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Lannister Alcoholism


The Bard of Banefort

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Throughout the series, we're shown both Tyrion and Cersei's growing dependence on alcoholism. At the same time, Jaime is never indicated as having an alcohol dependency, despite his ongoing PTSD, and disapproves of Cersei's drinking. (The only time we see him drunk is when he's being interrogated by Cat, and presumably hasn't eaten or drank much for several weeks). I don't recall any of the older Lannisters being defined by their alcohol use, but I may be forgetting.

Which leads me to my question: what is the thematic significance of this? Is it meant to illustrate Tyrion and Cersei's similarities? Is it meant to set Jaime apart from the rest of his family, much like his lack of political ambition does? Does it not really mean much of anything? I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on this. 

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i think it's their way to deal with depression. tyrion was always a shame to his father and he couldn't change it so he started to drink, cersei has to deal with more and more political problems which she cant solve, so she started to drink.

but jamie actually does something to change his life, he knows that he did some shit, but he tries to do better and it works, there was no tully slaughter at riverrun and brienne is searching for sansa, he did not need to drink to feel better

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I'm not sure if means anything really. Except that Tywin has screwed his children up badly. All of them cope with it differently. Cersei and Tyrion drink, Jaime rebelled early in his life and joined the KG. It probably was his duties as KG that kept Jaime distracted and he didn't develop addictions.

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On 8/13/2018 at 3:55 AM, The Bard of Banefort said:

Throughout the series, we're shown both Tyrion and Cersei's growing dependence on alcoholism. At the same time, Jaime is never indicated as having an alcohol dependency, despite his ongoing PTSD, and disapproves of Cersei's drinking. (The only time we see him drunk is when he's being interrogated by Cat, and presumably hasn't eaten or drank much for several weeks). I don't recall any of the older Lannisters being defined by their alcohol use, but I may be forgetting.

Which leads me to my question: what is the thematic significance of this? Is it meant to illustrate Tyrion and Cersei's similarities? Is it meant to set Jaime apart from the rest of his family, much like his lack of political ambition does? Does it not really mean much of anything? I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on this. 

It's not so much alcoholism as what you drink and how you cope with drink.

Red wine stands for blood.

Quote

[Sandor] "Gods," he swore, "too much wine. Do you like wine, little bird? True wine? A flagon of sour red, dark as blood, all a man needs...." ACOK - SANSA II

The biggest drinkers are King Robert, the Hound, Tyrion and Dontos - the first three we know have a huge capacity for bloodshed, possibly a bloodthirst. When the wine was too strong for even Robert to handle, he died. The Hound gives Arya a cup to share the wine before they jointly kill the Tickler and company. Tyrion is not a fighter, but when bloodshed comes, whether he caused it or not, he doesn't really turn a hair.

Dontos has an alternate identity as Ser Florian, the greatest knight, and Dontos is merely a skin of wine with legs - it's not a contradiction when you think about it: it just tells us that Ser Florian's capacity for bloodshed was infinite, it was his entire being (poor Jonquil).

Jaime is an odd case. He can kill or not kill, drink or not drink, just on the impulse of the moment. I don't know where he fits in.

Cersei drinks more red the more she kills, but she drinks golden wine early on, and lately has moved on to hippocras. Theories on those are debateable.

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