Jaime Lannister (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
debt_unpaid) wrote2019-05-06 10:07 am
debt_unpaid) wrote2019-05-06 10:07 am
Entry tags:
profile / appearance / stats
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character basics.
personality.
On the outside, Jaime is everything his celebrity status demands of him: arrogant, smug, superior, untouchable. He's spent a life being the living legend Westeros imagined him to be, rarely forced to consider what sort of man he wanted to be. Even now, there are few who know how the loss of his hand damaged his self-esteem, and basically no one who knew how rocky that self-esteem was to begin with. In many ways his sword hand was what made him, given how much his identity depended on his prowess in battle, and losing it sent him to an emotional rock bottom from which he's been slowly clawing his way back ever since. Raised to ruthlessness and to the belief that anyone who showed weakness deserved to have it used against him, Jaime is now on the opposite end of his own measuring stick. In the beginning of the series, he was unapologetically amoral in his behavior, meeting insults with immediate retaliation with no thought for the consequences. He's no politician-- much to Cersei's dismay, he has no ambition to rule, and little talent for strategy. The fastest and simplest way out of a problem is usually the one he'll choose, and he's equally straightforward in his dealings with others. Part of growing up rich and powerful was immunity from social ostracism, and Jaime learned early on that he could say whatever he wanted without being called out for it. His humor tends toward dry mockery, and while it's turned on himself as often as others, he still has little care for politeness or tact. Overall Jaime is a study in contrast, his inner landscape deeply at odds with how others see him, and his path is a struggle toward bringing those two things closer in line with each other. For his entire life Jaime has lived with a terrible burden of secrets-- the true nature of his and Cersei's relationship, the reason he killed Aerys, the truth about Tyrion's first wife Tysha-- and the self-loathing that has run like an undercurrent to his entire life since he became the Kingslayer is now much closer to the surface. He's still glib and snarky and will put off any attempts on anyone's part to have a conversation about emotions; he pretends to still say exactly what he thinks with no care for the consequences, but he's actually much more measured. He no longer thinks anyone whose name is Lannister is safe; in fact, he trusts no one in the world except Brienne and Tyrion, and has zero interest in developing meaningful relationships with anyone. He doesn't believe he's a good person, and since the loss of his hand believes he's not useful for anything except righting the wrongs he and his family have perpetuated. abilities + skills.
Jaime's most famed skill is with the sword. He was known since his teenage years as the best swordsman in Westeros— which made the loss of his sword hand crippling in more ways than just the physical. He's almost useless with his left hand, and has been coming to terms with what he's meant to do with himself and his life now that he's no longer his father's blunt instrument. But like all the Lannisters, Jaime is bright, if not naturally inclined toward scholastic pursuits. He had trouble learning to read as a child (likely a form of dyslexia, as he says his mind would transpose the letters as he tried to make sense of words) but Tywin sat with him for hours each day practicing until he learned. He's not ambitious or particularly given to leadership; as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, he's just now learning to think before he acts, and will continue to develop as a tactician and leader as time goes on.
"So many vows...they make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his. But obey your father. Love your sister. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. Respect the gods. Obey the laws. It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or the other.” history.
Jaime grew up charmed: golden son of the richest family in Westeros, tapped for the Kingsguard when he was just fourteen, widely acknowledged the greatest living swordsman in the realm. But with the rise of Robert's Rebellion, everything changed. Aerys Targaryen was known across Westeros as the Mad King, but few knew how deep his madness went. Jaime, who stood at the foot of the Iron Throne and guarded the king with his life, saw it firsthand. Forced into silence and inaction by his holy vows to protect the king, he stood helpless as Aerys murdered people in retaliation for the smallest insults, killing people in public in increasingly brutal ways. When Tywin Lannister betrayed the king and entered King's Landing with an army, Aerys went a step too far in ordering Jaime to kill his father before setting the entire city ablaze with wildfire. Instead, Jaime did the unthinkable and killed Aerys instead, saving the entire city and ending the war. Thereafter Jaime was branded the Kingslayer, his honor forever tarnished by his broken oath. As part of the allegiance that had won Tywin's support, King Robert forgave him and retained him on the Kingsguard, where he could stand guard to his twin sister Cersei as she married Robert and became queen. No one (except perhaps the twins' younger brother Tyrion) knew that Jaime and Cersei had been lovers since adolescence, or that as time went on and Cersei bore children, they were all Jaime's and not Robert's. The next person to discover the truth was Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King; Arryn confronted Cersei and was murdered for his silence, an event which set off the events covered in the book series. You can read summaries on the Wiki of Ice and Fire. Jaime is a major character in the books, but we see a fairly one-sided perspective on him until book 3, when he gets his own point of view chapters just in time for him to meet Brienne of Tarth and lose his sword hand to a crazed mercenary soldier by the name of Vargo Hoat. The loss of his hand also means loss of the identity he's carried all his life as a swordsman and member of the Kingsguard, and forces him to examine and radically redefine every relationship in his life. As he travels back to King's Landing with Brienne as his protector, he comes to respect and trust her, and to see her as the avatar of his honor, doing the just and righteous things that the Kingslayer never could. Once she leaves King's Landing on a quest to save Sansa Stark, things fall apart with some rapidity. Tyrion is convicted of Joffrey's murder; Jaime gets Varys to smuggle him out of prison before he's put to death, and Tyrion takes the opportunity of his freedom to kill their father; Cersei's mental state begins to dissolve and takes their relationship along with it; Jaime becomes Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and begins an uphill battle to become a good man worthy of the title. He exits canon after learning of Cersei's imprisonment and deciding to ignore her plea for help at the end of A Feast for Crows. playlist.
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