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The sprawling world of Game of Thrones can be confusing, so we're here to help you understand with some insight and context from a book reader. Here's the backstory on Jaime and Cersei's rape scene, why Tywin wants to help Prince Oberyn and Dorne, and what the new King Tommen is all about. Once you've read our recap of the "Breaker of Chains" episode, we'll guide you through what you may have missed. No spoilers, we promise.
Jaime and Cersei's rape scene
Jaime and Cersei's twincest has always been disturbing, but their relationship issues turned up to 11 when Jaime forced himself on her in the holy sept, right next to the body of their dead son, Joffrey. In the books, the scene begins with similar forcefulness and Cersei's resistance, but then turns into ecstasy for both parties. The AV Club pulled the original lines from the third book, A Storm of Swords.
"'No,' she said weakly when his lips moved down her neck, 'not here. The septons…'"
Yet Jaime continues to forcefully unclothe her, and Cersei eventually comes around to his pushiness.
“Hurry,” she was whispering now, “quickly, quickly, now, do it now, do me now. Jaime Jaime Jaime.” Her hands helped guide him. “Yes,” Cersei said as he thrust, “my brother, sweet brother, yes, like that, yes, I have you, you’re home now, you’re home now, you’re home.”
That complicated scene still sounds quite a bit like a rape, but last night's episode never got to the "Yes" part. The scene begins with Cersei yelling "Stop it," and ends with her yelling "It's not right. Don't!" There didn't seem to be that turn into a consensual encounter, and the entire scene appears to be a clear case of Jaime raping Cersei. But that's not how the episode's director Alex Graves sees it. "Well, it becomes consensual by the end, because anything for them ultimately results in a turn-on, especially a power struggle," he said in an interview with HitFix. Similarly, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the actor who plays Jaime, says the answer to whether it was rape is "yes and no," he told the Daily Beast. “There are moments where she gives in, and moments where she pushes him away."