BlackberryJam

I'll own it. I find a good 60% of the male characters hot. Probably initially, I was all about Khal Drogo. And half the Dothraki army. Even Davos has a sexy to him. Tywin I adore, but he's a little too scary for fantasy material. Something about Dinklage is working for me as well. If I were to go down a list of the male characters, there would be way more "Yes," "I'd climb him like a tree," "I'll teach him something," and "you put in a sword in that man's hand and I'm his," than "No." Definite No for me is Old Daario. Can't explain it. No to Theon, but YES to Ramsey Bolton. Can't explain that one either. No to Joff. No to Robert. Not to Littlefinger. Not to Jojen, and well, all the little boys. No matter how much I adore Sean Bean, no to Ned Stark. No to Loras.

The Lannisters didn't have power because they were beloved. They had power because they were feared and had money. "A Lannister always pays his debts" cuts many ways, such as "fuck over a Lannister and we'll pay you back" and "if you're in it for the money, we have the most to give you." Tywin himself had turned on the Mad King because the Mad King was going to lose. Tywin didn't turn on Aerys because Aerys was a crazy ass motherfucker. I can see Tywin thinking, "Jaime killed Aerys because he knew Aerys was going to lose, knew the Lannisters didn't support him. Jaime was being a good Lannister. Oh, and new King Robert, don't fuck with my son even if you think he's an Oathbreaker." I cannot imagine a bathtub confessional scene between Tywin and Jaime. ...would it go like this? Jaime: I stabbed Aerys in the back because he was going to burn the people of King's Landing alive and I just couldn't let that happen. *shuddering* Tywin: Why do you care for the lives of sheep? You stabbed Aerys in the back so Lannister men wouldn't be lost when we sacked the city. That's the story and you're sticking to it, you worthless idiot. You've already failed to produce viable heirs for me. I'll not let you turn into a giant quivering twat. Shut up. ETA: Love that sigil comment.

The "could care less" and "could NOT care less" is one of my grammar pet peeves. (Call me Stannis!) I loved everything about that scene but it was a little ruined for me....on the other hand, if Jaime COULD care less, then he's admitting he does care. I parsed that scene mentally over and over. Charles Dance is just amazing as Tywin. I think almost every scene could be improved by adding Tywin glaring at someone in the background. I'm not sure if the writers missed the "not" in the dialogue, if it just got by editors or if English-As-A-Second-Language Coster-Waldau messed it up or if they meant to forget it. Or you know, Jaime is listening to his father explain yet again why he (Jaime) is such a disappointment while he (Tywin) is butchering a deer and just fumbled his words. Then again, I read it was a real dead deer that Dance was skinning in the scene, so they might have rushed through the whole thing because of how completely foul it had to have smelled.

Why would Tywin know what happened in the Throne Room? The only way he would know is if Jaime told him, and why would he? Jaime knew his father was going to sack the city. Tywin could reasonably assume that Jaime killed Aerys in support of the Lannister/Baratheon/Stark forces. Jaime knew his father wasn't going to support a Targaryen on the throne because Lannisters don't support the losing side. Tywin knew Jaime was going to have to choose between his vow to protect the King and his loyalty to his family. Tywin would of course believe that Jaime would choose to support House Lannister above all other oaths. If Jaime had gone to Tywin and told him about the wildfyre, why would Tywin care? His son was already a disappointment. Tywin had enough power to get Jaime named to the Baratheon Kingsguard, oathbreaker or not. Why not have a man who had already killed one king out of loyalty to the family, guarding the new king? Make Jaime's act a heroic one and Robert no longer has cause to fear Jaime. Jaime as Kingslayer gave Tywin just a little more power through fear.

There was absolutely no motivation for Jaime to lie about killing the King. It was him, alone in the bath with Brienne. He sent away the guards. He wasn't in love with her or trying to get her in the sack. He wasn't trying to get her to let him escape. He wasn't performing for an audience. If Jaime wanted to make up this elaborate lie, he would have done it years ago. He would have told it to Ned Stark in Season 1 in their confrontation in the Throne Room. If he wanted to manipulate Brienne, he would have told her during their canoe trip or when they were tromping through the woods. I simply cannot buy the very idea that Jaime would make up a massive lie to tell Brienne in the bathtub at Harrenhal. I mean, why? Does the Lion really care for the opinion of one lowly Sheep? Jaime will tell a well-placed lie to get what he wants, but he's more likely to tell a harsh truth and have people despise him. Didn't he answer a question about the last words of the first man he killed saying there were none, because he'd cut off the man's head? He was flip and snarky about it. The truth again being much worse than the lie. When he killed the Targaryen King, he was ...17 I think? The King had set Ned Stark's brother and father on fire in that Throne Room. He was called the "Mad King" for a reason. The idea that he'd want to burn the whole city rather than surrender it doesn't really seem that outlandish. The King also had ordered him to decapitate his own father. The King was, by all accounts, a freaking nutjob. The idea that Jaime would have been able to knock out the King, steal him away from the Pyromancer and the rest of the Kingsguard, hide him away until he saw reason, all while King's Landing is being sacked by Stark/Baratheon/Lannister forces is not reasonable. This also isn't a "modern" story where we expect police officers to only ever shoot criminals in the shoulder and not in the chest. I can see perfectly how Jaime knew he would NEVER win the moment Ned Stark road his horse into the Throne Room. Ned Stark. The man who beheaded someone in front of his ten year old son, never even considering that the man might have had a valid reason for deserting the Night's Watch, you know, from seeing the undead rise. Nope, he just lopped off that guy's head because no matter what, deserting the Night's Watch results in death. There were no shades of gray in Ned Stark. Jaime knew it. Why try?

Add me to TeamJaime. I loved him from the very moment he shoved Bran out the window. As I've not read the books, it was totally unexpected and it was done with such a level of...charm. That's NCW selling the character. He's been just amazing. He also has fantastic cheminstry with GC. I loved Dinklage in Season 1, but I also find his accent ...difficult. It's particularly awkward in his romantic scenes with Shae. I would love for NCW to get some more love for his role.