Following one of the most stunning battles ever filmed, featuring thousands of Dothraki on horseback and a dragon attack, Game of Thrones‘ fans have one very important question: why was the river so deep at the shore?
Yes we like to nitpick, but in fairness Jaime Lannister‘s deep plunge into the depths of the Blackwater seemed weird since Bronn tackled him right along the coast. However it turns out that might not be as strange or impossible as it seems. Unlike Jaime’s chances of surviving it on his own.
Reddit user Fhaarkas made this graphic using the description of another large river in Westeros to explain how Jaime might have sunk so far down .
[MAIN SPOILERS] An illustration of S07E04 ending from gameofthrones
Jaime went into the Blackwater Rush just outside of King’s Landing, not the Mander River in the Reach, but the description of the Mander could tell us something about the Blackwater. That’s because the Blackwater is also deep, just like Blackwater Bay which was deep enough that Stannis’s large warships could sail down it right to King’s Landing.
Do we think every River in Westeros goes from a couple inches deep to a million in just a few feet? Probably not, but it’s not impossible some of them do.
Which gets to a question that actually matters: can Jaime survive the plunge?
In an interview with The New York Times Nikolaj Coster-Waldau talked about the difficulties of filming the sequence, especially while submerged, and what Jaime was wearing.
“It seems impossible to survive that. Luckily, he’s not wearing the Kingsguard armor, which is made of brass.”
Brass is heavier than steel, which is likely what Jaime’s current suit of armor is made of. That should help, as well as the fact he didn’t seem to be wearing a full suit (which can weigh close to 100 pounds) because even the strongest warriors need help getting in and out of them. Brienne, calmly sitting by a fire, required her squire Pod to help her be free of hers.
But even if his partial suit only weighs 50 pounds a one-handed man under water who can’t see doesn’t seem to have much of a chance of making it out on his own. So when Jaime survives (sorry, “if” he survives, as though the show would have him go out like this right now), it will be because someone saves him, and his lighter, incomplete steel armor might make that possible.
We imagine the first question his rescuer ask will be how he sunk so low just five feet from shore. And that’s a totally fair, not nitpicky question. Sorta.
What do you think about Jaime’s seemingly way-too-deep plunge? Will he make it out? Swim into our comments below and let us know.
Game of Thrones Images: HBO
