When it comes to Game of Thrones characters, a good amount had some wonderful development. Some of them became deadly assassins, as hinted from the start, while others learned from their enemies in positive ways. Then there was Jaime Lannister.
Out of all the villains at the start of Game of Thrones, Jaime had the best redemption arc and development. I don’t really count Tyrion as a villain due to various circumstances, so his awesome development doesn’t count for this. Jaime, hands down, started off as someone who didn’t care and became someone who did the right thing when it was needed.
Yet, in the end, he went right back to the man he used to be. Well, okay, not quite right back, but he fell back into old habits and stopped being the man we could root for.
From villain to anti-hero on Game of Thrones
Whenever anyone has started watching Game of Thrones, they’ll question how anyone could even like Jaime, let alone root for him to be a better man. He was selfish, egotistic, and downright murderous. This was a man who literally pushed a boy out of a tower just because that boy saw some sordid little secret. And he did it without a care in the world.
Over the course of three seasons, we watched as this man continued to do bad things — and attempt to justify them way too often. He killed his own cousin in an attempt to escape imprisonment, and he continually attempted to manipulate to find a way back to King’s Landing.
Yet, there was someone who helped him see the errors of his ways, and it was all because she cared to listen. Brienne of Tarth didn’t like Jaime at all in the very beginning, and yet, as he struggled with who he was and who he had become, she took the time to listen to him and show that people could care. Offering him that sounding board as he struggled with everything life had hit him with gave him the push to become a better person.
But it didn’t happen overnight, and that’s where the realism came into Game of Thrones. Once he was back in King’s Landing, he started to give in to some of his terrible ways.
Jaime knew what he had to do to be a better man
Things took a turn as he started to lose his children. Joffrey was killed at his own wedding, while Myrcella died in his arms after making it clear she knew he was her father and loved him despite what other people saw as bad. Then there was poor Tommen, who didn't long outlive the explosive death of his wife Margaery Tyrell.
While Cersei became colder with each loss, Jaime realized more and more that things needed to change. Once he realized that there was a much bigger threat to Westeros than Daenerys Targaryen, he chose to fight for honor. He knew what he had to do to become a better man, leading to his full redemption arc.
Sure, there were plenty of people questioning if he was going to be some sort of spy for Cersei, but deep down, we all knew that Jaime was ready to be the man of honor Brienne believed he could be so many seasons earlier. That’s exactly what he did, fighting for the living at Winterfell when it seemed like everything was lost.
And let’s not overlook the moments with Brienne in the lead-up to "The Long Night." How could we not fall in love with him for all the care and attention he took with her?
That’s when Game of Thrones ruined Jaime's ending
With "The Long Night" over, Game of Thrones rushed everything and ruined so many character developments. The worst of them has to be Jaime Lannister. After all this buildup to his redemption and after delivering such a romantic and sweet moment, he just walks away and turns his back on the woman who helped him rise above his own darkness.
I could have justified it and accepted it had the ending to Game of Thrones brought us the prophecy that Cersei had all those years ago, that she would die at the hands of her “valonqar,” in other words, her younger brother. Of course, she feared it would be Tyrion, but what if it was Jaime? What if he killed her after all the terrible things that she did? What if that was the reason he had to go to warn Cersei of what was to come?
If not that, then when Tyrion had moved the rubble to expose the bodies of his siblings, seeing one of Jaime’s hands around Cersei’s neck could have justified the move. Prophecies aren’t always exactly clear, but it wouldn’t have been a lie had Cersei died because Jaime’s hand was around her neck as the rubble fell onto them, leading to him accidentally strangling her.
It could have worked, but in the end, Jaime ran back into the arms of a woman who didn’t really love him. She may have cared in her own way, but she wasn’t capable of the love that he had come to deserve by "The Long Night." And it ruined the entire redemption arc that Game of Thrones had delivered for Jaime up to that point.
In the end, it came down to a rushed ending. Signs of Jaime never fully being able to change were there — such as when he attempted to take down a dragon and when he ensured Olenna Tyrell died — but the final season needed more time to make this trajectory clear. While he was at Winterfell, there should have always been hints that he could never have fully redeemed himself. Without all that, the decision to go back to Cersei seemed to come out of left field, ruining what could have been the best character development of the entire series.
Game of Thrones is available to stream on HBO Max.