'Game of Thrones' star Gwendoline Christie on Brienne of Tarth's tragic heartbreak in season 8
Spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8 episode 4
This week's episode of 'Game of Thrones' saw something special for Brienne of Tarth. The tall, strong, fiercely loyal soldier and Knight ended up getting her heart broken by someone she really counted on - the Kingslayer, the man who always finds his way to his sister Cersei, Jamie Lannister. Actor Gwendoline Christie, who plays Brienne on the show has opened up about the iconic story arc in a recent interview with Variety.
"She has let her armor down. It was essential for the character to evolve beyond what we’d seen so far, which was her strength and ability at fighting and physical combat. We get to see something else of this woman’s emotional world and how she’s developed over the years," she said. She also added that although she did enjoy shooting in her "beautifully designed but excruciating armor" it was nice to shoot without it for a bit.
After a handful of seasons of watching the Tormund-Brienne of Tarth-Jamie Lannister love triangle on 'Game of Thrones', the lady finally made her choice this episode. But it looks like Brienne made the wrong choice. Brienne and Jamie shared a glorious night of taking off each other's shirts after the living folk celebrate the victory of the living. She rejected Tormund's final moves to impress her and in the process ends up breaking her own heart.
"I remember I went to do my stunt training and horse-riding training and that’s where the character was first born. It’s where the relationship with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau first developed. That day it meant such a great deal because I’m looking around at the crew — some of whom I will not work with again on ‘Game of Thrones’ — I’m looking at that set which I will not film on again, and it’s been an experience that has changed my life beyond all comprehension and afforded me an acting career,” Christie said.
The character, she said, forced her to look inside and made her grow as a person. "Brienne really made me examine the parts of myself that I thought needed to be concealed, that I felt that society was telling me weren’t good enough,” Christie says. “I was embarrassed to confront my androgyny, or my strength, or my masculinity and what I felt about female empowerment and gender politics and the inconsistencies in my body and face. I was forced to confront all of those things to get into the character and that has been a great gift," she said.
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