Was Cersei Manipulating Jaime Throughout Their Relationship?

[Ser Pounce FTW]

She was definitely manipulating him, but I think it's likely that it was on a subconscious level and that she truly didn't realize it.

Cersei is aware that she is manipulating Jaime. She may justify it in her head though by saying as a man he can do things she cannot do as a woman but she knows she can get him to do what she wants.

[Light a wight tonight]

Yes - but she did love him as well. Sadly the two things aren't mutually exclusive in life.

Mmmm. she viewed him as an extension of herself, so loving him was loving herself.

[mrunderhill]

Mmmm. she viewed him as an extension of herself, so loving him was loving herself.

She viewed him as her weapon not an extension of herself. That is just the lies she tries to tell him and maybe sometimes herself. If she truly viewed Jaime as an extension of herself she would not keep so many secrets from him.

[Chickren]

Did Cersei manipulate Jaime? Yeah. Was Jaime totally down for it? Yeah. He stopped putting up with the manipulation as soon as it didn't suit him anymore, so you can assume that up to that point it suited him just fine. I'm no Cersei Stan, but Jaime's responsible for Jaime. And he's not actually an idiot, so anything he went along with, he chose to go along with.

Brienne's in love with Jaime, so it is a romantic relationship, but whatever feelings Jaime might have for her (it's murky, we don't know for sure from his side), I don't think there were enough at the time he and Cersei started to crumble for it to affect the twincest. He and Cersei started going different directions and that's what broke them up.

You could say knowing Brienne had an affect on him, but not in a romantic way at that point, I don't think.