Episode 2 of Game of Thrones: A Brief History of Jaime Lannister's Crimes

Last week Game of thronesJaime Lannister has arrived in Winterfell, a northern city populated by people who hate him. This week, they are probably going to rub their noses – for things he has done and perhaps for the sins of the duplicity of the Lannister family.

It's hard to argue that Jaime is a good person, but he has changed since our first meeting. In the worst case, it is an amoral type who has been moving towards morality for some time.

The problem for Jaime is that we, the viewers, know a lot more than the characters in Game of thrones make. We saw his (almost?) Redemption. Most did not do it. In the second episode of last season, Jaime seems to be accused of being an idiot in the extreme. To be better today will not necessarily absolve him of his sins.

So let's refresh our memory and talk about the terrible things (and maybe not so terrible) that Jaime did Game of thrones'First seven seasons.

Jaime is a Lannister and it's worth talking a bit more about the Lannister House and how it has made its way to the upper echelons of Westeros.

For decades, Tywin Lannister – Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion's father – was the king's hand to mad king Aerys II Targaryen. Aerys was a cuckoo banana. As Hand, Tywin brought a measure of reason and consistency – and also, as we learned at the start of season 1, money. A lot of money. The kingdom was heavily indebted and owes much of it to the Lannisters.

During Robert's rebellion, the civil war that finally ended the Targaryen dynasty, Tywin sided with the king … until he did not do it. At the very end of the rebellion, when it was clear that Robert Baratheon's troops would overtake King's Landing, Tywin changed his Targaryen alliance to rebels. Robert ascended the iron throne, married Cersei Lannister, and cemented an alliance between their houses.

When we meet them for the first time Game of thrones season 1, Lannister children are basically different flavors of rich and spoiled children. Tyrion is a lustful lover. Cersei is a copy of his accomplice father. Jaime exists in an arrogant central location – certainly not a good guy, but also willing to do bad things.

As Game of thrones progressed, each of the Lannister children changes. Tyrion is trying to become a better person. Jaime too, even if reluctantly. Cersei pretends to be an asshat at the service of the Lannister House.

She is, like her father, the incarnation of her home. Tywin explained what it meant in a conversation with Jaime during the episode of season 1 "You Win or You Die".

"Your mother is dead. In a short time, I will be dead. And you and your brother, as well as your sister and all her children. All dead, all rotten in the ground. It's the last name that lives. His all living. Not your personal glory, not your honor, but the family.

The way Cersei works, like his father's, is actually: Lannisters, by all means necessary. And at one point, it was also Jaime's approach – like, for example, when he threw a child out the window.

Jaime and Cersei

We, faithful viewers, know that by the end of the previous season, Cersei had no way of denying the existence of the White Walkers (thanks to a zombie in a box). She lies to her potential allies, claiming she will send reinforcements to the North.

When she speaks to Jaime about his duplicity (hardly surprising), he is furious. He knows the White Walkers are an existential threat – and even if right, they will eventually fight against those who will win the battle that will surely take place in the North. Cersei thinks she can leave Jon and Dany to fend for themselves and will stay in reserve at King's Landing. (She's just the worst.)

At this moment, Jamie can not help but see the truth about her terrible sister. He disavows Lannister, by all necessary means, and heads north to join the fight.

It is in this context that Jaime arrives at Winterfell in Season 8.

HBO

All you have to do is look at the box above the first episode of season 8 and you will see the mess in which Jaime is. Let's talk about some of these people and the effect of Jaime on them.

Jaime and Bran Stark

In Game of thronesFirst episode, Brandon Stark is a 10-year-old boy who climbs a tower in Winterfell and falls on the wife of the queen, Cersei Lannister, and his twin brother, Jaime swap a finger.

To prevent their secret from going out, Jaime throws the little Bran out the window. "What I do for love," he says.

Bran survives, even if he is comatose. Jaime leaves Winterfell and returns to King's Landing.

The boy ends up waking up, but he is paralyzed from the waist up. Through a long and sinister series of events, Bran becomes the Raven with three eyes, a human being endowed with magical powers like the ability to see through time (as you do). He is also wise enough and detached enough to be strange, as his look in episode 1 constantly reminds him. In addition, it is not clear that Bran now sees himself as Bran Stark.

The last scene of season 8, episode 1, is Jaime watching Bran – the first time these two people have been together since the very beginning of the first season. They are both confronted with their past from different angles. Bran can have an account to settle with Jaime.

In the first episode of season 8, Bran was also the character who defended the distraction in favor of preparation.

"We do not have time for all this," he says as Dany and Sansa argue in the Winterfell yard. "The king of the night has your dragon. He is one of them now. The wall fell, the dead walk south.

So maybe he is not looking for blood. Even assuming that the three-eyed raven is worried about revenge (which is not clear), his position in "Winterfell" could be a configuration for Bran to be the voice of reason on the track against Jaime. His potential argument: I'm the one with the biggest beef against him, and I'm telling you to put him to one side. We have bigger fish to fry.

And he's the only one to know that Jamie pushed him out the window, right? He has no obligation to share this information.

Jaime and Daenerys Targaryen

When Jaime was a teenager, he joined the Kingsguard, an organization that does exactly what his name sounds: these are the royal bodyguards of anyone sitting on the iron throne.

When Jaime joined the King's Guard, it was Aerys II Targaryen, the crazy king.

When Robert's rebellion erupted, pitting some of Westeros' great houses against the throne, the Lannisters remained loyal to the mad Targaryen king. Jaime begged the king not to trust his father, but the king did not want to listen to him.

As Robert's troops approached King's Landing, Jaime's father, Tywin, changed his allegiance, joined the rebels, and helped overthrow King's Landing.

According to Jaime, when the king-king became pear-shaped, the king's plan was to burn the city. Before Aerys could execute his plan to fire King's Landing (shouting "Burn them all!" Again and again), Jaime stabbed the king back, deserving the nickname Kingslayer and ending the Targaryen dynasty.

Jaime may have done well, but he's still the killer.

Here's the thing: Aerys II Targaryen was the father of Daenerys Targaryen. She has a bit of grudge to settle.

If it was the only thing that ever happened between them, it would be bad enough. But that's not it. Last season, Jaime commanded Lannister's army against an army, backed by dragons, all commanded by Daenerys Targaryen. The Lannister army fought well, but this was not the case for the troops of Dany and his dragons; After almost dying, Jaime left defeated.

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Jaime and the rest of the Starks

Game of thrones begins when King Robert Baratheon and Lannister's children arrive at Winterfell. Robert convinces Ned Stark to be the new hand of the king,

Ned, his daughters Arya and Sansa, and the entire royal party return to King's Landing. Jaime is usually an arrogant donkey for everyone he comes in contact with.

Jaime leads a group of soldiers to capture Ned Stark, who has threatened to reveal an uncomfortable truth: Robert Baratheon's children are not his children. These are the children of Jaime and Cersei. Ned survives the ambush, but Cersei manages to behead him.

Catelyn Stark, Ned's wife, kidnaps Tyrion Lannister. The Starks, under the leadership of King Robb Stark, capture Jaime. Eventually, they (try to) trade against Arya and Sansa.

The last time Jaime and Jon Snow spoke, Jaime made fun of Jon for joining Night Watch.

Look: The Starks basically have no reason to love or trust a Lannister, let alone Jaime who was once in bed with her twin sister who now sits on the iron throne. There is a lot of suspicion to do.

Jaime and Brienne from Tarth

Brienne from Tarth meets Jaime for the first time in season 2. Catelyn Stark frees Jaime from captivity and asks Brienne to take him to King's Landing in exchange for his daughters.

During their trip to King's Landing, he escapes. They fight. She wins. They are captured. A kidnapper cuts Jaime's hand. They meet at King's Landing, with companions if not pals.

They saw each other for the last time at the dragon station, where Cersei has the undeniable proof that the Army of the Dead is real, thanks to a zombie in a box.

There is an affection there. She knows, perhaps more than anyone, how justifiably difficult it is to be Jaime Lannister. It is possible that Brienne can talk about the evolution of Jaime. His position in season 8 may not be antagonistic. She may be the only hope of this man.