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In Game of Thrones Jaime bears the ignominious title of "kingslayer" for having killed Aerys Targaryen. But he tells anyone who will listen that he did it because the Mad King was planning on sending King's Landing up in flames with thousands of barrels of wildfire hidden in tunnels under the city.

So how is it that no one is aware that

there is a huge cache of wildfire hidden under the Sept?

Why is it just "rumor?" And why is it still there? Is this explained anywhere?

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    "But he tells anyone who will listen that he did it because the Mad King was planning on sending King's Landing up in flames" No he doesn't.
    – BCdotWEB
    Commented Jun 29, 2016 at 8:33
  • @Skooba Sorry. I usually wait a few days before accepting. I just forgot to go back and do it. Done
    – Tom
    Commented Mar 6, 2017 at 20:07

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The reason the Wildfire was stored underneath the city was the Mad King became... well, mad in his later years.

The wildfire plot was a plan developed by King Aerys II Targaryen during the latter stages of Robert's Rebellion.

After the rebel victory of Robert Baratheon at the Battle of the Bells, Aerys was fearful that Robert might actually win the war and enlisted the aid of several members of the Alchemists' Guild in a plot to destroy the city of King's Landing should the rebel forces prove victorious. Ser Jaime Lannister was present when this was planned, while the rest of the Kingsguard was absent and went with Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen.

Thousands of jars of wildfire were gathered and placed in key positions under King's Landing. Hundreds were placed under the Dragonpit and the Great Sept of Baelor, under every one of the city's gates and even under the Red Keep itself. The pyromancers did their work in secret and did not trust their apprentices with the knowledge

Jaime killed all those involved during the Sack of Kings Landing:

During the Sack of King's Landing, Aerys commanded Rossart to ignite the wildfire to destroy the city and Jaime to bring the head of his father, Lord Tywin Lannister. Jaime, however, intercepted and slew Rossart to prevent his message from reaching other pyromancers. Jaime then slew Aerys, slitting his throat. A few days later Jaime hunted and killed Garigus and Belis, the other pyromancers involved in the plot.

We only have evidence that he told two people...

  1. Brienne of Tarth, during their travels from the Riverlands to Kings Landing
  2. Tyrion, most likely during the escape from the Black Cells. Although we do not know it from seeing it on-screen.

Related https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/132504/did-tyrion-use-all-the-wildfire.

Tyrion only found a small cache of Wildfire...

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  • Jaime didn't seem like he was revealing some big secret when he told Brienne. Is it that no one believes him? If Jaime knew it was there then Cersei would also know. He wouldn't have kept from her the knowledge that they were living atop tons of wildfire. Yet she had to send Qyburn to find out if the "rumors" were true. What happened to the remainder? When she blew the Sept she remained in the Red Keep, apparently confident in the knowledge that it wouldn't go up too.
    – Tom
    Commented Jun 28, 2016 at 23:36
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    In the books, it is a big secret. It was one if not the first time we are shown Jamie's human side.
    – Skooba
    Commented Jun 29, 2016 at 5:08
  • @Tom The thing is, it doesn't matter what Jaime says - he'll still be the king-slayer, regardless of whether it was justified or not. There's little point in telling anyone - he'd only dig himself deeper. Remember, this isn't our post-WWII world - it doesn't matter that "he did what was right"; the only thing that matters is that he broke his oath. He either told Brienne to stop bothering him about it, or because he felt she would actually understand and empathise with him, perhaps even agreeing with his actions (as part of the character development of both Brienne and Jaime).
    – Luaan
    Commented Jul 18, 2017 at 13:02
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Two episodes before the finale (if I am not wrong) when Tommen declares that Trial by Combat would not be an option, the episode ends with Qyburn and Cersei discussing a rumor. Qyburn answers by saying (In my own words) "More than we thought". This was the reference to Wildfire.

Jaime knew about the caches of wildfire set by Aerys but it has been years since that incident. Tyrion also used wildfire reserves in the battle at Blackwater Bay. So no one knew exactly how much was left, or if they were removed or even if the tunnels below the Sept existed.

So when Cersei comes to know that the rumor is true, she uses it to plot the whole "Finale".

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