I will be with you even then
even when I cannot see your face anymore
Zuleikha Robinson as Obara Sand
Janina Gavankar as Nymeria Sand
Margareth Madè as Tyene Sand
Chipo Chung as Sarella Sand
The Lady Stark always sits, unmoved, upon her throne of wood and stone. Winterfell grows like a weed around her, thornier than it had been. Guards rub their hands together in the cold, breaths frosting on the drying skin, and Sansa Stark sits like an altar to a different time.
She is so much like his dead sister on the worst days that when she rides up ahead of him he blinks and swears that her auburn hair has turned golden. She rides at the head of a formidable army and wears plate like a man, though she does not prefer it, and Jaime’s sister is seven and they still look exactly alike enough to switch places on lazy days in the summer.
He frowns at the lines on the backs of his hands and breathes out fog in the winter. Sansa Stark is strong and unbound by the constricts of gender. But the plate cuts her and she hates the callouses and always preferred silks. Jaime thinks that she is unhappy.
But then he thinks of his sweet dead sister and wonders if happiness is something that anybody gets.
Coming upon Lord Stark is an accident, but her mouth on his is design and her fingers tug him closer by the scraggily ends of his hair. His hair is dark, but blonde, and in the shadows and the shine of moonlight she can almost pretend—but then she can’t pretend anything at all, because Eddard Stark pushes away, and her back cracks against the wall and her bones rattle, aching from her husband’s recent misuse of her. Misuse, she knows what it is though none will it call it that—miuse. He took her with the arms of a dead woman closed around his throat. She is thankful her maidenhead rests in the palms of her brother, his tender fingers closed and protective around it.
“It is my look they will flinch from now, my frown that they must fear. I am a lion too.”
I’ll tell you what, I’m going to give you a present - after I raise my armies and kill your traitor brother - I’ll give you his head as well.
(TW: mention of rape, domestic abuse)
This is, as always, a supremely unpopular opinion because obviously Cersei is just some big crazy evil villainess who is a total BETCH for the sake of being a BETCH I mean DUH who doesn’t know that?!
(That was sarcasm, by the way.)
Having read the books, I truly do not comprehend how, short of ignoring everything her chapters tells you, you can feel nothing but disdain for this incredibly complicated, incredibly strong woman. Is Cersei perfect? No. Is anyone in ASOIAF? Hardly.
Cersei was born a Lannister of Casterly Rock, and the firstborn of Tywin Lannister himself (yes, the firstborn, though Jaime followed shortly after), which, in a just world, would mean that by rights she was Lord Tywin’s heir. But who are we kidding? This is Westeros, where women are worth the symmetry of their features and the amount of babies they can pop out before they die in the process or grow too old to do it anymore. And that was drilled into her brain from the moment everyone started shoving her into expensive little infant gowns.
But gosh, did Cersei fight this. She would dress up as Jaime, loving the way it felt to be treated like a boy instead of a little lady, and she would try desperately at every opportunity to prove that she was just as brave as he was. For she was a lion, too; a lioness, but still a lion of the Rock and worth something and all she ever wanted was her father to see that. Again and again, through Cersei’s POV, we see how much she craves her father’s approval. She strives to emulate him at every turn, even long after he is dead. Tywin, however, has eyes only for her twin- the grinning soldier-to-be, the strong little lion cub, the boy, his son, the heir. When she was very young I don’t think Cersei understood why, and when she did she hated it.
I think this is what brought Cersei and Jaime together in the romantic sense, at least at first. Some part of Cersei wanted to be him so desperately that perhaps she believed only by giving herself to him in every possible way, by truly becoming two halves of a singular whole, could she ever hope to come even close to having all that he had simply by virtue of being born male. Because being half Jaime, and him being hers, body and soul, was a thousand better than being a stupid helpless girl.
And then, when she was a little bit older, there was Rhaegar. The beautiful dragon prince, the blood of old Valyria, the only man in Westeros who was more than a man. In Rhaegar I think she saw the best possible option she could hope for, if she must marry, for the dragon queens were always near equal to their kings, and the Targaryens possessed a brand of greatness that transcended the usual squabbling of the great houses of the Seven Kingdoms. He was, in short, a dream come true.
And then that dream was taken for her, and that was just another tally on the List of Things Cersei Could Not Have. She was forced to marry Robert Baratheon, the man who killed the dragon prince she’d dreamt of. Robert Baratheon, with whom she was happy for a brief fleeting moment as she descended the steps of the Great Sept of Baelor- and that was really only because she saw that the common people were going wild for her. And then began a string of brutal rapes (yes, rapes- did she want to have sex with him?) that left Cersei bruised and hurting for days. How does he react when she tries to tell him to be gentler? “I was drunk”, he told her. Not “I’m sorry”, not “Please forgive me”, not a promise to never do it again. Just a sad, shocking excuse that revealed to her suddenly, horribly, how awful the years to come would be.
How can one criticize Cersei for refusing to have the children of this man who she loathed, who sexually assaulted her fairly regularly simply because he was the king, he was stronger than her, and by all the laws of the realm she was his property to do with as he pleased? But, alas, Cersei was caught in a horrible catch-22 because she had to have children or else she was worthless. If she never bore an heir she would be deemed barren, set aside, and shamed forever. So, who could she turn to, to get her with child?Who could she trust, save the brother she had relied on for her entire life?
And boy, does Cersei love those kids. Do not tell me she doesn’t. Do. Not. Dare. She does; wholeheartedly and devotedly. Why did she let Joffrey become such a monster, then, you ask? Honestly, I think it’s half that she, like every other parent on the face of the earth, loved him unconditionally and found it difficult to face the truth about him. I mean, why do mothers hide their serial killer children in the attic? Or is that just something my mom says she would do for me? And the other half is that she was has spent her entire life in a society controlled by men and the only weapon she has to fight back with is her body, and she can’t exactly use that on her son. She said it herself: Joffrey was never easy to cow. He wasn’t as good-natured or obedient as Tommen, and he was downright dangerous. Love him she might have done, but it is entirely possible that some part of Cersei was frightened of her son. She saw what he was capable of, and she knew that trying to bend him to her will was useless. So why would she try, and risk her own safety and/or that of her other children?
Throughout all of A Feast for Crows Cersei’s mantra is “Everything I do, I do for Tommen.” Does she want power for herself? Yes. Is she fairly ruthless in getting it? Yes. Ultimately, though, does she want to see her last remaining son grow up healthy and happy and one day become a good king? Yes, yes, yes. I’m not saying her parenting methods are always the best, but she wants all of that for Tommen. It is undeniably true. Cersei is a mother, just like Cat Stark is. She isn’t heartless. Although she wanted to protect her own children, she was absolutely furious when Jaime tried to kill Bran. Because she genuinely believed Bran could be frightened into silence, she would have chosen not to harm him. If it’s not a you-win-or-you-die situation, Cersei will not kill. (For further reference, see her plan to let Ned take the black, once he had been eliminated as a threat.)
Unfortunately, most of her life has been a you-win-or-you-die situation.
After all of this, Cersei is bitter. She is scarred. The years and her suffering have turned her into someone colder and crueler. Time and time again in ASOIAF we see characters who have been stripped of everything they ever wanted or dreamed or love to the point that all they know is a singular mission; whether it one of honor (Brienne), revenge (Cat/Stoneheart), or in Cersei’s case, her quest for power. She clings to her fierce bid for control because being the Queen, the absolute power in all of Westeros, is the only possible way she will ever have autonomy in her own life. It’s not just about power over others. It is about the struggle she has faced her entire life for freedom. In this struggle does she do some pretty horrible things? Yes. (Qyburn comes to mind first.) Is she, by the end of ADwD, a broken-down, furious soul with nothing left to her but her children, her own sense of identity, and a burning mission to a.) revenge those who have wronged her and b.) take what she believes to be her by rights?
Yes.
How can you hate Cersei? How can you blindly, adamantly, stubbornly hate her? Look for subtext in her chapters. Think about why she wants the things she wants and why she does the things she does. Once you do, I think you might have a different opinion of her.
