It’s nigh impossible to go too long in the Jaime and/or Jaime x Brienne fandom without hearing talk of people headcanoning Jaime Lannister as being a bisexual disaster, but from where did this talk derive?
Interpretations of the text, of course! But what could be there, you say? How much so called evidence could there possibly be?
A lot.
A whole lot.
Now, I think we can all agree that any such textual evidence was unintentional on GRRM’s part; it’s more than quite likely that GRRM thinks he’s written Jaime to be a heterosexual man. That doesn’t change what he wrote, though, nor how his writing can be interpreted—or, in this case, hasbeen interpreted.
Bi Jaime headcanons were all born from endless textual bits of evidence concerning Jaime.
My fellow Jaime stans, let me introduce to you all the ways GRRM accidentally made Jam Lan far less heterosexual than he intended.
There is a plethora of homoerotic imagery and wording throughout Jaime’s interactions and thoughts with the men he has literary connections with—the men he respects and admires, begrudgingly or openly, because he perceives them to be honorable. Those who read Jaime as bi half-joke that, because of the pattern of the sort of men he’s “into,” he’s honorsexual. Though we joke, our humor and our interpretations are all born from the text itself, and how they can be read, especially if the reader isn’t looking through a heteronormative lens. Let’s break ‘em down—in chronological order of Jaime meeting them/falling for them.
Jaime and Brynden Tully (or, slutty questions at dinner tables, with a side of silver fox thirsting)
Brynden “the Blackfish” Tully is example A, the one who started it all—Jaime’s first honorcrush, you could say. Dive in to the quote:
[Lysa Tully] had been a pretty girl, in truth; dimpled and delicate, with long auburn hair. Timid, though. Prone to tongue-tied silences and fits of giggles, with none of Cersei’s fire.Her older sister had seemed more interesting, though Catelyn was promised to some northern boy, the heir of Winterfell … but at that age, no girl interested Jaime half so much as Hoster’s famous brother, who had won renown fighting the Ninepenny Kings upon the Stepstones. At table he had ignored poor Lysa, whilst pressing Brynden Tully for tales of Maelys the Monstrous and the Ebon Prince. (AFFC, Jaime V)
This paragraph pretty much sums it up. Young Jaime found the Tully sisters to be attractive; he thought Lysa was pretty, but he was only legitimately attracted to Catelyn (we’ll dive into that later on). And yet, he ignored them both to chat up their uncle—who is quite likely to be gay himself, but that’s another topic.
Now obviously, this wasn’t written to have non-hetero subtext or connotations—GRRM wanted to stress that Jaime hero-worshipped Brynden because of his fighting prowess and achievements on the battlefield, so much so that he ignored two pretty girls, even one he was actually attracted to, in order to speak with said hero.
But… the phrasing and wording of it all:
Her older sister had seemed more interesting […] but at that age, no girl interested Jaime half so much as Hoster’s famous brother. […] At table he had ignored poor Lysa, whilst pressing Brynden Tully for tales of Maelys the Monstrous and the Ebon Prince.
He ignored Lysa, a pretty girl, and Catelyn, the girl he was actually into,becauseno girlwas more interesting than Brynden Tully. What a way to phrase that, right.
But that was pre-canon. What does Jaime think about Brynden currently?
[Brynden] Tully had a craggy face, deeply lined and windburnt beneath a shock of stiff grey hair, but Jaime could still see the great knight who had once enthralled a squire with tales of the Ninepenny Kings. (AFFC Jaime VI)
Enthralled. Do you know how strong of a word that is?
Let’s have Merriam-Webster define it:
Enthrall: to hold spellbound; charm
To hold spellbound. Jaime was spellbound by Brynden Tully. Charmed.
What an intense adjective to describe a teen’s hero worship. It’s a word with heavy romantic connotations to it, far more appropriate to describe an infatuation, or romantic relationship. You’d think GRRM would save such language for describing Jaime’s feelings for Cersei, but no, GRRM used it for Brynden. LOL. Out of all the words GRRM could use to describe Jaime’s attachment to Brynden, that’s the one he chose? And we’re not supposed to read that as homoerotic? Byeeeeee
So, to revise Jaime’s recollection concerning the time he ignored the Tully sisters to chat up their uncle: no girl was more interesting than Brynden Tully, the knight who Jaime was enthralledby.
Still not seeing it? Let’s look at the whole line:
[…] but Jaime could still seethe great knight who had once enthralled a squire with tales of the Ninepenny Kings.
Jaime can stillsee the knight who had enthralled his teenaged self. So you could say that if he still sees that man, even now, that means that he is… stillenthralled by Brynden. Still spellbound. Still… charmed.
And can we talk about the whole paragraph?
Tully had a craggy face, deeply lined and windburnt beneath a shock of stiff grey hair, but Jaime could still see the great knight who had once enthralled a squire with tales of the Ninepenny Kings.
That’s a medieval way of saying “Yeah you got older, but you’re still a snack.”
Like. Jaime really out here saying that Brynden Tully has aged like fine wine. How hetero of him.
Also, haha, I looked up “craggy,”—the word Jaime used to describe Brynden’s face—on my computer’s dictionary, and, WELL:
BAHAHAHAHAHA
Jaime: He’s old and rugged but in a SEXY way I mean have you ever SEEN a silver fox like this
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA
So, revising again: No girl was more interesting to Jaime than Brynden Tully, the ruggedly attractive knight who Jaime was, and arguably still is, enthralledby.
You can’t get any straighter than that, I’d say. And somehow, when you breakdown Jaime’s relationship Arthur Dayne, it only gets straighter.
Jaime and Arthur Dayne (or, symbolic virginity loss, ghosts living in Jaime’s head rent free, and putting a ring cloak on it)
Arthur Dayne is the second honorcrush of Jaime’s, but the most vital. As the man who knighted Jaime and mentored him, Arthur Dayne is Jaime’s ultimate symbol for honor and the zenith of knighthood, and imperative to Jaime’s characterization and story.
He’s also the one who provides us with a shit ton of homoeroticism in Jaime’s chapters, even years after his death, as Jaime thinks about him all the time.
And he’d held his own against the Smiling Knight, though it was Ser Arthur who slew him. What a fight that was, and what a foe. The Smiling Knight was a madman, cruelty and chivalry all jumbled up together, but he did not know the meaning of fear. And Dayne, with Dawn in hand … The outlaw’s longsword had so many notches by the end that Ser Arthur had stopped to let him fetch a new one. “It’s that white sword of yours I want,” the robber knight told him as they resumed, though he was bleeding from a dozen wounds by then. “Then you shall have it, ser,” the Sword of the Morning replied, and made an end of it. (ASOS, Jaime VIII)
Jaime reminisces about the first time he spent time with Arthur, when they fought the Smiling Knight and his goons. Similarly to Jaime’s memories of Brynden, most of the language Jaime uses can be read as romantic in tone, or flowery.
First, we have this:
What a fight that was, and what a foe.
Jaime is in awe of Arthur’s skill in battle. It reminds me of this:
Jaime had done many wicked things, but themancouldfight! (AFFC, Brienne I)
Here, you could say Brienne is the young Jaime to a seasoned Jaime’s Arthur—expressing admiration for a more experienced warrior’s fighting skills in a dreamy or fangirlish manner. And while that’s true, we can’t forget the other connotations here. Considering the fact that Brienne is very much in love with Jaime—and so, any admiration she’d have for him is laced with sexual and romantic attraction—to have these lines be so similar does no favors for the “Jaime is straight,” narrative GRRM thought he wrote.
Jaime goes on:
And Dayne, with Dawn in hand…
This line is quite dreamy—you can practically hear Jaime fangirl sigh while thinking it. Dreamy is the only way to describe it; you even have the ellipsis to seal the deal. An ellipsis,a tool writers use to show a character is lost for words. Again, language. A writer isn’t going to put an ellipsis for no reason, especially in inner monologue. The ellipsis also implies that Jaime is stopping himself from full blown waxing poetic tributes about Arthur—showing restraint, living in denial, as a repressed bisexual or gay man from a medieval society might.
While thinking of Arthur on the battlefield, at his best—and, by a warrior’s standards, his most beautiful—Jaime is lost for words. Lost for words, while reminiscing of Arthur, and how amazing he looked on the battlefield, holding his sword, Dawn.
Swords. Something we know is constantly used as a euphemism for penises in GRRM’s writing. It wasn’t supposed to be one here, but, hey, with the dreamlike, fangirly energy exuding from this line, it does come to mind.
Now, to this:
The outlaw’s longsword had so many notches by the end that Ser Arthur had stopped to let him fetch a new one. "It’s that white sword of yours I want,“ the robber knight told him as they resumed, though he was bleeding from a dozen wounds by then. “Then you shall have it, ser,” the Sword of the Morning replied, and made an end of it.
Jaime has full recollection of a scene and conversation he wasn’t even a part of from almost twenty years ago. Such a fixation, especially in fiction, is used to demonstrate a character’s fanboyism, yes (and that’s what GRRM was going for here, as well as showing that an older Jaime, in his trauma and bitterness, longs for what he considers the good old days, and is recollecting these events through a nostalgic lens) but more often than not, fixations such as this are usually reserved for romantic imagery. Jaime remembers how well Arthur won the battle by describing all the wounds the Smiling Knight had, and the Smiling Knight’s dialogue is remembered only to give Arthur’s witty reply context in Jaime’s mind. Every word and sight is preserved within Jaime’s memory to keep Arthur exalted as some angelic figure who remains pure, untainted, legendary, and unyielding in maintaining honor.
And if Arthur is an angelic figure, Jaime is his acolyte. Like an overzealous worshipper, Jaime sees Arthur’s state of being (or rather, the state of being Jaime believes him to have) as the standard so much that it’s gotten to the point of wanting to behim. And because that standard is impossible, he fails constantly. He uses the pedestal he has placed Arthur on to put himself down—remind him of how far he has fallen:
And me, that boy I was … when did he die, I wonder? When I donned the white cloak? When I opened Aerys’s throat? That boy had wanted to be Ser Arthur Dayne, but someplace along the way he had become the Smiling Knight instead.(ASOS, Jaime VIII)
And even years after Arthur’s death, Jaime craves his approval:
He wondered what Ser Arthur Dayne would have to say of this lot. “How is it that the Kingsguard has fallen so low,” most like. “It was my doing,” I would have to answer. “I opened the door, and did nothing when the vermin began to crawl inside.”(ASOS, Jaime VIII)
Postmortem, Arthur has Jaime’s undying love, his loyalty, his worship.
He also has Jaime’s symbolic virginity.
It had been years since his last vigil. And I was younger then, a boy of fifteen years. He had worn no armor then, only a plain white tunic. The sept where he’d spent the night was not a third as large as any of the Great Sept’s seven transepts. Jaime had laid his sword across the Warrior’s knees, piled his armor at his feet, and knelt upon the rough stone floor before the altar. When dawn came his knees were raw and bloody. “All knights must bleed, Jaime,” Ser Arthur Dayne had said, when he saw. “Blood is the seal of our devotion.” With dawn he tapped him on the shoulder; the pale blade was so sharp that even that light touch cut through Jaime’s tunic, so he bled anew. He never felt it. A boy knelt; a knight rose. The Young Lion, not the Kingslayer. (AFFC, Jaime I)
In vivid, romantic detail, with the most sensual tone and flowery language possible, Jaime tells us of his knighting, not too long after he and Arthur defeated the Kingswood Brotherhood. And these details are brimming with sexual and romantic imagery, even marriage symbolism.
First, the setting. Jaime was knighted in a sept, a Westerosi church. In our own world, most weddings are held in churches. The setting fuels the marriage imagery here, and is its backbone.
Then we get to Jaime’s appearance. He is wearing white. White, the color of purity; a color associated with virginity in Western societies. Since Jaime was knighted before he had sex with Cersei in that inn on Eel Alley, it’s possible that Jaime was literally a virgin, here—as, considering how important Eel Alley is to Jaime, it seems that that was the first time he and Cersei went all the way, so that means that most likely, Jaime was literally and metaphorically a virgin at the time of his knighting. Either way, in a knightly sense, Jaime is a virgin, as he is about to become one and receive his title.
White is also the color most brides wear to their weddings—in our world, at least. The imagery reminds the reader of the traditions in our own world, whether or not it’s one in Westeros. So, by wearing white in a church, Jaime looks the part of someone about to be married. A virgin, awaiting their wedding ceremony.
Onto the actual knighting, where the sexual and marriage imagery intertwines. During a knighting, vows are made, just as vows are made during a wedding. The vows are similar—both make promises of loyalty, honesty, faithfulness, and most importantly, devotion. And Jaime is devotedto Arthur—he literally spends hours upon hours on his knees, awaiting Arthur’s arrival. He knelt so long that his knees bled open. Arthur even makes the blood symbolize he and Jaime’s bond, saying that blood is “the seal of their devotion.”
And that seal works in a pure manner as much as a carnal one. The image of staying on one’s knees for someone evokes both religious and sexual imagery. When most people pray, they do it on their knees… but, there’s also another reason someone would stay on their knees so long they’ve bled for someone—if they’re giving oral sex.
The religious imagery of bleeding knees while praying checks out. Jaime does worship Arthur, in a way, far more than he does the actual gods of the Seven. Symbolism for praying to show Jaime’s respect for knighthood, and especially Arthur, fits well, but also stresses his love for Arthur.
And the sexual imagery, well. Let’s look at the line in question:
When dawn came his knees were raw and bloody.
Arthur’s sword is named Dawn. Swords are metaphorical penises in ASOIAF more often than not. And dawn came. While Jaime was on his knees. So long that his knees had bled. Yeah. Read in a different light, that sentence can mean something way more explicit than intended.
Obviously, in the sentence itself, the dawn being referred to is the literal dawn—sunrise. But again, double speak. And if you combine this with all of the sexual imagery up next, it only becomes more potent.
So, Arthur knights Jaime. Let’s look at that quote closer:
When dawn came his knees were raw and bloody. “All knights must bleed, Jaime,” Ser Arthur Dayne had said, when he saw. “Blood is the seal of our devotion.” With dawn he tapped him on the shoulder; the pale blade was so sharp that even that light touch cut through Jaime’s tunic, so he bled anew. He never felt it. A boy knelt; a knight rose.
Arthur has Dawn wielded, and he uses it to knight Jaime. He is gentle when he touches Jaime with the sword, only using “a light touch,” and tries not to hurt Jaime, but Dawn is so sharp that it penetrates through Jaime’s clothes and skin anyway. When looked through the “sword = penis” lens, Arthur’s actions symbolize a man gently taking his lover’s virginity.
The lost virginity metaphor resides in the cut itself. Jaime’s whitetunic—white, the color of virgins and purity, the color of brides—is slashed by Dawn’s gentle touch, and his shoulder bleeds. Blood that is most likely virginal in a literal sense, but most certainly in a metaphorical one, as it bleeds through torn white clothing, and the blood belongs to one who has just become a knight, something he hadn’t been before.
Jaime also describes his wound from Dawn’s cut as “bleeding anew.” This evokes the imagery of one becoming undone in a physical and spiritual sense, one where the person in question has transcended beyond describable feeling. It’s like a religious awakening, which coincides with the worship aspect Jaime has toward Arthur and knighthood—but also an orgasm, especially one experienced by someone who has never had one before (and Jaime is that someone, in this case, as he’s either a virgin, or at least sexually inexperienced). That sense of euphoria continues with Jaime’s lack of awareness with the cut itself—he is in so much awe of what is happening that he never even felt the pain of the cut.
And after the state of becoming anew—which you could say is the afterglow of the knighting, the virginity loss—Jaime says this:
A boy knelt; a knight rose.
After being penetrated with Arthur’s sword, and bleeding through his white tunic, he is no longer a boy. He is a knight—an adult. A man.In Westeros, people refer to male teens—boys—losing their virginities as them “becoming a man.” That Jaime sees himself as becoming a man after bleeding from Arthur Dayne’s metaphorical penis’ cut only supports the sexual undertones of lost virginity.
I’d also like to point out that Arthur calls Jaime by his first name here—not “my lord.” This is vital. In this society, the highborn do not call each other by their first name unless there is a closeness between them, an intimacy, be it a platonic or romantic one. Considering the gentleness on display on Arthur’s part here, that he calls Jaime by his name shows the trust they share, specifically Jaime’s love and trust in Arthur, and Arthur’s respect of that love and trust. It only further shapes the imagery of a man gently taking someone’s virginity with someone he is close with.
In terms of imagery, Jaime’s knighting is not unlike his swordfight with Brienne, which was filled with double-speak,marriage symbolism,andsexual innuendos. Just as Arthur cuts Jaime’s white virginal tunic with his symbolic penis, so does Jaime cut Brienne’s inner thigh with hissymbolic penis:
His point scraped past her parry and bit into her upper thigh.A red flower blossomed, and Jaime had an instant to savor the sight of her blood […] (ASOS, Jaime III)
Both young Jaime and Brienne’s virginal blood spill at the cuts, and in both instances, Jaime is enthralled by the bleeding. With Brienne’s blood, he “savors the sight,” and with his own bloodshed he is so lost in wonderment that he “never felt” the cut.
It’s both hilarious and beautiful that there are so many parallels with Jaime’s knighting by Arthur to the sex and marriage metaphor that masquerades as Jaime’s swordfight with Brienne. Brienne, who is Jaime’s canonical love interest. Like.GRRM legit wrote Jaime to have similar sexual and romantic scenarios and imagery with his female love interest… and a man. You can’t do that and just not expect me to see Jaime’s bisexual energy. You just can’t. The fact that both scenes work so well and are emotionally evocative just makes the whole thing even better.
Yep. With exaltation years after death, and the symbolization of marriage and lost virginity, Jaime and Arthur have a dynamic that is sensual, strong, devoted, and, most importantly for this meta—lacking heterosexuality.
Jaime and Rhaegar Targaryen (or, “Notice me, senpai!” plus way too detailed reminiscing)
Jaime’s crush on Rhaegar isn’t as prolific as the other dynamics listed in this analysis, but I still find it worth noting. Jaime respected Prince Rhaegar, and feels tremendous guilt over not being able to save him or his children, Rhaenys and Aegon.
But there’s a bit of a crush energy to Jaime’s views on Rhaegar. Here’s Jaime’s memory of the last time he and Rhaegar ever spoke.
The day had been windy when he said farewell to Rhaegar, in the yard of the Red Keep. The prince had donned his night-black armor, with the three-headed dragon picked out in rubies on his breastplate. “Your Grace,” Jaime had pleaded, “let Darry stay to guard the king this once, or Ser Barristan. Their cloaks are as white as mine.”
Prince Rhaegarshook his head. “My royal sire fears your father more than he does our cousin Robert. He wants you close, so Lord Tywin cannot harm him. I dare not take that crutch away from him at such an hour.”
Jaime’s anger had risen up in his throat. “I am not a crutch. I am a knight of the Kingsguard.”
“Then guard the king,” Ser Jon Darry snapped at him. “When you donned that cloak, you promised to obey.”
Rhaegar had put his hand on Jaime’s shoulder. “When this battle’s done I mean to call a council. Changes will be made. I meant to do it long ago, but … well, it does no good to speak of roads not taken. We shall talk when I return."
Those were the last words Rhaegar Targaryen ever spoke to him. Outside the gates an army had assembled, whilst another descended on the Trident. So the Prince of Dragonstone mounted up and donned his tall black helm, and rode forth to his doom. (AFFC, Jaime I)
What catches the eye is the immense detail. Just like Jaime’s memories of Arthur—whom we know he thirsted for—every single detail of Rhaegar is immortalized in Jaime’s brain—what Rhaegar wore, what the weather was like, exactly what was said. And it makes sense for Jaime to remember all of this so vividly—the Rebellion was an incredibly traumatizing time for Jaime, and it was the last time he ever saw Rhaegar alive.
At the same time, we have things like Jaime remembering that Rhaegar touchedhim, as well as his appearance. It’s relatively innocuous things to remember so vividly without a hint of romantic connotations being there, and as such, probably wouldn’t stand out in JonCon’s recollections of Rhaegar, who was definitely in love with him.
There’s also the matter of Jaime begging Rhaegar to take him with him to battle. Jaime was understandably eager to get away from Aerys, but I think he also wanted nothing more than to protect Rhaegar, the prince that he loved and respected. The prince he wished he was king.
This particular line should be noted:
"Your Grace,” Jaime had pleaded, “let Darry stay to guard the king this once, or Ser Barristan. Their cloaks are as white as mine.”
Jaime calls Rhaegar “Your Grace,” the title meant for kings or queens, not princes. It’s a strange thing, and, to my knowledge, no prince or princess is ever called “Your Grace,” in the entire series besides this one instance. It’s most likely author error, as Jaime outwardly calling Rhaegar by the king’s title is open treason, but in universe, it works at least for Jaime’s character. He sees Rhaegar as his king, and he wants to leave with him—maybe even die with him.
We also get a bit of “Notice me, senpai!” energy from the “their cloaks are as white as mine,” line. Jaime wants to prove his worth as a Kingsguard, but he also wants Rhaegar to see him. For someone who isn’t a weeb and, therefore, isn’t familiar with that trope (which seems to be more prevalent in anime than Western media) the connotation wouldn’t click, but for me… I don’t know, it just has that tone of the subordinate wanting their dreamy superior to take an interest in them.
Either way, on its own, Jaime’s loyalty and oddly vivid memory of Rhaegar is standard hero worship, but when you combine it with everything else in this meta, it’s worth mentioning, and doesn’t come off as straight as it’s meant to be.
Jaime and Ned Stark (or, villainous dick on the hero’s chest feat. obsession and boyfriend envy)
Jaime and Ned were a thing. On Jaime’s end, especially—and by that, I mean that Jaime is fucking obsessedwith the guy. Ned lives in Jaime’s head rent free almost as much as Main Honor Boyfriend Arthur does.
And yeah, we all know why. Ned was the one who walked in on Jaime sitting on the Iron Throne, right above where Aerys Targaryen’s freshly murdered corpse grew cold. Ned was the first person to judge Jaime for his actions, and Jaime has never forgotten it. He’s seemed to have used Ned as a symbol for allthe hatred and judgement he’s received for killing Aerys—a single representation of how the world perceives him, post Rebellion.
Ned remembers this moment in vivid detail, as well:
“Aerys was dead on the floor, drowned in his own blood. His dragon skulls stared down from the walls. Lannister’s men were everywhere. Jaime wore the white cloak of the Kingsguard over his golden armor. I can see him still. Even his sword was gilded. He was seated on the Iron Throne, high above his knights, wearing a helm fashioned in the shape of a lion’s head. How he glittered!”
“I stopped in front of the throne, looking up at him. His golden sword was across his legs, its edge red with a king’s blood. My men were filling the room behind me. Lannister’s men drew back. I never said a word. I looked at him seated there on the throne, and I waited.At last Jaime laughed and got up. He took off his helm, and he said to me, ‘Have no fear, Stark. I was only keeping it warm for our friend Robert. It’s not a very comfortable seat, I’m afraid.’” (AGOT, Eddard II)
But the thing is, Ned isn’t as obsessed with the incident as Jaime is—for obvious reasons. He has no fond memories of Jaime, nor does he approve of him, but he is relatively unbothered by the man, beyond the few times in which he is forced to interact with him, or discuss him.
Meanwhile, Jaime is…
You had no right to judge me either, Stark. (ASOS, Jaime II)
“Do you think the noble Lord of Winterfell wanted to hear my feeble explanations? Such an honorable man. He only had to look at me to judge me guilty.” (ASOS, Jaime V)
“By what right does the wolf judge the lion? By what right?” (ASOS, Jaime V)
Only [Eddard Stark’s] eyes had spoken; a lord’s eyes, cold and grey and full of judgment. (ASOS, Jaime VI)
[…] but the Blackfish was looking at him the way that Eddard Stark had looked at him when he’d found him on the Iron Throne with the Mad King’s blood upon his blade. (AFFC, Jaime VI)
…quite fixated on Ned’s disapproval of him.
Now, the author’s intent behind Jaime’s fixation with Ned is clearly that Jaime subconsciously respects and admires Ned; he sees him as an honorable man, so it hurts that much more for someone of Ned’s standing to find him dishonorable, when Jaime wants nothing more than to be a peer with someone like Ned—which is why, as a coping mechanism, Jaime has taken that respect, admiration, and hurt, and twisted it into disdain and resentment. In a way, Jaime craves Ned’s approval just as he craves Arthur’s—postmortem, especially.
On paper, this dynamic is not romantic or sexual within itself—it’s simply two rivals connected through judgement and underlying trauma, where one character unknowingly manifests as an essential catalyst for the other character’s motivation and backstory. On paper, this dynamic can be quite heterosexual.
The execution of it, however, is anything but.
Jaime’s fixation on Ned is constant, and never loses potency; years later, it lives on, restless, even after Ned’s death—especially after Ned’s death. Ned Stark’s effect on Jaime Lannister is so powerful that you could literally organize Jaime’s life as Before Ned’s Judging GazeandAfter Ned’s Judging Gaze, and, that… is inherently essential and specific enough in its intensity to have romantic and sexual connotations, whether GRRM intended it to or not. It’s difficult to write a connection that strong between two characters without it being just the slightest bit sensual, at the very least—or in this case, full blown homoerotic—and GRRM, to my utter Jaime x Ned shipper’s glee, failed to do so.
Not to mention that there is so
“I can see him still.” (AGOT, Eddard II)
much
“How he glittered!”
STARING
[…] through the night and the rain, he glimpsed the white of Jaime’s smile (AGOT, Eddard IX)
“He only had to look at me to judge me guilty.” (ASOS, Jaime V)
BETWEEN THEM
Only [Eddard Stark’s] eyes had spoken; a lord’s eyes, cold and grey and full of judgment. (ASOS, Jaime VI)
Ned could see rain running down his face. (AGOT, Eddard IX)
The backdrop for Jaime and Ned’s dynamic is one dipped in homoeroticism if one interprets Jaime’s obsession beyond what GRRM intended. And that backdrop fuels a certain scene between them that is kinda… sexy.
“I’m looking for my brother. You remember my brother, don’t you, Lord Stark?” (AGOT, Eddard IX)
Yes.This scene.
To recap: Catelyn Stark has kidnapped and arrested Tyrion Lannister on charges of Bran Stark’s attempted murder. Jaime, being a protective big bro (but still in his villainous fuckboy phase) doesn’t take it well, and confronts Ned over Tyrion’s kidnapping, with the intent to murder him for his family’s transgression. After being reminded by Ned that if Jaime kills him, Catelyn will kill Tyrion, Jaime goes down the petty route and chooses to order Ned’s men murdered, instead.
This confrontation is many things. Violent, shocking, dark—
—andbeyond sexually tense.
First, imagery:
Ser Jaime ripped his longsword from its sheath and urged his stallion forward. “Show me your steel, Lord Eddard. I’ll butcher you like Aerys if I must, but I’d sooner you died with a blade in your hand.” (AGOT, Eddard IX)
Now, I think it’s not much to say that fighting and sex are heavily acquainted with one another in GRRM’s writing—he writes his male characters to become aroused during battle, and most of them sate their lust afterward with camp followers and the like. And we’ve already established that, in ASOIAF, swords are endlessly used as euphemisms and metaphors for penises.
Ser Jaime ripped his longsword from its sheath and urged his stallion forward.
Jaimeripped his sword from its sheath. Check the language there—ripped.In a literal sense, he’s only brandished his weapon in a rough manner. Metaphorically, ripping a sword from a sheath evokes the imagery of rough, violent sex. Sheaths are usually euphemisms for vaginas in GRRM’s work, but in this case, it works for anuses as well. Jaime plans to fight/kill Ned—or, metaphorically, “fuck him up his arse,” which is a phrase crude men in this setting use all the time to describe besting other men, physically or mentally.
There’s also the matter of Jaime “urging his stallion forward,” right after showing Ned his metaphorical penis. Stallions, symbolically, are associated with male virility, particularly concerning their penises, or sexuality. “Stallion,” in slang or informal language, is a term for men with large penises, or, at the very least, men who exhibit sexual aggression and skill. This further strengthens the intense, unyielding, violent sexual tension between Jaime and Ned in this scene. And not just regular sexual tension, either; considering the bad blood between the men, you could say this line brings about not just imagery of rough sex, but specifically hatesex.
And all of that is just from one fucking line. It gets even more tense. And gayer.
“Show me your steel, Lord Eddard.”
Jaime has already taken out his sword—his penis—and he’s asking Ned to take his out, as well. Not just take it out, but show it to Jaime.Mmhmm.
Also, there’s the fact that the line “Show me your steel,” sounds a lot like this:
"Give me the sword, Kingslayer.”
“Oh, I will.” (ASOS, Jaime III)
Both lines have similar energies—the identical aggression, the same mirroring contempt… even a twined context and theme, since Jaime and Ned’s dynamic and the conflict of their dynamic is centered around honor, and Brienne, at that time of that quote, held conflict with Jaime concerning honor and judgment, just as Ned did.
But most importantly, considering the fact that Jaime and Brienne’s fight in A Storm of Swords was filled to the brim with a plethora of sexual symbolism concerning swords, and the line “Give me the sword,” basically means, “Give me the dick”… well, “Show me your steel,” could certainly be used to mean show me your dick. And the fact that Brienne is Jaime’s love interest makes the parallel even more sexual. Jaime commanding a similar thing to Ned Stark that his love interest commands of him later on—something that was purposefullywritten to be a sexual innuendo—does nothing but rake up the homosexual energy here, and further stomp on any heterosexual “just two rivals having a pissing contest” imagery GRRM seemed to be going for.
And it’s still not over. No.
It gets. GAYER.
Jaime Lannister poked at Ned’s chest with the gilded sword that had sipped the blood of the last of the Dragonkings.
Do I even need to explain why this line is gay as fuck?
Jaime’s holding his sword, his metaphorical penis, and is putting it on Ned’s chest. Not just touching him with it, but poking. Poking,which is certainly a verb you could use to describe an erect penis touching skin, especially a body part like the chest. This further coincides with GRRM loving to associate sexual arousal with violence in his work. Jaime’s at full mast here, and he’s ready to go—thing is, considering all the unintentional layers of the relationship between GRRM’s violence and sex metaphors, it reads more like he’s ready to not only fight, but fuck, too.
The body part GRRM chose is a chef’s kiss, too. He could have had Jaime aim the sword at Ned’s throat, or right between the eyes. But no. He chooses the chest. Perhaps he was going for the “he wants to stab Ned in the heart,” kind of thing but, yeah, not working, my guy. When metaphorical dicks start touching chests after a slew of sexual innuendos has risen, there’s really no going back, is there?
Something else great about this is the phrasing and language Ned chooses to use here. Jaime’s “gilded” sword sipped the last of Dragonkings’ blood, huh? By R’hllor, that reads like the point of view of a poetic, naive maiden, swooning over the bad boy who’s about to seduce her. And yeah, this is about Jaime’s side of things, not Ned’s, but I want to stress here that the sexual tension in this scene is far from one-sided.
But here’s the true beauty of this line—which says a lot, because everything about this line is beyond gorgeously gay. This line comes after Jaime has ripped his sword from his sheath and commanded Ned to show him his steel—or rather, after Jaime has taken out his penis and asked Ned to show his own penis to Jaime’s.
So now, we have an order to these sexual metaphors. First, Jaime ripped out his sword from its sheath (in this context, the sheath being his pants or underwear). By doing so, metaphorically, Jaime was undressing—exposing his penis.
And now, he’s touching Ned with it.
So, the order of Jaime’s literal actions toward Ned coincide with the usual order of sex; typically, people take off their clothes before they start going at it.
And then, we reach the end:
“Kill me,” he warned the Kingslayer, “and Catelyn will most certainly slay Tyrion.”
Jaime Lannister poked at Ned’s chest with the gilded sword that had sipped the blood of the last of the Dragonkings. “Would she? The noble Catelyn Tully of Riverrun murder a hostage? I think … not.” He sighed. “But I am not willing to chance my brother’s life on a woman’s honor.” Jaime slid the golden sword into its sheath. “So I suppose I’ll let you run back to Robert to tell him how I frightened you. I wonder if he’ll care.” Jaime pushed his wet hair back with his fingers and wheeled his horse around. (AGOT, Eddard IX)
Ned reminds Jaime that his murder would bring about Tyrion’s, so Jaime abstains. He sheaths his sword—or, puts his dick back in his pants—and then he…. flips his hair, and leaves.
Flips his hair.
I just. It’s so flirty. Even out of context it’s flirty, considering Jaime’s flamboyant personality, but in context? With all the metaphors we’ve just broken down?
Bruh.
Let’s repeat the order here. Jaime rips his sword from his sheath, a.k.a. undresses, because he’s ready for some hatesex. He commands Ned to take out his sword, a.k.a. undress and show Jaime his penis. Ned warns him that he and Tyrion’s life are connected; you can’t kill one without the other dying. Jaime wants Tyrion to live. So he can’t fight Ned—the hatesex can’t happen. They are interrupted. No penetration took place—just some stripping, and a little chest-to-dick action. Jaime dresses, then flips his hair as he turns to leave.
Am I the only one getting imagery of someone flirting with their fuck buddy after a sex session? Hair flipping is an action done to entice the person watching; it’s a sensual movement performed by models, dancers, and any celebrity who uses sex as part of their brand all the time.
It’s flirting. Jaime is flirting with Ned.
And honestly, Jaime has lowkey been flirting with Ned during the entirety of this scene. Teasinghim:
“The wolves are howling,” their leader said. Ned could see rain running down his face. “Such a small pack, though.”
“He was the Hand of the King.” The mud muffled the hooves of the blood bay stallion. The line parted before him. On a golden breastplate, the lion of Lannister roared its defiance. “Now, if truth be told, I’m not sure what he is.”
“I’m looking for my brother. You remember my brother, don’t you, Lord Stark? He was with us at Winterfell. Fair-haired, mismatched eyes, sharp of tongue. A short man.”
“You would not perchance have any notion of who might have wished my brother ill, would you?”
Jaime Lannister smiled.
[…] through the night and the rain, he glimpsed the white of Jaime’s smile […]
Jaime’s drawing this out, having fun with it. Its predator taunting its prey—or, specifically, since Jaime is a lion of Lannister—a cat, pawing at his favorite enemy. The tone of Jaime’s dialogue is very much like a flirtatious villain who lowkey wants to fuck the hero.
And, most wonderfully, Ned knows he’s being teased, too, and Jaime himself admits to it:
“What do you think you’re doing?” [Littlefinger said.]
“He knows what he’s doing,” Ned said calmly.
Jaime Lannister smiled. “Quite true.”
And again, Ned isn’t helping the scene get any straighter. I already sort of mentioned how Ned and Jaime do nothing but stare at each other, but this scene really shows that, especially through Ned’s point of view. Throughout this scene, Ned is constantly describing Jaime.
What he wears:
On a golden breastplate, the lion of Lannister roared its defiance.
The times he smiles:
Jaime Lannister smiled.
Theway he smiles:
Ned glimpsed the white of Jaime’s smile […]
The wetness of his hair, and the way he combs his fingers through it:
Jaime pushed his wet hair back with his fingers […]
And the fucking rain streaming down his face:
Ned could see rain running down his face.
(And yeah, it’s raining during this entire scene. As if we needed any more romantic imagery.)
There’s also Ned’s attention to Jaime’s sword—you know, his dick. First, Ned calls it “gilded.” Then, “golden.” The descriptors are not only flowery—again, evoking the imagery of an infatuated maiden taken by the bad boy—but they also tell us that Ned is watching this sword. Not taking his eyes off that dick.
And yes, in this scene, Ned’s constant observations of Jaime is meant to show that Ned is a warrior on alert, wary of a fight, preparing for battle… but we’ve already established GRRM’s insistence on intertwining swordfighting with sex, and his inability to make Jaime and Ned’s interactions fully hetero in nature.
Plus, when you remember how vivid Ned’s reminisce about Jaime’s appearance was…
“[…] Jaime wore the white cloak of the Kingsguard over his golden armor. I can see him still. Even his sword was gilded. He was seated on the Iron Throne, high above his knights, wearing a helm fashioned in the shape of a lion’s head. How he glittered!”
“I stopped in front of the throne, looking up at him.His golden sword was across his legs, its edge red with a king’s blood. My men were filling the room behind me. Lannister’s men drew back. I never said a word. I looked at him seated there on the throne, and I waited.At last Jaime laughed and got up. He took off his helm, and he said to me, ‘Have no fear, Stark. I was only keeping it warm for our friend Robert. It’s not a very comfortable seat, I’m afraid.’” (AGOT, Eddard II)
…it all just comes together. When it comes to Jaime, Ned is the “I am looking respectfully,” meme—but looking disrespectfully, since he has beef with homeboy. He is just so awareof Jaime’s physicality and external self, almost as aware as Jaime is of Ned’s internal self, his judgment of him—a judgment that haunts Jaime, and fuels his obsession over Ned. An obsession that is lined with sexual and romantic connotations.
Thing is though, the hatesex scene doesn’t just give us hatesex imagery; it also gives us more insight into Jaime’s emotions regarding Ned. Not all of Jaime’s dialogue with Ned is flirtatious or teasing; some of it is passive aggressive, and referencing Jaime’s issues concerning Ned’s disapproval of him:
“I’ll butcher you like Aerys if I must, but I’d sooner you died with a blade in your hand.”
Jaime unnecessarily brings up Aerys’ death, the very thing that causes the conflict between Jaime and Ned in the first place. As a coping mechanism, Jaime plays the part of the sadistic, violent, evil Kingslayer, the role society put him in after Aerys’ death. He reinforces Ned’s negative opinion of Jaime by bragging about killing Aerys, when in reality, he is incredibly bothered by the fact that Ned judges him for killing Aerys. He doubles down on the conflict between them to present the illusion that he’s comfortable with Ned’s feelings toward him, but the reader knows the truth—Jaime is hurt by Ned, even all these years later.
What stresses this even more is this random, odd line about Robert:
“So I suppose I’ll let you run back to Robert to tell him how I frightened you. I wonder if he’ll care.”
Now, upon first reading, this doesn’t sound too impactful. Jaime is just insulting Ned for using Robert as protection, yeah? No big deal.
Except Jaime says this to Catelyn, in the next book:
“As for your Ned, he should have kissed the hand that slew Aerys, but he preferred to scorn the arse he found sitting on Robert’s throne.“ (ACOK, Catelyn VII)
Jaime makes it clear here that he hates the fact that Ned judges him, but supports Robert.
And it makes sense—Robert was a man who sneered at and dehumanized the butchered corpses of children, publicly shamed his wife by parading around his mistresses and creating bastards where ever he went, beat and raped his wife, and chose to drink and whore instead of running his kingdom. He is far from honorable, yet Ned Stark supports him… all while shaming Jaime for being dishonorable. Jaime finds this hypocritical, and it makes Ned’s disapproval of him hurt that much more, but also enrage him.
But that’s not all Jaime reveals to Cat regarding his take on Ned and Robert:
“I think Ned Stark loved Robert better than he ever loved his brother or his father … or even you, my lady. He was never unfaithful to Robert, was he?”
In Jaime’s eyes, Ned loves Robert more than he ever loved his brother Brandon, his father, even his wife—and especially more than Jaime, who he loves not at all. That part goes unsaid, but it doesn’t need to be spoken—the fact that Jaime randomly throws jabs about Ned and Robert’s relationship in the most bitter way possible more than once says it enough. Ned loves Robert. Robert, a man who is just as dishonorable as Jaime, if not more. The hypocrisy is salt in Jaime’s Ned-shaped wound.
But it’s more than just salt.
Jaime is jealous. He is jealous of Robert, because for all of his dishonorable flaws and shortcomings, he has Eddard Stark’s love, and Jaime does not. He is jealous of Ned and Robert’s relationship. He is like a scorned, rejected suitor, seething from afar at the one his crush chose instead of him.
And the fact that Jaime talks about them as if they’re boyfriends only makes that imagery stronger.
“He was never unfaithfulto Robert, was he?”
Sure, Jaime’s just joking here, and is purposefully saying cruel things to hurt Catelyn, so he throws in her face that, while Ned cheated on her, he never “cheated” on Robert, his king—never forsook him, never betrayed him, never went turncloak. At least, that seems to be the authorial intent behind the line.
But here’s the thing. Firstly, during this conversation with Cat, Jaime is drunk as fuck:
As he laughed, she realized the wine had done its work; Jaime had drained most of the flagon, and he was drunk. (ACOK, Catelyn VII)
And, you know, in vino veritas. Many people argue that a drunk man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts. I wouldn’t say Jaime is exempt from that.
Secondly, the fact that Jaime not only compared Ned’s loyalty to Robert to a faithful lover, but be jealous of that dynamic, does nothing but add to the homoerotic subtext in his own dynamic with Ned. And considering all of Nedbert’s homoerotic subtext (“Muscled like a maiden’s dream,” anyone?) Jaime being jealous of it just comes off as homosexually charged, as opposed to a heterosexual man being outraged at Ned’s hypocrisy, and nothing more.
Also, quick side note. This…
“He should have kissed the hand that slew Aerys.”
and this…
You ought to be blowing me kisses, wench, he wanted to tell her. (ASOS, Jaime VII)
…are pretty similar. In both scenes, Jaime is frustrated with Brienne and Ned, upset that they’ve interpreted his good intentions to be dishonorable (with Ned, he misunderstands why Jaime killed Aerys, and with Brienne, she misunderstands why Jaime had her imprisoned).
Jaime gives us his deduction as to why Brienne and everyone else always assumes the worst of him:
Why must they misunderstand every bloody thing he did? Aerys. It all grows from Aerys. (ASOS, Jaime VII)
So Jaime believes that Brienne misunderstood why he imprisoned her because of Aerys… which isn’t really the case with Brienne at this point, but it’s definitelythe reason why Ned also misunderstands him. Again, making parallels with Ned and Jaime’s love interest is a lot of things, but straight ain’t one of em.
And to top it all off, with both scenarios, Jaime thinks that, instead of judging him or making negative assumptions, Brienne and Ned should have kissed him.
So, yeah. With intense admiration, repressed hurt over disapproval, jealousy over boyfriends best friends, a whole bunch of staring, and an almost-hatesex scene that reads like a release to an almost twenty year build up of obsession, Jaime Lannister and Ned Stark’s dynamic couldn’t get any homoerotic—nor could Jaime’s bisexuality be any more prevalent.
But it doesn’t even stop there. Brynden, Arthur, and Ned may have been the boyfriends Jaime never had, but there’s a few other men who sexually sparked something in him, but weren’t honorable enough to reach Boyfriend Status.
Let’s get into the randos. And yes, Jaime is so fucking bi that he has random men he thinks about in almost exclusively sexual manners, rather than the romantic subtext he possesses with the male characters he has more of an emotional connection to. There’s a reason why I’m writing this meta, guise.
