Cersei Lannister

History

When we first met Cersei Lannister in season 1, she appeared to be a bitter, largely powerless queen trapped in a loveless marriage with King Robert Baratheon. So she changed things, luring his drunken husband into a drunken death and seating her eldest son Joffrey on the Iron Throne.

Cersei has long been engaged in an incestuous love affair with her twin brother Jaime. All three of her children — Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen — were sired by him, although large swaths of the realm believe them to be Robert’s. As of now, all three have also died — Joffrey and Myrcella from poison, Tommen from suicide. The deaths of her children were foretold to her by a creepy woods witch when she was a young girl, and the fact that she believes in prophecies gives you another insight into her personality: she’s also kind of nuts.

Although capable of great evil, Cersei is also grimly resilient. In seasons 5 and 6, she was humiliated and marginalized by the Sparrows, a fanatic religious sect in King’s Landing. She got her revenge in the season 6 finale, when she used wildfire to blow up the Sept of Baelor while the leaders of the Sparrow were inside. She also got rid of political rivals like Margaery Tyrell and her uncle Kevan Lannister in the process, so it was a good day for her, if for no one else.

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Status

After killing Margaery and driving her son Tommen, the former king, to suicide, Cersei has installed herself as the new Queen on the Iron Throne, supported by the mysterious Qyburn and the zombified Gregor Clegane. We’ve yet to see how her brother Jaime will react to the carnage in the Sept of Baelor, but with enemies on every horizon, he may well feel obligated to help his beloved sister.

Cersei has a lot of enemies at the moment, including the Tyrells, the Sand Snakes of Dorne, and the approaching Daenerys Targaryen. Still, she is crafty, unpredictable and not to be underestimated. Cersei still has the Lannister army, the resources of King’s Landing, and perhaps a large supply of wildfire. She’s pulled off some impressive feats with less than that, so Daenerys best not count her out.