Caught in a fantasy tale

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“You are always sticking up for the underdog,’’ my classmate Susan, who later studied psychology, said to me once when we were in high school. She said it out of frustration, not admiration because I could always come up with a “suppose’’ or “maybe’’ to explain the errant behaviour of an outcast, deviant or troublemaker. 

Having been an underdog myself, I can tell you it is a whole lot more fun than showing up with a fistful of credentials and waving a banner. People never see the underdog coming. And because no one pays attention to us in the beginning, we get to see people’s true character because we are not important enough for them to try to impress us. 

Is it any wonder, then, that Tyrion Lannister is my favourite Game of Thrones character?

Called Half Man and the Imp, the dwarf son of the mighty Tywin Lannister is despised by his father and evil sister Cersei. Sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit (King Joffrey, first and last creep of his name, was poisoned at his own wedding), he finally got into a mess he could not talk his way out of.