The 50 Best Game of Thrones Characters, Ranked
6. Queen Cersei I Lannister
Some love her, some hate her, some prefer to bite their tongue lest they feel the wrath of her bodyguard Ser Gregor. Cersei is a two-time Queen Mother who clearly wanted to sit the Iron Throne herself. She finally gets her wish in the Season 6 finale, but doesn’t seem to realize she’s sitting up there alone.
Cersei is one of the more complex characters in Westeros. She inherited a ruthless, cutthroat disposition from her father, and put all that energy to use protecting herself and her children, whom she loves fiercely…perhaps too much so. Although she dispatches her enemies with extreme prejudice, her actions indirectly lead to the deaths of all three of her kids. Cersei is a monstrous figure, but she’s also tragic.
After the traumatizing events of Season 5’s “Mother’s Mercy,” Cersei goes from being hateful to downright sadistic, gleefully exploding dozens of innocents whom she feels have irredeemably wronged her. With her children now gone, there’s no telling what else she’s capable of.
We can’t tear our eyes away from characters like Cersei. In an interview last year, actor Lena Headey admitted she’s playing Cersei like a petulant teenager instead of a grown woman. The only issue is that this teenager roars when she doesn’t get her way, and has the claws to back it up. We’re both excited and terrified to see what King’s Landing will be like now that Cersei is at its helm.