Cersei Lannister
| Cersei Lannister | |
|---|---|
| A Song of Ice and Fire character | |
 Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister | |
| First appearance |
Novel: A Game of Thrones (1996) Television: "Winter Is Coming" (2011) Video game: "Iron From Ice" (2014) |
| Created by | George R. R. Martin |
| Portrayed by |
Lena Headey Nell Williams (young) Game of Thrones |
| Information | |
| Aliases | Light of the West |
| Title |
Queen Regent Lady Paramount of the Westerlands Lady of Casterly Rock |
| Family |
House Lannister House Baratheon |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Baratheon |
| Children |
Joffrey Baratheon Myrcella Baratheon Tommen Baratheon (with Jaime) |
| Relatives |
Tywin Lannister (father) Joanna Lannister (mother) Jaime Lannister (twin brother/lover) Tyrion Lannister (brother) |
| Kingdom |
The Westerlands The Crownlands |
Cersei Lannister is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones. She becomes a prominent point of view character in the novels beginning with the 2005 fourth installment A Feast for Crows.
Cersei is portrayed by Lena Headey on the HBO series Game of Thrones. Headey received Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in 2014[1][2] and 2015.[3] In season 5, a young version of the character is portrayed by Nell Williams in flashbacks.
Character description
Introduced in 1996's A Game of Thrones, Cersei is the politically ambitious, manipulative and willful eldest child of Lord Tywin Lannister and Lady Joanna. She is the twin sister of Ser Jaime Lannister, with whom she shares an incestuous relationship. According to George R. R. Martin, Jaime is the only person she truly loves apart from her children. Fifteen years before the events of the series, Cersei married King Robert Baratheon to seal an alliance between House Lannister and the throne and so became Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, but she neither loves nor respects Robert after years of abuse and violence. The contempt she feels towards her husband stems from the woman he was first betrothed to and was in love with, Lyanna Stark. She has three children, but all three are fathered by Jaime rather than Robert although all carry the surname Baratheon and are heirs to the throne. In her role, Cersei proves herself to be cunning in handling political turmoil, however, as the series progresses, her incompetencies become more conspicuous. Cersei grows increasingly paranoid and unstable, believing her younger dwarf brother, Tyrion, to be the center of all of her problems after being haunted by a prophecy in her childhood that described the valonqar (High Valyrian for “little brother”) who would end her life. Described as having classic Lannister looks, Cersei is seen as strikingly beautiful with her green eyes, golden blonde hair, slender figure and fair skin however, as of A Feast For Crows she has begun to gain weight as a result of alcohol abuse.
Storylines
A Game of Thrones
At the beginning of the novel, King Robert Baratheon, his queen Cersei and most of the court visit The North to appoint Ned Stark Hand of the King. During the royal visit to Winterfell, the young Bran Stark finds the queen committing incest with her brother Jaime Lannister. To prevent her adultery from being revealed, her brother attempts to kill Bran but is unsuccessful.
Cersei and Robert have a loveless marriage, their union being a marriage of state to bind two wealthy houses together. Both Cersei and Robert repeatedly cheat on each other, with Robert fathering sixteen bastard children, and Cersei pretending that her children are Robert's. In reality, all of Robert's presumed heirs with Cersei have been fathered by Jaime. Ned Stark eventually discovers the truth of Cersei's infidelity and confronts her, giving her the opportunity to flee into exile and thus spare her innocent children certain execution. However unbeknownst to Ned, Cersei had already arranged Robert's death in a hunting accident. With the help of Petyr Baelish and Sansa Stark (unknowingly), Cersei foils Ned's attempted coup and becomes Regent, gaining complete control of the capitol.
A Clash of Kings
Frustrated with Cersei's many political blunders as well as her failure to control her son, King Joffrey Baratheon, Cersei's father, Tywin Lannister appoints his son Tyrion Lannister Hand of the King with explicit instructions to control Cersei and Joffrey. Once at the capitol, Tyrion enters into a bitter power struggle with Cersei, methodically removing her supporters from positions of power and isolating her on the Small Council of the king's advisers.
When Stannis Baratheon, Robert's younger brother, marches on King's Landing, Cersei and Joffrey hide in a fortified tower, leaving Tyrion to mastermind the defense of the city. Just as Stannis is about to breach the gates, Tywin arrives and drives Stannis from the city. There, Tywin formally assumes his position as Hand of the King, once again marginalizing Cersei and depriving her of her power to rule as Joffrey's regent.
A Storm of Swords
After formally assuming his position as Hand of the King, Tywin makes it clear to Cersei that she is no longer welcome on Small Council meetings, de facto stripping her of her political authority. Furthermore, as a condition of their alliance with House Tyrell, Joffrey is to marry Margaery Tyrell with Cersei being shipped off to the Tyrell seat of Highgarden to marry Wilas Tyrell. Cersei is incensed by these developments, frustrated that not only has she lost her power of the capitol, but also lost control over her own life by a succession of forced marriages.
This state of affairs is shaken when Joffrey is poisoned at his wedding feast. Maddened with grief at the loss of her eldest son, Cersei lashes out against Tyrion, accusing him of poisoning the king out of revenge. Cersei manipulates Tyrion's trial to ensure a guilty verdict, bribing and intimidating witnesses. When Tyrion demands a trial by combat, Cersei selects the imposing Gregor Clegane, "The Mountain," as the Crown's champion. The Mountain prevails, killing Tyrion's champion. Tywin then pronounces Tyrion guilty and sentences him to death, but Tyrion escapes prison with the help of his brother Jaime and kills Tywin. Cersei is once again in complete control of the kingdom.
A Feast for Crows
With the death of her father and her son Joffrey, Cersei de facto rules the kingdom. Her second child, Tommen Baratheon is crowned king but is widely considered weak, signing every decree that passes in front of him. However she is ruling a kingdom on the brink of ruin. The huge losses suffered by House Lannister in the war combined with the wartime disruptions to trade and harvest mean that the ruling House Lannister is dependent on resources from House Tyrell. The Tyrells leverage this position and begin to build power in the capitol, much to Cersei's consternation.
Furthermore, Cersei makes a series of political and economic blunders, alienating allies such as Pycelle and Kevan Lannister. In an attempt to undermine the Tyrells as well as release her son from his marriage to Margaery, Cersei attempts to frame Margaery for adultery and treason. However this plot backfires as the investigation into Margaery reveals evidence of Cersei's own adultery and her complicity in Robert Baratheon's death. She confesses the adultery to the High Septon (though not her relationship with Jaime) and as punishment, she is stripped naked and forced to walk through the capital in full view of the public. The remaining charges will be settled in a trial by combat.
A Dance with Dragons
Cersei takes her walk of shame, nearly breaking down in tears near the end. The more serious charges of regicide and incest will be settled in a trial by combat. She sends a letter to her twin Jaime, asking him for help, but he burns her note. In prison awaiting trial, the kingdom is now run by Pycelle and Kevan. However, at the nadir of her fortunes, Varys returns to the capital and murders both Pycelle and Kevan. The book ends with Cersei's fate unknown.
Family tree of House Lannister
| Family tree of Tytos Lannister |
|---|
References and notes:
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TV adaptation
Cersei Lannister is played by Lena Headey in the television adaption of the series of books.
Storylines
Cersei Lannister, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, is the wife of King Robert Baratheon. Her father arranged the marriage when she was a teenager, initiating himself as a political counselor for King Robert. The Lannisters are the richest family in Westeros,[4] which is why Robert was interested in a marriage between them. Cersei has a twin brother, Jaime, with whom she has been involved in an incestuous affair from early childhood. All three of Cersei's children are Jaime's.[4] Cersei's main character attribute is her desire for power and her deep loyalty to her father, children, and brother Jaime. Cersei learns that her husband Robert is in danger of finding out that the children he sees as his heirs to the throne are not his. Robert meets his end as the result of a boar attack on a hunting trip, before Ned Stark tells him of the truth about his children. Cersei works quickly to instate her oldest son, Joffrey, on the throne, with her as his chief political advisor and Queen Regent.[5] Joffrey quits listening to his mother, and by the beginning of the second season her father decides Cersei does not exercise enough control over her son, and her father sends his youngest son Tyrion as an additional political advisor. Cersei and Tyrion do not get along, and constantly try to undermine each other's authority over the crown. As of the end of season 2, Tyrion has accumulated more sway over the Iron Throne, and has shipped Cersei's only daughter off against Cersei's will to be married to the prince of Dorne.
In season 3, she takes pleasure in Tyrion's diminished position and taunts him for being forced into a marriage pact with Sansa Stark, only to be told by her father that he intends to marry her to Loras Tyrell. At the end of the season, the two siblings ponder at their respective marriages, and Cersei reunites with Jaime in her bedchamber as he unexpectedly returns from captivity. In season 4, she has Tyrion arrested after Joffrey is fatally poisoned. It is implied that she knows Tyrion's guilt is highly unlikely, but just wants to see him dead, though Jaime refuses to carry out the order.[6] Indeed, at Tyrion's trial, it is obvious that Cersei has manipulated the entire procedure so that the only witnesses (herself, Lord Varys, Meryn Trant, Grand Maester Pycelle and Shae) give either incomplete or entirely false testimonies to implicate Tyrion and Sansa further in the murder. When Tyrion demands a trial by combat, Cersei quickly chooses Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane as her champion to diminish Tyrion's chances of acquittal, and has Bronn betrothed to a noblewoman so that Tyrion cannot choose him as his champion. Cersei's wish comes true when Tyrion's champion, Oberyn Martell, is killed by Clegane, but she still refuses to marry Loras, even threatening her father with revealing the truth about her relationship with Jaime and the parentage of her children. Tywin rebuffs her threats, though he himself is killed by an escaping Tyrion soon afterwards.
In season 5, Cersei attends Tywin's funeral and later orders a bounty on Tyrion's head. Cersei and Jaime receive a message from Dorne: a small viper statue with a necklace in its fangs. Cersei tells Jaime that the necklace belongs to their daughter, Myrcella, who was sent to Dorne by Tyrion. Jaime tells Cersei that he will travel to Dorne and bring Myrcella back. Cersei meets with two hunters who have brought her a severed head, though she is disappointed to find that it is not Tyrion's head. Qyburn lays claim to the head for his research and the two walk to a small council meeting. With the office of Hand of the King vacant, Cersei tells the council that she will stand in temporarily until Tommen chooses a new Hand. She appoints Mace Tyrell as the new Master of Coin and Qyburn as the new Master of Whisperers. When Cersei tries to appoint her uncle Kevan as the Master of War, he declines, telling her that as the queen mother she holds no power, and has no interest in serving in a council filled with her sycophants. In defiance of Cersei's "orders", Kevan states that he will return to Casterly Rock until he hears direct word from Tommen that he is required. Tommen soon weds Margaery Tyrell. Under Margaery's influence, Tommen drops hints that he would like Cersei to return to Casterly Rock, but she refuses, and confronts Margaery, who insults her. Cersei catches the High Septon being punished for entering a brothel by her cousin Lancel, who has become a member of the Faith Militant, an extremist group that worships the Seven. Cersei talks to their leader, the High Sparrow, and instates him as the new High Septon. The Faith Militant then aggressively puncture all barrels of wine and trash Petyr Baelish's brothel. They also arrest Margaery's brother Loras on the grounds of his homosexuality. Tommen, at Margaery's insistence, tries to get Cersei to release Loras, but Cersei swears she had nothing to do with it, After a trial, Loras is arrested after a prostitute named Olyvar testifies against Loras. Margaery is also arrested for lying about Loras' sexual orientation, and both are put in dungeons. All of this delights Cersei, who goes to see Margaery in her cell and brings her a bowl of venison stew. Cersei has one final talk with the High Sparrow about the accomplishments of the pair, but he soon reveals that Lancel has confessed everything (in Season 1, Cersei had sex with him in Jaime's absence). Cersei is subsequently arrested for adultery, incest, and murder (it was her plan to get Robert drunk so that he would injure himself while hunting). She is only visited in her cell by Qyburn, who tells her that Grand Maester Pycelle has seized power of the throne, and that Kevan is serving as hand of the king. Cersei is distraught to learn that Tommen, anguished over his wife's and mother's arrests, has not been eating. Cersei is also visited by a septa, who orders her to confess to her sins. Cersei refuses, and she is hit by the septa. Weakened, Cersei is forced to lick the water off the floors of the cell. She eventually agrees to reveal herself to the High Septon, confessing her incestuous relationship to Lancel Lannister but refusing to admit more serious offences, which would be harder for the Faith to prove. The High Sparrow allows her to leave captivity in favor of house arrest in the Red Keep, pending the trial, but only if she agrees to do "atonement" for her sins by being shaved and walking naked through the streets of King's Landing. Cersei endures the walk with great resolve, bleeding and covered in filth as she eventually reaches the Keep, where she reunites with her uncle Kevan, now Hand of the King, and Qyburn, who introduces her to the newest member of the Kingsguard, a freakishly large, silent giant implied to be the reanimated corpse of Gregor Clegane.
References
- ↑ Jacobs, Matthew (July 10, 2014). "Emmy Nominations 2014: Breaking Bad, Orange Is The New Black Among Top Nominees". The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
- ↑ Brown, Tracy (July 10, 2014). "Emmys 2014: Complete list of nominees". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
- ↑ "Emmy Award Nominations: Full List of 2015 Emmy Nominees". Variety. July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
- 1 2 VanDerWerff, Todd. ""Winter is Coming" Review". AV Club. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- ↑ VanDerWerff, Todd. ""You Win Or You Die" Review". AV Club. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- ↑ VanDerWerff, Todd. ""Valar Morghulis" Review". AV Club. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
