Game of Thrones - Lord Snow *

Robert Baratheon: What about Aerys Targaryen? What did the Mad King say when you stabbed him in the back? I never asked. Did he call you a traitor? Did he plead for a reprieve?

Jaime Lannister: He said the same thing he'd been saying for hours... "Burn them all".

Jaime Lannister: It must be strange for you... coming into this room. I was standing right here when it happened. He was very brave, your brother. Your father too. They didn't deserve to die like that. Nobody deserves to die like that.

Eddard Stark: But you just stood there and watched.

Jaime Lannister: Five hundred men just stood there and watched. All the great knights of the Seven Kingdoms. You think anyone said a word, lifted a finger? No, Lord Stark. Five hundred men and this room was silent as a crypt. Except for the screams, of course, and the mad king laughing. And later... when I watched the mad king die, I remembered him laughing as your father burned... it felt like justice.

Eddard Stark: Is that what you tell yourself at night? You're a servant of justice? That you were avenging my father when you shoved your sword in Aerys Targaryen's back?

Jaime Lannister: Tell me: if I'd stabbed the mad king in the belly instead of the back, would you admire me more?

Eddard Stark: You served him well when serving was safe.

So I’ve been chewing on the “Kingslayer”/ “Kingsword”, Jaime Lannister. I finished Lord Snow last night and stared up at the ceiling (yeah, I know) pondering whether or not [besides his incorrigible actions regarding Bran’s near-demise] Jaime’s past response in “silencing” the mad king as he was “burning all” wasn’t in right. I had two separate discussions where different sides saw Jaime’s actions as both in his best interest and the best interest of what remained. For any order to be restored, Aerys had to be “removed” from the throne. Robert, and the rebellion, the surge that eventually overtook the Targaryens, Jaime’s sword earning him the dreaded moniker of the slayer of king appeared to be needed. But were Jaime’s actions more about the results: Cersei is the queen to Robert’s king, his beloved [instant gag reflex] sister/lover is positioned as is their [*gag*] child, Joffrey. Those intense scenes where Jaime is face-to-face with Ned and in the room with Robert, both with no qualms hiding their disdain for him, their choice words used to sting. There is no doubt that the Lannisters are in prime position to take the throne (and we know they eventually do), and Jaime’s use of his sword to kill the mad king is the catalyst.