Actually, Gwendoline Christie Doesn't Think Brienne Should Be with Jaime OR Tormund
Against all odds (and many office betting pools), the Battle of Winterfell did not bring an end to Brienne of Tarth. Last seen raging against a ridiculous number of the Night King’s zombie wights, the series’ most steadfast character will presumably live to fight another day. And maybe also to sort out this whole Jaime/Tormund love triangle situation-a new (and supremely bizarre) subplot that positions Ser Brienne as a medieval Kelly Taylor, forced to choose between Brandon and Dylan.
Hardcore shippers exist on both sides of the #Jaimienne vs. #Briemund divide, but Gwendoline Christie herself isn’t so sure about either potential suitor. “Personally, I’d like to see Brienne with Daenerys,” she joked at a press event in London in February, before laying out her conflicted feelings around her character’s romantic prospects. "It's two-pronged, because we have an unconventional character that hasn’t had to fulfill the traditional role of love interest. She’s done something else and existed outside of those realms," Christie points out. "At the same time, as the seasons roll on, we see her as a human being and someone who wants to experience more of life. So why shouldn’t she have that and explore that?"
Christie explained it was Brienne’s very status as stereotype slayer that drew her to the part. “It felt like she was defying gender norms and the depictions of women that we’ve had on television so far,” she said. GoT’s no-nonsense warrior also felt like exactly the kind of character 40-year-old Christie would've loved to see onscreen thirty years ago. Brienne, she says, “would have spoken to the pre-teenage me as some kind of hope, the way that random group of elements thrown together while I was forming in the womb would not define me-the hope that the person I chose to be may have some relevance, rather than just how I was formed physically.”
Christie recounted a conversation she had early on with George R. R. Martin where he shared his go-to response for questions about how he writes such substantial female characters: “I’ve always thought of women as people.” Of course, we could debate the feminist credentials of Game of Thrones into the next Iron Age. Yes, there have been many, many questionable moments. But arguably, there is empowerment in the simple fact that here we are in the final season, and a number of key characters still in throne contention are women: good women, bad women, collaborative team builders, and morally bankrupt megalomaniacs. The point is not that these characters are inherently strong, but that they are strongly-written-fully formed subjects who gaze out rather than just being gazed upon. Because the world may need fewer Cersei Lannisters (as Elizabeth Warren argued recently for The Cut), but popular culture needs more of them.
Still, the fuss over Brienne’s love life reminds us that, on TV, at least, certain schoolgirlish tropes die hard. Nobody wonders, for example, whether Ser Davos will fulfill his romantic destiny before meeting his maker. But when it comes to the key female characters, tying up loose ends seems to include tying them to a man. Already this season we’ve had Arya’s sudden lust for Gendry; Dany’s confession that she is essentially just a dragon mother standing in front of her bastard nephew, asking him to love her; and Sansa making eyes at Theon Greyjoy (many thanks to the Night King for putting an end to that potential plotline). So really, it’s not about Brienne deserving love-if characters got what they deserved, she’d be sitting on the Iron Throne already-but about celebrating a version of womanhood where wholeness isn’t predicated on being somebody’s other half.
That's not to say I didn’t weep during the knighting scene in Episode 2. You could even count me in the ranks of #Jamienne shippers-I’m just here for a different kind of relationship. When asked about the whole Brienne and Jamie business, Christie emphasized the idea of a shared journey and of hard-won mutual respect, which seems a lot more meaningful than a quick roll in the haystack: "[These are] two characters thrown together and forced to make the best of a situation," she says of their travels in Season 3. "The transformative experience they undergo when they go into the forest, they see something in each other that they grow to respect. She sees beyond his arrogance and he respects her as a warrior." Jaime didn’t knight Brienne because of a crush, and anyone seeing that interaction as foreplay is completely missing the point.
After Sunday’s bloodbath, there is much to celebrate. Maybe Brienne can finally have that glass of wine and relax for a second. Who knows? Maybe she’ll take Tormund up on his not-at-all-subtly-implied offer. (A certain curiosity regarding Wildling sex would be understandable.) Or maybe she’ll hook up with Jaime while she still can-because once they get to King’s Landing, there’s another short-haired blond lady whose likely to steal his attention. Personally, though, I think she’ll stay focused on the battles ahead. Let the Kingslayer and the ginger giant-suckler make eyes at her all they want-Brienne is a Knight of the goddamned Seven Kingdoms and she’s got better things to think about than boys.
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