Brienne is in love with Jaime.

[Chickren]

Brienne of Tarth is in full on, undeniable, sexually attracted, romantic love with Jaime Lannister.

My Case...

If Brienne loved Renly Baratheon:

Brienne dropped to her knees. "If I must part from Your Grace, grant me the honor of arming you for battle."

Catelyn heard someone snigger behind her. She loves him, poor thing, she thought sadly. She’d play his squire just to touch him, and never care how great a fool they think her.. (Catelyn III, ACOK)

...And then Jaime replaces Renly in her mind:

And when the shadow sword sliced through the green steel gorget and the blood began to flow, she saw that the dying king was not Renly after all but Jaime Lannister, and she had failed him. (Brienne II, AFFC)

...And another of her former suitors (Red Ronnet Connington) becomes Jaime:

As he walked away, the griffins on his cloak rippled and blurred and changed to lions. Jaime! she wanted to cry. Jaime, come back for me! (Brienne VIII, AFFC)

We can conclude Jaime has replaced Renly in Brienne's affections. But one could argue Brienne's love for Renly fell into safe, juvenile crush territory.

So how does Brienne's relationship with Jaime differ from her relationship with Renly?

Renly pretty much had her at hello:

And Renly Baratheon had shown her every courtesy, as if she were a proper maid, and pretty. He even danced with her, and in his arms she’d felt graceful, and her feet had floated across the floor. Later others begged a dance of her, because of his example. (Brienne I, AFFC)

Whereas Brienne's first exposure to Jaime is when he lists his worst sins while she waits outside the door of his cell at Riverrun:

"Joffrey is mine. As are the rest of Cersei’s brood, I suppose." [Jaime]

"I seldom fling children from towers to improve their health. Yes, I meant for him to die." [Jaime]

[Jaime] lifted his cup. "To Aerys Targaryen, the Second of His Name, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm. And to the sword that opened his throat."

(Catelyn VII, ACOK)

And certainly Renly's initial kindness is a contrast to Jaime's initial jackassness:

"Tell me, wench, are all the women on Tarth as homely as you? I pity the men, if so. Perhaps they do not know what real women look like, living on a dreary mountain in the sea." (Jaime I, ASOS)

Brienne almost immediately falls for Renly:

From that day forth, she wanted only to be close to Lord Renly, to serve him and protect him. (Brienne I, AFFC)

While Brienne hates Jaime at first, seeing him as the anti-thesis of all that she stands for:

"It is a rare and precious gift to be a knight," she said, "and even more so a knight of the Kingsguard. It is a gift given to few, a gift you scorned and soiled."

A gift you want desperately, wench, and can never have. "[...] It was that white cloak that soiled me, not the other way around. So spare me your envy. It was the gods who neglected to give you a cock, not me."

The look Brienne gave him then was full of loathing. She would gladly hack me to pieces, but for her precious vow, he reflected. (Jaime II, ASOS)

Brienne's physical memory of Renly is distant and idealized:

Renly had been lean and lithe, [...] King Renly’s hair had been that same coal black, but his had always been washed and brushed and combed. Sometimes he cut it short, and sometimes he let it fall loose to his shoulders, or tied it back behind his head with a golden ribbon, but it was never tangled or matted with sweat. And though his eyes had been that same deep blue, Lord Renly’s eyes had always been warm and welcoming, full of laughter, [...] (Brienne VII, AFFC)

As opposed to her initial physical exposure to Jaime when he is at his lowest point, probably ever, as far as physical appearance and grooming:

The reflection in the water was a man he did not know. Not only was he bald, but he looked as though he had aged five years in that dungeon; his face was thinner, with hollows under his eyes and lines he did not remember. (Jaime I, ASOS)

And lest there be any doubt Brienne has seen and experienced Jaime at his physical and emotional worst, we have these moments:

He had never known there could be such pain. Sometimes, unbidden, old prayers bubbled from his lips, prayers he learned as a child and never thought of since, prayers he had first prayed with Cersei kneeling beside him in the sept at Casterly Rock. Sometimes he even wept, until he heard the Mummers laughing. (Jaime IV, ASOS)

They made Brienne wash the vomit out of his beard, just as they made her clean him up when he soiled himself in the saddle. (Jaime IV, ASOS)

Brienne's relationship with Jaime differs from her relationship with Renly in other areas as well.

She and Jaime are able to read one another, and reach one another, with startling efficacy:

"Jaime," Brienne whispered, so faintly he thought he was dreaming it. "Jaime, what are you doing?"

"Dying," he whispered back.

"No," she said, "no, you must live."

He wanted to laugh. "Stop telling me what do, wench. I’ll die if it pleases me."

"Are you so craven?"

The word shocked him.[...]

Craven, Jaime thought, as Brienne fought to stifle her moans. Can it be? They took my sword hand. Was that all I was, a sword hand? Gods be good, is it true?

The wench had the right of it. He could not die. Cersei was waiting for him.(Jaime IV, ASOS)

This stands in contrast to the reality of Brienne's relationship with Renly, as Loras tells Jaime how little Renly actually knew or cared for Brienne:

"Renly thought she was absurd. A woman dressed in man’s mail, pretending to be a knight."[...]

"I asked him why he kept her close, if he thought her so grotesque. He said that all his other knights wanted things of him, castles or honors or riches, but all that Brienne wanted was to die for him." (Jaime VIII, ASOS)

We also have some evidence that Brienne's feelings for Jaime are of an earthier, more concrete nature than her feelings for Renly.

For instance, we know Brienne finds Jaime super hawt sexually attractive:

The bathhouse had been thick with the steam rising off the water, and Jaime had come walking through that mist naked as his name day, looking half a corpse and half a god. He climbed into the tub with me, she remembered, blushing. (Brienne II, AFFC)

... And that Brienne contemplates how she might make a successful romantic play for Jaime:

Or I could take the kingsroad south, Brienne thought. I could slink back to King’s Landing, confess my failure to Ser Jaime, give him back his sword, and find a ship to carry me home to Tarth, as the Elder Brother urged. The thought was a bitter one, yet there was part of her that yearned for Evenfall and her father, and another part that wondered if Jaime would comfort her should she weep upon his shoulder. That was what men wanted, wasn’t it? Soft helpless women that they needed to protect? (Brienne VII, AFFC)

So, as we see, Brienne has no illusions about Jaime. It would be impossible for him to hold the idealized, safely distant place in her heart Renly once occupied. She has seen Jaime at his absolute worst and seems to have fallen in love with him despite her efforts to return her thoughts to Renly. For Brienne, this is a case of full-blown romantic love.

I know, tl;dr.

But it's difficult to discuss anything about Brienne's character or future storyline without taking her love for Jaime into account, and somehow a few readers seem to have missed it (ie: every Brienne thread ever).

[Morienthar]

She's more Fangirl and Awestruck than actually in love with Jaime.

[Dryhtscipe]

I don't think Brienne is in love with Jaime.

I do think that Jaime is very important to her, because they've been through a lot in each other's company.

[Lion of Judah]

I'm sure Brienne will put that stump to good use. :ack:

[IRON BANK]

She more than likely is falling for Jaime, and that is why Jaime will use her tothe very end. It will probably cost Brienne her life.

[Hukthagz]

I'm sure Brienne will put that stump to good use. :ack:

Amputee sex is the best sex.

[Dolan Baratheon]

I want Jaime to finger Brienne's myrish swamp in TWOW.

[Nossus]

That's a whole lot of citations for something so obvious.

[MasterJack]

Jaime has a thing for women who want to be a man. And Brienne will accept only someone stronger than her, which was Jaime.. until the hand incident, but he is working hard to reach to top 10 once again.

[Castellan]

She's more Fangirl and Awestruck than actually in love with Jaime.

Well that's being picky what people call love isn't always some fully adult and well adjusted appropriate connection.....

Its more interesting to me that he is at least somewhat in love with her.

[DogLover]

Both Brienne and Jaime have feelings for each other that are still developing, but they are both moving towards a romantic, sexual attraction.

[Ours if the Fury]

Probably but i don't care because she is the most horrible boring character in the books she should have died already and is about to in the WoW if she survives the series i will be dissapionted in GRRM !!!

[The Weirwoods Eyes]

Well d'err. Brienne and Jamie falling in love has been one of the most obvious threads running through the latter books. How anyone misses it I don't understand. I can only guess that those who don't see it are blinded by Brienne's less than stunning looks and just assume that means he won't be atracted to her, whilst completely missing the fact that their feelings for one another are coming from a more intimate place than meere looks. As the OP pointerd out Brienne's feelings develop during a time when he is repulsivly filthy, with a fetted stump, and she is having to clean shit off of him.

Somehow I doubt that this is a time where she's thinking oh my you do have a nice arse.

Where as from his perspective this is a woman who has impressed him with her sword skills, who is honest and true and who teaches him a lot about honor, she gives him strength when he is weak, and cares for him when he is in his most vulnerable weakened posistion. A man who was proud, haughty, big headed and vain.

He starts to see beyond her plain face and odd size and see's her inner beauty and the fact she has amazing eyes. And in the bath scene we know he is arroused by her.

Yea IMO those who argue they are not in love and mutually atracted to one another are in dennial.

[Slender Aimry Hill]

People seem to fall into two camps over this - those who will never accept it until it happens explicitly and those who think it's basically self-evident. I am in the latter group.

Good job preaching to the diehard naysayers, though! And these quotations were a pleasure to reread.

[Lady Liselle]

I think they're both falling in love with each other, but they don't realise they're falling in love with each other, though it's slowly becoming more apparent to them. I think for Jaime, it's hard to accept the fact that he might be capable of loving someone who a.) isn't Cersei and b.) isn't pretty, and for Brienne it's hard to accept the terrible things Jaime has done in the past (pushing Bran out of the window etc.), coupled with the fact that she has a deep-seated mistrust of men because of the way they've behaved around her before. So I think it will take some time before they both acknowledge how they feel about each other, but I'm hoping they will eventually. I'm really rooting for this pairing, but I'm fairly sure something horrible is going to happen to one or both of them before the end. Let's face it; there aren't exactly many happy endings in the world of Westeros :(

(By the way; hi. I'm new here :) )

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

I thought it was obvious that Brienne was in love with Jaime. Apparently not judging by the first few replies.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

I think they're both falling in love with each other, but they don't realise they're falling in love with each other, though it's slowly becoming more apparent to them. I think for Jaime, it's hard to accept the fact that he might be capable of loving someone who a.) isn't Cersei and b.) isn't pretty, and for Brienne it's hard to accept the terrible things Jaime has done in the past (pushing Bran out of the window etc.), coupled with the fact that she has a deep-seated mistrust of men because of the way they've behaved around her before. So I think it will take some time before they both acknowledge how they feel about each other, but I'm hoping they will eventually. I'm really rooting for this pairing, but I'm fairly sure something horrible is going to happen to one or both of them before the end. Let's face it; there aren't exactly many happy endings in the world of Westeros :(

(By the way; hi. I'm new here :) )

Welcome aboard! :cheers: Good first post. I completely agree with you.

[Lady Liselle]

Aw, thanks! :D

:cheers:

[Rose-Papillon]

Brienne's got it BAAAAAD. Completely in love.

Probably but i don't care because she is the most horrible boring character in the books she should have died already and is about to in the WoW if she survives the series i will be dissapionted in GRRM !!!

Your use of grammar is astounding. I must surely listen to your point of view.

[Grand Moff Mithrandir]

Yep! She really digs the dude.