Game of Thrones: Science Says Jaime Lannister Won’t Survive Drowning With Armor On

You’ve got to hand it to science for spoiling our fun. “The Spoils of War,” last week’s awesome battle episode for “Game of Thrones,” gave us everything we ever asked for when it comes to Daenerys Targaryen (Emila Clarke) and her dragons. Towards the end of the episode, Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj-Coster Waldau), wanting to re-enact his Kingslayer title, tried to charge at Daenerys and kill her. This led to Drogon getting mad and spewed fire at him. However, Bronn saved Jamie from apparent roasting by pinning them both and splashing into the river. The last scene we see is of Jaime falling to the depths of the river.

That leaves us the question of whether or not Jaime would be able to make it out alive.

Is this the last of Jaime Lannister on Game of Thrones?

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Jerome Flynn in Game of Thrones (2011). Photo by Macall B. Polay/HBO

In a post by Refinery29, it’s revealed that there is no chance in scientific hell that Jaime would be able to make it out alive as he sinks beneath the river’s depths. At first, we see some horses gallop over the river, and so we’re given the impression that the river isn’t that deep. But when Jaime and Bronn plunged, we are shown that the former is indeed sinking into a dark watery abyss. Now, with his full heavy suit of golden Lannister armor on, science is saying that it’s not enough for someone to swim to the surface with that kind of armor on.

A couple of years ago, filmmaker Michael Bergstrom came across a thread where it discussed whether or not it’s possible to swim in a full suit of body armor. Bergstrom decided to test his theory out by swimming in a pull with a full suit of armor. It turns out that it’s impossible to do even a normal breaststroke, float on his back, and push himself towards the surface as he left the 5-feet area. The armor is too much a weight to be able to make the swimmer float. Watch the experiment below:

So what does this mean for Jaime? According to science itself, he’s not going to make it. That final scene where he’s sinking to his death might just be the last we see of Jaime. However, we see Tyrion looking on from a distance. Seeing his dear brother sinking might prompt him to send some (unarmored) soldiers and fish Jaime out of the water. There’s also Bronn who splashed in the water with Jaime. Bronn isn’t wearing any kind of armor, and so he could also be the one to help Jaime resurface.

But in any case, we have until the next episode to find out if Jaime is alive or not—even if science is already saying no.

“Game of Thrones” continues tonight with “Eastwatch,” 9 PM on HBO.