character swap: cersei and jaime
Challenge 7 at throneland: Pick two characters and swap their personality traits. Write a 500 word essay describing the effects of the swap.
I picked Cersei and Jaime, with vague spoilers through ASOS, and one plot event swapped in addition to characteristics.
Picture this: Cersei Lannister is sitting on the iron throne, and she is sitting on it purely because she can. There are swords at her back - there are always swords at her back - but there is a sword in her hand too, and her body is covered in gold-plated armor. The armor is custom-fit, forged at knifepoint by a blacksmith whose name she can’t remember. The sword in her hand was stolen, wrenched from the immobile fingers of a knight whose name she can’t remember and whose body has been rotting and falling to pieces for days.
This is a Cersei who has no intention of ruling and whose best weapon is metal. The blade of her knife is sharper than Margaery’s eyes will ever be. She goes through sons as fast as Jaime goes through girls, only the girls hurt more. Her sons rise up and she moves to the side and lets them take their seat because she doesn’t care, she doesn’t want the responsibility, and they’ll be dead soon.
While Jaime is gone, she fights because she is restless and she can’t satisfy her needs with sex, the way her brother does. The knight loses his head but he takes her right hand with him. It’s not the pain that bothers her, but the loss of her best weapon, the thing that made them respect her because if they didn’t she could run them through in the blink of an eye. But she holds her head high and sews a glove to the end of her sleeve and when they make jokes behind her back about needing a queen’s hand now and not only a king’s, she turns her body and pretends she can’t hear
Now picture this: Jaime Lannister is smiling at Brienne of Tarth. He is smiling at her because this is what he does, he smiles and he stares her down until she bends. In her eyes he is as genuine and beautiful as her dead king had ever been. He compliments her, calls her clever, calls her beautiful, and she smiles cautiously at first, but more and more until she undoes his shackles. This is what he does.
This is a Jaime who needs power, needs it more than he needs Cersei. She sits on the throne because her sons sit on the throne, not because she wants it, but Jaime wants it, has wanted it since he can remember. He’s wanted it since he’s wanted her, but somewhere along the line their roles were switched. Cersei always coveted his sword, the bite of it, the thrill of battle, and she got it. Stole away his sword one night and never gave it back.
He’s had other swords of course - he stabbed the mad king in the back with one - but he never regained control. They call him Kingslayer, those who revile what he did, and he wishes they would drop the “slayer” and call him “king”. They call him Oathbreaker. To the many, he is petty. Killed Aerys because he could. A few call him brave. He saved their lives, he kept their families from burning. They think he cares. He doesn’t.
The first time Jaime sits on the iron throne after Robert stole it away, he’s naked. He’s naked and vulnerable and he’s sitting on top of his sister and looking closing his eyes while she smirks up at him. He can’t touch the metal. This throne would slice right through his skin without Cersei’s armor-clad back protecting him.
I picked Cersei and Jaime, with vague spoilers through ASOS, and one plot event swapped in addition to characteristics.
Picture this: Cersei Lannister is sitting on the iron throne, and she is sitting on it purely because she can. There are swords at her back - there are always swords at her back - but there is a sword in her hand too, and her body is covered in gold-plated armor. The armor is custom-fit, forged at knifepoint by a blacksmith whose name she can’t remember. The sword in her hand was stolen, wrenched from the immobile fingers of a knight whose name she can’t remember and whose body has been rotting and falling to pieces for days.
This is a Cersei who has no intention of ruling and whose best weapon is metal. The blade of her knife is sharper than Margaery’s eyes will ever be. She goes through sons as fast as Jaime goes through girls, only the girls hurt more. Her sons rise up and she moves to the side and lets them take their seat because she doesn’t care, she doesn’t want the responsibility, and they’ll be dead soon.
While Jaime is gone, she fights because she is restless and she can’t satisfy her needs with sex, the way her brother does. The knight loses his head but he takes her right hand with him. It’s not the pain that bothers her, but the loss of her best weapon, the thing that made them respect her because if they didn’t she could run them through in the blink of an eye. But she holds her head high and sews a glove to the end of her sleeve and when they make jokes behind her back about needing a queen’s hand now and not only a king’s, she turns her body and pretends she can’t hear
Now picture this: Jaime Lannister is smiling at Brienne of Tarth. He is smiling at her because this is what he does, he smiles and he stares her down until she bends. In her eyes he is as genuine and beautiful as her dead king had ever been. He compliments her, calls her clever, calls her beautiful, and she smiles cautiously at first, but more and more until she undoes his shackles. This is what he does.
This is a Jaime who needs power, needs it more than he needs Cersei. She sits on the throne because her sons sit on the throne, not because she wants it, but Jaime wants it, has wanted it since he can remember. He’s wanted it since he’s wanted her, but somewhere along the line their roles were switched. Cersei always coveted his sword, the bite of it, the thrill of battle, and she got it. Stole away his sword one night and never gave it back.
He’s had other swords of course - he stabbed the mad king in the back with one - but he never regained control. They call him Kingslayer, those who revile what he did, and he wishes they would drop the “slayer” and call him “king”. They call him Oathbreaker. To the many, he is petty. Killed Aerys because he could. A few call him brave. He saved their lives, he kept their families from burning. They think he cares. He doesn’t.
The first time Jaime sits on the iron throne after Robert stole it away, he’s naked. He’s naked and vulnerable and he’s sitting on top of his sister and looking closing his eyes while she smirks up at him. He can’t touch the metal. This throne would slice right through his skin without Cersei’s armor-clad back protecting him.