Since House of the Dragon has finished and we have to wait a while for season two, this gives fans (myself included) plenty of time to really dive into this world George R.R. Martin created. You can read the many books the author has written surrounding this world or you can do what I’m doing and rewatch Game of Thrones. There’s a lot that I’m relearning while watching the hit HBO series. Not only am I noticing the noticeably lower budget the first few seasons had, but I’m also noticing the little ways the Targaryens are sprinkled throughout the show. It’s interesting to now be watching a prequel show about the Targaryens when they seemed like gods in GOT.
Let’s Talk About Game of Thrones Again
What I’m also realizing as I’m watching the show is how much I do not want to watch the final season. Season eight of Game of Thrones pissed a lot of fans off and rightfully so. There were so many aspects of this wonderful show that was ruined and while I could go on for days detailing it all, I want to focus on what aspect that was ruined in that final season. And that was Jaime Lannister’s story arc and redemption.
Who Was Jaime Lannister?
When we first meet Jaime Lannister, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau; we know a few things about him. He’s a self-absorbed pompous asshole who pushes Bran out a window for catching him in the act with his own twin sister, Cersei. For the first two seasons, Jaime’s quite unlikeable. That all begins to change once he meets the formidable Brienne of Tarth. From this meeting, we witness Jaime’s real growth. We learn the actually very honorable reason he killed the Mad King, we learn of his devotion to the ones he loves, and we see him finally walk away from the extremely toxic relationship he had with Cersei. Everything was almost perfect…until he rod back to Cersei.
In my opinion, his redemption was nearly perfect right up until the end. Not only did Jaime turn into a three-dimensional character as opposed to just the “smug, good looking asshole”, but us Jaime x Brienne fans finally got the two hooking up in season eight. I mean that was great for me and I was ready to close the book on a fantastic story arc. I knew Ramsay Bolton once said “if you think this story has a happy ending, you weren’t paying attention”, but I didn’t think that bad ending would come in the form of bad writing.
It Just Doesn’t Make Sense
When Jaime left Brienne after they had made love, I was heartbroken. Brienne was heartbroken. Even if Jaime didn’t want to be with Brienne, how could he ride back to the obviously vile and vicious Cersei? After everything he’d been through. Then fans on the internet surmised that Jaime wasn’t going back to King’s Landing to be with Cersei, rather to kill her. To know it had to be him to do it. This gave me comfort and I waited until the next episode to see this come to fruition.
Only it didn’t. Jaime’s ending came in the form of holding Cersei, as the walls crumbled around them. Cersei had said that they’d die together, but it didn’t make sense after all this time. I hated it. I’m not going to just accept that he just couldn’t help, but love her, even if he knew how wrong it was. Jaime had finally gotten free and I’m not saying that he necessarily deserved a happy ending. Everything could have been written the exact same way, except instead of him holding her, he stabs Cersei and dies anyway due to the crumble, because there wasn’t enough time to get out. Anything, but what we had. Brienne deserved more. Jaime deserved more. We deserved more.
In Conclusion…I Hated It
To bastardize his character so much is a continued example of how the writers did not care to not only due justice by way of their audience, but by their own story. There is a way things can be told. Daenerys going mad could have been done, but in a better way. Jaime leaving for Cersei could have been done, in a better way. Everything could have been better and while it’s hard to rewatch Game of Thrones knowing the endgame, I’m comforted in knowing this is not the ending Martin has ended in his book series. Hopefully, then, Jaime can find justice.
What’d you think of Jaime Lannister’s end in Game of Thrones?
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
