Jaime Lannister

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Jaime Lannister
Alias The Kingslayer
Titles
  • Lord Commander
  • of the Kingsguard
Allegiance House Lannister
Culture Westeros
Born 266 AL
Casterly Rock
Personal arms House Lannister.png White Shield.PNG
Books

Jaime Lannister known as the Kingslayer is the second child, and first-born son, of Lord Tywin Lannister of Casterly Rock and his wife Lady Joanna Lannister. He received his nickname after slaying the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen[1][2]. Prior to that he became the youngest ever member of the Kingsguard[3]. In A Storm of Swords he becomes a POV Character.

History

Early Years

He and his older twin sister Cersei were inseparable in their early childhood, going as far as to experiment together in a sexual manner at a young age. During one of these encounters, they were caught by Lady Joanna, their mother. Cersei was immediately exiled to the other side of the castle, and both twins were told never to do anything like that ever again.

At age nine, he lost his mother, who died birthing his younger brother Tyrion. Even though Tyrion is a malformed dwarf, Jaime seems to show genuine love towards Tyrion as a brother[4].

At the age of eleven, Jaime was sent to Crakehall to become a squire for Ser Sumner Crakehall. Two years later, while still a squire, he won his first tourney melee.

Raised to Knighthood

At age of fifteen, he was knighted on the battlefield by Ser Arthur Dayne during the campaign against the Kingswood Brotherhood. He later stopped at Casterly Rock to visit his sister, who he had been separated from for those years. It was there that Cersei told him that Lord Tywin intended to marry him to Lysa Tully, second daughter of Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun. It was Cersei who suggested that Jaime become a member of the Kingsguard, replacing the recently deceased Ser Harlan Grandison to be close to her and free himself of the unwanted marriage to Lysa. After a night of passionate sex he gave his consent to Cersei's plan[5].

A moon's turn later, he was raised to the Kingsguard at a ceremony at Harrenhal by Ser Gerold Hightower. It was only later that night when King Aerys II Targaryen decided to send him back to King's Landing to guard Queen Rhaella and Prince Viserys, depriving him of the chance to participate in Lord Whent's tourney that he realized that Aerys had only chosen him for the Kingsguard as a slight against Lord Tywin of whom Aerys was insanely jealous[6]. Furthermore, Cersei's ploy failed, as Lord Tywin furious of beeing robbed of his heir, resigned the Handship soon after. Thus, instead of being together as they intended, Cersei and Jaime just swapped places. Jaime was left at Court, finding himself guarding a mad king while four lesser men became Hand of the King.

Kingsguard

During his time in the Kingsguard, Jaime was troubled morally by the decisions of King Aerys who was insane. Two notable examples, of Jaime's moral problems with King Aerys behaviour was when King Aerys was raping and ravaging Queen Rhaella[7], and secondly, when King Aerys had Brandon Stark and Lord Rickard Stark executed. Jaime's trick to block out Aerys spectacularly cruel acts was to 'go away inside', something that he would later pass on to his son, Tommen as a way to deal with the harsh reality[8].

As King Aerys became increasingly insane, he began to see traitors everywhere and Varys was always there to point out those that he had missed. Aerys refused to let Jaime leave King's Landing and join the royal army, instead keeping him in Kings Landing to be used as a hostage against Lord Tywin who was still sitting on the sidelines in Robert's Rebellion. Lord Tywin Lannister had been replaced as Hand of the King first by Lord Owen Merryweather who was exiled when he failed to deal with Robert's rebellion, and who Tywin nicknamed "the Chuckler" because he laughed at the King's witticisms[9]. The second was Lord Jon Connington, who was exiled after losing the Battle of the Bells to Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon.

The new Hand was Lord Chelsted. King Aerys began a plan with the help of his chief Pyromancers (including Lord Rossart that would entail placing wildfire caches all over Kings Landing, intending to take the whole city with him if the royalists lost. When Lord Chelsted confronted Aerys about his genocidal plan he was burned alive. King Aerys then raised Lord Rossart, the King's favourite Pyromancer, to the Handship. Meanwhile, Jaime observed the whole of Aerys's genocidal plan and knew where all of the wildfire was to be placed[10].

The Kingslayer

It was the Battle of the Trident that roused Lord Tywin to act. He marched his armies to the gates of Kings Landing. Even though Varys called Lord Tywin a traitor, King Aerys heeded the advice of Grand Maester Pycelle and opened his gates to Lord Tywin and his army. Once inside, Lord Tywin betrayed King Aerys and began the Sack of King's Landing. In response Aerys ordered Rossart to burn Kings Landing and Jaime to kill his father. Jaime, who had been privy to this plan, chose this moment to kill Rossart and then Aerys to prevent him from distroying Kinglanding. Moments after he had killed king Aerys, Lord Tywin's men lead by Ser Elys Westerling and Lord Crakehall came into the hall. They saw what Jaime had done and asked him who would be proclaimed as King. Jaime he thought about Prince Viserys or prince Aegon but remembered that they carried Aerys tainted blood and responded to Ser Elys and Lord Crakehall that they could proclaim "who they bloody liked". Hereafter Jaime sat on the throne for a little while, until Ned Stark rode into the hall with his men to claim the throne for Robert Baratheon[11].

After the death of the last Targaryen king, Jaime secretly hunted down the two other pyromancers (Belis and Garigus) involved in Aerys' plan to burn Kings Landing. Jaime was pardoned by King Robert I Baratheon and continued to serve in his Kingsguard. Robert also gave him the name Kingslayer.

Jaime continued his illicit relationship with his sister, even though she was now married to King Robert, thus committing numerous acts of treason against King Robert. He fathered three children with Cersei: Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen. All children resemble their real parents.

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

After the death of Jon Arryn, King Robert travels north to visit Ned Stark at Winterfell and persuade him to become Jon's successor as Hand of the King. The king's is accomponied by almost the whole court, among them Jaime en Cersei.

While at Winterfell, Jaime and Cersei are caught having sex by Bran Stark. Bran is shocked and almost falls from the tower. Jaime pulls him up and then throws him out of the window, intending to kill him to keep the affair a secret. Bran survives but fall in coma.

Ned Stark accepts King Robert's invitation to be Hand, and begins investigating the death of Jon Arryn. In this investigation he discovers Jaime and Cersei's secret relationship by piecing together the fact that every time in history a Lannister wedded a Baratheon, they produced raven haired children. Instead Cersei's children; Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen are all fair-haired.

Meanwhile, Catelyn Stark, Lady of Winterfell capturs Jaime's brother Tyrion on suspicion of involvement in a botched assassination attempt on Bran Stark. Jaime and Lannister men attack Ned and his Northmen in the streets of King's Landing, leading to numerous deaths on both sides. Jaime the flies from Kings Landing and joined his father.

Jaime leads an army of Westermen against the River Lords, smashing Edmure Tully's host at the Golden Tooth, and eventually besieging Riverrun. However Robb Stark leads an Northern army to the Riverlands to relieve Riverrun. Rob surprises the Lannister army at the Battle of the Camps. Although Jaime fights bravely and manages to kill the sons of Lord Rickard Karstark he is captured. Afterwards, Jaime is imprisoned in Riverrun. While there he becomes Lord Commander of the Kingsguard after Ser Barristan the Bold is dismissed.

A Clash of Kings

When Lord Tywin appoints Tyrion Hand of the King, Tyrion promises to help free Jaime to gain Cersei's support. Tyrion's plan to free Jaime is unsuccessful. For breaking his word not trying to escape the Tullys transfer him to a dungeoncel. He is kept chained and malnourished. During this period Cersei takes their cousin Lancel as her lover.

While the War of the Five Kings rages around him, Jaime continues to be trapped in Riverrun. Negotionations for his release have led to nothing. Hand of the King Tyrion has sworn in open court to return the two girls for the return of Ser Jaime. Although Robb Stark has declined this exchange, and Eddard Stark has been executed, Catelyn longs for her daughters and together with Brienne from Tarth frees Jaime.

A Storm of Swords

Brienne, Jaime, and his cousin Cleos Frey begin the journey towards King's Landing, evading recapture by Ser Robin Ryger and his party from Riverrun, through Brienne's ingenious tactic of dropping boulders and rocks onto the chasing ship. However, they cannot evade capture by the Brave Companions led by Vargo Hoat, who have betrayed Lord Tywin and now serve the newly crowned King Robb Stark.

Vargo Hoat suspects that his superiour, Roose Bolton, is thinking about going over to the Lannisters. To prevent this he orders one of his men, to chop Jaime's sword hand off, thinking that the blaime will fall on Bolton[12]. For Jaime this loosing of his hand and with it his fighting ablity destroys everything that he was. He falls into a deep depression and looses the will to live. Brienne who has been taken prionner with Jaime, reminds him that he has something to live for, namely, for his family and for revenge. While they are held at Harrenhal they shared a bath in the bathhouse. Jaime divulges to Brienne the events surrounding the Sack of Kings Landing, including Aerys's wildfire plot. Later, at dinner, Lord Bolton hints that he will free Jaime as long as Jaime absolve him of the blame for the loss of his hand. Jaime agrees, and Lord Bolton orders Steelshanks Walton to escort him to Kingslanding. Brienne is to remain behind as Lord Vargo's prize.

Bolton leaves to join King Rob and Walton begin the journey to Kings Landing with Jaime and fallen maester, Qyburn. The latter's task is to keep Jaime healthy. When sleaping on a weirwood stump, Jaime has a dream about Brienne. Moved by this he goes back to Harrenhal and rescuses Brienne from Vargo Holt[13]. As the party arrives at the castle in King's Landing they run into Ser Loras Tyrell. Loras accuses Brienne of murdering Renly Baratheon. Again Jaime comes to her rescues and has Brienne arrested rather than allowing Loras to kill her. He then proceedes to the sept to see Cersei. Cersei is morning for their son Joffrey who has died and who corpse is beeing prepared for its funeral. Undaunted by this Cersei and Jaime have sex in front of their son Joffrey's corpse[14].

This turns out to be the last time that he and Cersei share intimate relations as their relationship begins to fall apart. Jaime is changed by his experiences. He quarrels with his father and refuses to resign from the Kingsguard. He passes the Valyrian sword Oathkeeper, given him by Tywin, on to Brienne and orders her keep Sansa Stark safe from Cersei and all those that would turn her in for the reward posted by Cersei[15].

Tyrion, who knows that Joffrey was in fact his son and not Robert's, is accused of poisoning Joffrey. When both trial by words and by battle failed Tyrion, Jaime still does not believe that Tyrion is the murderer. He forces Lord Varys to arrange Tyrions escape. During the escape Jaime confesses him an old sin. Years ago Jaime had told him that Tysha, the woman Tyrion had secretly married was in fact a whore hired by Jaime. Their father had then the woman raped by his soldiers and by Tyrion himself to teach them a lesson. But in fact Tysha was the crofter's daughter as she claimed to be and had loved Tyrion genuinely. Incensed at this revelation, Tyrion hits Jaime, and (falsely) claims responsibility for the murder of Joffrey. As an finale revenge he reveals that the truth about Cersei's sexual escapades with Lancel and Osmund Kettleblack[16]. Tyrion then leaves Jaime and, unknown to Jaime, visits Tywin to murder him[17]. .

A Feast for Crows

Following the murder of his father by his brother Tyrion, Jaime remains in King's Landing and stands vigil over Tywin. During the night, Cersei comes to him and pleads for him to become the King's Hand. He refuses and Cersei leaves angrily, stating she was a fool for ever having loved him[18]. Following the funeral, Jaime, on Cersei's command, leaves King's Landing with the intention of lifting the siege on Riverrun.

During the journey, Jaime spars with Ser Ilyn Payne during the nights, in order to train himself how to fight left-handed. Along the way he stops at Harrenhal, where he installs Ser Bonifer as castellan and releases the few prisoners kept there, including Wylis Manderly. He also stops at Castle Darry where his cousin, Lancel, confesses to having slept with Cersei[19].

Soon after, Jaime arrives at Riverrun. He holds a parlay with Brynden Tully, who is holding the castle, but is unsuccessful in convincing him to release the castle. He then speaks with Edmure Tully, the current Lord of Riverrun, who is held prisoner by the besieging forces. Jaime tells Edmure that he is to be released and returned to Riverrun. If he yields the castle, the garrison will be spared and all that wish to join the Night's Watch will be allowed to do so. If he does not surrender, the castle will be sacked and burned, and Jaime will kill Edmure's child as soon as his wife gives birth[20]. Edmure decides to yield the castle and is taken to Casterly Rock as a prisoner. However, Edmure's uncle Brynden escapes by swimming under the Water Gate at night. Jaime is furious at this and sends some of his men to find him but they are unsuccessful[21].

Soon after, Jaime receives a letter from Cersei asking for help. Cersei has been imprisoned by the High Septon and is to go on trial. Cersei requests Jaime as her champion in a potential trial-by-combat. Jaime does not reply to the letter and order it to be burned[22].

Appearance

Jaime is a tall man, with golden hair. He has "flashing green eyes and a smile that cut like a knife". He is widely considered to be beautiful.

Family

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tytos
 
Jeyne
Marbrand
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tywin
 
Joanna
Lannister
 
Kevan
 
Dorna
Swyft
 
Emmon
Frey
 
Genna
 
Tygett
 
Darlessa
Marbrand
 
Gerion
 
Briony
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robert
Baratheon
 
Cersei
 
Jaime
 
Tyrion
 
Sansa
Stark
 
 
 
 
 
 
Issue
 
 
 
 
 
Tyrek
 
Ermesande
Hayford
 
Joy
Hill
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Joffrey
Baratheon
 
Myrcella
Baratheon
 
Tommen
Baratheon
 
Amerei
Frey
 
Lancel
 
Willem
 
Martyn
 
Janei
 
 
 

Quotes

  • There are no men like me. There's only me[23].
  • The things I do for love[24].

References