ASoIaF Meta: Sansa and Jamie
Dec. 18th, 2018 10:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuranaRepost from tumblr
I already wrote about how both Sansa’s and Arya’s journeys are stories about loss of innocence. This is probably rather obvious to most fans as most character journeys in the books can be interpreted that way. However the more I thought about it, the more the parallels between Sansa and Jamie came to my mind.
Both characters start out believing in the classical tale of knightly valor that is probably told to all young nobles in Westeros. Because of their privileged status however both seem to believe more in that tale than their siblings. They are not only the noble offspring of two of the most powerful houses, they also fit the stereotypes about what knights and ladies have to be like almost perfectly. While Cersei soon learns that she will never wield true power because of her gender and Tyrion is obviously in no way what people want to see in a noble, Jamie does not have to deal with the harsh reality of Westeros until much later. And in a way he seems (at least to me) much more innocent than both of his siblings. He is one of the few people who stands by his brother no matter what. And like Sansa he doesn’t seem to understand the political implications of his actions. The thought that his appointment to the Kingsguard is meant as a slight to his father does not seem to occur to him until it is much much to late. He also never truly accepted that his job as a member of the Kingsguard entails that he has to protect the king even when that king in horribly cruel. I truly believe that he killed Aerys because he was morally appalled by the mad king and saw it as his duty to protect the city and not because of some kind of political power play to advance his family. After all, he does not have any interest in inheriting Casterly Rock. Even in the beginning of the first book, when he is clearly cast as the villain and he is clearly jaded by his experiences, he still does not think about the consequences of his actions. (Cersei was so not happy with him throwing Bran off that tower and rightly so. It was a dumb and impulsive thing to do.)
Also like Sansa, Jamies change from naive to cunning does not even truly set in when he sees the hypocrisy of the court, but only once he himself becomes a victim of it. For Sansa it was not enough to see Jeoffrey’s ugly side on the Kingsroad, she had to experience his cruelty herself as the Lannister’s hostage. Similar Jamie only seems to become truly aware Cersei’s nature once he looses his hand. (This carries with it some unfortunate implications that suffering somehow makes people better. However I think there are enough examples to the contrary in the books that show, that this is not a point Martin wants to make. Apart from this, only the future will show wether Jamie and Sansa are truly better people or wether they might also have lost something important; in Jamie’s case his relationship with Tyrion, for example.)
Only in AFfC does Sansa show that she has a mind to understand politics and manipulate people and only in ADwD does Jamie show his true potential outside of being a great sword fighter. And both had to go through extremely traumatic events to get there. And I think this similarity will continue in that they both will play extremely important roles in the survival of their respective houses.
I already wrote about how both Sansa’s and Arya’s journeys are stories about loss of innocence. This is probably rather obvious to most fans as most character journeys in the books can be interpreted that way. However the more I thought about it, the more the parallels between Sansa and Jamie came to my mind.
Both characters start out believing in the classical tale of knightly valor that is probably told to all young nobles in Westeros. Because of their privileged status however both seem to believe more in that tale than their siblings. They are not only the noble offspring of two of the most powerful houses, they also fit the stereotypes about what knights and ladies have to be like almost perfectly. While Cersei soon learns that she will never wield true power because of her gender and Tyrion is obviously in no way what people want to see in a noble, Jamie does not have to deal with the harsh reality of Westeros until much later. And in a way he seems (at least to me) much more innocent than both of his siblings. He is one of the few people who stands by his brother no matter what. And like Sansa he doesn’t seem to understand the political implications of his actions. The thought that his appointment to the Kingsguard is meant as a slight to his father does not seem to occur to him until it is much much to late. He also never truly accepted that his job as a member of the Kingsguard entails that he has to protect the king even when that king in horribly cruel. I truly believe that he killed Aerys because he was morally appalled by the mad king and saw it as his duty to protect the city and not because of some kind of political power play to advance his family. After all, he does not have any interest in inheriting Casterly Rock. Even in the beginning of the first book, when he is clearly cast as the villain and he is clearly jaded by his experiences, he still does not think about the consequences of his actions. (Cersei was so not happy with him throwing Bran off that tower and rightly so. It was a dumb and impulsive thing to do.)
Also like Sansa, Jamies change from naive to cunning does not even truly set in when he sees the hypocrisy of the court, but only once he himself becomes a victim of it. For Sansa it was not enough to see Jeoffrey’s ugly side on the Kingsroad, she had to experience his cruelty herself as the Lannister’s hostage. Similar Jamie only seems to become truly aware Cersei’s nature once he looses his hand. (This carries with it some unfortunate implications that suffering somehow makes people better. However I think there are enough examples to the contrary in the books that show, that this is not a point Martin wants to make. Apart from this, only the future will show wether Jamie and Sansa are truly better people or wether they might also have lost something important; in Jamie’s case his relationship with Tyrion, for example.)
Only in AFfC does Sansa show that she has a mind to understand politics and manipulate people and only in ADwD does Jamie show his true potential outside of being a great sword fighter. And both had to go through extremely traumatic events to get there. And I think this similarity will continue in that they both will play extremely important roles in the survival of their respective houses.
