The Abbreviated Knight’s Oath of Ser Brienne of Tarth

Brienne knighted by Jaime

In Game of Thrones, season 8, episode 2, on the eve of a highly anticipated battle between the forces of the living and the dead, Lady Brienne of Tarth makes Westerosi history by becoming the first woman knight. She is knighted by Ser Jaime Lannister who administers an abbreviated knight’s oath which requires only 3 of the normal 7 vows. Jaime did this intentionally to save Brienne from the burden and curse of oath-breaking that Jaime bears.

Background

In Game of Thrones, season 2, episode 7, “A Man Without Honor” Jaime Lannister encounters Brienne of Tarth for the first time while he’s a captive of Robb Stark. Brienne is in the service of Lady Catelyn Stark and accompanies her to Jaime’s makeshift cell. Jaime has recently killed a Karstark soldier and Lady Stark is concerned that Jaime won’t survive the night with the troops drinking and their bloodlust for Jaime’s death rising.

Against Robb’s wishes, Lady Stark’s has a plan to save her daughters’ lives. To the best of her knowledge, her daughters Sansa and Arya Stark remain captive at King’s Landing. Her plan is to exchange Jaime for her daughters under the supervision of Lady Brienne. Brienne and Jaime will journey to King’s Landing and Brienne will return with her daughters. Lady Stark fears for her daughters’ lives if Jaime is killed while in captivity.

[Jaime] Come to say goodbye, Lady Stark? I believe it’s my last night in this world. [Referring to Brienne] Is that a woman?

[Catelyn] Do you hear them out there? They want your head.

Old Lord Karstark doesn’t seem to like me.

You strangled his son with your chains.

Oh, oh. Was he the one on guard duty? He was in my way. Any knight would have done the same.

You are no knight. You have forsaken every vow you ever took.

So many vows. They make you swear and swear. Defend the king, obey the king, obey your father, protect the innocent, defend the weak. But what if your father despises the king? What if the king massacres the innocent? It’s too much. No matter what you do, you’re forsaking one vow or another. [Again referring to Brienne] Where did you find this beast?

She is a truer knight than you will ever be, Kingslayer.

Kingslayer. What a king he was. Here’s to Aerys Targaryen, the Second of His Name, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm, and to the sword I shoved in his back.

You are a man without honor.

Jaime here shows some of the burden he carries as an oath-breaker and kingslayer and possible rationale behind his actions. What do you do when you’ve taken conflicting oaths?

Under the cover of night, Brienne and Jaime flee Robb Stark’s camp and begin the trek to King’s Landing. Some time later they are captured by Bolton soldiers loyal to Robb Stark. Jaime saves Brienne from sexual assault by deceiving the commanding soldier, Locke, telling him that Brienne’s father will pay a fortune for her ransom but only if she is unharmed. But Jaime pushes his luck trying to free himself and Locke cuts off Jaime’s right hand, his sword hand. This has a devastating effect on Jaime.

Locke and the Bolton soldiers bring Jaime and Brienne to Lord Bolton who has Jaime’s wounds treated and provides them with quarters. Later while Brienne is bathing alone in a large communal bath, a sick and weak Jaime enters to bathe. From season 3, episode 5, Kissed by Fire:

[Jaime] Not so hard. You’ll scrub the skin off.

[Brienne] What are you doing here?

I need a bath. Help me out of these rags. Now get out.

There’s another tub.

This one suits me fine. Don’t worry. I’m not interested. If I faint, pull me out. I don’t intend to be the first Lannister to die in a bathtub.

Why should I care how you die?

You swore a solemn vow, remember? You’re supposed to get me to King’s Landing in one piece. Not going so well, is it? No wonder Renly died with you guarding him. [Brienne stands, indignant, ignoring her own nakedness] That was unworthy. Forgive me. You protected me better than most.

Don’t you mock me.

I’m apologizing. I’m sick of fighting. Let’s call a truce.

You need trust to have a truce.

I trust you. There it is. There’s the look. I’ve seen it for 17 years on face after face. You all despise me. Kingslayer. Oathbreaker. A man without honor. You’ve heard of wildfire?

Of course.

The Mad King was obsessed with it. He loved to watch people burn, the way their skin blackened and blistered and melted off their bones. He burned lords he didn’t like. He burned Hands who disobeyed him. He burned anyone who was against him. Before long, half the country was against him. Aerys saw traitors everywhere. So he had his pyromancer place caches of wildfire all over the city — beneath the Sept of Baelor and the slums of Flea Bottom. Under houses, stables, taverns. Even beneath the Red Keep itself. Finally, the day of reckoning came. Robert Baratheon marched on the capital after his victory at the Trident. But my father arrived first with the whole Lannister army at his back, promising to defend the city against the rebels. I knew my father better than that. He’s never been one to pick the losing side. I told the Mad King as much. I urged him to surrender peacefully. But the king didn’t listen to me. He didn’t listen to Varys who tried to warn him. But he did listen to Grand Maester Pycelle, that grey, sunken cunt. “You can trust the Lannisters,” he said. “The Lannisters have always been true friends of the crown.“ So we opened the gates and my father sacked the city. Once again, I came to the king, begging him to surrender. He told me to bring him my father’s head. Then he turned to his pyromancer. “Burn them all,” he said. “Burn them in their homes. Burn them in their beds. “ Tell me, if your precious Renly commanded you to kill your own father and stand by while thousands of men, women, and children burned alive, would you have done it? Would you have kept your oath then? First, I killed the pyromancer. And then when the king turned to flee, I drove my sword into his back. “Burn them all,” he kept saying. “Burn them all. “ I don’t think he expected to die. He — he meant to burn with the rest of us and rise again, reborn as a dragon to turn his enemies to ash. I slit his throat to make sure that didn’t happen. That’s where Ned Stark found me.

If this is true why didn’t you tell anyone? Why didn’t you tell Lord Stark?

Stark? You think the honorable Ned Stark wanted to hear my side? He judged me guilty the moment he set eyes on me. By what right does the wolf judge the lion? By what right… [nearly passes out]

Help! Help! The Kingslayer!

Jaime. My name is Jaime.

Jaime confides in Brienne the truth, something he has probably only done with his family. She is one of the few people who know the truth behind Jaime’s act of regicide. He broke his oath to protect the king in order to keep his oath to protect the young and innocent. He chose the lesser of two evils and has payed for it with his honor for nearly two decades. Before this moment she has only called him Kingslayer and after this moment she only calls him Ser Jaime.

Years pass and Brienne and Jaime occasionally interact. Jaime has given Brienne armor and a sword which she names “Oathkeeper”.

The Knighting of Lady Brienne

Finally Jaime and Brienne find themselves both in Winterfell on the eve of the great battle between the living and the dead. Jamie and Brienne and a few others share the camaraderie of soldiers before a battle whose outcome is uncertain. With the backdrop of stories of knights and battles, Tormund Giantsbane, a wildling, questions why Brienne is not a knight.

[Tormund] She’s not a ser? You’re not a knight?

[Brienne] Women can’t be knights.

Why not?

Tradition.

Fuck tradition.

[Brienne, lying] I don’t even want to be a knight.

I’m no king. But if I were, I’d knight you 10 times over.

[Jaime] You don’t need a king. Any knight can make another knight. I’ll prove it. Kneel, Lady Brienne.

[Brienne scoffs]

[Jaime] Do you want to be a knight or not? Kneel.

[Brienne kneels before Jaime]

In the name of the Warrior, I charge you to be brave.
In the name of the Father, I charge you to be just.
In the name of the Mother, I charge you to defend the innocent.
Arise, Brienne of Tarth a knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

[ALL CLAPPING] Ser Brienne of Tarth! Knight of the Seven Kingdoms!

Jaime performs the knighting ceremony and charges Brienne with just 3 of the the 7 vows. The books and the show have never shown all 7 parts of the knight’s oath. But the fourth vow is known.

In the name of the Maid, I charge you to protect all women.

The remaining 3 vows likely follow a similar structure representing an aspect of the Faith of the Seven.

In the name of the Smith, I charge you to _________.
In the name of the Crone, I charge you to _________.
In the name of the Stranger, I charge you to _________.

So why does Jaime make Brienne pledge only those 3 vows? Why did he omit the oath to protect all women? Jaime, of all people, knows of at least one woman who is wicked and beyond saving — Cersei. Jaime omits the vow to protect all women so that Brienne can bring justice to Cersei if the time comes.

With this abbreviated knight’s oath, Jaime is protecting Brienne from his shame and stigma of oathbreaking. Jaime includes only the vows that can never conflict. Be brave, be just, and defend the innocent. These are the vows that Jaime himself has tried to uphold. And these are the vows that Brienne could never betray.