re: Crackpot ASOIAF Theories SPOILERS

I'm not saying Tywin and Littlfinger didn't do horrible things. Just that I think their characters have been portrayed with enough complexities that I don't look them in turns of a black and white good guy/bad guy paradigm.

Tywin's primary motivation always seems to be restoring the reputations and fortune of his house as one of the great houses of Westeros. He felt his father brought the house to the brink of ruin. I think all of things listed here were done in furtherance of these ends.

Littlefinger had a similar motivation except his house was never a great one. He was trying to advance in a class structure which is pretty hard to advance in. Plus, he had the added motivation of his love for Cat which I think was genuine. And the fact that his unborn child with Lysa was pretty much aborted by his wife's father. I think he wanted to advance to as high as station a he could and was hoping to end up with Cat somehow or now that she's undead, with her daughter.

On the other hand, it seems to me that characters like Ramsey, Joffrey and the Mountain were motivated by some inner desire to inflict pain on others and they seem to enjoy it. (The Mountain' motivations are not made as clear but he was holding his brother's face to the fire pretty early on so I think it can be inferred he had a sadistic streak). Cersci is pretty close to these in a "Mean Girls" kind of way though she does seem to motivated at least somewhat by love for or hopes for the success of her children.