Jamie Lannister and Changing Perspectives

SPOILER ALERT: This post discusses plot points dealing with the series across all 5 books and will most likely contain at least a few major spoilers.  If you have not read the books, read 'em and come back.  You've been warned.

Through the books, we come to understand characters.  Through their perspectives we come to know their thoughts, both about the things around them and about other characters, some who have their own POV chapters and some who we only come to know through the perspective of POV character(s).

One wonderful thing about putting us behind the eyes of a character is that there is very little time needed to become acclimated to their feelings and it is almost immediately engaging.  That helps us feel strongly about many things and makes things all the more interesting.  One of the times at which this is most interesting is when it is used to create in us a feeling, expectation or understanding that is later completely changed.  One of the greatest examples of this is the character of Ser Jamie Lannister.

Jamie Lannister begins, in our eyes, as a villain and the most reprehensible kind of person imaginable.  We find, very shortly into the very first book that he is having an incestuous relationship with the Queen herself.  Immediately after we learn this shocking fact (through the eyes of a child, no less) we also learn that he is willing to throw a child from a tower window to his death; with the express intention that it be to his death.  On top of this, comes the memorable quote "The Things I Do For Love."

We see this and the ensuing fallout from this situation through the reactions of everyone around; wondering what happened, hoping Bran will be alright (or hoping he won't), sadness, frustration, sometimes even desire for some form of aggressive retaliation, somehow.  At this point we are being well and truly conditioned to hate Jamie Lannister.

Fast forward through the story and through certain events and through time, this, somehow, changes.  We see him captured at The Battle of the Whispering Wood, where Robb defeats his host in the dead of night and takes the Kingslayer prisoner.  We lose sight of him all throughout A Clash of Kings, where he's held prisoner (Save for the instance when the four men Tyrion planted attempt to smuggle Jamie out, killing several guards, but achieving nothing more than getting Jamie thrown into a worse cell in Riverrun and getting his would-be liberators hung off the walls of Riverrun).  The last we see of him is in a rather frank discussion with Catelyn, Brienne standing by, about his attempted killing of her son and a look into the depths of a man we hate.

Then a funny thing happens.  We start reading A Storm of Swords (book 3).  We read the prologue.  Then, we turn to the beginning of the first POV chapter and it is from Jamie's perspective.  I remember, personally, that this surprised me.  I certainly wasn't expecting it and for the first while that I was reading it, I wasn't really sure how to feel.  I was in his head now.  I was seeing his thoughts.  I was interested and I didn't know how I felt about that.

Through Storm, we learn more about him.  We hear the back story of the Sack of Kings Landing and when he earned the name "Kingslayer."  We hear, for the first time, how the act that he is most vilified for is actually the most honorable, the most human and, arguably, the best thing he's ever done.  Aerys II Targaryen, "The Mad King" was going to burn everything and thanks to Jamie, that doesn't happen.

We travel with Jamie, Brienne and Cleos Frey on their journey back to Kings Landing, hoping to exchange Jamie for Sansa and Arya.  On the way, Jamie develops a relationship with Brienne.  At first it was insulting with the tiniest grudging respect but with time, the insults fell off and the grudging respect became not so grudging (and that was true for her as well).  

Then, the big even happens.  On the road they meet Vargo Hoat and The Brave Companions and Jamie loses his hand.  It is at this moment where we can see a palpable shift in his personality.  He was always incredibly self assured.  He was certain in who he was because of his powerful family, his good looks and his more-or-less unrivaled skill with a sword; that last one being the biggest.  His identity was tied to that hand and it was gone and it lead him to question everything.

From then on, we see him go through struggle after struggle, leading to his changing feelings about Cersei, his choosing to defy his father and establish himself as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and to make decisions to be a different and, arguably, better person.

After all of this we realize that we like Jamie.  We might not agree with all the decisions he's made in his life.  We may not think that he's a paragon of any kind, but we transition from viewing him in the light of an evil, child murdering bastard into a man with a soul; a soul that has been under the weight of many pressures his entire life from family and his king and his position.  We see a man that we learn not to hate and learn to understand and feel for.  We see him change from a brash young man who doesn't think, acts rashly and pridefully into a man who has humility, who acknowledges those above him or better than him and respects them for it.  We see a man who looks at the qualities of his younger brother and finally sees the value in those qualities and visibly incorporates those into himself.  We find that we don't hate him as much as we once did.

This is one of the things that makes A Song of Ice and Fire so good.  This is why GRRM has the following he does.  The ability to do this, believably, allowing us to feel how we will about things and have it come about naturally instead of telling us outright "you like this guy" and "you hate this guy," is remarkable.  I wasn't told to hate Jamie.  I wasn't told to like Jamie.  I just did, as the story progressed.  It shows a mastery over storytelling and a mastery over some of the inner workings of the human heart and that is why this story is the best.

What do you think?  Do you think Jamie is redeemed at this point in the story?  Do you think he ever can be?  Are there any other characters you think went on a journey like this?  Be sure to hit up the comments and share your thoughts!