Lyonel Baratheon and Tyrion Lannister: How Westeros Repeats the Same Character

Lyonel Baratheon & Tyrion Lannister tienen muchos rasgos, corazón y humor en común demostrando que en Westeros se repite mucho sus más carismáticos personajes.

Published: January 27, 2026, 9:18 am

Ser Lyonel Baratheon (The Laughing Storm) and Tyrion Lannister (The Imp). Though separated by a hundred years and described as having wildly different physical builds, one a seven-foot giant, the other a dwarfed outcast—the Collider claims they amount to the same story character. 

Both men have “performance” as a defense: Lyonel cackles maniacally in battle to rattle his foes, and Tyrion wittily mocks himself in advance. They’re defined by their “soft spot for cripples, bastards, and broken things,” and they serve as mentors to the series’ underdogs (Dunk and Jon Snow). In the end, it shows how both were molded by absent parents to rebel against the status quo — not because they wanted power, but respect. 

Why Every Great Story Needs a Friendly Outlier

Westeros is generally quite a crap place to have a conversation. So there are the Starks, all gloomily honourable, the Lannisters, all ruthlessly cold, and the Targaryens, well, you know. But once in a while, George R.R. Martin does hand us someone who opts to look at the world and thinks if it’s going to be a dumpster fire I might as well bring the marshmallows.

Among the Dunk and Egg tales, it is Lyonel Baratheon. In Gal of Thrones, that would be Tyrion Lannister. They seem, on the face of it, to be nothing alike. Lyonel is a hulking, golden-armored giant who could probably bench a horse, Tyrion is a man whose greatest weapon is a library card. But once you strip away the layers, they’re basically the same coin. 

1.The Mask of the Party Animal

WinterIsComing discuss their ”vices.” Lyonel and Tyrion are introduced as men who enjoy a good drink, a loud party, and not taking the “seriousness” of high-born life too seriously. But this is nothing new for happy hour fans. It’s psychological warfare.

Lyonel—for laughs because he literally laughs in the faces of those trying to kill him, making him The Laughing Storm. Imagine jousting a guy, hitting him with a wooden pole at 30 miles per hour, and he just starts giggling. It is frightening. It projects invulnerability.

Tyrion does the exact same thing with his tongue. The man’s an outcast, and so he masquerades as the “capering fool,” raffling away the power to mock him. If you’ve already dubbed yourself a “drunken little imp,” what’s an insult from Cersei going to do? For both men: comedy is the armor they put on so the world can’t get under their skin. 

2.Mentors of the “Broken Things”

The best part about these two isn’t just the jokes—it’s their hearts. In a world where lords are expected to treat commoners like literal dirt, Lyonel and Tyrion emerge as “modernist nobles.” They don’t give a damn about your family tree, they want to know who you are. 

  • Lyonel and Dunk: Where others looked at Ser Duncan the Tall and saw a “gutter knight” with no family name, Lyonel saw an honest core and bravery in the man. He didn’t only get Dunk a drink, he put his life on the line in a Trial of Seven for him.
  • Tyrion and Jon Snow: How about when Tyrion told Jon “Wear your bastardy like armor”? That’s the Lyonel Baratheon spirit. He sees another outsider and, rather than punching down, he helps them up. 

Both are positioned as a “fulcrum of balance” in the narrative. They serve as a reminder that even in a savage system of feudalism, there are those who value justice and human connection more than they do ancestral legitimacy. 

3.The Rage Hidden Behind the Fun

Don’t be deceived by the laughter. These guys get offended, they burn the house down.

Lyonel had been a staunch loyalist to the Crown until the Prince reneged on a marriage pact with his daughter. To Lyonel, that was no mere scheduling conflict – it was a snub to the honor of House Baratheon. He immediately proclaimed himself “Storm King” and raised the sword. 

Sound familiar? Throughout his life, Tyrion had tried to be a “loyal” Lannister, but a life of being viewed as a curse by his father eventually forced him to pick up a crossbow and flee to a ship heading to Daenerys Targaryen. Both men take up arms against the crown not because they desire it, but because they are sick and tired of being overlooked and underappreciated. 

4.The Proto-Robert

For the Baratheon devotees, Lyonel is the “Golden Age” Robert Baratheon. He’s what Robert would have been if he’d never been made to sit upon that uncomfortable iron throne. He’s blunt, he’s loud, and he’s “confused when he is not at war.”

But Lyonel had a covering of empathy that Robert ultimately lost. By wedding a Targaryen princess to his family line to end his rebellion, Lyonel actually granted the “blood claim” that Robert would subsequently use to ascend the throne. Even in his defiance, Lyonel was shaping the future of the Seven Kingdoms. 

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Conclusion

In the end, characters like Lyonel and Tyrion are really important because they allow us to see the “human” in a show that’s so often about dragons and ice zombies. They teach us that the most lethal weapon in Westeros isn’t a Valyrian steel sword—it’s the capacity to stare down a bleak, authoritarian regime and chuckle at its absurdity.

Striking Lyonel hurls a rival’s helm into a thumping audience, and Tyrion uses his superior intellect to best his sister on the Small Council — such “friendly” outliers keep reminding us that as an outsider, you get a vantage point the “great lords” will never have. They are the heart of the story, even if the story does its damnedest to shatter them. 

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‘Breaking Bad’ Creator Vince Gilligan’s Release a New Sci-Fi Series ‘PLURIBUS’ Trailer

Watch the trailer for Pluribus, a thrilling sci-fi drama from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. Starring Rhea Seehorn, streaming on Apple TV+from Nov, 2025.

Written by: Alpana
Published: October 25, 2025, 4:59 am
PLURIBUS Trailer

Apple TV+ has posted the trailer for PLURIBUS, the much anticipated new series from the Emmy Award-winning creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Vince Gilligan. The nine-episode sci-fi drama, which is Gilligan’s first big project outside of the Breaking Bad universe in 17 years, will debut on November 7, 2025, and is already causing a stir within the US entertainment industry. 

Trailer Details and Plot Revelations

The two-minute official trailer, debuting October 21, 2025, gives a peek at an incredibly disturbing world revolving around Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), who’s “the most miserable person on Earth” and has to “save the world from happiness.” The trailer shows that Carol is the only who appears to be immune to the virus, which has turned the entire global population into perpetually content, optimistic and unnervingly cheerful individuals. 

Trailer Details and Plot Revelations

The trailer shows the environment around Carol is unrealistic, everyone is enjoying an ultra level of joy and helpfulness that covers the entire horrible psychology under the wrap of positivity. US President (Peter Bergman) reaches out to Carol through television to turn her into one of them because she is the only one who wasn’t affected by the virus.

Thematic Suspense of Pluribus

As Deadline reports, the series is full of action with explosions, plane crashes, dead bodies, and chaos of marching hordes. The most captivating scene occurs in the 2 minute trailer — Carol asked for a grenade, bazooka, and tank from one of the DHL workers and he said “Oh, sure”. 

Thematic Suspense of Pluribus

Carol is alone in her misery and trying to reverse all of this but her head is full of confusing thoughts. It’s the kind of thing that messes with your head but keeps you hooked with its dark humor and sci-fi suspense.

What Bob Odenkirk of Breaking Bad Is Saying About The Series

Bob Odenkirk is Gilligan’s trusted partner in crime, and the one who plays the great Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Screenrant mentioned Odenkirk told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview: “I don’t know a goddamn thing. But I know it’s going to be massive. Giant! It’s going to be the biggest thing, well, since sliced bread, but really since Game of Thrones.” 

Bob Odenkirk of Breaking Bad Is Saying About The Series

Odenkirk also compared PLURIBUS to the Apple TV+ prestige hit Severance, saying, “I think that [PLURIBUS] is going to be the next big show, and I can’t wait”.His excitement is especially interesting as he is not involved with the project at all, which implies honest belief in Gilligan’s vision. 

IndieWire also raved on Gilligan’s turn to Twilight Zone – and it asks if happiness is “actually a good thing when it’s universal and unquestioned. The series delves into themes of coerced conformity, the worth of genuine feeling and if the uniform happiness removes the need for humanity. 

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Critical Reception Of The Trailer

Critics have praised the trailer as it delivers fascinating, strange sequences in the series. It shows the level of Gilligan’s signature cinematography once again after Breaking Bad.

Gilligan revealed the conceptual origins of PLURIBUS with Entertainment Weekly, Gilligan said the concept initially confused him: “I’m still not exactly sure what it means.” But the relevance of the concept to the divided society we live in today was obvious to him: “There’s no question that we live in a very divided nation. What I love about this series and that potential is the hope that people watching may say, ‘What would that be like, if we all got along?’ There’s probably an element of wish fulfillment in that idea.” 

Critical Reception Of The Trailer

Apple TV+ had already ordered two seasons prior to premiere—a rare move demonstrating extraordinary confidence in Gilligan’s vision. The early renewal can be taken as a sign that Apple sees PLURIBUS as a potential flagship show in the vein of Ted Lasso and Severance. 

Conclusion

“When you smile the whole world smiles with you— and Rhea Seehorn is finding out the reverse is also true.” This inversion of optimism into terror marks PLURIBUS as perhaps Gilligan’s most philosophically daring episode to date, posing the question of whether a reality devoid of suffering, strife and genuine feeling is one that deserves salvation—or if, through Carol, misery makes her the last real human being on the planet. 

This series will air on 7 November, 2025 on Apple TV with a total of nine episodes in one season. Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, and Carlos Manuel Vesga are lead actors in the series who take this one on the top of the list.

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The Vampire Diaries Cast Struggle and Pain That Shared Later

Discover the hidden struggles of The Vampire Diaries cast—from casting battles and on-set tension to pay gaps and physical pain that shaped the iconic series.

Written by: Mariyam
Published: January 1, 2026, 6:42 am
The Vampire Diaries

If we were to look back at the late 2000s television was dominated by a particular thirsty appetite. It was the era of supernatural frenzy, when vampires stop being terrifying monsters and become tragic, romantic anti-heroes. But cut through the barrage of genre hits and there was The Vampire Diaries (TVD), a rarity, a high-concept mythology that felt understated and more like a character-driven drama. 

To the audience, the magic of Mystic Falls was seamless. We observed the fierce, magnetic tension between Elena Gilbert and the Salvatore brothers and took it as fate caught on film. But when you view the series as a business – considering the cost-cutting, the negotiating, and the personality power plays – a different tale emerges. The indestructibility of The Vampire Diaries was not magic, it was the result of an exhausting, frenetic, and sometimes painful process of architecture by three young actors on the brink. 

How Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, and Ian Somerhalder Nearly Lost Their Roles

The series simply wouldn’t be the same without the core three — Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder. The makeup of this cast, though, was almost conceived on an entirely different plane.

Back then, the network prioritizing immediate marketability was aggressively pushing for big-name pop stars. There were major discussions about casting Ashlee Simpson or Ashley Tisdale as Elena Gilbert. The studio wanted to follow the source material’s description of a “blonde-haired, blue-eyed” protagonist, a demographic type that was considered key to success then.

Nobody Can Replace These Iconic Characters

Technically, Nina Dobrev‘s entry into this equation was a failure. Battling a rare disease during her initial audition, she turned in what co-creator Julie Plec harshly called an “unmemorable” performance. It was only by dint of Dobrev’s sheer professional determination – sending in a self-taped audition from home afterwards, that she made the studio change its mind. She didn’t just win the role, she recalibrated the character entirely. 

Nobody Can Replace These Iconic Characters
Best Trio of The Vampire Diaries | Image Credit: Fandomfans

Paul Wesley had to endure almost fifteen auditions before he was told no, the reason was literally that he was “too old.” He landed the part of Stefan after his chemistry test with Nina Dobrev won over the creators. Ian Somerhalder was also iffy – he was so nervous during the network test that he nearly lost the role of Damon.

Nailing this trio had an immediate effect. The series finale drew in 4.9 million viewers, the most ever for The CW. But under this success, everything was not so calm. 

When Tension Created Chemistry Between Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley

There’s a pervasive myth within TV Fandom that romantic chemistry on screen can only be achieved through romantic affection behind the scenes. The first season of TVD is the ultimate rebuttal to this.

Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley, the anchors of the show’s central love story, antagonized each other during the first five months of shooting. Dobrev has admitted that they ”despised each other” at times. This wasn’t simply a personality clash, this was the tension of eighteen-hour days and the burden of carrying a franchise.

Tension Created Chemistry
Stefan and Elena epic love builds by their real life chemistry of hate & love | Image Credit: Fandomfans

Yet, from the professional side, this disdain became a motivator. They had a lot of technical discipline, so they were able to direct their frustration into what Dobrev referred to as “a very thin line between love and hate.” The crowd interpreted this tension as deep passion. It is a credit to their acting that they can make love while playing against the absence of a personal connection.

Ironically, Wesly had foreseen the result of this tension. During the pilot, he told Dobrev that they would be best friends in ten years. He was right: the two have since forged a “marriage-like” professional relationship, demonstrating that the most powerful partnerships in Hollywood are sometimes formed in the heat of initial discord. 

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The Hidden Labor of Playing Immortal

As the actors battled with one another, they also battled the writers. Ian Somerhalder fought an interesting creative battle for the soul of Damon Salvatore.

Somerhalder guarded Damon’s volatility. During Season three when the writers started “softening” Damon to make him a potential love interest for Elena, Somerhalder was so unhappy he considered quitting the series. He was concerned that the character was turning into a “one-trick pony” of love rather than the scary thing the audience adored.

The Hidden Labor of Playing Immortal
Salvatore Brothers with their Humanity off | Image Credit: Fandomfans

That all came to a head during the shooting of the death of the character Rose. Somerhalder battled “tooth and nail” with showing Damon’s humanity because he felt it would diminish the character’s edge. Yet that sequence — when Damon offers Rose a tranquil, manipulated dream as she dies — was one of the actor’s favorite moments.

It demonstrated the kind of character development (necessary for a show to last eight seasons) that represents the balance an actor must find between their own urge to protect the character, and the show runner’s vision for that character on a longer arc. 

The Brutal Physical Reality Behind TVD’s Most Romantic Scenes

Among the most overlooked aspects of The Vampire Diaries is how uncomfortable filming really was, even when the scenes looked magical on screen. The iconic ”Delena Rain Kiss,” one of the series’ most romantic moments, is a prime example of this dichotomy.

The scene was shot in Georgia, in freezing temperatures. The rain machines were basically spraying icy water. Ian Somerhalder later shared that his jaw muscles froze so tightly he could barely speak and Nina Dobrev got sick right after the shoot. 

The Brutal Physical Reality
Delena Rain Kiss in The Vampire Diaries | Image Credit: Fandomfans

Then there’s the weather, and the actors are really out there. Wesley shot in a medical boot for a twisted ankle, necessitating stunt doubles for simple carrying scenes. Dobrev, who had to play both Elena and her doppelganger Katherine Pierce, created the “Binder Method” – carrying different heavy binders to maintain the psychological consistency of two separate characters at the same time.

Nina Dobrev Pay Gap Nobody Talks About

And that brings us to the most crucial professional realization: the economics of stardom. Although she has the strain of two workloads and is the main protagonist, Dobrev received lower pay than her male co-stars for most of her tenure. The studio declined to match her salary “on principle.” This systemic nonrecognition of her work was one of the motivations for her leaving after Season 6.

She didn’t get pay parity until the series ended, and even then she had to turn down the first low-ball offer to get it. It was a fitting, if sobering reminder that in the Hollywood system, value is often something that has to be grabbed, hard. 

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After Elena Left: The Show Rebuilt Itself Around Brotherhood

Nina Dobrev’s exit necessitated the show to transform itself structurally. The original plan, according to Julie Plec, was for both Salvatore brothers to die saving Elena, seeing her live a human life as ghosts.

However, reality intervened. With Dobrev’s departure, the narrative center of gravity moved away from the romantic triangle and toward the fraternal bond shared by Stefan and Damon. The change saved the show. By the time the finale, “I Was Feeling Epic,” was broadcast, the actors had become less adversarial and more cooperative. Paul Wesley advocated for Stefan’s death in order to have his redemption arc completed, and Somerhalder campaigned not to have the last romantic reunion over the brothers. 

Conclusion

The Vampire Diaries isn’t a legacy just because of its plot twists or its shipping wars. It’s a case study in how to keep working professionally. It is the tale of three actors who survived physical hypothermia, creative infighting and systemic pay inequity to create a pop culture juggernaut.

When we watch old episodes today, we can see that chemistry and glamour. Yet the real blueprint for its immortality is in the muck, in the negotiations, and the onerous, all-too-human labor that went down off camera. They didn’t just play vampires who lived forever, they built a legacy that will. 

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Mariyam Khan is Fandomfans Content Writer and providing reports and reviews on Movie Celebrities, and Superheroes particularly Marvel & DC. She is covering across multiple genres from more than 4+ years, experience in delivering the timely updates.

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