Jaime

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister in HBOs Game of Thrones

Jaime is riding through the Blackwood valley. In the distance, Ravenwood castle can be seen, the seat of house Blackwood, currently under siege by house Bracken. Jaime observes how old the castle is, defying even the popular wisdom that round towers better deflect catapult missiles. The siege itself is small scale and seems to be content with starving out the Blackwoods. Jaime rides directly to Bracken's tent and enters it without announcing himself. Consequently, he finds Bracken fucking a wench. On observing Jaime, he hastily gets in his clothes, while the girl tries to taunt Jaime into taking her as well, but Jaime dismisses her and usheres her out.

When Bracken is fully clothed, he promises that Raventree will fall before the month is out, but Jaime replies that it will fall today and that he means to talk Blackwood into submission. Bracken wants that Jaime fulfills Tywin's promises, which extend over many Blackwood lands that should go over to Bracken. Jaime says that he will look that Bracken gets some of it, but certainly not everything, since he is a coward on the one hand for changing sides so easily and on the other hand hasn't delivered Blackwood yet, leaving him doing the deed. As he departs, Bracken suggests that he takes the only daughter of Blackwood as a hostage to King's Landing. Jaime gets into a small argument about honor and pardons, but Bracken only states that his king was dead and the cause lost and there was no reason to die for it any more.

When Jaime rides up before Blackwood castle, the drawbridge is lowered, and Tytos Blackwood meets him in the outer yard. He is obviously strained by the long siege. Blackwood states that he expected Jaime, that he isn't welcome, but that he is glad at the same time. Jaime is very courteous, allowing Blackwood to retire into his solar with him to discuss terms. While they walk, they talk about the giant, dead weirwood tree in the yard. Blackwood states that the Brackens poisoned it a thousand years ago, and that Weirwoods never rot but instead become stone. Blackwood asks about Edmure, and after Jaime tells him that he is captive at Casterly Rock, Blackwood states that this is a bad fate, between the lines hinting that he thinks Edmure a coward. Jaime thinks otherwise, but he doesn't tell him about the threat of killing his child and wife.

They then enter negotiations. Blackwood easily accepts paying a sum of gold to King's Landing as ammends for the rebellion, as well as giving up a hostage. Jaime graciously skips Blackwood's bending the knee, and upon demanding his daughter, lets himself be convinced easily to take the second oldest son instead, a bookish boy named Hoster. When it comes to the land that he would have to give over to Bracken, Jaime makes reasonable demands and lets him escape with minor losses. Finally, Blackwood advises Jaime to take a hostage from Bracken too. After that, he leaves together with Hoster, who friendly approaches him. Jaime turns him down, telling him that he's not his friend. When Bracken gloats about the end of the siege, Jaime tells him that he expects one of his daughters in King's Landing before the year is out and leaving the valley instantly for a village called Pennytree he knows from the negotiations.

On the way, he lets Hoster explain a bit about the enmities between the two houses. They go back to the days of the Andals, apparantly, but no one really knows why. When Jaime asks why they haven't made peace yet, Hoster tells him that there were hundreds of peaces, but they lasted only years and decades before the wounds of old would break up again. Jaime suggests to simply exterminate the enemy like Tywin did. In the evening, they make their camp at Pennytree. The inhabitants are hiding in the castle, fearing any armed men, but Jaime is content with tents and forbids everyone to plunder. He muses about the hearttree in the middle of the village, which has hundreds of nails in it, but decides not to ask Hoster about it so not to spill the mystery. Soon after, the guards tell him that a woman wants to see him, Brienne of Tarth. She is brought before him, telling him that she found Sansa, and that he has to come alone, or else the Hound will kill her.

After the cliffhanger from this chapter, it might be possible that this is the last Jaime chapter. One does not hope so, but the ending would be strangely fitting for a character like Jaime, who was presented as one of the top tier villains from the beginning. To die at the hands of some outlaws in the woods without anyone noticing would be strangely fitting. It is not very likely, however, that he really dies here. I can't really make arguments for this, but it is a gut feeling that Jaime is not yet over. We are not done with him, and Martin isn't, too.

That being sad it is really interesting how we see Jaime in this chapter. He is introduced as a sound strategist and reasonable diplomat. He learned more from his father than it originally seemed, and had he a saying in King's Landing, many bad things could have been avoided. He doesn't, however, and so his talent is wasted among the soldiers he grew up around solving minor problems. Jaime is more or less exiled. Situations like Bracken's and Blackwood's could have been solved by near anyone, they don't require him. But here he is, solving them.

It is strange what courtesy and benign neglect he brings to Tytos Blackwood, skipping the kneeling and allowing him much and more of his honor and sparing any humiliation, in turn rather humiliating his own ally of Bracken. This stems from a crooked perspective of honor that is common to all warrior lords, from Eddard Stark over his son Robb to Robert to Jaime. The lord who keeps on fighting and remains loyal even in the face of defeat is cherished more than the prudent lord who saves his people by giving up a lost cause. There must have been many deaths in Blackwood, and for absolutely naught, which was clear from the beginning, but people like Jaime nonetheless admire Tytos and despise Jonos, just because one of them keeps on fighting beyond reason. Even today, such a mentality can oftentimes be observed, and it has served people to motivate their soldiers to fight and die well beyond the point of a reasonable chance of victoriy. This sentiment seems to be burned deep in the human psyche for some reason.

At least, despite giving us another bad cliffhanger, we know which word Brienne shouted. It had to be something along the lines of "sword", since she has Oathkeeper again, and she obviously tries to lure Jaime in Lady Stonehearts hands. The question is what she will decide to do in the end, being helplessly caught in oaths to left and right, and whether it will save Jaime. Fighting his way out of the outlaws' hands is out of the question, in any case.

Just another bit: Between all the information that Jaime learns from little Hoster about the ongoing struggle between Blackwood and Bracken and Missy's tits, there is one thing that strikes the eye: Brynden Rivers, our beloved greenseer with arboreal accessoires, was actually the bastard child of Aegon with some Blackwood woman. Hence, he must have been raised in Raventree. Hence, he shared their belief in the old gods. Hence, the connection to the weirwoods later. Since his bowmen, the "Raven's Teeth", reportedly used weirwood arrows, he seems to have had some connection to the old mysteries when he was still around and kicking in his "first life". This gets really interesting, and I hope we will get additional information soon.