Jaime Lannister

Ser **Jaime Lannister**, also known as the **Kingslayer**, is an anointed knight of House Lannister, and serves as a member of the Kingsguard for King Aerys II Targaryen and later King Robert I Baratheon, as well as Robert's legal sons, Joffrey and Tommen. He is the twin brother of Cersei Lannister and the older brother of Tyrion Lannister.

## Appearance and Character

Jaime holds many of the usual traits of House Lannister, with blonde hair and green eyes. He has a tall frame, and very comely features. He is considered very handsome with a cutting smile. He wears the white of the Kingsguard when on duty, but also wears the colours of House Lannister, as well as his signature gold armour with a lion helm. Jon Snow thinks that he is what a king ought to look like - strong, handsome and charismatic.

In the eyes of many, Jaime has one of the worst reputations of any knight in Westeros, even to compare with the likes of Gregor Clegane: the reputation of a man who swore sacred vows to a king, and then shattered those vows by killing said king. He is perceived as being arrogant, cruel, sarcastic and dishonourable to an extreme - anyone with a perception of personal honour appears to hate Jaime in this regard, and only ever refer to him as the Kingslayer. Jaime *is* arrogant and sarcastic, and has proven capable of murder and deceit in pursuit of his objectives, but he is one of the most complicated people in the Seven Kingdoms. The real reason he killed King Aerys was because the psychopathic king sought to obliterate the entirety of King's Landing with wildfire, and had commanded Jaime to kill his own father, and therefore Jaime committed his heinous crime (which he views sometimes as his greatest act) with honourable motivations.

Jaime has always been supremely skilled in combat, which is his singular interest - he understands, but does not care much for political manoeuvring and would rather be a soldier than anything else. A master swordsman who was renowned even as a young age, Jaime is not unbeatable (which he himself admits) but has the instincts and experience of a warrior. When he loses his sword hand, he is shocked and traumatized, having relied on his fighting skills for so long, but he becomes more reliant on his wits than before and even becomes less arrogant and more respectful of others - however, he maintains the pride and temper of a lion.

An extremely complicated aspect of Jaime's personality is the fact that he loves Cersei - he has never in his life slept with another woman but her, and she considers him utterly devoted to her. Throughout the War of the Five Kings, Jaime is motivated by this love - his acts of attempting to murder Brandon Stark, his violent attempts at escape from Brienne Tarth, and his actions throughout their journey are spurred by his love for his sister. When he finally returns to King's Landing, and begins to realize the woman Cersei has become and how people expect him to act, he begins to doubt the severity of his love, which is made excruciating when he learns from Tyrion that Cersei has betrayed him to other men, including their cousin Lancel, who is openly considered to be a very poor imitation of Jaime.

Jaime is also one of the very few Lannisters to have any respect or adoration for Tyrion, whom he has cared for all of the man's life. He respects Tyrion's intelligence and selflessness, and does not hate him for being a dwarf, unlike both their father and especially their sister. However, this love is essentially decimated when Tyrion vengefully kills Tywin, only made possible because Jaime released him. The tragic irony of this is that the murder of Tywin Lannister was partly because Jaime also revealed that the woman that Tywin had damaged, who had been Tyrion's lover, was not a whore; this caused Tyrion's hatred and contempt for their father to become uncontrollable and motivate him into his heinous act.

There are very few people that Jaime genuinely respects - he does not hold his father in truly high regard, nor does he mourn for the Mad King, and he is openly hateful of the Freys and Starks. He considered Robb Stark to be his enemy, and is frustrated by being unable to finish him off when he was captured. The difference from Cersei is that Jaime knows the boundaries of decorum, even with people he doesn't like, and is able to maintain at least some civil conversation with them. Despite all of this, he is remarked to be the least like Tywin out of the latter's sons, and that he rather shares the qualities of Tywin's brothers - he favours combat and charm, rather than political savvy.

## Books

### A Game of Thrones

Jaime rides north when Robert Baratheon decides to replace the recently deceased Jon Arryn with Lord Eddard Stark as Hand of the King. He is amongst those that sit at the high lords table for the celebratory feast, entering the great hall alongside his younger brother.

Jaime uses the abandoned tower of Winterfell to secretly meet with his sister. Here they talk about the appointment of Eddard and the threat that Lysa Arryn poses. Bran Stark overhears them and then witnesses them having sexual intercourse in the tower. For this Jaime throws him out of a high window.

Four days later he is informed by Tyrion that Maester Luwin believes that Bran is going to live.

### A Feast for Crows

Ser Jaime is amongst those contacted after Tywin Lannister is found dead. Jaime climbs down the shaft to investigate the secret passages, and Cersei laments sending the crippled Jaime. He then rejects Cersei's request of becoming Hand of the King, and gets slapped by her for embarrassing her in front of Qyburn, Puckens, Hoke, Shortear and the Kettleblacks. Jaime stands vigil over his father's corpse in the Great Sept of Baelor.