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What a waste of an incredible character arc.
The scene plays out very differently in the books and was apparently meant to read differently on the show, too – the cast and crew both spoke out after the scene got a lot of backlash, claiming it wasn't actually meant to be a rape scene. Instead, they argued, it was about tense but consensual grief sex.
Needless to say, the fact that something was intended to be consensual but wound up looking like rape is deeply problematic and highlights the troubled relationship Game of Thrones has always had with showing sexual violence.
For Jaime, it undermined multiple seasons worth of nuanced and redemptive characterisation.
And he did it with the twin sword of Brienne's, which was re-forged from Ned Stark's Ice.
It was a beautiful moment in a grisly episode, and an eagerly awaited payoff to Jaime's complex arc.
He's right back where he started. For some, it might feel like a nice "full circle" moment. But it's too much of a circle – in his final moments, it's as though Jaime never grew or changed. As though he really is the single-minded kingslayer he so hated being perceived as. As though his love for Cersei – which was really a toxic addiction and obsession – was more important than his love for Brienne, which expanded who he was and his view of the world.
Jaime's storyline in Season 8, Episode 5 felt incredibly hollow and shallow, especially when contrasted with his rich and textured characterisation in the first few seasons.
The fact Game of Thrones made us care for Jaime at all – after he actually tried to murder one of the Stark kids in the first episode – is a testament to how incredible it was at times.
But the way Jaime dies is the show at its weakest – literally and metaphorically flattening its own characters.