Cersei Lannister
Cersei Lannister is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and one of three main antagonists of its television adaptation Game of Thrones, alongside Tywin Lannister and Petyr Baelish. She is portrayed by actress Lena Headey. Introduced in 1996's A Game of Thrones, Cersei is a member of House Lannister, one of the wealthiest and most powerful families on the continent of Westeros. She subsequently appears in A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords, and becomes a prominent point of view character beginning with A Feast for Crows. Cersei will continue to be a point-of-view character in the forthcoming volume The Winds of Winter.
Cersei is Queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros by marriage to King Robert Baratheon, who abuses her throughout their marriage. Her father, Tywin, arranged the marriage after his attempt to betroth her to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, whom she idolized as a child, failed. Robert took the Throne with the help of the Lannisters when he ended the Targaryen dynasty. Cersei has been involved in an incestuous affair with her twin brother, Jaime, since childhood. All three of Cersei's children are Jaime's, unbeknownst to Robert. The rumored illegitimacy of her children causes a power struggle in the wake of the king's death, known as the War of the Five Kings.
Cersei's main character attributes are her lust for power, scheming, transgressive viewpoint, and her love for her children, whom she seeks to protect. She is considered one of the most complex characters in the story. Headey received widespread critical acclaim for her portrayal of the character on the HBO series Game of Thrones. She was nominated for five Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. Headey and the rest of the cast were nominated for seven Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. In season 5 of the series, a young version of the character is portrayed by Nell Williams in a flashback.
Character background
''A Song of Ice and Fire''
Cersei is the only daughter and the eldest child of 56-year-old Tywin Lannister and his late wife, Joanna; her twin brother, Jaime, was born soon after Cersei. At the beginning of the novels, Cersei is 32 years old and has been queen consort for 14 years.Cersei and Jaime looked so similar as children that Cersei occasionally wore Jaime's clothes and was mistaken for him. The twins experimented sexually at an early age but were discovered by a servant, who informed their mother. Joanna tasked a guard to keep the twins separated and kept the matter a secret from their father, threatening the twins that she would inform him if they ever repeated it.
Soon afterward, Joanna died giving birth to the twins' younger dwarf brother, Tyrion, when the twins were seven. Cersei blamed Tyrion for Joanna's death and started to abuse him as a baby. Martin said in Rolling Stone:
From the time she was very young, Tywin hoped his daughter would marry Rhaegar Targaryen, and he rejected the Princess of Dorne's proposal to betroth Oberyn Martell and Elia Martell to Cersei and Jaime, respectively. Cersei became infatuated with Rhaegar; feelings she hid from her brother as her father advised her.
At the age of 11, Jaime was sent away to serve as a squire for Lord Sumner Crakehall. A year later, Aerys Targaryen rejected the proposal that Cersei marry his son, humiliating Tywin. Tywin took Cersei to King's Landing and, in the following years, refused every offer of marriage for her. In 281 AC, when Cersei and Jaime were 15, Jaime, newly knighted on the battlefield and on his way to Casterly Rock, came to King's Landing to visit his sister, from whom he had been separated for four years. She informed Jaime that their father planned to marry him to Lysa Tully and persuaded him to join the Kingsguard in order to be near her, after the twins had slept together for the first time. Thus started an affair that continued throughout Cersei's marriage to Robert Baratheon.
While she was initially happy about marrying Robert, he didn't return Cersei's affections and repeatedly cheated on her. She continued her incestuous affair with Jaime, resulting in the births of Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen.
During her teenage years, believing that her betrothal to Rhaegar would soon be announced, Cersei brought her companions Melara Hetherspoon and Jeyne Farman to a witch named Maggy the Frog. Jeyne was instantly frightened and left the tent. Cersei and Melara stayed and tried to get the witch to tell them a prophecy. In the face of Cersei's threats, Maggy agreed to answer three questions. In response to those questions, Maggy told Cersei she would marry the king and not the prince, that she would be overthrown by a younger and more beautiful queen, that Cersei's children would die during Cersei's lifetime, and that the valonqar would come to end her life.
Melara then asked if she would marry Jaime; Maggy answered that Melara wouldn't marry anyone and would die that night. It is implied that Cersei killed the girl to prevent her from speaking of the prophecies and for having ideas above her social status. Cersei spends her entire adult life attempting to subvert the prophecy and develops a strong paranoia, which eventually causes the prophecy to come to fruition.
TV adaptation
Cersei is the only daughter and the eldest child of Tywin Lannister and his wife, Joanna; her twin brother, Jaime, was born soon after Cersei. At the beginning of the series, Cersei is 37 years old and has been queen for 17 years.She is five years older than her book counterpart, and only four years older than Tyrion Lannister in the television series. Like her book counterpart, she blames him for the death of her mother in childbirth when she was 4 years old.
Similar to her book counterpart, she received a prophecy from Maggy the Frog warning of her impending doom to a younger, more beautiful queen, and also forewarning the death of three of her children, though there is no prophecy of the Valonqar choking her to death. Additionally, Cersei had a firstborn, black-haired son born to Robert Baratheon who died as an infant. She confides in Catelyn Stark about this after the potential loss of her ten-year-old son, Bran Stark and later Robert himself.
Storylines
''A Game of Thrones''
Robert, Cersei, and most of the court visit the North to appoint Eddard Stark as Hand of the King. During the royal visit to Winterfell, Ned's son Bran finds Cersei and Jaime committing incest in a tower. To prevent their adultery and incest from being revealed, Jaime pushes Bran from the tower. Bran survives, but has no memory of the fall and is left paraplegic.Ned eventually discovers the truth of Cersei's infidelity and confronts her, giving her the opportunity to flee into exile and thus spare her children certain execution. Cersei had already arranged Robert's death in a hunting "accident"; when he dies, Cersei seizes control as regent and has Eddard arrested for treason. Cersei intends for Ned to publicly confess and join the Night's Watch as punishment, but instead Joffrey orders him executed.
''A Clash of Kings''
Frustrated with Cersei's many political blunders as well as her failure to control Joffrey, Tywin appoints Tyrion Hand of the King, with explicit instructions to control Cersei and Joffrey. Once at the capital, Tyrion enters into a bitter power struggle with Cersei, subverting her authority and removing her supporters from positions of power.In Jaime's absence, Cersei takes their cousin Lancel Lannister as her lover, an affair that Tyrion discovers. When Stannis Baratheon sails on King's Landing, Cersei and Joffrey stay enclosed in the Red Keep, leaving Tyrion to mastermind the defense of the city. Ultimately, Tywin and the Tyrell armies arrive in time to force Stannis to retreat and save the city.
''A Storm of Swords''
After formally assuming his position as Hand of the King, Tywin makes it clear to Cersei that she is no longer welcome at the small council meetings, de facto stripping her of political authority. Furthermore, Tywin intends to wed Cersei to Willas Tyrell in order to form an alliance with House Tyrell. This state of affairs is shaken when Joffrey is poisoned at his wedding feast. Maddened with grief at the loss of her eldest child, Cersei lashes out against Tyrion, accusing him of poisoning the king out of revenge.Cersei manipulates Tyrion's trial to ensure a guilty verdict, by bribing and intimidating witnesses. When Tyrion demands a trial by combat, Cersei selects the imposing Gregor Clegane, "The Mountain," as the Crown's champion. The Mountain prevails, killing Tyrion's champion Oberyn Martell. Tywin then pronounces Tyrion guilty and sentences him to death, but Tyrion escapes prison and kills Tywin. Cersei is once again in complete control of the capital.
''A Feast for Crows''
With the deaths of her father and elder son, Cersei's youngest child, the 8-year-old Tommen Baratheon, is crowned king, and Cersei rules the Seven Kingdoms as Queen Regent. Cersei's rule descends into a series of political and economic blunders due to her short temper, egotism, and paranoia, greatly damaging her relationship with Jaime and alienating allies such as Pycelle and Kevan Lannister. She defaults on debts to the Iron Bank of Braavos and to the Faith, allowing the latter to rebuild its military orders in exchange for cancellation of the debt, and fills government posts with ineffective and untrustworthy cronies and sycophants. At the same time, the Tyrells begin to build power in the capital, much to Cersei's consternation.Cersei is haunted by the prophecy of the valonqar, whom she considers Tyrion, so she promises a lordship to whoever brings her Tyrion's head. This, however, only leads to many wrongful executions throughout the realm. In an attempt to undermine the Tyrells, and release her son from his marriage to Margaery Tyrell, Cersei attempts to frame Margaery for adultery and treason. However, this plot backfires as the investigation into Margaery reveals evidence of Cersei's own adultery and her complicity in Robert's death, resulting in her arrest by the Faith. Cersei sends a letter to Jaime, asking him for help, but he ignores her request and burns her letter.