The Rains Of Castamere: The Disguised Selfishness Of Tywin Lannister

"'And who are you,' the proud lord said, 'that I must bow so low? / Only a cat of a different coat, that's all the truth I know / In a coat of gold or a coat of red, a lion still has claws / Mine are long and sharp like yours, as long and sharp as yours' / And so he spoke, and so he spoke, that lord of Castamere / And now the rains weep o'er his hall, and not a soul to hear . . ."
--The Rains of Castamere, Game of Thrones


Family is far from an inherently positive thing.  Some families and cultures would rather look the other way and hold families to a different standard than they do individuals, treating the former as if they deserve unconditional, automatic loyalty and individuals as if they must earn respect.  Since families are comprised of people, entire families do not deserve affection or personal loyalty by default any more than individuals!  This is not the case according to the flawed worldview of Tywin Lannister as he expresses it, as he claims that by virtue of outlasting the individual, family becomes a thing of utmost importance that transcends the individual in its value.  This, of course, is asinine nonsense: that one thing lasts longer than another does not establish that it has the cosmic significance Tywin attributes to family.  Family can perish just like individuals, which negates at least part of his basis for regarding it so highly, but lasting longer than an individual life

In the name of family, Tywin Lannister ordered or overlooked atrocities performed by his own soldiers, including murder and rape.  One of the most renowned of his atrocities in Westeros, even if it is not the worst, is the annihilation of House Reyne, an event thrust into public consciousness by the song The Rains of Castamere.  His arrogance based on the Lannister name and his fixation on preserving family influence underpinned his slaughter of the remnants of a house that had already surrendered.  When House Reyne refused to submit to Lannister rule, Tywin acted to inspire fear of his family line by destroying the remnants of a house that had already surrendered.

Tywin has only disguised his own arrogance and selfishness by putting a transparent cloak of family allegiance around them, all while deluding himself into acting like he is not the type of prideful figure the song of his victory over the Reynes characterises the lord of Castamere as.  Praising little other than the supposed lasting nature of family, he provides no genuine evidence that he is concerned with reason, truth, and morality for their own sakes.  If he consistently cared at all about such things, he would not let the savage Ser Gregor, also called "the Mountain," use mass rape and murder as weapons of terror, nor would he authorize the torture of captives or his own soldiers (as happened at Harenhall in season two of the HBO series).

The Lannister family is riddled with self-delusion, but Tywin does more to outwardly defend that delusion and make it appear as if it was royalty.  In doing so, his character provides an excellent example of the folly of prioritizing family over anything else by default.  Family can be a haven from the lunacy of others or a chief contributor to the stupidity or injustices a person will encounter.  Allegiance to family based on the biological link will never allow a person to fully understand which their family is, and it keeps people bound to an ideological prison that can be easily escaped with awareness and effort.  Whatever siblings and parents one may have, like all other people, stand or fall on their own merits rather than their blood relationships.