Jaime LannisterTo tell you the truth, this isn't so bad. Four walls. A pot to piss in. I was chained to a wooden post covered in my own shit for months.
Is that supposed to make me feel better?
Jaime Lannister
Maybe a bit. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner.
It's complicated, yes. So how is our sister?
Jaime Lannister
How do you think? Her son died in her arms.
Jaime Lannister
Don't. [Pause] You know what's coming?
My trial for regicide. Yes, I know. I know the whole bloody country thinks I'm guilty. I know that one of my three judges has wished me dead more times than I can count. And that judge is my father. As for Cersei, well, she's probably working on a way to avoid a trial altogether by having me killed.
Jaime Lannister
Now that you mention it, she did ask.
So, should I turn around and close my eyes?
Jaime Lannister
Depends. Did you do it?
The Kingslayer brothers. You like it? I like it. You're really asking if I killed your son?
Jaime Lannister
Are you really asking if I'd kill my brother? How can I help you?
Well, you could set me free.
Jaime Lannister
You know I can't.
Then there's really nothing else to say.
Jaime Lannister
What do you want me to do? Kill the guards? Sneak you out of the city in the back of a cart? I'm the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.
Sorry, I'd forgotten. I'd hate for you to do something inappropriate.
Jaime Lannister
Inappropriate? You're accused of killing the king. Freeing you is treason.
Jaime Lannister
Which is why we're having a trial.
A trial. If the killer threw himself before the Iron Throne, confessed to his crimes, and gave irrefutable evidence of his guilt, it wouldn't matter to Cersei. She won't rest until my head's on a spike.
Jaime Lannister
Not just yours. She's offering a knighthood to whomever finds Sansa Stark.
Sansa couldn't have done this.
Jaime Lannister
She had more reason than anyone in the Seven Kingdoms. Do you think it's a coincidence she disappeared the same night Joffrey died?
No, but... Sansa's not a killer. Not yet, anyway.
[reading from "The History of the Kingsguard"] "Ser Jaime Lannister. Knighted and named to the Kingsguard in his sixteenth year. At the Sack of King's Landing, murdered his King, Aerys the Second. Pardoned by Robert Baratheon; thereafter known as Ser Kingslayer."
Jaime Lannister
It's the duty of the Lord Commander to fill those pages. And there's still room left on mine. [he hefts a sword, balancing it awkwardly on his maimed arm, and hands it to Brienne, who examines it carefully]
Valyrian steel. [Jaime nods]
Jaime Lannister
It's yours.
Jaime Lannister
It's reforged from Ned Stark's sword. We'll use it to defend Ned Stark's daughter. We swore an oath to return the Stark girls to their mother. Lady Stark's dead. Arya's probably dead, too, but there's still a chance to find Sansa, and get her somewhere safe. [pause] I've got something else for you. [pulls a curtain off a specially made suit of armor] I hope I got your measurements right.
I'll find her. For Lady Catelyn. And for you.
Jaime Lannister
You'd condemn your own son to death?
I've condemned no one. The trial is not over.
Jaime Lannister
This isn't a trial, it's a farce! Cersei has manipulated everything and you know it!
I know nothing of the sort.
Jaime Lannister
You've always hated Tyrion!
Jaime Lannister
As did I! Do you know the last order the Mad King gave me? To bring him your head! [Tywin looks surprised] I saved your life so you could murder my brother?
It won't be murder, it will be justice.
Jaime Lannister
Justice?!
I'm performing my sworn duty as Hand of the King. If Tyrion is found guilty, he will be punished accordingly.
Jaime Lannister
He'll be executed.
No, he'll be punished accordingly!
Jaime Lannister
Once, you said family is what lives on. All that lives on. You told me about a dynasty that would last 1000 years. What happens to your dynasty when Tyrion dies? I'm a Kingsguard, forbidden by oath to carry on the family line.
I'm well aware of your oath.
Jaime Lannister
What happens to your name? Who carries the lion banner into future battles? Your nephews? Lancel Lannister? Others whose names I don't even remember?
What happens to my dynasty if I spare the life of my grandson's killer?
Jaime Lannister
It survives...through me. [Tywin looks shocked] I'll leave the Kingsguard, I'll take my place as your son and heir if you let Tyrion live.
Done. [Jaime is stunned] When the testimony is concluded and the guilty verdict rendered, Tyrion will be given the chance to speak. He'll plead for mercy, I'll allow him to join the Night's Watch. In three days times, he'll depart for Castle Black and live out his days at the Wall. You'll remove your white cloak immediately. You will leave King's Landing to assume your rightful place at Casterly Rock. You will marry a suitable woman, and father children named "Lannister". And you'll never turn your back on your family again.
Jaime Lannister
You have my word.
[swigs some wine] Wine always helps. Thank you for it. Trial by combat. Deciding a man's guilt or innocence in the eyes of the Gods, by having two other men hack each other to pieces. Tells you something about the Gods. How much longer?
Jaime Lannister
Soon.
Do you thing Oberyn has a chance? [Jaime shrugs] The Red Viper of Dorne! You don't get a name like that unless you're deadly, right?
Jaime Lannister
I've never seen him fight.
Oh, he's going to die! I'm going to die!
Jaime Lannister
Oberyn believes in himself.
Oh, that's putting it mildly. What's the punishment for regicide? Drawing and quartering? Hanging? Breaking at the wheel?
Jaime Lannister
[sighs] Beheading.
TLTyrion Lannsiter
Seems rather ordinary. And he was my nephew as well. So what's that? Fratricide is brothers, filicide is sons. Nepoticide! That's the one. Matricide, Patricide, infanticide, suicide. There's no kind of killing that doesn't have its own word.
Jaime Lannister
[Guiltily] Cousins.
Cousins? You're right. There is no name for cousin-killing! Well done. Do you remember cousin Orson? Orson Lannister?
Jaime Lannister
Of course. Wet-nurse dropped him on his head. Left him simple.
Simple? Used to sit all day in the garden. Crushing beetles with a rock.
[Chuckles] Nothing made him happier.
Jaime Lannister
Nothing made you happier. You'd think being tormented from birth would have given you some affinity for the afflicted?
On the contrary. Laughing at another person's misery was the only thing that made me feel like everyone else.
Jaime Lannister
The joke wore thin, though.
For you. You drifted away.
Jaime Lannister
I had other interests.
Yes, other interests...But I stayed with Orson.
Jaime Lannister
Why?
I was curious. Why was he smashing all those beetles? What did he get out of it? First thing I did was ask him: "Orson, why are you smashing all those beetles?" He gave me an answer: "Thmasth the beetles! Thmasth 'em! Khuun, khuun, khuun!" I wasn't deterred. I was the smartest person I knew. Certainly I had the wherewithal to unravel the mysteries that lay at the heart of a moron. So, I went to Maester Volarik's library.
Jaime Lannister
Volarik. Tried to touch me once.
Turns out, far too much has been written about great men and not nearly enough about morons. Doesn't seem right. In any case, I found nothing that illuminated the nature of Orson's affliction, or the reason behind his relentless beetle slaughter. So, I went back to the source. I may not have been able to speak with Orson, but I could observe him, watch him the way men watch animals to come to a deeper understanding of their behavior.
And as I watched, I became more and more sure of it. There was something happening there. His face was like the page of a book written in a language I didn't understand. But he wasn't mindless. He had his reasons. And I became possessed with knowing what they were. I began to spend inordinate amounts of time watching him. I would eat my lunch in the garden, chewing my mutton to the music of "khuun, khuun, khuun..." And when I wasn't watching him, I was thinking about him. Father droned on about the family legacy and I thought about Orson's beetles. I read the histories of Targaryen conquests. Did I hear dragon wings? No. I heard: Khuun, khuun, khuun. And I still couldn't figure out why he was doing it. And I had to know, because it was horrible, that all these beetles should be dying for no reason.
Jaime Lannister
Every day around the world, men, women, and children are murdered by the score. Who gives a dusty fuck about a bunch of beetles--?
I know, I know. But still, it filled me with dread. Piles and piles of them, years and years of them. How many countless living crawling things smashed and dried out and returned to the dirt? In my dreams I found myself standing on a beach made of beetle husks stretching as far as the eye could see. I woke up crying, weeping for their shattered little bodies. I tried to stop Orson once.
Jaime Lannister
He was twice your size.
He just pushed me aside with a "khuun" and kept on smashing. Every day...until that mule kicked him in the chest and killed him.
[Jaime and Cersei meet over Tywin's body as he lies in state inside the Great Sept of Baelor]
He never wanted you to be a Kingsguard. But here you are. Protecting his dead body.
Jaime Lannister
What he built... it's ours. He built it for us, he meant it for us. They're going to try to take it away. All of it.
Jaime Lannister
All of them out there. Our enemies. They're waiting in line to make sure he's really dead. And as soon as they see the stones on his eyes, they'll set to work on tearing us apart.
They had nothing to do with it. The man who murdered our father, he tore us apart. He's the enemy. I've been telling you for years. You've been defending him for years.
Jaime Lannister
This is exactly what they want!
And now our father is dead. And that little monster is out there, somewhere, drawing breath! Did you set him free? [Jaime is silent.] Tyrion may be a monster, but at least he killed our father on purpose. You killed him by mistake. With stupidity. You're a man of action, aren't you? When it occurs to you to do something, you do it. Never mind the consequences. Take a look. Look at the consequences. Here they are. He loved you more than anyone in this world.
[Cersei kisses Tywin's forehead and leaves.]
Why are we on a merchant ship? Why no Lannister sails?
Jaime Lannister
This ship's sailing to Oldtown. We'll get off earlier, not far from Sunspear. Row ourselves to the Dornish shores in the night.
Jaime Lannister
No.
I have. The Dornish are crazy. All they want to do is fight and fuck, fuck and fight.
Jaime Lannister
You should be happy to go back then.
There's nothing like a good fight to get you in the mood for fucking. And there's nothing like a fuck-mad Dornish girl to clear your head for the next fight. It's how the two work together. And we're gonna do a lot of fighting, I am sure. Well, I am. But I don't imagine we'll get to stick around for the rest. Not after we've kidnapped their princess.
Jaime Lannister
We are not kidnapping their princess. We are rescuing my niece, bringing her back to the family.
[Jaime is escorted into the palace of Sunspear by Areo Hotah; Doran, Myrcella, Ellaria and Trystane are already there, drinking Dornish wine]
Jaime Lannister
Prince Doran.
DMDoran Martell
Forgive us, we started without you. Please sit.
Jaime Lannister
Princess Myrcella.
MBMyrcella Baratheon
Uncle.
Jaime Lannister
What a lovely dress.
MBMyrcella Baratheon
You don't like it?
Jaime Lannister
You must be cold.
MBMyrcella Baratheon
Not at all. The Dornish climate agrees with me.
Jaime Lannister
Prince Trystane. How's your jaw?
TMTrystane Martell
A flea-bite.
What are you doing in Dorne?
Jaime Lannister
Looking after the safety of my niece, the Princess Myrcella.
DMDoran Martell
And rather than send a raven or speak to me directly, you decided to enter my country in secret and abduct our guest by force.
Jaime Lannister
We received a threatening message. The Princess's necklace, in the jaws of a viper.
MBMyrcella Baratheon
That necklace was stolen from my room.
Jaime Lannister
Ah, excellent. A last meal, before the beheading?
DMDoran Martell
Oh, I can't behead you. Many in Dorne want war but I've seen war. I've seen the bodies piled on the battlefields. I've seen the orphans starving in the cities. I don't want to lead my people into that Hell.
No, you want to break bread with the Lannisters.
DMDoran Martell
And that is precisely what we're doing. Let us drink to Tommen, the First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms! King Tommen insists on his sister's return to the Capital.
Jaime Lannister
I'm afraid he does.
DMDoran Martell
I cannot disobey my King's command. She will return with you, to King's Landing and my son, Prince Trystane, will accompany you both. If the alliance between Dorne and the Iron Throne is to continue, their engagement must stand.
Jaime Lannister
I accept.
DMDoran Martell
One more thing. My brother was named to the Small Council before his... death. Your father understood the importance of keeping Dorne in the fold. With Oberyn gone, Trystane will take his place on the Small Council.
Jaime Lannister
You have my word.
The word of a Kingslayer! [to Doran] No wonder you can't stand; you have no spine!
DMDoran Martell
You are mother of four of my nieces, girls I love very much. For their sake, I hope you live a long and happy life. Speak to me that way again, and you won't. [releases her, Ellaria storms off]
[as Jaime writes a letter] You write like a seven-year-old.
Jaime Lannister
My maester kindly agreed to copy it over for me.
He didn't try to make you pay? [Jaime shakes his head] Maybe he's changed. The Queen will be thrilled to know you're bringing her daughter home.
Jaime Lannister
She will.
You love her very much, don't you?.
Jaime Lannister
Of course! She's my niece.
I wasn't talking about her. You think I disapprove? Why? Because people disapprove of that sort of thing where you are from? They disapproved of Oberyn and me, where you are from. Here no one blinked an eye. A hundred years ago, no one would have blinked an eye at you if you'd been named Targaryen. It's always changing, who we're supposed to love and who we're not. The only thing that stays the same is that we want who we want. I know your daughter had no part in the terrible thing that happened, to the man I loved. Perhaps, even you are innocent of that.
Jaime Lannister
You're a bold man.
On the contrary. I fear a great deal. The Father, the Mother, the Warrior. Do you know why we use these stones? To remind us not to fear death. We close our eyes on this world and open them in the next.
Jaime Lannister
You must long for the next life.
[chuckles] In truth, I fear that too.
Jaime Lannister
You imprisoned and humiliated my sister!
Your sister sought the gods' mercy and atoned for her sin.
Jaime Lannister
What about my sins? I broke a sacred oath and stabbed my king in the back. I killed my own cousin. When the gods judged my brother guilty, I helped him escape that justice. What atonement do I deserve.
[He puts his hand on his sword]
You would spill blood in this holy place?
Jaime Lannister
The gods won't mind. They've spilled more blood than the rest of us combined.
Go on then. I deserve it. We all do. We are weak, vain creatures. We live only by the mother's mercy.
[Numerous Sparrows enter the room and surround them]
Jaime Lannister
They should be closer if you mean for them to save you.
I don't. They'd never reach me before you struck.
Jaime Lannister
I've fought against worse odds.
No doubt many of us would fall. But who are we? Hm? We have no names, no family, everyone one of us is poor, powerless, and yet together we can overthrow an empire.
The Small Council meeting is postponed, on the King's orders.
I would have thought we were perfectly clear the first time. You're not welcome.
You once spoke of your respect for our father, because he understood the necessity of working with one's rivals.
My dear, you have been stripped of your dignity and authority, publicly shamed, and confined to the Red Keep. What's left to work with?
Jaime Lannister
Cersei is the mother of the King. She has the King's ear and his trust. And, the King has been speaking regularly with the High Sparrow about Queen Margaery, and Ser Loras.
The High Sparrow seized power, knowing full well we'd bicker among ourselves, instead of seizing it back. Here we are. Well done to us. Now, the future of the Seven Kingdoms rests in his dirty peasant hands. In a few days, he'll have a trial for me but, before that, Queen Margaery will make her walk of atonement. Yes. Margaery will repent her sins before the good people of the city.
Ohhh, no. That cannot happen. That will not happen.
Jaime Lannister
You've got the second largest army in Westeros. You will bring them into the city, stop Queen Margaery's humiliation before it starts, and take her back into Crown custody.
The King has ordered me to take no action against the High Sparrow, or the Faith Militant- out of fear for the Queen's safety.
Jaime Lannister
You will take no action at all. When the Tyrell armies come, you will stand down. Were you expressly forbidden from standing down?
No. But, if the King should call...
Jaime Lannister
The whole thing will be over before anyone can call upon you to do anything. When the High Sparrow's back in custody or dead, preferably, and Margaery's back at Tommen's side, do you think the King will be angry at the outcome?
You hate these fanatics as much as we do. You hate what they've done to your son. Do you want Lancel back? Or have you given him up for good?
Of course I want him back.
Then, stand aside. And let the people that took him from you be destroyed.
If it doesn't go as planned the Sparrows have many friends in this city. We'll have civil war. Many will die.
Many will die, no matter what we do. Better them than us.
Jaime Lannister
Sorry to interrupt. We're here for Queen Margaery and Ser Loras Tyrell. Give them to us, and we'll be on our way.
I don't have the authority to give them to you. And you don't have the authority to take them.
Jaime Lannister
I speak for King Tommen of House Baratheon, first of his name.
The Gods don't recognize his authority in this matter.
Jaime Lannister
You've already insulted one Great House. It won't happen twice. Every last Sparrow will die before Margaery Tyrell walks down that street.
To die in the service of the Gods would please each and every one of us. We yearn for it. But, there is no call for it today. There will be no Walk of Atonement. Queen Margaery has already atoned for her sins, by bringing another into the true light of the Seven.
[the Sparrows open the doors of the Sept, and King Tommen walks out followed by his Kingsguard, whose armor are now embossed with the Seven-pointed Star.]
Together we announce a new age of harmony. A Holy alliance, between the Crown and the Faith.
TBTommen Baratheon
The Crown and the Faith are the twin pillars on which the world rests. Together, we will restore the Seven Kingdoms to glory.
[the crowds cheer]
MTMace Tyrell
What's happening?
He's beaten us! That's what happening.
[Jaime interrupts the siege of Riverrun to parley with the Blackfish]
Jaime Lannister
Blackfish.
I assume you're here to fulfill the vow you gave my niece. I don't see Sansa and Arya.
Jaime Lannister
I don't have them.
Pity. Do you wish to resume your captivity? [Jaime shakes his head] Then why're you here?
Jaime Lannister
You know why I'm here. This castle belongs to House Frey. You're trespassing. In the name of King Tommen, I order you to surrender or...
Or you'll kill Edmure? My nephew is marked for death no matter what. Hang him and be done with it.
Jaime Lannister
It won't stop with Edmure. You'll force me to storm the castle. Hundreds will die.
Hundreds of mine, thousands of yours...if you can breach the walls.
Jaime Lannister
We'll breach them and kill every last one of you, but if you surrender, I'll spare the lives of your men. On my honor.
Your honor? Bargaining with oathbreakers is like building on quicksand.
Jaime Lannister
The war is over, Ser. Why sacrifice living men to a lost cause?
As long as I am standing, the war is not over. This is my home. I was born in this castle and I'm ready to die in it. So you can either attack or try to starve us out. We have enough provisions for two years. Do you have two years, Kingslayer?
Jaime Lannister
You clearly have no intention of saving your men's lives! Why did you come treat with me?
Sieges are dull. And I wanted to see you in person, get the measure of you.
Jaime Lannister
Well, now you have.
Aye, now I have. I'm disappointed.
Jaime Lannister
Lord Edmure. I apologise for the way the Freys treated you. A man of your birth deserves better. You have my word you'll be properly fed and clothed from now on...
My uncle will never surrender the castle, sir. Whatever game you're playing...
Jaime Lannister
The Blackfish is an old man. A good death is all he can hope for. You...you have a child now, I've heard. A son, sired on your wedding night. You're a potent man.
A son I've never met, born of a wife I haven't seen since our first night together.
Jaime Lannister
You should be with them both. I can arrange that, you realise; comfortable rooms for you at Casterly Rock, a tutor for your boy, with knights to train him to fight and to ride, and when he comes of age, he'll have a keep of his own.
Can you imagine yourself a decent person? Is that it? After you've massacred my family, kept me in a cell for years, stolen our lands!
Jaime Lannister
I remind you our Houses are at war. I'm sorry if this conflict has inconvenienced you but rebelling against the Crown does have consequences.
Says the man who shoved his sword through his king's back!
Jaime Lannister
Did I give you the impression this was a negotiation? It's not.
You understand, on some level. You understand you're an evil man.
Jaime Lannister
I'll leave the judgements to the gods.
Oh that is convenient for you. You're a fine looking fellow, aren't you? Your square jaw, your golden armour...tell me, I want to know, I truly do. How do you live with yourself? All of us have to believe that we're decent, don't we? You have to sleep at night. How do you tell yourself that you're decent, after everything that you've done?
Jaime Lannister
I was your sister's prisoner once. She hit me on the head with a rock, if I remember correctly.
[chuckles] She should have killed you.
Jaime Lannister
Perhaps, but she didn't. Catelyn Stark hated me like you hate me, but I didn't hate her. I admired her, far more than I did her husband or her son.
Do you think I care who you admire and who you don't?
Jaime Lannister
Maybe not, but I'm telling you anyway because you're my prisoner. You don't have a choice. The love she had for her children, I was a little awed by it. Reminded me of my sister.
Oh, now I see. You're a madman.
Jaime Lannister
I'm not here to trade insults. Your sister was...
Jaime Lannister
I'll talk about whomever I want. She loved her children. I suppose all mothers do. Catelyn and Cersei, it's a fierceness you don't often see. They'd do anything to protect their babies; start a war, burn cities to ash, free their worst enemies. The things we do for love.
You didn't come here to talk about our sisters.
Jaime Lannister
That's exactly why I came here. I love Cersei. You can laugh at that if you want, you can sneer, it doesn't matter. She needs me, and to get back to her, I have to take Riverrun. I'll send for your baby boy...and I'll launch him into Riverrun with a catapult because you don't matter to me, Lord Edmure. Your son doesn't matter to me. The people in the castle don't matter to me...only Cersei. And if I have to slaughter every Tully who ever lived to get back to her, that's what I'll do.
Game of Thrones · 356 quotes
