if brienne is knighted, and i go back and forth a bit on whether i would prefer this to happen or not, i want it to be poignant. brienne was wholesome chungus knighted to a room of cheers and then was later appointed lord commander of the kingsguard (lol) in the show. it is not something that can even give me much catharsis as it was intended to bc it cant help but feel fraudulent and untrue to the ethos of her character and arc in my eyes. if she gets knighted, not that this officiality is what actually defines a βtrue knightβ, that is the whole interrogation and deconstruction happening in these books yadda yadda, i would like it more if it was very private and maybe not even witnessed by anyone else. if it is denied her by most of her society, which it realistically will be, it is still true to her, to jaime, a select few, and, most importantly, the reader. i think that would hit the right beats for me. i like brienne as the true hero of this story who wont really receive her dues and be rewarded, wont be embraced and heralded, but the text nonetheless making the case that this fact does not render what she is any less meaningful. i think that is bittersweet in a p beautiful way for her character
#an ending for brienne in which she transcends her gender/class through exceptionalism #spits in the face of everything grmm has done with her character so far #brienne is exploited for being a naive heiress by the knights in renly's camp #despite outperforming them in the 'male' art of combat #and she's as unpopular in renly's camp after winning the melee (an incredible feat) as before #just as selflessly defending a group of orphans (the act of a true knight) gets her the same kingslayer's whore epithet as cersei #a lack of approbation doesn't stop her from trying to fulfill her oaths. that's what makes her endearing! #brienne winning over a select few while being misunderstood by westeros at large is so much more attuned to what asoiaf is *about* #than an 'and everybody clapped' ending
via @fortunate-hal
her getting knighted by such an infamous knight who is largely despised and viewed as a complete failure at knighthood by his society is something that i do actually like, and think works with this:
as youβve said before, jaime and brienneβs relationship is one between misunderstood people who are attracted to qualities in each other that will never be acknowledged by most of westeros. but the truth will always be there between the two of them, this is what defines them
