Tyrion is sitting in a sky cell (a jail cell without all the bars because who needs bars when you're on the side of a cliff in a room with a slantedfloor and will fall to your death if you leave) in the Eyrie. Now a prisoner of Lysa Arryn, he hasn't been fed in days. Lysa's stupid and sadistic jailer, Mord, brings a plate of food to Tyrion.
Mord: Here. Food.
Tyrion: I hope this is lobster or something. What? Just beans. Whatever.
Mord holds the plate to Tyrion and when Tyrion reaches for it, he takes it away.
Mord: Hahaha. You no want food? Come get! Just reach fot! Haha.
Tyrion: Yes, very funny. I am small and thus have small arms and you can easily pull the food away. Hilarious.
Mord throws the plate of beans off the cliff and laughs. He kicks Tyrion as he leaves.
Tyrion: I hate that guy. I'm so hungry and tired. But I can't go to sleep. I'm so afraid that I'll roll over and fall out of the sky cell to my death.
So instead of going to sleep, he just thinks about very recently occurring events. Because for some reason George RR Martin is unable to actually tell any chapter in chronological order. Instead, he starts every damn chapter in the middle of the story, and then has the character think back to the recent events which got them there. Which is super annoying.
Tyrion: See? What couldn't we have started the story there and gone through chronologically instead of starting at a later point and just thinking about that? Anyway, I hope my family is smart enough to have sent out riders by now. By now I assume they've figured out that I'm here and not in Winterfell. Even though my dad hates me, this is still an insult to the Lannisters that he'll avenge. And let's just hope that my dumb sister Cersei the queen is smart enough to see the way out of this. She'll convince the King that he should be the one who judges me. Even that tight ass "honorable" Ned Stark wouldn't dare object to that. And the Starks have no proof. Because I'm, you know, INNOCENT. Still, I wonder if one of my siblings is guilty of killing Jon Arryn and sending a hitman to take out Bran. And if so... why have I been made a pawn?
Seeing that narrating his plight to himself is getting him nowhere, Tyrion decides to take action.
Tyrion: Hey you, stupid guard! You wanna get rich?
Mord: Imp shut mouth!
Mord slaps Tyrion with a leather strap.
Tyrion: Ow! You asshole. Look, I'm a Lannister. We're all rich as hell. We have so much gold. Send a message to Lysa and you'll have all the gold you want.
Mord: No. Dwarf try to trick Mord. Mord too smart for that.
Mord then eats his own boogers.
Tyrion: Seriously, just send a message to Lysa that I'm willing to confess my crimes and you'll get a bag of gold. No trick! I'll even write a contract for the gold down on paper and everything.
Mord: Hrm. Mord illiterate and think writing is magic. Yes, you write magic that give Mord gold.
Tyrion writes out a contract to give Mord some gold and sure enough, stupid Mord delivers. Ser Vardis Egen shows up later to help escort Tyrion up to Lysa.
Instead of just finding her, he finds a hall full of all the lordlings of the Vale. Lysa arrogantly wanted everyone there to hear Tyrion's confession. Even Bronn and Marmillion the singer are there. But that's EXACTLY what Tyrion counted on.
Lysa: So Imp, confess to all your crimes.
Tyrion: Okay, here it is... I hope you're all ready for this shit I'm about to drop. I am a small man but my sins are large and beyond counting. I drink. I visit whores. I gamble. I wish my own father and sister were dead. I speak ill of members of the royal court. I vandalized one of the walls of the Red Keep by spray painting a cock on the side of it. I once spit chewing gum on the ground in Singapore. I discharged a firearm within city limits. I jaywalk frequently. I once hunted a deer but deer season had ended the week before. I drove a car with a suspended license. When I was a kid I committed petty theft when I stole a bunch of packets of baseball cards from a Walmart. I cheated on all of the standardized tests I ever had to take in school by having a smart kid tap the correct answers to me in Morse code with his pencil. I once assaulted a member of the City Watch while he was asleep on the job by throwing a bucket of pee on him and running away before he could see who did it. This one time at bandcamp I--
Cat: --Uhm, no Tyrion. You're just here to confess to the murder of Jon Arryn and attempted murder of Brandon Stark.
Tyrion: Oh. Those things? Well I can't confess to those things because I'm innocent of them.
Lysa: HOW DARE YOU WASTE OUR TIME! You said you were here to confess to those crimes, and here you are mocking us.
Tyrion: I'm not mocking you and I never said I was confessing to THOSE crimes. Just to the crimes I've actually committed.
Lysa: You think I will let this contempt stand? I order you to be taken to a sky cell with an even steeper floor to await your trial where my son, my precious little baby Lord Robert Arryn will find you guilty.
Tyrion: Oh... so that' s how justice works here in the Vale, huh? That whiny little kid was shouting earlier about wanting to see me fly. I've been found guilty before seeing a trial. I get put in a small, steep jail cell where I could fall to my death at any time. Well fuck all that, you ignoble hypocrites. I demand a trial... BY COMBAT!
Everyone: *gasp*
After the initial shock of Tyrion demanding to have his fate determined by a fight to the death, all the knights of the Vale begin to volunteer for the fight.
Guy: Me! I'll fight him!
Other Guy: No, I'd like that honor to easily beat a small man with little battle experience!
Yet Another Guy: I also would like do do this, and I understand that I don't necessarily fight an Imp. I could also fight someone standing in for him. Yet he is here all alone and thus I think it's highly unlikely that he'd be able to find a stand-in.
And about seven or eight more clamor for the "honor" of fighting an easily-beatable, injured, starved dwarf.
Lysa, who really wanted an unfair trial where her stupid sick son just found him guilty, isn't happy about this. But she realizes the fact that she invited all the residents of the Eyrie to see this confession has kind of put her in a corner.
Lysa: Fine, whatever. Good luck with all that, little man. You can have your trial by combat.
Tyrion: And to fight for me as my champion, I nominate my brother - Jaime Lannister!
Suddenly, everyone who volunteered previously...
Guy: Uhh... I just remembered I had a thing. I can't do it.
Other Guy: Me too. I remember I have to take my daughter to her ballet recital whenever that trial is.
Yet Another Guy: WHAT? The trial isn't even scheduled yet so how can you know that it's at the same time as your daughter's ballet recital? And you don't even have a daughter! Those guys are liars and don't have a legitimate excuse to back out like me. My excuse is... ahh... uh... I just developed cancer. Like right now. In-between when I said I wanted to fight two minutes ago and right now. You might not have noticed, but when Lysa and Tyrion were talking... a Maester diagnosed me. And he said "no fighting in trails by combat."
Lysa: It matters not... my champion shall be our finest knight, Ser Vardis Egen! And Imp, your request for Jaime Lannister is denied. You can't just request to have someone fight for you that is hundreds of miles away. It has to be someone here, now.
Ser Vardis: What? No way, I don't want to fight the dwarf. There is no honor in killing a weak and small foe. To slaughter a defenseless man would be shameful.
Lysa: Nah, you're doing it. Because I say so.
Tyrion: Marillion, remember what you saw here today when you write this song! Remember to tell the part where I asked for someone to stand in for me, and Lysa denied it. Remember that an injured, hobbling and unfed dwarf you just had an ear cut off in battles against barbarians on the road through the Vale was sent up against the Vale's finest knight. Remember to sing that this trial was a farce!
Marillion: Wait, you had an ear cut off in a battle? How are we not mentioning that until this chapter? How can the mutilation of a main character happen in a book but it happens in an un-narrated scene between chapters... and even that not be referenced until chapters later?
Tyrion: I dunno.
Lysa: Enough of your blabbering, Imp! Your trail shall happen. I suggest you name a champion to fight for you that is actually here or else you will need to fight yourself.
Tyrion: Well... anyone?
Lysa starts laughing, knowing that absolutely nobody present would volunteer to risk their life on behalf of Tyrion Lannister.
Bronn: I'll do it.
Lysa: WHAT THE FUCK?!
Mord: Here. Food.
Tyrion: I hope this is lobster or something. What? Just beans. Whatever.
Mord holds the plate to Tyrion and when Tyrion reaches for it, he takes it away.
Mord: Hahaha. You no want food? Come get! Just reach fot! Haha.
Tyrion: Yes, very funny. I am small and thus have small arms and you can easily pull the food away. Hilarious.
Mord throws the plate of beans off the cliff and laughs. He kicks Tyrion as he leaves.
Tyrion: I hate that guy. I'm so hungry and tired. But I can't go to sleep. I'm so afraid that I'll roll over and fall out of the sky cell to my death.
So instead of going to sleep, he just thinks about very recently occurring events. Because for some reason George RR Martin is unable to actually tell any chapter in chronological order. Instead, he starts every damn chapter in the middle of the story, and then has the character think back to the recent events which got them there. Which is super annoying.
Tyrion recalls being brought forward to Lysa Arryn who declares that he is guilty of killing her husband.
Tyrion: Oh shit, you're pinning that on me too? I thought I was here because I was supposed to have tried to kill Bran. Now you're just adding people that I killed to the charges? This is some BS. Man, I must spend all my day plotting to kill people. When do I have time to do anything else? My brother Jaime will not be happy about this. He's going to come up here and kick some Eyrie ass.
Lysa: Is that a threat?
Tyrion: No bitch, it's a PROMISE.
Robert Arryn: *cough*cough* MOON DOOR! MOON DOOR! Throw him out the moon door!
Needless to say, this did not make Lysa happy, and Tyrion was put into a sky cell.
Tyrion: See? What couldn't we have started the story there and gone through chronologically instead of starting at a later point and just thinking about that? Anyway, I hope my family is smart enough to have sent out riders by now. By now I assume they've figured out that I'm here and not in Winterfell. Even though my dad hates me, this is still an insult to the Lannisters that he'll avenge. And let's just hope that my dumb sister Cersei the queen is smart enough to see the way out of this. She'll convince the King that he should be the one who judges me. Even that tight ass "honorable" Ned Stark wouldn't dare object to that. And the Starks have no proof. Because I'm, you know, INNOCENT. Still, I wonder if one of my siblings is guilty of killing Jon Arryn and sending a hitman to take out Bran. And if so... why have I been made a pawn?
Seeing that narrating his plight to himself is getting him nowhere, Tyrion decides to take action.
Tyrion: Hey you, stupid guard! You wanna get rich?
Mord: Imp shut mouth!
Mord slaps Tyrion with a leather strap.
Tyrion: Ow! You asshole. Look, I'm a Lannister. We're all rich as hell. We have so much gold. Send a message to Lysa and you'll have all the gold you want.
Mord: No. Dwarf try to trick Mord. Mord too smart for that.
Mord then eats his own boogers.
Tyrion: Seriously, just send a message to Lysa that I'm willing to confess my crimes and you'll get a bag of gold. No trick! I'll even write a contract for the gold down on paper and everything.
Mord: Hrm. Mord illiterate and think writing is magic. Yes, you write magic that give Mord gold.
Tyrion writes out a contract to give Mord some gold and sure enough, stupid Mord delivers. Ser Vardis Egen shows up later to help escort Tyrion up to Lysa.
Instead of just finding her, he finds a hall full of all the lordlings of the Vale. Lysa arrogantly wanted everyone there to hear Tyrion's confession. Even Bronn and Marmillion the singer are there. But that's EXACTLY what Tyrion counted on.
Lysa: So Imp, confess to all your crimes.
Tyrion: Okay, here it is... I hope you're all ready for this shit I'm about to drop. I am a small man but my sins are large and beyond counting. I drink. I visit whores. I gamble. I wish my own father and sister were dead. I speak ill of members of the royal court. I vandalized one of the walls of the Red Keep by spray painting a cock on the side of it. I once spit chewing gum on the ground in Singapore. I discharged a firearm within city limits. I jaywalk frequently. I once hunted a deer but deer season had ended the week before. I drove a car with a suspended license. When I was a kid I committed petty theft when I stole a bunch of packets of baseball cards from a Walmart. I cheated on all of the standardized tests I ever had to take in school by having a smart kid tap the correct answers to me in Morse code with his pencil. I once assaulted a member of the City Watch while he was asleep on the job by throwing a bucket of pee on him and running away before he could see who did it. This one time at bandcamp I--
Cat: --Uhm, no Tyrion. You're just here to confess to the murder of Jon Arryn and attempted murder of Brandon Stark.
Tyrion: Oh. Those things? Well I can't confess to those things because I'm innocent of them.
Lysa: HOW DARE YOU WASTE OUR TIME! You said you were here to confess to those crimes, and here you are mocking us.
Tyrion: I'm not mocking you and I never said I was confessing to THOSE crimes. Just to the crimes I've actually committed.
Lysa: You think I will let this contempt stand? I order you to be taken to a sky cell with an even steeper floor to await your trial where my son, my precious little baby Lord Robert Arryn will find you guilty.
Tyrion: Oh... so that' s how justice works here in the Vale, huh? That whiny little kid was shouting earlier about wanting to see me fly. I've been found guilty before seeing a trial. I get put in a small, steep jail cell where I could fall to my death at any time. Well fuck all that, you ignoble hypocrites. I demand a trial... BY COMBAT!
Everyone: *gasp*
After the initial shock of Tyrion demanding to have his fate determined by a fight to the death, all the knights of the Vale begin to volunteer for the fight.
Guy: Me! I'll fight him!
Other Guy: No, I'd like that honor to easily beat a small man with little battle experience!
Yet Another Guy: I also would like do do this, and I understand that I don't necessarily fight an Imp. I could also fight someone standing in for him. Yet he is here all alone and thus I think it's highly unlikely that he'd be able to find a stand-in.
And about seven or eight more clamor for the "honor" of fighting an easily-beatable, injured, starved dwarf.
Lysa, who really wanted an unfair trial where her stupid sick son just found him guilty, isn't happy about this. But she realizes the fact that she invited all the residents of the Eyrie to see this confession has kind of put her in a corner.
Lysa: Fine, whatever. Good luck with all that, little man. You can have your trial by combat.
Tyrion: And to fight for me as my champion, I nominate my brother - Jaime Lannister!
Suddenly, everyone who volunteered previously...
Guy: Uhh... I just remembered I had a thing. I can't do it.
Other Guy: Me too. I remember I have to take my daughter to her ballet recital whenever that trial is.
Yet Another Guy: WHAT? The trial isn't even scheduled yet so how can you know that it's at the same time as your daughter's ballet recital? And you don't even have a daughter! Those guys are liars and don't have a legitimate excuse to back out like me. My excuse is... ahh... uh... I just developed cancer. Like right now. In-between when I said I wanted to fight two minutes ago and right now. You might not have noticed, but when Lysa and Tyrion were talking... a Maester diagnosed me. And he said "no fighting in trails by combat."
Lysa: It matters not... my champion shall be our finest knight, Ser Vardis Egen! And Imp, your request for Jaime Lannister is denied. You can't just request to have someone fight for you that is hundreds of miles away. It has to be someone here, now.
Ser Vardis: What? No way, I don't want to fight the dwarf. There is no honor in killing a weak and small foe. To slaughter a defenseless man would be shameful.
Lysa: Nah, you're doing it. Because I say so.
Tyrion: Marillion, remember what you saw here today when you write this song! Remember to tell the part where I asked for someone to stand in for me, and Lysa denied it. Remember that an injured, hobbling and unfed dwarf you just had an ear cut off in battles against barbarians on the road through the Vale was sent up against the Vale's finest knight. Remember to sing that this trial was a farce!
Marillion: Wait, you had an ear cut off in a battle? How are we not mentioning that until this chapter? How can the mutilation of a main character happen in a book but it happens in an un-narrated scene between chapters... and even that not be referenced until chapters later?
Tyrion: I dunno.
Lysa: Enough of your blabbering, Imp! Your trail shall happen. I suggest you name a champion to fight for you that is actually here or else you will need to fight yourself.
Tyrion: Well... anyone?
Lysa starts laughing, knowing that absolutely nobody present would volunteer to risk their life on behalf of Tyrion Lannister.
Bronn: I'll do it.
Lysa: WHAT THE FUCK?!