History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireJaimeLannister

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Dismissing Cersei's suspicions about Ned Stark's motives. He also didn't want her to foist him to Robert as potential Hand. [[spoiler:Then he throws Bran, an 8-year-old child, off the tower.]] This shows an aversion to responsibility, an inclination not to start trouble unless he thinks he's been provoked, and a willingness to do absolutely anything to protect himself and his. However, before pushing him, Jaime's immediate reaction to seeing [[spoiler:Bran]] on the tower was to help and save him, arguing against the need to hurt him, indicating at a more [[NobleDemon noble-minded person]] deep down that only becomes clear when one thinks back after seeing his SympatheticPOV. It was Cersei's continued insistence that [[LoveMakesYouEvil pushed him]] to let [[spoiler:Bran]] fall.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Dismissing Cersei's suspicions about Ned Stark's motives. He also didn't want her to foist him to Robert as potential Hand. [[spoiler:Then he throws Bran, an 8-year-old child, off the tower.]] This shows an aversion to responsibility, an inclination not to start trouble unless he thinks he's been provoked, and a willingness to do absolutely anything to protect himself and his. However, before pushing him, Jaime's immediate reaction to seeing [[spoiler:Bran]] on the tower was to help and save him, arguing against the need to hurt him, indicating at a more noble-minded person deep down that only becomes clear when one thinks back after seeing his SympatheticPOV. It was Cersei's continued insistence that [[LoveMakesYouEvil pushed him]] to let [[spoiler:Bran]] fall.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Dismissing Cersei's suspicions about Ned Stark's motives. He also didn't want her to foist him to Robert as potential Hand. [[spoiler:Then he throws Bran, an 8-year-old child, off the tower.]] This shows an aversion to responsibility, an inclination not to start trouble unless he thinks he's been provoked, and a willingness to do absolutely anything to protect himself and his.

* PromotedFanboy: He grew up idolizing [[TheAce Ser Arthur Dayne]] and [[CoolOldGuy Ser Barristan Selmy]], wanting to be a great knight like them and clearly relishing working alongside his heroes. One of the reasons he's the smug, arrogant asshole we meet at the beginning is his disillusionment with the Kingsguard and how his fellow knights stood by while Aerys terrorized the Seven Kingdoms, while he is reviled for his most selfless and heroic act. Still, he quite enjoys working among one of his heroes and Ser Barristan is nice to him and respects his abilities as a warrior, even if he views him as a dishonorable [[TheOathbreaker oathbreaker]].

* HiddenDepths: Before we get a look inside his head, he seems like a grade-A douchebag.

** He even misjudges his ''own'' character, telling his aunt Genna that the family will be alright even after [[spoiler:Tywin's death]] because he's here to fill [[spoiler:his father's]] shoes. Genna has to set him straight that, at heart, Jaime [[spoiler:takes after his three uncles but has almost ''nothing'' in common with his cold, ruthless, ambitious father, with Tywin's true son being the cunning and manipulative Tyrion. Even after he starts subduing the Riverland lords by threatening horrible punishment, he still believes he's just like his father, while completely missing the fact he's trying to avoid a conflict in order to uphold his vow to Catelyn, while Tywin wouldn't hesitate to cause even more atrocities to secure power]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: Tells Tytos Blackwood they must suffer for their treason even though he's acting even more treacherously in assisting Tommen's regime, which is ruling under false pretenses. And that's to say nothing of him being TheKingslayer, one of the most infamous acts of betrayal and treason committed, yet he was never punished for it.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Despite having hurt and planned to hurt children himself, Jaime was truly horrified by the murders of Elia Martell and her children by his father's bannermen and having not been able to protect them is one of his greatest regrets. During "A Feast For Crows" he is also baffled by Cersei's paranoia and increasingly foolish and self-damaging actions, and is repulsed by her as he gradually sees her true nature.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Tells Tytos Blackwood they must suffer for their treason even though he's acting even more treacherously in assisting Tommen's regime, which is ruling under false pretenses.

* AllTakeAndNoGive: His relationship with Cersei is characterised by this, of the mutual variety. Leaving aside Cersei for her own page, Jaime's love for Cersei is in large part not love for her at all, but love for the idea of her and the [[LoveIsLikeReligion mythology]] he projects onto the both of them. Jaime sees Cersei, such as knowing she will dislike the diminished resemblance between them after his time at war, but he notably never tries to ''understand'' her, such as wondering ''why'' Cersei needs to live vicariously through him. Jaime overall tended to surrender to Cersei's will so as to cope with his intense loneliness and isolation, but when he does try to enact his own will, such as by attacking Eddard Stark or proposing he and Cersei marry openly, he does so recklessly and blindly to the risks that swamp them and their children, risks that he himself helped to create. Jaime claims, "''She has never come to me. She has always waited, letting me come to her,''" yet what we actually see on-page is 2 instances where Cersei comes to Jaime and reaches out (in the White Tower, and the Sept during Tywin's funeral) and 0 of the inverse. When his wildly impossible fantasies are flat out rejected by Cersei, [[ItsAllAboutMe he laments what ''he'' lost]] ("I've lost a hand, a father, a son, a sister, and a lover, and soon enough I will lose a brother. And yet they keep telling me House Lannister won this war."); then when Tyrion informs him of Lancel and Osmund and Moonboy, the idealisation of Cersei appears to be flipping to demonisation. This all or nothing, black and white nature of their relationship may in all likelihood doom them both, if prophecies are considered.

* AllTakeAndNoGive: His relationship with Cersei is characterised by this, of the mutual variety. Leaving aside Cersei for her own page, Jaime's love for Cersei is in large part not love for her at all, but love for the idea of her and the [[LoveIsLikeReligion mythology]] he projects onto the both of them. Jaime sees Cersei, such as knowing she will dislike the diminished resemblance between them after his time at war, but he notably never tries to ''understand'' her, such as wondering ''why'' Cersei needs to live vicariously through him. Jaime overall tended to surrender to Cersei's will so as to cope with his intense loneliness and isolation, but when he does try to enact his own will, such as by attacking Eddard Stark or proposing he and Cersei marry openly, he does so recklessly and blindly to the risks that swamp them and their children, risks that he himself helped to create. Jaime claims, "''She has never come to me. She has always waited, letting me come to her,''" yet what we actually see on-page is 2 instances of Cersei coming to Jaime and reaching out (in the White Tower and the Sept during Tywin's funeral) and 0 of the inverse. When his wildly impossible fantasies are flat out rejected by Cersei, [[ItsAllAboutMe he laments what ''he'' lost]] ("I've lost a hand, a father, a son, a sister, and a lover, and soon enough I will lose a brother. And yet they keep telling me House Lannister won this war."); then when Tyrion informs him of Lancel and Osmund and Moonboy, the idealisation of Cersei appears to be flipping to demonisation. This all or nothing, black and white nature of their relationship may in all likelihood doom them both, if prophecies are considered.

** Pushed a kid out of a window because the child witnessed his incestuous relationship with his sister.

* HalfIdenticalTwins: As kids, Cersei and Jaime looked so much alike that Cersei would sometimes wear his clothes and pass as him for a day without anyone suspecting. Even in adulthood they continue to look strikingly alike of face until Jaime starts growing a beard.

* AllTakeAndNoGive: His relationship with Cersei is characterised by this, of the mutual variety. Leaving aside Cersei for her own page, Jaime's love for Cersei is in large part not love for her at all, but love for the idea of her and the [[LoveIsLikeReligion mythology]] he projects onto the both of them. Jaime sees Cersei, such as knowing she will dislike the dimished resemblance between them after his time at war, but he notably never tries to ''understand'' her, such as wondering ''why'' Cersei needs to live vicariously through him. Jaime overall tended to surrender to Cersei's will so as to cope with his intense loneliness and isolation, but when he does try to enact his own will, such as by attacking Eddard Stark or proposing he and Cersei marry openly, he does so recklessly and blindly to the risks that swamp them and their children, risks that he himself helped to create. Jaime claims, "''She has never come to me. She has always waited, letting me come to her,''" yet what we actually see is 2 instances of Cersei coming to Jaime and reaching out (in the White Tower and the Sept during Tywin's funeral) and 0 of the inverse. When his wildly impossible fantasies are flat out rejected by Cersei, [[ItsAllAboutMe he laments what ''he'' lost]] ("I've lost a hand, a father, a son, a sister, and a lover, and soon enough I will lose a brother. And yet they keep telling me House Lannister won this war."); then when Tyrion informs him of Lancel and Osmund and Moonboy, the idealisation of Cersei appears to be flipping to demonisation. This all or nothing, black and white nature of their relationship may in all likelihood doom them both, if prophecies are considered.

** Loras Tyrell, so strongly that even Jaime realizes it in-text, and says as much.

* AllTakeAndNoGive: His relationship with Cersei is characterised by this, of the mutual variety. Leaving aside Cersei for her own page, Jaime's love for Cersei is in large part not love for her at all, but love for the idea of her and the [[LoveIsLikeReligion mythology]] he projects onto the both of them. Jaime sees Cersei, such as knowing she will dislike the dimished resemblance between them after his time at war, but he notably never tries to ''understand'' her, such as wondering ''why'' Cersei needs to live vicariously through him. Jaime overall tended to surrender to Cersei's will so as to cope with his intense loneliness and isolation, but when he does try to enact his own will, such as by attacking Eddard Stark or proposing he and Cersei marry openly, he does so recklessly and blindly to the risks that swamp them and their children, risks that he himself helped to create. When his wildly impossible fantasies are flat out rejected by Cersei, [[ItsAllAboutMe he laments what ''he'' lost]] ("I've lost a hand, a father, a son, a sister, and a lover, and soon enough I will lose a brother. And yet they keep telling me House Lannister won this war."); then when Tyrion informs him of Lancel and Osmund and Moonboy, the idealisation of Cersei appears to be flipping to demonisation. This all or nothing, black and white nature of their relationship may in all likelihood doom them both, if prophecies are considered.

** '''They were never ''that'' alike.''' Jaime and Cersei have always ''believed'' they're super alike -- "one person in two bodies." Jaime is convinced that "If I were a woman, I would be Cersei," and Cersei likewise thinks, "If I were a man, I'd be Jaime." But as the books unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that they were never actually as alike as they thought. ''A Feast of Crows'' contains both Jaime and Cersei's perspectives, and it reveals that Jaime never really entertains the thought of being a woman like Cersei, and subscribes to the belief only insofar as it justifies and fuels his attraction for his twin sister. Cersei is a FemaleMisogynist who is extremely jealous and resentful of not being born a man like Jaime.

* LoveIsLikeReligion: Cersei and Jaime have built a quasi-religious personal mythology around their relationship. The central metaphysical belief is that they're a single person in two bodies. They invoke imagery from the local mainstream religion, the Faith of the Seven, casting themselves in the roles of the gods the Maiden and the Warrior respectively. Their little pseudo-religion even has a prophesy: that they'll die together just as they were born together.

* AllTakeAndNoGive: His relationship with Cersei is characterised by this, of the mutual variety. Leaving aside Cersei for her own page, Jaime's love for Cersei is in large part not love for her at all, but love for the idea of her and the mythology he projects onto the both of them. Jaime sees Cersei, such as knowing she will dislike the dimished resemblance between them after his time at war, but he notably never tries to ''understand'' her, such as wondering ''why'' Cersei needs to live vicariously through him. Jaime overall tended to surrender to Cersei's will so as to cope with his intense loneliness and isolation, but when he does try to enact his own will, such as by attacking Eddard Stark or proposing he and Cersei marry openly, he does so recklessly and blindly to the risks that swamp them and their children, risks that he himself helped to create. When his wildly impossible fantasies are flat out rejected by Cersei, [[ItsAllAboutMe he laments what ''he'' lost]] ("I've lost a hand, a father, a son, a sister, and a lover, and soon enough I will lose a brother. And yet they keep telling me House Lannister won this war."); then when Tyrion informs him of Lancel and Osmund and Moonboy, the idealisation of Cersei appears to be flipping to demonisation. This all or nothing, black and white nature of their relationship may in all likelihood doom them both, if prophecies are considered.

** '''They were never ''that'' alike.''' Jaime and Cersei have always ''believed'' they're super alike -- "one person in two bodies." Jaime is convinced that "If I were a woman, I would be Cersei," and Cersei likewise thinks, "If I were a man, I'd be Jaime." But as the books unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that they were never as alike as they thought. ''A Feast of Crows'' contains both Jaime and Cersei's perspectives, and it reveals that Jaime never really entertains the thought of being a woman like Cersei, and subscribes to the belief only insofar as it justifies and fuels his attraction for his twin sister. Cersei is a FemaleMisogynist who is extremely jealous and resentful of not being born a man like Jaime.

* LoveIsLikeReligion: Cersei and Jaime have built a quasi-religious personal mythology around their relationship. They see themselves as a single person in two bodies. Jaime is convinced that "If I were a woman, I would be Cersei," and Cersei likewise thinks, "If I were a man, I'd be Jaime." They trace their bond back to before birth. Their little pseudo-religion even has a prophesy: that they'll die together just as they were born together. They invoke imagery from the local mainstream religion, the Faith of the Seven, casting themselves in the roles of the gods the Maiden and the Warrior respectively.
** Gets played with and deconstructed in ''A Feast of Crows'', as a look at both Jaime’s and Cersei’s perspective reveal that Jaime never really entertains the thought of being a woman like Cersei, and subscribes to the belief only insofar as it justifies and fuels his attraction for his twin sister; while Cersei is a FemaleMisogynist, who is extremely jealous and resentful of not being born a man like Jaime.

* TwinDesynch: After the time spent apart while Jaime's captive during the war, he and Cersei both change in contrasting ways. This is alarming to the pair of them, since they've spent a lifetime cultivating the quasi-religious doctrine that they're one person in two bodies. Ironically, though, even as they grow apart, it's in oddly parallel ways. Each is nursing a profound loss: Jaime's loss of a hand, and Cersei's loss of a son. Each wants their twin to see and acknowledge this loss to a greater extent than they are. Each has the same proposed remedy for their twin's loss: a replacement. Cersei has a prosthetic hand made for Jaime, and Jaime proposes he and Cersei have another son. A cool prosthetic and a new baby can both be something great in their own right, but neither can ''ever'' replace what was lost. Both are keenly aware of this in terms of what's being offered ''to them'', but oblivious of the shortcomings of what they're offering the other.