MovieChat Forums > Game of Thrones (2011) Discussion > Better idea for Cersei/Jaime

Better idea for Cersei/Jaime

posted 5 years ago by spurtle467 (1520)
33 replies | jump to latest

Just imagining ways in which the story could have been written better for these characters, would it have been preferable to have Cersei's story conclude by her being brought to trial for her crimes? Perhaps a trial by combat again? That could have set up a lot of interesting possibilities for who could have fought for her, and who could have fought against her champion. We sort of had it already for Tyrion in season 4 I suppose, but this could have been on another level.

Anyway, that's me thinking out loud, and we'll never be able to change what's been done to this show in the final season.

[–] Fandango (534) 5 years ago

That's an interesting idea. Imagine if Jaime had to fight for Cersei? The amount of turmoil he would have to face because of his inability.

That would certainly have been interesting.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

That could have been great! Jamie entering the fight they both knew he'd lose, oh what drama there could have been!

Or Jamie stabbing her in the gut in the crypt so he could be free of her for one second before he died. Or Jamie killing her out of love, to spare her the ignominy of capture or dragon fire. Anything but the two of them hugging and whining.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (73685) 5 years ago

That's a good thought and it could have been interesting but I think Cersei's story ended perfectly

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 years ago

I too wasn't all that unhappy with the way Cersei's character came to an end, but it was a little on the anti-climatic side. A trial by combat storyline could have generated a lot of interest and hype for the audience over who fights against her champion, especially if that happened to be Jaime.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

A big part of the problem is you have two queens who can't fight so if you want some kind of confrontation between them it will be like what we saw.

Jaime going back to her made sense I think he just wanted to die and was badly wounded anyway.

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 years ago

Obviously it would be in place of what we saw with Dany going mad and killing everyone, instead choosing to go about things more diplomatically and bringing Cersei to justice to face her crimes. Sure, I liked the spectacle of seeing the destruction but it doesn't always have to be about being visually impressive, and such a path with Cersei facing trial and a combat, could have brought us back to the more political days the show was in back in the earlier seasons.

Anyway, in the end D&D rushed the show and went with what they went with in too few episodes.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I'm probably in the minority here but I didn't find it all that visually exciting.

It was probably anticlimactic but at the same time at least it wasn't predictable. As far as Dany goes she isn't diplomatic anyway it's always been her way or the highway so I'm not surprised by her burning the town.

[–] Pixanaut (68) 5 years ago

Honestly, the ending that I wanted for Jaime and Cersei (and Euron) played out more like this:

- Jaime getting captured trying to escape to King's Landing, Tyrion coming to rescue him
- Jaime makes it to Cersei's throneroom... Euron is also in the room
- Jaime's true intentions are revealed and he tries to kill Cersei because *despite his love for her*, he can't bear to see her subject the world to any more of her horrors
- When he tries to kill her, Euron steps in to defend her, and ends up besting Jaime who is brought to his knees, unarmed.
- Euron looks to Cersei who doesn't flinch, shows no emotion (totally dead inside) and in doing so, Euron takes it as permission to kill Jaime, which he does and Cersei barely flinches when Jaime's head hits the floor
- Cersei dies by Dany's hand... not her dragon (which eats Euron as payback for the scorpions killing its siblings earlier). Have Cersei start to beg, and say she's pregnant, and then have her kill Cersei anyway slowly, painfully, with a blade (similar to the way Rob Stark's wife got killed)
- Cersei bleeds out on cold dirty stone
- Dany has then been able to face her longtime enemy, and excise some of her anger... and she doesn't go all Ragey-Mad Queen because of that, but she could due to her inability to trust anyone anymore. She could go all Paranoid-Mad Queen, leading to Jon having to kill her, and because of his guilt in doing that - and his lack of desire to rule, he abdicates the throne to the only brilliant, efficient, benign, oddly honourable characters he knows - Tyrion, who chooses to destroy the Iron Throne and make a new throne, crediting Dany with 'breaking the wheel' as she promised.

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 years ago

I wouldn't find it very believable for Cersei to have no emotion towards her brother getting killed right in front of her. She hates Tyrion and couldn't even order The Mountain to kill him at the end of the last season when she was face to face with him. Under that whole evil facade she is still a human, and I think they captured that well in the moment before her death in the last episode.

[–] Pixanaut (68) 5 years ago

I disagree. She promised Bronn what he wanted to go execute both brothers. (Or was that order officially from her hand... I don't recall.)

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 years ago

She did, and she also ordered a reward for bringing her Tyrion's head earlier in the show. I think it's different when you have them right there in front of her, as it proved for Tyrion, and he was the brother she hated.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

"She hates Tyrion and couldn't even order The Mountain to kill him at the end of the last season when she was face to face with him."

Oh, I don't think she held off on killing him because she has a decent side, I think she held off on killing him because of the incredibly strong traditions about killing guests or emissaries. Not that she has real scruples on that front, the woman doesn't mind blowing up churches, but if she'd killed Tyrion then and there it'd have made her look bad!

So she hired Bronn to kill him quietly instead of having Frankenmountain kill him then and there, because she cares very, very deeply about looking good.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

You know, you're right, the show really suffered from the lack of a face-to-face confrontation between Cersei and Danerys!

Personally, I'd like to see them just go at each other with their fists, because those two may be tough when giving orders but without their rank and their monsters they're really just a pair of soft, spoiled rich girls who've never been in a real fight! I think Cersei would have the edge, she's bigger and more vicious, and I'm sure she's slapped a few maids in her day so she's had at least a little practice.

[–] Pixanaut (68) 5 years ago

Yup. A bit of girl-fight was necessary.

That said, it's interesting that they flipped characters at the end. Cersei goes from stoic to snivelling/scared and Dany goes from protecting the innocent to barbecuing them. Interesting, but not truly satisfying.

[–] NorthernLad (472) 5 years ago

This ending would have satisfied me:

They both get captured. Dany and her army have them in front of them tied to stakes. Dany sentences them to death by fire. Cersei is crying and as she's crying, Jaime tells her to look at him and says, "Look at me, we're all that matters." And with that...they both get fried. That would have satisfied me greatly.

[–] keybored (2656) 5 years ago

Greyworm should have beheaded her.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

How about if the Night's King comes to King's Landing, and he tries to take Cersei's incest baby and make it into a White Walker, like he did with Craster's incest babies. And Jamie tries to defend her and his baby...

Imagine the drama! Imagine Jamie taking an interest in his children for once! Imagine another season or two, with time to make it happen!

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 years ago

Not a bad idea. I was thinking recently how the NK could have left a load of his minions to fight at Wintefell, while he heads to King's Landing with his dragon. You saw the damage Drogon did to it singlehandedly. Bran could have served a purpose too in telling them where NK was heading.

The NK's true intention was just to wipe out the living, so why stop off at Winterfell necessarily?

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

Really, the legendary "Long Night" really ought to have taken longer than one night.

I was really hoping the Others would get past Winterfell, and invade the rest of Westeros and Kjng's Landing.

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 years ago

Yes for a "Long Night" it was rather short. After all the talk throughout the series about how "Winter is coming" from even characters in King's Landing, it ended with a damp squib. There were so many epic possibilities for this part of the story, and they probably went with the most underwhelming one really.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

The Long Night really should have taken a whole season, and involved more of Westeros.

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 years ago

I don't know how much input GRRM gave D&D but I imagine he had something more substantial and darker in mind for the WW and the NK. I doubt he'd have finished it this early on and let it take a backseat to the Iron Throne. The point has always been that the Iron Throne takes a backseat to the threat of the NK and the dead.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

At this point, it looks like the Long Night plot and the Iron Throne plot have almost nothing to do with each other.

Pacing issues aside, it's not making for a satisfying climax.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Sansa should have fed her to the dogs.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

Do you think Sansa kept the human-eating dogs after... that?

Just in case they might come in handy some day?

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Who knows?

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 years ago

Might have been a bit too overkill with the use of dogs after killing Ramsey.

Talking of those dogs, I happened to see series 6, episode 1 last night, and there is a part where Sansa and Theon are on the run from Ramsey's men and hiding in some bush, before they are found by the dogs, only for Brienne to intervene and kill the men. The dogs suddenly disappear during the fight and it's never addressed. Goes to show how lazy the writers were getting at times even by that point.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I agree. I think it's been a great show up to 8, but even then, when I look back and sum it all up, I feel it's maybe not so great. The last episode will determine if I ever re-watch it.

[–] TexasJack (12515) 5 years ago

I could see the dogs scattering in the face of two horses charging at them at full speed.