Jaime Lannister became the new Barney Stinson last week with episode 4 of Game of Thrones’ Season 8. Till episode 3, he was largely taken as one of the most complex characters of the show. Unlike his twin sister, most people agreed that he really did care about being honourable and over the course of the series, we grew to realise that he does have a heart beneath that pompous and smug exterior.

But last week, he became a fuckboy who ghosted Brienne. His entire character arc went down the drain. It suddenly felt like we were wrong to root for him. He just became the spineless guy who cannot leave his toxic ex.

Some theories say that Jaime’s going to kill Cersei, some say that he’s going to kill the Dragon Queen and some say that he has realised that he can only love Cersei. But I don’t think any of it is true. I don’t think any of it is in line with his character.

Jamie is doing what any decent person would have done. Okay, no need to roll your eyes. I swear I have a point. Let me make it!

But before we begin, I would want to remind you that we are talking about a guy who has saved more people by killing the Mad King than Daenerys ‘Breaker of Chains’ Targaryen did during the entire series. But unlike her, he has never been thanked for saving lives, nor did he receive any credit for it. He is hated and despised for it. Jaime also did not take Ned Stark as his prisoner in Season 1 when his bannerman attacked him from the back. To recall, the same honourable Ned Stark killed Ser Arthur Dayne when he was stabbed in the back below the Tower of the Joy. (Here’s the proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJYM7n_yPdU&t=191s).

But the point is not that Jamie is better than them The point is that he never lost his honour in spite of people repeatedly calling him oathbreaker and not giving him the respect that he deserved.

But all this doesn’t justify what he did to Brienne, you would say. I agree. It doesn’t. He shouldn’t have left Winterfell. It was the first time that he got a chance of having a happy life, he should have seized it. He should have stayed in that castle with Brienne and lived out his days in peace.

So what if the only two people of his family — his brother and his sister/former lover — are going to war against each other? That should obviously not have been his concern. He finally found a woman he can be happy with. And he had every reason to not go back to Kings Landing. But still, he chose to leave. So he’s obviously going back to lick Cersei’s boots because he still cannot cut that umbilical cord and after sleeping with Brienne for weeks, he realises he only loves his crazy sister.

If you think that, I don’t really blame you. It’s not you, and it’s not even Jaime, it’s the way the show portrayed it. I rewatched all the four episodes of Season 8 recently, and on watching episode 4 for the second time, I got a better understanding of why Jaime left Brienne and went to Kings Landing.

First of all, let me clear the biggest misconception about Jaime and Brienne's relationship: They did not have a one-night stand. At the beginning of the episode when they are playing the drinking game, their battle marks can be seen very clearly. By the time he leaves, both of their marks were healed. This basically means that he was there for at least a few weeks. And that makes sense because it would have taken Daenerys and her army that much time to go from Winterfell to Dragonstone. But doesn’t him staying longer makes it even worse?

Yes, it does, but it also shows that he fully intended to stay. He was not lying when he agreed to stay at Winterfell as a guest. Or rather it was a promise to not interfere in the war. But he fully understood that it meant that Cersei was going to lose, and he wouldn’t go to her rescue. Then why did he suddenly change his mind? Did he just lose interest in Brienne after sleeping with her a few times? That’s certainly not Jaime. Then what exactly happened?

Let’s take a minute to understand why Daenerys has not been able to take Kings Landing so far. It is very much related, keep on reading! Tyrion happens to be one among her key advisors and he is doing everything to stop her from burning down the Red Keep. Even in the latest episode, he appeals to Cersei to save herself by surrendering. So, it can be argued that Tyrion hasn’t lost all his morals and doesn’t want to see his family die. It’s a different thing to see his sister lose her throne, but it’s altogether a different deal to see her die, even though she did everything in her power to get him killed.

Probably, Jaime believes this too. That Cersei will lose her throne, but not her life since Tyrion is Daenerys’ hand. Also, when he left Kings Landing, the Golden Company had not arrived, so he doesn’t know about the revised numbers. Cersei did mention it that they will be coming, but did Jaime ever trust Euron?

So when Brienne tells him about Missendi being captured and Rhaegal’s death, he knows that the possibility of Cersei’s peaceful surrender is zero. He knows that this also means her imminent death, as Daenerys wouldn’t stop at anything from taking the Iron Throne. After Rhaegal’s death, she wouldn’t care about taking it strategically either. She would take what she believes is hers with Fire and Blood.

In Season 7, Jaime faced Daenerys and Drogon in the battlefield. He saw how ruthlessly she burned people and that is why he knows exactly what is coming for Cersei, even if she herself doesn’t. And this is the precise reason why he leaves. (In case you think Dany wasn’t too bad with the Lannister Army: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2RPLnd9Uhg)

He wants to save Cersei from that devastating fate — not so that she can continue to rule, but only so that she can continue to live. Let’s not forget that she’s pregnant with his child. Even if he left her, she is still his family and Jaime said it in episode 2 that he doesn’t regret doing anything for his family and would do it all over again. He wouldn’t want her to die, even is she tried to kill him because he isn’t a monster like her and he may not be willing to let his unborn child die.

When he is leaving Winterfell for Kings Landing, Brienne tells him to stay with her as he does not have to die with Cersei. She says this as even she knows that now there is no way that the Dragon Queen would let Cersei live and she knows that if he goes, he would die too. And he needn’t have the same fate as Cersei since he is a much better person.

He then goes on to tell her what all he has done for Cersei, and how that makes him as bad as her. So if Cersei deserves to die, Jaime thinks that he doesn’t deserve a free pass either. When he leaves, Brienne does not cry because he has abandoned her. This isn’t a typical rom-com where fuckboy leaves after getting into the heroine’s pants and she breaks down and cries for days before she starts getting better thanks to her best friends’ council and multiple tubs of ice-cream. She cries because she knows that Jaime has left for a suicide mission and that she would never see him alive again. (Watch the fateful scene here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g6u-DdjSgI)

He can be captured by Daenerys’ army for betraying his word of staying in the North. And they’ll kill him considering what happened to Missendi. Even if that does not happen and he does get to Kings Landing, there aren’t too many chances of him surviving as anyone close to Cersei can die.

If anyone is thinking that Jaime is going to kill Cersei, I don’t think that’s the case. He already knows that Cersei is going to die. Daenerys would make sure that she does. And when has he been as revengeful a character that he’ll risk everything that he has to kill her personally? He may change his mind when he sees what a havoc Cersei has caused, or to save millions of people all over again, but that’s certainly not the reason he has left Winterfell.

Some may question why isn’t he going for Tyrion then? Tyrion is as much his family as Cersei, after all. But let’s recall what he saw at Winterfell. He saw Daenerys order Tyrion to be in the Crypts so that he can be safe. So obviously, he expects him to get a similar treatment during The Last War.

I’m not saying that Jaime is perfect. What he did to Bran cannot be justified. The way he manipulates Edmure Tully was downright bad, even though it saved a lot of lives. There are things that are questionable about him, but I don’t think that he broke Brienne’s heart because he realised his love for Cersei. He breaks it because he can’t sit in a castle with her while his brother and sister are at war and his unborn child is at the risk of dying.

When Jaime Lannister joined the Kingsguard, he wanted glory and respect more than anything. He gave up his claim on Casterly Rock, his right to marry and have a family with it. When he killed the Mad King to save millions, with what he saw as his greatest act, he lost that glory and respect forever. The only thing that remained was his love for Cersei. He gave up on that too, when he chose to leave her instead of betraying the North and breaking a promise he made. He then found love, only to realise that he cannot be with her as his past is too dark to leave him.