Queen Cersei Lannister: everything you need to know about the Game of Thrones character
For a humourless, manipulative and altogether merciless woman, Cersei Lannister is kind of spectacular.
Though much of her behaviour wouldn't suggest it off-hand, the widowed and orphaned Queen has all the makings of an anti-hero. With gender and position poised against her her from birth, Cersei was raised to believe life was best lived by playing a ruthless game - one that, through its many devastating turns, led to her becoming the first officially recognized Queen Regnant in Westeros' history.
As we head towards the long-awaited premiere of Game of Thronesseason eight, here's a quick need-to-know guide on Queen Cersei.
Who is Cersei Lannister ?
Queen Cersei Lannister, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, Lady of Casterly Rock, Lady Paramount of the Westerlands, (and formerly Queen Mother, Queen Regent and Queen Consort) is the only daughter of Tywin Lannister and twin of Jaime.
This beautiful but malicious Queen's mantra - “When you play the Game of Thrones, you win, or you die. There is no middle ground" - has helped make her one of the show's most complicated characters, if not the most hated.
Cersei is cruel and vain - perhaps only saved through genuine love of her children. As a young woman she was told by a witch that all her offspring would eventually wear "golden shrouds" – a prophecy which proved bloodily accurate.
She endured an empty marriage with Robert Baratheon while romantically and sexually involved with twin brother Jaime - who also happened to be father of her children - and the need to hide her incestuous relationship eventually led her to arrange the deaths of John Arran and Lord Stark.
She also encouraged the slaying of King Robert’s bastard children after his death.
To add insult to injury, she defended (and sometimes encouraged) the wicked deeds of her son, King Joffrey, until his murder. Like any good grief-stricken villain, she then tried to have her brother de trop (Tyrion) sentenced to death for the murder. That is, just before asking the other (Jamie) to hunt and kill Sansa and Arya Stark.
Cersei brought about her own demise when she gave permission for the High Sparrow to reform the Faith Militant, encouraging them to restore morality to King's Landing.
Once the Sparrows were informed of her numerous crimes against religion she was forced to embark on a naked walk of shame ("Shame!"), head shaven, through the streets of King's Landing.
At one point viewers almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
Who is Lena Headey who plays her?
Headey was born on October 3rd 1973 in Hamilton, Bermuda - the daughter of a Yorkshire police officer who was stationed there at the time. The family moved to Somerset when she was five and then to Shelley, West Yorkshire, when Headey was 11.
She was discovered as a teenager during a production at London's Royal National Theatre. Following years of mostly supporting roles, she drew attention for her leading performances in Zack Snyder's 300 and the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Her star turn came when she was tipped off to casting directors of Game of Thrones by fellow actor Peter Dinklage.
Following her debut on Thrones, Headey portrayed a violent drug lord in the 2012 sci-fi movie Dredd and the female lead in the 2013 horror movie The Purge. In 2014 she reprised her role as Queen Gorgo for 300: Rise of an Empire.
In 2015 Heady was nominated for an Emmy in the Supporting Actress category for Game of Thrones. She received a Golden Globe nomination for the role in 2016.
What's happened to Cersei so far in Game of Thrones?
Season 1
We first see Cersei plotting to keep secret her illicit relationship with twin brother Jaime. Her husband, King Robert Baratheon, decides to travel to Winterfell and ask his best friend, Lord Eddard Stark, to become his new right hand man, as well as proposing that his son Joffrey marry Eddard's eldest daughter, Sansa.
Cersei, Jaime, and a retinue of courtiers accompany him. Eddard and Robert go hunting, leaving the castle largely empty. When Eddard's son Bran witnesses Cersei and her brother having sex in the tower, Jaime pushes the 10-year-old out the window to silence him.
Robert is mortally wounded on the hunt. Cersei is concerned that Eddard will tell Robert the truth, but Ned chooses to spare his friend further pain. Robert names Eddard Protector of the Realm and regent. Upon Robert's death Cersei quickly installs Joffrey on the throne. Eddard tries to reveal the truth with the help of Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish, but Baelish betrays him and sides with Cersei. Eddard is arrested and imprisoned, while his guards are killed
Meanwhile, Lord Eddard, who has discovered who really fathered Cersei's three children, is arrested. Robb Stark raises an army to march on King's Landing. Joffrey executes Eddard.
War erupts between the Lannister and Stark armies in the Riverlands and Cersei attempts to secure her son's hold on the Iron Throne. She takes a new lover, her cousin Lancel who was King Robert's squire and gave him the wine that made him too drunk to slay the boar that killed him. She also receives a letter informing her of Jaime's capture by Robb Stark.
Season 2
Cersei continues to govern from King's Landing as the Queen Regent to Joffrey as the War of the Five Kings hots up. In this series she is sleeping with her cousin Lancel. Tyfinds out and blackmails him into becoming a spy.
After King Renly Baratheon's death his brother Stannis mounts an attack on King's Landing. Tyrion learns from Lancel that Cersei is relying on the Alchemists' Guild to supply Wildfire to defend the city.
Cersei meets with Tyrion to discuss the imminent attack of King's Landing by King Stannis. She admits her struggles controlling Joffrey and openly references her relationship with Jaime. She confides her fear that Joffrey's madness is the price for her sins, including her incestuous relationship.
The siege is broken and Stannis is defeated thanks to Tyrion's use of the wildfire to destroy the attacking fleet with the help of the Tyrells. As a reward for their help in defeating Stannis, Joffrey is promised to Margaery Tyrell, with Cersei insisting the treachery of House Stark frees him from any obligation to Sansa.
Season 3
Cersei and Joffrey are hosting a private dinner party for Loras and Margaery. Margaery has been handing out food aid to the people of the city and visiting orphanages. Unlike Cersei, who only knows how to rule through fear, Margaery is skilled at winning the hearts and minds of the common people, and this concerns Cersei. Joffrey sides with his wife-to-be and Cersei realises that she has lost control of Joffrey to the Tyrells. She informs her father then discovers that Tyrion is to marry Sansa to secure the North.
Her delight at this is short-lived, however when Tywin reveals that he intends to have her marry Loras to secure the Reach. Cersei protests against this, saying she is Queen Regent and not some broodmare, but Tywin angrily asserts that she is his daughter and she will do what he tells her.
Season 4
Joffrey and Margaery's wedding ends with the former dying from poisoning. Cersei rushes over to her son and is in tears when he dies. In a blind rage, she accuses Tyrion and has him arrested. Upon noticing that Sansa has vanished, she immediately begins to suspect her too. She is later present at the coronation of her youngest son Tommen.
At Tyrion's trial by combat Cersei watches as Ser Gregor Clegane -The Mountain - defeats Tyrion's champion Oberyn Martell. She later sees to the treatment of Ser Gregor's wounds and has her maester Qyburn reanimate him after he dies. She later reaffirms her love for Jaime and her wishes to continue their relationship.
Season 5
With Joffrey dead, Margaery marries his younger brother Tommen - to the disgust of Cersei , who has developed an enthusiastic loathing for her daughter-in-law. At King's Landing, Cersei, jealous of Margaery's influence over Tommen, takes her out of the game by striking an alliance with the leader of the Sparrows, an evangelical cult growing in popularity.
Margaery's beloved brother Loras is thrown into a deep dark room for sleeping with men and his sister is imprisoned for lying on his behalf.
Alas, Cersei's clever scheme backfires as whisperings of her relationship with Jaime reach the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce). She too is dragged away by the religious police and later required to undertake a naked Walk of Shame.
Season 6
Cersei, knowing she was fighting a losing battle against the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce), decided to put her faith in something a little less religious and a little more explosive. It turns out the rumour that the Mad King Aerys II had a secret stash of wildfire beneath King’s Landing was completely true. She takes this information and secures the Iron Throne by blowing up all of her allies in the Great Sept. This comes at a cost though. Her son Tommen, jumps to his death after seeing the building, and his wife Margaery, go up in flames.
Season 7
Still withdrawn after Tommen's suicide, Cersei hunted for power - arguably, feeling - wherever she could fight it. When she asks Euron Greyjoy for an alliance, he asked her to marry him. Rejected, Euron attempted to prove himself to her by capturing Yara, Ellaria and Tyene and gifting them to her. She agreed to marry him post-warr. In an increasingly troubled mental state, she flaunts her sexual relationship with Jaime in front of their servants, kills Tyene with the same poison used to kill Myrcella, and keeps Ellaria locked in the dungeons to watch her daughter die.
When debt is claimed from Tycho Nestoris of the Iron Bank, Cersei promises a two week turnaround and attacks Highgarden - with the Lannister and Tarly armies - to defeat the Tyrells and steal their wealth. Later, after Daenerys' attack on their caravan, Jaime asks Cersei to consider a ceasefire. When Jon and Daenerys arrive in King's Landing to discuss an armistice, Cersei tells Jaime she is pregnant. In the Dragonpit, the Mother of Dragons and King in the North present the Queen with a wight to illustrate their threat. Though Cersei agrees to an alliance, she later tells Jaime she plans to sit by as her rival monarchs kill each other and destroy the victor, even Euron to Essos to fetch the Golden Compass warriors in preparation. Horrified, Jaime finally leaves her and heads north.
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