Dwarf
A dwarf is a person who has dwarfism. Tyrion Lannister, one of A Song of Ice and Fire’s major characters, is a dwarf. In Westeros a dwarf is also sometimes referred to as an imp. Some dwarfs refer to people of normal stature as the “big folk” or "big people".
Some cultures, both in Westeros and Essos, would not suffer a dwarf to live, such as the Dothraki, the free folk and, in the past, the people of the Three Sisters. For example, when there were kings on the Sisters its people cast all dwarfs into the sea, as an offering to the gods. The septons made them stop that.
Dwarfs are sometimes featured in grotesqueries. Every mummer’s troupe has to have a dwarf.
Known Dwarfs
- Tyrion Lannister
- Penny
- the ghost of High Heart
- Hop-Bean
- Mushroom
- Brynden Rivers' dwarf agents
- Bobono
- Oppo
- the pious dwarf
- small dwarfs of the House of the Undying, inlcuding a servitor
- a dwarf jester in service at Skyreach
- a dwarf maester in service on the Fingers
- a female dwarf amongst the silent sisters
- a dwarf whore in King's Landing
Quotes
When there were kings on the Sisters, we did not suffer dwarfs to live. We cast them all into the sea, as an offering to the gods. The septons made us stop that. A pack of pious fools. Why would the gods give a man such a shape but to mark him as a monster?
- Lord Godric Borrell, to Davos Seaworth
You are insolent. I like that in a dwarf.[1]
- Illyrio Mopatis to Tyrion Lannister
– Tywin Lannister to a young Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion Lannister had scant experience with other dwarfs.[3]
- thoughts of Tyrion Lannister
You mustn’t mock him. Don’t you know anything? You can’t talk that way to a big person. They can hurt you. Ser Jorah could have tossed you in the sea. The sailors would have laughed to see you drown. You have to be careful around big people. Be jolly and playful with them, keep them smiling, make them laugh, that’s what my father always said. Didn’t your father ever tell you how to act with big people?[4]
- Penny’s advice to Tyrion Lannister aboard the Selaesori Qhoran
You're brave. Little people can be brave.[5]
- Penny to Tyrion Lannister
References and Notes
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 1, Tyrion I.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 14, Tyrion IV.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 33, Tyrion VIII.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 40, Tyrion IX.
- ↑ The Winds of Winter, Chapter , Tyrion.