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Just as the great wheel of leadership spins on Game of Thrones, HBO’s critically acclaimed fantasy series was seemingly destined to fall. A series could not fly so close to the sun without getting burned, and the infamous finale of the show proved that. Everyone had qualms about one storyline or another during the Game of Thrones finale, but the most painful disappointment belonged to Jaime Lannister.
Portrayed effortlessly by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for eight seasons, Jaime was the one that fans loved to hate. The twin brother of Queen Cersei (Lena Headey), who ended the first episode of the series by pushing a child out of a tower window, the knight of the Kingsguard was arrogant, entitled, and a little too fond of incest. This encouraged fans to rally against him, but the following seasons showed the character in storylines that housed some of the best character development on television. Regrettably, the best Game of Thrones character was not given the ending he deserved when the series concluded.
‘Game of Thrones’ Destroyed Jaime’s Character Development in the Final Episode
Jaime Lannister easily could have been a one-note villain in the same way his sister is portrayed in the series, but Nikolaj Coster-Waldau successfully translated the character from book to screen in a powerful tour de force. At the start, Cersei’s twin would have done anything for House Lannister and even went so far as to get caught to remain faithful to his family. This changes as Jaime meets Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and the two travel to King’s Landing together.
Brienne learns the truth behind his greatest shame and that the character always had the potential for goodness. He just had the bad luck of being born to Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), who had stamped out any potential for empathy. In turn, Jaime learns to think outside himself and becomes one of the most complex characters in the series. Season 3 marks Jaime’s greatest turn, and for the rest of the series, he never looks back.
He turns away from Cersei and rides to Winterfell to pledge himself to the North’s cause. For some reason, this is completely overturned in the final episode when Jaime decides to return to his abusive twin sister. They perish together in the fall of King’s Landing under a pile of rubble. This is a shocking end for a character who had spent most of the series developing into an interesting person of worth. For no apparent reason, Jaime changes his mind completely and dies with someone who never really loved him.
This devastating plot turn makes no sense for Jaime’s character and is also extremely disrespectful to the fans who had followed him for so long. The characters of Game of Thrones go through significant changes throughout the series, but Jaime was one of the most satisfying. His character assassination was a move that disappointed television fans but was even more baffling for readers of the book.
Jaime’s Character In the Book Was Going in a Vastly Different Direction
Viewers should have seen the writing on the wall for Jaime after Season 4 aired. Even though Jaime’s character development had only just begun, there was one scene that was a hint of the disappointment that was on the horizon. In a rare flashback for the series, Game of Thrones shows a young Cersei going to a fortune-teller, as she does in the books. Maggy the Frog recites the famous prophecy that Cersei will become queen, but for her children, “gold shall be their crown and gold their shrouds.”
The series left out arguably the most significant part, which has to do with Cersei’s death and her dark backstory from the books. Maggy foretells that “when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.” The Volanqar prophecy is missing from the series, which ultimately leads Jaime’s character arc astray. Even though George R.R. Martin has yet to finish the books, the prophecy likely refers to Jaime killing Cersei at the end of all things.
In High Valyrian, “valonqar” means “little brother,” which leads Cersei to believe that Tyrion will be her undoing. She doesn’t for one moment consider that Jaime – who was canonically born after his twin sister – could be the culprit. This is where the books seem to be leading. Unlike in the television series, the books show Jaime leaning further and further away from his former lover.
The last readers see of them, Cersei has been arrested for fornication and begs Jaime in a letter to save her. Jaime, who has undergone a lot of growth in the four books that he’s in, throws her letter in the fire. It seems pretty likely that Jaime is meant to turn away from Cerseicompletely, which should have been the tactic that the show took.
Sadly, viewers had to watch Jaime waste years of character development in a moment that strangely romanticizes his toxic relationship with his twin sister. There was a time when Jaime was the best character on the series, and one moment cemented his ending as one of the worst on the show.
