[General — Lore]
Rather than using his nephew's birth name of Aegon, which would have given away his real parentage, Ned gave the baby the name "Jon" after his great friend and mentor Jon Arryn , Lord of the Vale, whom he loved like a second father. The boy also grew up using the surname "Snow", as is customary for acknowledged bastards in the North . In truth, however, "Jon" is not a bastard at all, as Rhaegar apparently had his marriage to Elia annulled and married Lyanna.
Mormont prepares Jon for a command role as the great ranging travels North seeking Benjen and an explanation for the wight attack. They pass through several abandoned wildling villages before arriving at the home of their unsavory ally Craster .
The rangers reach the ancient fortified peak known as the Fist of the First Men and await Qhorin and his party from the Shadow Tower . When Qhorin arrives, he suggests altering their tactics and using small groups to overcome Mance's lookouts in the Skirling Pass . Jon asks to join Qhorin's raiders and Jeor lets him go.
Jon gives a speech about avenging Mormont's death at the hands of the mutineers and this convinces a number of his brothers to join him in his attack, including Grenn, Edd, and Locke (who secretly intends to kill Jon during the mission and blame it on the mutineers).
The group attacks at night, taking the mutineers by surprise. Jon personally enters the main building to deal with Karl Tanner . The two of them are evenly matched, though Karl manages to get the upper hand by spitting in Jon's face and then kicking him to the floor. Before he can land the finishing blow, Karl is stabbed in the back by Sissy . Karl attempts to kill her, though it's a fatal mistake as Jon doesn't miss the opportunity to thrust Longclaw through the back of Karl's head and out of his mouth.
Later, while Edd forces the wildling army to retreat for the night, down below Jon deals with a heavily wounded Tormund, who continues to fight despite being the only wildling left alive in the castle. Jon subdues him with a crossbow and orders his brothers to take him prisoner and interrogate him. The following morning, Jon discusses with Sam his suicidal solution to end the wildling threat: he plans to assassinate Mance Rayder, noting that he is the only thing binding the disparate wildling clans that make up the army, and his death will rob them of that purpose and leadership.
Obedience to the laws of his "father" - that the man who passes the sentence must swing the sword - Jon makes ready to personally behead Janos. While on the chopping block, Janos begins to plead for mercy. After a moment of hesitation, Jon executes the cowardly former Commander of the City Watch with a single blow. From across the courtyard, Stannis sees Jon behead Janos for refusing his orders, and slightly nods in approval.
Edd helps Jon to his feet and they make it back to the boats to Stannis's ships, with the wights refusing to follow them in the water. But as they leave, the Night King himself appears at thousands of e wharf and shares a long glance with Jon, at the same time using his magic to raise all of the dead as wights before Jon's eyes. Jon looks on in obvious terror, as he knows the slaughter he just witnessed is merely a prelude to what is coming for all of Westeros.
Later, as Jon eats with Sansa, Brienne, Podrick, Tormund, and Edd, he receives a letter from Ramsay , informing him that he is holding Rickon prisoner and furiously demanding the return of Sansa on threat of massacring Jon's allies, raping Sansa and murdering Rickon and Jon. Jon notes Ramsay's signature and Sansa deduces that Roose Bolton is dead. Jon asks Tormund how many men he has; Tormund says 2,000, not enough to fight Ramsay's 5,000 by themselves. With some urging from Sansa to rally the Northern Houses still loyal to the Starks, Jon resolves to take Ramsay down.
The armies gather the following morning as Ramsay brings out Rickon. Telling Rickon that they are playing a game, he tells Rickon to run towards Jon and as Rickon does so, Ramsay brings out a bow. Jon desperately rides out on a horse to try to save Rickon, as Ramsay fires arrows at him. Ramsay appears to have no intention of hitting Rickon with his few shots but eventually, just as Jon is about to reach his brother, Rickon is struck in the back with an arrow and killed.
With Jon now defenseless in the middle of the battlefield and charging the Bolton cavalry alone, Bolton archers fire volleys of arrows in his direction. Davos commands the Stark cavalry to follow their commander and they begin their charge to meet the Bolton cavalry, narrowly saving Jon from being trampled and forcing them to abandon their initial strategy of luring the Bolton army into encirclement. After luring Jon's army forwards, Ramsay executes his own pincer movement with his infantry, completely encircling the Stark/Wildling army. The Bolton army continues to press their advantage, with interlocking spears from all directions forcing Jon's army closer and closer together.
However, unexpectedly, with the help of Wun Wun, Jon's forces manage to breach the gates, and the remaining Bolton forces are defeated, although Wun Wun is severely injured by a barrage of arrows and spears, and eventually succumbs to Ramsay's final arrow, as Jon and Tormund watch on in horror, helpless to save their friend. Ramsay finally accepts Jon's offer to a one-on-one duel, while wielding a bow and arrow. Grabbing a nearby shield, Jon deftly blocks all of Ramsay's shots with it until he gets close enough to smack the bow out of Ramsay's hands and hit him to the ground, whereupon he furiously punches Ramsay's face into a bloody pulp.
Lord Wyman goes on to call Jon "the White Wolf" and he too proclaims him King. Robett Glover apologizes profusely, saying that he dishonored himself by not aiding him before, and he only didn't help Jon because he thought he had no hope of winning. Lord Cerwyn , whose parents were flayed alive by Ramsay and did not help out of fear, also swears his allegiance. All of the gathered lords of the North and the Vale draw and raise their swords and hail Jon as the new King in the North, echoing how Robb's bannermen previously proclaimed him king. Surprised, Jon shares a look with Sansa, who returns Jon's smile as he stands. However, Sansa's smile vanishes when she sees Littlefinger glowering in the corner of the hall.
In private, Jon chides Sansa for questioning his decision-making in front of the other lords and ladies and tells her to trust him. When Sansa reminds him that the late Joffrey did not tolerate dissent, Jon asks Sansa if she thinks he's like Joffrey. Sansa tells Jon that she knows he is nothing like Joffrey and assures Jon that he is good at leadership but she stresses that he must act wiser than Ned and Robb.
On the walk to the castle , Missandei walks with Davos and tells him that she comes from the island of Naath . Davos remarks that it was a paradise full of palm trees. Jon and Tyrion talk about Sansa's marriage to Tyrion. Tyrion assures Jon that it was a sham and remarks that she is a lot smarter than she lets on, which Jon agrees. While Jon is aware of the fate of the previous Starks who had met with the Mad King, Jon insists that he is not a Stark. Jon and Davos are startled at the sight of Drogon , Rhaegal and Viserion flying low over the causeway and dive to the ground, while an amused Missandei and Tyrion retain their composure. Offering Jon a hand up, Tyrion says he wishes he could tell Jon he'll get used to the dragons – but no one is quite used to them except their mother, who is waiting for Jon within.
Jon still wants Daenerys to ally with him to defeat the army of the dead, but Daenerys still wants him to bend the knee. He insists that the North won't accept a southern ruler again after everything they've gone through. Daenerys urges that they will if their king does, and asks Jon if their survival isn't more important than his pride. When Daenerys receives word about Casterly Rock and Highgarden, she becomes frustrated about her constant defeat and wants to attack the Red Keep with her dragons immediately. Tyrion advises against this, and Daenerys asks Jon for his thoughts. Jon tells Daenerys that he never thought that it was possible for dragons to live again, and that people follow Daenerys because she has done the impossible. He then warns her that if she uses her dragons to melt castles and burn cities, she will be just the same as those before her. Afterwards, Jon reunited with Theon who has survived his encounter with Euron Greyjoy . The anxious Theon asks Jon if Sansa is all right. Jon proceeds to scold Theon that what he did for Sansa was the only reason why he is still alive.
Jon arrives at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea and heads out with a ranging party consisting of Tormund, Jorah Mormont, Gendry, the Hound , Thoros , Beric Dondarrion , and a few others on a mission to capture a wight. They succeed but half of the party, including Thoros, end up being killed as they are attacked by wights, prompting Daenerys to intervene with all three of her dragons and leading to the death of Viserion by the Night King, who later resurrects the beast for his own use. Despite this devastating loss, Jon continues to fight and nearly drowns in the cold waters beneath the ice. Though he manages to pull himself out, he is all alone and nearly overwhelmed by the wights until a last-minute intervention by his long-lost uncle Benjen, who tells him to flee on his horse while he buys time for his nephew to escape. While riding away on horseback, Jon watches his uncle being overwhelmed by the undead. He makes it back to Eastwatch and is brought aboard the ship with Daenerys, Davos, and Sandor.
In the Narrow Sea, Jon wakes to find Daenerys sitting at his bedside. Jon apologizes for the disastrous ranging party and the fact it caused Viserion's death, but Daenerys tells him not to apologize because she now knows that the Army of the Dead is real. Overcome with emotion, she tells Jon that the dragons are the only children she will ever have, and vows that she and Jon will together destroy the Night King. Jon thanks Daenerys, addressing her as "Dany", and Daenerys realizes that the last person to address her by that name was her older brother (and Jon's uncle) Viserys, who Daenerys remembers as not being a good person. Jon apologizes and asks if "my Queen" would be more appropriate, agreeing to bend the knee. Daenerys asks Jon what the Northern lords loyal to him will make of this. Jon assures her they will come to see her for the good person she is, as he already has. Daenerys is touched by his statement and they take each other's hand for a moment. They gaze into each other's eyes, before Daenerys suddenly pulls away and tells him to get some rest and leaves him alone.
Later, Jon meets up with Sansa, who is angry that Jon bent the knee to Daenerys. Jon says titles are not important when the Army of the Dead is coming and he is certain Daenerys will make a good queen for them. Sansa asks Jon if he bent the knee to save the North or because he loves Daenerys. Afterward, Daenerys and Jon see the dragons and she invites him to ride atop Rhaegal. While he initially finds it difficult, he soon gets used to it and flies alongside Daenerys. After landing, Jon and Daenerys kiss, which is interrupted by the dragons. Later, Jon reunites with Arya, he finds out that she is more loyal to Sansa than the Targaryen queen.
Later in the catacombs when he is lighting candles in remembrance of his family, Jon reunites with Sam. Sam asks him whether Jon knew that Daenerys executed his brother and father . Though Jon is surprised by this news, he tells Sam he has also executed men who disobeyed him. Sam responds Jon has also spared men when they've refused to kneel. Jon says he wasn't a king, prompting Sam to respond that Jon is a king. Jon responds that he gave up his crown. However, Sam reveals to Jon that he is the King of the Seven Kingdoms as Aegon Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna. An angry Jon refuses to believe this as his father, Ned Stark, would never lie to him, but Sam says Ned lied to protect Jon. Jon insists Daenerys is their queen. Sam asks Jon if Daenerys would give up her crown for her people.
After the battle, Jon, Davos, and Tyrion observe in horror the ash-covered devastation wrought by Daenerys, with charred bodies strewn everywhere. Tyrion leaves for the Red Keep alone, and rejects Jon's suggestions to take some of his soldiers as guards. A little while later, Jon confronts Grey Worm and the Unsullied who are executing remaining surrendered Lannister soldiers. Grey Worm states that he has been ordered by Daenerys to execute all who followed Cersei. When Jon tries to stop him, the Unsullied and Stark soldiers almost come to blows, but Davos defuses the situation by telling Jon to take it up with the queen. As they walk away, they witness Grey Worm executing the captives.
In many ways, Jon has been unusually lucky for a bastard child, given how rare it is for a lord to raise one in his own castle alongside his lawful children. For all of Jon's misgivings about not knowing his mother and Catelyn ignoring and shunning him, he was loved by his father and siblings, was never poor or hungry, but lived in a castle and had a noble's upbringing. Jon was formally educated by Maester Luwin and was trained in combat by Ser Rodrik Cassel .
In A Song of Ice and Fire , Jon is 14 years old when the story begins. Jon resembles his father with a lean build, long face, and gray eyes, more than any of his true-born children (except Arya, to an extent, but she is a girl, while he looks very much like a young version of Eddard). Jon loves his half-siblings and among them, is closest with Robb and Arya.
Unlike in the television series, Jon has never been on good terms with Theon. Jon feels Theon is an "ass" and Theon feels Jon is jealous of his highborn status. Meanwhile, Theon resents Jon for being bastard-born but treated better than him by Eddard.
There is no mention in the books that Jon caught the pox as a child and Catelyn, out of guilt, prayed for him to survive: in A Game of Thrones , Catelyn states outright that she wishes it was Jon who had fallen from the broken tower in Bran's place.
The prostitute character Ros was invented for the TV series, so Jon never tried to have sex with her only to back down from it in the end out of fear of fathering a bastard - though the novels do have Jon make some similar statements that he is horrified at the thought of creating bastard children of his own who would be looked down upon with nothing to inherit, as he grew up, thus the overall point that Jon didn't really have any experience with women before joining the Watch basically stands.
After Jon kills Orell, part of Orell's consciousness survives by warging into his eagle, after which Orell's mind controlling the eagle's body attempts to claw out Jon's eye with its talons (which occurred in Season 3 of the TV series). The attack leaves permanent deep scars over Jon's eye. However, rather than disfiguring him, characters within the narrative point out that they think it makes him ruggedly handsome. Stereotypical Fantasy heroes usually never get significantly hurt, at worst getting scars running over their eyes which make them look "cool." Author George R.R. Martin spent much of the books deconstructing or subverting traditional Fantasy literature stereotypes, making Westeros a gritty and realistic setting where instead of all of the main characters miraculously surviving through battles unscathed, some are horribly maimed (i.e. Jaime and Tyrion do not get dashingly roguish scars over their eyes - they outright lose their sword hand and nose, respectively). In contrast, Jon actually does behave like a traditionally heroic character, but put in the dark setting of Westeros - and as a result, Jon does end up getting "cool hero scars" over his eye.
Various hints included that Eddard gave inconsistent and indeed contradicting accounts of who Jon's mother was, indicating that he was lying about something , and also the conspicuous fact that Lyanna died shortly before Ned returned to the North with the infant Jon: hinting that Lyanna died in childbirth. There were also many hints (still unconfirmed) that Lyanna didn't actually love Robert, and she ran off with Rhaegar - particularly that everyone except for Robert himself describes Rhaegar as a chivalrous, intellectual, kind man who didn't seem the sort to randomly rape the daughter of a major noble House. Another major hint was that Rhaegar had the three greatest members of the Kingsguard (two in the TV version) including Arthur Dayne sit out the entire war, purely to guard Lyanna at the Tower of Joy.
Queen Daenerys I Targaryen , also known as Daenerys Stormborn , and affectionately known as Dany , was the only daughter of King Aerys II Targaryen and Queen Rhaella , and the younger sister of Rhaegar and Viserys Targaryen .
Daenerys was initially a timid, obedient youth. After her marriage to Drogo she gathered the confidence of his khalasar . Following his death, she expanded her dominion into Essos, gaining the loyalty of an army of Unsullied and liberating Slaver's Bay from the Ghiscari slave masters.
A short time later, Drogo arrives at Illyrio's manse. After taking a brief look at Daenerys, Drogo rides away without dismounting his horse. Viserys is concerned, but Illyrio assures him that if he did not approve of Daenerys, they would have known. After their departure, Illyrio and Viserys discuss the quest to sail back to Westeros, and Viserys inquires when the wedding will take place. Daenerys is not pleased with the arrangement and blurts out that she does not want to marry Drogo. Viserys insists that Daenerys will marry him, because, in return, Drogo will give Viserys the army he needs to retake their father's throne from Robert Baratheon. Viserys adds that he would let his sister be raped by all forty thousand of Drogo's men and their horses if it meant getting his throne back.
While traveling further eastward, Daenerys commands the khalasar to halt, and wanders into a glade. Viserys, enraged at the idea of being commanded by his sister, then attempts to renew his control over her, but Rakharo defends her from his attempts at violence, stating (through Irri's translation) that he should take an ear from him to teach respect. At first, she begs her men to spare him, but at an encouraging stare from Ser Jorah, she grows confident and orders them to spare Viserys, although he is shamed by being forced to walk. Daenerys discovers that she is pregnant with Drogo's child. She assuredly predicts that she will have a son, to Drogo's approval. The pregnancy buoys the love between them.
Daenerys studies her dragon eggs. Despite Illyrio's claim that they are now only stone, she ponders if they might be hatched by extreme heat, and places an egg on a brazier. Nothing happens, to her disappointment. As she removes the egg from the brazier, Irri enters her tent and hurriedly takes the egg so as to not let Daenerys burn her hands, but while Irri does suffer burns, Daenerys is completely unharmed.
According to Duur, the child is stillborn and deformed, with leathery scaled skin, wings and a stomach filled with grave-worms. Duur saves Drogo's life, but leaves him in a vegetative state. Duur admits she did this deliberately in revenge for the sacking of her village. The ritual that saved Drogo drew its power from the death of Daenerys's son, causing her child's stillbirth and monstrous appearance. Daenerys is distraught.
Distressed by the lifelessness of Drogo, Daenerys tries to stir any sign of life in him but cannot. She is forced to accept that he will never truly be alive again, remaining in a vegetative state, and must smother him with a pillow to end it. She constructs a funeral pyre for his body. She places her dragon eggs on it and ties Duur to the Drogo's funeral pyre, to be burned alive in revenge. Jorah believes that she means to die and tries to persuade her not to.
Aggo's fate is unknown, but Kovarro returns with an invitation from the great city of Qarth . Daenerys leads her people there, and is disappointed at the lukewarm reception she receives. She is denied entry by the ruling council, the Thirteen , unless she shows them her dragons, which she refuses to do. When it seems she will be turned away, the Qartheen dignitary Xaro Xhoan Daxos vouches for her and her people, against the order of the Spice King .
Daenerys and her surviving people are made guests in Xaro's lavish home. She begins to teach her dragons to cook and eat their own meat, and slowly begin breathing fire on command. She suggests to Doreah that she use her skill as a lover to find out more about Xaro, who happily agrees. Their host holds a reception for Daenerys and she is introduced to Pyat Pree of the Warlocks of Qarth . He demonstrates his magic by replicating himself and invites her to visit his order at the House of the Undying .
Xaro suggests that Jorah has feelings for Daenerys, but she denies this. Xaro shows Daenerys the Valyrian stone vault that guards his fortune and offers to fund her return to Westeros in exchange for her hand in marriage. He relays news of the death of King Robert Baratheon . Daenerys seeks the council of Jorah. She is eager to seize the opportunity, but he counsels against entering Xaro's debt. He reveals the depth of his feeling for her and his hope for the ruler that she will become. She agrees to take the harder path that he suggests but does not acknowledge his affection.
Later, Daenerys tries to negotiate with the Spice King for ships to return to Westeros. However, he considers it to be too risky an investment – considering that she has no army and has no open supporters in Westeros – and she receives nothing. She states that she will take what is hers, but the Spice King remarks she will have to do it without his ships.
Daenerys unsuccessfully appeals to more of the merchant nobles of Qarth to lend her ships. After the meeting, she returns to Xaro's home, to find that it has been attacked; half of her men have been brutally murdered, Irri is dead, and Doreah and the dragons are missing. Unbeknown to her, Doreah has taken her dragons to the House of the Undying, due to an alliance with Xaro and Pyat Pree.
Xaro hosts a council of the Thirteen so Daenerys can appeal to them for aid. During the meeting, Pyat Pree reveals that he was responsible and Xaro announces his intention to seize control of the city, as the new King of Qarth. The warlock uses his magic, creating thirteen duplicates to murder the rest of the Thirteen. Daenerys flees, but Pyat Pree appears to them, only to be stabbed through the back by Jorah. The stabbed Pyat is revealed to be another one of the duplicates. He repeats his invitation to Daenerys, telling her that her children are at the House of the Undying.
They take refuge in a disused courtyard, where Jorah advises Daenerys to leave her dragons and flee Qarth, as he has recently booked passage to Astapor . She insists on attempting to reclaim them and asks Jorah to lead her to the House of the Undying, without knowing what lies in wait.
Upon arriving in Astapor, Daenerys is given a tour of the Unsullied barracks by the Unsullied's owner, Kraznys mo Nakloz , with his slave girl Missandei translating his Low Valyrian into the Common Tongue of Westeros for Daenerys. Since Kraznys does not know that Daenerys understands Valyrian, he frequently insults her.
Throughout the tour, Kraznys explains that the Unsullied were trained for battle from the age of five and that only one in four recruits survived the training. He also demonstrates that the Unsullied do not fear pain or death by slicing off the nipple of one soldier, much to Daenerys's disgust. This soldier not only shows no sign of pain but even thanks his slave master for the opportunity to serve him. Daenerys also learns that the Unsullied are trained not to show mercy or weakness by killing a newborn slave child in front of its mother at the end of their training. While Daenerys is outraged by this, she still asks Kraznys how many Unsullied are available. She is told that there are eight thousand soldiers for sale and that she has until the next day to make a decision.
En route back to their ship, Jorah recommends that Daenerys purchase the Unsullied, arguing that under her command, these slave soldiers will have a far better quality of life serving her than they would under Kraznys and his ilk. Daenerys is distracted by a playing child who follows her and Jorah. However, neither of them noticed a hooded man, armed with a dagger, following them. The child offers Daenerys a gift, a wooden ball, gesturing for her to open it.
Later, Daenerys continues her negotiations with Kraznys over her planned purchase of the Unsullied. During the meeting, Daenerys announces that she would take all 8,000 Unsullied soldiers, including those in training. Kraznys initially dismisses her offer and instead offers to sell her one hundred soldiers. Daenerys then offers to sell him one of her dragons.
Daenerys also asks Missandei for her name and whether she has any living family, but Missandei responds that she does not. Daenerys warns her that she was heading to war, she may be killed and fall sick and die. In response, Missandei recites the Valyrian aphorism: "Valar morghulis," which translated into the Common Tongue as "all men must die." Daenerys then realizes that Missandei actually knows High Valyrian, and also adds that "we are not men."
On the day of the exchange, the slave masters and Kraznys, along with the 8,000 Unsullied warriors, meet with Daenerys to complete the deal. Daenerys hands the chained Drogon to Kraznys, who is hostile towards his slave master. Kraznys then gives her the golden whip, the symbol of ownership over the Unsullied. After finalizing the transaction, Daenerys tests her new powers by ordering the Unsullied, in Valyrian, to march forward and then halt. This shocks everyone including Jorah and Barristan, who did not know that she spoke Valyrian.
Kraznys then complains that Drogon did not obey his command, to which Daenerys angrily retorts Drogon does not obey him because he is not a slave; Kraznys is both stunned to learn she speaks fluent Valyrian and horrified to realize Daenerys understood his derogatory comments and insults about her the whole time, merely feigning ignorance to lull the Astapori into a false sense of security. She then orders the Unsullied to kill all the slave masters and free all the slaves in Astapor, but to hurt no innocent people. When a panicking Kraznys desperately shouts for someone to kill her, Daenerys orders Drogon to burn Kraznys alive.
With the Unsullied under her command, Daenerys sacks Astapor with little resistance. Once it is done, she addresses all of her Unsullied warriors and tells them they are now free. She also gives them the option of leaving unharmed or fighting under her command as free men. At first, the Unsullied remain quiet, not knowing what to do with their newfound freedom. however, one Unsullied soldier begins to beat his spear against the ground, signifying his allegiance to her. The rest of the Unsullied follow suit shortly thereafter. Now in command of an army of free men, Daenerys marches forward with her new army while her dragons fly overhead and roar triumphantly.
During their journey to Yunkai , the next great city of Slaver's Bay , Daenerys orders the Unsullied to elect a commander from their own ranks. The officers ultimately choose Grey Worm who, like all Unsullied, was given the name of a type of vermin. When Daenerys instructs the Unsullied to go back to their own names or pick new ones they like, Grey Worm elects to keep his, as it was the name he had when Daenerys Stormborn set him free.
While Daenerys and Barristan are confident that they can conquer Yunkai since that city only bred sex slaves, Jorah expresses his concerns that the city's defenders will not fight them on the battlefield but will rather strengthen their position behind the walls and utilize guerrilla tactics against her army. He also views the Yunkai campaign as a distraction from their main goal of taking Westeros. Daenerys is, however, adamant on freeing the slaves of Yunkai, who number in the hundreds of thousands.
She orders Grey Worm to send a messenger to the city, and inform Yunkai's slaver rulers that they must either surrender or suffer the same fate as Astapor . Daenerys holds an audience with the Yunkish herald, Razdal mo Eraz , who is one of the ruling " Wise Masters " of Yunkai. Razdal attempts to discourage Daenerys from attacking his city by claiming that numerous armies throughout history had tried and failed to conquer it. However, Daenerys is undaunted and comments that a hard-fought battle will give her Unsullied much-needed practice. Razdal then attempts to bribe her by providing her with the gold and ships needed to transport her army to Westeros. In exchange, Daenerys will have to leave Yunkai in peace.
In response, Daenerys makes a counter-offer: she will spare the lives of Razdal and the slave-masters of Yunkai if every slave (men, women, and children) in the city were set free, and given as much food, clothing, and property as they could carry in payment for their services. She threatens to show no mercy if Yunkai rejects her offer. Razdal is offended by Daenerys's demands and threatens to use Yunkai's "powerful friends" to destroy her.
As a result of Razdal's actions, Daenerys's dragons make threatening gestures toward him. When Razdal protests that he had been promised safe conduct, Daenerys responds that her dragons made no such promise and they take offense to him threatening their mother. Razdal is also unable to reclaim the chests of gold he had brought with him. Following his departure, Daenerys orders her knights to find out more about Yunkai's "powerful friends" before she decided to attack the city.
They eventually discover that these "powerful friends" are the Second Sons , a professional mercenary company . While there are only 2,000 of them, the Second Sons are armored and mounted, enough to cause trouble for the Unsullied. Daenerys tells Barristan to organize a meeting with the Second Sons' captains, saying that men who fight for gold "can't afford to lose to a girl."
For their assault on Yunkai, the new captain Daario suggested attacking the city through its lightly defended back gate. Their plan was to infiltrate the city and open the main gates for the rest of the army to invade. While Ser Jorah was skeptical of the plan, Daenerys and Grey Worm were willing to trust Daario. During the war meeting, Daario attempted to flirt with her. When the battle began, Ser Barristan remained behind to guard Daenerys, fulfilling his duty as a Queensguard. During that night, Jorah, Daario, and Grey Worm infiltrated the city and fought their way through the slave soldiers guarding the city. Within a few hours, Targaryen forces had captured Yunkai.
The following morning, Daenerys addressed the city's slaves with Missandei serving as her translator. During her speech, Daenerys told the slaves that it was their own choice to reach for their freedom. As a result, the liberated slaves revered Daenerys as their "mhysa", which translated as "mother" from the Old Ghiscari language. Daenerys mingled with the former slaves who regarded her as a "glimmer of hope" in an increasingly dark world.
Daenerys sits near the sea with her three dragons, each one about the size of a small horse. Daenerys strokes Drogon's head, while Rhaegal and Viserion fight over a dead lamb and Drogon joins the fight. As Daenerys tries to calm him down, Drogon, without warning, snaps at her with a hiss as a warning to not interfere. He then roars and goes to contest the kill. Drogon snarls a warning at his mother. This act, that her own children would threaten her, and that they are outgrowing her influence and ability to control them, leaves Daenerys visibly shaken.
Daenerys sets up the time to hear petitions from her new subjects. Among the first is a goatherd whose flock were roasted by her dragons; Daenerys orders him paid three times their value. Next is Hizdahr zo Loraq , who asks to be allowed to bury his father, one of the 163 Great Masters Daenerys ordered crucified. Daenerys is swayed by Hizdahr's arguments (aided by guilt upon realizing that the elder zo Loraq opposed the crucifixion of the slaves in the first place) and allows the burial. Missandei informs her that there are 200 more supplicants.
Nonetheless, he confirms that he is sworn to her and that he will continue boring patrol work if that is what the queen wants, and only asks that she occasionally allow him to do what he is actually good at. In response, Daenerys orders him to take off his clothes.
Daenerys sits in her throne room where she is receiving another day's supplicants. An old man named Fennesz approaches the throne. Fennesz explains that he was not one of the slaves who toiled away at manual labor, but a well-educated teacher and servant to Master Mighdal , who employed him as a teacher for his own children. He tells Daenerys that Master Mighdal's seven-year-old daughter Calla admires Daenerys, having learned of the Targaryen dynasty through Fennesz's teachings. As a servant of Master Mighdal, Fennesz was well-treated and even well-respected in the household, but when Daenerys forcibly freed all of the slaves in the city she did not understand the full-scale complications of suddenly having to care for so many people. Fennesz originally stayed in Master Mighdal's house after she took the city. Mighdal's children begged him to stay, but Mighdal and Fennesz agreed that he must leave rather than face reprisals, forcing Fennesz to become homeless. Daenerys insists that she had established mess halls to feed the freed slaves and barracks to house them. Fennesz says that he has visited these refugee centers and they are not very safe: the young prey on the old, harassing and robbing them. Daenerys insists that her Unsullied will restore order, but Fennesz points out that even assuming that they are able to ensure his physical safety, he has lost his livelihood and his purpose and is too old to start anew. Therefore, he has come to Daenerys to beg her permission to sell himself back to Mighdal. She is shocked that he would want to be owned as a slave again, as a man might own a goat or a chair.
Later that night, Daario tries to convince her to reconsider, explaining that he was once a slave who earned his freedom in the pits. The skills he learned ultimately led him to the Second Sons and thence to Daenerys. Upon learning that Drogon hasn't been seen in weeks, Daario muses on the possibilities of a dragon queen with no dragons. In response, Daenerys visits Rhaegal and Viserion in the catacombs where she imprisoned them. To her horror, they try to attack upon hearing her voice and she is forced to flee.
Daenerys leads a council meeting in the pyramid debating the fate of a Son of the Harpy that Daario and Grey Worm found. Barristan pleads that the man deserves a fair trial while the freed Meereenese slave, Mossador , insists Daenerys put the man to death.
Daenerys thanks her advisors for their council and dismisses them, but Barristan asks her for a word in private about her father, the "Mad King." Daenerys initially scoffs at Barristan for reminding her of what she considers her enemies' lies. However, Barristan also reminds Daenerys of his past service in her father's Kingsguard and insists that her enemies did not lie. He tells Daenerys about how her father set entire towns and castles ablaze, murdered sons in front of their fathers , and burned men alive with wildfire , laughing as they screamed. All of this led to a rebellion that killed every Targaryen save for her and Viserys. Daenerys is visibly shocked but assures Barristan that she is not like her father. Barristan agrees, but he still warns her that the Mad King gave his enemies the justice he thought they deserved, and each time it made him feel powerful and right until the very end . Daenerys promises not to have the Son of the Harpy executed without a fair trial.
Later, while in bed with Daario, Daenerys reassures him that her marriage to Hizdahr is purely political in order to maintain peace. Daario hints at jealousy and asks if Daenerys would marry him instead, but Daenerys, who would like nothing less, is forced to refuse him.
At that moment, a draconic screech pierces the air, and Drogon descends upon the arena, flying out of a giant flame burst. Many of the Sons scatter in terror as Drogon bites and mercilessly burns the nearest ones to death. The Sons rally enough to attack Drogon with spears, which Daenerys hastily makes an effort to remove. Trying to get Drogon out of the Sons' range, Daenerys climbs atop his back and bids him to fly, becoming the first Targaryen dragonrider in over a century. The Sons of the Harpy temporarily routed, Daario, Jorah, Missandei and Tyrion look on in astonishment as Drogon, with Daenerys on his back, soars away.
The High Priestess introduces Daenerys to the other khaleesi , some of whom hate her for not being of pure blood. During her time in captivity, Daenerys befriends a young khaleesi named Ornela , a Lhazareen girl taken from her village at the age of twelve. The High Priestess gives Daenerys permission to relieve herself outside but sends Ornela to escort her. The pair are accosted by Jorah and Daario, who have traveled to Vaes Dothrak to rescue her. She tells them to cancel their rescue plan and proposes a plan of her own.
Daenerys's broad smile deepens at his threats and replies that they won't have to follow her because this is where they will die . She knocks over the braziers at the center of the temple, setting the entire building aflame. The khali desperately attempt to escape the rapidly spreading fire, only to find the temple's only door barred, the bodies of the two khaleen guarding it lying dead outside. Moro tries to confront Daenerys a final time, but she pushes the last brazier on him, completing the conflagration. As the flames climb higher, the Dosh Khaleen and khalasari gather in confusion. Eventually, the doors collapse and Daenerys emerges, naked and unburnt. Many of the assembled bows immediately, with the High Priestess and the rest of the Dosh Khaleen following. Jorah and Daario move to the front of the crowd and bow last.
The following day, Daenerys and Tyrion discuss a plan to deal with the slaver fleet currently besieging the city. Daenerys declares her plans to "return their cities to the dirt" but Tyrion pleads for diplomacy, begging her not to become like her father .
Daenerys and her entourage then meet with the slave masters Razdal mo Eraz , Belicho Paenymion , and Yezzan zo Qaggaz ; representing Yunkai, Volantis , and Astapor respectively. The masters discuss their terms of surrender, announcing they will allow Daenerys and Tyrion to leave the city, while Missandei and the Unsullied will be sold back into slavery, and the dragons will be slaughtered. Daenerys rejects their terms, informing them they aren't meeting for her surrender, but for theirs .
The Masters are bewildered by Daenerys's unwavering confidence until Drogon lands beside her. She mounts her dragon and the two take flight, while Rhaegal and Viserion break free from the catacombs of the great pyramid - all three dragons finally reunited. Daenerys then orders her dragons to burn the slave masters' ships; tilting the negotiating table in her favor. Meanwhile, Grey Worm executes Razdal and Belicho but spares Yezzan to spread tidings of her power. Daario leads the Daenerys's khalasar to slaughter the Sons of the Harpy; ending the threat of the slave masters and their Harpy allies.
Daenerys becomes increasingly annoyed by Jon's refusal to bend the knee and tells him that since her marriage to Khal Drogo, she's been through countless ordeals of every kind, but has lived through all of them and even managed to take advantage of certain situations; all because of her faith in herself. That is the reason she believes that since her birth, she has been destined to rule Westeros. However, Jon insists that her kingdom will be nothing more than a graveyard should the Night King win.
Tyrion then informs her of his plan for the Unsullied to take Casterly Rock through a secret passageway he used during his whoring days. However, this leads to the Unsullied ships being burned by Euron, causing them to be trapped at Casterly Rock. Daenerys ultimately loses another ally during the sack of Highgarden , in the forced suicide of Olenna and the loss of the Tyrell army.
After plummeting nearly to the ground, Drogon regains his balance right in front of the scorpion and incinerates it with his fire-breath. He then lands on the battlefield and demolishes what's left of the scorpion with an angry swipe of his tail. Daenerys dismounts on the riverbank and tries to pull the bolt out of Drogon's shoulder. While trying to do so, she turns to see a mounted Jaime galloping towards her with a spear in hand. Drogon moves to protect his mother, shielding her behind his head and shooting a line of fire at him, only for Bronn to save him by tackling him off of his horse into the river.
As Jon, Jorah, and their group prepare to depart on boats for Eastwatch-by-the-Sea , Daenerys and her entourage arrive and bid Jorah farewell. Jorah quips that he is used to saying farewell. When Jon and Daenerys bid farewell, he says that there is a chance that he might not return and that she won't deal with the King in the North anymore, Daenerys tells him that she's grown used to him. Then Jon wishes her well in the wars to come. Along with Tyrion, Daenerys watches as Jon, Jorah, and the rest of the party depart on their boats for Eastwatch.
Daenerys sits at Jon's side until he wakes up; a distraught Jon apologizes for Viserion's death, believing it his fault, but Daenerys insisted she needed to see the scale of the threat facing them for herself, "You have to see it to know. Now I know." She reveals that the dragons are the only children she will ever have, promising that they will destroy the Night King forever. Jon thanks her and calls her "Dany", to her amusement, though remembering that is was what her brother Viserys used to call her and she tells Jon that's not the company he wants to keep. Jon then calls her, "My Queen," and pledges fealty to her, moving Daenerys to tears; when she asks what the Northern lords who have sworn to him will make of this choice, Jon gently assures Daenerys that like him, they will come to see her for the good person she truly is. Daenerys tearfully responds that he hopes she deserves it and clasping each other's hands, Jon assures her she does. They share a moment before Daenerys insists Jon rest and she leaves.
Meanwhile, Daenerys and Tyrion rip into Jon over his ill-advised action. Tyrion suggests that learning to lie just a little might be a good skill. Jon responds by arguing that while such an attitude may or may not have contributed to getting his father killed, if no one is willing to speak the truth, then everyone's word is worthless, and lies will not help them win the coming fight. Tyrion reluctantly decides that he will go and try to talk some reason into Cersei alone. Daenerys and Jon protest, fearing Cersei may have him killed out of spite, but Tyrion insists it's the only way if they don't want everything they've done to be for nothing and bids them wait.
While Tyrion goes to talk to Cersei, Daenerys and Jon discuss the dragons and how her ancestors caged them, and in turn, her family became less impressive as the power of the dragons waned, that they became like everyone else. Jon responds that Daenerys is not like everyone else. When Daenerys confides she was made infertile by Mirri Maz Duur, Jon questions this, particularly when she admits it was Mirri Maz Duur who told her she was infertile. Their conversation is interrupted by the return of all three Lannisters. Cersei has agreed to work with Daenerys, but not by keeping her troops back: the Lannister army will march north to fight alongside the Starks and Targaryens.
Some time after setting sail, Jon knocks on the door of Daenerys's cabin. She answers and meets his gaze without words. After a moment, he enters, and, with their eyes still locked on one another, shuts the door. Unaware of their biological connection to one another, they finally give into the burgeoning passion between them and make love.
Later, Daenerys is seated at the high table in the castle's great hall along with Jon and Sansa. Tyrion attempts to calm the slightly hostile Northern lords by telling them that the largest army ever seen has been assembled, but Sansa asks how she is supposed to feed such a force along with two dragons. When she asks what dragons even eat, Daenerys replies, "Whatever they want."
Daenerys finds Jon in his chambers that night and they kiss, beginning to undress, before Jon stops himself due to learning of their relation. Daenerys laments that she wishes Jon never told her about his true identity because otherwise, she'd be happy. She is afraid others will press his claim and take the throne from her. Jon tries to assure her he doesn't want the throne.
Daenerys tells Jon it doesn't matter what he wants or how many times he swears fealty to her - he didn't want to be King in the North either. Jon gets on one knee before her and says that he'll refuse the crown because she is his queen. Daenerys begs Jon not to tell anyone else about his parentage, fearing that it will destroy them. Jon insists he must tell his sisters because he owes them the truth about who he is, certain his sisters will keep it secret, everything will work out, and they can all live together. However, Daenerys believes the only way they can live together is if Jon keeps his identity secret.
Unswayed by Jon's reasoning, Daenerys asserts that they can't hide behind small mercies and the world they need cannot be built by those loyal to the old one. Jon desperately argues that their world must be one of mercy; Daenerys assures him that she is building a good world. Distressed, Jon asks her how she knows it's good and Daenerys confidently asserts that she knows what is good, trying to convince Jon that he does too. Upset, Jon is unconvinced and asks about everybody else who thinks they know what is good, to which Daenerys responds, "They don't get to choose." Daenerys embraces Jon and makes clear her desire for Jon to help her build the new world she envisages and urges him that this is how they break the wheel.
Jon tells Daenerys that she is his queen, "Now and always." As the two of them share a final kiss, Jon thrusts a dagger into her heart. He catches Daenerys as she falls, blood escaping her nose and mouth, a look of confused heartbreak draws upon her face. As an anguished Jon holds Daenerys, he grieves over her.
Her keeping to consider Westeros her home, while she was just born there, and her disappointment for the Westerosi's lack of recognition, while Ser Jorah himself told her from the beginning that the smallfolk don't care who their ruler is as long their lives are free from starvation, illness, and war, showed another aspect that made her fell prey of her naivety: her stubbornness. Even before departing from Essos her advisors, directly or not, warned her that coming to Westeros wouldn't have made her a liberator. Then her reaction showed how much she refused to accept the reality: she didn't have peaceful ways to be recognized as the rightful queen of the Seven Kingdoms, but her determination prevented her from questioning herself and her position before it was too late to find a solution.
Therefore, in her life before her descent into madness, Daenerys showed herself to be a strong and determined woman, sometimes a little too emotional, rash and idealistic, but also benevolent, decent and able to understand her mistakes and learn from them. Unfortunately, this, along with the traumas she suffered and her obsession with regaining the rule of the Seven Kingdoms, led her to be also too fragile to bear the burden of her moral defeat: despite having proved to be, both as a person and as a ruler, much better than her enemies, finding out how this was not enough to be appreciated by the other inhabitants of the Seven Kingdoms pushed her over the edge, making her the tyrant she had always sworn never to become.
In Daenerys's case, whatever traces of the Targaryen madness she had within her were also heavily exacerbated by a series of unexpected external factors. This series of intense political blows and significant personal losses, all of which were experienced in a fairly short period of time, had a noticeable effect on her mental state:
The series, however, appears to suggest that Daenerys might, in fact, have some actual fireproofing ability. In addition to the bath scene in " Winter Is Coming ", Daenerys doesn't notice the heat from the brazier in " A Golden Crown ", and notably, her hands are unburnt, while Irri 's are blistered immediately after picking up the egg. It could be argued that she displayed this ability again in " Valar Morghulis ", when she has her dragons burn down the House of the Undying, although it's possible that the dragons managed to just aim the fire past Daenerys at Pyat Pree (notice her clothes are intact after this incident). Most glaring, however, is Daenerys's stunt at the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen , from which she emerges again unburnt. In the "Inside the Episode" feature for " Book of the Stranger ", Weiss and Benioff imply that Daenerys does indeed have this ability in some fashion, although she only decided to exploit it after Jorah and Daario showed up.
It should be pointed out that even if Daenerys is fireproof in the series, there is no indication that all Targaryens are, as most fire-related deaths the House has suffered are mentioned as being similar to those in the books. This adds another layer to Viserys's death: Daenerys was realizing that heat and fire didn't affect her like they did most people, and (correctly) suspected that Viserys lacked this resistance.
In the books, Daenerys is the great-granddaughter of Aegon V, not his granddaughter. The showrunners truncated the Targaryen family line in order to simplify her relationship to Aemon Targaryen . They accomplished this by eliminating the reign of Jaehaerys II and making Aerys II Targaryen the son of Aegon V Targaryen instead of his grandson.
Daenerys is thirteen years old when the events of the novels begin. Initially, she is somewhat quiet and reticent, and fearful of her brother's infamous rages, but also curious about life in the Seven Kingdoms and eager to learn more of life there. She has a kind and generous spirit. This spirit slowly begins to harden after her brother's death and after surviving her first assassination attempt.
Tyrion is mocked for being a dwarf, called derisive names such as "Imp" and "Halfman", which he tries to embrace to keep his self esteem up. Had an infant with dwarfism like Tyrion been born a commoner , he'd have been left in the woods to die; luckily, his birthright as a Lannister afforded him significant wealth and power.
When Tyrion was sixteen, he interrupted the attempted rape of a wheelwright's daughter. While Jaime dispatched the attackers, Tyrion helped the girl, named Tysha, recover. They later became lovers and got married in secret. When Lord Tywin learned what had happened, he payed Tysha, a prostitute, to service every one of his guards while Tyrion watched. Jaime confessed he had orchestrated the attack to help Tyrion lose his virginity.
Tyrion bargains with his gaoler, Mord , to get an audience with Lady Arryn and he "confesses" to being a whoremonger and dwarf, before demanding a trial by combat . Bronn agrees to stand as his champion and kills Ser Vardis Egen , freeing Tyrion. Bronn accompanies him on the journey south.
Tyrion establishes some ground rules with Bronn, saying he will pay more money than anyone else who attempts to bribe him to betray Tyrion. They are then surrounded by men of the hill tribes , led by Shagga . Tyrion uses his quick wit and words to win the allegiance of the tribes, offering to better equip them for battle and help them conquer the Vale of Arryn in return for their help. Shagga agrees, though he notes that if Tyrion tries to renege on his promise he will cut off his manhood and feed it to the goats.
Tyrion is commanded by his father to lead the hill tribes into battle from the front. Feeling that his father means to kill him, Tyrion retires to his tent, where he finds that Bronn has found a prostitute for him, a girl named Shae . Tyrion attempts to learn more about Shae via a drinking game, but finds his questions deflected. Instead he tells her about his own past with Tysha, a wheelwright's daughter. They married and spent several happy weeks together until Tywin learned of the matter. Tywin had Jaime tell Tyrion the truth, that Tysha was a prostitute that Jaime had paid to make his brother happy for a while. Tywin then gave her a piece of silver for every one of his guards she had sex with while Tyrion was forced to watch. Since then Tyrion has never attempted to take a wife or lover, only whores he can pay and send on their way.
Tyrion is shocked and furious to find Joffrey orchestrating the public beating of Sansa for her brother's victory in the Battle of Oxcross . He orders a halt to the proceedings, and warns Joffrey to consider his actions more carefully, lest he wants to suffer the same fate as the Mad King . He then escorts Sansa out of the throne room. Bronn suggests that Joffrey would benefit from sexual release. Tyrion arranges for two whores for his nephew but Joffrey forces one to beat the other as a message to Tyrion. Lancel Lannister visits Tyrion to demand the release of Pycelle on Cersei's behalf. Tyrion notes the lateness of the hour and traps Lancel into admitting his sexual relationship with Cersei. Tyrion uses the information to blackmail Lancel into acting as his informant.
Cersei confesses that she believes Joffrey's viciousness might be the price she pays for her sin of incest with Jaime. Tyrion does not know how to comfort his sister in this rare moment of vulnerability, but reminds her that both Myrcella and Tommen are kind and gentle. Word that Stannis' fleet is days away reinforces the need to control Joffrey.
After learning that Joffrey is keen to fight in defense of the city, Cersei is furious and suspects Tyrion of trying to kill her son. She mistakenly identifies Ros as his lover because of the Lannister pendant Tyrion gave her and seizes the opportunity to deliver on the threat she made when Myrcella left. Cersei has the prostitute kidnapped as insurance against Tyrion placing Joffrey in harm's way. Tyrion later visits Cersei in her chambers, where he tells of Stannis being spotted near Tarth , with his navy surpassing that of the royal fleet . She reveals her capture of Ros to Tyrion, who fears that she means Shae, referring to her only a "your little whore."
Tyrion is relieved that Shae is unhurt, but vows to free Ros and when the prostitute is taken away, he promises Cersei that he will exact revenge on her, before she banishes him for her presence. He rushes back to his lover's side and confesses the depth of his feeling for her, both of them mentioning that they would violently defend each other, while warning that they must be doubly careful.
Tyrion leads the defense of the city during the Battle of the Blackwater , commanding the defenders at the Mud Gate. He destroys a large portion of the attacking fleet by luring them into a trap; a ship filled with Wildfire and allowed to leak its cargo into the bay. He signals Bronn to detonate the Wildfire using a flaming arrow. Stannis continues with the assault, landing his troops further out in the bay to avoid the devastation of the explosion.
Tyrion's initial attempts to repel the attackers are unsuccessful and Cersei has Joffrey withdrawn to the Red Keep, with the King leaving Ser Mandon Moore and Ser Boros Blount of the Kingsguard to fight in his name. Tyrion is faced with increasing dissent from his troops but rallies them with a rousing speech. He personally leads a sortie through the tunnels under the city, destroying Stannis' siege equipment.
He is trapped outside the walls by a group of reinforcements and then betrayed by Ser Mandon. Mandon slashes Tyrion across the face but Podrick kills him with a spear before he can finish Tyrion off. As Tyrion collapses into unconsciousness a host of Lannister-Tyrell reinforcements led by a man wearing Renly's armor arrives to claim the victory. His father is also present among the victors, who is proclaimed Savior of the City , whilst Tyrion's effects have been passed over.
Some weeks after the Battle of Blackwater, Cersei pays Tyrion a visit accompanied by two of her son's Kingsguard. She only gains entrance to Tyrion's chambers after agreeing to leave her guards outside. Once inside Cersei demands to know how he will "slander" her to their father now that he is here. Tyrion asks when he has ever slandered her before, and she reminds him of a time at Casterly Rock that he got her in serious trouble with their father: when she was nine years old, Cersei discovered that a servant girl (also nine years old) had stolen a necklace, so she had her guards beat the girl, who ended up losing an eye. Tyrion told their father what Cersei had done and he was angered, but Cersei notes that the servant girl never stole a necklace again. Tyrion quips that it isn't "slander" if it's true, and he only told Tywin what she really did. The queen admits that Tyrion is a clever man but not as clever as he might believe. Tyrion merely retorts that this still makes him a great deal more clever that her. Cersei then leaves abruptly and just in time to prevent Meryn Trant and Bronn from exchanging blows.
Tyrion is surprised to understand that Bronn (who had defended him against Cersei's entourage) has been knighted and styles himself as "Ser Bronn of the Blackwater." While possessing no lands, wealth, or titles, this drastically elevates his social standing - and in his mind, his pay. He tells Tyrion that he still thinks of him a friend, but he is still a sellsword, and as a knight Tyrion should pay him double what he used to, reminding him of his promise made after his trial .
After speaking with his sister, Tyrion requests his father give him Casterly Rock , as Jaime gave up all rights of inheritance when he joined the Kingsguard. This leaves Tyrion as the next in lawful line of succession as Lord of Casterly Rock . Tywin hatefully spites his son for "killing" his mother in childbirth, and saying that although he will reward him in due time, he will never make Tyrion heir to Casterly Rock, considering him an abomination and a curse who would only humiliate the family name and turn Casterly Rock into a brothel. As Tyrion leaves, Tywin warns him that if he catches another whore in his bed he will hang her.
Shae sneaks into Tyrion's new chambers. He warns her that his father threatened to kill her if he found her with him again, and that his father follows through on such threats. Undeterred, Shae starts undressing Tyrion, and asks him for a favor; to protect Sansa from Baelish. Tyrion says that he no longer has enough power or influence to attempt to do that, though Shae accuses him of being attracted to Sansa, which he cheerfully denies. It also comes out that Tyrion had sex with Ros back in the North, though Tyrion points out it was before he met Shae. They playfully bicker about it as they start having sex.
Tywin Lannister calls the first meeting of the Small Council since he arrived in the city, arriving early and has all of the council members called in at once. All of the seats are on one side of the table, as a non-verbal test to see how each of them reacts around him. Tyrion is the only one who even mildly stands up to Tywin's posturing, by not even trying to sit closest to Tywin: instead he takes a new chair and makes a point of noisily dragging it across the ground until it is positioned at the exact opposite end of the table from his father. It is announced that Littlefinger will marry Lady Lysa Arryn . Tyrion points out that if Baelish departs for the Vale that leaves a vacancy on the Small Council, and Tywin reveals that he has appointed Tyrion as the new Master of Coin to replace him. While this may seem like giving Tyrion a position of relative power again, Tyrion quickly points out that he has no prior experience in finance. With backhanded compliments, Cersei makes it clear that this promotion is really intended to give him an opportunity to make mistakes he will be blamed for.
After the meeting, Tyrion, Podrick and Bronn drop by Littlefinger's office in his brothel, where he keeps his ledgers. Littlefinger says it was the safest place to keep such records, but Tyrion notes that his brothel hasn't been the safest place for bastards. Baelish says he hopes Tyrion does well in the position, as he owes him for securing the release of Ros (after Cersei arrested her, mistaking her for Shae) but Tyrion says it was just a misunderstanding. Tyrion and Bronn then lead Pod into another room of the brothel, where Tyrion says that he wants to reward him for saving his life during the Battle of the Blackwater: he has paid for Podrick (who has never had sex with a woman) to enjoy the services of not one, but three prostitutes.
Cersei and Tyrion are evidently reluctant to consider these marriages, Tyrion in particular emphasizing how it will be worse for Loras and Sansa than for himself and his sister, especially since Sansa hoped to marry Loras herself. Partway through the discussion, Tyrion brings up the question of who employed Ser Mandon Moore to kill Tyrion. Cersei, of course, denies her involvement, but Tyrion is still suspicious, as well as suggesting that Joffrey may be the culprit,as Tyrion is the only one who dares to speak against the King.
Tyrion speaks with Sansa before their wedding at the Great Sept of Baelor; though he knows the girl is not thrilled at the prospect of marrying him. Tyrion promises Sansa that he will not mistreat her, and Sansa agrees there are worse Lannisters she could be wed to.
The ceremony is a grim affair; Joffrey smugly escorts Sansa to the altar in place of her father and petulantly removes the stool upon which Tyrion was to stand on to cloak Sansa in Lannister colors as part of the ceremony, eliciting snickers from the congregation (though the scowl of Lord Tywin quickly silences them). Tyrion in the face of humiliation asks Sansa to kneel and he places the cloak around her shoulders. The new High Septon begins the ceremony. Later as man and wife they have their reception dinner, which also proves a grim and miserable affair.
At the night of their wedding, Tyrion gets drunk and threatens Joffrey with castration after the latter commands him to carry out the bedding ceremony with Sansa. Tywin calms Joffrey and Tyrion takes Sansa to his bedchamber, where he tells her that his lord father has commanded him to consummate the marriage. As Sansa begins to disrobe, Tyrion refuses, insisting that he won't bed her until she wants him to, then he passes out drunk.
Tyrion accuses Tywin and protests that he has never done something for the benefit of the family that wasn't in his interest. Tywin tells him that when he was born, he wanted to leave him in the sea and let the waves take him away, and that he instead he let him live and raised him because he is a Lannister. Afterwards, he returns to Sansa, who is in tears having heard of her brother and mother's tragedy. Later, Cersei visits Tyrion and informs him that she won't be marrying Ser Loras. She also advises him to give Sansa children, to which Tyrion responds by asking her how happy is she with her children. Cersei admits that if it wasn't for her children, she would've killed herself, even for Joffrey. She ponders how happy he used to be in his infant years and how much he brought such joy in her life at that time, and that neither Joffrey nor anyone else can take that away from her.
Afterwards, he visits a deeply depressed Sansa and tries to comfort her by telling her that her brother and mother were good people. In tears, she tells him the grueling details of how they died. Tyrion advises her to stay strong, as that is what her mother would want. Sansa leaves to go to the godswood and she tells Tyrion that she doesn't pray anymore, and instead goes because nobody is talking to her there. Distraught, he returns to his bedchamber, where Shae is waiting for him. She tries to pleasure him but Tyrion refuses. Shae questions him if he's really in love with Sansa. Tyrion says that he doesn't and this time, Shae asks him if he wants her out of the city. After getting no answer, she storms out of his bedchamber, and it is revealed that one of Cersei's spies heard the whole conversation.
After the breakfast, Tyrion meets with Shae in his quarters and shows uncharacteristic and confusing coldness towards her despite her gestures of affection. He terminates their "friendship" and informs her that she is to leave and go to live in Pentos , telling her that she must do so in order for him to uphold her marital vows to Sansa. She deduces that he is afraid of his sister and father and expresses her desire to fight them alongside him. As she draws closer, Tyrion yells at her, calling her a whore, and states her unfitness to bear his children, in contrast to Sansa's. Bronn arrives to escort the sobbing Shae to the docks, resulting in her slapping him and storming off.
At the wedding feast, Joffrey organizes some entertainment: five dwarfs mockingly re-enacting the War of the Five Kings . Tyrion, disgusted, instructs Podrick to pay each dwarf 20 gold dragons after the show. At the conclusion of the show, Joffrey suggests Tyrion fight the former's dwarf counterpart. Tyrion politely declines and sarcastically voices awe at Joffrey's skill and bravery at the Battle of the Blackwater and his desire to see them again. Insulted at the disrespectful undertone, Joffrey pours his wine over Tyrion's head in an immature show of superiority. He then instructs Tyrion to act as his cupbearer , before kicking the goblet under a table, forcing Tyrion to handle it several times. He finally orders him to kneel and Tyrion, obviously possessing no intention to do so, is saved by the arrival of the pigeon pie. He attempts to leave with Sansa, but is spotted by Joffrey, who commands him to remain and continue his duties as his cupbearer. Tyrion hands the king his goblet, who begins to choke after drinking from it. In his final moments, Joffrey points to Tyrion, apparently accusing him, as the latter inspects the goblet for poison, and he is seized and arrested by members of the Kingsguard on Cersei's orders.
At Bronn's intervention, Jaime comes to see Tyrion. Jaime tries to comfort Tyrion and says that he suffered much worse with the North. Jaime asks Tyrion if he did it and Tyrion says he would never kill his brother's son, no matter how despicable he turned out to be. Tyrion asks Jaime to set him free, but Jaime says he can't because of treason and says the trial will get to the truth. Tyrion knows that the trial doesn't matter: Cersei won't rest until Tyrion is dead. Jaime then goes on to him believing that Sansa had something to do with the murder, but Tyrion is again adamant that Sansa is innocent.
Tyrion asks Jaime to bring him Bronn . Bronn arrives in the clothes of a lord, with news that he is to marry Lollys Stokeworth , a noble's daughter, in a match arranged by Cersei. He will not fight the Mountain (whom Cersei has chosen for her champion), believing Clegane to be too dangerous for him to face, and bids farewell to Tyrion. They share a final handshake and part on good terms.
On the day of the trial by combat, Jaime visits Tyrion in his cell. They discuss their dead cousin Orson Lannister and his habit of smashing beetles with rocks for no reason. Tyrion says he used to watch Orson for long periods of time and think about the reason behind his actions, but he hasn't come to any conclusion why all those countless beetles had to be killed. When Jaime says he doesn't know either, bells start tolling and he wishes Tyrion good luck.
Bound in shackles, Tyrion is taken to watch the duel of Oberyn and the Mountain. Before the fight starts, he advises Oberyn against drinking wine, but he doesn't pay a lot of attention to him. As the Red Viper starts winning, he exchanges a few hopeful looks with his brother and feels happy when Oberyn pins Ser Gregor to the ground with his spear, but his hopes are quickly shattered in the moment when the Mountain knocks Oberyn down and crushes his head, confessing his own war crimes and sealing Tyrion's fate. As Tyrion is struck with horror, Tywin states that the gods have made their will known and Tyrion is sentenced to death.
He finds a woman in his father's bed, and is shocked to discover that it is Shae , moaning Tywin's name and calling for her "lion," the name she had previously called Tyrion. When Shae spots him, she grabs a paring knife and tries to stab him. She fails to do so but slaps him and scratches at his face. They struggle, and Tyrion eventually strangles her with Tywin's gold chain she is wearing. The act is done both in self-defense and in jealous rage, and Tyrion is immediately distraught once he fully realizes what he has done.
Tyrion attends the opening of the Great Games in Daznak's Pit along with Daenerys, Hizdahr zo Loraq , Daario Naharis , and Missandei . He playfully banters with Hizdahr and Daario about which fighters will win owing to what advantages, such as strength or speed, and after Hizdahr lectures Daenerys about the requisitions of holding onto power, Tyrion coldly quips that Tywin would have liked him. In the second round of the games, Jorah appears as one of the combatants and is almost killed. Tyrion urges Daenerys to stop the games before Jorah is killed, but he is saved by another fighter.
Suddenly, a surprise attack by the Sons of the Harpy devastates the fighting pit. Tyrion saves Missandei by killing one of the Sons and he runs with Daenerys and the others into the center of the fighting pit, where they are surrounded. He later watches in obvious shock when Drogon enters the pit and sets several Sons ablaze. When Daenerys flies off on Drogon's back, Tyrion is left struck with awe as he watches her fly through the sky on dragon back.
Later, in the Great Pyramid, Tyrion learns that the Unsullied have yet to find the person responsible for burning the Meereenese fleet, Astapor and Yunkai have fallen back into the slave trade and Daenerys' remaining dragons haven't been eating since their mother left. Tyrion guesses that they are morose because they are in captivity. When Missandei asks how he knows this, he replies, "That's what I do. I drink and I know things." Tyrion decides to meet the dragons and free them, knowing they will be better off this way.
In private, Tyrion assures Missandei and Grey Worm that he is serving Daenerys' interest by taking advantage of the Masters' own arrogance, but that he cannot end slavery overnight. Grey Worm, however, warns Tyrion that the slavers cannot be reasoned with and will most likely take advantage of him instead, since they already do it for a living.
Tyrion goes on to admit that for years he has believed in nothing but, in the months in her service, he has come to believe in Daenerys and that he is ready to live again. Touched, Daenerys presents him with a replica of the Hand's brooch and formally names him Hand of the Queen. Moved to near-tears, Tyrion kneels before her. Some time later, Tyrion stands with Daenerys on the flagship of her massive armada, looking ahead to returning to Westeros.
Daenerys changes the subject, by saying if the wight hunt goes well, she'll finally get to meet Cersei, who wants to kill her. Tyrion notes that she would probably torture her first. He vows that if they go to the capital, they will go with the full capacity of their forces, and if someone even touches her, they'll burn the city to the ground. Daenerys says she's probably planning a trap, but Tyrion notes that Cersei is probably thinking the very same thing about Daenerys. When Daenerys asks him if they should lay a trap, Tyrion says it would be better to build a new world without mass murder. Daenerys remarks that no war was won without it, which Tyrion agrees but states that fear alone isn't the right way of ruling.
When Dany says Aegon Targaryen got quite a long way with fear, Tyrion reminds her of her promise of breaking the wheel, which Aegon built. Tyrion then speaks about his meeting with Jaime, where he promised to keep the Lannister's forces in check if Tyrion makes sure Daenerys doesn't lose her temper. Daenerys responds she does not lose her temper, to which Tyrion replies she lost it when she killed the Tarlys. She notes that Tyrion takes his family's side once again. Tyrion says he has to, as the only way to beat them is to think like them.
Tyrion finds Sansa for the first time since they last saw each other at Joffrey's wedding and note each other's new titles/ Tyrion calls the wedding "a miserable affair", though Sansa sardonically remarks, "It had its moments." She calls Tyrion out for believing that Cersei will honor the pledge to send the Lannister forces north. She is disappointed in Tyrion, saying she used to think Tyrion was the cleverest man she ever met.
Despite concerns that Bran could never sire any children, Tyrion says it is for the better as heirs often don't make good kings. He proposes that all the lords of the Seven Kingdoms choose the new king, which is accepted by all except Sansa. Bran picks Tyrion as his Hand so as to charge him with atoning for his past mistakes in both supporting and committing treason against Bran's predecessor . Grey Worm opposes it initially but relents.
But Tyrion is not without his faults. He tends to overindulge in food, drink and sex in part to self-medicate for the terrible treatment he had suffered most of his life; when overly stressed, upset or uncomfortable, he will quickly find the nearest container of wine or beer and consume most of it. Tyrion can also act viciously if he feels he's been wronged; such as confining Grand Maester Pycelle to the Black Cells for betraying him or, in his darkest hour, killing Shae for testifying against him during his trial and having an affair with his father, and then going on to kill Tywin himself. Because his father and sister treated him like a social leper, Tyrion craves love and acceptance and is genuinely hurt when this is denied him by others.
Tyrion has complex relationships with other members of his family, most of whom resent him and only thinly veil their contempt for his existence. His older sister Cersei blames him for causing the death of their mother and has, as revealed during a conversation with Oberyn, hated Tyrion since his birth. His father, Tywin shares Cersei's resentment for Tyrion; due to the death of his wife while birthing him, as Joanna was the only person Tywin ever loved. Although Tywin recognizes and respects Tyrion's intellect, it does not lessen his prejudice towards his youngest son; by the same token Tyrion fears and admires his father; but hates him for his inflexibility and unwillingness to show any love for any of his children. Tywin also just thinks it is an embarrassment that; Tyrion was born; with a physical disability, seeing it as a judgement from the gods meant to humiliate him; by his son's mere existence.
Tyrion is somewhat of a pacifist in his heart. This is evident, when he several times advised Daenerys not to resort to violence; in order to solve problems, though this was also an attempt to; make sure that; she doesn't become like her father. He always desires a less violent approach to matters, only resorting to it; when there is no other way.
In A Song of Ice and Fire , Tyrion is in his mid-twenties when the events of the series begin, whereas in the show his age is not mentioned. However, the age gap between him and his siblings is smaller: in the books, Tyrion was born when Cersei and Jaime were 7, while in the show, they were 4. This was likely to accommodate the actors: Peter Dinklage is four years older than Lena Headey and one year older than Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
As well as being a dwarf, Tyrion is misshapen and often described as ugly and having eyes of two different colors , one green and one black. He is described as having a huge disproportionate head and an pronounced ungainly waddle when he walks. His hair is lank and very pale, but when he lets his beard grow in it comes in as a mixture of blonde and black hairs. In the beginning of the TV series, actor Peter Dinklage insisted on not having a beard, because he felt that bearded dwarfs are a fantasy stereotype, though he agreed to grow a beard from the fifth season onwards.
Cersei hated Tyrion ever he was born, unjustly blaming him (like their father) of their mother's death, and also due to Maggy 's prophecy about the "valonqar"; she hurt him on several occasions. Jaime, on the other hand, always treated Tyrion kindly (in an argument between them in A Clash of Kings , Cersei outright states the only reason she has never tried to have Tyrion killed is because Jaime would never forgive her for it).
Ever since he was a child, Tyrion has been interested in dragons. He used to dream of riding a dragon, imagining he was some lost Targaryen princeling, or a Valyrian dragonlord. He once asked his uncles Gerion and Tygett for one as a nameday present, and was devastated to hear that the last dragon had died a century ago. He eagerly reads any accounts he can find about dragons, though most of those are idle tales. On the way to Volantis, the sellsword Griff orders Tyrion to set down all he knows of dragonlore; the task is formidable, but Tyrion labors at it diligently. The thought about meeting Daenerys and her dragons makes Tyrion relive his childhood dreams.
Tysha was reported to be the daughter of a crofter rather than a wheelwright (this may have been for the benefit of North American audiences who are less likely to know what a crofter is) and the marriage took place when he was only 13 years old. He bought them a little cottage where they lived as man and wife for their two week marriage, before his father had it annulled. Tywin not only had 50 guards rape her, but then ordered Tyrion to have sex with her as well, giving her a gold piece as a Lannister is worth more.
In the book's version of the Battle of Blackwater, Tyrion has almost his entire nose cut off by Ser Mandon Moore's sword swipe; the TV series only included the deep scar across his face (which as also present in the books). As Peter Dinklage explained, "I know, for fans of the books, that Tyrion loses his nose in the battle. But it would be next to impossible and very expensive to do that on television, and I would be wearing a green sock [on my nose, to digitally remove it with greenscreen], I think, for the next however many years, which I don't know how that would be on set. But yeah, the digital artist would have a lot of work on their hands. So I think we came up with a really good solution."
In the official blooper reel for Season 4, when "action" is shouted and a stage hand closes the clapperboard right in front of Dinklage's face, he started jokingly pretending that board was held too close and cut his nose off.
Several innocent dwarfs are killed by bounty hunters who mistake them for Tyrion. Among them are: a pious dwarf that Brienne meets at the Riverlands; a Tyroshi juggler; Oppo (aka Groat), one of the two dwarfs who performed at Joffrey's wedding. Cersei publicly refuses to punish anyone who kills an innocent dwarf (although one bounty hunter's blatant attempts to pass off a head that clearly isn't Tyrion offends Cersei so much she hands him over to Qyburn for his experiments)
Tyrion soon joins Illyrio's friends - a sellsword named Griff, his son and their servants (all of whom have been omitted from the TV show). Soon he learns to know that Griff and his son are in fact the presumed-dead Jon Connington and Aegon Targaryen , the son of Rhaegar and Elia. Connington treats Tyrion hostilely, but Aegon befriends him.
While in a brothel (not in Volantis itself, but one of its outlying towns), Tyrion is captured by Jorah Mormont, who intends to take him to Daenerys. They also meet Penny, one of the dwarfs who performed at Joffrey's wedding and whose brother Oppo has recently been killed by dwarf hunters seeking Tyrion; she initially blames Tyrion for Oppo's death and attempts to kill him, but eventually realizes it was not his fault. They board a ship whose destination is Qarth. One of the passengers is Moqorro, a red priest who was sent by the High Priest of Volantis, to offer Daenerys guidance and help. Moqorro tells Tyrion he has seen him in a vision as " a small man with a big shadow ." Tyrion is flattered to hear that, but is also skeptical.
Tyrion and Penny are made to perform in Daznak's Pit, during which Tyrion sees Daenerys from afar and very nearly calls out to her, but stops himself after noticing Barristan Selmy beside her, who may prejudice her against him due to their shared hatred for the Lannisters. The slave masters intend to unleash a pack of lions into the pit, but Daenerys puts a stop to the act, unknowingly saving Tyrion's life.
Tyrion is set to return in The Winds of Winter . A released sample chapter reveals that he and Jorah successfully persuade the Second Sons to rejoin Daenerys and fight for her, while the battle against the Yunkish is going on. Author George R. R. Martin has also confirmed that Tyrion and Daenerys will meet face to face in the book.
As much as Tyrion loathed Joffrey, he wouldn't harm him due to the taboo of kinslaying. After he is told the truth about Tysha, it seems Tyrion does not care anymore about that taboo: he kills his father, and in the fifth novel he brags about the kinslayings he has performed, the actual (his father) and the alleged (Joffrey) alike; he even takes the "credit" for his mother's death, and also states he intends to kill his siblings.
Tyrion and Jaime have always been on good terms. When Tyrion was small, Jaime brought him toys, barrel hoops, blocks and a carved wooden lion. He gave Tyrion his first pony and taught him how to ride. Tyrion vividly recalls all that in the fifth novel, when he thinks about Tysha; he is filled with bitterness at the thought that he was betrayed by his brother, his own blood, whom he never doubted. Yet, by the end of the novel, Jaime is the first name that comes to his mind when he is asked "what do you miss?"; perhaps Tyrion begins to have second thoughts about Jaime, although he has not forgiven him yet.
When she was about fifteen, Cersei and her friend Melara visited Maggy , a woods witch and reputed fortune teller dwelling in a hut deep in a forest close to Casterly Rock. Melara was reluctant, but Cersei convinced her to go. After rudely awakening her and insisting on having her future foretold, Maggy tasted a drop of her blood and revealed to Cersei she wouldn't marry "the Prince" but "the King" , and while the king would have twenty children, she would bear only three children who will wear golden crowns as well as golden shrouds. Finally, she revealed to Cersei that although she would indeed be Queen, she would be cast down by another, younger and more beautiful queen.
Cersei and King Robert visit Eddard as he recovers from wounds sustained fighting Jaime and his guards. Cersei is furious with Eddard for having her brother Tyrion arrested and for fighting with Jaime, but Eddard is unrepentant. Finding Robert unresponsive to this, she scolds him. He then hits her across the face, leaving an obvious mark. She marks that this only increases her integrity, but Robert threatens her to silence, promising to hit her again if she speaks of it.
Robert is mortally wounded on the hunt. Cersei is concerned that Eddard will tell Robert the truth, but Ned chooses to spare his friend further pain. Robert names Eddard Protector of the Realm and regent. Upon Robert's death Cersei quickly installs Joffrey on the throne. Eddard tries to reveal the truth with the help of Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish , but Baelish betrays him and sides with Cersei. Eddard is arrested and imprisoned, while his guards are killed .
He warns her to consider the importance of the support of her subjects; she is dismissive of his concerns but becomes upset at the weight of responsibility she has born. Tyrion mocks her relationship with Jaime. She ends the discussion by saying that Tyrion's finest joke was killing their mother when he was born.
Cersei issues a warrant demanding the release of Pycelle. She tasks her lover and cousin Lancel Lannister with delivering it to Tyrion. Lancel arrives in the middle of the night, and Tyrion asks why he waited so long to deliver the message. When Lancel says he just came from Cersei, Tyrion notices Lancel smells of Cersei's favorite perfume, and threatens to expose their relationship to Joffrey unless Lancel agrees to become his double agent, reporting everything Cersei does.
Cersei and the court assemble at the shore of the Blackwater Bay for the departure of Princess Myrcella. Cersei remains livid about Tyrion's arrangements for her daughter. She threatens to one day deprive him of someone he loves. As they move through the city to return to the Red Keep they are confronted by angry crowds of starving smallfolk. Joffrey is hit by thrown excrement and triggers a riot by demanding that his guards kill everyone in the crowd. Tyrion marshals the Lannister guards to lead them to safety.
Upon learning that Sansa has flowered for the first time, Cersei summons Sansa and offers her advice on motherhood. Cersei tells her to love only her children, since love makes you weak, although it is a mother's obligation to love her children. Sansa asks if she should love Joffrey; Cersei replies that she is welcome to try.
Joffrey is keen to fight in defense of the city. Cersei is furious and suspects Tyrion of trying to kill her son. She mistakenly identifies Ros as his lover because of the Lannister necklace Tyrion gave her and seizes the opportunity to deliver on the threat she made when Myrcella left. Cersei has the prostitute kidnapped as insurance against Tyrion placing Joffrey in harms way. She reveals her ploy over dinner and Tyrion vows to free Ros and take revenge when Cersei least suspects it.
Lancel is wounded and returns from the walls to report that Stannis has reached the Mud Gate , despite Tyrion's ingenious use of Wildfire to destroy a large portion of his fleet. Cersei sends Lancel to bring Joffrey back to the Red Keep, ignoring his protests that it will damage morale. Joffrey willingly leaves the field but his exit is a blow to the men.
While speaking with Joffrey about his upcoming wedding, Cersei begins to criticize Margaery, saying that she is only charitable to the poor to build up her own reputation and that she dresses like a harlot for a reason. Joffrey, however, dismissively tells Cersei off.
While Joffrey is giving Margaery a tour of the Sept of Baelor, Cersei speaks with Lady Olenna , exchanging stories about their deceased husbands. When Margaery takes Joffrey with her to greet the common people, Cersei realizes that she has lost control of Joffrey to the Tyrells. Later, Cersei meets with Tywin to discuss the Tyrells and informs him how Margaery has begun to manipulate Joffrey. Tywin is satisfied, as Cersei has only let Joffrey do whatever he pleased. He also tells her that she is not as smart as she thinks she is and that undermining the Tyrells would be irrational considering how they helped defeat Stannis. When Margaery and Joffrey wave to the crowd outside the Sept, Cersei initially fears for Joffrey's safety. Upon realizing that the crowd is hailing the two, Cersei then realizes that Margaery has a control over Joffrey.
Cersei encounters Lord Baelish and informs him that she fears the Tyrells do not have the Lannisters' best interest at heart. Littlefinger agrees that he will use his spies to uncover their plans, one of which turns out to be marrying Loras to Sansa. Initially, Cersei is delighted when her father decides to "kill this union in its crib" by instead having Tyrion marry Sansa to secure the North. However, her smug attitude towards Tyrion when this is revealed to him quickly evaporates when Tywin reveals that he intends to have her marry Loras to secure the Reach.
Cersei protests against this, saying she is Queen Regent and not some broodmare, but Tywin angrily asserts that she is his daughter and she will do what he tells her and put an end to the "rumors" about her. Cersei begs her father not to make her enter another loveless marriage but Tywin refuses to hear another word from either of his children, saying they have disgraced the family name for far too long. As Tywin leaves the room, Cersei hesitantly opens her eyes and shifts her gaze toward Tyrion, expecting to see him laughing at her but Tyrion is too glum about his own awkward predicament.
As the court gathers for Tyrion's wedding, Cersei finally snaps when Margaery says she looks radiant. Cersei reminds the queen-in-waiting of the lyrics of " The Rains of Castamere " and to take a lesson of what happened to House Reyne. Cersei threatens to have Margaery strangled in her sleep if she ever refers to her as "sister" again. Cersei maintains a cool expression during the ceremony, and does not laugh when Joffrey ridicules Tyrion by removing his footstool. During the wedding feast, Joffrey heads off to torment Sansa some more. Fed up with him, Cersei tells him to speak with Margaery instead, but he ignores her. Cersei later retreats to an upper gallery and stares despondently out over Blackwater Bay . Loras sees her and tries to make small talk, but Cersei rudely brushes him off.
Later, Cersei visits Tyrion and rudely dismisses Podrick. She tells Tyrion that he should give Sansa a son if he truly wants to make her happy, though Tyrion responds by asking her if she is happy as she has children. Cersei admits that she is not happy, but would've thrown herself "from the highest window in the Red Keep " without them, even Joffrey. She recounts of how he was all she had before Myrcella was born and how she would spend hours looking at him, and acknowledges that he is one of the "terrible ones." Tyrion asks her when this will end, and Cersei replies when they have dealt with all their enemies. Tyrion mentions how dealing with one enemy creates two more, and she just says that they will be in this position for a long time.
After Margaery says that the leftovers are going to the poor, Cersei kisses her on the cheek and says she is an inspiration to them all. Shortly after, she goes over to Pycelle , who is harassing a young woman. Cersei tells Pycelle to leave her alone and says that she should get Qyburn to examine her. Pycelle mocks Qyburn, but Cersei responds by ordering Pycelle to go to the kitchens and order the cooks to give the leftovers to the dogs instead. Pycelle is reluctant to do so, but Cersei threatens to have him killed if he does not. Cersei and Tywin meet Oberyn and Ellaria and the four get into a heated discussion when Cersei hypocritically mocks Ellaria's baseborn origins despite the fact that her own children are also bastards (and born out of incest no less).
Joffrey then makes his speech, publicly embarrassing Tyrion, much to Cersei's delight. Joffrey then begins to choke on his wine, causing him to gasp for air and collapse. Cersei rushes over to her son, who points towards Tyrion. He then dies in her arms, blood flowing from his eyes and mouth from the effects of the strangler . In a blind rage, she accuses Tyrion and has him arrested. Upon noticing that Sansa has vanished, she immediately begins to suspect her too and petulantly demands to know her whereabouts.
Cersei is mourning Joffrey while Tywin arrives and immediately begins instructing Tommen on the qualities of a good king, much to her annoyance. After the two leave, Jaime arrives to comfort Cersei. She breaks down into tears and asks Jaime to avenge their son by killing Tyrion. Jaime is not convinced that Tyrion was behind the murder and tells Cersei that there will be a trial, but she does not care. He tries to comfort her through his affections. Cersei refuses initially, but Jaime is aggressive. Cersei insists that the sept during a private viewing of their son's corpse is a highly inappropriate place for sex, and asks Jaime to stop, saying "It isn't right, it isn't right..." and Jaime refuses to stop, saying, "I don't care, I don't care...." They proceed to embrace and have rough, angry sex on the floor next to Joffrey's corpse.
She also believes the newly crowned Tommen will make a good and decent king, but he needs guidance. Cersei asks Margaery if she is still interested in being queen. Margaery says she will need to speak to her father about the matter.
Cersei confronts her father and defiantly asserts once again that she will not consent to marry Loras Tyrell . When Tywin insists, she shocks him further by confirming for the first time to his face that the rumors about her relationship with her twin brother are in fact true. Disgusted, she leaves Tywin's quarters and proceeds to find Jaime. Though they still disagree on the fate of their younger brother, she approaches Jaime and kisses him passionately. She reaffirms her love for him and her wishes to continue their relationship regardless of what others may say. She kisses his gold hand as a symbol of her acceptance, and he makes love to her.
Escorted by Ser Meryn , Cersei walks to the Great Sept of Baelor for Tywin's funeral, surrounded by numerous lords and ladies, including Margaery, who she glances at suspiciously. Cersei is stopped by the High Septon, who suggests to her that they start soon, since lords and ladies have come from all over Westeros, but she says they will wait a little longer while she has a moment alone with Jaime and their father's corpse.
Later, during Tywin's wake, Cersei is approached by Loras, who babbles on and on, but she ignores him, as she is intently watching Tommen and Margaery sharing a few words and holding hands. Pycelle offers his condolences, yet she completely ignores him as well. She is then approached by Lancel, who has recovered from his wounds at the Blackwater and become extremely pious and joined the Sparrows . Kevan apologizes for the appearance of his son, but Cersei comforts him by saying Lancel will grow out of this phase. While she is having a private moment, Lancel approaches her again and asks for her forgiveness for their "unnatural" relationship, and for serving Robert the wine that led to his death. Cersei brushes off Lancel's request, and his prayers for Tywin's soul.
Later, two men bring Cersei the head of a dwarf. She's disappointed it's not her brother, but donates the head to Qyburn's lab. Cersei presides over the Small Council and doles out new titles on Tommen's behalf: Qyburn is named Master of Whisperers, and Mace Tyrell takes on the additional title of Master of Coin. When Cersei appoints her uncle Kevan as Master of War, he rejects the offer. "I did not return to the capital to serve as your puppet," he says, emphasizing that Tommen should attend the meetings himself. Kevan reminds Cersei she's nothing more than Queen Mother, and he decides to return to Casterly Rock. Cersei is left dissatisfied with Kevan's departure.
On the way to the Sept of Baelor, Cersei is incensed to find the crowd cheering Margaery's name. She remains stone-faced throughout the ceremony. The following morning, Cersei walks with Tommen along the battlements and tries to subtly turn him against his wife, but Tommen scares her by asking her if she'd prefer to go back to Casterly Rock. Cersei goes to confront Margaery, finding her bragging about Tommen's libido to her handmaidens. Cersei tries to verbally spar with Margaery as she used to, but the younger queen is in her prime, and assaults Cersei with backhanded compliments and subtle barbs. Realizing that she is losing, Cersei departs.
Cersei meets with the High Sparrow again and names him as the new High Septon, allowing him to reinstate the Faith Militant , a military order dedicated to defending the Faith of the Seven which was abolished two centuries ago. Loras Tyrell is arrested during the ensuing rampage for his homosexuality, which Margaery believes is part of Cersei's plan to divide her and Tommen.
Tommen confronts his mother and demands that Loras be released, but she calmly tells him that she didn't order his arrest, although her tone of voice seems to imply that she knew beforehand that Loras would be arrested and allowed it to happen in order to interfere with Margaery and Tommen's relationship.
After a brief but tense meeting with Olenna in which mutual insults are exchanged, Cersei takes part in the trial of Loras Tyrell. Though she appears incredulous towards the accusations, it is clear that she has played a part in engineering the entire process. She plays the same trump card that she once did with Tyrion and Shae by making a deal with Olyvar , Loras's lover, to testify against Loras in exchange for being spared from persecution. As a result of her schemes, Loras is to be put on trial, and Margaery is imprisoned for giving false testimony.
When Tommen loses his appetite over his wife's arrest, Cersei attempts to calm him down, and gives him a long speech about how as King, he will be faced with many circumstantial situations in which he will be powerless to act, as Robert Baratheon sometimes was, though she proclaims her love for him by claiming that she will do anything it takes to protect him, even if it means burning down entire cities, and weeps as she cuddles her son. She later visits Margaery in her cell, bringing her food and trying to convince her that she will do her utmost to get her out, but Margaery angrily counters that she knows Cersei engineered both her arrest and Loras's in order to retain control over her son, and shouts at her to get out, throwing the bowl of stew at her and calling her a "hateful bitch." Cersei leaves and finds the High Sparrow beneath the Sept of Baelor, who tells her that both Loras and Margaery will be put on trial, and certain septons, including himself, will stand as judges.
Cersei remains in custody for the next few days, visited only by Septa Unella , who offers her water in return for a confession, but she repeatedly refuses. She is later visited by Qyburn, who informs her that the charges against her are treason, incest and regicide, which she dismisses as lies, though Qyburn reminds her that the Faith will not depend on physical proof as much as the Crown does in her upcoming trial. She asks about Jaime, but Qyburn claims there has been no response, and further tells her that Pycelle has summoned Kevan back to the capital and Tommen has fallen into a depression.
Qyburn, however, tells Cersei that she can still confess, but she refuses. Before he leaves, Qyburn tells her that his work is progressing. Later, when Unella visits her again, Cersei offers to make her a Lady of the capital or have her killed, depending on whether or not she will help her. Unella pours her water on the floor and leaves. Cersei finally abandons her pride and licks the water from the dungeon floor, breaking into tears.
Sometime later, Cersei is brought before the High Sparrow to confess her sins. She confesses of adultery with Ser Lancel Lannister, but denies her incestuous relationship with her brother Jaime. She begs to be allowed to go to the Red Keep to see her son Tommen. The High Sparrow accepts, but states that she has to stand trial.
With bloody feet, Cersei makes it to the Red Keep. Upon entering the gates, Cersei finds her uncle Kevan Lannister , Grand Maester Pycelle and Qyburn waiting for her. Qyburn attempts to comfort her by covering her body with a cloak. Heavy footsteps are heard, and Qyburn introduces Cersei to the newest member of the Kingsguard: a seven foot tall man in golden armor, the Mountain, who has his face hidden constantly due to Qyburn's experimentation and the effects of manticore venom. Qyburn suggests Cersei to go inside to have a look at her feet, which are badly injured, when the huge knight lifts her up and carries her away.
Once again residing in the Red Keep, Cersei is alerted to Jaime's return and runs excitedly to the port to meet Myrcella for the first time in the space of almost 4 years, but her worst fears are realized when she sees a despondent Jaime standing alone on the boat, with a corpse behind him she immediately realizes is Myrcella's.
Later, Cersei is comforted by Jaime in her quarters. Cersei finally admits to Jaime that she believes their children's deaths truly are destined according to Maggy's prophecy, since both Joffrey and Myrcella are gone and the only one left is Tommen. Jaime scoffs it off and promises Cersei revenge for all that their enemies have taken from them.
When Cersei attempts to leave for Myrcella's funeral with the Kingsguard knight in tow, a squad of guards blocks her path; their leader informs her that by order of the king, she is prohibited from leaving the castle, in the interest of her own protection. Cersei demands that they move, but the guards do not budge, even when Cersei's Kingsguard places a hand on his sword. Eventually, Cersei acquiesces and retreats to her chambers. Tommen later visits his mother to apologize for doing nothing when she was arrested and forced to walk through the streets naked, then asks her to teach him to rule. Moved, Cersei tearfully embraces her son.
She then orders Qyburn to place his spies all over Westeros to prevent any other Great Houses from benefiting from the Lannisters' disgrace. Cersei, Jaime and Gregor attend a Small Council meeting, but Kevan, Pycelle, Olenna and Mace Tyrell refuse to accept them, with Olenna coldly reminding Cersei that she is no longer Queen. When they defy the council and sit down, Kevan leads the council out, leaving Cersei alone with Jaime and Gregor.
A few days later, Cersei goes to speak to Tommen, only to find he is already being counseled by Pycelle. Despite the Grand Maester's claim that he is simply offering his wisdom to the king, Cersei coldly orders him to leave. Once alone, Cersei wishes to speak with Tommen in private, having missed the past several Small Council meetings. Tommen is anxious to fight the High Sparrow, since Margaery is still a prisoner, though Cersei reminds him of what the Sparrow forced her to do . Although Tommen knows his mother has always hated Margaery, Cersei claims the rivalry is unimportant, explaining that kings and queens must command respect, and the High Sparrow is little more than an idealistic anarchist using the Faith to achieve his goals. After Tommen reveals his conversation with the High Sparrow and knowledge of something important, Cersei presses him for information.
Cersei and Jaime attend another Small Council meeting, this time presided over by Kevan and Olenna. Though Olenna reminds Cersei she is not welcome, adding her repeated humiliations, Jaime defends his sister, revealing that Tommen has been talking to the High Sparrow about Margaery and Loras. Cersei points out the High Sparrow was expecting them to fight among each other, and before the trial, Margaery will perform her own walk of atonement, which Olenna agrees must not happen. Although Cersei promises to destroy the Sparrows for corrupting Lancel, Kevan warns them the High Sparrow has many supporters, and more lives could be lost in the ensuing battle.
After his failure at the Sept of Baelor and forced removal from the Kingsguard , Jaime informs Cersei he is being sent to Riverrun to help the Freys deal with Brynden Tully . Despite her brother's protests and anger over Tommen's decision to join the High Sparrow, Cersei advises him to lead the Lannister army as their father intended, confident that the Mountain will win her trial by combat. She kisses Jaime goodbye, reminding him they are the only ones who matter.
Qyburn enters Cersei's chamber to inform her that the Faith Militant have entered the Red Keep. Accompanied by Qyburn and the Mountain, Cersei confronts the group. Lancel tells her that the High Sparrow wishes to speak with her at the Sept of Baelor. When she refuses, Lancel tells her that it is not a request.
Later, Cersei, Qyburn and Ser Gregor enter the Great Hall to find a large crowd gathered for a royal announcement. The ladies in court look at the Queen Mother in detest. Cersei asks Kevan Lannister why she was not informed. Kevan bars her from standing beside her son and tells her that her place was in the gallery "with the other ladies of the court." Cersei reluctantly takes her place there while the other women stand aside, not wanting to be near her or Gregor.
King Tommen Baratheon starts by saying that the Crown and the Faith are the two pillars that hold up this world, and should one collapse, so does the other. He also says that The Father judges them all, and if they break his laws, they shall be punished. He announces that Loras Tyrell and Cersei's trial will be held in the Sept of Baelor on the first day of the festival of The Mother. After much prayer and reflection, he also announces that trial by combat will be forbidden in the Seven Kingdoms, stating that it is a scheme made by those who wants to escape true judgement from the Gods, and that Loras and Cersei would stand trial before seven septons as it was in the earlier days of the Faith.
As the king leaves, Qyburn tells a shocked Cersei, who had been planning on calling a trial by combat with Gregor as her champion, that his little birds have been investigating an old rumor that she had told him about, and that it appears to be much more than a rumor.
On the day of her trial, Cersei dresses incredibly ornately. She is adorned with fine clothes and all manners of jewelry. However, she does not show up at the Great Sept for her trial, instead viewing the city in the distance from the Red Keep. Unknown to those present at the trial, there is a large cache of wildfire underneath the Sept, placed there by Aerys II at the height of his insanity. Cersei has Qyburn's little birds light candles which eventually shrink to a size in which the cache can be ignited. Shortly before, Cersei has Qyburn and his little birds assassinate Pycelle, so as to consolidate all power to her.
Following the destruction of the Sept , Tommen commits suicide by jumping out a window. Cersei orders that his body be burned and the ashes buried at the ruins of the Sept, along with the ashes of her father, elder son and daughter. Through right of conquest, she has Qyburn crown her Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. During the coronation, she sees Jaime from afar, who gives her a grim look.
Cersei has Ellaria and Tyene both chained and gagged in one of the black cells. She tells Ellaria that even though they are enemies, she understands her captive's fury. She calls to mind how skillful a fighter Oberyn was up to the point when he got killed, taunting Ellaria by insinuating Oberyn brought his own death upon himself by taunting Gregor instead of just leaving him to die. She then reveals her own grief at losing her only daughter, and walks over to Tyene, complimenting her beauty before ungagging her and kissing her full on the lips with the very same poison that Ellaria used on Myrcella. Qyburn puts the gag back on Tyene and gives Cersei the antidote.
As the Dragonpit Summit comes into fruition, Qyburn tells Cersei from her chambers that Daenerys's forces are en route to the Dragonpit. Cersei then warns Gregor that if anything should go wrong, he should kill Daenerys first, followed by Jon and then Tyrion, following then in any order she sees fit, before departing herself.
A furious Jaime orders Euron to sit down, and when he disregards the warning, Cersei reiterates it; a subdued Euron returns to his seat. Getting the meeting on track, Tyrion, Daenerys, and Jon try to warn Cersei of the greater threat coming for them all, but she dismisses it as a ploy to trick her into lowering her defenses. To prove their claims, Sandor returns with the crate containing the wight, which is worryingly silent. Sandor gets the crate open, but there is still no movement. He finally gives the crate a massive kick, which prompts the enraged wight to launch itself out and charge toward the nearest target - Cersei, appropriately enough.
All three Lannisters then return to the Dragonpit. Cersei has agreed to work with Daenerys, but not by keeping her troops back: the Lannister army will march north to fight alongside the Starks and Targaryens. After the enemy delegation has left, an eager and relieved Jaime meets with his commanders to discuss the logistics of moving the army north. Cersei enters the map room and asks what he is doing. Dismissing the commanders, she tells Jaime he really is the stupidest Lannister. Shocked, Jaime listens as Cersei explains that Euron has not abandoned her, but has gone to Essos to ferry the Golden Company back to Westeros. She intentionally leaked her pregnancy to Tyrion so he would believe her, and now she intends to allow their enemies to exhaust themselves against the Army of the Dead, then have the Golden Company mop up the remnants of whoever is left in the North, conveniently forgetting that if the Dead win, their numbers will increase even more.
Finally seeing his sister for the manipulative, untrustworthy, power-mad narcissist she truly is, Jaime disgustedly declares that he, at least, will fight to honor the pledge he made. When he tries to leave, he finds his way blocked by Ser Gregor. Cersei furiously insists that she will kill him as a traitor if he tries to leave, but Jaime calls her bluff and storms out, and Cersei does not give the order, unable to kill the only man she ever loved. As she watches Jaime leave, both betrayed and saddened, snow begins to fall on her city, showing that winter has finally reached the south.
The two flee into the cellars, hoping to flee the city on a rowboat and later sail to Pentos , but the exit has been blocked by debris. As the realization that there is no escape sinks in, Cersei starts to panic, frantically weeping and begging Jaime to save them, pleading she does not want herself and their unborn child to die. Jaime, aware they're both doomed, calms Cersei down and hugs her, saying nothing else matters except them. As they embrace for the final time, they are crushed by debris.
However, she is not completely devoid of tact. Despite their blatant attempt to deceive her and collect the reward on her brother, Cersei opts not to punish a pair of bounty hunters to avoid discouraging the other hunters from finding Tyrion and acknowledges that mistakes will be made.
A mistake outsiders, such as Sansa, often make when dealing with Cersei is assuming that Cersei has the dignified personality, emotional maturity, and regal wisdom of a queen, or at least an adult, when her real personality is closer to a petty, petulant, and vindictive child in an adult's body (indeed, Lena Headey has stated that she plays Cersei as having the mind of a wayward 15 year old who never had any real parenting). With her mother dead at a young age and her father away at court (and a cold disciplinarian anyway), Cersei was functionally raised by servants. In public, Cersei often tries to exude a sense of calm and regal control over her surroundings. When things do not go her own way, however, Cersei's usual response is to become childishly flippant, even when the assembled Small Council is trying to give her advice which would genuinely serve her own interests.
Cersei's lack of a parental relationship growing up is reflected in how poorly she has served as a mother to her own children, for whom she is unable to act as a stable moral instructor. While she certainly dotes on them, she doesn't genuinely "love" them so much as she treats them as extensions of herself. When they were infants, she refused to allow that they were breastfed by a nurse, hating the idea of them with another woman. She is convinced that she is obsessed with their welfare, but when events threaten to take any of them away from her she is not so much worried about their happiness and well-being as angered that something she feels belongs to her is being taken away.
Actress Lena Headey became pregnant just before Season 1 began filming. However, the production team was so enthusiastic about her performance, and the larger scale concern of having Headey play Cersei for several years, that they didn't recast the role but instead worked around her pregnancy by, for example, keeping the camera frame above her waist or having her sit at a table. For wide shots when Cersei is walking around, notice that most of Cersei's costumes in Season 1 have large billowing sleeves which she carries in front of her to hide her pregnancy. At other times, body doubles were shot from behind in quick-cuts. This may also explain why Cersei's sex scene with Jaime isn't as involved as it is in the books, in which they are both completely naked and have an extended conversation intermixed with lovemaking. In the TV series, Cersei and Jaime are mostly clothed, with Jaime simply pulling her dress up, and Jaime is taking her from behind, so the viewer can't see that the actress is pregnant.
The TV producers actually made it a point never to show Cersei naked since the beginning of the TV series, even during sex scenes, specifically to make it more shocking when her penance walk would occur years later (ultimately in Season 5's " Mother's Mercy "). Just before Season 4 aired, Lena Headey spoke about the upcoming scene in such a way that it vaguely seemed like she was considering performing it herself, but ultimately model Rebecca Van Cleave was used as a body double, and Lena's head was digitally added onto Van Cleave's body. Why Headey ultimately used a body double is unclear: one explanation circulated was it was because Headey was pregnant, though the scene was shot in early October 2014 and Headey gave birth on July 10 the following year, making it unlikely that she was pregnant during filming.
Headey later revealed that the reason she didn't do the nude scene herself is because she felt she wouldn't be able to stay in-character: Cersei is supposed to make the entire penance walk with an utterly stoic face, but Headey felt she could not restrain herself from reacting to the crowd as extras would also be flinging filth and insults at her during the entire sequence, when it is explicitly important that the character doesn't react.
In A Song of Ice and Fire , Cersei is a beautiful but cold woman who does not get along with her husband, whom she considers to be a fat oaf. However, she dotes on and loves her three children. She is not politically skilled, and frustrated that her options for power are limited by her gender. Cersei is close to her brother Jaime, but is cowed by her father and despises Tyrion, whom she unjustly blames for killing her mother Joanna, who died giving birth to him. Cersei and Jaime were around 10 years old when Tyrion was born and Joanna died. In the series, it is mentioned that Cersei was 4 instead, a change which better reflects the relative ages of the actors (Peter Dinklage is four years older than Lena Headey).
According to the novels, Cersei never gave birth to any child by Robert. As she revealed to Eddard, she was only pregnant by Robert once and aborted the child out of hatred for its father. Robert was unaware of both the pregnancy and the abortion. In the TV series, she revealed to Catelyn that she'd had a " beautiful, black-haired boy ", but he'd died of a fever.
During her reign, Cersei becomes alcoholic, and takes lovers of both genders, among them Osney Kettleblack and Lady Taena Merryweather, both characters of questionable loyalty. Jaime, who has been growing more and more distant from Cersei, is disgusted by her behavior; he finds it ironic that she has adopted the same negative habits she hated so much about Robert.
Cersei's paranoia increases rapidly, so much that she interprets every statement, causal comment or even a smile as a plot against her. For instance: Kevan advises her to appoint either Randyll Tarly or Mathis Rowan as Tommen's Hand, since they are able and loyal; however, since both are the Tyrells' bannermen, Cersei hastily concludes that her uncle is a traitor, bought by the Tyrells to act against her - which is a totally wrong conclusion.
Cersei's actions alienate Jaime, who wants nothing to do with the increasing brutality and rampant cronyism of her reign. He flatly tells his sister she's seeing enemies where none exist and turning what few allies she has left against her; Cersei, however, completely ignores Jaime's legitimate criticisms, mockingly accusing him of having lost his courage along with his hand. Watching how Cersei treats Tommen, Jaime - similarly to his father and uncle - thinks she is totally incompetent as a mother and fears she will corrupt their son into another Joffrey. Jaime is also haunted by Tyrion's revelation that Cersei has been cheating on him with Lancel and Osmund Kettleblack, amongst others. Some time later, Lancel confesses to Jaime the truth about his affair with Cersei and his part in Robert's death, thus confirming Tyrion's words; moreover, Jaime realizes that Cersei is responsible not only for Robert's murder, but also for the murder of the previous High Septon (who was killed by Osney Kettleblack at Cersei's order), increasing the deep loathing he already feels toward her.
During Robert's Rebellion , Jaime killed Aerys Targaryen , earning the derogatory nickname " Kingslayer ." He was pardoned by Robert and allowed to serve in his Kingsguard . Following Robert's death, he was appointed as the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard to his son, Joffrey.
Jaime was the eldest son of Joanna Lannister and Lord Tywin Lannister . Jaime had great difficulty learning to read as a child because he transposed letters in his mind. Tywin sat with him through four hours a day practicing until he learned. Jaime resented being forced to spend so much time on reading.
Jaime was the older brother of Tyrion and the twin brother of Cersei. Their mother died giving birth to Tyrion. Due to his place in the Kingsguard, Jaime could not inherit his father's lands or titles, making Tyrion his father's heir; a fact which vexes Tywin. Unlike Cersei and Tywin, Jaime always treated Tyrion with love, kindness and respect.
At the evening feast, Jaime blocks Eddard's path and asks if there will be a possibility of their competing against each other at a tournament. Eddard dismissively says no, as he doesn't play at fighting, and doesn't show off his skills to let opponents know his abilities. The next day, Eddard and Robert go hunting, leaving the castle largely empty. Cersei and Jaime liaise in a derelict tower. Bran climbs the tower, looks through a window and finds them engaged in sexual intercourse. He is caught watching by Cersei, at that point Jaime is able to make it to the window to grab him. Bran is startled by everything he's seen, Jaime looks out the window and only sees Bran's direwolf pup Summer . He asks Bran how old he is, and he replies, "Ten." Jaime glances momentarily back at Cersei and says, "The things I do for love", and pushes Bran out of the window.
Elsewhere, Robert swaps old war stories with Ser Barristan Selmy , a distinguished and famous knight and commander of the Kingsguard. Jaime is called in to join them. He tells them that the first man he killed was an outlaw from the Kingswood Brotherhood , and, as he took off the man's head, there were no last words. Disappointed in not being able to mock him, Robert realizes that he never asked Jaime what Aerys's last words were, then taunts Jaime for killing a defenseless old man he had sworn to protect. Jaime tersely responds that the last thing the Mad King said was the same thing he'd been raving for hours, since the sack of the capital by the rebels began: "Burn them all!" This silences Robert's levity.
Jaime guards the king's bedroom while Robert cavorts with several women, Jaime taking it as a calculated insult to himself and his sister. He reminisces with Jory Cassel , the captain of Eddard's household guards, about the Siege of Pyke during the Greyjoy Rebellion and the fierceness of the fighting. Jory tries to leave Eddard's message with Jaime, but is rebuffed, as Jaime angrily states that he does not serve Lord Stark.
Catelyn visits the captive Jaime. He taunts Catelyn, saying widowhood suits her, informing her that he would have sex with her if she was lonely. She hits him in the head with a rock. Jaime knows that the Starks won't kill him as long as his sister holds Sansa and Arya hostage, but Jaime always taunts others while he is in chains to show them he doesn't fear them and they aren't superior to him. She says he has gone against the laws of gods and man, he says, "What Gods?" Where were her gods when her husband was killed. When she says injustice in the world is because of men like him, he tells her, "There are no men like me. Only me." When asked directly, he admits pushing Bran from the tower, but doesn't reveal why.
Months later, Jaime is joined in his cell by his distant cousin Alton . They talk about the time Alton served as Jaime's squire at a tourney, and Jaime tells him about his own experiences as squire of Barristan Selmy. Drawing Alton closer, Jaime seizes the opportunity to escape. When he leans over to hear Jaime whisper about an escape plan, Jaime head butts him then strikes him in the head repeatedly cracking his skull. When the guard ( Torrhen Karstark ) is distracted by discovering Alton's body bloody and convulsing, Jaime strangles him to death and takes his keys to free himself from his chains.
Later, the pair have to cross a river, which means they can either attempt a dangerous fording or take the bridge, which will probably be watched. Brienne takes the safer route of the bridge, but Jaime manages to distract her long enough to take away her spare sword and cut his bonds. Brienne and Jaime enter into an extended sword fight on the bridge. Jaime, one of the most skilled swordsmen in all of Westeros, nearly overcomes Brienne several times.
Along with Brienne, he is taken captive by Locke and his men. As they ride along, the men sing a rousing chorus of " The Bear and the Maiden Fair ." Tied up back to back on one of the horses, Jaime warns Brienne that when they make camp for the night, they will rape her, more than once, and that his honest advice is to give no resistance, and just think of Renly. They were only sent to capture Jaime, therefore Brienne means nothing to them, so at the slightest provocation they will kill her without hesitation. Brienne says she will fight even if they kill her, and Jaime agrees that if he were a woman, he would fight to the death before being raped too.
Later that night Locke's men make camp, and do indeed drag Brienne kicking and screaming into the bushes to gang-rape her. Jaime is disgusted by this pointless brutality, so he points out to Locke that Brienne is actually a noblewoman and the sole heir of Lord Selwyn Tarth , the "Sapphire Isle", and her father will pay them a ransom of her weight in sapphires - provided that she is unharmed. Locke agrees and calls his men back before they are able to rape Brienne, and they tie her up to a tree again. Jaime then tries to smooth-talk Locke once again with offers of how his father Tywin will make him extravagantly rich if he lets Jaime go.
Tiring of Jaime's arrogance and frequent attempts to bribe him into turning over to the Lannister side, Locke decides to prove that Jaime's father will never deal with the likes of him. At first, Locke has his men untie Jaime on the pretext of letting him go after feeding him. But then his men hold Jaime down on a tree stump serving as a chopping block while Locke grabs a carving knife; his reasoning being that maiming Tywin's son will be the ultimate proof that the Lannisters would never deal with Locke, much less bribe him.
Locke mocks Jaime about always relying on his daddy Tywin and that his daddy isn't here. Locke says that Jaime's father can't help him now, and "this should help you remember!" - as he swings down the carving knife and hacks off Jaime's sword-hand. For half a second, Jaime stares at his severed right hand in shock, before what just happened can register in his mind, then he screams in horror.
The following day, Locke's men lead their prisoners Jaime and Brienne horseback. Jaime's severed right hand is tied onto a cord that hangs around his neck. Jaime is physically in agony from his wound, feverish and half-delirious. Barely conscious, he falls headlong off of his horse into the mud. Laying in the mud Jaime is mocked and tormented by Locke and his men, giving him horse urine to drink. However Jaime manages to steal a sword, and unsuccessfully tries to fight them off using only his left hand. Jaime is so weak and feverish that he can barely stand, much less wield a sword and must therefore quickly give up trying. His only hope is that one of the men would give him a small dignified death having a sword in his hand. He eventually succumbs to exhaustion and Locke simply warns him that if he tries that again he'll cut off his other hand.
Later that night Jaime and Brienne are restrained near a campfire. Jaime refuses to eat, and says he wants to die. Brienne says he should try to live for revenge, but Jaime says he was that hand, and without his sword-hand, even if he escapes, he is nothing, and would rather die as the Jaime he was than go on living, robbed of his very identity. Brienne says she overheard when he earlier managed to talk Locke out of letting his men gang-rape her. Brienne is confused, and asks Jaime why he helped her, but he doesn't answer. Brienne grows angry, claiming that this is the first time Jaime had to face the real world where things people care about get taken away. And that he's pathetically moping around like a woman. Her criticism and strength convinces Jaime to start eating.
Unwilling to let that happen, Jaime killed him, and in doing so actually saved thousands of innocent lives before Ned Stark entered the throne room and saw the aftermath. Brienne asks Jaime why he never told anyone if all of this is true. Jaime replies that Ned Stark judged him guilty the moment he laid eyes on him, and he vents, "By what right does the wolf judge the lion?" He begins to pass out and collapses in Brienne's arms. She calls for the guards to help the Kingslayer, but he corrects her and says his name is Jaime.
Roose does not allow Brienne to join Jaime however. Jaime protests and insists that she must go with him, but Roose claims that she must stay because she is charged with abetting treason. Before Roose heads off to the Twins , Jaime jokingly tells him to send his regards to Robb, a task that Roose actually does carry out right before killing the Young Wolf.
In Tyrion's​ chambers, he and Jaime share a drink. Tyrion states that he is impressed with Jaime's new hand, saying that it's much better than the old one. Jaime brings up a dilemma of his: He can't use a sword, and he can't train, because it will be humiliating. Tyrion says he knows just the man, which is Bronn . Jaime and Bronn meet up by the sea to train, Jaime is worried that someone might hear them, but Bronn responds that he routinely has sex with a married woman in that place and that she is a screamer; if no one heard her, no one will hear them.
At the wedding feast, Jaime is standing in his spot in the Kingsguard formation, where Loras Tyrell accidentally bumps into him and they talk about Cersei. Jaime says that Loras will never marry Cersei, that she would kill him and any child conceived on their wedding night; not that it matters since Loras will never marry her. Loras replies that neither will Jaime, a subtle barb to their incestuous relationship.
Jaime enters to Great Sept of Baelor to see Cersei and his dead son, asking Tommen if he is coping well with the situation. Jaime sends the septon and septas away so he can be alone with Cersei. Cersei wants the death of the accused Tyrion and his wife Sansa. She asks Jaime to kill Tyrion for murdering their son because she is sure Tyrion will talk his way out of it. Jaime refuses, almost positive that Tyrion did not kill their son and tries to comfort her through his affections.
Cersei initially kisses Jaime then pulls away and turns back to her dead son after which Jaime proclaims " You're a hateful woman, why have the gods condemned me to love a hateful woman? " Jaime then becomes aggressive, tearing at her dress. Cersei insists his actions are inappropriate and repeatedly asks Jaime to stop, but he refuses. They embrace and proceed to have rough, angry sex on the floor in front of Joffrey's corpse.
Jaime visits Cersei on her request, but is disappointed when she only wishes to know Kingsguard formations for Tommen, concerned with the safety of Tommen following the assassination of Joffrey. She asks him if he would break his oath to Catelyn by hunting down and murdering Sansa, who Cersei believes killed Joffrey, aided by Tyrion. She then confronts him about visiting Tyrion. Jaime tries to convince Cersei that their brother is innocent, but she refuses to listen and tells him to leave, demanding more protection for Tommen.
Jaime and Brienne talk in the White Sword Tower about Jaime's honor, which he hopes to reclaim. He gives Brienne his new sword and armor and tells her to find and protect Sansa, to keep her somewhere safe, far away from his sister. He also gives her another present: a squire, Podrick Payne . She is reluctant at first, thinking that he will slow her down, but she accepts. Brienne names the sword Oathkeeper, and bids farewell to Jaime. They are both emotionally affected as he watches her leave the capital. Jaime is present at Tommen's coronation along with other Kingsguard.
Cersei finds Jaime in the White Sword Tower, and he expresses disgust at her blatant attempts to have Tyrion killed. Cersei accuses that Tyrion killed their mother when she gave birth to him. Jaime is surprised that she still irrationally blames him for that, pointing out that he was an infant and had no control over what happened. He insists that Tyrion is her family whether she chooses to accept it or not. She rebukes his claim, saying he is not her family and that they all have a choice, and that she chooses Jaime. She then reveals that she has spilled their secret to Tywin. He is stunned by her actions, asking how Tywin reacted to the news, but she states that she does not want to discuss their father. Cersei begins to seduce him, saying she chooses her brother over everyone else in the world, no longer concerned with whether everyone else knows their secret. Jaime yields to her advances, kissing her passionately and throwing her on the table where they begin to have sex.
Ellaria later visits Jaime in his quarters and pretends to make amends with him, acknowledging that neither he nor Myrcella played any part in Oberyn's death, but expresses her knowledge that Myrcella is not Jaime's niece, but his daughter. Before leaving, she mocks him for not being born centuries ago into the Targaryen family, in which position his incest would have been accepted.
Later, after Cersei learns from Tommen that the High Sparrow means to have Margaery perform a Walk of Atonement, she and Jaime try to appeal to the Council again. This time, they agree to work together to remove the High Sparrow from power. Jaime convinces his uncle to keep the Lannister forces in reserve but have the Tyrell army go to the Great Sept of Baelor and free Margaery and Loras, though Kevan warns that the High Sparrow has many supporters and thousands could die in the ensuing civil war.
Jaime meets Mace Tyrell and his army by the city gate and rides with the Lord of Highgarden to the Great Sept. As the High Sparrow is addressing the crowd, the Tyrell force marches into the square at the foot of the Sept's stairs. Just as it seems it will come to blood, the High Sparrow announces he will be releasing Margaery due to a new alliance between the Crown and the Faith, and Tommen emerges from the Sept with the rest of the Kingsguard. Jaime is shocked and enraged, and he gives the High Sparrow a scornful glare.
After the failed attempt at the Great Sept, Tommen removes Jaime from the Kingsguard. He commands him to take an army to Riverrun , which was recently captured by the Blackfish and the Tully army, and help the Freys retake the castle. Jaime later informs Cersei of this, angry that the High Sparrow has swayed Tommen to his side and threatening to attack the Sept with help from Bronn and other sellswords. Instead, Cersei advises Jaime to lead the Lannister forces to Riverrun, confident the Mountain will win her trial by combat. She kisses Jaime goodbye, reminding him their enemies have always underestimated them.
Jaime arrives at Riverrun accompanied by Bronn and an army of 8,000 Lannisters. He witnesses Lothar Frey and Black Walder Rivers threatening to kill Edmure if the Blackfish doesn't surrender. Knowing his nephew is too valuable to lose, the Blackfish dismisses them and Edmure is spared. Jaime remarks on the Freys' poor attempts at siege warfare and points out that threatening to hang Edmure and then not doing so makes them look weak. To prove his point, he threatens to strike Black Walder if he speaks again; when Black Walder begins to answer, Jaime slaps him hard with his armored hand, drawing blood. Jaime assumes command of the siege and orders Edmure to be washed and fed. Jaime then sends word to Brynden that he wishes to parley .
He comes face to face with Brynden, but it quickly becomes clear that the Blackfish is not interested in surrendering. He asks Jaime whether he has come to honor his vow to his niece and return her two daughters. Brynden quips that "negotiating with an oathbreaker is like building on quicksand", declaring that he is ready to die in his home. He challenges Jaime to either storm the castle or try to starve them out, claiming that they have two years worth of provisions. Brynden then asks Jaime, "Do you have two years?"
A few days into the siege, Brienne arrives at Riverrun to seek an alliance with House Tully to fight the Boltons. As she and Jaime discuss the situation privately in a tent, Bronn asks Pod if he thinks they are having sex and says that Jaime would definitely have sex with her. Meanwhile, Brienne tells Jaime that she fulfilled their oath to Catelyn and explains Sansa's desire for aid from the Blackfish. She proposes that if she can convince the Blackfish to surrender the castle, then Jaime will allow him and the Tully army safe passage to the North.
Jaime agrees and allows Brienne to enter Riverrun and try to convince Brynden to surrender. She then removes Oathkeeper and tries to return it to Jaime, since the purpose he lent it to her for (rescuing Sansa) has been fulfilled, but he refuses to take it back, saying that it's hers now. Brienne reminds him that her oath to Sansa will obligate her to fight him if her efforts to find a peaceful solution should fail if he attacks the castle. Jaime responds by saying that he hopes that it does not come to that.
Despite Brynden's protests, the gates are opened to Edmure and Jaime takes the castle without bloodshed. On the castle walls, Jaime is informed of the Blackfish's death, leaving him visibly saddened. He then witnesses Brienne and Pod escaping in a boat, but allows them to leave, waving goodbye to Brienne.
Jaime then marches to the Twins with the Freys as they celebrate their retaking of Riverrun. Jaime notices a serving girl who smiles at him. Bronn then complains that all the women desire Jaime, who then calls over two young girls and introduces them to the knight. He then speaks to Walder Frey, who gloats about their victory. When Walder attempts to equate himself with Jaime, calling them both kingslayers, Jaime is visibly irritated. Walder goes on to say that fear is a marvelous thing but Jaime retorts that people fear the Lannisters, not the Freys, and questions the need for the Freys if the Lannisters have to keep helping the Freys hold the Riverlands. Walder does not respond and Jaime brusquely leaves. Walder and his sons, Black Walder and Lothar, are later murdered by the same serving girl that smiled at Jaime earlier, who reveals herself to be Arya.
Cersei and Jaime discuss their strategy and their enemies. Jaime points out their lack of allies and questions Cersei's power. He expresses his will to discuss Tommen's suicide, but she refuses, calling their youngest child a traitor. She later reveals that she has considered a new ally, Euron Greyjoy . Euron arrives to ask Cersei to marry, but she declines, stating that she cannot trust him. Jaime then reminisces about Euron's primary role in the Greyjoy Rebellion, including the Sack of Lannisport and is less then impressed when Euron proposes to Cersei, but is relieved when she refuses his proposal.
Jaime is present when Euron Greyjoy presents his captives of Yara Greyjoy and Ellaria and Tyene Sand as his promised gift to Cersei. As they stand beside the throne as Cersei proclaims Euron commander of her naval forces as well as assuring him of her hand in marriage once the war is won, Jaime quietly mutters that the same people who cheered for Euron would do the same if Cersei put his head on a spike. Euron ignores the jab, but responds with one of his own by asking Jaime for advice on how Cersei enjoys sex. A furious Jaime almost lunges at Euron, but Euron, delighted at having provoked him, gleefully tells Jaime to save it for later, in a not so public place.
Olenna asks Jaime how he intends to kill her, speculating he will kill her with Widow's Wail, Joffrey's old sword. Remarking on Joffrey's horrible nature, Olenna proudly admits that she enacted measures to protect her family at all costs, with no regrets, but reflects that her actions pale in comparison to the atrocities performed by Cersei. She tells Jaime that Cersei is a monster; a matter of opinion according to Jaime. While some may dread her, Jaime insists that none will care what she has done, so long as order is restored. Olenna observes that Jaime really does love his sister, and calls him a fool, claiming that she will be the end of him, and that by the time he realizes what a disease Cersei is, it will be far too late for him. Jaime considers this a moot point, of little value discussing with Olenna, although she points out that as an experienced person about to die, she is the perfect person to discuss his life with.
Olenna again asks Jaime how he plans to kill her. Jaime tells her of Cersei’s idea of having her whipped and beheaded, or flayed alive and hanged, but he talked her out of those ideas. He then produces a small phial and empties its contents into one of the glasses of wine, giving it to Olenna who then drinks it after Jaime confirms that it will be a painless death. Olenna reflects on the horrible way that Joffrey died, and the gruesome details that the poison caused; she admits that part was unintentional on her part, as she had never seen the strangler work in person before. Shocked into silence, Jaime stares at her, realizing at last who really killed his eldest son and let his brother take the blame, setting in motion the deaths of Oberyn, Tywin, and Myrcella. Satisfied at his horror, Olenna insists that he tell Cersei that she was the one who murdered her son, whereafter a furious Jaime storms out, leaving Olenna to die.
Nonetheless, Jaime manages to rally his remaining forces a second time, desperately taking command of a group of surviving Lannister and Tarly archers and directing them to concentrate their fire at the dragon: Drogon might not be vulnerable to common arrow fire, but his rider is. If they can manage to kill Daenerys herself, who has risked appearing in open battle, the entire war could end in a day, no matter their losses. Daenerys sees the attack coming, however, and banks Drogon up so the arrow volley harmlessly bounces off the armored scales on his belly.
Bronn eventually manages to shoot Drogon in the shoulder, but the scorpion is destroyed immediately after by Drogon's dragonfire. To Jaime's disadvantage, the dragon's armored scales are so tough that the scorpion bolt only managed to cause superficial damage. Nonetheless the flesh wound grounds him, and he howls in pain and fury, destroying any masses of enemy soldiers that get near him. Daenerys sets him down and dismounts to try and pull the scorpion bolt out.
They both fall into the river, where Jaime is weighed down by his armor, and sinks beneath the waters, in danger of drowning. Jaime is pulled ashore by Bronn, who rebukes him for making such a reckless gamble. Realizing there is no chance their armies can beat Daenerys at war, especially if she makes use of all three dragons, Jaime knows he must tell Cersei the bad news, to which Bronn suggests it may be better if he jumped back into the water.
Jaime later accompanies Cersei to the parley with Daenerys and Jon at the Dragonpit. He spots Brienne among the Northern assembly and the two stare at each other. Jaime quickly looks away from Brienne when he realizes that Cersei has noticed. When Euron Greyjoy attempts to derail the meeting and begins insulting Tyrion, Jaime angrily tells him to sit down. As the parley continues, proof of the Army of the Dead is shown, and Daenerys tells her story of how she saw them. Jaime asks her of the enemy numbers and he is shocked when she tells him of their overwhelming numerical superiority at around at least 100,000. When Cersei leaves the parley in outrage due to Jon's public pledge of loyalty to Daenerys, Brienne urges Jaime to convince Cersei to help. After trying and failing to do so, Jaime later wishes Tyrion luck when he arrives to do the same.
After Cersei relents, Jaime wastes no time assembling the commanders of the Lannister army in preparation for the march North. He is outraged when Cersei interrupts this meeting and reveals she lied about aiding the North in the war against the dead. Jaime angrily protests that the undead are a threat to every living thing, but Cersei dismisses his concerns, preferring to let Jon and Daenerys exhaust themselves against the Night King, then have her forces deal with whoever emerges victorious from that conflict, boasting that Euron will soon ferry the Golden Company to Westeros in order to secure the Lannister position. Jaime is beside himself with fury that Cersei and Euron plotted this behind his back, only to be left reeling when Cersei accuses him of plotting with Tyrion to advance the cause of their enemies.
An incredulous Jaime tries to argue that this plan won't work. Either way somebody is going to win the war in the North. When that happens either an expanded Army of the Dead will march down in full force to claim the rest of Westeros or the victorious and united Targaryen/Northern alliance will come seeking retribution for Cersei's betrayal. After his protests fall on deaf ears, Jaime declares that he intends to travel North to honor his pledge. As he turns to leave, Ser Gregor blocks his path, causing Jaime to wonder if Cersei is actually going to have him executed. When Jaime uses Cersei's own words to remind her that their father and all their family members are dead (Tyrion having been disinherited), she assures him there is "one more yet to come."
After the living are victorious, he celebrates along with others and has an intimate moment with Brienne. Bronn, who has been sent by Cersei to kill both her brothers is reluctant as he thinks Daenerys still has a good chance of winning. He tells them that he's been promised Riverrun as a reward, Tyrion in return promises him Highgarden in exchange for sparing their lives, though Jaime protests that he is a cutthroat. Bronn in turn reminds him his own ancestors were cutthroats and agrees to spare them in exchange for being made the Lord of Highgarden after the war.
Jaime finds Cersei in the war room and convinces her to come with him, but they are trapped in the cellars of the Red Keep due to the debris, a result of Drogon's destruction of the city. With no way of escape, Jaime accepts his fate and embraces his distraught sister, who is begging Jaime to find a way to save her and their unborn child. Jaime, however, states nothing else matters except them, and they hug each other while the tunnel collapses. The Lannister twins are killed by the falling debris.
When combing through the ruins of the Red Keep, Tyrion finds his brother's golden hand buried under a pile of rubble. Clearing away the rubble, Tyrion uncovers the bodies of both Cersei and Jaime, discovering that both have died in each other's arms. Brienne then completes his entry in the Book of Brothers , recording all his honorable deeds and building his legacy, writing that he "died protecting his queen."
At first glance, outsiders perceive Jaime to be arrogant, cocky, cold, dishonorable, extremely dangerous, disdainful, and sarcastic. To a large extent he is arrogant about his own abilities, but not without cause. Jaime was arguably one of the greatest swordsmen ever, but the loss of his sword-hand warped his abilities, which did much to humble him. Jaime does not mock others over minor insults the way Cersei does, and he can muster up polite behavior, but he is usually very blunt and straightforward. Much like Tyrion, he typically just says what he is thinking, and has no reservations about mocking those he perceives as incompetent. Despite this, there were men that Jaime admired (like Barristan Selmy, for whom he squired) and, underneath this cold and sarcastic attitude, Jaime is a very complicated man.
Jaime was never politically ambitious, much to Cersei's annoyance, and often turns down her frequent urgings that he should try to become Hand of the King, stating that the days are too long and their lives are too short. Political maneuvering is not his way, and he sees himself foremost as a soldier who when confronted with a problem takes out his sword and cuts its head off. Up until the day his hand was cut off, he had immersed himself in combat so much that it is his sole value, and when he does lose his hand, his sword hand, he loses the will to live because, thus far, he has only ever had to decapitate a problem so as not to face it again, but now he cannot wield a sword the same way ever again - he laments that he was that hand. Brienne is quick to tirade to him about him having a small taste of a world where people have their good things ripped from their possession, and after that one small taste he gives up - she mistakes him for a coward at this point. Indeed, Jaime's lack of political thinking leads to him heatedly suggesting that either he or someone else execute the High Sparrow and his followers for manipulating Tommen - at the time, he did not quite see the long term ramifications of such an act because he was angry at the possibility of losing his only surviving child.
Tywin was a stern man feared and resented by all of his children, ignoring Cersei for her gender and scorning Tyrion for both his stature and 'killing' his wife in childbirth. However, Jaime is on reasonably good terms with Tywin - not so much that he is "proud" of Jaime so much as he has the "least shame" for him compared to his brother and sister. Even so, Tywin is upset that Jaime willingly joined the Kingsguard, as while it is considered the highest honor for a knight, its members give up the rights to marry or inherit lands, meaning that Jaime cannot be Tywin's heir. Jaime wasn't in a position to act as a father to his biological children with Cersei, though he is generally supportive of Tommen and Myrcella. However, in sharp contrast with Cersei, Jaime isn't particularly fond of Joffrey, nor will he defend his actions the way Cersei does. He shows obvious joy when Myrcella reveals her knowledge that Jaime is her father and is happy about it, and embraces her, since this is the first time he has ever been able to show his feelings as a father to his children. He is equally saddened when Myrcella dies in his arms moments later. He also becomes enraged when the High Sparrow brainwashes his only son, and he contemplates a plan to bloodily finish the High Sparrow's schemes, even though sound judgment states that this plan wouldn't work.
Although Jaime was a highly skilled warrior, he has never distinguished himself as a battle commander. He has won a couple of battles (a battle in the hills below the Golden Tooth and the Sack of Highgarden ), and resolved the second siege of Riverrun almost without casualties; on the other hand, he was defeated in two major battles - Battle of Whispering Wood and Battle of the Goldroad , in both cases his troops suffered heavy casualties, simply because he neglected basic precautions (placing sentries and sending scouts). Jaime has partly learned from his mistakes: remembering how Robb tricked him by leaving a small decoy force to be overwhelmed while the rest of the army moved to attack more important targets, Jaime allowed the Unsullied to take Casterly Rock (after having emptied its larders) while taking most of the Lannisters' forces south to storm Highgarden; he failed, however, to learn from the same battle the importance of precautions, and that led to his defeat at the Battle of the Goldroad. Regardless, Jaime quickly recognized that the only way he could turn the tide was by killing the enemy commander, even risking his own life for the sake of a chance to kill Daenerys; this demonstrates him to be a man of courage as well as military skill.
One defining trait of Jaime is his lack of fear of death; he once told Catelyn "the dark is coming for all of us" (" Fire and Blood "). Even when facing a nearly-certain and extremely agonizing death, he shows very little or no fear at all (like when Robb threatened to have Grey Wind kill him, or when he charged at Daenerys during the Battle of the Goldroad and was nearly burnt by Drogon). During his final moments, Jaime peacefully accepted death and used his final moments to comfort his distraught sister.
At the age of eleven, Jaime was sent to Crakehall, and served as a squire for old Lord Sumner Crakehall for four years (Jaime never served as a squire for Barristan Selmy ). While on an errand for Crakehall, Jaime visited Riverrun and at dinner every night Hoster Tully seated him next to his daughter Lysa ; Lords Tywin and Hoster were in talks to marry them. However, Jaime was more interested in talking to her famous uncle, Ser Brynden Tully , a hero of his, and hearing of his exploits in the War of the Ninepenny Kings .
Two years later, while still a squire, Jaime won his first tourney melee. When he was fifteen, he and his master accompanied Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Barristan Selmy in their campaign against the Kingswood Brotherhood . Jaime fought bravely against the Smiling Knight, although was not the one to kill him, and saved the life of Lord Crakehall from another of the outlaws. As a reward, Jaime was knighted by Arthur Dayne on the battlefield.
A Kingsguard berth became vacant with the death of Ser Harland Grandison. With Jaime's approval, Cersei schemed to have him chosen, to prevent his proposed marriage to Lysa Tully, and so they could be in the capital together. Jaime was duly appointed to the Kingsguard by King Aerys II Targaryen . At fifteen, he was the youngest Kingsguard member in history. He served alongside such great and vaunted warriors as Lord Commander Gerold Hightower , Barristan Selmy and Ser Arthur Dayne , the legendary Sword of the Morning. Jaime's appointment extremely infuriated his father, as the Kingsguard take vows to serve for life, never marry, and give up the right to hold lands and titles. This meant Jaime was no longer his heir, the honor of which instead fell to Tywin's misshapen and hated youngest son, Tyrion, whose dwarfism made him unfit in his father's eyes to inherit Casterly Rock. It was the final straw in a long series of slights made against Tywin by the King. Soon afterwards he resigned as Hand of the King and returned to Casterly Rock, taking Cersei with him, thus unwittingly foiling her and Jaime's plan.
Very soon, Jaime realized - at the same day he became a member of the Kingsguard - that his appointment to the Kingsguard was not meant to honor him but to spite his father, whom Aerys was insanely jealous of, to deprive him of his heir and use him as a hostage for Tywin's good behavior, which greatly soured the honor; Aerys wouldn't even let Jaime to savor the day, but immediately ordered him to return to the capital and guard the queen and Viserys. Jaime rapidly became disillusioned with his new position, as he was forced to watch the various atrocities Aerys committed, forced by his vow to stand by and do nothing.
Tywin's sister Genna remarks that Jaime isn't really like his father. Instead, she says Jaime has a combination of the qualities of Tywin's three younger brothers: Tygett's martial prowess, Gerion's sharp sense of humor, and Kevan's sense of honor. Genna insists that Tyrion is the son who inherited Tywin's brilliance and is most like his father, which she even told Tywin once, after which he didn't speak to her for six months.
The early sections of the book A Game of Thrones play to the suspicion that Jaime wants to seize the throne himself, but this is later shown to be a red herring. Also, Robert names him Warden of the East despite not being an Arryn or having any relation to the noble houses of the Vale.
After Jaime is captured in the battle in the Whispering Wood, he is held at Riverrun, not taken along with Robb's army, though Robb only leaves Riverrun some time later so he can consolidate his forces. No scenes between Jaime and Robb are depicted in the books (as neither is a POV character at this point), though it is entirely plausible that the scene with Robb in Jaime's cell in the Season 2 premiere could have happened in the books, just "off screen", as Robb doesn't immediately leave Riverrun. At first, Jaime is held in comfortable imprisonment in a tower of Riverrun, but after a failed escape attempt, in which he manages to kill two guards and seriously injure a third before being subdued, he is chained up in the dungeon.
The full oath that Catelyn forces Jaime (while he is drunk, chained to a wall, with a sword pressed to his chest) to swear is " Swear that you will never again take up arms against Stark nor Tully. Swear that you will compel your brother to honor his pledge to return my daughters safe and unharmed. Swear on your honor as a knight, on your honor as a Lannister, on your honor as a Sworn Brother of the Kingsguard. Swear it by your sister's life, and your father's, and your son's, by the old gods and the new, and I'll send you back to your sister. Refuse, and I will have your blood ." Jaime wonders why would Catelyn trust the word of someone who has broken so many vows in his life; he figures that she puts her trust in Tyrion. He decides that he would return Sansa, and Arya as well (if she could be found); it wouldn't win him back his lost honor, but the notion of keeping his word when everyone expects him not to - amuses him a lot.
In "Kissed by Fire" Jaime reveals his motivation for assassinating the Mad King to Brienne. In corresponding book scene, Jaime also says that he didn't tell Ned Stark his version of what happened because he knew Lord Stark wouldn't believe him anyway (and even if Ned believed - it wouldn't make any difference because the only thing mattered to Ned was that Jaime acted dishonorably regardless of the reason that made him kill Aerys), but he also goes on to explain to Brienne that the Kingsguard are sworn to keep the king's secrets, and he didn't want to be seen as breaking even more of his vows to King Aerys, even after his death. When Brienne calls for help for the Kingslayer, Jaime merely thinks to himself "Jaime. My name is Jaime.", instead of saying it out loud (though Bryan Cogman explained that Jaime is losing consciousness and just whimpering this to himself, not to Brienne).
One of the things that bother Jaime most of all is how low the Kingsguard has fallen; he compares in his mind the current Kingsguard members to those who served with him during the Mad King's reign, and is filled with disgust and disdain. Jaime is determined to exercise his authority as the Lord Commander in order to reform the organization. For that purpose, he interviews the Kingsguard members, puts each of them in his place, and makes it very clear that from now on they will not blindly obey the king, and that deeds like Sansa's beating are unacceptable.
Tyrion's claim that Cersei has been unfaithful to him leads to Jaime growing increasingly disenchanted with his sister. While he initially thinks it was just a spiteful lie intended to hurt him, he is tormented by the thought, and eventually comes to realize that Tyrion was telling the truth (Lancel confesses to Jaime that he slept with Cersei).
After Tywin's death, Cersei asks Jaime to be the new Hand of the King, but he flatly refuses, having no interest in politics. He is also put off by Cersei's heavy drinking (which leads to her putting on weight), and her paranoia and vindictive scheming, which he warns her are creating enemies where there are none, as well as alienating the few allies she has left. She ignores his advice to appoint experienced men like Kevan Lannister , Randyll Tarly and Paxter Redwyne to her small council, rather than the lickspittles and fools she now surrounds herself with. When Cersei, now a prisoner of the Faith Militant , writes to Jaime pleading for him to return at once to be her champion in her upcoming trial, he does not reply and orders the letter burnt.
To help improve his left-handed swordsmanship, Jaime first enlists his old friend Ser Addam Marbrand to spar with him. Fearing that Ser Addam could get drunk and let slip the truth about his diminished skills, Jaime then turns to Ser Ilyn Payne , reasoning that, being unable to speak or write, Payne is not likely to tell anyone. He never trains with Bronn , as portrayed in the TV series. Jaime practices diligently, determined to regain his fighting skills, but his progress is very slow. After every practice, he and Ilyn sit and drink together. Jaime finds Ilyn the perfect drinking companion, for he never interrupts Jaime, never disagrees, never complains or asking for favors or tells long pointless stories. Jaime feels comfortable to chat with Ilyn that he reveals to him his darkest secrets, like the time he nearly killed Arya at Cersei's request, as a payback for the injuries her direwolf inflicted on Joffrey.
One day, Jaime sits in the White Sword Tower , reading the Book of Brothers . He does a soul-searching, feeling deep regret for his vile deeds, trying to remember in what stage of his life he has gone astray " Me, that boy I was... when did he die, I wonder? When I donned the white cloak? When I opened Aerys's throat? That boy had wanted to be Ser Arthur Dayne, but someplace along the way he had become the Smiling Knight instead ."
Throughout the first half of the fourth novel, Jaime does nothing in particular, except showing at formal events and watching how poorly his sister rules and treats Tommen. He does not bother to attend the meetings of the small council, though he has the right to attend as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, because he finds them boring, and because he can't stand the company of Qyburn and Cersei's other cronies that comprise the small council. He grows to loathe his sister, now that he sees her as she really is - vile, treacherous and promiscuous. When he is assigned to go to Riverrun, he is glad to leave the city, feeling more comfortable amongst soldiers in the field than at the court.
Jaime is never dismissed from the Kingsguard. He obeys the command to travel to Riverrun, but intends to keep the first part of his oath to Catelyn - to resolve the siege without spilling blood, and he succeeds: Riverrun yields, and none of the participants, besiegers and besieged alike, is harmed. Although the Blackfish escapes, Jaime is content for preventing bloodshed.
On the way to Riverrun, Jaime stops at Darry, where Lancel confesses tearfully to him about his part in Robert's death and his affair with Cersei. That confession clears any doubts Jaime had about his sister; moreover, it makes him realize she is responsible for the murders of Robert and the previous High Septon.
As a part of Jaime's redemption, after resolving the siege of Riverrun he gives a lot of thought about his surviving children. He wants to be a father figure to Tommen, to have him raised properly, to protect him from Cersei's negative influence before she can turn him to another Joffrey. He believes Kevan is the best choice for Tommen's Hand. He also considers revealing to Tommen and Myrcella that the rumors spread by Stannis about their origin are true, but is unsure whether it is a good idea: confirming that they are not Robert's offspring will cost Tommen his throne, and may cost Myrcella her betrothal to Trystane Martell.
Following Cersei's arrest (which takes place while Jaime is away), she sends him a letter, pleading to be her champion at her trial. Jaime knows that even if he goes back, he cannot hope to save her: he is certain that she is guilty of all the crimes she is charged with (among them incest, adultery, regicide, and deicide), and he is short a sword hand. He tells his squire to burn the letter - either to destroy any evidence of their incest, or perhaps as a symbolic gesture of severing their relationship permanently.
On his way back to the capital, Jaime meets Brienne at Pennytree . Jaime is stunned to see her facial injuries ( Biter 's handiwork). She tells him that she found Sansa, and "I can take you to her, ser... but you will need to come alone. Elsewise, the Hound will kill her." It is obvious (to the readers) that Brienne is lying, since Sansa is in the Vale, and the Hound's fate is unknown. It seems Brienne intends to lead Jaime into a trap; the chapter ends with a cliffhanger.
Arya rejects the notion that she must become a lady and marry for influence and power. Instead, she believes that she can forge her own destiny. She is fascinated by warfare and training in the use of arms, and is bored by embroidery and other "lady-like" pursuits. She takes after her father and has a quarrelsome relationship with her sister Sansa, due to their contrasting interests and personalities. She is close to her "half-brother" Jon, who is also something of an outsider.
Arya is being taught how to sew by Septa Mordane , but finds the exercise tedious and difficult, in contrast to her sister Sansa, whose stitching is praised by Septa Mordane. She looks on enviously as her brothers Bran, Jon, and Robb practice archery in the courtyard with their father. She grabs a bow and annoys Bran by out-shooting him. Robb and Jon are impressed while Bran chases Arya as their family laughs at their antics.
While journeying south on the Kingsroad , she practices her swordplay with Mycah , the son of the butcher in the King's retinue whom she befriends. When Sansa and Joffrey spot them fighting, Joffrey intervenes. He accuses Mycah of pretending to be a knight and threatens him for striking Arya. Ignoring their protests, he cuts Mycah and threatens Arya when she attacks him to defend Mycah. As Joffrey menaces her with a sword, Nymeria savages Joffrey, injuring his arm, allowing Mycah to flee and Arya to throw Joffrey's sword in the river. Arya runs away and drives Nymeria off with rocks so that she won't be punished.
Arya is eventually found and questioned. Arya is truthful but Sansa lies about the incident, saying she didn't see what happened, but generally supporting Joffrey. This infuriates Arya, who proceeds to strike her sister and call her a liar. Queen Cersei, as they do not have Arya's wolf Nymeria, the one who actually bit Joffrey, spitefully requests that Sansa's direwolf Lady be executed instead. Despite the fact that she had just struck Sansa for lying to save her budding friendship with Joffrey, Arya quickly joins her sister in vehemently protesting against killing Lady. She even reaches out to touch Sansa in sympathy as she breaks down into tears upon seeing that the queen's order will be carried out nonetheless. Meanwhile, Mycah is murdered by Joffrey's bodyguard, the Hound .
Arya watches the Hand's tournament along with Septa Mordane and Sansa. She asks Littlefinger how he got his nickname, to his amusement. Arya later resumes her cat-chasing training exercise and finds her way into the dungeons under the Red Keep , where she sees the dragon skulls that used to decorate the throne room .
Hot Pie stays behind to work at the inn while Gendry and Arya are taken to the Commander of the Brotherhood at their hideout in the Riverlands . When Clegane is brought before Lord Beric, she accuses him of the murder of Mycah. During the trial by combat ordered by Beric, Arya heartily calls out for Clegane's death, but ultimately the Hound overpowers and kills Dondarrion, who is then resurrected by the red priest Thoros of Myr . As the victor, the Hound is declared innocent and released, much to Arya's disgust.
Later, Arya questions Gendry for repairing Dondarrion's armor and tries to get him to come with her and fight for her brother . Gendry says he's tired of serving lords and wishes to fight to protect the smallfolk and join the Brotherhood, in which all members are equal, comparing them to a family. Arya, sadly, chokes out she could be his family. Gendry gently points out that if he goes with her they'd never be family: he'd still be a commoner and Arya would be "m'lady."
On the way to the Twins, Arya and Sandor come across a hog farmer , who is also going to the Twins for the wedding, but his wagon is damaged. Sandor lifts the wagon, the hog farmer repairs it, then Sandor punches him and knocks him unconscious. Sandor draws a dagger to kill the hog farmer, but Arya begs him not to, and he relents. The hog farmer wakes up, and Arya knocks him out again with another blow to the head.
They arrive in the area of the Twins, and Arya nervously gazes toward the Stark camp. Sandor tells Arya that she is visibly afraid that something may happen to ruin her reunion with her family. Arya tells Sandor that he was visibly afraid of Beric Dondarrion 's flaming sword, and that she knows what Sandor's brother did to him when they were children. Sandor taunts Arya about the execution of her father , then Arya tells Sandor one day she will stab him through his eye and out the back of his skull.
Arya and Sandor arrive at the gates of the Twins, in disguise as a hog farmer and his daughter. Sandor tells a Frey guard they have salt pork for the wedding feast, but the guard tells them the feast is over and orders them to leave. Arya then runs away from Sandor and hides near a table of Stark soldiers. Suddenly, soldiers come out of the castle and murder the Stark men. Arya hears Grey Wind howling inside a wooden cage, but four crossbowmen come out of the castle and murder the direwolf before she can release him. After the crossbowmen leave, Arya attempts to enter the castle, but is stopped by Sandor, who says that it is too late to do anything. Arya struggles to get into the castle anyway, so Sandor knocks her unconscious and carries her away, realizing that any attempt to intervene at this point would be suicide.
They stop near a tavern and Arya suggests that they attack the Lannister soldiers there. She recognizes one of them as Polliver , the one who callously stabbed Lommy through the neck with her own sword, Needle . She sees Needle, still tucked into Polliver's belt and is determined to retrieve it. When Arya and the Hound are in the tavern, Polliver looks over suspiciously. Arya is worried because she thinks that Polliver recognizes her, but it is the Hound that he recognizes. The Hound and Polliver's conversation eventually turns hostile which leads into a brawl in the tavern . The Hound kills most of the men, and Arya puts a sword through one whom the Hound knocked to the floor.
Polliver attempts to sneak up behind the Hound, but Arya slashes Polliver in the back of the leg with a longsword and takes Needle. She repeats what Polliver said to Lommy before he killed him, but Polliver doesn't understand what she is talking about until she says "Fine little blade. Maybe I'll pick my teeth with it." As Polliver realizes who she is, Arya sticks Needle into his throat, and he dies the same way Lommy died, making Polliver the first person she killed from her list. When they leave, The Hound allows Arya to take one of the Lannister horses.
Arya recites her list by a campfire as the Hound tries to sleep. After a while, he tells her to be quiet. Arya says she can't go to sleep without saying all of the names. Irritated, the Hound asks her if she is going to name every person in Westeros, to which she replies, "Only the ones I'm going to kill." He calmly replies that hate is as good as any motivation to keep a person going. He makes a note that if they would come across his brother, both of them would cross one name from their death lists. Arya asks the Hound what he would do if the Mountain was at their camp, and he responds he would tell his brother to shut up and let him sleep, implying that Arya asks too many questions. He tells Arya to finish her death list. She finally says she only has one name left remaining which, to his surprise, is his.
The next day, Arya is practicing her water dancing beside a river. Sandor, predictably, makes fun of her for prancing around. When Arya tells him that she learned her fighting style from Syrio Forel , whom she believes was killed by Ser Meryn Trant , he openly mocks the Braavosi for being defeated by such a worthless fighter. Eventually, he lets her have a go at him, for her dead friend Mycah whom he killed, but Needle won't even pierce his armor. He backhands her and, with Needle pointed at her throat, Sandor reminds her that Syrio Forel is dead, and her techniques are best learned from people who are still alive, like the people on her list.
Arya and Sandor encounter a dying man in a ransacked village. Sandor gives the man a gift of mercy by stabbing him in the heart. Moments later, Sandor is ambushed by Biter , who bites him on the neck; he snaps Biter's neck and drops him dead in the dirt. Rorge appears, revealing that there is a price on the Hound's head. Arya instantly recognizes him as one of the prisoners in Yoren 's group, who threatened to molest her; he is not her kill list because she does not know his name. The Hound asks for Rorge's name, and after he says it, Arya kills him with Needle. Sandor cynically comments "You're learning."
Afterwards, Sandor clumsily addresses his wounds from Biter. Arya suggests burning to cauterize the wound, but is rebuffed by Sandor because of his fear of fire. Sandor confirms the story of his facial scars from burns inflicted by Gregor's wrath and how his father covered up the truth, making him feel alone. Arya offers to clean and stitch him up, and Sandor allows her to do so.
Brienne wins after beating Sandor with a rock and knocking him down a small cliff. Arya, rather than going with Brienne and Pod, hides from them until they leave. She then goes down the cliff to find the gravely injured Sandor, who begs her to kill him. When Sandor believes she won't do it, he tries to goad her into doing it, telling her that it is another name to strike off her list, he killed the butcher's boy when he begged him for mercy, and he should have raped Sansa when he had the chance. Instead, Arya takes his money and leaves him to die.
As Arya cleans the main sanctuary of the House of Black and White, she watches the man who looks like Jaqen H'ghar assist another man in drinking from the temple's well. When the man leaves to pray, Arya tells Jaqen that she wants to learn. He recites the phrase "Valar Dohaeris", meaning "all men must serve", and accuses Arya of only wanting to serve herself. When Arya looks back at the praying man, she sees that he has died and two men take his body away, ignoring Arya when she asks what they are doing with the body.
Arya finishes cleaning a corpse which is then taken away by two men. Arya wants to know what happens to the bodies she cleans, but the Waif tells her that she will know when the time is right. Arya demands to play the game of faces. The Waif tells her that she has already tried playing the game but failed. She asks Arya who she is, to which Arya replies that she is no one. When the Waif is about to walk away, Arya asks her who she is. The Waif tells Arya a story about how she was the only daughter of a widowed Lord, who remarried, producing another daughter. Her stepmother, in order to secure her own daughter's future, tried to poison her. The Waif found out about this and sought out the help of the Faceless Men to exact her revenge. The Waif then asks Arya whether she believed the story. When Arya doesn't respond, embarrassed that she bought the Waif's story, the Waif tells her to get back to work, hinting that to pass the game of faces, Arya must be able to lie convincingly.
Later, when Arya is asleep, Jaqen H'ghar comes to test Arya again. This time, when he asks Arya who she is, Arya tells him how she came to join the Faceless Men, trying to slip in a few lies into the story. However, Jaqen is able to tell when Arya is lying and hits her whenever she does. Before he leaves, he tells her that she is lying not only to him, but to herself as well when she says she hates the Hound.
A grieving father brings his sick daughter, Ghita , to the House of Black and White, wanting to end her suffering. Arya tells the girl a false story about how she was sick too, but her father brought her here and when she drank from the temple's well, she was healed, persuading Ghita to drink the poisoned water from the well. The girl dies, and Arya, having proven that she can lie, is brought to the Hall of Faces by Jaqen. All the faces had been taken from the corpses that the acolytes wash in the temple. He then asks Arya if she is ready to give up who she is to become "no one." After a moment of silence, he then states that she is not ready to become "no one" , but that she is ready to become "someone else."
Arya's first assignment is to pose as a shellfish merchant to study a target known as the Thin man . Before the assassination is carried out, Arya is distracted by the sight of a name on her list: Meryn Trant . She sees him dock and follows him as he guards Mace Tyrell on his way to the Iron Bank . That night, Arya follows Trant and several guards to a brothel. She is chased out by the owner, but not before she learns that Trant prefers sex with very young girls. She reports her failure to kill the Thin man to Jaqen (not mentioning why she failed) and promises to try again tomorrow.
Trant is given three girls the next night, whom he beats for his amusement. The first two are left whimpering from his beatings, but not the third. Trant dismisses the first two and continues to hit the third girl, to no effect, so he punches her in the gut. Crumpled on the floor, the girl removes her face and reveals herself as Arya wearing the mask of dead Ghita.
Now blind, Arya poses as a beggar as part of her training. After overhearing two passing citizens discussing Meryn's murder, she is approached by the Waif , remarking on her blindness. Tossed a stick, she fights and loses another sparring match against the Waif. Unimpressed, the Waif leaves Arya, promising to return the following day.
The next day, the Waif returns and asks Arya who she is. When Arya answers "no one," the Waif brushes this off and promptly beats her in another sparring match. Arya angrily lashes out after the Waif leaves, but is stopped by Jaqen, who repeatedly asks her to say her name. After Arya tells him "a girl has no name" each time, an impressed Jaqen allows her to return to the House of Black and White.
Multiple stick fights between Arya and the Waif ensue. At the same time, Arya learns to cope with her blindness while telling the Waif her story and list of targets. With Arya finally holding her own, Jaqen gives her a cup from the well in the House of Black and White and tells her if she truly is no one, she has nothing to fear. She drinks the water and regains her sight.
Arya is tasked to kill an actress named Lady Crane , though Jaqen warns she has been given a second chance and won't get a third. She views the first portion of the play The Bloody Hand , in which Lady Crane portrays Cersei. Afterwards, Arya notices that another actress, Bianca , is jealous of Lady Crane, and deduces that it was she who hired the Faceless Men to kill Lady Crane.
After watching the remainder of the play on a different occasion, Arya walks backstage and poisons Lady Crane's rum. On the way back, Lady Crane notices her, and the two briefly converse about the play. Speaking from experience, Arya suggests that the Cersei character's response to the death of her son would not only be grief -- it should also include anger. After asking Arya if she likes pretending to be others, Crane tries to express Arya's opinion to the rest of the troupe, but is quickly shut down. She goes to drink the beverage Arya poisoned, but Arya slaps it from her hands before she can drink it, blaming Bianca.
Unbeknownst to Arya, The Waif had been following her and discovers that Arya has failed to kill the actress. The Waif proceeds to report Arya's failure to Jaqen, who grants her wish to let her kill Arya but that she must not let her suffer. Meanwhile, Arya retrieves Needle from its hiding place and prepares to defend herself, presumably abandoning the goal of becoming a Faceless assassin and knowing her failure has made her a target.
Leaving a trail of blood in her wake, Arya lures the Waif to the hideout in which she has hidden Needle. The Waif then asks her if she would like to die on her knees, or on her feet - in response, Arya pulls Needle out from its hiding place and confronts her attacker, starting by putting out the only light in the room. In the ensuing fight, Arya manages to best the Waif due to her proficiency with fighting in blindness, a skill which was ironically taught and trained by the Waif. She kills her adversary and then removes her face, which she brings back to the Hall of Faces.
Sansa finds Arya where she expected, in the crypts looking over their father's grave. They are happy to see each other, but so much has happened to both of them in the past few years that they are at first awkward, unsure of what to say. Arya asks if she has to call Sansa "Lady Stark" now, to which Sansa firmly insists "Yes" - and then laughs. They smile and hug, though still a bit unsure. Arya notes that Jon left her in charge and smiles when Sansa says that she hopes Jon will be back soon - he will be so happy to see Arya, remembering how happy Jon was to see her when they were reunited, and the pair were never that close (unlike Jon and Arya). The sisters then look sadly on their father's grave statue. Arya says it doesn't really look like him. Sansa acknowledges that everyone who really knew his face is dead. Arya points out that they're not.
Arya then asks if Sansa really killed Joffrey. Sansa explains she actually didn't, though she wished she had. Arya remarks that he was always at the top of her "list." This confuses Sansa, and Arya explains that she'd been keeping a list of everyone she was going to kill - at which they both laugh. Finally, Sansa asks how Arya got back, but she only says her road wasn't a pleasant one. Sansa says hers wasn't either. They hug again, earnestly and warmly. Sansa then informs Arya that Bran is home too. Arya is elated, but her smile fades when Sansa does not mention Rickon, realizing that Rickon is dead.
Arya and Sansa's relationship continues to grow increasingly strained following Arya's discovery of her sister's "incriminating" letter. Watching over the castle courtyard from the balcony, Arya reminisces about how their father used to watch her and her brothers train in the very same spot, bitterly claiming that Sansa wouldn't remember due to the fact that she was usually inside the castle knitting with her fellow ladies. She then tells Sansa how on one particular day, after their brothers had finished training with Ser Rodrik, she wandered into the vacant courtyard and began practicing her archery with Bran's discarded bow as their father watched from above.
Arya then resentfully states that he was killed by the Lannisters with Sansa's help, reading Sansa's letter to her aloud. Sansa insists that she was forced to write it and, being a naïve child that she was at the time, was led to believe that she was saving her family. However, Arya is adamant to point out that had she been in Sansa's position, she would have died before betraying her family, calling her stupid for believing in the Lannisters' lies. Arya reveals that she, like Sansa, was present during their father's execution and that she saw the whole thing from the statue of Baelor. Arya surmises that Sansa is afraid she will show the letter to the northern lords, thus losing their respect. Taking advantage of the tension between the two sisters, Littlefinger later suggests to Sansa that she use Lady Brienne to protect her from Arya.
She silently approaches Jon in the godswood; when Jon asks how she could move so stealthily, Arya asks how he survived a knife through the heart, to which Jon replies that he didn't. After a moment's hesitation, the two run into each other's arms. Jon notices that Arya still has Needle and asks if she's ever used it and Arya quietly replies, "Once or twice." Jon shows her his sword Longclaw , which Arya is impressed by but comments it would be too heavy for her to wield. Jon asks where she was earlier, saying he could have used her help with Sansa as Sansa is at odds with Daenerys, the latter who Jon bent the knee to and fell in love with. Arya realizes, "[Sansa] doesn't like your queen, does she?" and says Sansa is the smartest person she knows. Jon is surprised Arya is now defending Sansa; Arya replies both she and Sansa are defending their family, advising Jon not to forget he's family too and they embrace a final time.
Making her way from the library, she takes a brief moment to catch her breath before she realizes that wights have entered the room. She carefully hides from them, between the bookshelves and underneath a table. Arya then throws a book into an area of the room away from the exit, distracting the wights and giving her an opening to escape. She quietly dispatches a wight on the way and closes the door behind her. Her relief is short-lived, as more wights broke into the corridor through another door and alert the ones in the library of her presence, proceeding to chase her.
Arya, at a loss for words, reciprocates this by kissing him but declines the proposal. She says that any woman would be lucky to marry him, saying "that's not [her]", words she said to her father years earlier. Arya continues to practice her archery and Gendry is left heartbroken.
Ilyn Payne , the executioner who beheaded her father, was also phased out of her list. Maybe it was because he was a hired hand, simply to follow orders like the Hound. Furthermore, Wilko Johnson , the actor who plays Ilyn Payne, had developed pancreatic cancer after Season 1, in which he almost died. After reprising his role in Season 2, he never returned to the series.
Arya is a fiercely independent woman who is unconstrained by social expectations like gender roles, courtly virtues, class distinctions, and the expectations of her parents and siblings. A tomboy, she never aspired to be a "proper lady" as her older sister Sansa did. Before the series of events that shatter her innocence and destroy her support system, Arya is full of life, and she makes others smile just by virtue of her spirited indifference to rules. Arya prefers to choose and forge her own destiny rather than wed to a man and form a family, despite this, Arya dislikes being called as "a boy" and responds back correcting them saying that she is "a girl", but she also doesn't see herself as a Lady.
Arya can be a rather cold-blooded and slightly sadistic person at times, especially while confronting and killing those who are on her death list. Though she was initially apathetic but satisfied with killing Meryn Trant and Polliver, she did not attempt to hide her glee over slitting Walder Frey's throat, or the pleasure of seeing his family dying from poisoned wine she gave them. While she certainly possesses compassion and kindness, her time with The Hound and the Faceless Men have taught her to be ruthless to those who have wronged her and her family and has shown to be willing to use psychological mind games to worsen her enemies fate before killing them. This is shown when she repeated every word Polliver said to Lommy before killing him in the same exact way with Needle; gouged the eyes of Ser Meryn before stabbing him repeatedly and butchering Lord Walder's sons before serving their corpses to their father inside of a pie.
In the novels, Arya is left-handed. Maisie Williams is right-handed, but plays Arya as left-handed to be true to the books, including learning how to fight with a sword in her left hand. Maisie's mother discovered that Arya is left-handed while reading the books, and urged her to play Arya left-handed, for fear that if she didn't, hardcore fans of the books would be outraged and instantly reject her performance.
When Arya goes blind in the Season 5 finale, continuing into Season 6, the clouded look in her eyes is not a CGI effect at all: Maisie Williams actually wore large, 16 millimeter-wide contact lenses, hand-painted so they were murky. They did not simply give her eyes the appearance of being blind, but cannot be seen through. Thus when Arya is wildly turning around unable to see her surroundings, Williams truly couldn't see anything, and thus gave a genuine performance of being blinded.
Williams stated in an April 2016 interview that she was not given a choice between using a CGI effect or the blinding-contacts: the production team told her to use the blinding-contacts from the start. She went on to explain that the true blindness contacts were only used in closeups or when she was standing still (such as the Season 5 finale). Otherwise, when she had to stumble around while "blind" in Season 6, she switched to contacts which had tiny pinprick holes in the center so she could still see, so she wouldn't harm herself or others (some of her scenes involved fighting with a stick while "blind"). The times when she is moving around and wearing the alternate contacts she can actually see through were then simply filmed in wide-shots so the camera wouldn't pick up the difference - but then she would switch back to the full-blindness contact lenses again for closeups and dialogue-heavy shots without much motion in them.
In contrast to her sister and brothers, who have gotten their mother's Tully physical features of an auborn hair and blue eyes, Arya's appearance is more Stark than Tully: she has a brown hair and grey eyes, like her father.
According to Catelyn, Ned's visitors would often mistake Arya for a stableboy if they rode into the yard unannounced. Arya was a trial, half a boy and half a wolf pup. She collected scabs as other girls collect dolls, and would say anything that came into her head. If someone forbade her anything, it became her heart's desire. Her hair always looked as though a bird has been nesting in it. Catelyn despaired of ever making a lady of her.
Ironically, she meets her Frey husband-to-be ( Elmar Frey ) while serving under Roose Bolton, and he spends time talking at length to Arya about his promised princess, unknowingly speaking to her personally. He tries to boss Arya around, but she does not comply. After being informed that Robb breached the pact with the Freys, Elmar tells Arya whiningly that his father told him he had to marry someone else, or to become a septon. Arya tries to empathize with him, telling him two of her brothers are dead. But when he responds derisively, she loses all sympathy for him.
In the third novel, Arya leads Gendry and Hot Pie through the Riverlands in the hope of reaching Riverrun. They use a map she stole from Roose to guide them. Roose sends men after them, but when Arya sleeps, she wargs into Nymeria who attacks the men sent to capture Arya along with the giant wolf pack she now leads. While they're on their way, the Brotherhood Without Banners comes upon them and coerces them into coming with them to an inn that's used as one of the headquarters. Once there, outlaws plan on taking their horses and giving the three children over to the care of the innkeeper, with the promise of paying for the horses they're taking once the war is done. Arya attempts to negotiate with them, hoping to trade their horses for a boat they saw outside the inn. The arrival of more outlaws scares Arya into fighting to get away, only for her to realize one of the new outlaws is Harwin, a former member of the Stark Household guard. He reveals who she is to the Brotherhood and they take her in search of Beric Dondarrion , who will decide whether to ransom her. Arya parts with Hot Pie, who remains at the inn, but Gendry continues on with her.
In the books, Arya describes Gendry as her "only true friend." The two form some bond after Arya entrusts Gendry with her true identity, though Arya was ready to kill him. Although their relationship in the novels is platonic, there are several hints the point towards a romantic relationship. Arya becomes jealous when Bella, a prostitute, offers to have sex with Gendry, who rejects this offer. Gendry also becomes jealous when Edric Dayne shows interest in Arya, which is heightened by their class difference. There is also a love song that only appears once in the series, which is after Arya and Gendry playfully wrestle in the forge. The TV series didn't overtly play up a full-fledged "romance" between the two, though Gendry becomes one of Arya's few friends and, as in the novels, she is pained when he chooses to stay behind with the Brotherhood.
As they travel in search of Beric, Arya sees more of the results of war in the Riverlands and meets other branches of the Brotherhood. During their stay in a town, another member of the Brotherhood captures the Hound and it is decided that he will be brought before Beric as well to receive judgement. Once they reach the hollow hill where Beric is hiding, the Hound insists that he is innocent of all the crimes thrown at him. But Arya insists that he is guilty of the murder of Mycah. Beric fights him in a trial by combat and loses to the Hound. Thus, the Brotherhood lets the Hound go, but takes his gold to buy food for the smallfolk. Arya is furious that he is allowed to go free even though he is guilty. The Hound follows the Brotherhood after they leave the hollow hill on their journey to take Arya to Riverrun, and confronts them demanding his money back. They refuse and continue on their journey.
The kindly man tells Arya the House of Black and White is not a home for orphans, and if she wants to remain - she must be obedient at all times and in all things. They can find better jobs and places for her, like a service in the household of some merchant; they can find her a husband of her choice; or send her to train to become a courtesan; they can give her passage back to Westeros. Arya insists on staying.
At the kindly man's demand, Arya dissociates herself of her past and possessions. The only thing she keeps is Needle which she views as her connection to her family and home. She hides the sword with the intention of reclaiming it one day. She performs various chores at the House, spending much time with the Waif and Umma the cook. One day, the kindly man orders Arya to work for a fishmonger named Brusco, in order to master the Braavosi tongue. During her first tasks, Arya struggles to abandon her previous identity, trying to use new names such as Cat of the Canals.
While working for Brusco, she befriends a lot of people, learns to master the Braavosi language, and hears many secrets. Occasionally she returns to the House and tells the kindly man three new things she learned - gossip, rumors, interesting pieces of information, professional secrets, etc. The work is hard, but Arya does not complain. Her wolf dreams continue despite the distance between her and Nymeria. Brusco's daughters even note that she growls in her sleep sometimes.
After Arya regains her eyesight, The Kindly Man gives Arya her first assignment - to kill the old insurance seller . Arya is uncertain whether to fulfill her mission, since her intended victim has never wronged her, her friends or her family, and she does not even know whether he did anything that he deserves death for. She comes up with very ridiculous reasons to kill him (he outlived her father, his hands are shaking, etc.), perhaps to ease her conscience. At last she kills him, then the Kindly Man orders her to go to Izembaro to begin her first apprenticeship. Unlike in the show, she is not ordered to kill any of the actors (at least not yet), and it is unclear for what purpose she was ordered to join the troupe. She takes on the new identity of Mercy and learns acting with the troupe. While she is there, she notices Rafford and kills him, without being ordered to, thus avenging Lommy's death.
Arya is one of the main characters which appear in all five published novels (alongside Jaime, Cersei, Sam, and Jon); she is the only book character which has POV chapters in all the novels (and in the sixth upcoming novel too).
According to the TV series official pronunciation guide developed for the cast and crew, "Arya" is pronounced "ARE - yuh." George R.R. Martin himself has pointed out that a surprisingly large number of people pronounce it incorrectly: it consists of two syllables, not three (like how the "aria" of an opera is pronounced). Martin explained: "I say it 'Are-ya', two syllables not three. Not 'are-ee-uh', not like an operatic thing, but 'Are-ya', very sharp. I wanted something that was like a knife, that was a sharp and hard sound, to be a contrast to the flowery 'Sansa'."
At the Inn at the Crossroads beside the Kingsroad , Joffrey offers to walk Sansa along the riverbank after the disquieting experience of meeting Ser Ilyn Payne , the king's headsman. They find Arya practicing her swordsmanship with Mycah , a butcher's son, and Joffrey starts to hurt him for acting above his station and striking a girl of noble blood. Arya strikes Joffrey, and when the prince threatens her with his sword , Arya's direwolf, Nymeria , intervenes and bites Joffrey's arm. Arya and Mycah flee and Joffrey cries before snapping at Sansa to get him help. Sansa is taken before Robert and his retainers and asked to corroborate Joffrey's claim, that he was the victim of an unprovoked attack. Arya tells her to tell the truth, but to Arya's fury, Sansa is worried about upsetting her betrothal with Joffrey, so she says that it happened too fast for her to know. Cersei orders that Arya's direwolf be executed for harming Joffrey, but when the direwolf cannot be found, she suggests that Sansa's own direwolf Lady be substituted for Nymeria. Sansa and Arya are horrified Lady will be killed and protest. Eddard, furious with Robert for agreeing to this, carries out the execution himself, to Sansa's anguish.
Septa Mordane shows Sansa the throne room of the Red Keep as part of a history lesson, and she realizes that her grandfather and uncle were killed there by the Mad King . Sansa is fearful that she will not be able to give Joffrey sons, only daughters like her friend Jeyne Poole 's mother, but Mordane doesn't think this likely. At the Hand's tournament , Sansa witnesses the Mountain killing Ser Hugh of the Vale during a joust. Littlefinger tells Sansa about how Gregor burned the face of his brother, the Hound , when they were very young. Sandor is Joffrey's bodyguard and Littlefinger advises against repeating the story to Sandor.
King Robert dies following a hunting accident , and Eddard attempts to reveal the truth about Joffrey to prevent him from taking the throne. Eddard is betrayed by Littlefinger, his guards are killed and he is arrested. Eddard's retinue at the Red Keep is slaughtered by Lannister guardsmen led by Sandor. Mordane moves to confront the Lannister soldiers while telling Sansa to lock herself in their rooms. Sansa is taken into custody by Sandor and brought to Cersei.
She pleads for her father's cause, insisting that a mistake has been made, and proclaims her own loyalty. Cersei says that she will believe Sansa is loyal on the condition that Sansa writes to Robb, asking him to bend the knee and swear fealty to Joffrey. The letter is unsuccessful and instead, Robb raises an army and marches south to relieve the Riverlands from the Lannister armies. Sansa again pleads for mercy and for her father's life, this time in front of the entire court, and Joffrey agrees to give Eddard mercy if he admits his wrongdoing and acknowledges Joffrey as the true king. Sansa says that she is sure he will.
Days later, Sansa is in court and watches as Joffrey orders the removal of the tongue of the singer Marillion , who has written a song unfavorable to the royal family. Joffrey then takes Sansa to the traitor's walkway, where the severed heads of executed criminals are mounted on spikes along the castle walls. He draws Sansa's attention to the severed heads of her father and Septa Mordane and forces her to look at them.
Sansa is forced to sit through the Lannisters discussing killing her brother Robb over dinner. She vents her frustration on her new handmaid Shae . When Robb wins a crushing victory at the Battle of Oxcross , Joffrey responds by having Sansa stripped and beaten in front of the court. Tyrion intervenes and offers to end her engagement to Joffrey, but she retains her facade of loyalty, impressing the Imp.