Summary
- Cersei is more sympathetic in Game of Thrones, depicted as a protective mother despite her power-hungry nature.
- A change in Cersei and Robert's marriage adds depth to their characters and reveals a lost child, humanizing both of the characters.
- Contrasted to the books, the show portrays a more compassionate side to Cersei and Robert's contentious relationship.
One of the most prominent antagonists in Game of Thrones is Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). The eldest child of Lord Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), Cersei is used to getting everything she wants, thanks to her father's position as Hand of the King to King Aerys II Targaryen (David Rintoul). She was also drawn to her twin brother, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), with whom she developed an incestuous relationship, which continued when she eventually married Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) after he overthrew the Targaryens.
Compared to her portrayal in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, Cersei is made more sympathetic in Game of Thrones. She's still a power-hungry narcissist who will do anything and everything to get on top, including manipulating and even killing her own family. However, she's also depicted as a fierce and protective mother. As early as Season 1, certain changes were made to help facilitate this, such as one small change to her and Robert's marriage that has large implications.
- Release Date
- 2011 - 2019-00-00
- Showrunner
- David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
- Directors
- David Nutter, Alan Taylor, D.B. Weiss, David Benioff
Cast
-
Jon Snow -
Brandon Bran Stark
WHERE TO WATCH
Nine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for millennia.
- Main Genre
- Drama
- Seasons
- 8
Cersei and Robert's Marriage Before 'Game of Thrones'
Cersei originally hoped to marry Prince Rhaegar Targaryen (Wilf Scolding) thanks to her father's position as Hand of the King, but he ultimately married Elia Martell, sister to the fan favorite Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal). Following the rebellion, Robert was convinced to marry Cersei by his foster father and the Hand of the King, Jon Arryn, to forge an alliance with Tywin. At first, the young Cersei was infatuated with Robert: while not of Valyrian blood like Rhaegar, he was strong and handsome. However, Robert was also promised to Lyanna Stark (Aisling Franciosi), sister to his best friend, Eddard Stark (Sean Bean), who had eloped with Rhaegar to Dorne before the rebellion and died in childbirth.
On their wedding night, a drunken Robert calls Cersei by Lyanna's name while consummating the marriage. This was the beginning of a loveless marriage between the two, especially as Robert turned to drinking and bedding other women rather than governing his kingdom. Cersei eventually grew to hate Robert and re-kindled her relationship with Jaime, now a member of the Kingsguard sworn to protect the royal family. Together, they had three children who they passed off as Robert's: Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), Myrcella (Aimee Richardson/Nell Tiger Free) and Tommen (Callum Wharry/Dean-Charles Chapman). However, the show added a fourth child to the mix.
'Game of Thrones' Gave Cersei and Robert a Child Together
In Season 1 Episode 2, after Jaime pushed Brandon Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) out of a tower window when he caught the twins having sex, Eddard's second-youngest child was left in a coma. Cercei decided to visit him and his mother, Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley), who was watching him as he recovered. Seeing how distressed Catelyn was, Cersei reveals that she and Robert had a child before Joffrey, described as a black-haired boy who was the spitting image of his father. Unfortunately, he was taken by a fever shortly after he was born.
This scene offers a new perspective on the early years of Cersei and Robert's marriage, while also showing that, if nothing else, her most redeemable quality is her love for her children. She tells Catelyn that when the baby died, Robert pounded his hands raw on the wall, and then held Cersei as the body was taken away. "The things men do to show you how much they care," is how Cersei describes it, which mirrors Jaime's words when he pushed Bran out the window, "The things I do for love."
The child is brought up again in Episode 5 when Cersei tells Robert that she tried to love him for a long while, and wonders if there could have been a chance for them to be happy together. While Robert tells her no, the fact that he was willing to comfort her after the death of their child seems to say otherwise. The show adds another layer to their hatred than just Lyanna Stark's ghost: they tried to make something work, only for the symbol of that love to die before it had the time to live. Neither one of them took the death well, and Cersei admitted that she had never been to see the baby's body. Given that Robert beat his hands raw, the death of his son likely added to the depression he felt after losing Lyanna, which further made him apathetic towards Cersei and fueled her hatred. It's a vicious perpetuating cycle that helps to humanize both characters and showcases that the writers of early Game of Thrones were capable of creating strong pathos and sympathy from the most unlikely of sources. If only they could have kept that quality for the rest of the show.
How Did the Books Handle Cersei and Robert's Relationship?
Image via HBO
Image via HBO
Image via HBO
Image via HBO
Image via HBO
Another reason the story of Cersei and Robert's child stands out is how much it improves her story compared to the books. There, Cersei's resentment towards Robert began the moment he uttered Lyanna's name in bed, and her narcissism caused her to compare him to Jaime, whom Cersei saw as a male extension of herself. She decided early on that she never wanted any children with Robert, and did anything and everything in her power to make sure she never got pregnant. The one time that she did get pregnant from Robert, Cersei drank a contraceptive called Moon Tea to terminate the pregnancy. When Cersei is made a point-of-view character in the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, it's revealed that she takes great pleasure in this, as it gives her a degree of control in her marriage.
As for Robert, he never once tried to show Cersei any degree of love or respect. Aside from stumbling drunk into her chambers to do his kingly duty, he pretty much avoided her and her children, so there likely wouldn't have been any moment of the two of them sitting down to talk about how their sham marriage kept the country together, like in the show. Robert also fathered even more bastards all over Westeros besides those in King's Landing, such as Mya Stone, a woman in the Vale who helps people get up to the Eyrie. Like Robert, she has black hair and a massive height, which gives more fuel to Cersei's resentment.
All episodes of Game of Thrones are available on Max