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

[Jô Maltese]

The whole point of his (lucky and clumsy if you want) prowess in battles is to show how inspiring a leader he can be, despite his repulsive appearance or fame, through his sheer courage and tenacity: "Half Man! Half Man!" This unexpected trait added to his genius in strategy, politics and government foreshadows IMHO a great destiny for Tyrion...

[Winter's Knight]

(I can't believe I'm doing this)

Stannis defeats a bunch of malnourished, unorganised wildlings by using the element of surprise and armoured troops with weapons.

[Arthur Dayne's Honor]

Hahaha, what's the Westeros equivalent of PCP?

Weirwood sap. TASTE THE GODS MAAAAAN!

[Jon Wolfwalker]

(I can't believe I'm doing this)

Stannis defeats a bunch of malnourished, unorganised wildlings by using the element of surprise and armoured troops with weapons.

And you praise this man as doing such? I am willing to bet Arya(or even Sansa) could have done the same as their leader.

[Black Mike Secret]

Hahaha, what's the Westeros equivalent of PCP?

There's got to be opium somewhere in essos

[Mark Antony]

It's gonna be worse if he ends up riding Dragons uhh

[Winter's Knight]

And you praise this man as doing such? I am willing to bet Arya(or even Sansa) could have done the same as their leader.

You pointed out that it was as unrealstic as Tyrion channelling the Warrior on the battlefield and I am pointing out that it isn't.

[Arthur Dayne's Honor]

It's gonna be worse if he ends up riding Dragons uhh

Ni worse than that is he ends up riding Tormunds member :smileysex:

[Jon Wolfwalker]

You pointed out that it was as unrealstic as Tyrion channelling the Warrior on the battlefield and I am pointing out that it isn't.

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.

[Ser Lepus]

Agreed--the show cut the bit with the tumbling and seemed to point out a few times that he had no business being anywhere near an actual battle--although he still managed to pull off some improbable feats (mostly not getting killed immediately). TV Tyrion (4'5") is a good deal taller than Book Tyrion (4' max, probably less), though, and TV Tyrion can walk without waddling. Actually, it seems kind of ridiculous that Book Tyrion pulls off his feats in battle/tumbling while being even more limited than TV Tyrion.

The main problem is, both TV Tyrion and both Tyrion suffer from achondroplasia, hypochondroplasia or a similar kind of dwarfism, which provokes very short extremities, even in proportion to the body. If Tyrion suffered from another disease that just made him very short without provoking such disproportion (like extreme idiopathic short stature, for example), his fighting feats would be more beliveable.

In the heat of battle who knows what you can do. The adrenaline starts pumping, flight or fight, life and death, and suddenly a superman is born.

The guys in front of him produced adrenaline too, and they were in a life or death situation too. Tyrion hadn't any advantage.

[The Honeyed Locust]

I actually reacted more to the silly somersault in GoT than to his prowess in battle. Verbal jokes rather than physical folly is his thing.

Regarding the battle, I agree his success is unlikely, but the chaos and randomness of battle circumstance actually scrambles the odds a lot more than for example in a tournament. In battle, it's probably relatively common that a less skilled soldier happens to get a well timed flow of kills while a skilled knight gets unlucky with a quarrel through his throat. The real myth that we're constantly fed with by fiction might be the ever surviving hero that kills thousands and evades every attack (ref: any modern action hero or e.g. LOTR Legolas, Gimli etc)...

[Jon Wolfwalker]

The guys in front of him produced adrenaline too, and they were in a life or death situation too. Tyrion hadn't any advantage.

I can prove that as wrong. As the bile in my throat knows its for speaking it. Do not wrong or shudder a person because you cannot imagine it.

[BaseBornBastard]

There's got to be opium somewhere in essos

Milk of the poppy...

[joe42m1]

I don't think Tyrion's experiences in battle are that hard to believe. In AGOT on the way to the Vale, after the first run in with the mountain clans "His legs were cramping so badly he could scarcely stand. Odd, he had never once noticed the pain during the battle" so there is an explanation for his increased physical ability. Also, IIRC he mentions learning to tumble as a youth. I'd bet that it was easier when he was younger, but that doesn't mean he's incapable of being able to move when he has to.

Its also mentioned that a few times he hacked at someone before they realized he was there, likely due to his stature. On the battlefield, its probably better to look out for the big guy who's heavily armed and armored coming at you rather than looking down around your waist.

Also, not everyone is a knight or can afford quality armor so lighter infantry are much easier to kill.

I'm not trying to argue that he's a great warrior, but he seems to come off rather lucky a lot. In this universe, its probably better to be lucky than to be skilled.

[SolFreer]

I can prove that as wrong. As the bile in my throat knows its for speaking it. Do not wrong or shudder a person because you cannot imagine it.

o_O??

Personally, I never minded much. The frontlines of BotB were probably untrained farmers sons with no armour, I pictured Tyrion axing their legs and then their heads/necks. A proper one-on-one fight with a sellsword or knight would have seen Tyrion dead, of course, but in my scenario I can see him killing several.

[Rahgh Neqaj]

I agree that it's not that likely for him to be a great warrior cutting down scores of men but I can well imagine that a lot of the fighters in big battles just overlooked¹ him. His height might actually give him good opportunities to hack away at the legs of men whic, for ordinary foot soldiers, may not be as well protected as the upper body. (No chain mail trousers.) Yet an axe chopping through your leg is a pretty nasty thing. Don't think he's got to do a lot of running either as there's people needing to be cut down in front of him. And just because his walking style looks clumsy (waddling) doesn't mean that he's actually clumsy, it just means he's not good at running. (There's enough dwarf acrobats in the real world to demonstrate non-clumsyness of waddling dwarfs.) Finally, being of short stature gives your opponents less surface to attack.

¹) Of course you wouldn't overlook a dwarf in a one-on-one but when there's normal sized guys screaming and battling all around it's far more likely.

[Sorrow]

Tyrion is such a great warrior because he wears the famous and rare plot armour, given to the author's favourites only. Surely no ordinary warriors or knights in Westeros can shatter it.

[Pero the first of His name]

When on foot he stays low.

Then hits someone hard.

As i was reading i did not see so many attempts on him.

He probably did have some training and he had guards on the field next to him. Maybe in the heat of the battle he did not notice that men he hacked were already hit by better warriors around him, it is POV...

The adrenaline surely does not make you a superhero but takes care of cramps for the battle.

He is not a great warrior, just mounted, well guarded, well armoured and armed, overlooked, underestimated, thinking fast, in the zone and yes, lucky.

This makes up for him not being even near a good warrior.

[Ran]

I've always thought Tyrion's skill is overstated. First, yes, it's clear that he did train with weapons to some degree, and even has a suit of fine plate armor at home. Second, yes, he seems to not just be strong, but stronger than you'd imagine for someone his size. But third, yeah, he's a dwarf, he's short, it provides limitations.

In the Vale, he fought against wild hill tribesmen, and nothing says all of these guys were particularly skilled -- and at least in some cases, he comes up behind people and takes them down.

At the Green Fork, he's on horseback and armored, and he's got Bronn watching his back through most of it. Cutting down spearmen and the like -- levies with minimal training -- isn't a huge challenge in this situation... but the time he meets a real northron lance, with Bronn not there to protect him, he's very nearly killed.

And then the Blackwater, of course. Where he has _two_ knights of the Kingsguard watching his back (two of the more skilled ones, at that) through much of it. And he also enters a sort of berserker state, which he'd never done before, and we can give some license to the idea that a warrior in "the zone" might perform greater than normal feats. And yet those feats are largely... taking down spearmen and the like again.

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.

[Woman of War]

Dp, sorry