Cersei: I have this feeling that if given the chance, Tommen would actually be a pretty good king. I think we've seen enough indications that he suffered some torment from Joffrey (the seen where Jaime tells him to go away inside, and he trailed off saying that he used to do that with "Joffy"), which I think brought out his more sensitive side, rather than making him angry or violent like Joffrey. I actually think this is Jaime we're seeing. Joffrey was crazy, and that was Cersei's doing. Tommen is a gentle spirit, and I think on some fundamental level, that's a reflection of his father. Anyway, Cersei is more full of herself than I could have imagined, and I already thought she was pretty well lost to her own delusions. She seems to literally suspect everyone of treachery. She sees Tyrion's hand behind everything, even sees her family set against her. As an aside, I'm sure everyone loved Uncle Kevan's rant against Cersei. After seeing Cersei's delusional, narcissistic speech about how when historians look back on this period in time, they'll remember Queen Cersei, while Tywin will be only a foot note. Kevan's speech was nice because she's off her rocker, and people clearly know it. And I loved his comment about Cersei's parenting skills regarding Joffrey. We've only really seen Kevan as either a background figure, or a broken figure. Now we're seeing him as a Lannister, and Tywin's brother. I liked his advice, especially possibly drawing Randyll Tarly into the picture. His name is being dropped a lot, and I think he'll have to play a larger role in order to make Sam's eventual confrontation with him more meaningful. Finally, I liked the little bit in Brienne's chapter about who would be regent with Tywin gone. People suspected Kevan or Jaime, or even Mace Tyrell, but no one even said Cersei's name. Nice to see the difference between how she views herself, and how everyone else does.
Jaime: Poor thing. He still loves Cersei, and is jealous and angry with her over her "relations" with those two idiot knights. I always questioned the fact that it seems like in the Cersei/Jaime relationship, Jaime clearly loves Cersei more than she him. In fact, I'd say they both love Cersei more than either loves Jaime. His moment with Tommen at the Sept was a little bittersweet. I think you can clearly see in that scene that despite what he has said in the past, or whatever peace he thinks he made with the situation, Jaime really does want to be a father to Tommen. I think he knew what a monster Joffrey was, but sees Tommen as someone that needs a father, and he wants to fill that role. Cersei is standing in the way. I like that, in the absence of his sword hand, we see him exercising his mind a lot more than he used to. He always said that Tyrion got the brains and he the brawn, but maybe it's just because he never really tried before. It's sad to see him so broken though, racked by feelings of guilt and uselessness. He'd gone from villain to tragedy.
Brienne: Still continues her fruitless search for Sansa. Perhaps her little insight about blood seeking blood will lead her to the Vale, but it still seems like some major obstacles are in her way, and these novels are pretty damned light on quest fulfillment. Something usually gets in the way. I liked the little snippet of backstory regarding her various attempts at courtship over the years, or at least, a combination of her failed attempts and her father's failed attempts. Most interesting was the one brief mention of a youthful love interest. It's interesting because Brienne is probably the least sexualized or even sexual character of the book. She's certainly the least sexual woman. Even Sansa is sexualized, not necessarily as a sex figure, but in that she has romantic desires, and is described as beautiful. Brienne's only "love interest" thus far has been Renly, but I don't think that was romantic love; it was reverent, worshipful love. I thought that something could theoretically develop between her and Jaime, and I still think that's possible in a way because they both challenge each other in unique ways. Jaime needs a strong woman (where Cersei fits the bill), but he also needs someone loyal (where Cersei fails and Brienne has no equal). I maintain that they would be a very interesting combination if they ever get back together again. Some of my favorite scenes in Storm of Swords were when Brienne was with Jaime.
Sansa: Well well well Sansa, we meet again! You, the source of so much misery, boredom and despair in my life. What has always bothered me the most about Sansa is her role as the personification of the damsel in distress. These novels are chock full of strong (though flawed) female characters. Even Catelyn, arguably the other weakest character, for all her faults, was still tough to a degree, but her weakness was her family, and it undid her. Sansa is just plain stupid. It's not even about being naive, or deluded; it's that the lightbulb hasn't gone off yet, and she remains in the dark. From the beginning of this chapter, I would say that Sansa has been demoted to merely being a lens through which to view Littlefinger's schemes. But as the chapter goes on, it appears that daylight is finally beginning to glimmer. I'm conflicted here. I loathe Littlefinger. He's possibly the most ruthless, cunning and evil character of the entire series, but for all his faults, he actually seems to be having some sort of positive influence on Sansa. He's doing what no one else has done; he's actually taking her under his wing and teaching her, and she's responding. Everyone else just called her stupid and waited for something to click, but she never got it by herself. Hence my problem. He's a terrible human being, but perhaps he has some valuable lessons to teach Sansa. However, he's trying to erase her identity as a Stark in the process.
It's fascinating that again we see Sansa and Arya put into parallel situations. Arya has many names, many identities, that she has had to adopt in order to survive in her time in the wild, but she never lost sight of Arya Stark. Her current refuge in Braavos rejects her one true identity, just as Littlefinger is trying to replace Sansa Stark with Alayne. The challenge now is how much both girls can internalize and protect their true identities. It seems like Sansa has indicated that she has learned more than Littlefinger suspects, and that she really can remain Sansa on the inside and fool them as Alayne on the outside. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I feel like Sansa might have just gotten interesting.
Up next is an Asha chapter, who should be interesting to explore. I think we'll see parallels between her and Cersei, both being women who feel they are owed some sort of power but are being told no because they are women.
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