Game of Thrones begins....

[katmai]

But they were cousins!!!!!!1

[Viking]

That's so cute, Tyrion is a dwarf because Tywin married his cousin.

Unlikely. Most cases of achondroplasia are due to de novo mutations in the father's spermatogonium. Neither parent has to be a dwarf. It's usually associated with advanced paternal age.

Neither Tywin Lannister nor Joanna Lannister were dwarves, they were, however, cousins.

That is irrelevant. The kind of dwarfism that Tyrion (which is also the most common type) is caused by a mutation is his father's sperm. The mutation happened in the father during adulthood. The father doesn't have the mutation in his somatic cells (thus he is not a dwarf), it's only in certain germ cells. The risk of obtaining mutations in your germ cells increases as you age. Everyone accumulates these mutations in their sperm, it's just a matter of that sperm wining the egg lottery. Even you have a chance of popping out a baby Tyrion if you waited long enough to have children.

You are diagnosing a fictional character based the known facts that he is short, has mismatched eyes, his legs are short and his cock (apparently) isn't. Are you perhaps diagnosing Peter Dinklage?

[Viking]

But they were cousins!!!!!!1

First cousins apparently.

[Fate]

That's so cute, Tyrion is a dwarf because Tywin married his cousin.

Unlikely. Most cases of achondroplasia are due to de novo mutations in the father's spermatogonium. Neither parent has to be a dwarf. It's usually associated with advanced paternal age.

Neither Tywin Lannister nor Joanna Lannister were dwarves, they were, however, cousins.

That is irrelevant. The kind of dwarfism that Tyrion (which is also the most common type) is caused by a mutation is his father's sperm. The mutation happened in the father during adulthood. The father doesn't have the mutation in his somatic cells (thus he is not a dwarf), it's only in certain germ cells. The risk of obtaining mutations in your germ cells increases as you age. Everyone accumulates these mutations in their sperm, it's just a matter of that sperm wining the egg lottery. Even you have a chance of popping out a baby Tyrion if you waited long enough to have children.

You are diagnosing a fictional character based the known facts that he is short, has mismatched eyes, his legs are short and his cock (apparently) isn't. Are you perhaps diagnosing Peter Dinklage?

Short legs and arms with a normal sized axial skeleton (penis included) and a large forehead are pathognomonic of achondroplasia. Also the known fact that neither parent is short and there's no mention of dwarves in the immediate family (grandparents, siblings, children), suggesting it's a germ line mutation acquired as an adult in the father.

Sure, that's not the only cause of dwarfism. There are other types where the entire body is proportionally small (cock and all), but those are much more rare and tend to be familial (i.e. pygmies, Laron's syndrome) or due to some pituitary or hypothalamic abnormality (i.e. growth hormone deficiency).

[Viking]

And you are sure that

A) The lannisters didn't hide their previous dwarves
B) Aeres II attempts at dragon magic have nothing to do with it
C) Martin actually knows what you know and takes account for it

But still, Dwarves with proper proportions are genetic dwarves and dwarfs with stunted legs have daddies with mutated sperm. Nice to know.

[Fate]

I have no idea what Martin knows, but the book as written is entirely consistent with the diagnosis of achondroplasia in Tyrion. Sibling incest and marrying cousins isn't a good thing for the Lannister's genetic pool, but the type of dwarfism that Tyrion has isn't a negative consequence of it.

[Viking]

I have no idea what Martin knows, but the book as written is entirely consistent with the diagnosis of achondroplasia in Tyrion. Sibling incest and marrying cousins isn't a good thing for the Lannister's genetic pool, but the type of dwarfism that Tyrion has isn't a negative consequence of it.

Though, it is quite possible that due to the strong tabu against incest in western culture renders Martins knowledge of dwarves exclusive to the achondroplasic dwarves.

[HVC]

Viking aren't you of Icelandic stock? They're all cousins and they all seem tall to me . cousin fucking on its own isn't problematic, it's fucking a cousin with bad genes . and even then it takes a few generations. Its not like if you go knock up your cousin right now shes gonna pop out a flipper baby   until recently "keeping it in the family" was pretty common for rich and poor alike. Although really excelled at it  

[HVC]

Also I find it funny that there's not enough info about the Imp to prove fate right, but there is enough info to prove you right even though you take greater mental leaps

[Fate]

I'm not a writer myself but since Tyrion is such an important character, I wouldn't be shocked if Martin put some research into making a major character trait as realistic as possible. Regardless, the dwarfism etiology that most lay people unconsciously know from popular culture is achondroplasia. Martin could write a character consistent with that disease without really knowing what it was.

[Viking]

Viking aren't you of Icelandic stock? They're all cousins and they all seem tall to me . cousin fucking on its own isn't problematic, it's fucking a cousin with bad genes . and even then it takes a few generations. Its not like if you go knock up your cousin right now shes gonna pop out a flipper baby   until recently "keeping it in the family" was pretty common for rich and poor alike. Although really excelled at it

The Incest taboo is really really strong among us. It's one of the reasons for the icelandic obsession with genealogy. iirc icelandic law forbids marriage between 3rd cousins, the rest of scandinavia permits second cousins to marry.

BTW my mom was my dads 5th cousins once removed. So they share at least one of 64 ancestors living around the time of Waterloo. 

[Viking]

Tywin Lannisters listing in Forbes' Richest 15 Fictional Characters

[Eddie Teach]

Though, it is quite possible that due to the strong tabu against incest in western culture renders Martins knowledge of dwarves exclusive to the achondroplasic dwarves.

There is a strong taboo against incest, but I'd never heard that it tends to result in dwarfs.

[Razgovory]

Raz is amused that Viking has failed at science.

[Josquius]

Tyrion being a dwarf due to cousin marriage: well...that would certainly work against the big fan theory of Tyrion being the mad king's son.

Since when is 5'3" a midget?

Since I passed the 6 foot mark. :p
It really is super short in my book.