Game of Thrones: Will Jaime Lannister stay on the outside looking in?

After Game of Thrones season 7, Jaime Lannister seems to have had a massive change of heart, but is he going to reach the inner circles of power again?

If Cersei Lannister’s Game of Thrones season 7 peaked early and then completely cratered, Jaime Lannister’s should be practically identical, right? After all, he spent most of the season trying to be the voice of reason to his twin sister and also their brother’s point of contact, much as he didn’t want to be the latter.

Also, they’re twins, and they have a tendency to parallel each other.

But the operative phrase there is most, because while Cersei remained in King’s Landing at the end of the season, Jaime did not, which basically automatically gets him a better grade. Yes, even though going is technically the honorable behavior, which is generally not a good choice in Game of Thrones.

What exactly made him decide to leave? Was it Brienne of Tarth casually dropping an f-bomb in his face about loyalty? We suspect there’s no way we’ll convince Jaime/Brienne fans otherwise. However, it does actually make sense. That’s not usually the kind of thing Brienne says, and Jaime would know, having literally handed her a sword named Oathkeeper made out of Valyrian steel. As a result, when she says that to him, he knows that she’s very serious about what Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen are saying.

Combine that with his sister deciding that even though she’s afraid, she’s not going to help as she promised, and you have the recipe for Jaime’s defection.

The question then becomes this, though: will he ever have the ear of a queen again? On first look, the answer might be no, but there’s a path for him if he’s going north, as we suspect based on his final scene in the season 7 finale as well as spoilers for season 7. And that path happens to go through Tyrion Lannister.

Tyrion’s a strategist, yes, but Jaime has a lot (and we do mean a lot) of combat experience. Even if he hasn’t faced off against the Night King before as Jon Snow has, he still brings real-world knowledge to the table. Together, the two of them could put together some very “clever plans,” to quote Daenerys, and even if she’s tired of them, she can’t really say no to them. As long as Jaime keeps himself trustworthy, it’s not like Daenerys can reject any offers of help, no matter where they might come from.

Besides, he might just have some insights on where Cersei’s weak points are, even if he might not enjoy giving them up.

Next: Game of Thrones season 8: 5 predictions

We gave Cersei a C-, but Jaime moves up an entire letter grade to a B-, with a slightly better path in season 8 and some pretty fantastic moves in season 7 (the entire Olenna death scene) to back it up.