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Why Cersei didn't break prophecy by getting pregnant for the fourth time?


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Because the prophecy was probably ass-pulled by Martin around AFFC.

Similar question: why didn't she fear Sansa while she was Joff's fiancee? It makes sense that Cersei was more wary of Marg based on her personality and her family's influences, but if it were of the prophecy, Sansa would have been seen as a danger as well.

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1 hour ago, Brandon Baratheon said:

Tywin suggested to betrothal Cersei many times but she refused. I don't understand why she didn't try to have more than three children to break Maggy's prophecy or why she didn't stop after having Myrcella.

Who says she didn't want? If the prophecy is worth anything, then after the first three, she wouldn't carry to term anyway.

(She was actually pregnant at least one more time, with Bob, but she aborted it).

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1 hour ago, James Steller said:

Well she continued to sleep with Jaime long after her children were born. If she didn't get pregnant a fourth time, it wasn't for lack of trying.

Pretty much this.

 

10 minutes ago, Tianzi said:

Similar question: why didn't she fear Sansa while she was Joff's fiancee? It makes sense that Cersei was more wary of Marg based on her personality and her family's influences, but if it were of the prophecy, Sansa would have been seen as a danger as well.

It was only when (as far as she believes) Tyrion killed Joffrey and Tywin that her paranoia escalated. Until then she probably had the attitude @Stormking902 described. Then with it beginning to come true and her worsening mental health she becomes fixated on it.

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1 hour ago, The Fattest Leech said:

Because there is a chance she is pregnant now (...)

This is what I suspect, too. When the prophecy said,

“Will the king and I have children?” she asked. “Oh, aye. Six-and-ten for him, and three for you.” That made no sense to Cersei.

with Robert, who already had bastards, she interpreted that as him having bastards, something she couldn't prevent and her getting three times pregnant by him, which she prevented the way we know - abortion and handjobs. Then Joff's death showed her that those three children are indeed hers, those she had with Jaime to avoid the prophecy:

She thought of Joffrey, clawing at his neck. In his last moments he had looked to her in desperate appeal, and a sudden memory had stopped her heart; a drop of red blood hissing in a candle flame, a croaking voice that spoke of crowns and shrouds, of death at the hands of the valonqar.

Jaime is out of reach when that thought sinks in, even when he mused about making another child with Cersei when he heard the news on the road. But their rushed act in the Sept must have been like a cruel reminder of the prophecy to Cersei. She is bleeding then, maybe for the Moontea she had to take during her affair with Lancel. Every pregnancy after Robert's death would look suspicious. The only other time Cersei gets intimate with Jaime is in the Lord Commander's tower, attempting to give a blowjob and that is pretty much the end of their relationship.

If Cersei is pregnant again, Osney would be the father, I suppose. Moontea became a political issue with Margaery now, so maybe Cersei had to skip that. Maybe even in the hope to avoid the prophecy by having four children instead of three. But this could really be part of her downfall, in case the High Septon has her examined or in case she dies in childbed, the youngest child being her Valonquar.

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4 minutes ago, foxberlin said:

This is what I suspect, too. When the prophecy said,

“Will the king and I have children?” she asked. “Oh, aye. Six-and-ten for him, and three for you.” That made no sense to Cersei.

with Robert, who already had bastards, she interpreted that as him having bastards, something she couldn't prevent and her getting three times pregnant by him, which she prevented the way we know - abortion and handjobs. Then Joff's death showed her that those three children are indeed hers, those she had with Jaime to avoid the prophecy:

She thought of Joffrey, clawing at his neck. In his last moments he had looked to her in desperate appeal, and a sudden memory had stopped her heart; a drop of red blood hissing in a candle flame, a croaking voice that spoke of crowns and shrouds, of death at the hands of the valonqar.

Jaime is out of reach when that thought sinks in, even when he mused about making another child with Cersei when he heard the news on the road. But their rushed act in the Sept must have been like a cruel reminder of the prophecy to Cersei. She is bleeding then, maybe for the Moontea she had to take during her affair with Lancel. Every pregnancy after Robert's death would look suspicious. The only other time Cersei gets intimate with Jaime is in the Lord Commander's tower, attempting to give a blowjob and that is pretty much the end of their relationship.

If Cersei is pregnant again, Osney would be the father, I suppose. Moontea became a political issue with Margaery now, so maybe Cersei had to skip that. Maybe even in the hope to avoid the prophecy by having four children instead of three. But this could really be part of her downfall, in case the High Septon has her examined or in case she dies in childbed, the youngest child being her Valonquar.

I'm in my phone and literally sneaking this comment in at work, but, when I get a chance later, I will double check the timeline to this because more than just her tight dresses make me think this, and moonboy too, for all I know :P

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56 minutes ago, The Fattest Leech said:

tight dresses

Well, GRRM also notes that Cersei was drinking wine constantly and gaining weight. Not all weight gain is caused by pregnancy, y'know, and GRRM has made a good case that Cersei has been letting herself go. Plus, she's probably near 40 when a woman really needs to start taking care of herself with diet and exercise. Exercise is something you NEVER hear that Cersei has done, whether outdoor recreation, dancing, or whatever. Well, sex maybe, but knowing Cersei, it'll be the man who does all the work.

If Cersei has been avoiding futher pregnancies, it will be from a combination of factors:

  1. Jaime isn't around, and he's the one she prefers to breed with
  2. Been there three times, had enough
  3. Vanity
  4. Don't want the complications of bastards by male tools she's using at the moment

Plus, the woman isn't much of a deep thinker, nor the sharpest tool in the shed. She'll fear the prophesy but doesn't seem to think of how it might be thwarted.

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I took it to also be alcohol bloat, you would think w/4 pregnancies and 3 children she would know if she were pregnant or might be pregnant well before she gains enough weight to require her dresses to be let out.  

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11 minutes ago, zandru said:

Well, GRRM also notes that Cersei was drinking wine constantly and gaining weight. Not all weight gain is caused by pregnancy, y'know,

Hmmm, yeah, I'm pretty familiar with this idea, on both accounts  ;)

 

11 minutes ago, zandru said:

Plus, the woman isn't much of a deep thinker, nor the sharpest tool in the shed. She'll fear the prophesy but doesn't seem to think of how it might be thwarted.

Exactly. She ain't the brightest fork in the drawer  

Besides, it was just a random curiosity I mentioned, not an actual theory. 

 

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Cersei also suffers from that thing that all characters who hear prophecies seem to suffer from: the inability to consider the idea that they themselves might cause the prophecy to come true by trying to prevent it.

That was actually something I enjoyed about Harry Potter, as an aside. Dumbledore points out that not all of the prophecies made in the Department of Secrets came true; it's only because Voldemort believed it that it came about. If he'd have left it alone, it wouldn't have happened.

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6 minutes ago, WSmith84 said:

Cersei also suffers from that thing that all characters who hear prophecies seem to suffer from: the inability to consider the idea that they themselves might cause the prophecy to come true by trying to prevent it.

That was actually something I enjoyed about Harry Potter, as an aside. Dumbledore points out that not all of the prophecies made in the Department of Secrets came true; it's only because Voldemort believed it that it came about. If he'd have left it alone, it wouldn't have happened.

Which is why it makes a so much better story if Jaime is the valonqar than if Tyrion is.

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4 hours ago, Ferocious Veldt Roarer said:

Who says she didn't want? If the prophecy is worth anything, then after the first three, she wouldn't carry to term anyway.

(She was actually pregnant at least one more time, with Bob, but she aborted it).

I forget about that! It never says at what point this occurred but I suppose it doesn't matter.

11 minutes ago, Brandon Baratheon said:

Prophecy says three children. She could stop after Joffrey and Myrcella.

Well if that was the case, maybe the witch is one of those pro-lifers who would say her abortion and/or (possible) miscarriages counted toward her three.

Rather than get into that, let's just be glad we have characters that are her children in the story and that she was too dumb to try and circumvent the prophecy.

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