#crs lnnstr

[makerkenzie]

Project Goldenhand Part 4.2: Letting him be a supporting character

In my last post, I started on the thematic conflict between Jaime/Brienne as a romantic storyline and Jaime killing Cersei as a tragic storyline. Not that they’re mutually exclusive, necessarily? Except that they depend on very different interpretations of Jaime’s arc.

Now here is the central thesis of my compare/contrast of these theoretically not-incompatible directions for Jaime’s arc: the pro-J/B model allows Jaime to be a useful supporting character to the grand scheme of ASOIAF.

If Jaime appears to be getting more invested in Brienne, that’s because he really is. If he’s getting more invested, that’s because their relationship will become a consummated romance. If it seems like their romance is taking a really long time to reach the part where they admit their feelings, that’s because it is the primary slow-burn romance of ASOIAF and it is relevant to the series endgame. 

If it seems like Jaime is headed in a redemptive direction, that’s because his arc is about redemption, not failure. 

If Jaime is on a path to redemption rather than failure and tragedy, that allows him to serve the greater story of saving humanity and rebuilding Westeros following the war, from a position of power. 

If Jaime is on a path to redemption, and Jaime/Brienne is a viable romance, then Brienne’s protection assignment with Sansa is a means of creating a positive connection between the Starks and the Lannisters, which helps with rebuilding the realm. 

Otherwise: what happens to Brienne? We spend all that time getting to know her and seeing her longing for love and family, so she can spend the rest of her life playing overqualified bodyguard to the Stark girls? In which case, Brienne’s associating her rescuing Sansa with Jaime’s honor---”she must not fail Jaime”---ends up getting us precisely nowhere. And then what happens to Tarth? That’s not even getting into the theory of Brienne dying in the conflict with Lady Stoneheart so Jaime will be free to throw his life away on twinslaying. 

If it seems like Jaime’s arc ever since ASOS has been about him differentiating and distancing himself from Cersei, that’s because he’s doing exactly that, and the logical conclusion of that process of differentiation is for him to have a life without Cersei. For him to go back and kill her, after putting her letter in the fire, would be a distraction. For him to kill her and then die soon after, would really leave us to wonder why he was important enough to be a POV character at all. Most of the content of his POV chapters has centered on his own character development. When he does something that helps to advance other characters’ arcs---for example pushing Bran, ambushing Ned, freeing Tyrion---we tend to see it from those other characters’ POVs. If he ends up dying along with Cersei, then his entire arc has basically been a cautionary tale. He’s the doomed protagonist of a cynical story of failure, and Brienne’s a martyr. 

If Jaime’s arc is about redemption, then his Riverlands arc in AFFC is a prologue of greater things to come. It’s a preview of how Jaime can make things happen when placed in a position of responsibility. If he can manage that much harm-reduction while acting as a Kingsguard knight on a military assignment, just imagine how much good he could do as the Lord of Casterly Rock, for example. 

Whereas, if his redemption is destined to fail, then we just followed him out there to see Uncle Brynden call him names, basically.

If he’s just there to be a cautionary tale, then I have to wonder why GRRM has allowed him to take up so much space in this story. Why has GRRM put so much work into developing his and Brienne’s relationship, if the whole point of Brienne in his life is to make it super-extra-tragic when Jaime fails at being a true knight after all? If he kills Cersei, dies soon after, and never managed to do anything that helps to stop the White Walker threat, what exactly did the twins do to make their toxic incestuous bullshit so important that Jaime was allowed to take up so much of our time with his ultimately unsuccessful attempt to detach himself from it? 

From the J/B perspective, Jaime (with Brienne!) is playing a significant, yet still supportive role in the great story of ice and fire.

From the Twinslayer interpretation, Jaime is spending a hell of a lot of time ultimately getting nowhere, and Brienne’s entire contribution to the endgame is, at best, to spend her life looking after Lady Catelyn’s daughters. 

Jaime can do better than kill his sister. He will do better.

[makerkenzie]

Project Goldenhand, Part 1: In Which Cersei is Wrong

In order to get to the position that Jaime MUST be the Valonqar in Maggy’s Prophecy---yes this is an absolutely fixed point and all discussion of the Lannisters’ endgame must honor this premise---we need to make certain assumptions about the way Cersei views her circumstances and her family. 

More specifically, in order to designate Jaime as the One True Killer, we need to assume Cersei is right about everything, except for the one place where she’s wrong.

Cersei has heard Maggy’s Prophecy. The prophecy includes this clause:

“...and when your tears have drowned you, the Valonqar shall wrap his hands around your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

Cersei believes “valonqar” means “little brother” because Septa Saranella told her so. We assume Cersei is right in making this translation of Maggy’s phrasing.

Cersei believes the “valonqar” must refer to HER brother and no one else. We assume she’s right in setting this specificity.

Cersei believes Tyrion is the prophesied killer. We assume she’s wrong about this.

The scenario of the twins dying together is highly, positively correlated with the premise of Jaime being the only credible candidate for Cersei’s killer. Cersei tells herself “we will leave this world together, as we came into it,” and we assume she’s right about this.

This is the same Cersei who tells herself her raven must not have reached Jaime, because the idea of him running off with Brienne is simply intolerable. We know she’s wrong about that.

The appeal of Jaime as the killer is that he’s the best one to fulfill the prophecy because...Cersei wouldn’t expect him to kill her.

Out of all the characters in ASOIAF who might want to kill Cersei, surely there are more effective ways to fulfill the prophecy than simply...Cersei doesn’t see it coming because she’s too focused on the other guy.

Jaime seems like the better candidate compared to Tyrion. He seems like the ONLY good choice to fulfill the prophecy if the only options are him and Tyrion.

But why should we assume Jaime and Tyrion are the only options for the Valonqar? 

Cersei believes the prophecy must refer to HER brother. Cersei believes “the valonqar” was Maggy’s way of telling her “YOUR younger brother.”

I don’t think Cersei is wrong only about Tyrion.

I think Cersei is wrong about everything. Starting with how she translates “the valonqar” from Maggy’s usage.

[makerkenzie]

Also from the Ask box:

@barelylegible said: First, I love your Project Goldenhand posts. You basically summed up many of own issues with the valonquar prophecy. I will say that if it HAS to be her brothers, I like Jaime for it more than Tyrion if ONLY to make Cersei's assumptions wrong 😅🙅 ANYWAY, here's my question: do you think the valonquar is a literal person who will literally strangle Cersei, or could it be more metaphorical? Like, Valonquar does something that leads to Cersei being killed, but maybe not by their own hands?

I'd also love to someday hear your thoughts on the "younger and more beautiful" bit of that prophesy. Thanks for all the great insights! Long live Goldenhand the Just!

If we MUST choose between Cersei's brothers, then Jaime does better at the prophecy-fulfillment aspect precisely because she's been focused on Tyrion. If she spends all these decades thinking Tyrion is destined to kill her, and then he kills her...the only interest there is the self-fulfilling aspect, and I don't think Cersei will ever be self-aware enough to understand how she's made Tyrion into her killer.

My issue in this project, though, is that when the entire question hinges on the most shocking thing to Cersei, the character who answers the question should be less important than Cersei. Forcing Jaime into the role of Twinslayer requires distorting and minimizing much of his arc. He's more interesting and more thematically important than the way Cersei feels about her cause of death. Thus, I think limiting the choices to her brothers relies on a false premise.

To answer your question: yes, I think there is a literal person who will serve as the Valonqar. Whether he literally strangles her or if there's some other, more colorful manner of death, I suppose is debatable. But I think there is an actual guy who will fulfill the prophecy via direct homicide, and I can make a positive case for a certain character.

As for the YMB, I have my ideas, but I don't really prioritize that clause of the prophecy because there are too many variables. What exactly is "all Cersei holds dear"? What does it look like when she's cast down and everything she holds dear is taken from her? Aside from her death. I don't quite know what kind of prediction we're making with the YMB.

[makerkenzie]

“Jaime, then? Is it Jaime?” “No. Jaime is still in the riverlands, somewhere.” “Somewhere?” She did not like the sound of that. “He took Raventree and accepted Lord Blackwood’s surrender,” said her uncle, “but on his way back to Riverrun he left his tail and went off with a woman.” “A woman?” Cersei stared at him, uncomprehending. “What woman? Why? Where did they go?” “No one knows. We’ve had no further word of him. The woman may have been the Evenstar’s daughter, Lady Brienne.” Her. The queen remembered the Maid of Tarth, a huge, ugly, shambling thing who dressed in man’s mail. Jaime would never abandon me for such a creature. My raven never reached him, elsewise he would have come.

Martin, George R. R.. A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 5) (p. 795). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Just in case there was any ambiguity around what Jaime did at the end of his Dance chapter? Now we can point and laugh at Cersei trying to convince herself Jaime would never abandon her. Oh, yes he would, and yes, he did.

[makerkenzie]

“Oh, fuck loyalty!”

It's finally happened: after seven seasons of acting like his trainwreck twin sister was the love of his life, Jaime Lannister told her that's quite enough and started riding up the Kingsroad all by his one-handed lonesome. Unlike in the books, where Jaime was already away from the Red Keep for weeks on military business before he went AWOL with Brienne, and he's left Cersei to assume he is oblivious to her plight, in the show version, he ended their relationship face-to-face. Earlier in the season, Olenna Tyrell told Jaime his sister was a monster and she would be the end of him, she was a disease and he would regret his role in spreading it. Based on his response to Cersei's behavior at the time, Olenna's predictions appeared accurate. For a moment there in "The Dragon and the Wolf," it looked like Cersei was actually about to kill Jaime, precisely because he was refusing to go along with spreading her disease anymore. Based on his departure, it seems he walked out just in time to keep Cersei from being the end of him.

How did he finally reach his breaking point? Leaving aside all the other depravities she indulged JUST in Season 7, what did Cersei do* that Jaime simply couldn't tolerate anymore?

Just in the finale, Cersei and Jaime's disagreements include:

Jaime tries talking to Cersei about allying with Jon and Dany, right after Brienne admonished him to "talk to the queen," and we know Cersei witnessed the interaction. Jaime tried talking "at" Cersei, until she threw him out of her chambers.

She is offered a choice between fighting to keep the realm alive, and being part of the problem, and she chooses to keep on being part of the problem. She intends to advance her family's political position at the expense of humanity's survival. Jaime thinks this is a bad idea.

Jaime still wants to be a parent to their child, but he won't be able to be a loving father to Cersei's expected child if they all die before the child is born. She's given him the good news of a new baby on the way, and then she creates a situation, once again, in which it is impossible for Jaime to be a parent. He doesn't have the power to rescue their child from her, but he has the power to decide what to do with whatever remains of his life.

She insults Jaime's intelligence, calling him "the stupidest Lannister" and deriding his boyhood enthusiasm for hunting, riding, and fighting.

She expects Jaime to be the commander of her armies, and meanwhile she's plotting with Euron Greyjoy behind his back. This makes it impossible for him to do his job well.

She treats Jaime's having met with Tyrion---a meeting set up without his knowledge---as a betrayal, even as she benefits from the results of that meeting.

She derides Daenerys for recruiting "foreign scum" to fight her battles, while Cersei is hiring a foreign sellsword company to fight her battles.

Jaime has pledged to ride north, and he intends to honor that pledge. Cersei doesn't like that.

In summary: Cersei's conduct is untrustworthy, unprofessional, and undiplomatic, and Jaime refuses to work under those conditions.

Unlike in the book version, Cersei's having fucked other men does not come into it, and that, IMO, is a positive change on D&D's part. He leaves her for all the right reasons. How did he reach his breaking point?

Without a doubt, Brienne's catching him on the way inside is a contributing factor. Her telling him, "Oh, fuck loyalty!" definitely gets his attention. Does she really mean that, though? Are we to believe Brienne, the most notoriously loyal person in the Westerosi nobility, no longer thinks loyalty is valuable?

No, I doubt that very much. The question she's asking him is: "Loyalty to what, exactly?"

She's not asking him to abandon Cersei. She's asking him to be the voice of reason to his sister, which, as it turns out, is an impossible task, but there's no doubt the question sticks with Jaime.

What does loyalty mean, in Jaime's praxis, if being loyal to the queen means supporting her refusal to join in the fight for humanity's survival? If loyalty to his liege conflicts with keeping the realm alive, then loyalty is worse than useless, it is the opposite of true knighthood.

The question comes back to Jaime and Brienne's interactions in Season 3. The ideal of knighthood is about protecting the weak and defending the innocent, even at the cost of your own life. It's about using your strength to be a force for good. Sometimes, that creates a conflict with the knight's oaths of service to his liege. As Brienne learned from Jaime, sometimes a knight has to apply some critical thinking to his oaths. Sometimes the letter of the law must give way to the spirit of the law. As Jaime learned from Brienne, knighthood is still worth the effort.

Thus, Jaime pledges to ride north to help in the fight for the living, and when that pledge comes into conflict with his loyalty to Cersei? Then Cersei is the problem, and the only way for him to do the right thing is by getting away from her.

Once again: Brienne did not ask Jaime to leave his sister, but he has done so, and her plea to him was a necessary push in the right direction. Brienne's role in Jaime's arc is to remind him he has choices, and based on her influence, he makes the right choice. She reminded him that he can choose knighthood over mere obedience, and, even with Cersei threatening to kill him, he did the work of choosing knighthood. Brienne did not pull Jaime over to the right side. He did that himself, and that is exactly as it should be.

*Until further notice, I'm going with the idea that Jaime believes the Sept explosion was an accident. If he knew she arranged the explosion, and he still didn't leave her, that just makes it even more impressive that he got out of Dodge in the Season 7 finale. But it's also much more coherent character development if he thinks she didn't actively murder hundreds of people with wildfire.

[makerkenzie]

Get up. Go.

I’m going to engage with the question of Jaime Lannister showing up at Winterfell in Season 8.

A little structure for this post: 1. Leaving the “without Lannister army” ish to one side for a moment. 2. Leaving the “news of Cersei’s fuckery” to another side. 3. Putting Jaime’s travel specifics off to another side. Stipulate he shows up no sooner than Brienne and Podrick. 4. Put Dany’s ish aside for the nonce. It’s Winterfell, and winter is dead-ass here, so it’s the Starks’ turf. 5. Jon is included in the Starks. If/when he answers to Aegon, I’ll reconsider. Until then, he’s Jon and he’s of the North and the Starks are his fam.

Right? So, what happens when Ser I-Seldom-Fling-Children-From-Towers-to-Improve-Their-Health shows up at the Winterfell gates and says he wants to join in the fight for the living? How do the surviving Starks respond to him?

The Starks set up a certain framework throughout Season 7. This framework includes, but is not limited to: 1. Jon says the war of the living and the dead is the only war that matters. Ergo: old grievances are deprioritized. 2. Jon lets Theon live another day because he helped Sansa escape from the Boltons. Ergo: your earlier, shitty actions can be balanced against your later, positive actions, and the positive side may win out. 3. Jon says he can’t forgive every shitty thing Theon did to his family, but what he can forgive, he does. 4. Sansa says Tyrion always treated her kindly. Based on her input, Jon goes south and plays ball with Tyrion as Dany’s advisor. Ergo: your trustworthiness is assessed not by your family name, but by your behavior. Also, the Lannisters are not a monolith. 5. Sansa says Ser Jaime always treated Brienne honorably, and she trusts Brienne to have her back. In fact she outright orders Brienne to go south and interact with the Lannisters as House Stark’s representative. Lady Stark already has some sense of Jaime’s positive behavior. 6. Arya Stark, who previously told Brienne to fuck off because she got a fancy sword from Jaime, now wants to train with Brienne because she beat the Hound. They train together and they obviously enjoy it very much. Ergo: Arya’s no longer interested in guilt-by-association. 7. First thing in Season 7, Arya rounded up all the Frey men who participated in the Red Wedding and poisoned them, but she made sure to spare Lord Walder’s young wife. Ergo: you may be punished for following orders, you may be punished for going along with the crowd, you may be punished for doing awful things to save your own skin, but you will not be punished for being part of the wrong family. 8. The conflict between Sansa and Arya over Sansa’s supposedly having enjoyed her time with the Lannisters has already been resolved, and the verdict was that the girls have each other’s backs and Littlefinger had to die. Ergo: figure out what it’ll take to keep the pack alive through the winter, and do that. Also, when Lady Stark needs to know WTF is going on, Bran is her go-to guy. 9. Way back in Season 4: Aunt Lysa tried to shove Sansa out the Moon Door. Ergo: family can betray family. The Starks and their relations are no exception. 10. Whatever Bran doesn’t already know about who did what to whom, he can just commune with a weirwood tree and find out. 11. Best of all, Sansa announced to all of her peeps assembled at Winterfell that Littlefinger and Aunt Lysa conspired to kill Jon Arryn, and to make a long story short, the war that put the Starks through years of hell was Littlefinger’s idea. 12. Jon lets Ned Umber and Alys Karstark make a fresh vow of fealty to House Stark, after their relations died fighting for Ramsay. Ergo: you can dissociate yourself from the decisions of family members. 13. Last conversation we saw between the Stark ladies: the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.

Now let’s get back to Jaime showing up in Season 8!

First, this is the guy who tried to kill Bran, left him paraplegic.

The conditions in which he did that no longer apply, so I think the Starks are assured he’s not at risk of flinging another child from a tower, but he’s already done it once and the damage can’t be undone.

Do the rest of the Starks know Jaime’s the one who did that to Bran, though? Let’s assume they do. If they don’t already know, they’ll find out pretty soon after he arrives at the gates.

It’s not only that. There was also that time when he ambushed Ned out behind the brothel, and he killed Jory Cassel and left Ned with a busted-up leg. And then he fought at Whispering Wood. And he killed his cousin and a Karstark guy in an escape attempt from his captivity.

Yeah, so, what happens when this guy, with a history of behaving antagonistically to House Stark, shows up at Winterfell and says he wants to join the fight for the living?

They know what he’s done in the Stark-Lannister conflict. Sansa probably knows, between Tyrion and Brienne, of how much harm Jaime suffered in the same conflict. She probably knows something about his positive actions since he left his captivity. For example, that time when he saved Brienne from a bear. Which is how Brienne lived long enough to rescue Sansa and Theon from the Boltons and escort her up to Castle Black. To say nothing of Jaime’s giving Brienne a sword, armor, horse and squire and asking her very nicely to go and protect the Stark girls from his sister’s goons.

Without Sansa reuniting with Jon, the Boltons would still have Winterfell. Both Sansa and Jon either know already or will find out soon enough, that Jaime made a positive, necessary contribution to the sequence of events that led to the Starks getting back to their home and each other. He actually wasn’t involved in most of the horrible things that have either directly harmed their family or put them in harm’s way. Robert Baratheon’s death? Ned’s execution? Sansa’s captivity at Red Keep? Red Wedding? Anything involving Ramsay fucking Bolton? Jaime had no part in it.

What does he have to offer them now? He’s hardly a fighter anymore, but he has plenty of command experience, and that doesn’t hurt. He has a Valyrian steel sword, and Jon knows that’s a good thing. He brings the news that his sister is plotting with Euron Greyjoy to employ the Golden Company to pull the realm out from under everyone else while they’re busy saving humanity. That’s not good news, but they’d much rather hear it earlier, from him, than find out the hard way later on. That he’s willing to flip a giant left-handed bird at his vicious sister, and by doing so risk his own life, so he can keep his promises and join up with the Starks, says a lot about his priorities. It’s the sort of thing that makes a good impression. 

I think Sansa and Jon will agree that Jaime has already paid dearly for his acting antagonistically toward their family, he’s ultimately done them more good than harm, and what harm he did was mostly in the category of what Sansa would call “getting jerked around by Littlefinger’s lies.” He’s more of an asset than a liability in heading off the Snow Zombie Apocalypse.

(I’ve seen the occasional speculation of Dany being peeved at him for that time when he charged at her with a spear. I think Dany should understand that was totally normal and ethical behavior for a soldier in battle, especially reasonable compared to her roasting his soldiers like marshmallows wrapped in tinfoil, and if she doesn’t get that? Tyrion will set her straight if Jon doesn’t. Dany has no leg to stand on.)

That still leaves the harm he did to Bran, though.

Just like Jon can’t tell Theon everything’s forgiven because the harm wasn’t done to Jon? Nobody else can offer Jaime absolution for his injuring Bran. Nobody can forgive him except for Bran, and nobody can condemn him except for Bran. The last question is, if Jaime offered him an apology, how would Bran respond?

As I mentioned earlier in this post, Jaime isn’t about to re-offend. The twincest affair has been exposed, all the kids are dead, and now his relationship with his sister has imploded, so, history isn’t repeating itself any time soon, and horrible shit happened anyway. Including that he lost the hand he used to toss Bran out the window.

Seems karma’s already taken a brutal bite out of Jaime’s life, but as I also mentioned earlier, the damage to Bran can’t be undone. No amount of harm done to Jaime requires Bran to forgive him.

So we look at Bran during Season 7, and I ask: does this seem like a kid who’s determined not to accept an apology? Does he seem interested in prioritizing shit done to him years ago over dealing with the Snow Zombie Apocalypse? Does he seem like he’d look at Jaime, showing up with a Valyrian steel sword, vital information about his vicious sister, and military expertise, and say to his siblings, “But we can’t have him on our side, because he’s the reason I can’t walk”? Nah, I think Bran’s attitude will be Jaime’s of more use to them as an ally than a scapegoat.

The very worst-case reaction would be more like: “Why are you in here apologizing to me when you could be having a strategy meeting with Jon, right now? Get up. Go. If you can’t find Jon, Lady Brienne will show you the way.”

On balance, I think the wolves will be happy to bring a lion into the pack.

[makerkenzie]

Procrastination

As long as I’m acting like my own worst enemy re: my novel, I might as well write up a fun little list or several for the S7 finale.

Reunions tomorrow night!

Jon and Jaime see each other for the first time since early S1!

Theon and Jaime see each other for the first time since early S1!

Tyrion gets to see Podrick for the first time since early S4!

Brienne and Sandor see each other for the first time since she nearly killed him!

Brienne meets Dany for the first time! I think they’ll get along nicely.

Dany meets Tyrion’s sister for the first time! That won’t go so nicely.

Sandor sees King’s Landing for the first time since he deserted the Kingsguard!

“The fuck happened to you, Gregor?”

Cersei sees Tyrion for the first time since she put him on bullshit trial!

Brienne and Theon see each other for the first time since he left Sansa with her!

The twins see Varys for the first time since Tyrion’s escape! I think it’ll be a bit different for Cersei than for Jaime.

Dany meets Euron Jeremy for the first time! She won’t like him.

Missandei meets Tyrion’s brother and sister for the first time! I think she’ll prefer his brother.

Bronn and Sandor see each other for the first time since Sandor deserted the Kingsguard!

Bronn gets to meet...a lot of people for the first time, come to think of it.

Missandei gets to meet a whole lot of people, too.

Sandor gets to meet a lot of people for the first time.

This is the first time we’ll see Jorah in front of the twins.

And of course...the very most important part...

THE GREAT J/B REUNION.

Which also comes with Brienne being in front of Cersei for the first time since the Purple Wedding, and her being on the same side as Tyrion. 

I would really really love it if we got some sign that Brienne has been talking with Tyrion about Jaime. We don’t even have to see the conversation up close! Just a little sign that the connection has been made. We know she’s been talking to Sansa! I would like to see Tyrion, Bronn, and Brienne all on the same side in rescuing Jaime from Cersei. That’s my great fantasy. 

[makerkenzie]

"Dragonstone" groundwork

Jaime: The Freys were a shit show, but now we don't even have them. Who's backing us up now, sis?

Cersei: You think I put up with our father's droning for all that time and only learned how to pay bribes? Let me introduce you to Euron Greyjoy!

Jaime: But how is he an improvement? He stabbed his associates in the back just like the Late Lord Frey did!

Cersei: You know it was our Daddy who gave Lord Frey the go-ahead to violate guest right, yes? Nobody treats in good faith with us anymore because we've made good-faith dealings impossible, so let's just assume everyone who wants to work with us is horrible and disgusting. This one's good at committing mass murder at sea!

Jaime: These assholes? All they know how to do is pilfer our shit.

Cersei: Yeah, but Euron isn't gonna pilfer our shit. He wants to own half of my shit as well as have regular access to my body!

Euron: Hello there, Lannisters! Right after I murdered my brother and cadged his throne, I was about to bring my best ships as well as my Big Cock to the dragon queen, but my niece and nephew stole the ships out from under me and the dragon queen likes them better! So you're my second choice. Now let's bond over our fantasies of murdering our family members.

Jaime: Let me remind you of the time you wrecked our fleet in the Westerlands and we STILL handed your asses to you in battle. I killed some of your family members, if you recall.

Euron: Haven't we already established I do not value my own family members' lives? I'm much better at violating taboos than you, Lefty.

Cersei: Stop peacocking around my throne room and tell us what you think you'll get from us.

Euron: I care about my homeland about as much as I care about my family. All I've gotten from the islands are the ships I'll use to fuck up all your enemies, which means when I'm done, there'll be no one left to keep you company but me!

Cersei: Tempting, but I'm gonna string you along while I figure out whether you're better at pulling shady shit than I am. I wouldn't want you to beat me at my own game.

Euron: I hear ya, babe. Tell you what. I'll go and kidnap my niece and bring you a mother and daughter to murder. It's up to Lefty here to scrounge up some allies who'll help you make positive gains, and once he's exhausted all your options on that side, I will help you blow the Tyrells' gold on hiring foreign mercenaries! Your father would be so proud.

[makerkenzie]

“No one walks away from me.”

Jaime Lannister’s arc in the TV version has been handled very differently in many ways from the book version, and most book readers seem to agree the changes have been largely negative. The largest part of the problem has been that TV!Jaime took much too long to part ways with Cersei. If the show had kept faith with the books, Jaime would have headed up for the Riverlands early in Season 5, the trip to Dorne would have never happened, and he would have disappeared with Brienne, rather than return to the Red Keep, following the transfer of Riverrun.

This isn’t about how I feel about the adaptation. The point isn’t that he’s so much better in the books (though he is), the point is that we honestly don’t know where Jaime is or what he’s doing at this stage of the series in GRRM’s writing. With two very long books still to go, there’s plenty of narrative space for Jaime to circle back.

We know where he is on the show: he just escaped from that toxic incestuous relationship and left King’s Landing behind. He’s riding north after telling his sister, to her face, that he was having none of her bullshit. 

There’s one season left, and that last season will be only 6 episodes. Jaime has finally separated from Cersei, emotionally, morally, and geographically, with only 6 episodes to go. That leaves him with very little narrative space to circle back. 

Another difference from the book version is that Cersei is fully aware of Jaime’s desertion. She knows he’s not on her side anymore, she knows why, and she knows where he’s going. She’s not sitting there telling herself her letter must not have arrived and Jaime must not know how much she needs him because he’d never abandon her for the Maid of Tarth. This means Jaime is not someone Cersei trusts anymore. By walking away from her, he has made himself her enemy, and she knows he knows it.

All this, with only six episodes to go.

YOU MAY THINK I’M ABOUT TO ARRIVE AT A POINT.

The point is that D&D have just made it very difficult for Jaime to be the one who kills Cersei.

They had already made it difficult when they ended Season 6 with Jaime returning to the Red Keep, and glaring unpleasantly at her but not making any move to kill her. 

Jaime’s departure in the Season 7 finale has made it prohibitively difficult for him to fulfill the Valonqar clause in Maggy’s Prophecy.

I don’t think Jaime will ever be persuaded to return to King’s Landing while his sister is still there. I don’t think anything can convince him to go anywhere he expects her to be. She could go and hide at Casterly Rock, and he’d let her have it. He wants nothing to do with her anymore, and he has work to do in the North. 

He’ll go where the fight against the Army of the Dead takes him, and Cersei has already announced her intention to stay as far as possible from that fight. She doesn’t want to go north. She wants to stay where the weather is milder and the snow zombies haven’t shown up. 

Is it possible she’ll have the Golden Company escort her north so she can pursue her rebellious twin? She’s so fucked-up I wouldn’t rule it out, and if she did that, and if Jaime killed her in response, it would be a matter of self-defense. 

Do I think it’s impossible for him to kill his sister in self-defense?

No. The problem is, Jaime is openly antagonistic to Cersei now. If he killed her in self-defense, what’s the “oh shit” factor in him being the Valonqar? At this point, his killing her would be no more of a shock to her than Tyrion killing her. There’s no irony. There’s no element of surprise, even in Cersei’s POV. There is no sense in which Jaime is a better candidate for the role of Cersei’s killer than Tyrion is, and I don’t think Tyrion is a candidate, either. He’s not interested in killing her, or humiliating her, or punishing her. He simply walked away. 

Now, we could look at this sequence of events and say D&D are fucking this up because they don’t understand Jaime’s arc, and they’re going to make a royal botch of his killing Cersei. 

Or...D&D are not going to make a royal botch of his killing Cersei, because they won’t have him be Cersei’s killer at all, and the reason why they’re not writing Jaime as the Valonqar is that they know more about GRRM’s plans than we do, and GRRM’s plans for Jaime do not include him being a twinslayer. 

Here’s a little thought experiment: allow, just for the sake of argument, a scenario for Jaime that doesn’t include him killing Cersei. Just picture a scenario in which Jaime is hundreds of miles away when Cersei dies, and with those conditions in place, see what other predictions open up. Not just for Jaime, but those who interact with him. See what other endgame conditions become viable when Jaime is not the Official Designated Twinslayer.

Now is a good time to reconsider the Valonqar.

[makerkenzie]

(This is a screenshot of someone’s reblog of my text post.

My post concerned Jaime’s lines in S7Ep3: “Truth is, Casterly Rock isn’t that important anymore. Well, it is to me. But my fond childhood memories won’t keep Cersei on the throne.”

Their reblog says:

“Cersei and Tyrion both cared about the Rock more than Jaime.

Both wanted to rule the Rock, while Jaime never did.

“Is it a rock you want? Or me?”

By morning Casterly Rock seemed a small price to pay to be near her always.”

Jaime saw the Rock as Tyrion’s heredity [sic]. He is sworn to the Queen!”)

Me: “I submit evidence that the showrunners understand the incestuous relationship as having harmed Jaime by pushing him to give up his family home.”

Twincest shipper: “Jaime gave up his family home for Cersei. She wins!”

(Blogger’s note: The word you want in place of “heredity” is “inheritance.”)

[makerkenzie]

“No one walks away from me.”

THE STORY OF JAIME’S ESCAPE FROM CERSEI: SCREENCAP EDITION

AND THEN HE FUCKING WALKED AWAY AND RODE NORTH. EVERYBODY GIVE THE KINGSLAYER A HAND!

[makerkenzie]

She is really special.

I can sort of see why Cersei would blame Tyrion for Myrcella’s death. I don’t agree with her, but I see how she makes the association. Ellaria targeted Myrcella in response to Oberyn dying as Tyrion’s champion, and Tyrion was the one who put Myrcella in the Martells’ custody in the first place. So, okay, there’s some cause and effect between Tyrion’s actions and Myrcella’s early grave.

But to act like he’s at fault for Tommen’s death? Just...what? The argument she’s making is, “If you hadn’t killed Father, then I wouldn’t have been in charge, and I wouldn’t have fucked up so hard I needed to blow up the Sept of Baelor to clean up my mess, and the Tyrells wouldn’t have died in the wildfire explosion and then Tommen wouldn’t have given up on life.” That’s the only way the blame lines up with the facts. She’s blaming Tyrion for giving her a chance to be a shitty ruler. 

That is some next-level toxic narcissist shit right there.

[makerkenzie]

He would have to face her, he supposed. Assuming the High Septon had not put her to death by the time he got back to the city.

Martin, George R. R.. A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 5) (p. 693). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

This is not germane to my new quotestorm all about Jaime turning into a Stark ally, but I will never not spread this around. 

[makerkenzie]

Eastwatch groundwork, 1st

Jaime: Hi, sis, I haven't even changed out of my filthy armor since I narrowly escaped getting roasted alive.

Cersei: I don't care about how you're feeling, bro, tell me about how many troops I'll have to replace.

Jaime: It was tricky to count, what with the giant hellbeast looming over the survivors.

Cersei: Well, either way, we can afford to hire new ones!

Jaime: You didn't believe me the first time I said we're the losing side, but I haven't changed my mind since I actually dealt with the other side. She's gonna kick our asses no matter how much we borrow from the Iron Bank. Do you want us to die for that throne?

Cersei: First off, I need another drink. Second, your advice is worthless unless you are telling me what I want to hear. Third, there is absolutely no reason for me to bring up Tyrion and his history of kinslaying, but I need to remind you of what a disappointment you are for not having battered and belittled our brother from infancy like I did.

Jaime: Well, actually, Olenna said she was the one who killed Joffrey, and we have no reason not to believe her, so maybe reconsider the context in which Tyrion played shooty-shoot on our dad.

Cersei: I don't care what that old bat said, you will forever be on my shit list for defending Tyrion as long as you did, and you should have given her a disgusting, excruciating death rather than let her give you exculpatory evidence on our brother. Everything you do is the wrong thing.

Jaime: I am asking you to prioritize our survival over your sitting on that throne.

Cersei: Fuck that noise. I would rather see you dead than allow you to have a life that isn't all about serving my ambition. Dismissed, ser.

[makerkenzie]

More edited highlights of Cersei acting like a cartoon villain and Jaime trying to keep his head above water. 

[makerkenzie]

Eastwatch groundwork, 2nd

Jaime: What was Qyburn doing in here just now?

Cersei: He's more important to me than you are. Justify your presence, brother.

Jaime: Well, okay, um...I met with Tyrion, and he wants to set up a meeting between us and his new queen.

Cersei: I am incapable of viewing any parley as anything except "kill or be killed," and why would I want to stop digging that hole now?

Jaime: It has to do with the Snow Zombie Apocalypse. Are you going to let Tyrion show us the evidence, or will you keep us here to get torn apart by the walking dead? Do I even want to hear your answer to that?

Cersei: Awww, that's cute. I know it was Bronn who set up the meeting, because I have all the power now and I can put people under surveillance. So I want you to punish Bronn for giving you a chance to interact with Tyrion, because you need to stop having friends outside of me.

Jaime: You are creepy enough to know what I'm about to do, and yet you were nice enough to let me have the meeting? What's the game now, sis?

Cersei: I've decided it'll be more exciting to pull all the most ill-advised, counter-productive shit our dad did with none of his organizational skills or military competence. May as well drag this out a few more months, seeing how you knocked me up again.

Jaime: Oh, fuck. I'll give you a chance not to drag me into this, as your having this baby won't do anything good for our reputation.

Cersei: Those ships have sailed, brother. Everyone knows we fuck, and your being perpetually beholden to me is a done deed. Although we're benefiting from your meeting with Tyrion, I'm still counting that as a betrayal on your part. If you ever behave independently again, I will know it, and you will suffer for it.