Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth

Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, also known as Braime or Lannistarth, is the het pairing of Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth in the A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones fandoms.
 
==Canon==
Jaime and Brienne meet when Catelyn Stark places Jaime in Brienne's custody, charging her to take him to King's Landing in exchange for the safe return of Catelyn's daughters. They are captured by a band lead by a man called Locke. The men attempt to rape Brienne, but Jaime convinces them not to. However, Jaime angers Locke, who cuts off his right hand. 
The pair are taken to Harrenhal. Jaime comes to the baths while Brienne is there. He tells her the story of how he killed Aerys Targaryen to stop him from burning King's Landing and its inhabitants. When he's done, he collapses into Brienne's arms from fever, and she summons help.
Jaime is released without Brienne. Jaime departs Harrenhal, but soon returns to find that Locke has forced Brienne, armed only with a wooden sword, into a bear pit. Jaime, unarmed, leaps into the bear pit, rescuing Brienne. The pair make their way to King's Landing.
In season four, Brienne attends the royal wedding, where Jaime's sister/secret lover Cersei thanks her for protecting him, but needles her over her apparent love for him. After Sansa Stark flees the capital, Jaime charges Brienne with finding her to fulfill the vow they made to Catelyn Stark. He gives Brienne a custom suit of armor and one of two swords reforged from Sansa's father's greatsword. Brienne names the sword Oathkeeper. Jaime also gives her a squire, Podrick Payne.
In season six, Brienne meets with Jaime in his tent when his forces have Riverrun under siege. She convinces him to let her enter Riverrun so that she may fulfill her mission from Sansa. She offers to return Oathkeeper to him, but he insists that she keep it. After her mission fails, she flees in a rowboat with Podrick, and Jaime waves farewell from the ramparts.
Jaime and Brienne meet again at the dragonpit summit in season seven. After initially vowing to aid the fight against the dead, Cersei tells Jaime she intends not to keep her word. Disgusted, Jaime leaves the capital, riding north alone.
In season eight, when Jaime is put on trial at Winterfell by Daenerys Targaryen for her father's murder, Brienne stands in Jaime's defense, telling Daenerys that Jaime is a man of honour, and how he lost his hand for her. On the eve of the battle, Jaime, using the right of any knight can name another knight, knights Brienne. Brienne and Jaime fight together in the battle, remaining close and protecting each other. During the feast celebrating their victory, Tyrion gets Brienne to admit her virginity during a drinking game. She and Jaime sleep together that night. They remain a couple for a period. Eventually, Jaime leaves Brienne, telling her that he is "hateful" like his sister. He returns to King's Landing and dies during the destruction of the Red Keep while trying save Cersei. Brienne later fills his pages in the White Book, setting down a record of his deeds.
==Fandom==
===Statistics===
*In 2014, Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth was the 3rd most popular Game of Thrones pairing on Archive of Our Own.
*In 2016, Jaime Lannister/Brienne was the 2nd most popular Game of Thrones ship on Tumblr.
*In 2017, Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth had moved up to be the 2nd most popular Game of Thrones pairing on Archive of Our Own.
*In 2019, Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth was the most popular ship for Jaime in the Game of Thrones category in a survey of FanFiction.net, accounting for 65% of sampled fics.Phantom Statistician: Jaime's FanFiction Shipping Chart 2013 - Present
*In 2019, during the final season, Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth was the fourth most popular Game of Thrones ship on Tumblr.
*In 2020, Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth was the 2nd most popular A Song of Ice and Fire ship on Archive of Our Own, accounting for 19% of sampled fics.Phantom Statistician: 10 Most Popular Ships in A Song of Ice and Fire FanFiction (AO3) 2009 - Present
===Common Tropes in Fanworks===
*Arranged Marriage: Involves an arranged marriage or betrothal between Jaime and Brienne. Some fics feature a scenario in which Jaime is one of the suitors at the ball Brienne's father canonically held to try to find her a suitable husband when she was young (such fics may involve aging up Brienne or de-aging Jaime to account for their age difference). Many others have used arranged marriage as a fix-it device for the show or book plots.
*Canon Divergence AU: Varies. May include Jaime joining Brienne on her search to find Sansa or going to find her after Tyrion's trial. It may also involve them meeting at a different point in the series.
*Fix-it: Fans displeased with how the Jaime/Brienne relationship was handled on the show (particularly its briefness and abrupt end) sometimes write stories giving the pair an alternate ending. This may take the form of a happily ever after ending in which Jaime remains with Brienne, or a more favourably tragic and developed ending, such as Jaime dying to protect Brienne, or leaving her in a gentler manner (e.g. by telling her he loves her but must stop Cersei). Other fics adhere to canon events, but have Jaime survive the collapse of the Red Keep, sometimes involving hurt/comfort scenarios in which Brienne has to nurse an injured Jaime back to health. 
*Futurefic: Usually involves Jaime and Brienne as lovers or married with children. Some fics have Jaime moving to Tarth to start a new life with Brienne.
*Height Difference: Both bookverse and showverse fanworks sometimes emphasize the height difference between Jaime and Brienne. Word of God from George R. R. Martin is that Brienne is taller than Jaime."Brienne of Tarth", So Spake Martin Actress Gwendoline Christie is also taller than actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The ship is a rare het example of a canonically tall man being paired with a canonically taller woman.
*Modern AU: Modern setting where they meet and begin a relationship.
*Post - A Dance with Dragons: Their story ended in a cliffhanger in the last book. This storyline was not adapted to the television series, so many fanfiction writers have tried to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion.
*Reunion: Many stories explored possible reunion scenarios after they were separated in season four. The same thing occurred after season seven ended with Jaime riding north to join Brienne at Winterfell.
*Second Chance at Love: Fanworks often portray Jaime as having long believed he could never love anyone other than Cersei. He is sometimes written as embittered or lost after the end of his relationship with her. Jaime/Brienne stories often focus on the unexpected or healing aspect of Jaime falling in love with Brienne. Alternately, they may focus on how Brienne never expected to find love, given that she has faced scorn and shame her whole life.
*Virginity: It isn't uncommon for fics (especially PWPs/smutfics) to have Jaime taking Brienne's virginity.
* Pregnancy and Kidfic: Many a fix fic or AU has Brienne giving birth to Jaime's child.
===Terminology===
*The Braime Bunch: Nickname used to refer to the various fanon families fans have created for Jaime and Brienne. Based on an interview in which actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau jokingly hoped he would get to star in a spin-off sitcom of this name (a play on The Brady Bunch) about Jaime and Brienne raising their seven children."Remote Controlled: 'Game of Thrones' Star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Shares Theories on His Character's Possible Death"
*Oathsex or The Bang That Was Promised: Terms for the (formerly anticipated) first sexual encounter between Jaime and Brienne.
===Challenges=== 
*Jaime & Brienne Appreciation Week
===Ship War===
Some fans of this pairing have had skirmishes with shippers of Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister and Tormund Giantsbane/Brienne of Tarth, although not on the scale of a full-blown ship war, such as Jonsa vs Jonerys.
* Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister: The largest point of conflict is that Brienne/Jaime shippers commonly tag their fics "Past Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister" or similar. Due to AO3 Tag Wrangling, these fics appear in the main Cersei/Jaime tag. Cersei/Jaime shippers feel that this causes Bruce Banner Syndrome and makes it more difficult for them to find fics that focus specifically on the their ship. This eventually resulted in Cersei/Jaime shippers creating the "beautiful golden fools" tag to function as a ship tag, because their own ship tag was so overrun. Another, more minor point of conflict, is both ships slandering each other's lead ladies.
* Tormund Giantsbane/Brienne of Tarth: There have also been low-level disagreements with shippers of Tormund/Brienne, generally centered around tagging of fics or perceptions of either ship as problematic.
==Fanworks==
===Fan Art===
*Jaime and Brienne - The Bear of Harrenhal by Evolvana
*Jaime and Brienne: let the journey begin by SleepingAnto
*The Bear And The Maiden Fair by vashperado
*Helping Hand by trojan-rabbit
*Furs by Tsailanza
*The Golden Wedding by neomeruru
*The Wench and the Kingslayer by clockwork-madness
* by jokertookmypicture
===Fanfiction===
*The Covering Sky by Rellie
*Empty Doorways by ssstrychnine
*The Seven Bind Their Fate by RoseHeart
*A Love Song by ozmissage
* Laying Siege by astolat
* Where I follow, you'll go by Lady_in_Red
* You Can’t Save Her by SigilBroken
===Fan Vids===
*Say Something by Rellie47
*open your eyes by MoonCalledA
*I'll do better by xariane
===Meta===
*why do you ship jaime/brienne? by ashara
===Cosplay===
*Jaime and Brienne, cosplay by Lauri-Valo
===Other===
*Close the Door and Come Here, podcast
* Olivia Dade's novel Spoiler Alert is based directly on the Braime ship, using Aeneas and Lavinia of Greco-Roman Mythology as stand-ins for Jaime and Brienne. Hero Marcus Castor-Rupp is basically a direct fictional version of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
==Art Gallery==
File:Kiriban request II by CitrusGun.png|Kiriban request II by CitrusGun
File:The lord and ser brienne by erinptah.jpg|The Lord and Ser Brienne by Erin Ptah
File:Game of thrones gold and sapphire by mistiqarts.jpg|Gold and Sapphire by Mistiqarts
File:Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister by Miyathena1975.jpg|Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister by Miyathena1975
File:Braime by NiceTaralezh.jpg|Braime by NiceTaralezh
File:I Want to Fight for the Living by sketchditto.jpg|I Want to Fight for the Living by sketchditto
==Archives and Links==
* Archive of Our Own tags:
** Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
** Core pairing tags: Endgame Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
** Minor pairing tags: Minor Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth and Past Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
* Jaime + Brienne at FanFiction.net
* r/jaimebrienne, a subreddit dedicated to the ship
* Tumblr Tags: Jaime x Brienne, Brienne x Jaime, Braime, Lannistarth
* DeviantArt paring group: Jaime x Brienne
* on Tumblr
* on FanForum
==Further Reading==
*
==References==
Category:Het Pairings 
Category:ASOIAF/Game of Thrones Relationships