portrayed it in the HBO series was probably better as despite these attempted rational explanations, it still seems unlikely

[Ser Luke.]

He's got a special weapon called "plot armor", one of the only characters in the series who does.

[Toxspecific]

'In a series with dragons and magic' is the most horrid childish logic a fan could use. There's such a thing as suspension of reality. Many things of the real world exist it he series.

[Eating My Wings]

I think my explanation is as plausible as direwolves and dragons.

Apart from that I was arguing that the narrative purpose of the description is a hundred times more important than the actual physical likelihood. And it is the story that counts, not nitpicking about orthopedic problems.

Even fiction has to set some rules and follow them. Otherwise it would ruin the whole story. Imagine that Janos pushes Jon from the Wall, but he returns, flying, and smashes Slynt with laser beams coming from his eyes. I wouldn't call that tasteful writing.

Direwolves and dragons mayn't make sense in our universe, but they do in the Ice and Fire universe. Similarly, Tyrion can barely walk up stairs, so it doesn't make sense that he turns into an awesome warrior once he steps on a battlefield.