History Characters / GameOfThronesCerseiLannister

** She is also very sympathetic towards her younger children Myrcella and Tommen, who are both very goodhearted people. However, as with Cat and Sansa, her sympathy for Tommen swiftly goes out the window around the same time he does, as she sees him as having betrayed her for the Tyrells and the Faith.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Maggy the Frog prophesised that Cersei would someday be cast down and lose everything she holds dear to a queen "younger and more beautiful" than her. Cersei has never forgot this and grows increasingly paranoid that Margaery Tyrell could be the subject of the prophecy, though this is never confirmed. Cersei also makes it clear that she has always resented that Robert still preferred Lyanna Stark to her, even when she'd been dead for seventeen years.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Although she may be from one of the wealthiest and most powerful noble houses in Westeros and a queen, Cersei hasn't had it all easy going. Her [[ParentalNeglect father]] barely pays attention to her and never showed her much affection, her [[MissingMom mother]] died when she was young and she was forced to marry Robert Baratheon, whom she soon learned would always prefer his dead betrothed, barely looking twice at her. He soon descended in alcoholism and whoring, causing Cersei to resent him; her firstborn child also died as an infant, leaving her utterly distraught.

* OffingTheOffspring:
During the Battle of the Blackwater, she procures essence of nightshade with the intention of poisoning both [[MercyKill Tommen]] and [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled herself]] in the event the battle is lost, as she believes Stannis will have Tommen tortured to death while she will be raped. However, just as she's about to give Tommen the poison Tywin bursts into the throne room to announce that the battle is won, prompting her to drop the bottle on the ground. That being said, [[DownplayedTrope although she didn't personally kill him]], Tommen's eventual [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] is a direct result of her actions in "The Winds of Winter". Cersei, of course, doesn't openly [[NeverMyFault take any responsibility for this.]]

* ObnoxiousInLaws: [[ExaggeratedTrope She's every daughter-in-law's worst nightmare]]. She's a BitchInSheepsClothing towards Sansa Stark and does virtually nothing to stop Joffrey from tormenting her, although she does have a [[PetTheDog brief moment of compassion]] towards her when she gets her first period, offering her comfort and advice. She despises Margaery Tyrell from the moment they meet, partly because she knows she's a manipulative SocialClimber but also out of jealousy and paranoia that she will usurp her position (it's indicated she fears that Margaery is the younger and beautiful queen prophesied to supplant her). She can't do much besides being passive-aggressive, although when Margary remarks they'll be sisters-in-law after she marries Loras, Cersei rather cheerily remarks that she'll have her strangled in her sleep if she ever refers to them as such again. After Tywin's death and Margaery's marriage to Tommen, Cersei plots to have her arrested by the Faith Militant on trumped up charges and takes obvious pleasure in seeing her imprisoned and humiliated. Eventually, she has Margaery and pretty much her entire family blown up with wildfire and happily watches the whole thing go down with a glass of wine in hand.

** Some of her petty and idiotic schemes from the books are instead done by Joffrey in the show, which makes her less StupidEvil, and she actually tries to renegotiate the terms with the Iron Bank instead of just telling to screw themselves and have the kingdom falling into debt and bad credit. Lots of her smarts come from being all around less narcissistic and hateful so she can actually think instead of assuming she knows everything. She took over King's Landing in a tour de main and while she isn't in a great posture she has already made herself an ally in the Greyjoys, the strongest naval power in Westeros, to keep Daenerys at bay.

* TheParanoiac: Cersei fits just about ''all seven'' criteria. She [[NeverMyFault never accepts the blame]] for anything, is extremely [[RevengeBeforeReason vengeful]] even when it comes to petty slights, outright states that she thinks "[[BlackAndWhiteInsanity Everyone but us [her immediate family] is the enemy]]", is an utter {{Jerkass}} to just about everyone, looks down upon and [[ControlFreak tries to control]] people (in particular [[MyBelovedSmother her children]]) and is so [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]] that she's almost a textbook narcissist. For much of the series she's very suspicious of the Tyrells, believing they're trying to usurp her position and seize power, although in this case she's actually ProperlyParanoid. By Season 7, though, she's a borderline ConspiracyTheorist, accusing Jaime of plotting against her, even though nothing further could be from his mind and he's only trying to help.

* TookALevelInBadass: While Cersei's faults and weaknesses are many, by the end of Season 7 it's clear that she has gotten much better at managing them. Following her walk of shame Cersei has shown much more patience, cunning, and ability to plan ahead then she ever did before. She manages to wipe out all her enemies in the capital in one move and makes herself Queen. When faced with Daenery's invasion she manages to gain new allies in House Greyjoy and House Tarly while at the same time eliminating all of Daenerys' Westeros-based allies. She uses gold stolen from Highgarden to pay off the Iron Bank and get a new loan. When offered a truce by her enemies so they can face the Army of the Dead and the White Walkers she makes a big production of agreeing and pledging to fight with our heroes but only after very difficult negotiations. This ends up being a ruse and her real plan is to let her enemies kill each other fighting in the North while she uses her new loan to hire a mercenary army 20,000 strong to regain control of the south and wipe out whoever is left after the fighting in the North is done. Despite being surrounded by smarter players in the game, Cersei has managed to take advantage of her opportunities to kill almost all of her enemies and take the Iron Throne and become the most dangerous of the show's human villains.

* NeverMyFault: Rare is the moment where Cersei ever considers her own fault in any situation, and even then it's fleeting. A shining example is in the premiere of Season 7 when she declares that everyone currently rebelling against her rule is a traitor. She doesn't seem to understand that the major reason they're all rebelling against her is because she's a terrible queen who murdered hundreds of people, including members of her own family, to take power. Later in the season, she declares that the fall of House Lannister, including the deaths of Myrcella and Tommen, is Tyrion's fault for killing Tywin because no one would have dared harm the family while Tywin lived. She seems to either not remember or not care that Tommen committed suicide as a direct consequence of something ''she'' did.

* BullyingADragon: She also tends to antagonise powerful people against her own interests, as with Margaery and the Tyrells when they arrive to the King's Landing. Ultimately subverted in Season 7 when the Tyrell army turns out to be a PaperTiger as Jaime finds out.
* TheCaligula: Seizes the Iron Throne after murdering hundreds in a wildfire plot that causes her son, King Tommen, to commit suicide. Cersei is a tyrannical ruler who takes pleasure in the pain and suffering she causes.

* WomanScorned: After Robert makes clear that he never loved her and their marriage didn't have a chance to work, and strikes her (in a different scene), he doesn't live for long. Years of cheating and humiliating her probably didn't help his case, either.

** Some of her petty and idiotic schemes from the books are instead done by Joffrey in the show, which makes her less StupidEvil, and she actually tries to renegotiate the terms with the Iron Bank instead of just telling to screw themselves and have the kingdom falling into debt and bad credit. Lots of her smarts come from being all around less narcissistic and hateful so she can actually think instead of assuming she knows everything. [[spoiler:She took over King's Landing in a tour de main and while she isn't in a great posture she has already made herself an ally in the Greyjoys, the strongest naval power in Westeros, to keep Daenerys at bay.]]

* AxCrazy: Cersei's behaviour over Season 6 becomes more and more unstable until eventually she nukes the Sept of Baelor with wildfire, uncaring of collateral damage. Come Season 7 ''everyone'' is treading lightly around her as she has become incredibly unpredictable and irrational, and when Jaime calls her out on [[spoiler: lying about her allying with Jon and Daenerys against the Night's King and leaves to help, she contemplates having him killed on the spot out of spiteful rage. Jaime is lucky to get out alive.]]

** At the end of Season 7, [[spoiler:she goes back on her word about helping either Jon and Daenerys in fighting the Night King and disregards the menace he represents, as she is actively hoping that they wipe each other out while she stands back, fortifies her position and replenishes her forces with the Golden Company. She doesn't seem to grasp that in the worst case scenario pointed out by Jaime, should the Night King prevail, the Stark and Targaryen forces will be absorbed into the ranks of the living dead and she won't be able to outfight them, or should they win, they'll come back south and kill them for their betrayal]].
-->'''Jaime''': [[spoiler: When the fighting in the North is over, someone wins — you understand that, don't you? [[ZombieApocalypse If the dead win, they march south and kill us all]]. [[ThisIsUnforgivable If the living win, and we've betrayed them]], [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge they march south and kill us all]]!]]
** [[spoiler:[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Kind of trivial]] compared to the impending ZombieApocalypse she's basically sponsoring, but she's planning on consolidating her power, should she survive the ordeal, by bringing in foreign mercenaries from Essos. After rallying what few loyalist nobles she could muster on the premise that Daenerys was going to invade Westeros with an army of foreigners. Her prospective approval rates sound like fun.]]

* DramaticIrony: She never figures out that the real culprit for Joffrey's death is Olenna and not Tyrion as she believes. By murdering Olenna's entire family and effectively extinguinshing her entire House, Cersei unknowingly avenges her son's death by taking away everything his killer held precious. [[spoiler:When she actually learns that it was Olenna who poisoned Joffrey, she laments that she didn't went far enough and made her suffer before dying]].

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In the seventh season, [[spoiler: when Daenerys requests a brief alliance in order to face off against the larger threat, the White Walkers, all Cersei can consider is how to best use this to her advantage. Even when given proof of their existence, Cersei chooses to ignore the impending threat because she'd rather Daenerys deplete her own forces. Even prior to this, when Jaime, who barely survived her overwhelming forces, pleaded with Cersei to consider surrendering, Cersei balked at the idea because she doesn't believe Daenerys would spare her because Cersei wouldn't if the roles were reversed.]]

** Come the end of Season 6, she becomes the reigning queen after bombing the Great Sept of Baelor (with a good chunk of King's Landing as collateral damage) to get rid of her political enemies, causing her last remaining son to kill himself. In Season 7, her first acts as the reigning monarch are [[spoiler:allying herself with a complete madman, inflicting (or at least planning to) a gruesome revenge on selected peronal enemies, pillaging the breadbasket of the Seven Kingdoms on the verge of winter, making plans to indebt the Crown with the Iron Bank again after having just paid the previous debts, betraying of the only forces that are trying to prevent a ZombieApocalypse on her kingdom, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and forcing her handmaids to adopt her pixie cut.]]]] And Season 7 doesn't even show us how daily life is for the peasants in King's Landing under her rule, or after the aforementioned bombing.

* HandOnWomb: [[spoiler: She announces her SurprisePregnancy in Season 7 to Jaime and the audience by putting her hands on her abdomen, after giving Jaime a speech about how they'll destroy all their enemies "for ourselves, for our house. For this."]]

** [[spoiler: She repeatedly insults Daenerys for bringing foreign soldiers as part of her invasion of Westeros, but has no issue with having Euron Greyjoy bring foreign mercenaries from Essos to bolster her forces.]]

* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: Immediately after [[spoiler: torturing Ellaria and giving Tyene Sand the kiss of death]], she goes off to have sex with Jaime.
* IRejectYourReality: [[spoiler:Despite seeing a zombie with her own eyes, she still underestimates the threat the Night King represents and hopes that the Starks and the Targaryens exhaust themselves fighting against them just so she can remain on the Iron Throne]].

* InsaneTrollLogic: [[spoiler:Just because Cersei correctly guesses that Daenerys' dragons can be killed after all, she believes she can win against her enemy and it will be just that easy by hiring a company of sellswords to replace her exhausted Lannister armies. She doesn't realize that her scorpion ballista failed to critically injure Drogon one bit, let alone kill him and that something powerful enough to kill a dragon (like the Night King) should be a massive concern itself]].

** In Season 7, [[spoiler:she ignores the threat the Night King represents despite seeing a wight pouncing towards her and pulls out her war effort because she expects her political rivals to exhaust each other fighting the Army of the Dead. She doesn't care about the realm as long as she remains on the throne]].

** Although her decision to [[spoiler:falsely agree to a truce to fight the White Walkers, while really using the time to consolidate her own position]] is a real dick move, she's probably right that the Lannister armies wouldn't really be of any help anyway if the armies already committed to the fight - which have dragons in support - can't win. And if the Stark-Targaryen alliance does win, they're going to go right back to fighting against her for the throne.

** After her last son Tommen commits suicide due to Cersei's actions, she claims that he betrayed her... [[spoiler:directly to his ''father'']] in the Season 7 premiere.

** However, ultimately she cares more about herself and her power than any of her offspring. [[spoiler: In the Season 6 finale, she shows little emotion to Tommen's suicide in the aftermath of her blowing up the Sept of Baelor. In Season 7, she becomes pregnant once again. Jon and Daenerys make it clear what kind of threat the White Walkers present and Cersei still decides to stab them in the back, rather than sending troops to help win the war. All this even after Jaime tells her that their child will not even be born if the White Walkers win.]]

** In Season 7, [[spoiler:she gets to remain in power despite her armies being beaten by her enemies due to the White Walker threat looming from the horizon it must be dealt with before Cersei. She makes a truce with them which she doesn't intend to honor, just to see her rivals weaken themselves fighting the dead just so she can replenish her forces. However, this leads to Jaime, the only man who ever loved her to abandon her and who makes painfully clear that she won't be able to hold the throne in the aftermath of the new war with the dead]].

** By the end of Season 7, [[spoiler:She makes a truce with the Stark/Targaryen faction to end the war and fight off the White Walker invasion, only to reveal to Jaime which she doesn't intend to honor it. She intends to let Stark and Targaryen armies fight the Army of the Dead while the Lannisters stay south and wait for foreign reinforcements, then, once that battle is over, defeat whoever is left and solidify her rule. Jaime angrily tells her that she just signed their death warrants as, no matter which side comes out on top, the Lannisters have absolutely no chance of beating them even with the reinforcements. He's so angered by her stupidity he abandons her right then and there.]]
* SurprisePregnancy:[[spoiler:Halfway through Season 7, it's revealed that she's pregnant with a fifth child, despite the obvious inferral in seasons past that everybody, including Cersei herself, figured she was past her childbearing years.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: While Cersei's faults and weaknesses are many, by the end of Season 7 it's clear that she has gotten much better at managing them. Following her walk of shame Cersei has shown much more patience, cunning, and ability to plan ahead then she ever did before. She manages to wipe out all her enemies in the capital in one move and makes herself Queen. [[spoiler:When faced with Daenery's invasion she manages to gain new allies in House Greyjoy and House Tarly while at the same time eliminating all of Daenerys' Westeros-based allies. She uses gold stolen from Highgarden to pay off the Iron Bank and get a new loan. When offered a truce by her enemies so they can face the Army of the Dead and the White Walkers she makes a big production of agreeing and pledging to fight with our heroes but only after very difficult negotiations. This ends up being a ruse and her real plan is to let her enemies kill each other fighting in the North while she uses her new loan to hire a mercenary army 20,000 strong to regain control of the south and wipe out whoever is left after the fighting in the North is done.]] Despite being surrounded by smarter players in the game, Cersei has managed to take advantage of her opportunities to kill almost all of her enemies and take the Iron Throne and become the most dangerous of the show's human villains.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[DefiedTrope No.]] When Tommen turns on her and sides with Margaery and the High Sparrow, Cersei opts to bomb the Sept of Baleor and kill all of his chosen allies. She spares Tommen himself, but her reaction after he commits suicide because of her actions pretty much confirms that she's already given up on him.

* InsaneTrollLogic: [[spoiler:Just because Cersei correctly guesses that Daenerys' dragons can be killed after all, she believes she can win against her enemy and it will be just that easy by hiring a company of sellswords to replace her exhausted Lannister armies. She doesn't realize that her scorpion balista failed to critically injure Drogon one bit, let alone kill him and that something powerful enough to kill a dragon like a White Walker should be a massive concern itself]].
* InformedAttractiveness: Cersei is widely praised as one of the most beautiful noblewomen of Westeros, albeit Olenna notes that she's growing old.

** Her main reason for accusing Tyrion for Joffrey's murder amounts to her believing that Tyrion did it to hurt her personally. It doesn't matter that Tyrion might had have much more legitimate motives for killing Joffrey; to Cersei, the motive ''must'' have been that he wanted to get back at her specifically and Joffrey just happened to be collateral damage.

* LadyMacBeth: She's behind some of Robert and Jaime's callous or outright evil decisions.

** However, ultimately she cares more about herself and her power than any of her offspring. [[spoiler: In Season 7, she becomes pregnant once again. Jon and Daenerys make it clear what kind of threat the White Walkers present and Cersei still decides to stab them in the back, rather than sending troops to help win the war. All this even after Jaime tells her that their child will not even be born if the White Walkers win.]]
* MamaDidntRaiseNoCriminal: Initially, she is utter denial about how much of a monster Joffrey is, [[SubvertedTrope but]] by Season 2 she can't ignore it anymore. Although she still loves and supports him no matter what, after he dies she admits to Margaery that the things he did shocked even her.

* MoodWhiplash: Due to Tywin's WhamLine. Just before that, she had been shamelessly gloating over the fact that Tywin was going to force Tyrion to marry Sansa... and then Tywin tells her of his plans for her, and she's brought nearly to tears.

** In Season 3, she [[SmugSnake smugly smiles]] when Tywin orders Tyrion to marry Sansa, and nearly breaks into tears when he orders her to marry Loras in turn.

* NeverMyFault: Rare is the moment where Cersei ever considers her own fault in any situation, and even then it's fleeting. A shining example is the premiere of Season 7 when she declares that everyone currently rebelling against her rule is a traitor. She doesn't seem to understand that the major reason they're all rebelling against her is because she's a terrible queen who murdered hundreds of people, including members of her own family, to take power. Later in the season, she declares that the fall of House Lannister, including the deaths of Myrcella and Tommen, are Tyrion's fault for killing Tywin because no one would have dared harm the family while Tywin lived. She seems to either not remember or not care that Tommen committed suicide as a direct consequence of something Cersei did.
* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Cersei is based on several queens with poor reputations -- Queen Isabella (tje She-Wolf of France), Queen Catherine De'Medici of France, and from the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses -- Margaret d'Anjou and Elizabeth Woodville. The incest charge she's guilty of was also taken from another real-life queen, UsefulNotes/AnneBoleyn (although [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn#Charges_of_adultery,_incest_and_treason it was most likely fabricated]]), to go with Robert's own UsefulNotes/HenryVIII look.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: After about six seasons of being sidelined, outmaneuvered, and humiliated by the other players of the Game, Cersei snaps and exterminates all of her rivals in King's Landing with wildfire before usurping the Iron Throne as Queen. She is directly responsible for killing as many or more major characters than anyone else has over all six seasons. Goes further with this when she has Euron Greyjoy working for her and is able to wipe out most of Danaerys' Westerosi-based allied teams.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: [[ExaggeratedTrope She's every daughter-in-law's worst nightmare]]. She's a BitchInSheepsClothing towards Sansa Stark and does virtually nothing to stop Joffrey from tormenting her, although she does have a [[PetTheDog brief moment of compassion]] towards her when she gets her first period, offering her comfort and advice. She despises Margaery Tyrell from the moment they meet, partly because she knows she's a manipulative SocialClimber but also out of jealousy and paranoia she will usurp her position (it's indicated she fears she is the younger and beautiful queen prophesied to supplant her). She can't do much besides be passive-aggressive, although when Margary remarks they'll be sisters-in-law after she marries Loras, Cersei rather cheerily remarks that she'll have her strangled in her sleep if she ever refers to them as such again. After Tywin's death and Margaery's marriage to Tommen, Cersei plots to have her arrested by the Faith Militant on trumped up charges and takes obvious pleasure in seeing her imprisoned and humiliated. Eventually, she has Margaery and pretty much her entire family blown up with wildfire and happily watches the whole thing go down with a glass of wine in hand.
* OhCrap: It's very cathartic to see this on her face when the wight Jon and Daenerys have brought to show the greater threat, already pissed off at being roused from its crate, goes straight for Cersei with seemingly every intention of wrapping its fingers round her neck.

* TheParanoiac: Cersei fits just about ''all seven'' criteria. She [[NeverMyFault never takes the blame]] for anything, is extremely [[RevengeBeforeReason vengeful]] even when it comes to petty slights, outright states she thinks "[[BlackAndWhiteInsanity Everyone but us [her immediate family] is the enemy]]", is an utter {{Jerkass}} to just about everyone, looks down upon and [[ControlFreak tries to control]] people (in particular [[MyBelovedSmother her children]]) and is so [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]] she's almost a textbook narcissist. For much of the series she's very suspicious of the Tyrells, believing they're trying to usurp her position and seize power, although in this case she's actually ProperlyParanoid. By Season Seven, though, she's a borderline ConspiracyTheorist, accusing Jaime of plotting against her even though nothing further could be from his mind and he's only trying to help.
* ParentalFavoritism: She gives much more love and attention to Joffrey than to Tommen and Myrcella. Considering the effects, the younger children probably have benefited from that. Ironically, she later claims that Myrcella was her favorite child.

* AbusiveParent: She slaps Joffrey across the face at one point, though in fairness, this ''is'' Joffrey we're talking about. One could also argue that she's emotionally abusive towards Tommen.

** She deeply loves Tommen because he is her son, but shows little respect and concern for the actual individual, not thinking twice before undermining and manipulating him or before hurting the woman he loves because Cersei's powerplays come first. At most, she views herself as a WellIntentionedExtremist.
** In season 4, she accuses Tywin that once she is gone that he and Margaery would dig their claws into Tommen and fight over him until he would be ripped apart. Comes Season 5, after Tywin's death, she constantly struggles with Margaery to manipulate Tommen, until he ends up killing himself after realizing that his mother's schemes ruined his chances of becoming a good king.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Basically her entire reign, both from behind the scenes and as the actual monarch, is a long collection of this, with each new scheme trying to clean up the mess that the previous one made, while opening a whole new can of worms each time.
** She has her husband killed to prevent him from finding out that her children (and his heirs) are actually bastards born of incest. News gets out anyway and the King's death opens a succession crisis.

** When Tyrion demands TrialByCombat when accused of killing Joffrey, Cersei rather shrewdly chooses [[TheDreaded The Mountain]] as her champion, believing no-one would fight against him on Tyrion's behalf. However, she fails to consider Oberyn Martell, the only man in King's Landing who ''wants'' to fight Ser Gregor, declaring himself Tyrion's champion. Worse still, her daughter, Myrcella Baratheon, was currently residing with the Martells in Dorne. When the Red Viper is slain, Myrcella's life is essentially forfeit.

** A quick fix to being surreounded by enemies with an impending trial she's bound to be found guilty at? [[KillItWithFire Burning them all alive]] in a spectacular bombing of her own capital. This puts her on the throne as the reigning monarch at the end of Season 6, but leaves in utter political, economical and militar isolation except for the waning resource of her own House Lannister.
** At the end of Season 7, [[spoiler:she goes back in her word about helping either Jon and Daenerys in fighting the Night King and disregards the menace he represents, as she is actively hoping they wipe each other out while she stands back, fortifies her position and replenishes her forces with the Golden Company. She doesn't seem to grasp that in the worst case scenario pointed out by Jaime, should the Night King prevail, the Stark and Targaryen forces will be absorbed into the ranks of the living dead and she won't be able to outfight them, or should they win, they'll come back north and kill them for their betrayal]].

** She on season 4 accuses Tywin that once she is gone that he and Margaery would dig their claws into Tommen and fight over him until he would be ripped apart. Comes Season 5, after Tywin's death, she constantly struggles with Margaery to manipulate Tommen, until he ends up killing himself after realizing that his mother's schemes ruined his chances of becoming a good king.

* TheDarkChick: The pretty one of the family, who Tywin plans to marry into House Tyrell.

--->'''Cersei''': You're ''funny''. You've always been funny. But no joke will match the first one, will they? You remember--back when you ripped my mother open on your way out of her and she bled to death.\\

* TheResenter: Especially for Jaime, but also for her father, husband and even Tyrion due to their respective positions of power which she believes came from the fact that they're men. While the society of Westeros ''is'' very sexist and she may have had a point back then, she's filled about twenty years since with exactly resenting others and doing nothing constructive with her own position of power as the damn ''queen'', which has led to the present situation where Cersei's completely justifiably being denied power due to her incompetence. Visibly so towards Brienne of Tarth, who by her achievements and not being nearly as reliant on being a Tarth as Cersei is on being a Lannister, much less on being beautiful, pokes a sharp hole in Cersei's worldview.

** She tends to focus on harming her enemies -- real or imaginary -- first, and thinking about the consequences... uh, sometime later. Maybe. A shining example is her ploy to undermine the Tyrells in Season 5. Not only does Cersei's claim to power rely on the Lannister-Tyrell alliance (meaning that, if the Tyrells are undermined, ''she'' is undermined), Cersei's scheme directly results in her own imprisonment, public humiliation, and complete loss of political power and control. [[KnowWhenToFoldEm Most halfway intelligent people would realize they've lost and do their best to mitigate the damage and avoid future misery]]. [[DefiedTrope Cersei is not one of these people]], and actually proceeds to she tops herself in Season 6's finale when she blows up the Sept of Baelor during the Green Trial, destroying all of her opponents in Kings Landing, along with a good part of the city. It's one of the very few plans she actually executes successfully, but it leaves her as ''the'' target of pretty much every remaining faction in Westeros. Of course, by that time her sanity is so long gone it's hard to even speak of "reason". [[DespairEventHorizon And this time she may have been genuinely more interested in just making her enemies suffer than in gaining anything for herself]].

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Maggy the Frog told her that all three of her children would die. Cersei's own actions, in various ways, lead to this outcome. Joffrey dies because Cersei coddled him and then couldn't control him when he was made king, which led to him being poisoned because he was out of control. Myrcella died because the Mountain killed Oberyn, which in turn only happened because Cersei was determined to punish Tyrion for killing Joffrey without any proof that he was responsible. Finally, Tommen kills himself after Cersei detonates the wildfire under the Great Sept of Baelor, killing Margaery among many others.

** To Sansa. They were both sheltered daddy's girls from noble families, living a fantasy of marrying a PrinceCharming, which in both cases has gone horribly wrong, leaving them both disillusioned. Sansa's kinder nature and not actually spending years in a horrible marriage have left her in a better mental shape than Cersei, for now at least.

** Both Tyrell women, Margaery and Olenna, share many traits with Cersei -- they're manipulative, willing to use seduction (in Olenna's case, in the past) to further their goals and were "blessed" with not particularly politically competent husbands. Olenna and Cersei also share ruthlessness and and similarities in their acts go as far as committing a regicide and letting an innocent man take the fall. However, by growing (at least in Margaery's case) in a household where the female role was valued and taught -- instead of being reduced to a property of a man and a piece to haggle -- and being ''sane'' and having an oucne of common sense, they get out of their roles everything Cersei couldn't: Margaery is a popular queen and gets to manipulate even Joffrey, and Olenna is the real head of her family who has raised a capable heiress and is the closest thing the series has to a female Tywin.

* ShedTheFamilyName: InvertedTrope. Cersei again takes up the Lannister name as Queen regnant instead of Baratheon.

* SmugSmiler: There probably isn't a character from any medium ever, to compete with that contemptible, irritating smirk that she wears constantly.

** While she is indeed a somewhat competent/lucky schemer, she is not as brilliant as she thinks herself to be and her self-entitlement, pettiness, and overconfidence often renders her blindsided, and she always struggles to grasp that she's in over her head when she has been outplayed. Her own father even points out that she overestimates her own intelligence.

* SoftSpokenSadist: In her monstrous actions during "The Winds of Winter," she keeps a very soft tone of voice. This is especially apparent in her treatment of Sister Unella.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: In Season 6's finale, she finally gets back at Septa Unella, by throwing several goblets of wine at her face, chanting 'Confess! Confess!', calling her out of her hypocrisy, and gloating about the truth of the crimes Cersei herself has been accused of. It quickly morphs into DisproportionateRetribution though, as she subjects the septa to death by torture at the hands of Ser Gregor.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: In Season 6's finale, she finally gets back at Septa Unella, by throwing several goblets of wine at her face, chanting 'Confess! Confess!', calling her out of her hypocrisy, and gloating about the truth of the crimes Cersei herself has been accused of. It quickly morphs into DisproportionateRetribution though, as she subjects the septa to death by torture in hands of Ser Gregor.

** Her torture of Ellaria and the Sand Snakes is not exactly her greatest of sins.

** By the end of Season 6, the sheer amount of [[TraumaCongaLine trauma]] and [[HumiliationCongaLine humiliation]] she's gone through have eradicated almost all her redeeming traits. She blows up her rivals and dozens of innocent people using wildfire with a smile on her face, barely reacts to the suicide of her last child because he "betrayed" her, accuses Jaime of treason if he so much as disagrees with her, gleefully exacts some [[CruelAndUnsualDeath truly]] [[FateWorseThanDeath horrible]] punishments for her captured enemies (and regrets not doing the same to Olenna Tyrell) and is willing to screw over her 'allies' and all of Westeros simply to keep her butt on the Iron Throne. At this point, Cersei just does [[ItsAllAboutMe whatever she wants]] and makes it very clear she doesn't give a damn what anyone else thinks of her.

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Implied that, unlike in the books, Cersei loved her mother.

* TookALevelInBadass: While Cersei's faults and weaknesses are many, by the end of Season 7 it's clear that she has gotten much better at managing them. Following her walk of shame Cersei has shown much more patience, cunning, and ability to plan ahead then she ever did before. She manages to wipe out all her enemies in the capital in one move and makes herself Queen. [[spoiler:When faced with Daenery's invasion she manages to gain new allies in House Greyjoy and House Tarly while at the same time eliminating all of Daenerys' Westeros-based allies. She uses gold stolen from Highgarden to pay off the Iron Bank and get a new loan. When offered a truce by her enemies so they can face the Army of the Dead and the White Walkers she makes a big production of agreeing and pledging to fight with our heroes but only after very difficult negotiations. This ends up being a ruse and her real plan is to let her enemies kill each other fighting in the North while she uses her new loan to hire a mercenary army 20,000 strong to regain control of the south and wipe out whoever is left after the fighting in the North is done.]] Despite being surrounded by smarter players in the game, Cersei has managed to take advantage of her opportunities to kill almost all of her enemies and take the Iron Throne and become the most dangerous of the shows human villains.

* SmartBall: She gets a lot more cunning in Season 7, managing to turn around a war in which she was hopelessly outmatched to one that she has a very slim chance of actually winning. Some of this can be attributed to Jaime, but not all of it. It doesn't completely erase her shortsighted behavior and her ItsAllAboutMe attitude gets exponentially worse, but it's a step up nonetheless.

!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/LenaHeadey (adult), Nell Williams (young)

[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesTywinLannister Tywin Lannister]], '''Cersei Lannister''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]