#this is the groundwork that tywins supposed high iq methods created
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Why does Jaime not fit as Tywin's heir, or it's not in his nature -- as you say. Very interesting stuff.
Jaime is a very romantic character. Tywin can be delusional too (not that this is synonymous with romantic), to absurd levels, trying to achieve an idealized legacy, but he is not an idealist in the way that Jaime is at all. They also have very distinct values and ways of looking and reacting to the world. Remember when he told Jaime this:
"You cannot eat love, nor buy a horse with it, nor warm your halls on a cold night," she heard him tell Jaime once, when her brother had been no older than Tommen.
It is such a deeply funny line to me. It is at the core of how Tywin seems to operate as an individual. And he is telling this to the character named J’aime. The character whose actions are always driven by some aspect of love: be it love that is destructive and prejudiced, or love that is beautiful and altruistic. Like one of his defining character thesis statements is: “The things I do for love.” The point is that Jaime was always a character with a romantic view of things, especially at the start. His feigned cynicism and nihilism cannot even hide this aspect of his character once we finally get into his disillusioned and blackpilled head. Even when you read the prose in his chapters his descriptions are laced with romantic language. Tywin is so caught up with the image of Jaime, the ideal masculine archetype, that he completely ignores the major issues present with Jaime’s nature and how incompatible it is with Tywin’s outlook on life. Jaime is absolutely not a good candidate to be his “cold ruthless and pragmatic with perfect authority” heir. This is why Jaime ends up giving it all away for the KG, and ruins all his plans. He does this for love. He also cares relatively little about being the head of his family and his main motivations are everything that does not fit with so much of Tywin’s outlook. Jaime is concerned more with abstract concepts like honor, chivalry, and love etc than power and politicking. It is also very apparent how distinct they are based on Jaime’s relationship to his siblings and the guilt he feels over Rhaegar’s children and how he reacts to the brutality and cruelty done to Hoat for example. He also keeps running from Tywin’s legacy. First, he gives it all up because he loves Cersei. Then, when he comes back handless, Tywin celebrates like fucking finally, and then Jaime is like nah I’ll stay KG actually, and gets disowned #epic style. Then, he frees his brother because of guilt and because he cared about him unlike Tywin. This is also an action that leads to Tywin’s death. All of his children keep dooming him because he tried to mold them into something that they are not. He wanted Cersei, a passionate, ambitious, and fiery individual to be a submissive tradwife political pawn. He wanted Tyrion to be hidden with no influence or real power, repressing the immense potential that Tyrion has. This is why they are all destined to destroy him and what he has built in some form. (also, I think this idea is also ever present in how Tywin tries to change the twin swords into pure crimson, and how they physically reject it: link, it speaks to Tywin’s failure to mold his legacy into what he wants it to be, as well as the inability to cover up the darkness (ripples of blood and night) with pretty crimson, but I think it also showcases how he fails to mold all his tools, be it Joff, Jaime, Tyrion, Cers) Even when Jaime seeks to emulate his father because he believes his strength is needed to offer protection to his family, he fails at it. There are numerous anti parallels all throughout AFfC and especially his ADwD chapter.
#jaime lannister#asoiaf#valyrianscrolls#ask#tywin lannister#this is also y the lannister project at the riverlands is gonna fail hilariously badly#jaime was less preoccupied with crushing his enemies and more preoccupied with his oath and his internal transformation and weighing and#reflecting his values#this regime is built on fear#thats the only tool that would have worked atp#diplomacy trust etc etc is a no go#nobody wants the lannisters nobody likes them#its either that fragile violent subjugation or its a lost project#jaime dooms it there lol#and thank god he does#he managed a peaceful change in power but thats just a bandaid on this doomed regime#like lets not be delusional here#this is the groundwork that tywins supposed high iq methods created#violent subjugation where u kill everyone or nothing#it was always gonna be a doomed peace#obeying his father was always pretty low on jaimes ‘so many vows’ speech lmfaooooo#the reason he even tries to emulate him is not what a lot of ppl think it is lol#talked about it a lot before
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