"by what right does the wolf judge the lion?" is crazy awesome line

"THE KING SLAYER"
"...my name is Jamie"
Damn

The scene that made Jamie the best character, could've been the best redemption arc in TV history, too bad Season 8 ruined it...

And then in the final season they threw  all of this out the window.....

I would never get tired of hearing this Jaime POV backstory. What acting, what delivery.

The part that gets me is when he falls into Brienne's arms and she yells "the Kingslayer" and he responds:

"Jaime, my name's Jaime"

That's his cry to be recognised, when he is most vulnerable. She always refers to him as "Ser Jaime" after this moment.

He broke his oath as a kingsguard but kept his oath as a knight.

You really feel his inner pain when he mentions how Ned Stark judged him in the aftermath.

Jaime admired Ned for how honourable he was. And probably wanted his approval. He wanted to be like him.

But on that day, his honour was forever lost.

This scene was pretty good at capturing the Jamie of the books. He is both better and worse. His inner tormoil really feels realistic. Grounded. The 'every villain is the hero of his own story' etc.

He and Tyrion are really good at seeing through the hypocrisy of the world they are in. And in that, they are good eyes for the reader to see though. Even though he is a nasty piece of work in many ways, you feel for the guy.

The "Would you have done it?" Always gets me, such a great scene.

We went from "by what right does the wolf judge the lion"

To: " a fInGeR iN tHE bUm"

All the more heartbreaking a story when you notice Jaime was 17 when he killed the Mad King

Jamie's arc is a classic tragedy. He sees redemption on the horizon, inches closer to it, right to the edge of it, only to be pulled back into ruin.

In the books, Jamie's trauma ran much deeper than even this. As a member of the Kingsguard, Jamie was present for EVERY ONE of Aerys's atrocities, and the only way he could cope was to "go away inside" himself by thinking of his sister Cersei, essentially disassociating from every vile act in an attempt to ignore it and keep himself sane. It's part of why he loves his sister; without her in his mind, Jamie would have been far worse than he is now.

Loved this. Its one of the few moments when the show exceeded the book depiction. There's so much to Jaime's background that isn't really touched upon in the show, that shapes his cynical worldview specifically in being a knight. The Mad King would brazenly "have his way" with his sister-wife against her will, after becoming sexually aroused by watching people be burned alive. Jaime, being part of the King's Guard, had to stand outside Rhaella's chamber while Aerys II assaulted her. When Jaime asked a senior King's Guard if they should protect her, he was told that his job is protect the queen from all threats, except from the King himself.

Also, the thing Jaime left out of his story was, after he killed the mad king, he climbed the stairs and sat on the Iron Throne placing his sword on his lap, out of sheer exhaustion — that's where Ned Stark finds him, with Aerys on the floor with his throat cut and a stab to the back and Jaime sitting on the throne. Jaime even makes a remark to Ned, saying that he was keeping the seat warm for Robert, which definitely didn't sit well with Ned.

Jamie has PTSD.  Only a writer of Martin's caliber could turn a guy who tries to m*rder a child in the 1st episode in to the most morally complex character in the whole show.

This scene is so incredible, from so many angles. BUT... we already knew most of this... the tragedy is how he did the RIGHT THING by killing the king, yet even the rebellion that he secured the victory for would cast him down as a Kingslayer and oathbreaker. This is where the cracks form in our view of Ned and all that has happened.... Ned judged Jaime to be dishonorable when he WON the war for the rebellion. Yes Tywin and his forces obviously played a huge part but Jaime forsaking his oath to kill his sworn liege is the most noble action taken full stop. He saved countless lives at the expense of his image being forever tarnished. Knowing that it's doubly painful to hear Joffrey scoff at his accomplishments as a Kingsguard, the kingdom should be bowing at his feet for what he did for the realm.

My favourite scene in the entire show.
Clearly there are many contenders for quality, but the way this scene opens up Jaime's character is a masterclass.

What the show should have done was adapt the scenes where Jaime dreamed of Rhaegar Targaryen and the other Kingsguard knights judge him for his actions while sick from infection. The best moment was when Rhaegar looked at him and said “I left my wife and children in your care!” Reminding Jaime that his father had all three of them murdered.

Another was witnessing the moment Brandon and Rickard Stark were killed, as Lord Commander Gerold Hightower told him that they swore loyalty to the king, and not to judge him. To deal with the trauma he would “go away inside,” tune out everything that was happening. Would’ve made Jaime’s character development more powerful prior to season 8.

This was the most important conversation in the entire show.