Game of Thrones: Top 10 Jaime Lannister Quotes

Game of Thrones, in its prime, was a TV revolution for many reasons. As with HBO’s new flagship Westworld, mainstream cult comedy behemoths Rick and Morty and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and arguably all great TV shows, the show satisfies in every high brow and low brow category. But when it comes to depth, development, and consistency of character GoT remains in a league of its own, even with the decline in quality after season 4 and – sorry to say – an objectively dreadful final season.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s Jaime Lannister was the best example of this, and of George R. R. Martin’s philosophy on creating characters inspired by the William Faulkner quote “The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself”, and though he too suffered from the clumsy final season Jaime still has one of the best character arcs on the show. Jaime Lannister represents the end of ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ and gives us a real antihero to make the audience question the nature of good/bad and forgiveness.

10 Let me thank you ahead of time for guarding us all from the perils beyond the wall.

In retrospect, this quote is absolutely delicious and makes Jaime’s smug mockery of a young, naive Jon Snow even more repugnant, but given no-one south of the wall believed there was any chance of the White Walkers returning at that point, Jaime was right to burst Jon’s bubble about the Night’s Watch, though he could have been nicer about it. Results-oriented thinking kind of diminishes the wisdom he was offering the young man.

9 People have been swinging at me for years, but they always seem to miss…

Jaime’s cockiness may seem like a character flaw and in most cases it’s not the best trait for a warrior, but season 1 Jaime Lannister is as good as he thinks he is, and the grin on his face doesn’t mean he’s not aware of how much danger he faces in every battle. This gives him a psychological edge and makes him seem invincible, even to the likes of Ned Stark. You can’t keep it up for 10 rounds, though, as Brienne proves, and once you start to tire you can’t keep your poker face.

8 Oh, the gods won’t mind. They’ve spilled more blood than the rest of us combined.

Jaime Lannister is many things, and badass is unquestionably one of them. He is the only man to really stand up to the High Sparrow and – Tomorrow Never Dies overtones aside – it’s a joy to watch Jaime shut down Jonathan Pryce and demonstrate why the Sparrows wouldn’t have dared come to King’s Landing while Tywin was alive. The quote also demonstrates the healthy attitude toward divinity he inherited from Tywin.

7 It’s a strange thing, the first time you cut a man. You realize we’re nothing but sacks of meat and blood, and some bone to keep it all standing.

As well as educating Jon about the honor of the Night’s Watch, Jaime also gives him a reality check on what it’s like to spend your life killing people. Though once again, he’s very Lannister about it.

If Ned had stayed in King’s landing and raised his kids alongside the Lannisters both families would’ve been a lot better for it, and more… alive.

6 The things I do for love.

Not such a romantic quote when the thing you do for love is push a boy out a window, but it perfectly demonstrates Jaime’s character. He loves Cersei, who’s nasty, and often ends up doing nasty things for her. But in this diabolical instance, it’s all on Jaime, and the whole saga serves as his redemption story for this one evil act.

5 Why have the Gods made me love a hateful woman?

He also raped Cersei, his twin sister, and the woman he loves, next to their son’s fresh corpse. While the act itself is inexcusable and he knows it, the scene and quote show him finally seeing Cersei’s true colors, and the kind of man his love for her turned him into, and in true Lannister fashion, he deals with his feelings in the most horrible and selfish way imaginable.

4 She’s always been good at using the truth to tell lies.

Despite being blinded by love, Jaime knows Cersei better than anyone. He is well aware of what she is capable of and before the death of her children drives her mad, they have a very similar attitude towards life and the people around them. Tragically, they bring out the very worst in each other, and despite the incest and multiple murders it’s difficult not to be moved by the story of undying love against all odds between the 2.

3 Threaten? As in “I’m going to open your lord from balls to brains and see what Starks are made of”?

Jaime talks to Ned Stark the same way he talks to Jon Snow, and though it’s safe to say Ned Stark is the more honorable of the 2, Jaime’s beef with Ned is completely justified, though again he kind of lost the moral high ground when he pushed a kid out a window.

Jaime’s love for his brother is one of his more admirable qualities, and it’s hard to blame him for confronting Ned Stark, whom he fights with honor. Though yet again he kind of lost the moral high-ground by pulling a knife on whosit.

2 My life has left me uniquely unfit for constraint.

It may be true, but you don’t get any sympathy for being mega-rich, and the kind of life that leads to being mentally capable of handling inhumane imprisonment isn’t worth paying for. The quote highlights the inherent problems of having a class of people born into extreme wealth. Locke was right to school Jaime on the real world, though in that instance Locke lost the moral high ground by lopping the Kingslayer’s business hand off.

1 By what right does the wolf judge the lion?

GoT could’ve gone in many directions with the character, but even with the sudden unearned turn back to Cersei in season 8 his journey and character arc are among the most well-executed on the show, in no small part due to an excellent understated performance by Coster-Waldau. His revelation to Brienne is one of the most significant character milestones on the show and justifies the hatred between Jaime and Ned, the War of the Roses style feud that drives the golden age of Game of Thrones.