Game of Thrones

[shipperx]

So in efforts for stress reduction, I've finally cracked open my copy of "A Game of Thrones".    I've enjoyed it thus far and am over 100 pages in.

My one comment is, given fandom's reaction to Jaime Lannister, I'm assuming there's a redemption arc somewhere in the future.  

Right?

Comments

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

My one comment is, given fandom's reaction to Jaime Lannister, I'm assuming there's a redemption arc somewhere in the future.


OH LISA YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!!! It's probably one of the best-told redemption arcs I've ever read. It ... just won't really start for another couple of books :P (I don't know whether you saw the link but I did a blog post for "Heroes & Heartbreakers" on redemption arcs and included Spike and Jaime Lannister as the two major ones I love - and your description of Walter's redemption arc on "Fringe" inspired me to buy the s1&2 dvds, by the way.)

The only other thing I'll say is that no one who loves Tyrion is entirely without redeeming qualities, and Jaime does love his brother.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

I'm reading it too, and I'm perplexed by fandom's love for Jaime. Loving the bad boy is one thing, but ….really, fandom? Really?

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Wait and see. Because the first time I read the books I was you, and then...I wasn't. It's unbelievable, really, and yet Martin pulls it off.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

A redemption arc par excellence. I still can't quite believe Martin pulls it off, and I've read the books...4? 5? times by now, but he does. And that's why there's a real limit to my bitching about how long the books take him to write, because he does it right, and that takes time.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

The thing I like is that there's not a huge turnaround or anything... he doesn't get totally exonerated, but you get to find out that he's had pretty good reasons for some of the horrible things he's done. Just like you find out that some other characters who seem so wonderful and honorable actually end up doing horrible things in the name of that honor.

Basically, by telling the story from varying points of view, you get to see how people and their behaviors look to other characters... but then you also get to see how they perceive their actions themselves and what their motivations are. It makes for a brutally grey world.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

As nutmeg3 and fenchurche say, Jaime undoubtedly does something quite awful very close to the beginning of the first book, but he has the most amazing and powerful redemption arc later on that's completely well-done and completely believable. It's not just that he has some good reasons for a number of the things he did; it's also that he changes (or maybe rediscovers something in himself that's been buried for a long time) in a convincing and moving way without ever losing his sharp wit and humor. And he is always flawlessly honest, even about himself. I love that.

To sum up? Jaime's arc was all the things I initially hoped Spike's would be.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

A sort of redemption arc, yes. The cool thing about it is that he's not having a 180 degree turn around, but oncehe gets his own chapters, you understand him and his motivations a lot better.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting storytelling method that, I think is really applicable to how real history is recorded (the old saying of history is recorded by the victors and all).

Still...what he did in the first 100 pages of the first book looks rather difficult to find a defense for.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Now I'm curious how they counterbalance what happened early in Book I. Judging by fandom, it must be relatively successful, though.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

You and I will both be amazed, I guess! :D

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

Still...what he did in the first 100 pages of the first book looks rather difficult to find a defense for.

Oh, no, there's no defense for that. But ... he does receive a kind of punishment for it. As I said, though, you have to wait for another 1500 pages or so to really start to see what a lot of people (including me) see in Jaime.