It's not always easy to root for characters on Game of Thrones [1]‚ and if you'd told us after the pilot that Jaime Lannister would be one of our favorites one day, we wouldn't have believed it. Over the course of seven seasons, he's pissed us off, then charmed us, then redeemed himself, back and forth and back and forth. Still, he remains a character we enjoy watching, especially as his potential romance with Brienne [2] brings out his soft side. Relive the ups and downs of loving this sexy Game of Thrones character, hand or no hand.
When we first met Jaime, it was like, helllloooooo!
That hair! That glorious, beautiful hair!
And then we found out he was both sexing up his sister and horrible enough to kill a child.
It was clear that he was just a hot villain.
We got over how attractive he is, even though he looked like this.
Then when Robb Stark took him prisoner, we were glad. He deserved it.
But we found it interesting that he continued to be so cocky.
And then things started to change when he meets Brienne.
As her prisoner, he's so mean to her. So mean it's funny.
Because she stands up to him. These two became entertaining — one of our favorite parts of the show.
And somewhere along that road, Jaime becomes human.
When his hand is cut off, he's devastated but so humbled that it's good for him.
And then this: he LEAPS to Brienne's rescue to save her from A BEAR.
We were firmly on the Jaime train. What a 180!
Then he reveals the real reason he killed the Mad King to Brienne . . .
And we realize that he doesn't deserve to be called "Kingslayer."
But around that time, he goes back to his sister, and we're like, "This again?" Gods, no.
But when season four came back, he has a new haircut and we were just psyched he was back.
He also gets that cool new hand!
These first few episodes had us totally down with Jaime.
Until he rapes his sister next to their dead child's body.
After that, he attempts to redeem himself, like when he lets his brother Tyrion escape instead of facing death.
He is capable of love. Real love.
And again, moments like this with Brienne sucked us back in.
The he showed us he actually was a loving father — even if the circumstances of his parenthood were kinda icky.
And just as fast, we saw how devastated he was when it's taken away from him.
And then that whole thing where he talks about his sword like it's his heart to Brienne . . .
But in season seven, he's not only NOT standing up to Cersei, he's bangin' her again. WHY.
Fingers crossed for THIS [3].
Quit playing games with our hearts, Heartslayer.
