On a certain other forum site discussing the show, I saw many book fans complaining that Jaime's actions this episode were out of character, and that they made him an even more evil villian. I disagree. (the following is the same I posted over there at westeros.org)

I found Jaime's killing of Alton to be completely in character; yes it was cold blooded (and coldly logical), and yes it makes him a kinslayer. But you have to look at the bigger picture.

First, as we all know, it is the first duty of any prisoner (especially a POW during a war) to escape (aside from those knights and nobles given their parole and swear to not escape, but those people aren't going to be penned in squalor, but in conditions befitting their rank). This supercedes just about everything, especially when you consider that the prisoner is one of the army's commanders, the brother of the queen mum, a member of the Kingsgaurd and the uncle (well, father really) of the King. Jaime Lannister is much much more important than little old Alton Lannister. Even Alton kind of referenced this when he mentions how his father feared Alton would "embarass the family in front of The Family." The welfare, safety and freedom of the children of Lord Lannister supercedes all other minor family members (at least in this sort of feudal setting). Not to mention the fact that Jaime is one of the greatest warriors on his side of the war. His value is worth sacrificing the life of a distant relative. And Alton was completely sincere when he said he would do anything to help Jaime escape. Sorry, but if you are an enlisted man or lower ranked officer and you are imprisoned with one of your army's most important officers, and your death will help your commander to escape, it really is your duty to die in this situation.

I'm not saying Jaime enjoyed killing Alton, I think it did pain him inside, just as it pained him to push Bran out that window, just as it pained him to violate his oath when he killed Mad King Aerys. But, as he explained to Cat, you have to weigh one oath against another, weigh one wrong against another. Allowing Aerys II to live and most likely burn all of King's Landing to the ground (and killing thousands of the weak and innocent he had sworn to protect) was a worse violation than killing the king. The wrong of pushing Bran out the window paled when you compare it to the death sentence that would be meeted out to him, his sister Cersei and the three children they had together if Bran had told anyone what he had witnessed. What is the life of one child you are not even related to (and don't even really know) when you compare it to the life of the woman you love and your OWN three children? The wrong of killing a distant member of the Lannister family paled in comparison to the wrongs that could be done to his family and kingdom as a whole (from his POV) if he remained a prisoner. Yes, he might have an inflated sense of importance as to his role in winning the war, but remember, despite being almost universally called the Kingslayer, he is still regarded throughout Westeros as one of the greatest warriors alive. His skills in combat, and likely in command, would be invaluable to maintaining his house's prominance, and maintaining Joffrey on the throne. If his family lost the war, what the hell do you think would happen to Joffrey, Myrcella, Tommen and Cersei? They would all be killed, as would most likely his brother and father. I'm sorry, I am a (mostly) non-violent person (and I don't think I could sleep well for years if I ever took a life, even accidentally), but if I had three children by a woman, and all four of their lives (as well as mine) could be saved by me killing someone else's 10 year old son, I'd do it in a heartbeat, and I think most parents on here would do the same. Yes, it would be an emotionally painful thing, something I would hate doing, but it boils down to the life of my children and their mother, or that boys life. Unless something is serioulsy wired WRONG inside you, your children's wellbeing should override just about everything else.

Jaime simply HAD TO ESCAPE. He had no other option. And he had already thought through every possible way of escaping, and he saw none, unless he could somehow lure his guard inside the stockade. And there was no reasonable way to lure the guard in without doing something completley shocking and baffling, something the guard wouldn't really be able to believe until he saw it up close.

And that is exactly what the killing of Alton did. The Karstark boy heard something going on, couldn't really see what it was, but probably thought it looked like exactly what it was: Jaime beating his own cousin. "But that couldn't be," the guard must have thought, "that would just be impossible." So the guard came in (foolishly, yes) by himself to investigate what the hell really happened, distracting himself from Jaime to pay attention to this shuddering body laying on the ground, giving Jaime the opening to act, and to escape.

One of the ongoing themes in the books for Jaime Lannister (as I see it) is that to do the right thing, sometimes you have to do the wrong thing. That old "the ends justify the means" and "the good of the many outweighs the good of the few" dilemnas. In Jaime's case, it was escaping justifies killing a distant cousin, no matter how much you sympathize with and understand his hero worship of you, and the good of the kingdom and the Lannister family outweighed the good of one minor member of the Lannister family. To Jaime's point of view, keeping Joffrey on the throne means the Lannisters are in charge of the kingdom, and to him, that is a good thing (remember, at this point, Jaime hasn't really seen how nasty Joffrey has become, yes he knows the boy was foolish and had Ned Stark executed, but he hasn't seen Joffrey's complete decent into Aerys II-like madness yet.

Jaime truly loves his sister at this point still, and loves his (secret) children by her, and loves his brother Tyrion, as well as his father (though I would say he is a bit intimidated by Tywin as well). Yes, it might be arrogant of him to believe that his escape would ensure their side winning the war (hell, the books kind of back him up on this as he pretty much brings an end to the War of Five Kings himself later on, which brings the suffering of even the smallfolk to an end, at least for now). But when you are a man like Jaime, you have every reason to believe you really will make a difference in the war.

If you are warrior, and thus someone already willing to kill and possible die for your sides cause, then yes, you will kill whom you have to to ensure your side wins.

What Jaime did, no matter how repulsive it may be to us, was done out of loyalty and love, a sacrifice that was necessary for his King and family.

Next thing I know, y'all are gonna damn Jaime for killing Aerys II Targaryen, the Mad King. It was the right thing to do (as Obi Wan Kenobi said “from a certain point of view," yet it was the wrong thing to do from a different point of view.

It's all shades of grey folks, and all depends on your point of view

Jaime simply did what he had to do, whether he liked what he was doing or not. He was practical and he was logical. And it worked (at least for a while).

Now Ironclad can delete the other thread I guess. I still think discussing Jaime deserves its own thread, but oh well, lets go ahead and clutter this thread up with stuff that goes beyond episode 2.07