- Joined
- Mar 6, 2017
Jaime went through a lot and it absolutely transformed his character... until it reverted back. If it was written better his story of a addict unable to quit the women he loved, despite it going against the other things he loved had some stronger potentail.
You're missing something about the show's version of Jamie. He was filled with self-loathing, about the man he used to be and the things he had done. He became more introspective after being crippled, and a lot of that was due to his friendship with Brienne. He loved and respected her, not in small part for her almost naive moral purity, and I think ultimately he felt the potential of happiness with her was much better than he deserved. And that she didn't deserve to be saddled with a man like him.
So when he heard his sister was (essentially) going to die, he made the decision to punish himself by denying himself happiness and returning, symbolically, to his shameful past to die with Cersei. All that talk about being just as hateful as her was pure self-loathing.
And, of course, he loved Cersei, too. Both as a brother and as a lover. As sick as it is, there probably isn't a non-incest relationship that can compare to that kind of bond.
So he "saves" Brienne the fate of being with a monster, returns to someone he loves eternally in spite of how awful she is, and he punishes and destroys himself by doing so. Perfect for someone who hates himself.
Should this turn have been given more time to play out onscreen? (And it wouldn't have taken much, maybe one more scene.) Sure, but that goes for everything in the rushed final season. Overall, Jamie had one of the more competent arcs of the non-book seasons IMO.
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