Why did Jamie kill Aerys?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I was thinking about this. Once the pyromancer Hand was dead why did Jamie need to kill Aerys? All he needed to do, with his authority as a member of the Kingsguard, is keep Aerys away from everyone else. He could have knocked Aerys unconcious and taken him to his chambers and kept him contained until KL fell to his father's forces. Why kill Aerys if he didn't have to?

[jurble]

I don't think he was thinking it out that much. It was probably more like "Fire+City=Bad, Must Prevent". Moreover, Jaime mentions that later he went around the city and killed the rest of the pyromancers who were in charge of setting up the Wildfire caches, I think.

[Alexia]

Hehe, I posted a topic on this a few months ago. My personal theory is that Jaime killed Aerys for revenge and because he hated the guy, after the months spent in KL.

Jaime and Aerys

[Lord Varys]

There is Jaime's quote that he needed to prevent Aerys from sending somebody else to the pyromancers to execute his orders. Certainly, Jaime did not need to kill Aerys to prevent him from doing that (especially as his father's men were clearly almost in the throne room, or else Jaime would have gotten away unseen), but obviously he felt the strong urge to do so.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Alexia,

Great minds think alike, eh? I'll have to read your thread.

To any mod,

Please merge.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

There is Jaime's quote that he needed to prevent Aerys from sending somebody else to the pyromancers to execute his orders. Certainly, Jaime did not need to kill Aerys to prevent him from doing that (especially as his father's men were clearly almost in the throne room, or else Jaime would have gotten away unseen), but obviously he felt the strong urge to do so.

Did Jaime know that his father's men were in the Red Keep when he killed Aerys? I recall having the impression that he did not, but I haven't read ASOS in a while.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Harry,

Regardless, Jaime was alone with Aerys in the throne room. Give crazy guy a firm bonk on the head say he passed out take him to his chambers and wait for Tywin and the calvery. Then let Dad sort out crazy guy.

[Mad Monkey]

Jaime is fairly reckless. If he had sat down and thought about it, he probably could have come up with a better plan for Bran than "toss him out of a window". Hell, even Cersei comments on that, and if Cersei "the incestuous, regicidal, teenage-girl-framing maniac" Lannister thinks that your decisions are poorly-thought out then you know you dropped the ball somewhere.

[3idcrow]

I think Jaime's hatered to Aerys was a big contributing factor to his decision to kill the crazy bastard, but with this said he could not be absolutely sure of who comes to the room next. It could be some loyal troops ready to carry out king's order. It could be one of the remaining pyromancers. Or it could be his father, of course.

One thing Jaime is not doing is hiding from his responsibility. So he kills his king and sits on the throne waiting who comes next. Pretty awesome for 17-years old kid, I'd say!

[dolorouseddwasright]

I believe Jaime is noted in the books as not being one who likes to think things out. He tends to be more of a "do what you think needs to be done and deal with the consequences later" sort of guy. He does get things done but sometimes it gets complicated.

I also think there was some animosity for Aerys after all the things he did while Jaime was watching. He may have felt that Aerys deserved to die for the things he did.

[Errant Bard]

For me, he just wanted to kill him really bad, so when he donned his golden armour, he went to the bottom of things and did the deed himself rather than be hypocritical, kill messengers and wait for someone else to kill him. Ned should have understood: once you decide, you should swing the sword yourself.

[Mierin]

Ned should have understood: once you decide, you should swing the sword yourself.

I never understood Ned's reaction. They were having a bloody rebellion. And he gets pissed cause Jaime (the hero who killed the mad, evil king) is slacking on the throne?

Instead of being pissed right off the bat he should've gone: "Wooo, you killed the bastard! Awesome job! Chill out a bit on the throne, King Bob will be here soon enough."

But nooo... Jaime's the kingslayer, the mean oathbreaker. Well, guess what? All the guys starting the rebellion broke their oaths of allegiance to the king.

[cravenravenkeeper]

I never understood Ned's reaction. They were having a bloody rebellion. And he gets pissed cause Jaime (the hero who killed the mad, evil king) is slacking on the throne?

Instead of being pissed right off the bat he should've gone: "Wooo, you killed the bastard! Awesome job! Chill out a bit on the throne, King Bob will be here soon enough."

But nooo... Jaime's the kingslayer, the mean oathbreaker. Well, guess what? All the guys starting the rebellion broke their oaths of allegiance to the king.

Yea...butits worse cuz he's in the kingsguard. Be like if we had a second civil war, and just as the confederates stormed D.C. a Secret Service agent shot the president. It'd be worse wouldn't you agree?

[Liadin]

Tyrion does comment at one point that Jaime would never untie a knot if he could slash through it with his sword. I think his actions were informed by both his hatred of Aerys and his concern about the pyromancers (which wasn't wholly altruistic--Jaime was in that city too!). And yes, he might have come up with a better way, but he was 17 and aggressive and not all that smart, so "Kill the bastard!" is his knee-jerk reaction.

For me, he just wanted to kill him really bad, so when he donned his golden armour, he went to the bottom of things and did the deed himself rather than be hypocritical, kill messengers and wait for someone else to kill him. Ned should have understood: once you decide, you should swing the sword yourself.

Not sure that quite applies to Jaime and Aerys. Ned says that "the one who passes the sentence should swing the sword", but Jaime doesn't have the legal authority to pass any sentence on Aerys. Keeping Aerys captive until his father showed up and handing him over would still have been betraying his king (and would have been entirely justified anyway IMO), but I wouldn't describe it as "passing a sentence." Robert, or Tywin, would be the one doing that.

I never understood Ned's reaction. They were having a bloody rebellion. And he gets pissed cause Jaime (the hero who killed the mad, evil king) is slacking on the throne?

Pissed because it looked to him like Jaime wanted to stay on that throne.

But nooo... Jaime's the kingslayer, the mean oathbreaker. Well, guess what? All the guys starting the rebellion broke their oaths of allegiance to the king.

Degrees of magnitude. To go with the Secret Service example, it's the difference between a Secret Service member assassinating the president, and some random citizen who said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning all through grade school doing it. Besides, we don't even know if Ned had actually sworn allegiance to Aerys, given that he was neither the lord nor the heir until after the rebellion began.

[dolorouseddwasright]

Besides, we don't even know if Ned had actually sworn allegiance to Aerys, given that he was neither the lord nor the heir until after the rebellion began.

Good point. Aerys killed the Lord of Winterfell and his first born son. Eddard didn't necessarily have an oath of fealty to him at that point. So he wasn't really breaking his oath. Robert though, as eldest Baratheon, should have already sworn an oath. Then again, Robert wasn't really so great at worrying about things other than what currently pleased Robert. He may have been a great warrior in his prime, but as a lord he left a lot to be desired. And as king....not good.

[Ahmrogar]

Unless I'm mistaken, Aerys gave Eddard and Robert a reason to rebel.

For all they knew, his son kidnapped Eddard's sister (Robert's betrothed) and he ordered both father and brother to Ned killed. These acts pretty solidly serve to release both rebels from their oath, not to mention he was more or less planning to have them both killed.

Afterall, you may swear to serve, but there is the implied condition that the one you swear to won't abuse and attack you. If they do so you may take measures to protect yourself. Even the knights of the Kingsguard may defend themselves if a member of the royal blood attacks them.

As for Jaime and Aerys...Jaime is simply an impulsive and violent guy. To him Aerys needed to die and so he did it. That's pretty much as far as it goes. I, for one, agree with him (while not exactly agreeing that he should have seen to it personally). Everything we've heard of Aerys paints him to be quite the monster to me. In any case, Jaime was justified in doing this because it well and truly meant King's Landing was safe (to those who say Aerys was captured by then, we know this isn't enough, all it would take is one royalist with an ear to listen and the city could burn)...but as a Knight of the Kingsguard he shouldn't have done it himself, there were plenty of others who deserved to kill Aerys more.

[Liadin]

Good point. Aerys killed the Lord of Winterfell and his first born son. Eddard didn't necessarily have an oath of fealty to him at that point. So he wasn't really breaking his oath. Robert though, as eldest Baratheon, should have already sworn an oath.

Yes, Robert would definitely have sworn, and so Ned was supporting him in his oathbreaking whether Ned himself had sworn an oath or not. But what else were they supposed to do? Calmly travel to KL and give themselves up to be burned to death? Feudalism is a contract, after all--vassals owe the lord service, the lord owes the vassals protection. If the lord tries to kill the vassals, especially if they haven't done anything wrong, all bets are off.

[Darzin]

I think Jaime just snapped after being pushed around so long by Aery's, when he walks into the throne room the King asks him whose blood is on the sword and Jaime answers "Rossarts" and after that he has to kill him. I think Jaime's resentment of the King and tiredness of lies just led him to tell the truth and then live with the consequence

[Lady Blackfish]

I don't think Jaime's choice had anything to do with being pushed over the edge by Aerys, though he clearly disapproved of him. Jaime just doesn't know how to solve problems in any other way besides hacking at them, so that's what he did.

[Mad Monkey]

Luckily, for once, it actually turned out to be the right decision. If it wasn't for Jaime's actions -- reckless though they were -- Daenerys would have never attacked Slavers Bay. You could argue that Jaime emancipated the slaves of Meereen! In fact, that's probably how he's going to put it down in that White Book later when he hears about it.