History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireCerseiLannister

* EvilIsPetty: Why, yes, [[spoiler:framing your younger, more beautiful daughter-in-law for adultery and high treason and trying to get her executed, even though [[StupidEvil your family desperately needs her family's financial backing and political support]], ''is'' quite petty, no?]]

* VillainousValor: When subject to the humiliating ritual [[spoiler:of the Walk of Shame for charges of adultery -- a punishment no King would ever have to submit to -- Cersei braves it with considerable resolve. The ritual's purpose is to break her pride, and she retains it largely to spite those doing this her her. At the very end, she sees her Ace in the Hole, Ser Robert Strong, clad in the Kingsguard White Cloak, fierce joy fills her.]]

* TheAlcoholic: Her downward spiral coincides with her increased reliance on liquid courage as more than just the occasional pick-me-up. The more she uses wine as a prop, the greater her contacts with both the [[VillainBall Villain]] and [[IdiotBall Idiot Balls]] get. By the fourth book, to find a scene without her having a goblet in hand is an increasing rarity. Not that she didn't beforehand, of course.

* TwinDesynch: After the time spent apart while Jaime's captive during the war, he and Cersei both change, in contrasting ways. This is alarming to the pair of them, since they've spent a lifetime cultivating the quasi-religious doctrine that they're one person in two bodies. Ironically, though, even as they grow apart, it's in oddly parallel ways. Each is nursing a profound loss: Jaime's loss of a hand, and Cersei's loss of a son. Each wants their twin to see and acknowledge this loss to a greater extent than they are. Each has the same proposed remedy for their twin's loss: a replacement. Cersei has a prosthetic hand made for Jaime, and Jaime proposes he and Cersei have another son. A cool prosthetic and a new baby can both be something great in it's own right, but neither can ''ever'' replace what was lost. Both are keenly aware of that in terms of what's being offered ''to them'', but oblivious when it comes to what they're offering the other.

->'''Tyrion:''' ''To Stannis!''
->'''Cersei:''' ''To Renly! May they battle long and hard, and the Others take them both!''
* VillainousValor: When subject to the humiliating ritual [[spoiler:of the Walk of Shame for charges of adultery, a punishment no King would ever have to submit to, Cersei braves it with considerable resolve and despite the ritual's purpose to break her pride, she retains it largely to spite the High Septon and at seeing her Ace in the Hole, Ser Robert Strong, clad in the Kingsguard White Cloak]].

** The first [[JustForPun good look]] we get of her is ranting how Ned Stark must be plotting against their family, because there's no other reason he would leave his "seat of power"; it's clear to everyone else, especially the reader, that Stark detests leaving his home and would never think of it as his "seat of power".

* CreateYourOwnVillain: One of the traits she inherits from Tywin her father. Cersei creates an enemy army outside of Lannister control, not once, but '''''threefold''''' once she becomes the uncontested regent in AFFC:
** She snubs the Iron Bank and tells them they will wait on her until the rebellions have been put down. Fastforward to the next book and look up north, the Iron Bank has seeked out King Stannis Baratheon to fund his campaign.

** While the above are without doubt entirely Cersei's fault, before she was the uncontested regent she definitely didn't help appease potential foes. Her incest with Jaime, Bran Stark's tower fall, and her allowance of Eddard Stark's decapitation all ensure that House Stark becomes an enemy - as does Tywin's marauding of the Riverlands and Jaime's assault and murder of Stark's retinue.

** She ignores, bullies and threatens Pycelle when he tries to give her advises on how to rule, and warn her about the catastrophic consequences of her hare-brained decisions, causing him to get fed up with her abuse and to abandon her when she's imprisoned by the Faith, taking back control at the Red Keep and calling Kevan back to King's Landing to become regent in her stead and fix her mess.
** Lastly, she even drives away her own family. As the rivalry between Cersei and Tyrion escalates, he eventually comes to threaten her 'and mean it''. Especially after that farce of a trial. Her sexual abuse of Lancel Lannister turns his father against her as well, culminating in Kevan forcing Cersei through an absolutely horrific Walk of Shame. Then, once Jaime returns, his changing attitudes make them clash. She sends him out on a military campaign to have one less voice opposing her on council, and when she writes him desperately for help, he instead burns the letter. His lack of a sword hand was certainly a central factor here... but so was their utter inability to communicate, instead preferring to vocally hold one another in contempt.

-->'''Tyrion:''' "I have never liked you, Cersei, but you were my own sister, so I never did you harm. You've ended that."

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: While she didn't do the deed, she was totally unphased by Joffrey's horrifying slicing of a pregnant cat just to see her kittens, and how he showed the dead kittens to Robert, dismissing it as "some nonsense with a cat", indicating that she too has a callous disregard for animals' lives and well-being. After Nymeria mauled Joffrey to defend Arya, and was forced to go away by Arya, she pettily orders Lady, Sansa's direwolf, to be killed in Nymeria's stead, prompting Ned to give her a quick and painless death to avoid her being butchered for Cersei and Joffrey's pleasure.

** Forcing Sansa’s pet direwolf killed in place of Arya’s just so she can enjoy her bed with a brand new wolf-skinned blanket is one of the many notably examples.

** The Starks ultimately didn't become her family-in-law, but those who had relationships with her could tell a tale, especially Sansa. Ordering your future daughter-in-law's pet wolf killed doesn't exactly make for great family memories. Though it wouldn’t be until after her father’s death that Sansa would finally see Cersei for the awful woman she truly is.

** She criticizes men in general and Tyrion in particular for thinking with their penises, yet she names Aurane Waters (a young man with no experience) as Grand Admiral--thus giving him command of the royal fleet--because he reminds her of Rhaegar.
** When Robert wants to bring one of his bastards to be raised at the Red Keep, Cersei threatens to have her killed if he does. Cersei has been passing off her bastards as legitimate heirs to the thrones.

** When she hears about a puppet show being performed where a family of lions is eaten by a dragon, she orders that anyone who watches be fined half their wealth (if they have money), or lose an eye for watching treason (if they don't), and gives the puppeteers to Qyburn.

* KickTheDog: Her specialty. Forcing Sansa’s pet direwolf killed in place of Arya’s just so she can enjoy her bed with a brand new wolf-skinned blanket is one of the many notably examples. By the time of ''A Feast For Crows'', she gives Qyburn a maid (who she suspects has been spying on her) to torture and experiment on. Then she starts turning over prisoners, enemies and Falyse Stokeworth when she [[LeaveNoWitnesses becomes inconvenient]].

* CreateYourOwnVillain: '''''Threefold''''' once she becomes the uncontested regent in AFFC:
** She snubs the Iron Bank and tells them they will wait on her until the rebellions have been put down. Fastforward to the next book and look up north, the Iron Bank has seeked out King Stannis Baratheon.
** She rearms the Faith Militant, lessening the Crown's debts. Then at the end of AFFC, the plan she concocted to destroy Margaery Tyrell backfires and ''she'' is arrested as well. Furthermore, since the case against Margaery was weak, and Randyll Tarly brought his army, the High Sparrow releases Margaery on grounds of holy oath, but does not extend the same offer to Cersei. Rather, it is implied that ''her own uncle Kevan Lannister'' proposed the Walk of Shame.
** Sensing coming chaos, Aurane Waters asks to put the brand new warships to sea. Upon her arrest, he promptly leaves to become a pirate king with a ''fleet of dromonds''.
** She ignores, bullies and threatens Pycelle when he tries to give her advises on how to rule, and warn her about the catastrophic consequences of her hare-brained decisions, causing him to get fed up with her abuse and to abandon her when she's imprisoned by the Faith, taking back control at the Red Keep and calling Kevan back to King's Landing to become regent in her stead and fix her mess.

** She rearms the Faith Militant, lessening the Crown's debts. Then at the end of AFFC, the plan she concocted to destroy Margaery Tyrell backfires and ''she'' is arrested as well. Furthermore, since the case against Margaery was weak, and Randyll Tarly brought his army, the High Sparrow releases Margaery on grounds of holy oath, but does not extend the same offer to Cersei. Rather, it is implied that ''her own uncle Kevan Lannister ''proposed the Walk of Shame.

** She ignores, bully and threaten Pycelle when he tries to give her advises on how to rule, and warn her about the catastrophic consequences of her hare-brained decisions, causing him to get fed up with her abuse and to abandon her when she's imprisoned by the Faith, taking back control at the Red Keep and calling Kevan back to King's Landing to become regent in her stead and fix her mess.

** She ignores, bully and abuse Pycelle when he tries to give her advises on how to rule, and warn her about the catastrophic consequences of her, causing him to get fed up with her abuse and to abandon her when she's imprisoned by the Faith, taking back control at the Red Keep and calling Kevan back to King's Landing to become regent in her stead and fix her mess.

* CreateYourOwnVillain: Cersei's so paranoid about imagined plots and so unpleasant and vindictive that eventually people start plotting for real. Her incest with Jaime is one of the triggers of the War of the Five Kings; her abuse of Tyrion, and her insults to Kevan and Jaime drive away potential allies. Her poor parenting of Joffrey and inability to contain him drive [[spoiler:Olenna Tyrell to murder the King with Littlefinger's help so as to protect her grand-daughter]]. Finally her rearming of the Poor Fellows and increasing their powers for a petty scheme against Margaery leads the [[spoiler:Faith to turn on ''her'' and humiliate her far worse than any of her real enemies actually planned on doing]].

* StupidEvil: While not without wits and cunning, Cersei is so arrogant, paranoid, and short-sighted that she makes very catastrophic decisions and drives herself and her house into the ground. Without anyone to keep her in check in "A Feast For Crows" she keeps shooting herself and her regime in the foot with her actions that undermine and eliminate House Tyrell, despite how the Lannisters need them and their bannermen to stay in power, alienating her true allies; then she spurns the Iron Bank of Braavos, re-arms the Faith Militant, built a fleet for a random dockside bastard who was ''comely ''to steal and become a pirate king, and finally gets herself arrested and humiliated after a hare-brained ploy to destroy Margaery Tyrell. Of all her schemes, the only one to truly pay off was her patronage of Qyburn. How she will use the unebeatable Ser Robert Strong, we'll have to see...
** This all seems to be part of the overarching theme of irony with Cersei: in her narcissism she thinks higher and higher of herself with each disastrous step, culminating in her becoming the victim of the very scheme she masterminded for her enemy. Not only is the irony here that her ego inflates in proportion to the self-destructiveness of her actions, but she is the primary actor leading the implosion of House Lannister; of Tywin's children, the one doing the most to destroy his legacy is the one child he never disowned and never educated.

** This all seems to be part of the overarching theme of irony with Cersei: in her narcissism she thinks higher and higher of herself with each disastrous step, culminating in her becoming the victim of the very scheme she masterminded. Not only is the irony here that her ego inflates in proportion to the self-destructiveness of her actions, but she is the primary actor leading the implosion of House Lannister; of Tywin's children, the one doing the most to destroy his legacy is the one child he never disowned and never educated.

* StupidEvil: While not without some cunning, Cersei is so arrogant, paranoid, short-sighted and blind to her flaws that she makes very catastrophic decisions and drive herself and her house into the ground. Without anyone to keep her in check anymore in "A Feast For Crows" she keeps shooting herself and her regime in the foot with her actions to undermine and eliminate house Tyrell, despite how the Lannisters need them and their bannermen to stay in power, alienating her true allies and the Iron Bank of Braavos, re-arming the Faith Militant, give Aurane Waters the opportunity to steal her fleet and become a pirate lord, and gets herself arrested and humiliated after a hare-brained scheme to get rid of Margaery Tyrell. It's clear that Joffrey inherited his own StupidEvil traits from her.

** Whether premeditated or opportunistic, this seems intentionally invoked by GRRM: for two books Cersei is framed as the antagonist against Ned and Tyrion - who both fail to notice the larger schemes of Petyr and Varys that cause such conditions - so readers are already emotionally primed to lack sympathy. But, GRRM goes further by finishing the third book and starting the fourth with everything going wrong at once for Cersei: her firstborn was assassinated and she and Jaime have started their estrangement, and now she learns her father is assassinated too. Not only that, but "another, younger and more beautiful" girl has already made her a dowager and is a rivalling power, and she learns that her suspected valonqar is escaped. For these two aspects the reader only gains the context much later, so Cersei's towering paranoia and overblown bloodthirst is all the more striking. To top it off, GRRM has hinted here and there but never outright confirmed that Tywin's failure to tutor Cersei is a foremost factor as to her incompetence as a ruler; this can easily slip by anyone not paying careful attention to a woman who is already so odious. Altogether, the result is entering the psyche of a character we have every reason (accurate or not) to hate, at a moment when she hits her lowest point yet and with little to no context to fully understand her worst attributes. '''And this is to start the self-destructing downward spiral.''' There is very good reason why Cersei, though not without her own dedicated fans, can appear so universally hated.

** Like Joffrey, she can't see the advantages in courting positive publicity with the smallfolk.

--> '''Tyrion''': Cersei is as gentle as King Maegor [The Cruel], as selfless as Aegon the Unworthy, as wise as Mad Aerys. She never forgets a slight, real or imagined. She takes caution for cowardice and dissent for defiance. And she is greedy. Greedy for power, for honor, for love.

* TheUnfettered: especially in the second half of her AFFC arc (Cersei VI - X) where she is the sole Lannister authority in the capitol. Cersei's main goal in life has been to accumulate as much power as possible for herself (and House Lannister by extension); though she marries the ascendant King Robert to become queen consort, once she assassinates him she then refuses to simply be queen dowager and names herself queen regent. Her regency under Joffrey begins with her sole leadership before Tyrion then Tywin fulfil their roles as Hand and stabilise the regime - after their defection and death, with Kevan refusing to help, Jaime is the only remaining voice that is not sycophantic. After Cersei rids herself of even Jaime, her regency very quickly accelerates to destruction, leaving the Lannisters "a spent force" and dragging down the Tyrells with them.

* TheUnfettered: Cersei's main goal in life has been to accumulate as much power as possible for herself (and House Lannister by extension); though she marries the ascendant King Robert to become queen consort, once she assassinates him she then refuses to simply be queen dowager and names herself queen regent. Her regency under Joffrey begins with her sole leadership before Tyrion then Tywin fulfil their roles as Hand and stabilise the regime - after their defection and death, with Kevan refusing to help, Jaime is the only remaining voice that is not sycophantic. After Cersei rids herself of even Jaime, her regency very quickly accelerates to destruction, leaving the Lannisters "a spent force" and dragging down the Tyrells with them.