History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireCerseiLannister

* TheUnfettered: especially in the second half of her AFFC arc (Cersei VI–X) where she is the only 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.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: The text has lately been drawing comparisons between her and her husband. She's not winning. She turns to be as terrible ruler as he was (if not ''worse''), almost as much of [[TheAlcoholic a heavy drinker]] (despite [[{{Hypocrite}} constantly scorning Robert for a sot]]), and while her cheating on her husband could be excused ([[ReallyGetsAround considering what he was]]), she eventually starts cheating on the man she loves as well. And unlike said husband (who knew he was poor ruler but was too lazy and depressed to do anything about it), she lacks ''any'' self-awareness .

** Gets played with and deconstructed in ''A Feast of Crows'', as a look at both Jaime’s and Cersei’s perspective reveal that this only adds to Cersei being a FemaleMisogynist, as she is extremely jealous and resentful of not being born a man like Jaime; while Jaime never really entertains the thought of being a woman like Cersei, and subscribes to the belief only insofar as it justifies and fuels his attraction for his twin sister.

* FreudianExcuse: Her twisted personality and fierce protectiveness of her children are partly the result of the prophecy she received as a child, and her vindictiveness comes from being the daughter of Tywin Lannister. Her bitterness and resentment stem from her father a) believing in the StayInTheKitchen philosophy b) not fulfilling his promise to wed her to Rhaegar, and c) sending her into an AwfulWeddedLife with Robert instead.

* AFamilyAffair: After her husband dies she ends up sleeping with her lover Jaime's cousin ([[BrotherSisterIncest and]] [[KissingCousins her own]]), despite supposedly only loving Jaime.
* FallGuy: Ruthlessly treated as such by the more advanced players, namely Varys and Petyr Baelish. As the Lannister with highest authority in the capital and the regent, all attempts that Varys and Petyr make at undermining the crown collect under Cersei's name. Examples great and small can be found even in the first book, such as Petyr arranging Jon Arryn's death or Varys arranging Barristan Selmy's dismissal. By the fifth book, the High Sparrow sends the political and military message that the nobility bows before the faith, by taking the wrecking ball she aimed at Margaery and putting her in its path -- it did not truly matter to him which queen he humiliated so long as his authority was cemented, and he seems primed to jump ship to a more legitimate, non abomination king regardless.

** She originally didn't plan to execute Ned Stark, but merely have him take the black. However, Joffrey had [[OffWithHisHead other plans.]] This also ties in with PragmaticVillainy -- publicly executing the lord of a Great House isn't a great look for the crown. The fact that Cersei still didn't lift a finger to stop it makes it a DownplayedTrope.

** Like Joffrey, she can't see the advantages in courting positive publicity with the smallfolk. For that matter, [[TheyJustDontGetIt she can't even grasp the very concept]] that as supposed ruler of Westeros, she's supposed to be responsible for the welfare of the smallfolk, since she thinks anyone less than a noble is effectively subhuman; when questioned on what the Crown is going to do to stop the suffering of the common folk, her internal response is basically "Why are you wasting my time with this meaningless crap?"

** The concept of niceness and compassion seem totally foreign to her, as she cannot see Tommen's great qualities, viewing him as meek and weak (not that she recognises it or reacts well when Tommen does show some strength), whereas she views Joffrey as "willfull" and "strong" instead of the arrogant, cowardly, cruel and sadistic monster he truly was.

* EvilIsPetty: Cersei is an extremely petty, vindicative and spiteful individual who will hurt, humiliate, threaten or kill people often for very minor, if they even exist, offenses and will go to incredible lengths to spite a person she hates, which often end up backfiring on her. Examples of this includes
** She ordered for Lady, Sansa's direwolf to be killed, after Nymeria bit Joffrey to protect Arya and fled, despite neither Lady nor Sansa having done anything to her or Joffrey. She also certainely have made a sadistic butcher of it which is why Ned gave the direwolf a quick death first.

* EnfantTerrible: Cersei was already a cruel, spoiled and vindicative bully as a child, bullying and harming Tyrion such as twisting his penis while he was just a baby and in front of Jaime and the Martell siblings,having threatened Tyrion's wet nurse with mutilation if she did not got out of Tyrion's chamber as she ordered, and it's heavily implied that she murdered her friend Melara Hetherspoon by pushing her to drown in a well after hearing of Maggy's prophecy while she was

** In the same novel she names Aurane Waters her Grand Admiral, just because of his ressemblance with Rhaegar Targaryen, on whom she had a crush, and despite Waters having shown no sign of loyalty toward her. As soon as she's imprisoned, Aurane Waters betrays her and steal the aforementioned new royal fleet to become a pirate lord in the Stepstones. She also only puts spineless men and syncophants in the Small Council, because they all agree with her and pose no threat, only for them to abandon her or become paralyzed when the Faith arrests her, leaving her with no one to rescue her and allowing Kevan to easily take power.
** A hypothetical one; it's suggested that Cersei [[spoiler:murdered her childhood companion Melara Hetherspoon by pushing her down a well]] after hearing the prophecies of the witch Maggy the Frog, based on the idea that the prophecy of the ''valonquar'' would not come true as long as no-one spoke of it and Cersei [[spoiler:[[HeKnowsTooMuch wanted to ensure Melara would NEVER speak of what she'd heard]]]]. If this is true, she failed to realise that all she was doing was [[spoiler:ensuring the prophecy Maggy made for ''Melara'' -namely that she would die that night -- was fulfilled]], only increasing her paranoid fear of the witch's prophecy coming true rather than diminishing it.

* CantTakeCriticism: Due to her narcissism and paranoia Cersei is unable of handling criticisms, even constructive ones, and will either ignore and bellitle the one criticizing her, such as she does with Pycelle when he rightfully warns her about the consequences of her decisions by rearming the Faith and slighting the Iron Bank, or angrily lashes out at them such as when she threw wine at Kevan for him calling her out for being a terrible mother and ruler. As Tyrion points out Cersei takes caution for cowardice, and dissent for defiance, meaning that anyone who doesn't openly agree with her is either a craven or a traitor.
* TheChainOfHarm: [[{{Hypocrite}} Hypocritical]] FemaleMisogynist that she is, the reason Cersei gives for not standing up for Sansa when she's held captive by the Lannisters and constantly beaten and terrorized by her fiance Joffrey is that Cersei herself suffered worse under Robert, and no one ever helped her ([[DeliberateValuesDissonance Westeros society]] expected her to graciously accept being abused with a smile), so Sansa can live with it too.

* BaldOfEvil: [[spoiler:Following her stint as a prisoner of the Faith Militant, Cersei is shaved hairless and left with a smoldering desire for homicidal vengeance. Although given the way time passes in this series, she might have BoyishShortHair before long.]]
* BattleOfWits: By anybody's measure, she's not all that bad at using words and people to get whatever she wants whenever she wants it--she knows exactly how to use her looks, money and connections to plan three moves ahead. She also rarely needs to resort to ''open'' displays of violence (but, when she does... boy, howdy). However, she's just a bit out-classed by other players in both the available resources and knowledge stakes, often lets her temper and paranoia get the better of her, all too often overplays her hand and is simply just not as good as [[SmugSnake her overinflated ego thinks she is]]. She badly needs constructive criticism and grounding to up her mastery of the game, but actively avoids both as if they have greyscale.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Cersei [[spoiler:is accused by the Faith of the crime of fornication. What they don't know is that she has orchestrated a regicide, she may have murdered her childhood friend, and her children are products of incest (the Faith does accuse her of incest but she vehemently and successfully denies it). In hindsight, that sex charge isn't as bad and she knows it.]]
** The faith has suspicions of the incest, but lets it slide out of self interest, since Cersei's kids being illegitimate would make Stannis, an atheist who isn't terribly opposed to letting his heretic supporters burn down septs, the rightful king.

* AmbiguouslyBi: She does keep Taena Merryweather in her bed and they HAVE fooled around. For Cersei's part however, she was very drunk and attempting to feel what her late husband would feel when abusing a woman. Cersei did not enjoy the act, so bisexuality is unlikely.

* AbusiveParent: When Tommen stands up for himself for possibly the first time in his life, Cersei... ''doesn't'' beat his whipping boy, Pate. Oh no. Instead she orders Boros Blount to force her eight year old son to beat Pate himself, until both cheeks bleed, and lets Tommen know that if he refuses or protests at all, ''the boy's tongue will be cut out in front of him.''

* AllTakeAndNoGive: Her relationship with Jaime is characterised to a large degree by this, and for complicated reasons - Jaime himself observes that Cersei will dislike the diminished resemblance between them after his time at war, hinting that he knows she lives vicariously through him (though he himself does not try to think of why she would ''need'' to). For Cersei, as the queen mother guilty of high treason with Jaime, her entire situation is a matter of life and death, not just for herself but for all three of their children too. Considering that Jaime, as a man, can take the black to escape the ax, the demands and burden of their crimes fall heavier on Cersei. Considering she is at higher risk than Jaime, it becomes clearer why she responds so fearfully, then furiously, when Jaime no longer acts in her service.

* BecauseDestinySaysSo: At a young age, Cersei received a prophecy: [[spoiler:her children would all be crowned and all die before she did, a younger woman would replace her, and "the valonqar"--a younger brother, in this case--would kill her]]. She has always deemed Tyrion to be this valonqar, and this is one of the main reasons she has always hated him. The thing is, this younger brother might be also Jaime, who is minutes younger than her. Also, the prophecy doesn't say that it has to be ''her'' younger brother, as for instance, Loras Tyrell is one of countless younger brothers in the series, so fans think it could be anyone. Complicating matters even further is the fact that in the show only, "valonqar" is, in its direct translation from Valyrian, gender neutral and more accurately means "younger sibling." This further inflames fans into theories.
* BelievingTheirOwnLies: Cersei is so delusional that she unwittingly convinces herself that her enemies are actually guilty of every slander she lays against them. Despite knowing ''damn'' well that she's [[spoiler:torturing an innocent man to frame Margaery for adultery]], when Cersei and Qyburn are trying to [[spoiler:torture the Blue Bard into confessing to sleeping with her]], Cersei's inner monologue describes the poor man's denials as "persist[ing] in his lies". There's also the fact that she genuinely believes that her children are the rightful rulers of Westeros and everyone else is a usurper, when she must be fully aware that since they're not really Robert's, ''she'' is the usurper. Also one that's not so much a lie as a willful self-delusion is her [[InsistentTerminology strident insistence]] that ''she'' is the queen and Margaery is only "Lady Margaery" because she's only Tommen's wife- deliberately ignoring the fact that the only thing that makes ''her'' queen is that she was ''Robert's'' wife, and now that Robert is dead she's not even that.

--> Her fire is quenched, she who ''used to'' burn so bright. "You have not asked about your brother," [Kevan said.]
--> Cersei lifted her chin, '''her green eyes shining''' in the candlelight. "Jaime? Have you had word?"
* BettyAndVeronica: Considers herself the Veronica to Lyanna Stark’s Betty. She once said that if Rhaegar married her like Tywin wanted, he would never have given “the wolf girl” a second look. Similarly, in her marriage with Robert she is the glamorous trophy wife in a loveless marriage to a man who still pines for his best friend’s sister.

--> '''Tyrion''': [[{{Dissimile}} 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.

--> "Perhaps Myrcella sent this man with the dagger [to kill Bran Stark], do you think so?"
--> ''It was meant as mockery, '''but she'd cut right to the heart of it''', Jaime saw at once.'' "Not Myrcella. Joffrey."

* ColorMotif: In addition to Lannister red and gold, Cersei is often associated with [[GreenAndMean green.]] She has beautiful green eyes and a penchant for emerald jewelry, many green dresses, a liking for jade-green wildfire starting from ''A Feast for Crows,'' and her greatest [[TeethClenchedTeamwork allies-cum-rivals]] the Tyrells have for their sigil a gold rose on a green banner. Not to mention the out-of-universe comparisons to [[HistoryRepeats Alicent Hightower,]] whose side in the Dance of the Dragons was called the Greens. Green in silk and green with envy--of everyone smarter, richer or more beautiful than she is.

* DidntSeeThatComing: Though Cersei has never been fond of Tyrion, she didn't quite see him as a threat until Tywin made him acting Hand of the King. Cersei is one of the few people that see how conniving Tyrion really is, though she doesn't appreciate him for it and sees him as a rival. At first it seems that even Cersei is enjoying their battle of wits until [[spoiler:Joffrey gets killed]]; this makes her think that Tyrion is still conspiring against her even after he has fled.

** Allowing Joffrey to execute [[spoiler: Ned Stark]]. She sincerely didn't plan for it to happen, but had a brief moment where she could've prevented it and chose not to because she thought it would make her son look weak. It created [[YouKilledMyFather an enemy they could never make peace with in Robb Stark]] when they already had Robert's brothers preparing for war against them. Her lamentation over it later during her [[spoiler: Walk of Shame]] would suggest even she came to realize it for a horrible mistake.

** A hypothetical one; it's suggested that Cersei [[spoiler:murdered her childhood companion Melara Hetherspoon by pushing her down a well]] after hearing the prophecies of the witch Maggy the Frog, based on the idea that the prophecy of the ''valonquar'' would not come true as long as no-one spoke of it and Cersei [[spoiler:[[HeKnowsTooMuch wanted to ensure Melara would NEVER speak of what she'd heard]]]]. If this is true, she failed to realise that all she was doing was [[spoiler:ensuring the prophecy Maggy made for ''Melara'' -namely that she would die that night- was fulfilled]], only increasing her paranoid fear of the witch's prophecy coming true rather than diminishing it.

* DistaffCounterpart: It is strongly suggested that this is where much of her attraction to Jaime comes from, [[spoiler: which even he begins to catch on to]]. She is very disappointed when he returns from captivity and they no longer look identical.

** Cersei believes, with all her heart, that she deserves to rule the Seven Kingdoms, all without having any actual ability or talent for ruling, nor any concern for the people she'd be ruling over. She also has no inherent claim to authority, as her claim to authority is based on first marriage to Robert, whom she cuckolded with her brother which is high treason, and being mother of the king who is a product of said incest, and therefore illegitimate to the throne. Despite all this, Cersei whole-heartedly views the Iron Throne as rightfully hers with no justification needed other than the fact she’s [[SmallNameBigEgo ''Cersei Lannister'']].

* ErmineCapeEffect: Used deliberately. Cersei always dresses in a regal manner, always looks stunning and is somewhat aware that her looks will eventually fade (just as she warns Sansa), only that her overall behavior doesn't quite match this statement; [[spoiler: when she takes her Walk of Shame and is completely naked, she realizes that she is not nearly as buxom as she used to be and that she is beginning to sag, as childbirth and her frequent drinking have taken a toll on her, adding even more to the humiliation]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Her rant to Jaime about her suspicions that Ned Stark is planning to move against her. It shows her hunger for power and belief that everyone is out to get her. Also an interesting look into her mindset: she's convinced Ned is preparing to overthrow them, because why else would he leave his seat of power? Meanwhile, the reader sees that the only thing Ned sees Winterfell as is [[HomeSweetHome home]]. This scene also establishes [[spoiler: her affair with [[BrotherSisterIncest Jaime]].]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Invoked, played straight, subverted, and complicated:
** She is in love with the idea of what her kids could be, but she refuses to acknowledge them as they are and treats them as extensions of herself - this parenting style is one she inherited from Tywin, ''who treated his own kids in the exact same way''. She initially focuses completely on Joffrey while showing not much interest in Myrcella and Tommen, at least until Myrcella is sent to Dorne and taken from her, and Tommen inherits. Later books reveal a prophecy where she was told that her three children would all die before her. So, part of the concern for her children's well-being could be self-motivated... however, Cersei ''does'' mourn Joffrey intensely and even appears traumatised by his death; had she been entirely self-centred, she could have just moved onto Tommen as his replacement especially since her situation had basically remained the same with her as regent. The fact that she is still in great pain over Joffrey when it has no benefit to her means she does love her children in some way to some degree, as incomplete as it may be.

** She originally didn't plan to execute Ned Stark, but merely have him take the black. However, Joffrey had [[OffWithHisHead other plans.]] This also ties in with PragmaticVillainy - publicly executing the lord of a Great House isn't a great look for the crown. The fact that Cersei still didn't lift a finger to stop it makes it a DownplayedTrope.

* FallGuy: Ruthlessly treated as such by the more advanced players, namely Varys and Petyr Baelish. As the Lannister with highest authority in the capital and the regent, all attempts that Varys and Petyr make at undermining the crown collect under Cersei's name. Examples great and small can be found even in the first book, such as Petyr arranging Jon Arryn's death or Varys arranging Barristan Selmy's dismissal. By the fifth book, the High Sparrow sends the political and military message that the nobility bows before the faith, by taking the wrecking ball she aimed at Margaery and putting her in its path - it did not truly matter to him which queen he humiliated so long as his authority was cemented, and he seems primed to jump ship to a more legitimate, non abomination king regardless.

* FatalFlaw: Cersei has more fatal flaws than [[{{Pun}} a skyscraper built by]] [[Franchise/{{Saw}} Jigsaw]], but her most prominent and damaging are as follows - and note that ''all of her flaws are directly inherited from Tywin himself'', exaggerated due to Tywin failing to prepare Cersei for rulership, something for which Tywin was groomed since birth:
** [[SmallNameBigEgo Her overwhelming arrogance.]] Cersei is overwhelmingly convinced that she's a perfect, flawless genius who can do no wrong, when she is actually a reckless fool with terrible judgement. Since she CantTakeCriticism she can [[NeverMyFault never see what she's doing wrong to course correct]]. Additionally, Cersei's paranoia makes her see anyone who isn't one of her faithful lickspittles as an enemy, which means she sees enemies everywhere but also never ''respects'' any of them, dismissing them all as fools and weaklings to be easily crushed. The way she treats Tyrion in concrete parallel to Tywin is a prime example, as the prophecy convinced her that he is foretold to eventually kill her, but up until [[spoiler:Joffrey dies, for which she intially blames Tyrion]], she never actually ''fears'' him at all or shows any recognition of his abilities. This also [[spoiler:leads to her downfall when she rearms the Faith, not even being able to imagine that they might turn against ''her'']] (again akin to Tywin not anticipating the Bloody Mummers as simplistic mercenaries may act against his interests).
** [[ItsAllAboutMe Her selfishness and greed.]] Because she was spoiled growing up, Cersei believes she deserves everything, and other people are only due what she deigns to grant them. When [[spoiler:Tywin dies]] and she becomes the uncontested regent for [[spoiler:Tommen]], she acts like this makes her the ''actual'' queen of Westeros, treating it as something that was owed to her. This makes her grasp of diplomacy effectively nonexistant, since [[AllTakeAndNoGive she can't understand the concept of compromise, not getting everything she wants, or giving up anything she doesn't want to part with]]. This leads to one of her most foolish mistakes when she cancels the Crown's debt repayments to the Iron Bank in order to build a new war fleet, believing she can just order them to wait on her pleasure. Instead, they begin bankrolling Stannis with the intent of getting him to pay them back once he's overthrown her. Her uncompromising greed runs in parallel to Tywin, who refused to forgive the Crown's debt to House Lannister, ''despite the fact the two entities were increasingly becoming the same thing'' - essentially Tywin was forcing his own family to pay a debt to themselves, reducing the Crown's funds that could have been used politically or militarily, as Tyrion laments during his tenure as Master of Coin. Something about keeping the cake and eating it too...
** [[LackOfEmpathy Her utter callousness and cruelty.]] Cersei is completely incapable of caring about ''anyone'' other than herself, except insofar as they are an extension ''of'' herself - this she learns '''directly from Tywin''' who treated all three of his children as extensions of his will. She only cares about her children because they're ''her'' children and doesn't know how to properly express or identify love for them. She only cares about Jaime as long as he's her narcissistically-adoring reflection, and grows tired of him once he begins to grow apart from her (hello Tywin and disowning his no longer perfect heir?). She only has any regard for her fawning lickspittle followers as long as they are useful to her, and would discard any of them in an instant if they became a burden. And her contempt for the commoners of Westeros is so absolute that she'd walk across a carpet of them without even bothering to wipe her shoes first; to her they're not even humans. And as she becomes more of a public figure once rule falls on her shoulders (rather than just being "the king's wife" or "the king's mother") her cruelty becomes more obvious to all and sundry. When she hears pleas for the crown's aid to help rein in rampant bandits who have been slaughtering the smallfolk and raping the Septas, her only response is to wonder why she's being bothered with such irrelevancies, and an idle thought that the Septas (who are sworn to chastity) [[FemaleMisogynist were probably secretly craving a good raping]]. As a result, almost ''nobody'' in all of Westeros actually ''likes'' Cersei. Even her own family has been driven away from her, and all her remaining followers are either weaklings who only obey because they do whatever they're told, or social climbers exploiting her for their own benefit. About the only person left who ''does'' actually seem to have any genuine loyalty to her now is, ironically, [[MadDoctor Qyburn]].
--> "My brother is undoubtedly arrogant," Tyrion Lannister replied. "My father is the soul of avarice, and '''my sweet sister Cersei lusts for power with every waking breath'''."
* FemaleMisogynist: She holds femininity in contempt and wishes she had been born a boy instead. That said, Cersei hates (or at the very least disregards) every woman she interacts with in this series. Despite [[JerkassHasAPoint rightfully pointing out several sexist facets of society that have unfairly restricted her]], she doesn't bat an eyelash when those very same things are imposed on other women. For example, she complains about not having any choice in who she was supposed to marry, but actively participates in forcing [[spoiler: Sansa]] to marry a man she doesn't love. In her mind, [[ItsAllAboutMe misogyny is only a problem when it's directed at her]].

* FormerlyFit: In ''A Feast for Crows,'' she starts to put on weight due to constant stress-drinking, to the point that several of her old gowns no longer fit. Of course, she assumes that the washerwomen must have shrunk them. [[spoiler:Or because she became pregnant after her tryst with Jaime.]]

** She grows to be jealous of her daughter-in-law Margaery Tyrell as she is young, beautiful and popular among the court and smallfolk (thanks to her and her grandmother's good PR, while [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Cersei]] is terrible at that), [[spoiler: and that's why Cersei fears she is the younger and more beautiful queen destined to overthrow her]];

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Her [[spoiler: reinstatement of the Faith Militant and plot to remove Margaery]] backfires spectacularly. [[spoiler:Two of her confidants of House Kettleblack get arrested for sleeping with her, she gets accused of murder (which she organised) of both her late husband and the High Septon that replaced the one killed in the second book, then detained by the Faith Militant, then forced through a HumiliationConga and told that she will be stripped of power, regardless of the trial's outcome]].

** She also arranged for Jaime to enter the Kingsguard--this not only scorched her father's plans to marry Jaime off to the Tully's, but prevented Jaime from inheriting the richest and one of the most powerful House in the Seven Kingdoms--solely to keep him as a lover.

* IWasQuiteALooker: Well, [[ProudBeauty she still thinks she is,]] but [[spoiler:during her naked walk of shame through the streets of King's Landing, she realizes that her beauty is beginning to fade due to age and the strain of bearing three children, not to mention from lots of drinking. She's still quite pretty, just not as striking as she thinks she is.]]

** 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 most notably examples. And all this started because her son was mauled by Arya’s direwolf, who was in defense of her master because Joffrey went AxeCrazy on Arya, but Cersei refuses to listen to the truth and blames Arya and her friend, Mycah for “attacking” her “darling boy”.

* LoveIsAWeakness
-->'''Cersei (to Sansa):''' Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same.

--> '''Petyr Baelish''': [Cersei’s] strength rests on her beauty, birth, and riches. Only the first of those is truly her own, and it will soon desert her. I pity her then.

** Margaret of Anjou. A beautiful, ruthless and ambitious queen, whose fierce desire to rule the realm of England paved the way for disaster. She was wife to an ineffective king, her son was a cruel boy of questionable descent, and her tumultuous relationship with her husband's right hand man helped draw their FeudingFamilies into a bloody civil war (The War of the Five Kings/War of the Roses). She eventually becomes the leader of her respective faction, the Lancasters; although, Margaret actually commands her army and participates in battle at some point. [[spoiler: After the death of her son and a devastating defeat, she is held in captivity and effectively declawed; although, Cersei actually has a way out of this predicament.]]

** Tyrion is certain she [[spoiler: commanded Mandon Moore to have him killed]]. Not at all unreasonable, but at no point after becoming a POV character does Cersei recall doing so, suggesting it actually ''wasn't'' her. The TV series even goes with the idea that it was Joffrey instead.

** Her whole character arc is an example of the trope. At the beginning it's shown that she is a player in the game of thrones; later in the story, it becomes clear that she's just another pawn of greater and more capable forces.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: The text has lately been drawing comparisons between her and her husband. She's not winning. She turns to be as terrible ruler as he was (if not ''worse''), almost as much of [[TheAlcoholic a heavy drinker]] (despite [[{{Hypocrite}} constantly scorning Robert for a sot]]), and while her cheating on her husband could be excused ([[ReallyGetsAround considering what he was]]), she eventually starts cheating on the man she loves as well. And unlike said husband (who knew he was poor ruler but was too lazy and depressed to do anything about it), she lacks ''any'' self-awareness

** 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 beloved pet direwolf 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.
* OlderThanTheyLook: She's in her 30s during the Battle of the Blackwater but Sansa describes her as looking "maidenly" (i.e., a never-been-married girl or very young woman).

* OpenSecret: By ''A Clash of Kings,'' pretty much all of Westeros is aware (or at least suspects) that her "Baratheon" children are the result of an incestuous affair with her own brother. Not helping is the fact that all three of them are blond with green eyes, like Cersei herself and her twin, while trueborn Baratheons always have black hair and blue eyes.
* TheParanoiac: Cersei believes that her younger brother Tyrion is behind every bad thing that ever happens to her and is prophesied to murder her, [[spoiler: and murdered her "best friend" to conceal this "fact", and thought it was bold of herself]]. She is proud of her son Joffrey because he acts like a psychopath, and ashamed of her son Tommen because he ''isn't'' and whom she therefore views as weak. In later books [[spoiler: she starts seeing conspiracies everywhere and stupidly recruits the local fundamentalists to her cause in order to better control the kingdom and enforce her will, only to predictably be turned on by them as they recognize her for the lunatic she is. The only person she trusts is her twin brother Jaime and she ends up repelling even him with her arrogant, callous, and paranoid behavior.]]

* SanitySlippage: Following [[spoiler:Joffrey's death]], Cersei gradually becomes more and more paranoid and cruel, believing that everybody is conspiring against her. Her [[spoiler: father's death]] and Tyrion's escape only make things worse.

* ScrewTheRulesImBeautiful: Deconstructed, like everything else about Cersei. She's always been a stunner, and she knows how to use it. Trouble is, it can only get her so far, and she never seems to realize how far it can actually get her. It certainly doesn't work on everybody, those it does work on don't always prove the safest tools to use, and it crashes headlong into StayInTheKitchen, whatever she tries. [[spoiler: Worse, she's terrified she's losing even this tool as she ages...]]

** Her attempts to ScrewDestiny about the prophecy she received when she was young only seem to bring it closer. Her disastrous parenting of Joffrey which turned him into the monstruous sadistic brat he is, is largely what caused his death as Olenna Tyrell poisoned Joffrey to save her granddaughter from his eventual abuse. Also with her identifying Tyrion as the "Valonqar" seeing him only as an enemy to get rid of, her constant antagonism and attempts to eliminate or spite him even when he does try to help her and their family eventually fully alienate Tyrion and turn him into her enemy for real after she pushes him too far, causing him to swear vengeance on her.

** As part of her NeverMyFault portfolio. In ''A Feast for Crows,'' she rants about how she made Sansa part of her own household, [[WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency fed and clothed her,]] and had her "kindness" thrown back in her face when Sansa supposedly helped poison Joffrey. She conveniently forgets that she 1) engineered the death of Sansa's beloved wolf, 2) allowed her son to have Sansa's father killed, 3) then told the girl to endure regular beatings and humiliation by him, her, and the Kingsguard and ''smile'', and 4) that she doesn't have any concrete proof that Sansa was behind the poisoning at all.

* SocialDarwinist: Her philosophy in the game of thrones boils down to "backstab the other players in the most underhanded fashion possible before they inevitably do the same to you". Summed up in this conversation with her son, talking about his cats.
-->'''Tommen''': Ser Pounce caught a mouse, but Lady Whiskers stole it from him.\\
'''Cersei''': Ser Pounce must learn to defend his rights. In this world, the weak are always the victims of the strong.

--> '''Jaime''': "I love you too, sweet sister. But you're a fool. ''A beautiful golden fool''."

** 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, 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 no doubt is a rivalling power for the crown, ''and'' she learns that her suspected valonqar is escaped. For these two aspects the reader only gains the context much later, so Cersei's overblown paranoia and towering 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.

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: She began an incestuous relationship with her own twin at the age of nine, and by the time she was a teen, it's strongly implied she [[spoiler: murdered her best friend Melara Hetherspoon by pushing her down a well, partly because Melara had a crush on Jaime, partly because she suggested that as long as nobody speaks about the prophecy, it wouldn't come true.]]

* TheUnfettered: especially in the second half of her AFFC arc (Cersei VI - X) where she is the only 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.

** Though she isn't a stepmother to them by the standards and values of Westeros, she does have most of her husband's illegitimate offspring killed [[spoiler: after her son takes over the throne]]. [[OnlySaneMan Ned Stark]] is also appalled to hear rumors of children getting killed because her husband dared to sleep with a woman in Casterly Rock.

-->''"The only way to keep your people loyal is to make certain they fear you more than they do the enemy."''

-->'''Ned:''' I remember Robert as he was the day he took the throne, every inch a king. A thousand other women might have loved him with all their hearts. What did he do to make you hate him so?
-->'''Cersei:''' The night of our wedding feast, the first time we shared a bed, he called me by your sister’s name. He was on top of me, ''in'' me, stinking of wine, and he whispered ''Lyanna''.

-->''She dreamt she sat the Iron Throne, high above them all...''

** Cersei believes, with all her heart, that she deserves to rule the Seven Kingdoms, all without having any actual ability or talent for ruling, nor any concern for the people she'd be ruling over.

** '''They were never ''that'' alike.''' Jaime and Cersei have always ''believed'' they're super alike -- "one person in two bodies." Jaime is convinced that "If I were a woman, I would be Cersei," and Cersei likewise thinks, "If I were a man, I'd be Jaime." But as the books unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that they were never actually as alike as they thought. ''A Feast of Crows'' contains both Jaime and Cersei's perspectives, and it reveals that Jaime never really entertains the thought of being a woman like Cersei, and subscribes to the belief only insofar as it justifies and fuels his attraction for his twin sister. Cersei is a FemaleMisogynist who is extremely jealous and resentful of not being born a man like Jaime.

** After hearing that there's a puppet show in King's Landing where a family of lions is eaten by a dragon, she has two of the puppeteers executed while the two female puppeteers that remain are given to Qyburn as his test subjecs, and orders that those who watched the show either are fined of half their wealth, or lose an eye for treason if they don't have money.

* ImproperlyParanoid: She does indeed have many enemies. The problem is, she thinks ''everyone'' who isn't her loyal unquestioning toady is out to get her. And she's particularly obsessed with Tyrion, who she believes is destined to kill her; while the prophecy she heard as a child at least gives her a ''reason'' to be wary of him, she automatically assumes he's behind ''every'' bad thing that happens to her, and provokes conflict with him to the point that she's ''makes'' him into her enemy.

** She claims to love her children, twin and father, but her actions say otherwise. She's petty enough to never forgive her father for not giving her Rhaegar, uses her children as her claim to power, and snaps at Jaime when he doesn't do as she pleases. As Cersei and Jaime are guilty of high treason, a major contributor in Cersei's selfishness is the fact that the twins created a situation where it is legitimately life and death for Cersei.
** She also arranged for Jaime to enter the Kingsguard--this not only scotched her father's plans to marry Jaime off to the Tully's, but prevented Jaime from inheriting the richest and most powerful House in the Seven Kingdoms--solely to keep him as a lover.

** 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.

* MaidenNameDebate: Apparently nobody ever has called her a Baratheon. Granted, in Westeros such things appear to depend on who's speaking (Cersei once refers to Catelyn as 'Catelyn Tully' in her narration, for example), and the huge weight behind Tywin's name and the fact that Cersei's husband is the one who most strongly considered her 'a Lannister woman' do contribute to favoring her maiden name. It seems common for highborn and married Westerosi women to invoke their birth names on occasion, or have them invoked on their behalf, if their birth families have sufficient clout. It's however taken a step further in Cersei's case, as the royal banner is combined from her and Robert's respective Houses', not his, solidifying the input of her family name into the marriage.
** This appears to be a royal custom. All Queens that were not Targaryens did not change their maiden names (Alicent Hightower, Alyssa Velaryon, Aemma Arryn, Myriah Martell, Daenaera Velaryon and Dyanna Dayne). This seems to be not actually to not undermine the Queen's family name, but to point out that they are royal consorts and not "Targaryens" proper (or Baratheons, for that matter), just as Margaery Tyrell and Selyse Florent are not subject to being called Baratheons because they simply are not. One thing is the ''Royal Family name'' and another is the other family names, which are beneath it.

* MightMakesRight: Subscribes to Machiavelli's "being feared is better than being loved" philosophy, using her position as queen to get her enemies killed left and right. However, she forgets the second part of it: "...but being hated is worse than being feared". When she murders innocent people, including Robert's bastard children and the High Septon, she earns the enmity of the smallfolk and the Faith, which eventually results in the Sparrows imprisoning her for crimes of incest and adultery, and she is [[spoiler:forced to walk naked from the Great Sept to the Red Keep through a jeering crowd who throw garbage at her every step of the way]].
* TheMillstone: [[spoiler:She doesn't start off as one, but as the books progress, her inadequacies start to pile up and drag everybody around her into a downwards spiral, as well as greatly undermining house Lannister's power and political regime. Her paranoid attempts to get rid of Margaery and the Tyrells, despite the Lannisters' reliance on them to win the war and remain in power, her rearmament of the Faith of the Seven, her appointment of incompetent and sycophantic advisors on the Small Council, her interruption of the Iron Bank's payments and following slighting of them lead to her imprisonment and Walk of Shame, and house Lannister being in a precarious position by the end of "A Dance With Dragons", with Kevan struggling to maintain the alliance and repair the ties with the Tyrells, the Seven Kingdoms knowing economic chaos with the Iron Bank refusing to do any new loan in the Seven Kingdoms until its paid back and supporting Stannis, and the other banks from Essos refusing to grant them any loan either, and the Faith Militant being a direct threat to her house and the royal power.]]

* VillainousGlutton: Throughout ''A Feast For Crows'', she spends ostentatiously on pleasure barges, clothes, and jewelry, and is constantly gulping wine, to the point she she actually starts to gain a noticeable amount of weight.

* LoveIsLikeReligion: Cersei and Jaime have built a quasi-religious personal mythology around their relationship. The central metaphysical belief is that they're a single person in two bodies. They invoke imagery from the local mainstream religion, the Faith of the Seven, casting themselves in the roles of the gods the Maiden and the Warrior respectively. Their little pseudo-religion even has a prophesy: that they'll die together just as they were born together.

* LoveIsLikeReligion: Cersei and Jaime have built a quasi-religious personal mythology around their relationship. They see themselves as a single person in two bodies. Jaime is convinced that "If I were a woman, I would be Cersei," and Cersei likewise thinks, "If I were a man, I'd be Jaime." They trace their bond back to before birth. Their little pseudo-religion even has a prophesy: that they'll die together just as they were born together. They invoke imagery from the local mainstream religion, the Faith of the Seven, casting themselves in the roles of the gods the Maiden and the Warrior respectively.

* 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 their own right, but neither can ''ever'' replace what was lost. Both are keenly aware of this in terms of what's being offered ''to them'', but oblivious of the shortcomings of what they're offering the other.

** [[LackOfEmpathy He utter callousness and cruelty.]] Cersei is completely incapable of caring about ''anyone'' other than herself, except insofar as they are an extension ''of'' herself - this she learns '''directly from Tywin''' who treated all three of his children as extensions of his will. She only cares about her children because they're ''her'' children and doesn't know how to properly express or identify love for them. She only cares about Jaime as long as he's her narcissistically-adoring reflection, and grows tired of him once he begins to grow apart from her (hello Tywin and disowning his no longer perfect heir?). She only has any regard for her fawning lickspittle followers as long as they are useful to her, and would discard any of them in an instant if they became a burden. And her contempt for the commoners of Westeros is so absolute that she'd walk across a carpet of them without even bothering to wipe her shoes first; to her they're not even humans. And as she becomes more of a public figure once rule falls on her shoulders (rather than just being "the king's wife" or "the king's mother") her cruelty becomes more obvious to all and sundry. When she hears pleas for the crown's aid to help rein in rampant bandits who have been slaughtering the smallfolk and raping the Septas, her only response is to wonder why she's being bothered with such irrelevancies, and an idle thought that the Septas (who are sworn to chastity) [[FemaleMisogynist were probably secretly craving a good raping]]. As a result, almost ''nobody'' in all of Westeros actually ''likes'' Cersei. Even her own family has been driven away from her, and all her remaining followers are either weaklings who only obey because they do whatever they're told, or social climbers exploiting her for their own benefit. About the only person left who ''does'' actually seem to have any genuine loyalty to her now is, ironically, [[MadDoctor Qyburn]].

* {{Twincest}}: ExaggeratedTrope. Cersei and Jaime have a lifelong SecretRelationship that dates back to [[PuppyLove childhood]], carried through to adulthood, and is a marriage in all but name. The most interesting thing about their relationship is the personal mythology they've constructed around it, making it more than a marriage, almost a religion. They see themselves as a single person in two bodies. Jaime is convinced that "If I were a woman, I would be Cersei," and Cersei likewise thinks, "If I were a man, I'd be Jaime." They trace their bond back to before birth. Their little pseudo-religion even has a prophesy: that they'll die together just as they were born together.

* PsychologicalProjection: Cersei believes Margaery Tyrell is guilty of things Cersei herself has committed, namely scheming, manipulation, incest, and adultery.

Wife and Queen of King Robert. Twin sister of Jaime, older than him by perhaps a minute. A very ambitious and cunning woman, she hates the restrictions put on her because of her gender. She is a physically beautiful but morally repulsive MamaBear[=/=]EvilMatriarch combination, and fiercely protective of her children. She staunchly refuses to become a dowager to Joffrey's (and latter Tommen's) wife and queen Margaery Tyrell.

** She went to incredible lengths to not have any children with Robert, having at least one aborted and doing everything so Robert wouldn't impregnate her again, while passing Jaime's children with her as Robert's. She also threatened to murder Mya Stone if Robert ever dared to bring her to King's Landing, and ordered the murder of every of Robert's bastards after becoming queen regent.

* {{Sadist}}: Another thing Joffrey inherited from her even worse. While not as bloodthirsty and openly sadistic as Joffrey, Cersei does take pleasure in abusing her power and inflicting pain and misery on others, having already threatened a maid with mutilation and twisted Tyrion's penis just to inflict pain on him as a young girl, psychologically abusing and tormenting Sansa Stark during her captivity, and visiting Margaery Tyrell in prison just to gloat and mock her for her imprisonment.

* SanitySlippage: Following [[spoiler:Joffrey's death]], Cersei gradually becomes more and more paranoid and cruel, believing that everybody is conspiring against her.

** Her attempts to ScrewDestiny about the prophecy she received when she was young only seem to bring it closer.

* TheMillstone: [[spoiler:She doesn't start off as one, but as the books progress, her inadequacies start to pile up and drag everybody around her into a downwards spiral, as well as greatly undermining house Lannister's power and political regime. Her paranoid attempts to get rid of Margaery and the Tyrells, despite the Lannisters' reliance on them to win the war and remain in power, her rearmament of the Faith of the Seven, her appointment of incompetent and synchopantic advisors on the Small Council, her interruption of the Iron Bank's payments and following slighting of them lead to her imprisonment and Walk of Shame, and house Lannister being in a precarious position by the end of "A Dance With Dragons", with Kevan struggling to maintain the alliance and repair the ties with the Tyrells, the Seven Kingdoms knowing economic chaos with the Iron Bank refusing to do any new loan in the Seven Kingdoms until its paid back and supporting Stannis, and the other banks from Essos refusing to grant them any loan either, and the Faith Militant being a direct threat to her house and the royal power.]]

For the main House Lannister entry, [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireHouseLannister see here]].

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