I think everyone that is saying that Tywin appointed Tyrion to be The Hand did so because he favored Tyrion and knew he was smart are misremembering season 1. When Tyrion first comes to Tywin with Shagga and the mountain clans and Tywin thinks that Robb Stark is about to attack them with 20,000 men he willingly sends Tyrion to his death as a diversion/sacrifice to lure Robb and his men close to the river.

Tyrion undrestands that his father is just using him as a pawn but still willingly does his duty. However, Robb only sent 2k men and took the rest to take Jaime's army surprise and captured him. Finally, after Tywin realizes that Jaime has now been captured and will almost surely die after what Joffrey did to Ned he reaches out to Tyrion and sends him to Kings Landing to be The Hand. He isn't doing this because he loves Tyrion or because he thinks that he is the most qualified, he is doing it because he accepts that Jaime is dead and Tyrion, despite being a dwarf, is the only son he has left.

Tywin is a very proud man and is very concerned with his legacy. You learn all this through his conversations with Arya. He likely sent Tyrion to Kings Landing so that he can assure that the Lannister name lives on and strong and continues to rule and influence should Tywin die in battle. Tywin sees Renly, Robb, and Stannis growing stronger, with all of them hating his army the most, and is struggling with his own mortality.

Once Tywin decides to go back to Kings Landing himself, Renly is dead, Stannis' army is defeated and he now has one of the two most powerful alley's with the Tyrell's. He thinks that his place and the war are now firmly secured and he casts Tyrion aside again.

Also, Sweetness, read the damn books. I love this show, can't get enough of it, probably will end up in my top 3 or 5 favorite shows ever, but it pales in comparison to the books. I can't emphasis enough just how good the books are. For those who are planning on reading them, do so before S3 starts. Book 3 is the best book ever written in the fantasy genre and you don't want to have it largely spoiled by the show.

Nick, I know people hate to hear this in this thread but that's why the books are so fucking good.

 

Originally Posted by Z-Fresh

Nick, I know people hate to hear this in this thread but that's why the books are so fucking good.

I guess thats the advantage of the books, you probably get 2-300 pages on each of the story lines in each novel as opposed to like ~90 minutes of TV.

ha ha that was pretty good.

wanta, cheers for that. Absolutely fantastic...

that video was amazing, hahaha

 

Originally Posted by hoodskier

I just finished reading the first two books of the series (took about a week each). They were really enjoyable and it was interesting seeing the differences the book readers talked about. The show follows the first book almost exactly while the second deviates a lot more than I expected after reading the first. Just started the third book and really looking forward to it.

The third book is amazing, and probably one of the best books I've ever read in any genre. Really looking forward to the next couple of seasons of GoT on HBO. Should be very interesting to see how they adapt Book 3 to TV...which will cover two seasons of the show if I'm not mistaken.

In any case, enjoy. I did it like you...watched the first two seasons, then started reading.

Yeah, I just started rewatching two nights ago. I was amazed at a few things, really. One, the almost gratuitous amount of foreshadowing that I missed before. Two, the amount of action in the first couple of episodes. Finally, just how awesome of a show this is. I know the Breaking Bad vs. Game of Thrones pissing contest has been ongoing in the BB thread, and being a viewer of both shows, I can see why people say BB is better at this point, but I doubt it'll even be an argument after seasons 3 and 4.

 

Originally Posted by trouble

I was amazed at a few things, really. One, the almost gratuitous amount of foreshadowing that I missed before. .

and this...

i agree that book 3 was one of the best fantasy books ever. i couldnt put the thing down. pretty excited to see how they portray book 3 in season 3, should be amazing. i didnt start reading the books til bout mid way through season 2 (slowly so that i wouldnt catch up to the show) so itll be interesting to watch the show after reading the books rather than the other way around.

I could swear we started a book thread...

 

Originally Posted by TheWacoKidd

I could swear we started a book thread...

Haha sorry wasn't trying to clutter this up with book discussion just wanted to make a comment. Also FWIW I opened the book thread and instantly saw a huge spoiler from upcoming books so I'm not going to open it ever again.

i'm pretty close to breaking down and buying them... i am trying to avoid any spoiling of the show because i've literally never been even close to this into a television show before, but i'm kinda fiending for some GoT. i actually went to Target to buy first book, but they only had paper back. i'm so excited about this shit that i refused to buy paperback, hard copy minimum, but do people even read printed books anymore? i browse a ton on my iphone, should i just read it through there or the ipad or is another device like a kindle the way to go?

 

Originally Posted by elusively

i'm pretty close to breaking down and buying them...

ffs. there isn't one, legitimate, reason not to read the books now. if you are that into the show you're going to be completely enveloped by the world and histories that GRRM creates that show doesn't touch on. Every aspect of the characters, westeros, and the histories is developed so much deeper.

Just finished book 4 earlier this week. It was pretty meh because of how great 3 was but the end of 4 rapes hard with no lube.