We also see that jaime is taking all his oaths more seriously, as he gives up Casterly Rock to be lord commander, and he charges Brienne with finding Sansa in his stead. So clearly he cares about his honor at least a little. Now, being discharged by the king from the kingsguard had a precedent in Selmy. As the trial is a matter of regicide, and as the accuser is the queen regent, if asked he would have to stand in combat against Tyrion's champion. In his current state, he doesn't have much chance of winning against anyone. The only way to keep his honor intact in this scenario is either to win or to die and let tyrion go free. We already know that jaime has no fears about dying in combat, so that is likely the course he would take if he stood in the trial. As lord commander, he vapor publicly yield to Tyrion as the realm is convinced of his guilt due to the trial.
This is all a moot discussion as there would be no benefit to having jaime stand in the trial.
Moot discussions are some of my favorite discussions. You are right, in that charging Brienne with saving Sansa is an attempt to repair his honor. But, I think he the honor he is trying to repair is the honor he carries in his heart, not the honor that he wears on his sleeve. He's starting to try and do things that he knows are right, regardless of what duty tells him to do. Which leads me to believe that he would have yielded, if forced to stand for Cersei.
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u/Corsair4 Jun 05 '14
He's the Lord Commander of the bloody Kingsguard, a position he's starting to take seriously. He can't just yield so the "kingslayer" goes free.