Fans will likely go into the supersized finale wondering what might go wrong for the show's plucky band of heroes; after all, everything else has gone wrong, including losing allies to Cersei and losing Viserion to the Night King. But this Game Of Thrones Season 7 finale photo of Cersei and Jaime hints that things might finally be about to go wrong for the Lannister queen. After a season of unexpected victories, is the new ruler of Westeros about to experience her first decisive defeat… from the person she expects to betray her the least? Will Jaime finally leave Cersei on Game Of Thrones? That seems like a distinct possibility based on this new picture.
For most of the penultimate season, Jaime Lannister has stood stalwartly by his sister's side. This came as something of a surprise to viewers, who expected Cersei's burning of the Sept to have more of an affect on the Kingslayer, given his history with monarchs and wildfire. In general, show-Jaime has remained more devoted to his lover than book-Jaime… but the seams in their fraught relationship might finally be beginning to fray, if the expression on Jaime's face in this finale photo is any indication. This is the look of a man with zero chill.
It's clear that Jaime is troubled by whatever actions Cersei is taking during the climactic tête-à-tête at the Dragonpit. Could her duplicitous decisions be enough to finally drive him from her side? The schism between Cersei and Jaime grows much sooner and more quickly in the books than it did on the show; during Tyrion's escape at the end of the third book, A Storm Of Swords, the Imp tells his older brother that Cersei has been sleeping with their cousin Lancel, as well as a Kingsguard knight named Ser Osmund Kettleblack.
The revelation of Cersei's infidelity drives a wedge between Jaime and his lover in the fourth book, A Feast For Crows. He declines her offer to be Hand of the King to Tommen; he reflects on their relationship while he's off ending the siege of Riverrun; and by the time she writes him begging for help in her upcoming trial-by-combat against the Faith, he ignores her pleas and burns the letter, leaving her to her fate.
The show took a very different way to get there, but it could finally be getting to the long-brewing estrangement between the Lannister twins. The Jaime who sits beside his sister in the finale looks very different from the Jaime who stood beside his queen in the premiere.
The valonqar prophecy (which, it should be stressed, was never actually spoken on the show) was thrown for a loop when Cersei revealed her pregnancy earlier in Season 7. While it's possible to imagine Jaime getting to a point where he kills Cersei, it's virtually impossible to imagine him also killing his own unborn child. But being abandoned by her lover, her greatest general, and her longest-running ally — just as the Night King prepares to invade Westeros — might be even more damaging to Cersei in the long run than a quick and merciful death.
After everything Jaime has been through in Season 7 — learning the truth of his son's death, nearly roasted alive by Drogon, threatened by his sister/lover/queen — Cersei's devious plans in the finale might be the straw that break the lion's back. And if Jaime abandons Cersei (perhaps even going over to Jon and Dany's side?), then that will set up the juiciest conflict yet between the Lannisters heading into the eighth and final season.
