History Characters / GameOfThronesCerseiLannister

[[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/GameOfThronesTheonGreyjoy Theon Greyjoy]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesPetyrBaelish Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesMargaeryTyrell Margaery 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]]]]]]-]

-->'''Cersei:''' Robert was a drunken fool, but he didn't enjoy cruelty.

-->'''Pycelle:''' ''[ranting about Qyburn]'' He brought shame to the Citadel with his repugnant experiments--
-->'''Cersei:''' More repugnant than your gnarled fingers on that girl's thigh?

* OverarchingVillain: Begins the series as the de facto BigBad for the first season before being hastily pushed into BigBadWannabe for most of the series after Joffrey proves [[StupidEvil utterly uncontrollable]] and far more effective [[TheChessmaster masterminds]] like Tywin, Olenna Tyrell and the High Sparrow leave her grasping at thin air. After a drawn-out VillainousBreakdown through Seasons 5 and 6 she [[AxCrazy goes off the deep end]] and [[KillEmAll wipes out everyone]] to [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen usurp the Iron Throne]]. [[spoiler:Towards the end of Season 8 she's finally brought down by Daenerys, the last villain standing]].

** In the books, her hatred of Tyrion is in part because of a prophecy that her younger brother will be the cause of her downfall. [[labelnote:From the Books...]]Although she was cruel to the baby Tyrion before receiving said prophecy and it's clear she was also following daddy's example in seeing her younger brother as a little monster.[[/labelnote]] The show removes that part of the prophecy and instead implies that the only reason Cersei hates Tyrion is because she blames and resents him for their mother's death.

* AintTooProudToBeg: After Tywin forces her to marry Ser Loras, she is reduced to tearfully begging her father not to make her do it. It doesn't work.

* 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. She hates that unlike herself, Margaery seems to thrive as a queen, endearing herself to the people, having the trust and support of her family, and effectively manipulating Joffrey and Tommen. 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. Cersei in fact lost out ''twice'' to Lyanna; she once hoped to marry Prince Rhaegar, but the Mad King chose Elia Martell as his bride instead...and then Rhaegar later ran off with Lyanna. [[labelnote: From the books]] Cersei thinks to herself that if she had married Rhaegar like she was 'supposed' to, then he would never have looked twice at Lyanna, though of course she's very biased. [[/labelnote]]

* BerserkButton: Mocking her about her incestuous relationship with Jaime is a quick way of pissing her off -- she responded to Littlefinger doing so by nearly having her Kingsguard slit his throat, gives a cruel retort to Tyrion when he jokes about it and is seen giving Ellaria Sand a DeathGlare when she indirectly mentions it. In Season 8 [[spoiler: when Euron asks her how he compares to her brother in bed, she looks sharply at him and then [[TranquilFury softly]] says [[ImpliedDeathThreat "You enjoy risking your neck, don't you?"]] However, Euron being Euron, he just shrugs it off]].

* BigBad: Although there's a plethora of villains, in Season 1 Cersei serves most clearly as the main antagonist. She's a threat to the Starks, the Crown and the Realm in general due to her scheming. She subsequently becomes a BigBadWannabe, with the more competent and intelligent Tywin falling into place. In Season 5, she temporarily manage to take this position, only to be put back as a BigBadWannabe by the High Sparrow. She regains her position as BigBad with a vengeance after killing the Sparrows and Tyrells and taking the crown for herself. [[spoiler:And, with the demise of the [[GreaterScopeVillain Night King]] halfway through Season 8, she is the final character to hold this position in the series...[[DiscOneFinalBoss or so it seemed anyway]].]]

** Cersei plays the game well during Robert's reign, but this is only because she's playing it against the Starks, who are too honorable for their own good. Once her crazy son is on the throne, she loses control in short order. Her plan to be the [[ManBehindTheMan Woman Behind The Throne]] fails spectacularly when Joffrey orders Ned Stark executed and she's powerless to stop him. In Season 2, Tyrion constantly manages to out plan her with ease, and in Season 3, her father is clearly running things despite Cersei outranking him as Queen Regent, and outright says to her face that she isn't as smart as she think she really is.

** Cersei comes full circle with this trope in the final season. [[spoiler: While Cersei does manage to outlive the Night King it's only because she deliberately sat out the War for the Dawn and allowed the dead to kill off half of Daenerys' forces. She then kills Rhaegal and Missandei in short order to enrage Daenerys enough to attack with her full force where Cersei is confident that her renewed stockpile of troops and enhanced ballista's will give her the edge in battle. Instead of the victory she had hoped for, however, Daenerys and Drogon easily destroy her defences and Dany's armies march into King's Landing with little resistance. Once inside, Daenerys goes insane and destroys King's Landing while Cersei is forced to retreat and is eventually crushed to death when the Red Keep falls on her. So in the end all of Cersei's pointless, petty moves accomplished was to drive Daenerys mad and turn her into the BigBad instead.]]

* BreakThemByTalking: After forty years of emotional torment from her father, she finally gets her own back by revealing the truth of her and Jaime's relationship, leaving him stammering that it can't be true.
-->'''Cersei:''' ''Your legacy is a '''LIE'''''!

* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler: She has Qyburn hire Bronn to kill Jaime and Tyrion (with a crossbow, which makes it DeathByIrony for the latter) if they survive the war with the Night King.]]

-->'''Cersei''': I've done nothing.\\
'''Tyrion''': Quite right, you did nothing...when your son called for Lord Stark's head!\\
'''Cersei''': I tried to stop him...\\
'''Tyrion''': Did you? You failed! That bit of theatre will haunt our family for a generation! Now the entire North has risen up against us...\\
'''Cersei''': Robb Stark is a child...\\
'''Tyrion''': ''Who's won every battle he's fought''!

-->'''Jaime''': 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: This is how she ultimately perishes. In the penultimate episode of the series, trapped in the crypts beneath the Red Keep by a caved-in passageway, she and Jaime share a final loving embrace before the crypts collapse atop them, killing them both.]]

** [[spoiler: When Qyburn reveals that the Army of the Dead has broken through the Wall, her response is a simple "Good".]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: She ''does not'' approve several of Joffrey's actions, like ordering Ned Stark's execution and ordering a massacre of children.
-->'''Cersei''': Robert was a drunken fool, but he didn't enjoy cruelty.

-->'''Pycelle''': ''[ranting about Qyburn]'' He brought shame to the Citadel with his repugnant experiments--
-->'''Cersei''': More repugnant than your gnarled fingers on that girl's thigh?

* EvilOverlord: Becomes this at the end of Season 6 when she seizes the Iron Throne for herself after blowing up her rivals with wildfire, also destroying the Sept of Baelor and killing many innocent civilians in the process. She wastes no time torturing her enemies to death, allying with other evil or at least morally-questionable folks to solidify her power (including a MadScientist who can create nigh-unstoppable zombie knights and advanced ballistae capable of taking down dragons) and makes it very clear she thinks being Queen of the Seven Kingdoms means she can do whatever she wants now. She even [[EvilCostumeSwitch switches her outfits]] to black ones with armour-like patterns and accessories and has her guards dress in black too. Like many tropes in ''Game of Thrones'', it's {{deconstructed|Trope}}; Cersei's atrocities have made her a ''lot'' of enemies and many of the Seven Kingdoms are in open rebellion against her. Daenerys Targaryen is more than a match for her thanks to her own sizable army and dragons. House Lannister's coffers are also running severely low after the War of the Five Kings. Cersei's able to rectify this by plundering Highgarden and using the money to pay off the Iron Bank, enabling her to hire the Golden Company to boost her ranks, but she now has to contend with an EvilOverlord [[EvilerThanThou even more menacing than herself]] –- the Night King and his army of the undead, and they don't have to worry about money and angry subjects. [[spoiler: As of mid Season 8, [[DiscOneFinalBoss the Night King is defeated]], seemingly leaving her as the biggest threat in Westeros now, discounting potentially Euron Greyjoy. She shamelessly intends to use the civilians of King's Landing as human shields against Daenerys's forces and talks to Euron about her grand plans to retake the North once the dragon queen has been defeated -- then said dragon queen decides enough is enough, performs her FaceHeelTurn and demonstrates to Cersei who the true most powerful threat left on the planet is now that the Night King is gone]].

--> "You're not going to die today. You're not going to die for quite a while. [[OhCrap Ser Gregor]]."

--->'''Cersei''': ''[to Tyrion]'' I don't care what you think! You've never taken it seriously; you haven't, Jaime hasn't! It's all fallen on me.

-->'''Cersei''': I do things because they feel good. I drink, because it feels good. I killed my husband, because it felt good to be rid of him. I fuck my brother, because it feels good to feel him inside me. I lie about fucking my brother, because it feels good to keep our son safe from hateful hypocrites. I killed your High Sparrow... and all his little sparrows... all his septons, all his septas, all his filthy soldiers... because it felt good to watch them burn. It felt good to imagine their shock and their pain. No thought has ever given me greater joy. ''[chuckles evilly]'' [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Even confessing feels good, under the right circumstances]].

** In Season 8, [[spoiler: she has a captive Missandei executed after Tyrion tries to convince her to abdicate the throne, thus dooming King's Landing to violence, all because she's drunk with power.]]

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: To a fair extent, yes. Like her father, she'll never see anything positive about Tyrion, even if it's dancing in front of her, which often make her vastly underestimate him, even as she fears him by distorting what he's capable of, too. She started to wise-up about Joffrey, but had been in denial for years about how unstable he actually was (answer: VERY) -- this very denial caused ''soooooo'' many problems, it's unreal. And, then there's her tendency to belittle anybody who has faith in anything other than power or gold, which caused her to to massively misread the High Sparrow, for one. Listen to her tone when she says she has nothing to fear from him because "he's a religious man". It screams "an idiot I can use because he's religious" in subtext. Rather badly judged, there, Queenie. Almost as bad as deciding that you've managed to cow a tail-tucked Lady Olenna Tyrell...

* IfICantHaveYou: When Jaime announces he's leaving her to fight alongside the Starks and Targaryens as he promised, she comes very close to ordering Ser Gregor to kill him, though she can't quite bring herself to do it. Come the next season, [[spoiler: she orders Bronn to kill both Jaime and Tyrion should they survive the battle with the White Walkers]].

** When Ned Stark offers her the chance to escape King's Landing with her children and live in exile, she famously tells him that "When you play the game of thrones, you live or you die. There is no middle ground." While the line is meant to portray Ned as GoodIsDumb, [[spoiler: this is exactly what happens to Cersei and her family. Cersei loses all her children to the game by the end of Season 6, and after becoming queen herself, she dies with Jaime in Season 8.]]

** In the second half of Season 8, [[spoiler: she has Missandei executed, dooming King's Landing to violence.]]

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Cersei will usually fight to the bitter end, being too proud to give up, but there are a few occasions when she realizes she's beat. In Season 5, she finally confesses to adultery after being imprisoned and tortured by the Faith for weeks and makes a humiliating walk of atonement if only to get back to the safety of the Red Keep. [[spoiler: In Season 8's "The Bells", after Daenerys [[CurbStompBattle completely wipes the floor]] with the Iron Fleet, Golden Company and ballistae, Cersei realizes she has no hope of winning and reluctantly gives into Qyburn's suggestion to surrender, figuring at least this way she'll get to live. Unfortunately, she's managed to piss Dany off enough that she's unwilling to accept it and continues the attack. Cersei doesn't make it out]].

* LastSecondChance: [[spoiler: In "The Last of the Starks", Tyrion tries to persuade Cersei to surrender to Daenerys, saying that neither she, her unborn child and thousands of innocent civilians in King's Landing need to die in an unnecessary battle. Cersei doesn't take it and has a captive Missandei beheaded [[KickTheDog for good measure]]]].

-->'''Tywin''': You're still fertile. You need to marry again and breed.\\
'''Cersei''': I am '''Queen Regent''', not some broodmare!\\
'''Tywin''': You are '''my daughter'''! You will do as I command and you will marry Loras Tyrell!

** [[spoiler: When Jaime leaves her, she declares him a traitor, even though the reason he left her was because she was willing to let the people of Westeros get killed by the Army of the Dead just so she could stay in power, and he had been loyal to her upto that point.]]

* OverarchingVillain: Begins the series as the de facto BigBad for the first season before being hastily pushed into BigBadWannabe for most of the series after Joffrey proves [[StupidEvil utterly uncontrollable]] and far more effective [[TheChessmaster masterminds]] like Tywin, Olenna Tyrell and the High Sparrow leave her grasping at thin air. After a drawn-out VillainousBreakdown through Seasons 5 and 6 she [[AxCrazy goes off the deep end]] and [[KillEmAll wipes out everyone]] to [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen usurp the Iron Throne]]. [[spoiler: Towards the end of Season 8 she's finally brought down by Daenerys, the last villain standing.]]
* 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 utterly nasty 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, [[spoiler: and after he's left to aid the Targaryen-Stark forces out of disgust at her callousness, she orders his and Tyrion's deaths.]]

** In the second season, even she seems taken aback by Joffrey's order to kill Robert's bastard children, not necessarily because of [[EvenEvilHasStandards personal standards]], but because something like murdering children and babies draws the wrong type of attention. She even seems offended that Tyrion initially thinks she was the one who ordered it.[[labelnote:From the books...]]In the books, the purge of Robert's bastards was all her idea and Joffrey was unaware/uncaring of it, making for another point where Tyrion had to rein her in[[/labelnote]] However, she's also too prideful to admit he was wrong to do so.
* PrincessInRags: Queen Mother in rags, to more specific. In Season 5, she's arrested by the Faith Militant, stripped of her finery and imprisoned in a dingy cell with only a dirty shift to wear. And ''then'' she get stripped of clothes entirely and has to walk through crowds of commoners as part of her atonement. She does '''not''' take it well; she mostly retains her haughtiness throughout the ordeal, alternating between trying to bribe and threaten her captors, and dismissing Olenna Tyrell's blunt assessment of her situation:
--> "My dear. You have been stripped of your dignity and authority, publicly shamed and confined to the Red Keep. What's left to work with?"
** She bounces back in the Season 6 finale, killing all her enemies/rivals in one move and promoting herself to queen regnant.

--->'''Olenna''': You have no support, not anymore. Your brother is gone; the High Sparrow saw through that. The rest of your family abandoned you. The people despised you. You're surrounded by enemies, thousands of them. You're going to kill them all by yourself? You've lost, Cersei. It's the only joy that I've find in this misery.

* QuestionableConsent: Her sexual encounter with Jaime in "Breaker of Chains". Jaime roughly initiates sex in the Sept ''next to Joffrey's body'' while they're both grieving. Cersei pushes him away and says no, insisting it isn't right, but Jaime carries on anyway, angrily saying he doesn't care. This comes off as rape, but if one looks closely, Cersei actually kisses Jaime back and pulls him close while still crying about how wrong it is, which...complicates things. The actors and crew also said they didn't set out to shoot it as a rape scene, nor was it written as one in script. Cersei doesn't seem to hold it against him, either. Either way, the scene is ''very'' uncomfortable to watch and highlights just how [[DestructiveRomance effed up their relationship is.]] [[labelnote: From the books...]] The corresponding sexual encounter in ''A Storm of Swords'' is unambiguously consensual from both ends [[/labelnote]]

--->'''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.\\
'''Tyrion''': ...She was my mother too.\\
'''Cersei''': Mother gone. For the sake of you. There's no bigger joke in the world than that.

** Despite considering herself a keen player in the game of thrones, none of her plans ever truly succeed. Indeed, in most cases, her actions end up backfiring on her horribly, particularly her plan to rule Westeros behind the scenes while Joffrey sat on the throne. The most Cersei ever appears to achieve are very small, petty victories over people much less powerful than her, and that desire for short-lived sense of satisfaction irrespective of whether it actually improves her position or accomplishes anything in the long run is textbook SmugSnake.

** Young Cersei looks ''strikingly'' similar to her daughter, Myrcella. The fact that Myrcella's a product of Cersei's incest with her own ''twin'' brother ''might'' have something to do with this.[[note]]Exact same genes, give or take a few[[/note]]

--->'''Tyrion''': Listen to me, 'queen regent'. You're in danger of losing the people.\\
'''Cersei''': The people? Heh. You think I care?\\
'''Tyrion''': You may find it difficult to rule over millions who want you dead.

--> "I killed my husband because it felt good to be rid of him."

** [[spoiler: In Season 8, she becomes lovers with Euron Greyjoy after Jaime finally has enough of her cruelty and leaves her. Euron would like to make things more [[WeCanRuleTogether official]], but she's holding off for the time being. There's no real affection between them; Euron just wants to rule the Seven Kingdoms (Daenerys was his original choice) while Cersei is trying to manipulate Euron and is [[SexForSolace fed up]] because Jaime dumped her (and she [[ItMakesSenseInContext didn't get her elephants]])]].

* VillainHasAPoint: Cersei is absolutely right that Tywin is more concerned about idea of the family than its actual members. [[spoiler: She also accurately points out that Daenerys showing up with only two dragons when she'd making a grand show of her military might indicates something has happened and the dragons are not invulnerable (though as Jaime points out, [[SkewedPriorities the fact something may have killed a dragon when their own weaponry barely made a dent in Drogon should be a bigger concern]])]].
* WellDoneSonGuy: Like all of Tywin's children, she craves his appreciation. Like all of Tywin's children, she doesn't get it, because a) she screws up, b) daddy doesn't ''do'' appreciation to begin with.

--> '''Cersei''': Everything they say about Jaime and me is true... your legacy is a ''lie''!

** [[spoiler: She doesn't take Jaime leaving her out of disgust at her short-sightedness well, and hires Bronn to kill him and Tyrion with a crossbow should they survive the war with the Night King.]]

--> '''Euron''': Ever since I was a little boy, I wanted to grow up and marry the most beautiful woman in the world.

* YouCantFightFate: In the end, everything Maggy the Frog foretold about her future comes true. She marries King Robert instead of Prince Rhaegar. She has three children, none of which were fathered by Robert and all of whom die before her. She becomes Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, only to lose it all because of [[spoiler: Daenerys Targaryen, a beautiful and more youthful rival queen]].

-->'''Cersei''': Mother gone. All for the sake of you. There's no bigger joke in the world than that.

** Her unborn child, whether it had been real or not, she actively uses to get sympathy from Jaime and Tyrion, however, behind closed doors she continues drinking ensuring it would have fetal alcohol syndrome despite knowing the dangers.

** Cersei loves her children, but it doesn't necessarily mean she's a good mother. She spoils Joffrey and fills his head with nonsense about how strong and fierce he is, despite all evidence to the contrary. She barely interacts with Myrcella because Joffrey is the child she paid the most attention to. Plus, she was also indirectly responsible for Tommen's suicide, by orchestrating a mass murder while knowing Tommen's wife would have been killed too. As a consequence, Tommen is DrivenToSuicide and she shows no remorse for it. Instead making his death about [[ItsAllAboutMe herself]].

* LikeFatherLikeSon: Cersei would like to believe that she is the female version of her father, but she has all of his worst qualities and none of his talents. All she manages to achieve is a lacklustre imitation of Lord Tywin.

* AdaptationalDumbass: In the books, Cersei makes the choice to rearm the Faith Militant to secure the High Sparrow's blessing, who was already named the High Septon without any input from her, to ensure Tommen was seen as legitimate, and dealing with the sudden influx of refugees flooding into the capital and wipes away all of the debt the crown owes to the Faith. Compare this to the show, where she only does it to piss off the Tyrells.

* HandHidingSleeves: Her gowns often include very long, wide sleeves, symbolising her wealth and high status, and her manipulative nature and the dark secrets she hides. In the Season 6 finale, she [[SignificantWardrobeShift ditches]] voluminous sleeves for more practical ones, emulating her late father's outfits as she ascends as the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. It could also symbolise how Cersei feels she has nothing to hide anymore; [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem she's going to do whatever she wants now that (in her opinion) there's no one to stop her.]]

* InformedAttractiveness: Cersei is widely praised as one of the most beautiful noblewomen of Westeros, although Olenna notes that she's growing old.

* She blasts the goldcloaks in a deleted scene for their cowardice yet behaves like a DirtyCoward herself when Danaerys burns down King's Landing, [[InelegantBlubbering crying like a little bitch]] to Jaime about how she didn't want to die as the result of a slaughter ''she'' made happen by having Missandei killed.

[[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/GameOfThronesTheonGreyjoy Theon Greyjoy]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesPetyrBaelish Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]]) | [[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]]]]]]-]

'''Only spoilers from the current season will be hidden, so beware spoilers if you're not up to date on the episodes.'''

!!!'''Dubbed By:''' Creator/LaurenceBreheret (European French)

Elder twin sister of Jaime and older sister of Tyrion. Mother of Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen. Daughter of Tywin. Wife of King Robert Baratheon and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros by marriage at the beginning of the series. However unbeknownst to her husband their children are in fact the by-product of an incestuous affair with her brother Jaime. Ned Stark's discovery of this fact becomes one of the main instigators that leads to the War of the Five Kings. Ambitious, ruthless, manipulative, vindictive, sadistic, selfish and seeing enemies, true and false, everywhere, Cersei is a horrible human being who thinks only of two things: to keep her children safe and to be the only queen of Westeros.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: While not as hated as her son Joffrey, the common folk of King's Landing don't like her much at all. Her haughty, crappy treatment of the subjects and the rumors of incest certainly don't do a lot to change that.
* AbusiveParent:
** Cersei loves her children, but it doesn't necessarily mean she's a good mother. She spoils Joffrey and fills his head with nonsense about how strong and fierce he is, despite all evidence to the contrary. She barely interacts with Myrcella because Joffrey is the child she paid the most attention to. Plus, she was also indirectly responsible for Tommen's suicide, by orchestrating a mass murder while knowing Tommen's wife would have been killed as well. As a consequence, Tommen is DrivenToSuicide and she shows no remorse for it. Instead making his death about [[ItsAllAboutMe herself]].

* AdaptationalDumbass: In the books, Cersei makes the choice to rearm the Faith Militant in order to secure the High Sparrow's blessing, who was already named the High Septon without any input from her, to ensure Tommen was seen as legitimate, as well as dealing with the sudden influx of refugees flooding into the capital and wipes away all of the debt the crown owes to the Faith. Compare this to the show, where she only does it to piss off the Tyrells.

** In the show, she and Robert had a child at one point[[note]]which is described to be black-haired, a true Baratheon look[[/note]]; but it died of a fever shortly after being born. In the books, Robert got her pregnant once, after which she had the child aborted behind his back.

** She has much better reasons to be wary of Margaery than in the books and despite getting Loras arrested by the Faith Militant was an underhanded move, well, at least this time she didn't frame anyone (and she has gone after him in the books as well for far more petty reasons, albeit in a different fashion).
** {{Subverted|Trope}} come the Season 6 finale, when Cersei's remaining [[CryForTheDevil sympathetic]] qualities go out the window and she reveals herself to be even more petty, cruel, ruthless, destructive, and dangerous than her book counterpart ever had a chance to become, with the Green Trial. Although since the adaptation's overtaken the books at this point, it remains to be seen if her book counterpart (who's already displayed a knack for killing innocents and burning things) catches up.

* TheAlcoholic: Season 2 sees an increasing number of scenes where she has a cup close to hand. During the attack of Stannis Baratheon on King's Landing, she's drunk throughout. By Season 5, she has a LadyDrunk reputation. Between Cersei and Tyrion, it seems like a safe bet that the Lannisters are genetically predisposed to alcoholism. [[labelnote:From the Books...]]Other Lannisters from (relatively recent) Westerosi history that would also stand as evidence of this genetic predisposition, such as Lord Tytos Lannister, Tywin and Kevan's father. This may go a long way in explaining why Tywin has such a grudge against it. Also serves as a trait she shares with her late husband Robert, where as Queen Regent she increasingly turns to drink while crumbling under the pressure of ruling seven kingdoms and politicking the great and good of the royal court to keep her children safe.[[/labelnote]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Cersei has a black and white view of friends and enemies (with nearly everyone falling under the latter), is prone to risky behaviors such as her incest and alcoholism, has a poor control of her emotions, and has difficulty empathizing with anyone who's not her kids. It's widely theorized by the fan base that she has Borderline Personality Disorder.

** During "Blackwater", she tries to comfort Tommen with the fable of the lion who was meant to be king and was in a forest filled with evil things such as stags. Tommen points out that stags aren't evil creatures, they only eat grass.

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the typical [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen wicked fairytale queen]]. Cersei's cruel and twisted nature is partly due to [[TroubledAbuser years of abuse and/or neglect at the hands of her father and husband]]. It also highlights just what a woman in a very [[NoWomansLand patriarchal]], medieval-like society would have to do to gain power, which ultimately comes at great personal cost for Cersei. While she is dangerous, she's also [[StupidEvil irrational and petty]], leading to poor decision-making that backfires on everyone, including herself. Bumping off her husband to take control of the realm [[DidntThinkThisThrough doesn't turn out nearly as well as she hoped]] and when she does finally come into power, her ruthless methods and general incompetence severely destabilizes her realm and [[ZeroPerCentApprovalRating turns a lot of people against her]], including potential allies, and prompts some [[EnemyMine previously feuding factions]] [[NiceJobFixingItVillain to unite against her.]]

** Although she doesn't become a monster, after she and Robert have a conversation where it initially looks like they're [[HopeSpot going to reconcile and improve their relationship]], she is then rejected by Robert. This scene ends with Robert asking her how she feels, and her responding that she [[EmptyShell doesn't feel anything]]. Her subsequent actions make a lot more sense in light of this.

** Turns out there was still some sanity for her to lose, which she finally does when Tommen abandons her to her fate in the hands of the Sparrows, which prompts Cersei to mass murder all of her enemies she can at once -- along with a good chunk of bystanders -- and even give up on her son himself.

* DumbBlonde: While Cersei isn't a ''complete'' moron, Tywin perfectly assesses her when he says that she is nowhere near as intelligent as she thinks she is. Her main flaw is that she continually underestimates people, and her level of misguided arrogance about her supposed political brilliance prevents her from seeing that she is wrong. She loses control of Joffrey almost immediately after he becomes king, and most of her attempts to dispose of Tyrion are laughable failures. In Season 7, she thinks that she will be able to plot her way to victory despite Jaime outright telling her they're fighting a HopelessWar and she's just delaying the inevitable...and then goes even further by thinking she can turn a ZombieApocalypse to her advantage.

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Implied that, unlike in the books, Cersei loved her mother. It's indicated that part of the reason she hates Tyrion is because she [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild blames him for their mother's death]].

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** In a twisted, narcissistic way because she mainly views them as an extension of herself, Cersei deeply loves her children and twin brother... but not enough not to manipulate her sons for her powerplays or not hop into bed with Lancel while Jaime's away. However, she seems to be more in love with the idea of ''having'' children to act as smaller versions of herself than them ''being'' her children as individuals.
--->'''Tyrion:''' Say what you will of Cersei, she loves her children. She is the only one I'm certain had nothing to do with this murder, which makes it unique as King's Landing murders go.
** Throughout the entire show, Cersei never attempts to manipulate or use Myrcella; she acknowledges that Myrcella is pure and good and innocent, and wonders aloud how such a child could have been born to her. Even with all the horrible things Cersei has done up to that point, it's really hard not to feel for her as she mourns her daughter's death.
** Subverted in "The Winds of Winter", as although she makes sure that Tommen is not in the Sept when she blows it up with wildfire, he's not put under any security afterwards and he commits suicide over the death of his wife (whom he actually did love) and his people. Cersei doesn't even bother to give him a proper burial, she just tells Qyburn to burn his body and throw the ashes on the ruins of the sept where his siblings and grandfather were interred, then has herself crowned the Queen. Come next season, in her twisted mind he somehow betrayed her by committing suicide.
** Played straight when she can't bring herself to have Jaime killed at the end of Season 7.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: She ''does not'' approve several of Joffrey's actions, such as ordering Ned Stark's execution and ordering a massacre of children.

* EvilIsPetty: Cersei won't miss an opportunity to make someone miserable, assuming she can get away with it. Best typified in "The Lion and the Rose", in which to make herself feel better at her son's wedding, she walks around ''looking'' for people to be a jerk to -- first making Brienne feel awful about herself, then telling Pycelle to feed the wedding feast leftovers to the dogs instead of the poor (as Margaery had commanded), as well as threatening him with death if he doesn't comply. When Tywin asks her why she's smiling, she tells him it's just the little pleasures in life. Finally, Cersei is noticeably smiling during the ultra-humiliating play of the War of Five Kings, when even Tywin is forcing himself to suppress one -- after all, they're sitting alongside the bereaved of two of the titular kings! This plays into her StupidEvil tendencies, as she'll act to hurt someone who's wronged her in the short term without regard to the long-term consequences.
* EvilMatriarch: A {{deconstruction}} of one for the Lannisters-Baratheons. While she genuinely loves her children ([[AbusiveParents despite being an abusive mother]]) and [[MamaBear would do anything to protect or avenge them]], some of her actions prove to be a greater threat to the safety of her children than those of her enemies (who are often far more intelligent and competent than she is). In the end, her last remaining child commits suicide because of her, but by that time Cersei is too far gone to even care.
* [[EvilNephew Evil Niece]]: To Kevan, as he is one of those blown up by wildfire in the Great Sept on her orders.
* EvilOverlord: Becomes this at the end of Season 6 when she seizes the Iron Throne for herself after blowing up her rivals with wildfire, also destroying the Sept of Baelor and killing a lot of innocent civilians in the process. She wastes no time torturing her enemies to death, allying with other evil or at least morally-questionable folks to solidify her power (including a MadScientist who can create nigh-unstoppable zombie knights and advanced ballistae capable of taking down dragons) and makes it very clear she thinks being Queen of the Seven Kingdoms means she can do whatever she wants now. She even [[EvilCostumeSwitch switches her outfits]] to black ones with armour-like patterns and accessories and has her guards dress in black too. Like many tropes in ''Game of Thrones'', it's {{deconstructed|Trope}}; Cersei's atrocities have made her a ''lot'' of enemies and many of the Seven Kingdoms are in open rebellion against her. Daenerys Targaryen is more than a match for her thanks to her own sizable army and dragons. House Lannister's coffers are also running severely low after the War of the Five Kings. Cersei's able to rectify this by plundering Highgarden and using the money to pay off the Iron Bank, enabling her to hire the Golden Company to boost her ranks, but she now has to contend with an EvilOverlord [[EvilerThanThou even more menacing than herself]] –- the Night King and his army of the undead, and they don't have to worry about money and angry subjects. [[spoiler: As of mid Season 8, [[DiscOneFinalBoss the Night King is defeated]], seemingly leaving her as the biggest threat in Westeros now, discounting potentially Euron Greyjoy. She shamelessly intends to use the civilians of King's Landing as human shields against Daenerys's forces and talks to Euron about her grand plans to retake the North once the dragon queen has been defeated -- then said dragon queen decides enough is enough, performs her FaceHeelTurn and demonstrates to Cersei who the true most powerful threat left on the planet is now that the Night King is gone]].

** Additionally, her [[DidntThinkThisThrough complete inability to play any sort of long game]]. Cersei only ever seems to plan for the moment, and this almost always blows up in her face later. To get back at Margaery, she empowers the Faith Militant with no consideration as to how this would affect King's Landing, only caring that Margaery would suffer. They turn on her as soon as it's convenient, and King's Landing comes within a hair's breadth of becoming a theocracy.
** Her [[WithUsOrAgainstUs "Everyone who is not us is an enemy"]] policy doesn't help either. Cersei is good at manipulation, but negotiation and compromise is anathema to her. She desires the absolute authority of her father, but fails to understand that House Lannister is no longer as wealthy and powerful as it was before the war, and therefore the Tyrell alliance is a necessity. And the "us" quickly becomes "me" where her own family is concerned.

* HandHidingSleeves: Her gowns often include very long, wide sleeves, symbolising her wealth and high status, as well as her manipulative nature and the dark secrets she hides. In the Season 6 finale, she [[SignificantWardrobeShift ditches]] voluminous sleeves for more practical ones, emulating her late father's outfits as she ascends as the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. It could also symbolise how Cersei feels she has nothing to hide anymore; [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem she's going to do whatever she wants now that (in her opinion) there's no one to stop her.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard:

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: To a fair extent, yes. Like her father, she'll never see anything positive about Tyrion, even if it's dancing in front of her, which often make her vastly underestimate him, even as she fears him by distorting what he's capable of, as well. She started to wise-up about Joffrey, but had been in denial for years about how unstable he actually was (answer: VERY) -- this very denial caused ''soooooo'' many problems, it's unreal. And, then there's her tendency to belittle anybody who has faith in anything other than power or gold, which caused her to to massively misread the High Sparrow, for one. Listen to her tone when she says she has nothing to fear from him because "he's a religious man". It screams "an idiot I can use because he's religious" in subtext. Rather badly judged, there, Queenie. Almost as bad as deciding that you've managed to cow a tail-tucked Lady Olenna Tyrell...

* HumanShield: UpToEleven in Season 8. [[spoiler: Cersei orders the population of King's Landing to shelter in the Red Keep to 'protect them' from Daenerys' army, but she makes it clear her actual intention is to protect herself, as Dany won't be able to attack her without endangering and likely killing a lot of civilians]].

* IJustWantToBeYou: According to Creator/LenaHeadey, this is Cersei's FreudianExcuse for her incest with Jaime. There's subtle hints of it in the show too, such as Cersei discussing what she would do in Jaime's place, lamenting the fact that she was born a woman, and even doning [[BattleBallgown an armored dress]] when the Battle of the Blackwater looks to be turning in Stannis's favor. In Season 3, it is implied that she prefers metallic accoutrements to her dresses because she associates it with armor. This in turn ''may'' something to do with her spitefulness at Brienne at the Purple Wedding, Brienne having seemingly defied her supposed station far more successfully than Cersei ''and'' being noticeably close(r) to Jaime.
* InadequateInheritor: After Tywin is killed by Tyrion, Cersei is left to fill her daddy's shoes as the real power behind throne and as a [[TheChessmaster political intrigue mastermind]] in Season 5. Having no foresight nor grasp of realpolitik, she fails on an epic scale when her [[HoistByHisOwnPetard attempts to sabotage Margaery backfires]]. It shows that Cersei is no Tywin, by a long shot. Even taking the throne for herself by killing everyone else that had a claim to it is likely to lead to her getting deposed in short order, given how many enemies she makes doing it.

* ItsAllAboutMe: To the point of possible [[AmbiguousDisorder textbook]] [[{{Narcissist}} narcissism]].

*** This also dispels any further belief that [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes she truly loved her children]] as she doesn't bat an eyelid at learning Tommen has killed himself. Cersei clearly only ever loved her children because they were ''hers'' to love, not because she truly cared about them as people, and as soon as Tommen became more trouble than he was worth to her, her love ran out. She doesn't even try to act like she'll love her unborn child, intentionally drinking to damage it and only using it as a bargaining chip for sympathy.

* {{Narcissist}}: Cersei, much like her father, has a pronounced sense of self-worth. She is also practically a [[AmbiguousDisorder textbook case]]. Cersei sees herself as far more intelligent and powerful than she actually is. Her love for her brother Jaime is because she sees him as [[ScrewYourself a reflection of herself]] [[SpearCounterpart if she were a man]] (which is also why she is notably distraught over his missing hand rather than any impact that it could ever have on his life). She loves her children, but moreso as extensions of herself than as human beings. She takes any perceived (real or not) slight extremely seriously and will often come up with forms of DisproportionateRetribution for it, [[EvilIsPetty even when she has absolutely]] [[StupidEvil nothing to gain by doing so]]. She also often tends to devalue and ruthlessly criticize and tear down those who come into contact with her. So, truly, due to the way Cersei's mind works, she is almost fundamentally incapable of ''not'' thinking everything is about her and ties back to her. So even on a more general level, Cersei is truly incapable of placing anyone's interest before her own.

** She quietly begins freaking out in "The Bells" after [[spoiler: she surrenders to Daenerys, only for Dany to begin torching the city in front of her, closing in on the Red Keep]].

* OverarchingVillain: Begins the series as the de facto BigBad for the first season before being hastily pushed into BigBadWannabe for most of the series after Joffrey proves [[StupidEvil utterly uncontrollable]] and far more effective [[TheChessmaster masterminds]] such as Tywin, Olenna Tyrell and the High Sparrow leave her grasping at thin air. After a drawn-out VillainousBreakdown through Seasons 5 and 6 she [[AxCrazy goes off the deep end]] and [[KillEmAll wipes out everyone]] to [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen usurp the Iron Throne]]. [[spoiler: Towards the end of Season 8 she's finally brought down by Daenerys, the last villain standing.]]
* 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, [[spoiler: and after he's left to aid the Targaryen-Stark forces out of disgust at her callousness, she orders his and Tyrion's deaths.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Although she despises Pycelle for being a lecherous, sexist pig, she isn’t above bigotry in the form of homophobia as at one point, she calls Loras a "pillow-biter" and in another, labels Renly as a degenerate. She's also a FemaleMysoginist who's threatened by other girls such as Sansa, Margarey, and Lady Brienne.

* PragmaticVillainy: Despite generally being StupidEvil, there are a few moments when even Cersei realizes that petty revenge is a bad idea.

* {{Pride}}: A theme for the Lannisters. They all have a slightly different take on it.
-->'''Cersei''': He's attacked one of my brothers, and abducted the other. I should wear the armor, and you the gown. ''[Robert strikes her]'' I shall wear this like a badge of honor.

* ProneToTears: Cersei cries an awful lot like a 12 year old losing a game of Halo 3 when things don't go her way or she is upstaged by people she doesn't like or is jealous of, such as Margaery.

** 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 as well), but 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 top herself in Season 6's finale when she blows up the Sept of Baelor during the Green Trial, destroying all of her opponents in King's 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]].

** Her understanding on the actual military threats posed by Stannis Baratheon and Robb Stark is likewise tenuous at best, to the point that Tyrion's victory at Blackwater is almost in spite of her efforts, rather than because of it (her only contribution is getting the wildfire made, a plan Tyrion co-opted because she likely would have burned King's Landing to the ground by accident). Of course, a lot of these may be due to her rapidly becoming a not very functioning [[TheAlcoholic addict]].

* SympathyForTheHero: It's an ''extremely'' rare occurrence, but she has been known to sympathise with more heroic characters from time to time.

** 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. She still loves Myrcella unconditionally though, regarding her as being TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth and seeking revenge on the Sand Snakes for her murder.

* TooCleverByHalf: She is indeed well-versed in the games of subterfuge and underhanded politics amongst the Westeros' nobles, but she fancies herself to be better than she actually is, causing her to often severely underestimate her opponents. Ironically, this also works in her favor, since her opponents often assume she's too rational to do something stupid, only to be blindsided when she does it anyway. She also has a tendency to have an eye for detail (such as Tyrion's lion necklace on one of the prostitutes or spotting that Danaerys only brought two of her dragons) but come to the wrong conclusion nevertheless or not look at the big picture.

** By the end of Season 6, the sheer amount of [[TraumaCongaLine trauma]] and [[HumiliationConga 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 [[CruelAndUnusualDeath 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.

** Season 5 proves to a ''huge'' one for her. She gets arrested by the Faith Militant for regicide and adultery (which she had actually [[HoistByHisOwnPetard given them the power to do]] [[LaserGuidedKarma to bring down Margaery and the Tyrells]]). She spends weeks locked up in a dark, cramped cell, being humiliated and tortured (including being kept in isolation, beaten and denied water while being repeatedly ordered to "confess") and must resort to drinking spilt water off the floor to survive. She finally breaks and confesses to adultery just to end the torment and is allowed to return to the Red Keep awaiting trial...but only after she makes a 'walk of atonement': she has her hair hacked off before being stripped naked and forced to walk naked through the streets of King's Landing, where she is jeered and harassed by the crowds and pelted with mud and garbage. Her main comfort is that she's going to be reunited with her daughter Myrcella soon....only to learn she has been murdered by the Sand Snakes and she's not even allowed to attend her funeral. It's not too surprising she [[SanitySlippage completely]] [[AxCrazy snaps]] come the next season.

* UngratefulBastard: Never has anything good to say about Tyrion or Loras, despite both of them being vital in saving her and Tommen's lives at the battle of Blackwater. Tywin even calls her out on her ingratitude for the Tyrells. Probably the most blatant example of this was her framing Ned Stark as a traitor after he warned her to save herself and her children; though it was mixed with PragmaticVillainy, since they would be forced to go into exile if she accepted Ned's scenario.

** With Jaime, her [[{{Twincest}} twin]] [[VillainousIncest brother]]. He is one of the few people in the world she genuinely cares for; however they gradually start to drift apart as Jaime becomes a better person while Cersei becomes more selfish. In the Season 7 finale, Jaime dumps her for good out of disgust when she reveals she lied about helping the Starks and Targaryens fight the White Walkers.

** Her sanity worsens as her situation does throughout Season 6. This ends up being the dangerous version, since she's desperate and crazy enough in the finale to use the wildfire caches in King's Landing to simply kill all of her rivals at once.
** In "The Bells", [[spoiler:when Daenerys lays siege to King' Landing and completely decimates all of her forces, Cersei completely drops the SmugSnake act and is reduced to sobbing as she realizes she has lost and there is no way she can come out victorious.]]

** In the books, Joffrey is Cersei's golden child and she finds little wrong with him, passing off his cruelty as "willfulness" ([[EvenEvilHasStandards although she does at least object to his]] DomesticAbuse of Sansa.) In the show, she's aware that he's a monster and grieves about that, but because he's her child and she's his mother, she loves him regardless, which makes her a more tragic character. To be fair, Joffrey is also nicer to her in the books.
** In the books, it's Cersei herself who orders the deaths of Robert's bastards in King's Landing. In the show, she admits to Tyrion that it was Joffrey who ordered this, and is quite disturbed by her son's actions even though she sweeps them under the rug while talking to Tyrion by saying that Joffrey did what needed to be done.

* 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 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.

* AdaptationalDumbass: In the books, Cersei makes the choice to rearm the Faith Militant in order to secure the High Sparrow's blessing, who was already named the High Septon without any imput from her, to ensure Tommen was seen as legitimate, as well as dealing with the sudden influx of refugees flooding into the capital and wipes away all of the debt the crown owes to the Faith. Compare this to the show, where she only does it to piss off the Tyrells.

** In the books, it's Cersei herself who orders the deaths of Robert's bastards in King's Landing. In the show, she admits to Tyrion that it was Joffrey who ordered this, and is quite disturbed by her son's actions.

** In the books, it's Cersei herself who orders the deaths of Robert's bastards in King's Landing. In the show, she admits to Tyrion that it was Joffrey who ordered this; Cersei herself is quite disturbed by her son's actions.

* AdaptationalSympathy: In the books, Cersei Lannister only cares about herself, lets her eldest son Joffrey do whatever he wants which extends to committing cruel acts, and is quite abusive to her youngest son, Tommen, for trying to stand up for himself. In the show, Cersei was given sympathetic qualities where she does care about her children and loves them very much. She's even aware of Joffrey's actions and doesn't approve of them but she still loves him in any way. After Joffrey died during his wedding, Cersei becomes worried about the safety of her younger children, Myrcella and Tommen. And when Myrcella was poisoned by Ellaria Sand, Cersei is completely devasted and wonders why her sweet and kind daughter has to die. The deaths of her two children slowly made her unstable and by the time Tommen kills himself after she blows up the Sept of Baelor, she doesn't mourn for him and becomes crueler once she's crowned queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: In addition to the other changes made to her character, this version of Cersei, even at her worst, is much more mentally stable and sane than the original Cersei, lacking Book!Cersei's extreme paranoia, delusions, intense mood swings, and other implications of severe mental instability.

** In the books, it's Cersei herself who orders the deaths of Robert's bastards in King's Landing. In the show, she admits to Tyrion that it was Joffrey, and is quite disturbed by it.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: In addition to the other changes made to her character, this version of Cersei, even at her worst, is much more mentally stable and sane than the original Cersei, lacking Book!Cersei's extreme paranoia, delusions, intense mood swings, and other implications of severe mental illness.

** It is also strongly implied that her evilness is a product of her environment and circumstances: her being in a position as a woman in an extremely patriarcal society, has been marginalized and experienced abuse from both her husband Robert and father Tywin, plus living in a context where power is valued as being everything. Thus Cersei's evil can be interpreted as a tactic for survival and defense more than anything.

[[folder:A-F]]

* NotSoDifferent: She says as much to Septa Unella when getting her revenge, pointing out that for all hers and the Faith Militant's self-righteousness they've tormented people more for [[{{Sadist}} kicks]] than to try and appease any gods, and Cersei compares it to how she herself enjoyed thinking of everyone burning when [[spoiler:the Sept blew up]].

* HateSink: She can be sympathetic at times and her only redeeming flaw is literally her love for children but after they all died, she becomes more of a spiteful, petty and power-hungry dictator who's too ruthless for anyone's safety. She was already a despicable woman when she caused her own husband to die and arranged for her callous son Joffrey to be king, instead of the more fair Eddard Stark.

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Dies sobbing in Jaime's arms as the Red Keep collapses onto them.]]

* AssholeVictim: While her death scene may be a case of AlasPoorVillain, it's hard to feel bad for her overall when one remembers that she spent eight seasons being absolutely vile, slowly evolving into one of the most monstrous tyrants in modern fiction.

Elder twin sister of Jaime and older sister of Tyrion. Mother of Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen. Wife of King Robert Baratheon and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros by marriage at the beginning of the series. Her father Tywin arranged the marriage after his attempt to betroth her to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, as she wanted, failed. The Targaryen dynasty lost the war, and Tywin helped Robert to win the Throne. However unbeknownst to her husband their children are in fact the by-product of an incestuous affair with her brother Jaime. Ned Stark's discovery of this fact becomes one of the main instigators that leads to the War of the Five Kings. Ambitious, ruthless, manipulative, vindictive, sadistic, selfish and seeing enemies, true and false, everywhere, Cersei is a horrible human being who thinks only of two things: to keep her children safe and to be the only queen of Westeros.