Have you caught you breath yet?
That final battle at the end of ‘The Spoils of War‘ was honest-to-god breathtaking. After seven seasons, we finally saw the brute power of the dragons (or one, in this case), with Daenerys flying around like the angel of death while men turned to ash below her.
It was reminiscent of the Field of Fire, a major battle during Aegon I Targaryen‘s reign that helped seal his hold over the Seven Kingdoms. It was the only battle during which all three Targaryen dragons fought, burning 10,000 members of the Lannister army.
Basically, this battle is already being called Field of Fire 2.0 – and for good reason.
Still the best damn thing I saw… #drogon #gameofthrones https://t.co/tZH0S2HviQ
— GinaMarie (@GinaMarie2325) August 7, 2017
But it’s left everyone’s wondering the same thing: is Jaime Lannister alive?
In the final seconds, we see Bronn – or someone else on a white horse who basically fits Bronn’s dimensions – leap in front of a roaring dragon to push him out of the way. Both men fall in the water, and Jaime sinks to the bottom, echoing Tyrion‘s almost-death by drowning in the Rhoyne river.
He’s winded, battle-tired, probably has a few burns from the flames, and most importantly, is weighed down by full armour. Jaime ain’t swimming out of there any time soon.
He didn’t appear in the teaser for next week’s episode, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau doesn’t appear on the list of credited actors on IDMb. (But you know who DOES?????)
But look, here’s the thing: imo, he probably isn’t dead. It’s a cliffhanger, sure, but killing Jaime Lannister offscreen (i.e. about 30 seconds to a couple minutes after the episode ended, when he would actually drown) is a huge burn to the audience – no pun intended.
We’ve watched this character go from enemy numero uno to troubled romantic lead. To make his death so ambiguous is a disservice to the character we’ve spent seven seasons getting to know. And besides, there’s the Valonqar theory, which is almost becoming like another R+L=J in that it’s becoming canon before it’s confirmed.
https://twitter.com/AustinCTweets/status/894400423498481664
So: Jaime is a drowning mess right now, but hey, who isn’t?! [Audience breaks into booming laughter that segues into applause.]
One thing is for absolute certain though:
https://twitter.com/TheAaronScottJ/status/894403492613410817
One thing to note: that was Bronn (or the ‘saviour who looks like Bronn’) drowning in the background. Swagger McSwaggerface might also be dead.
