Gwendoline Christie on season 7 and the men in Brienne’s life

In “The Dragon and the Wolf,” the final episode of Game of Thrones season 7, Brienne of Tarth encountered two men from her past in King’s Landing, while elsewhere in Westeros, two of the other men in Brienne’s life faced their own battles. In an interview with an interview with The New York Times’ Jennifer Vineyard, star Gwendoline Christie discussed Brienne’s complex relationships with the men around her, and the reason why she’s turned off by Tormund Giantsbane.

Brienne’s most complicated relationship is arguably with Jaime Lannister. Brienne and Jaime reunited for the first time since they bid farewell to each other at Riverrun in season 6’s “No One.” True to their dynamic, their brief interaction in King’s Landing was fraught with tension and portent. But also apparent were Jaime and Brienne’s intense chemistry and deep understanding of one another. Jaime was truly taken aback when Brienne told him to “f**k loyalty” in favor of joining the fight against the Army of the Dead, because, to him, Brienne is the embodiment of loyalty and honor. In turn, Brienne was let down by Jaime’s brusque dismissal of her entreaty because, as she told him in “No One,” she knows there is honor in him.

Christie explained Brienne’s frustration with Jaime’s reaction:

"Why will he not give everything to overcome [the Army of the Dead]? Brienne is…not heartbroken, but incredibly shocked and hurt, and that hurt makes her question the relationship and what it really means to her. Jaime sort of treats her like she’s a stranger, and fools her off. It’s incredibly tense. Their past trust and mutual respect just seems to be meaningless. They have had this complex relationship which really can’t be defined, so it’s a really fascinating setup to move forward, for where we will go in the final season."

Christie thinks Jaime “treated [Brienne] fairly coldly,” but that while Jaime may “respond badly to something, particularly with Brienne…he takes the time to reflect and think about it, and he’s sort of brought back.” Jaime’s respect for Brienne, while at times grudgingly given, is rooted in her strength of character, and Christie is “endlessly fascinated by their dynamic.”

"…[Y]ou have a female character who isn’t cute, isn’t beautiful, isn’t sexy, isn’t conventionally attractive, but she has an incredibly attractive interior world, a world that is firmly harnessed to a moral compass. She’s very focused on dedicating her life to the good of others. She’s driven and selfless, and that’s a rare combination.When Jaime and Brienne are together, something incredibly magnetic seems to occur. Last season, there was that scene where she tries to persuade him to allow her to speak to the Blackfish, and she’s able to communicate and negotiate with [Jaime], and be heard by him in a way that doesn’t really exist between many of the other male and female characters. In a way that’s not about manipulation, but is positive."

Speaking of manipulation, Christie contemplated Brienne’s reaction to Littlefinger’s demise. “[I] don’t know how [she’ll] react to people taking matters into their own hands at Winterfell. Brienne is about a code of honor, a code of conduct, and she never kills anyone just for the sake of it.”

"Back in Season 3, when she was escorting Jaime Lannister to King’s Landing, there was a farmer who witnessed them on the road. Jaime said, ‘That farmer knows who I am. What if he tells someone?’ implying that she needed to go and kill him. And Brienne refused, because she didn’t believe it was the right thing to do. She doesn’t believe in dispatching a life unless it’s absolutely necessary. Unless it’s official. Look at the way she beheaded Stannis. She essentially read him his rights. Although it was loaded with emotion for her, she presented it in a very official, formal way, with great nobility."

How will Brienne reconcile her code of honor with her sense of duty once she discovers that Sansa and Arya conspired to execute Littlefinger? “It’s complex,” Christie said, “because Brienne’s made her oath to Catelyn Stark to protect the Stark girls.”

"It’s a little bit of a tricky situation because both Sansa and Arya have had their own journeys, and at times, some horrific experiences. I think [Brienne] wishes she had been able to save them from what they had been forced to experience. We can use the word ‘maternal’ because it has so many connotations, but what I like about it is that, in Brienne’s own way, she is expressing something of their mother to them. She’s protecting them as best she can."

Brienne was attempting to uphold her oath to Catelyn when she fought the Hound and left him for dead in Season 4’s “The Children.” Upon meeting him in King’s Landing, Brienne is “shocked,” according to Christie, “because of course she thinks that when she defeated and dispatched him, that she killed him.”

Brienne decides to “do the decent thing and go up to him,” but Christie understands why the Hound “gives her a bit of the cold shoulder.”

"She says that she’s sorry for harming him, that she was only trying to protect Arya, and he says that’s all he was doing as well. And so they come to a sort of begrudging respectful silence. An acknowledgement of each other. Of each other’s status as warriors."

Christie was impressed that the Hound was receptive to Brienne because “[y]ou don’t expect the Hound to overcome the injury, not just to physical body, but to his male pride, being nearly killed by a woman.”

The Hound may have been loath to admit he was bested by a woman (even though he confessed it to Septon Ray in “The Broken Man”), but Brienne’s prowess at combat is the reason Tormund Giantsbane is smitten with her. Christie is skeptical about a Brienne-Tormund romance, however. “I don’t think it’s something Brienne wants!” she said. “Tormund is quite a rough and ready man.”

And as much as Brienne denies that she’s a lady, she is highborn, after all, and Tormund is “a man who’s bragged about having sexual intercourse with a bear.” Christie questions whether Tormund is sensitive enough for Brienne and wonders what he would have to do to win her heart since “[s]he seems fairly repelled by Tormund’s strong overtures toward her,” and is “more enthused by a more cerebral approach.”

Tormund is rough around the edges, but, as Christie points out, neither of Brienne’s romantic prospects is ideal. “The poor woman,” she said. “Look at her choices: the man who brags about having sex with a bear, or the man who has sex with his sister!” Christie hopes Brienne will find “someone more stable” in season 8, but in the meantime is “a bit surprised by how much attention that the most unconventional female character on the show has garnered for her love life!”

Assuming Tormund survived the destruction of the Wall at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, he is most likely headed to Winterfell, as are Jaime and Brienne. Will there be a bona fide love triangle among the three of them in season 8? Or will someone else catch Brienne’s eye? What about the Hound? The Hound is hardly the stable partner Christie wants for Brienne, but at least he and Brienne are united in their desire to protect Arya. It’s a start.

Next: John Bradley (Sam) on White Walkers and Jon Snow’s true heritage

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