How do you want Cersei to die?

[Cereal Forel]

I have a couple of issues with Cersei

1. she birthed Joffrey and nurtured him into a monster

2. she threw her best friend down a well for no reason whatsoever

3. she abuses Tyrion when he's a baby simply because she can

4. she believes she's the second coming of Christ (well, Tywin, but whatever)

Joff and Tywin are dead already, so she's the only one I have left to root for. I like Littlefinger.

I do really enjoy reading her chapters though.

[The Gallows Knight]

How do I WANT her to die?

I am going to have to say, unnecessarily epically.

Like she kills fifteen to twenty Sparrows after she strangled the High Septon with her hair. As she staggers out of Balor's Sept onto the street, blood bruised and wounded, she finds herself surrounded by a mass of the faith militant armed with crossbows. In the moment before they all unload on her she drops to her knees, extends her arms upward, and flips off the sky.

Yeah. Wouldn't see that coming at all.

[crispy]

I've not been on this board for long but, even taking into account my limited time here, it seems that Cersei is far and away the least sympathetic character among readers, which I really find quite surprising. Before encountering other fans, I assumed it would be Littlefinger or any of the great number of characters I find entirely more monstrous than Cersei, which would be too bothersome to list right now given how long that list is. So what is it about her that most readily lends itself to this crusade to, not only have her suffer some horrific and sadistic fate, but also singles her out among the sea of "evil" characters in the story as being worthy of the greatest punishment? Is it because she is seen as the primary antagonist? Is it because of the characters she has affected directly?

How long has it been since you read the books, dude? I mean, honestly. Cersei convinces a knight, Ser Osney Kettleblack, to attempt to deflower her own child's wife, a 15-year-old girl no less, in the hopes that it would lead to her beheading. And knowing full well that Kettleblack would likely be beheaded as well but assuring him otherwise.

Yes, the other characters are manipulative in their quest for political gain, but Cersei takes it to a whole 'nother level.

EDIT: Oh, and I've despised Cersei as far back as the first book when she demanded that Lady be killed for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

[Rune Targaryen]

I've not been on this board for long but, even taking into account my limited time here, it seems that Cersei is far and away the least sympathetic character among readers, which I really find quite surprising. Before encountering other fans, I assumed it would be Littlefinger or any of the great number of characters I find entirely more monstrous than Cersei, which would be too bothersome to list right now given how long that list is. So what is it about her that most readily lends itself to this crusade to, not only have her suffer some horrific and sadistic fate, but also singles her out among the sea of "evil" characters in the story as being worthy of the greatest punishment? Is it because she is seen as the primary antagonist? Is it because of the characters she has affected directly?

I don't think that we read the same series, but the reason that I hate Cersey so much (And she really is the only character that I hate) is because she only do stupid things and thinks herself more clever than every one, she didn't listen to reason or nothing, she only sees what she wants to see, she thinks that her ideas are always the best and she is so F*** selfish the way I would like to see her dead is by my hands, but as this not being possible, I hope that she die only, after she have time to realize how stupid and wrong she is.

[Cereal Forel]

ah man i forgot all about Lady :(

[sting129]

"We have a wolf."

[sting129]

I've not been on this board for long but, even taking into account my limited time here, it seems that Cersei is far and away the least sympathetic character among readers, which I really find quite surprising. Before encountering other fans, I assumed it would be Littlefinger or any of the great number of characters I find entirely more monstrous than Cersei, which would be too bothersome to list right now given how long that list is. So what is it about her that most readily lends itself to this crusade to, not only have her suffer some horrific and sadistic fate, but also singles her out among the sea of "evil" characters in the story as being worthy of the greatest punishment? Is it because she is seen as the primary antagonist? Is it because of the characters she has affected directly?

This is a fair point. Littlefinger is no less despicable than Cersei. In fact, he may be the most evil man in the Seven Kingdoms. Why, then, is he on everyone's favorite characters list, while Cersei is hated?

Probably because he is cunning, where Cersei makes blunder after blunder. In addition, we've been inside Cersei's head via her POV chapters. We've seen her thought process, and how wacked-out they can be. We haven't had the luxury to see Littlefinger's thoughts, so we have no way of knowing if he's truly as smart as everyone thinks he is.

[LadySansa]

I like Cersei but hate Littlefinger. Go figure. I want both of them to die though. I would be okay with Cersei living a miserable life but Littlefinger should definitely die.

[A Redeemed Hound]

I like Cersei but hate Littlefinger. Go figure. I want both of them to die though. I would be okay with Cersei living a miserable life but Littlefinger should definitely die.

I actually hate them both. But Littlefinger is the cause of pretty much everything that has happened in Westeros and I pray one of the Stark's direwolves tears him apart. Cersei is a dead woman unless her champion wins the battle. But that is up to whatever monster Qyburn has created with the body of the Mountain. She might make it out alive from that but she has gone mad and I am sure she will meet a well deserved ending. I would like to see Sansa push her out of the sky door. Or Tyrion meet her while atop a dragon and burn her alive like he always dreamed and like she was told. ...turn to ashes in her mouth...

[Robb the Lord]

I just don't understand how anybody could possibly like Cersei. She's manipulative and cares about no one, except, arguably, her eldest son, who was comparable to Aerys II in his rule and had vicious, violent tendencies the likes of which are only outmatched by a few legitimate monsters like Gregor and Vargo Hoat (it is apparent that Joffrey is similar to Cersei in several key ways: he is very good-looking, fakes being kind to those he needs to use, cares about no one, feels he is in the shadow of his father's glory and tries to match him but overcompensates through aggression, and is all around a bit of a sociopath). Cersei is essentially a more developed, more subtle and very slightly less insane comic book villain; her main desire in life is to have complete control over Westeros. She treats everyone around her terribly: 1. She uses Jaime sexually to get him to be her strongest supporter, then tosses him aside because he experienced hardship, only seeking to reunite with him once she is captured for various crimes 2. She abuses Tyrion verbally and physically as a child 3. She treats her husband like dirt and undermines him in front of his court repeatedly, ultimately killing him 4. She singlehandedly destroys everything the Baratheons and Lannisters accomplished by having children out of incest, allowing Eddard to be executed, driving the realm to civil war, allowing the religious institution to torture others and arm itself, and various other idiotic policy acts while she is Queen Regent 5. She is an arrogant idiot with an extremely high opinion of herself, constantly insisting she is Queen post-GoT when she is Queen REGENT and thinking she can have the same amount of influence as Tywin despite not having half the intellect 6. She is insane, paranoid to the point where it becomes EXTREMELY ANNOYING, and likely a sociopath.

And people like her? GAH! She has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I don't care how she dies I just hope her death starts mid-ADWD and takes the rest of the series to complete.

[Medieval Housefly]

I know Cersei isn't exactly good, but I like a good bad guy girl. I find it interesting that she didn't want Brann killed and would have rather threatened him into silence. She also did not want to kill Ned. Overall, she does have a few redeeming qualities for a villainess.

[Nausicaä]

3. She treats her husband like dirt and undermines him in front of his court repeatedly, ultimately killing him.

This sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of your list to me. Robert is the one who humiliated his spouse on their wedding night, abused her for years and wielded the power to get rid of her any time he wanted, being the bloody king. Cersei was stuck with that horrible marriage. Treating him terribly in front of other people is not something that I would hold against her.

[Alexia]

I like Cersei but hate Littlefinger. Go figure. I want both of them to die though. I would be okay with Cersei living a miserable life but Littlefinger should definitely die.

I agree with this.

[FatCatOberyn]

I just don't understand how anybody could possibly like Cersei. She's manipulative and cares about no one, except, arguably, her eldest son, who was comparable to Aerys II in his rule and had vicious, violent tendencies the likes of which are only outmatched by a few legitimate monsters like Gregor and Vargo Hoat (it is apparent that Joffrey is similar to Cersei in several key ways: he is very good-looking, fakes being kind to those he needs to use, cares about no one, feels he is in the shadow of his father's glory and tries to match him but overcompensates through aggression, and is all around a bit of a sociopath). Cersei is essentially a more developed, more subtle and very slightly less insane comic book villain; her main desire in life is to have complete control over Westeros. She treats everyone around her terribly: 1. She uses Jaime sexually to get him to be her strongest supporter, then tosses him aside because he experienced hardship, only seeking to reunite with him once she is captured for various crimes 2. She abuses Tyrion verbally and physically as a child 3. She treats her husband like dirt and undermines him in front of his court repeatedly, ultimately killing him 4. She singlehandedly destroys everything the Baratheons and Lannisters accomplished by having children out of incest, allowing Eddard to be executed, driving the realm to civil war, allowing the religious institution to torture others and arm itself, and various other idiotic policy acts while she is Queen Regent 5. She is an arrogant idiot with an extremely high opinion of herself, constantly insisting she is Queen post-GoT when she is Queen REGENT and thinking she can have the same amount of influence as Tywin despite not having half the intellect 6. She is insane, paranoid to the point where it becomes EXTREMELY ANNOYING, and likely a sociopath.

And people like her? GAH! She has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I don't care how she dies I just hope her death starts mid-ADWD and takes the rest of the series to complete.

People don't need objective reasons to like fictional characters :)

[A Redeemed Hound]

This sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of your list to me. Robert is the one who humiliated his spouse on their wedding night, abused her for years and wielded the power to get rid of her any time he wanted, being the bloody king. Cersei was stuck with that horrible marriage. Treating him terribly in front of other people is not something that I would hold against her.

This is very true. If Robert treated her properly and acted like a true king, she might have been perfectly happy. But he was a drunken slob who mourned Lyanna and scremaed her name during his wedding night with Cersei...who sounds like utter hotness.

[The Gallows Knight]

This is very true. If Robert treated her properly and acted like a true king, she might have been perfectly happy. But he was a drunken slob who mourned Lyanna and scremaed her name during his wedding night with Cersei...who sounds like utter hotness.

Robert had his problems but it is doubtful that anything short of absolute power and absolute obedience would make Cersei happy.

[Tara1189]

Posted Today, 06:16 AM

Alleluia Cone, on 28 January 2011 - 01:47 AM, said:

I've not been on this board for long but, even taking into account my limited time here, it seems that Cersei is far and away the least sympathetic character among readers, which I really find quite surprising. Before encountering other fans, I assumed it would be Littlefinger or any of the great number of characters I find entirely more monstrous than Cersei, which would be too bothersome to list right now given how long that list is. So what is it about her that most readily lends itself to this crusade to, not only have her suffer some horrific and sadistic fate, but also singles her out among the sea of "evil" characters in the story as being worthy of the greatest punishment? Is it because she is seen as the primary antagonist? Is it because of the characters she has affected directly?

This is a fair point. Littlefinger is no less despicable than Cersei. In fact, he may be the most evil man in the Seven Kingdoms. Why, then, is he on everyone's favorite characters list, while Cersei is hated?

Probably because he is cunning, where Cersei makes blunder after blunder. In addition, we've been inside Cersei's head via her POV chapters. We've seen her thought process, and how wacked-out they can be. We haven't had the luxury to see Littlefinger's thoughts, so we have no way of knowing if he's truly as smart as everyone thinks he is.

I agree with this. I actually really liked Cersei up until Feast. In fact, her POV chapters are possibly the biggest disappointment of the series to me. In my mind, characters can be evil or stupid -- not both. Littlefinger is one slimy bastard but he's also a master at Machievellian scheming, which is why he's so popular among fans. You can't help but have a grudging respect for him, even if you think him a treacherous little creep. He's a character you love to hate, as opposed to just... hate.

It's also why Cersei worked for me as a character until her POV chapters. She was a formidable antagonist in AGoT, even Tyrion knew he had to watch himself around her in ACoK. Her main character flaws seemed to be a tendency to hot-headedness and impulsive behaviour, not being a total moron. Also, there were hints that she genuinely cared for her children and Jaime and had some serious psychological scars from years of an abusive marriage. Had Martin really played up this angle in Feast, yet had Cersei refusing to lie down and give up, and continue ruthlessly scheming her way to the top, her character could have garnered a twisted kind of sympathy from the reader which would have fit in extremely well with the grey morality of Westeros (it also would have been the final sucker-punch in deconstructing the pure-as-the-driven-snow Starks vs the 'evil' Lannisters.)

Unfortunately, when we get inside her head, Cersei is just an evil bitch. She was using Jaime, cared only for her kids out of self preservation, etc. Any possible redeeming features of her character were stripped away. The prophecy was the final nail in the coffin, thereby killing off any complexity she had as a character. Even this might have been salvagable had Cersei any brains and cunning. But she doesn't. She stumbles from one idiocy to the next and is nothing more than a twisted, nasty, bitter nutjob.

Hence the hatred of the fans.

[Asha—Not Yara!]

I have a couple of issues with Cersei1. she birthed Joffrey and nurtured him into a monster2. she threw her best friend down a well for no reason whatsoever3. she abuses Tyrion when he's a baby simply because she can4. she believes she's the second coming of Christ (well, Tywin, but whatever)Joff and Tywin are dead already, so she's the only one I have left to root for. I like Littlefinger.I do really enjoy reading her chapters though.

I find the way she causally, without a second thought, gave a sobbing Falyse over to Qyburn to do ghastly experiments on one of the most particularly cold hearted and chilling acts of the series. What did Falyse ever do to Cersei to deserve such a terrible fate? The poor woman came to Cersei for help.

[Robb the Lord]

This sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of your list to me. Robert is the one who humiliated his spouse on their wedding night, abused her for years and wielded the power to get rid of her any time he wanted, being the bloody king. Cersei was stuck with that horrible marriage. Treating him terribly in front of other people is not something that I would hold against her.

Robert was definitely not a paragon of virtue, far from it. When he hit Cersei it was looked upon as embarassing and pathetic, a sign of utter weakness. However, treating a spouse badly goes both ways. Just because Robert was a terrible husband does not make Cersei the 'poor victim' that we should be obligated to pity. Sure Robert cheated on her many, many times, and hit her on one occasion. Also Cersei treated him with the utmost contempt, cheated on him with her brother, had three children with him, and passed them off as Robert's. That's pretty much the ultimate slap in the face, one of the worst things that, as a wife and queen, she could have done to him.

But you have a fair point, and that particular topic has been argued over and over on other threads, so I will admit that in that post I did not necessarily portray both parts of the argument :)

About Littlefinger, I personally like the character a lot, one of my favorites. Funny thing, since like Cersei he is very manipulative, has no soul, is (almost?) pathologically self-absorbed, and uses people left and right to achieve his goals. They are quite similar. Hmm. I think the reason I like Littlefinger is because he rose through the ranks through merit (sort of), intelligence, and cunning (definitely). What he has achieved is despicable, but strangely admirable. Even though by all accounts he is scum he gains respect from me because he actually worked to get to the level he is at, and when reading about him you get the notion that no matter where he is he's always the smartest person in the room. Whereas Cersei is sneaky and conniving and is good at getting what she wants in order to gain control, but paradoxically she makes truly moronic decisions when she gets control. Plus she had everything handed to her on a plate by Tywin and was/is under the impression that that makes her awesome.

[MightilyOats]

Threads like this remind me of how crazy people really are, deep down.