'Game of Thrones' Director Reveals the Real Reason Jaime Left Brienne Last Week
We're into the final two weeks of Game of Thrones, which means that long-running storylines and relationships are finally on the verge of being resolved. One of the series' central on-going relationships is the incestuous bond between Cersei Lannister, the queen of Westeros, and her twin brother Jaime. The discovery of their secret is what sets much of the show's plot in motion, with Jaime pushing Bran Stark out of a window to stop him exposing them-and as of last week's episode "The Last of the Starks," it looks like Jaime is still willing to sacrifice everything for Cersei.
The episode saw Jaime and Brienne of Tarth finally consummate their unspoken love for each other, one which unlike his relationship with Cersei is built on years of hard-earned trust and respect. Which made it all the harder to watch as he then abandoned Brienne in the middle of the night to return to his "hateful" sister, where he thinks he belongs.
David Nutter, the director of the episode, has some thoughts on the twisted connection between Jaime and Cersei, and what really prompted the disgraced knight to head south, barely two days after arriving in Winterfell and being reunited with Brienne.
“I think [it’s] this magnet. He’s always running back to Cersei ... and he can’t help himself. Too powerful for him to try to control,” Nutter said in a recent interview with HuffPost. "And he needs to get back to her. I think it’s the kind of thing where he’s realizing who he is and what he’s made of."
This explanation seems to imply that Jaime's toxic love for Cersei will undermine the last eight years' worth of character development, and it would certainly be in keeping with the themes of the show for a redeemed man to be ultimately undone by his darker impulses. But it's also possible that Nutter's claims are all a red herring.
All Cersei's life, she has lived with a prophecy that her younger brother will kill her. She focused this fear on Tyrion, but her twin Jaime was born second, meaning he is also technically her younger brother. If Jaime is returning to King's Landing to end Cersei's life, adding "Queenslayer" to his existing title of "Kingslayer", it would be a fitting end to his arc - and provide a satisfying explanation for why he had to leave Brienne so soon after they finally got together. But maybe that's too obvious and optimistic a prediction for a show which consistently subverts tropes and kills off popular characters. I guess we'll find out tonight.
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