Game of Thrones' season 8 gave us the most iconic love triangle of all between Ser Jaime, Ser Brienne and Tormund Giantsbane
The second episode of Game of Thrones' last and eighth season was aptly titled 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.' From an all-around tension related to the night before the great war to the significant plot developments that we saw happening, they still have us reeling in awe. But the most undeniably wholesome bit in the episode was definitely Jaime Lannister turning Brienne of Tarth from a Lady to a Ser - and as thrilled as we are about the most deserving woman becoming an official knight of the seven kingdoms, there's also no denying the possible love triangle brewing between her, Jaime, and Tormund Giantsbane, who evidently has the biggest crush on Brienne.
In the past, we have seen Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) and Jaime's (Nikolaj Coster Waldau) relationship evolve from him being her prisoner to saving her life before she was able to deliver him to the Lannisters safe and sound. It was during that time, that the mutual respect and admiration they share for each other developed, and over time it only grew to bigger heights, with Brienne vouching for Jaime's loyalty during his trial at Winterfell, and later, Jaime requesting her to allow him to fight in the battle under her leadership. That Jaime and Brienne are firm friends at this point of the story is no secret, but there's also a high possibility that it's beyond friendship and more along the lines of love, which drives them to act the way they do towards each other.
In an interview with The Wrap, Waldau admitted that Jaime knighting Brienne - making the character's childhood dream come true - was definitely "an act of love." Whether this love was of the romantic kind or platonic, he did not confirm, but instead, he went on to mention how that admirable gesture was deeply inspired by Tormund (Kristofer Hivju.) In that particular scene that we saw in the second episode, Brienne says women can't be knights because of tradition and Tormund is the first one to quickly disagree with the woman he has so clearly fallen for. In a brave and gallant manner, he announced "F**k tradition," which Waldau says is what inspires Jaime to go on to knight her. And he does so because like he reminds everyone, you don't need a king to knight anyone. Any knight can knight another person, so of course, Jaime becomes the knight in shining armor, turning Lady Brienne into Ser Brienne of Tarth.
Tormund wins us over by proceeding to say that if he were a king, he would knight her ten times over and in that moment, we agreed with the wildling, and also couldn't help but notice the depth of his admiration for Brienne, which might be stronger than his romantic interest in her. So as Brienne gets knighted by the one man she is secretly in love with and respects above any other man in all of seven kingdoms, as thrilled as we are for her, we can't help rooting for something to transpire between her and Tormund either.
At this point we know Jaime's feelings for Bienne aren't just that of a pal's; he is equally in awe of the woman and probably even secretly reciprocates the feelings she has for him. But Tormund is not just a man with a crush in Brienne's books anymore. He is the one who insisted on how deserving she is of being knighted, so ideally, he deserves to have a shot with her just as much as Jaime does.
Let's also not forget that Tormund's romantic interest in Brienne isn't something new. The man has been into the "big woman," as he refers to her, since the moment he first saw her. It was her battle and combat skills that won him over and it did not take him much time to decide that she was the one for him. Brienne and Jaime's story, on the other hand, is one for the books - that goes through trials and tribulations, evolves over time and has finally reached solid ground. So to say that either is more deserving of our favorite kickass warrior from the show wouldn't be justified, which is why we are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping they survive the battle of the North so we get to see some signature juicy GoT style love triangle pan out between the trio before the series gets over.
'Game of Thrones' airs on Sundays at 9pm only on HBO.
