Jaime update (Patreon)

It's easy to forget how utterly villainous Jaime is in the first two books. He's arrogant and vain, swanning about in his glittering gilded armour. He’s careless and rash, “never [untying] a knot when he could slash it in two with his sword”. He’s totally contemptuous of others, killing people who get in his way without a second thought. “What would Jaime do in my place?” Tyrion thinks – “Kill the bitch, most likely, and worry about the consequences afterward”. Jaime kills three of Ned’s men just to "chasten" the Starks. He tries to kill seven-year-old Bran for the sake of his incestuous relationship with Cersei. He enjoys killing – he's “fond of the sight of blood on [his] golden sword”. In these first two books, Jaime seems truly irredeemable – “There is nothing here but arrogance and pride, and the empty courage of a madman”, Catelyn thinks. “I am wasting my breath with this one”.

It’s only in Book 3 that we start to see depth to Jaime’s character – with the loss of his hand, the truth about Aerys, the breakdown of his relationship with Cersei, his time in the riverlands… Jaime evolves. But these developments may not have been part of GRRM’s intention when he was writing the first couple books. In Martin’s original 1993 outline of ASOIAF, he says that “Jaime Lannister will follow Joffrey on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, by the simple expedient of killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession and blaming his brother Tyrion for the murders”. And there are indeed hints in Book 1 that Jaime might claim the throne – Eddard expresses concern over how Jaime sat the iron throne after killing Aerys, and Jon looks at Jaime and thinks “This is what a king should look like”. But now, five books later, a King Jaime seems unlikely – the character has taken an entirely different, fascinating direction. So maybe Jaime, more than any other ASOIAF character, embodies GRRM’s style as a “gardener” writer – Jaime has grown into something neither readers nor George himself ever anticipated.

We’re currently in the research phase for the Jaime video – I’m reading and watching everything there is to read and watch about Jaime, and forming a structure for the video script. This’ll be a good one (:

Also, we’ll hold the Patron-only Q&A stream next week – will make a post about it for the $5+ Patrons soon.

Thanks for your support!

ASX