165 ASOS 22 Jaime III: Shit for Honor

Though Brienne reins in Jaime's escape attempt, impressing him with her strength and sword skill, his antics lead to their capture and The Bloody Mummers cut off Jaime's hand.

Oathbreaker

Jaime promises Brienne he'll swear an oath not to harm her if she grants him a sword, yet he's still half-inclined to kill her. Though he claims they'd never have been taken if she'd armed him, Jaime is not necessarily correct or even trying to be. Jaime isn't an oathbreaker by choice, it seems, but by impulse. He thinks: mn,

Two swords would be even better. One for the wench and one for me. We'd die but we'd take half of them to hell with us.

Jaime intends to return Sansa and thinks to himself his reason for doing so is to thwart everyone's expectations of him. But it's when Jaime accuses the Mummers of having shit for honor that he's beaten. They no longer serve Lannister, so....

Urswyck spread his hands. "What Timeon means to say is that the Brave Companions are no longer in the hire of House Lannister. We now serve Lord Bolton, and the King in the North. "

Jaime gave him a cold, contemptuous smile. "And men say I have shit for honor?"

Urswyck was unhappy with that comment. At his signal, two of the Mummers grasped Jaime by the arms and Rorge drove a mailed fist into his stomach.

Urswyck the Faithful

Mirroring Tyrion's talk about gold with Morde, Jaime suggests Urswyck escort him to Tywin instead of Vargo Hoat, suggesting he could cut Vargo out of the ransom. (Jaime knows Tywin would hang any man who brought him as ransom. "Jaime had been looking forward to hanging the wretch while his pockets bulged with gold."295) Urswyck balks, asking if Jaime thinks he's a turncloak. Jaime glibly states "Certainly. What else?" When Jaime suggests Tywin could pluck Hoat from harrenhal, Urswyck slaps him, says he'd be a fool to deal with an oathbreaker and declines to hear more.

Can't Help an Ungrateful Wench

Jaime was tired. Tired of her suspicions, tired of her insults, tired of her crooked teeth and her broad spotty face and that limp thin hair of hers. Ignoring her protests, he grasped the hilt of his cousin's longsword with both hands, held the corpse down with his foot and pulled. 289

But, if Jaime was tired, why did he leap at Brienne, once he had a sword? It must mean he's turning on her.

It seems Jaime has feared facing a stronger sword and has a list of names of respected swords, but a finite one.

Baptism imagery when Brienne dunks Jaime's head repeatedly.

"Yield!" Jaime spat water into her face.

Love Relationship With Cersei

As a child, Jaime did not have enough other love than with Cersei. When he recalls their mother chastizing them and separating them for some form of sexual play, the phrasing is "They need not to have feared, though. It was not long after that she died birthing Tyrion. Jaime barely remmbered what his mother had looked like." 287

Jaime recalls "He could never bear to be long apart from his twin. Even as children, they would creep into each other's beds and sleep with their arms entwined. Even in the womb. Long before his sister's flowering or the advent of his own manhood, they had seen mares and stallions in the fields and dogs and bitches in the kennels and played at doing the same." - A Storm of Swords - Jaime III 286

Perhaps Stannis Baratheon and the Starks had done him a kindness. They had spread their tale of incest all over the Seven Kingdoms, so there was nothing left to hide. Why shouldn't I marry Cersei openly and share her bed every night? The dragons always married their sisters. Septons, lords, and smallfolk had turned a blind eye to the Targaryens for hundreds of years, let them do the same for House Lannister. It would play havoc with Joffrey's claim to the crown, to be sure, but in the end it had been swords that had won the Iron Throne for Robert, and swords could keep Joffrey there as well, regardless of whose seed he was. We could marry him to Myrcella, once we've sent Sansa Stark back to her mother. That would show the realm that the Lannisters are above their laws, like gods and Targaryens. 287

Jaime is Otherwise Heartless

Brienne knelt and held his hand. "He's still warm."

"He'll cool soon enough. I want his horse and his clothes. I'm weary of rags and fleas."

"He was your cousin." The wench was shocked.

"Was," Jaime agreed. "Have no fear, I am amply provisioned in cousins. I'll have his sword as well. You need someone to share the watches." 288

Set up for Sapphires!

Jaime is not heartless when it Comes to Brienne's likely gang rape at the hands of the Bloody Mummers. Jaime prepares Brienne for the certainty of her coming rape by Rorge and others, advising her not to resist. She asks if that's what he would do. He thinks it is not.

If I were a woman, I'd be Cersei. "If I were a woman, I'd make them kill me. But I'm not."

It seems Jaime is never consistent and wouldn't take his own advice.

Vargo Hoat's motive in Cutting Off Jaime's Hand

I used to have a theory that Bolton proposed Tywin to cede the Blood Mummers and Harrenhal to him, sacrificing Lorch, in a military feignt as part of the deal that brought him back to the crown. It would be a way to ask Tywin for what costs him little. The details that led me to think so were 1) the timing of Hoat's talks with Bolton by the ruby ford 2) Roose's claim he fooled Hoat into losing all, but mostly 3) the weird reasoning by which Hoat would ransom Jaime by body parts. Did Tywin not pay him for burning the riverlands, or were the jeweled eyes of the Mother to be their wages? Since sellswords usually get gold and it takes soldiers to pay with pillage, perhaps Boloton convinced Tywin he'd not have to pay the sellswords for the feigned turning of cloak. One day I'll get Roose Bolton's srew over of Vargo Hoat straight.

Scenes

1: Maidenpool. Jaime sings "Six Maids in a Pool" about the corpses floating there in hopes of attracting Lannister soldiers upon them.

2: Archers! Jaime charges, Cleos dies: It was not Lannister soldiers who heard Jaime.

3: Brienne vs Jaime swordfight

4: Captured by the Bloody Mummers: Vargo Hoat orders Jaime's hand cut off

Ironies

Not yet realizing his own father has torched the riverlands, Jaime continues to be haunted by Aerys's burnings.

Themes

Rebirth: Baptism imagery when Brienne dunks Jaime's head repeatedly. In previous chapter, Jaime was "reborn" by shaving his head. Jaime also offers to bathe with Brienne in Maidenpool, foreshadowing the bath at Harrenhal.

Mirroring Tyrion

Jaime's use of the word "gold" with Urswyck mirrors tyrion's with Morde

Mnemonic Title

2025: Brave Companions: Reminding this is the chapter where Jaime's hand is taken, Brave Companions also refers to the trio of Jaime, Brienne and Cleos. As soon as Cleos dies, Jaime points out Brienne has to use him as a lookout and so might as well unchain him.

2026: Shit For Honor: The Brave Companions would take Jaime to Tywin, but they've turned their cloaks to The King in the North, under Bolton. Jaime really does have shit for honor, though. We see this most clearly in his treacherous swordfight against Brienne. Jaime would like to think he's doing this to gain a sword and her trust and to stand unchained, but really he hardly knows what he'll do as he uses every reflex to kill her.