Original subtitles

JAIME: "Kingslayer,"

a word every man and woman in Westeros spits at me,

though many can't even name the king l slayed.

l understand.

To them, l'm a symbol of everything they'll never have

and a warning that'll never apply.

So they can loathe me from the safety of their small lives.

'Cause when a dog goes mad, we put it down.

Why not a king?

l was never supposed to be on the Kingsguard.

Oh, as a boy l dreamed of the white cloak like all boys.

But l was heir to Tywin Lannister, Hand of the King.

lf he forbade the tides, the waves would cease.

Then l was 15,

and my father was congratulating me on my new knighthood in the Red Keep.

l wonder if that was the last time he was proud of me.

That night, there was a knock on my door

and l'd opened it to find my sister Cersei disguised as a simple serving girl.

l hadn't seen her since my father had taken her to court when she was 12.

She had grown up. As had l.

She told me that my father planned to marry me off to Lysa Tully.

But she could arrange for the King to raise me to the Kingsguard

so l could stay in the city with her.

All l had to do was agree.

l made the obvious objections. Our family, our father, Casterly Rock.

Until she asked,

"ls it a rock you want or me?"

Come morning, she had my consent.

l would join the Kingsguard for her.

l would forswear my lands and title for her.

l would forsake our family for her.

Soon, a royal raven commanded my father to present me to the King

during the great tourney at Harrenhal to say my vows.

My father erupted in fury.

He could not object openly,

but he resigned the Handship and returned to Casterly Rock,

taking Cersei with him.

lnstead of being together, Cersei and l exchanged places.

Then, everything started to fall apart.

At Harrenhal, King Aerys made a great show of my investiture.

l knelt before him in gleaming armor and swore the oath of the Kingsguard.

Once Ser Gerold Hightower raised me up and put the white cloak on my shoulders,

a roar went up from the crowd.

l admit, despite my father's anger, l was happy.

And foolish.

That very night Aerys soured, commanding me to return to the Red Keep

to guard the Queen and little Prince Viserys.

Ser Gerold offered to take that duty himself so l might compete in the tourney,

but Aerys refused.

"He'll win no glory here," the King said.

"He's mine now, not Tywin's. He'll serve as l see fit."

That was when l understood.

lt was not my skill or valor that had won me this honor.

The Mad King had chosen me to spite my father and steal his heir.

l wanted to rip off the white cloak, but it was too late.

A Kingsguard serves for life.

So l upheld my oath,

confined to the Red Keep where Varys could watch me

and where the headsman could find me if my father displeased the King.

l served the King's pleasure

as he burned Rickard Stark alive and strangled his son, inciting the rebellion.

l defended the King's honor against courtiers

as his generals lost battle after battle with Robert.

l kept the King's secrets

when his pyromancers had caches of wildfire beneath King's Landing.

l gave the King counsel when my father's army was at the city gate

and Grand Maester Pycelle lied that my father had come to save him.

Many forget that l also tried to defend the King from harm.

When the Lannister soldiers poured through the gates,

it fell to me to hold the Red Keep as the only Kingsguard in the city.

l knew we were lost and sent to Aerys asking his leave to make terms.

My man came back with the royal command.

"Bring me your father's head if you are no traitor."

Aerys would have no yielding.

His pyromancer was with him, my messenger said.

l knew what that meant.

Aerys Targaryen was alone in his throne room when l found him

picking at his scabbed and bleeding hands.

The fool was always cutting himself on the lron Throne.

"Burn them ! Burn them !" he kept muttering.

Aerys had decided to let Robert be king, after all,

over the charred bones and ashes of King's Landing.

He must have thought his pyromancer was near enough to obey him,

but l'd killed him a few minutes before in the courtyard.

As l approached the throne,

sanity flashed behind the King's eyes for a moment,

just long enough to read the look in mine.

His eyes grew huge and the royal mouth drooped open in shock.

He turned and ran.

A single thrust was all it took to end the greatest dynasty the world had ever seen.

Beneath the empty eyes of the dead dragons on the walls,

the last dragon king squealed like a pig and shat himself.

So easy, l thought.

A king should die harder than this.

My father's knights burst into the hall in time to see the last of it,

so there was no way for me to vanish and let some bragger steal the glory or blame.

l knew at once when l saw the way they looked at me.

lt would be blame.

Lannister or no, l'd been one of Aerys' Kingsguard.

l commanded them to announce that the Mad King was dead,

and to spare all those who yielded.

They asked me if they should proclaim a new king as well.

l knew what they meant.

Would it be my father or Robert Baratheon,

or maybe the child Viserys who'd fled to Dragonstone?

A Targaryen boy king with my father's hand to rule in truth.

l thought of how Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon would howl

at this end to their great heroic war,

and l was tempted.

Then l glanced down again at Aerys,

his life's blood oozing from the wound and pooling on the floor around him.

"Proclaim who you bloody well like," l said.

l climbed the steps to the lron Throne and sat on it with my sword across my knees,

waiting to see who would come to claim the kingdom.