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Character Basics:

Character Name: Cersei Lannister
Journal: burnsobright
Age: 34, give or take (born 266 AL, ASOS ends in 300 AL)
Fandom: A Song of Ice and Fire
Canon Point: A Storm of Swords ;; during Joffrey's wedding feast


Canon Character Section:

History:
Cersei was born in the year 266 AL at Casterly Rock to Tywin and Joanna Lannister. She was the firstborn child of her two parents although her mother had been pregnant with twins, and Jaime came shortly after, apparently holding onto her foot. Although the firstborn usually inherits, in this case, it is the firstborn male heir who does so, but this wouldn't come into play until much later. They were both healthy babes and grew into healthy children.

Like most twins, they were inseparable and they looked identical. To amuse themselves and to play tricks on the staff, they would switch clothing and fool those at the Rock, even their father. They thrived through, growing older as the years passed. What started out as an innocent game though soon turned into something more. As twins, they were close, but much closer than any twins had the right to be, at least in the physical sense. Although it started out as experimenting, it didn't end there. One day when they were playing, a servant of their household caught them and went to their mother, telling her what she had seen. Joanna quickly made sure to separate the twins, moving Jaime to one side of the Rock and Cersei at the other. After all, it wasn't the proper thing to do and she wasn't going to have her children fooling around with each other.

Joanna would give birth to another child in 274 AL, and with the birth of Tyrion came the death of Joanna. She gave birth to the dwarf and then died in childbirth shortly after. Cersei would blame him for their mother's death, but it did not stop her from showing him off when she could. Although their father didn't want anyone to see his son, Cersei did show the guests, going so far as to pinch his private parts. Her father though grew colder with the death of his wife, as he had loved her very deeply, and with her death, the twins were more or less allowed to continue doing what they had done.

Cersei though soon came to understand the reality of the world. Jaime was given a sword and not her. Growing up, they had been identical. People could not tell them apart, and yet now the walls were coming down and she was shown that the world was not fair. Even though she was firstborn, she would not inherit. Jaime was given a sword, armour and lessons in fighting and she could not understand why she was not also given those things. Instead, she was given thread and needle to teach her how to sew, and lessons in how to sing. Needless to say, Cersei wasn't overly impressed for she had not been denied much to this point.

Yet, as Jaime went off to earn his glory and fame, Cersei soon learned that her father had plans for her as well. He told her never to tell anyone, but he would arrange for her to marry the prince, Rhaegar Targaryen. For Cersei, this was a dream come true. She went off to court with her father and had seen the prince there. While she did think her brother was handsome, there was something about Rhaegar that Cersei was drawn too. She could see the haunted nature in his eyes and she knew that she could help him overcome that by healing that hurt.

Word got out and Cersei sought out Maggy, who was a woman who was said to be able to see your future. Harassing the woman, who had told them to go away, Cersei forced her to tell her future. Given three questions, she first asked if she would marry the prince. Maggy informed her though that she would wed a king, and be queen until another who was younger and more beautiful would come along to cast her down and take all that she held fear. Contemplating this, Cersei assumed (and wrongly) that she would marry Rhaegar when he was king and not before. Her second question asked how many children they would have. This answer confused her, as the answer that Maggy gave wasn't clear, for he would have more than she. She further informed Cersei that when tears had drowned her, the valonqar would wrap his hands around her pale throat and choke the life from her. Before a third question could be asked, her friend cut in, asking if she would marry Jaime. Maggy though predicted that she would die. Cersei, prideful and arrogant, didn't like the answers that she was given and left in anger. Her friend, Melara, would die shortly after, making her prophecy come true.

Cersei learned about her father's plans to marry Jaime off to Lysa Tully and informed him of such. All ready one who was full of plots, Cersei came up with another idea. Instead of marrying the Tully, Jaime should join the Kingsguard. Thus, Cersei would be at court and so would he, and she wouldn't need to be without him. Jaime didn't agree right away though, as he was the heir of Casterly Rock, yet Cersei persuaded him. Dressing as a serving wench, she 'served' Jaime all night long, and each time he fell asleep, she woke him again for another round. Needless to say, when morning came, he agreed to her plan.

Jaime was admitted into the Kingsguard, just as planned, but after that nothing went as it was meant too. It was to be a joyous day for Cersei when the tourney was held, for her engagement to the prince was to be announced. Yet, Cersei learned a hard lesson that day, that things don't always go as planned. Tywin was not happy that his heir was admitted into the Kingsguard, as they served for life and could not marry. Add to that, when he suggested a union between Cersei and Rhaegar, he was turned down, being told that a Lannister was not noble enough to marry a Targaryen. Thus, Lord Tywin resigned from being the King's Hand, took Cersei and returned to Casterly Rock. Again were Jaime and Cersei separated, as all that had happened was that they switched places.

Rebellion soon broke out, although Cersei didn't have much of a role in it. The Lannisters more or less stayed neutral in everything into an outcome was all but clear. At that point, they sided with the winning side. By putting his forces in with Robert Baratheon, they were able to overcome King Aerys through a series of events and Cersei was given to Robert in marriage. Robert, not wanting to aggravate his newfound allies and knowing how precarious his position was, agreed to wed her.

It was a large wedding, and Cersei felt wonderful. Robert was a handsome man back then, and Cersei thought that she could be happy being his wife. Everyone cheered her and it was a golden moment- a golden moment that soon came crashing down. When he came to her that evening, things started off well enough, but then he said a name that was not her name. No, the name he whispered was 'Lyanna', Stark's dead sister and Robert's love. From that moment, Cersei started to hate him for loving a ghost more than a real life person. It was by no means a pleasant marriage, as Cersei was a woman of much pride and she never forgave him. While Robert went off to sleep with whores, Cersei turned back to Jaime, and in the end, he fathered all three of her children. Only once early in their marriage had Cersei been pregnant with Robert's child, but Jaime found a woman who was able to rid her of it. It was a closely guarded secret though that Robert wasn't the father, as their claim to the throne stemmed from him. She did not allow Jaime to even hold the newborn children, saying it would look strange.

The years passed and Robert grew fatter while Cersei grew colder. She dotted on her children and seemed to put her efforts into them. She was overly protective- too much so if one thinks about it. As a child, Joffrey experimented with a pregnant cat, and in reprimand, Robert beat him. When Cersei found out, she threatened him for hurting her son and made sure that he would never do so again. The animosity between the two of them only grew as the years passed, and Cersei would run into trouble shortly before the start of the series. Jon Arryn. He found in a book of ancestry, that blond always yielding to black when Lannister and Baratheon met, and yet all of Cersei's children were blond. This got him to investigating and he discovered that this was true. Blonde, redhead, brown; all the women that had fathered bastard children from Robert all ended up with black hair. Before the truth could be made public, Jon became sick and died, quite suddenly. Although fingers would be pointed at the Lannisters, Cersei- and her house- actually had nothing to do with his death, but it did aid her.

Thus starts the series, and Cersei’s events can be summed up here.

Personality:

There are many things that Cersei is, although kind, gentle and benevolent are not them. Cersei is very much a product of her environment and her past, although who she is, is also her own doing. While she is not truly a villain in the evil sense of seeking destruction and harm for the sake of it, in many ways her actions are wicked.

The first thing to note that is key to her personality is that she is a Lannister. The official words of the house are “Hear Me Roar”, while unofficially it is “A Lannister always pays his debts”. Both are important and both do fit Cersei quite well. She is a prideful woman. It can be seen in how she acts and how she carries herself. Even though she married Robert Baratheon, she is not known by his last name. Instead, she is referred to or thought of as Cersei Lannister.

Cersei is firstborn. Yet, because she is female, it means that she will not inherit Casterly Rock. This is a very touchy spot for her, as Cersei believes that she would make a good heir. Often throughout the novels, she makes reference to the fact that had she been born a male, things would have been easier. She tells of growing up with her twin brother. When they were young, they used to change clothes for the day and have a grand time fooling those people of Casterly Rock. Yet, when Jaime got a sword, Cersei couldn’t understand why she didn’t get one. Instead of learning to fight, she learned to sew and sing and other womanly traits. Up until this point, she hadn’t really thought about the gender role that she would be forced into as a woman and she resented that.

That resentment would be one of her defining traits as she grew older. If there is one thing that she hates, it is the restrictions that are put on her sex. A woman really has no say or worth aside from who she is and what she can offer. Of course, as she grew up, it didn’t seem quite so bad, given that she was lead to believe that she would marry Rhaegar Targaryen, a handsome man. In many ways, she was like Sansa Stark, and perhaps that is one of the reasons that she seems to turn a blind eye to what is happening to the girl. Cersei used to believe in knights and love, but all that ended when she married Robert.

Although marriages of those who have power are often not for love, there was that hope that she might be happy. That was crushed on her wedding night when her husband bedded her and said the name of his dead love instead of hers. As such, she grew to resent and hate him, having no respect for him as a man, a husband, or a king, and throughout the story she is seen to undermine him at every turn. Their relationship is one built on spite and often Robert spoke ill of her. ‘The others take my wife,’ he told Ned, and he was not above using violence to shut her up. He regarded her as cold and said that she guards her ‘cunt’. And she did, from him at least. From others, including her brother and those with blood ties? Not so much.

Cersei is an ambitious person and it is said that with each passing year, her pride only continued to grow. She has a notion of herself that doesn’t quite suit reality, thinking that she is as good as any male and would make a good ruler. While she might strive for more power and want to climb up the ladder to become stronger in that regard, she would actually make a fairly poor ruler. As Littlefinger states of her, she lusts for power but doesn’t actually know how to yield it. For Cersei, she wants to rule through fear and not through love. She is a highly suspicious person, not trusting anyone and she takes means to bind people to her through more or less underhanded manners. She will bribe them with gold, as her family is very rich thanks to the gold mines on their lands. She will also blackmail them into working for her. She will also spread lies and plant tales, bringing anyone down that she wishes too. Lastly, she is not above sleeping with someone to get what she wants.

She is cunning but cannot see the faults in her own son, Joffrey. Also, she has no patience and jumps to conclusions without any actual facts to back them up. As her brother Tyrion thinks, the longer she waits, the angrier she becomes. When she is angry, she is stupid. Let her be composed, and she is cunning. The only way to beat her, is to play her game and best her. Yet even then, it is hard to do. When Ned confronted her and told her that he knew, she didn’t run and flee even though she did fear him. Instead she plotted and planned. She actually does have some good ideas but unfortunately things don’t always go as she plans. She had thought to spare Eddard Stark and send him to the wall, thus removing a problem, but her unruly and wild son instead chopped off his head, thus leading to the war of the five kings.

It can be said of Cersei that she is greedy, cruel and self-serving. She will use people for her own ends and toss them aside when she is done with them. Rarely do they live to tell the tale, as she will more than happily shut them up to keep them from learning the truth. It has also been stated that she is a very good liar, and this is true. She is a discreet woman. She carried on an incestuous relationship with her brother for many years before it was every shed to light. To her, he is her other half, and she doesn’t feel complete unless he is with her- in her. In that regard, he is perhaps the single person that she actually comes close to trusting, but unlike Jaime who has only every slept with her, Cersei really is just using her brother as well. Jaime thinks about how she will cry again when he sees her after the death of their son. Yet, he admits that she will also fight those tears, not wanting to seem weak, but that she does lower those guards when she is with him. She looks to him for comfort and for revenge. It can also be noted that Cersei never comes to him, but instead makes Jaime come to her.

As was stated above, a Lannister always pays his debts. It can also be said that a Lannister always remembers the slights. Cersei holds onto grudges, never letting them go. She is said to devour honourable men, which is why they all fail to bring her down. She plays by her own rules. She hints and makes people read between the lines to do her bidding. Even though she is a woman and doesn’t want to be placed in a woman’s role, she is more than happy to use those womanly traits to get what she wants. She makes promises that if someone will do something, that she just might sleep with them. She brushes her bosom up against them, or might brush their hand. Also, when the castle comes under attack, she states of Sansa that a woman should use what she is given. She also points out though that with Stannis, there is little point to doing that as he wouldn’t be swayed. One would think that because she was beat by her own husband, that she would teach her children not too do that. In a manner, she does, yet she also doesn’t. What she tells Joffrey is that a husband should never hit his wife. Thus, Joffrey doesn’t but instead gets others to beat her. Cersei also doesn’t step in to stop it but tells Sansa that she should do what her son wishes. Men only wish for their woman to be pretty and full of smiles, and not to show otherwise.

Cersei is a good mother though, even if she doesn’t discipline her children as much as she should. She is always concerned about her children and treats them in an almost smothering manner. While she is willing to use other people’s children to get what she wants, she doesn’t use her own children. When Joffrey is attacked by Arya’s wolf, it is Cersei who pushes for a greater punishment. She was furious with her husband for not doing more than he did and in return she called him on it and then offered money for anyone who would bring the pelt of the direwolf to her. She tries to protect and shelter them from the world, often taking her children out of the room and scolding a speaker when they address things that a child should not hear. It seems that her children and her ambitions are really the only things that she lives for. She frets too much over them but doesn’t give the courtesy to other children. In fact, she later goes and tries to kill all of Robert’s bastard children, thinking only to get rid of any evidence, as black hair always over rules blonde.

She can also smile and act graceful, making someone believe that she is truly their friend. Time and time again she has fooled people and brought them to her side. She can be all charm when she wishes to be. She can flirt casually and win people over, complimenting them on their feats and their families. She can jest casually and smile. In white she looks the picture of innocence, but she truly isn’t. She is warped and has likely forgotten what true happiness is. She startles Tyrion when she laughs, twirling him around gleefully and planting a kiss on his cheek. She smiled, openly, a real smile and he wondered if that is the side that only Jaime got to see. At the same time, when she ended up crying in front of Tyrion, that startled him too. She is not a woman to easily lose her composure. When Robert slapped her in front of Ned, she told her husband that she would wear it like a badge of honour. When Tyrion moved to comfort her when she was crying, she told him not to touch her as she didn’t want him to see her like that. She puts on the persona of a woman who is all hardness, but underneath that she does fear and despair. She just does not like to be seen as weak.

Cersei is always striving to have more and to be more. She doesn’t want to just be a ‘broodmare’ to some man, and after Robert’s death, has no wish or desire to wed again. She doesn’t truly have any friends, which is hardly surprising. She suspects everyone. She is quick to judgment and does not always make the best calls. Smite her, and she will make you rue the day you did so, bringing you down. She doesn’t like to be told what to do and is quite wilful. She is a haunted woman thanks to a prophecy given to her in the past. So far, part of the prophecy has come true save her outliving all her children, having everything she has taken away by a more youthful and lovely queen, and being killed by the valonqar (which may or may not be her ‘little brother’, given the revelation in the last book...). Her latter years have been about taking steps to make sure the last part of the prophesy doesn’t come true, hoping to avert the death of her two children and to make sure no one usurps the power that she has taken to long to gather.

Powers/Abilities:
As far as canon abilities go, Cersei doesn’t have anything supernatural. She is intelligent, a master manipulator and is able to put on an act that fools most people, as Tyrion thinks. If anything, she can be all charm and smiles, subtly wooing those who she can, and she is good at picking those who will fall to her. She notes that Stannis would not be won over by her beauty or her intelligence when the siege came on King’s Landing, but many other men have been. Cersei doesn’t say it in words either, but instead steps around it. She might compliment or praise, or even gently rub her bosom on the arm of the man she is trying to entice. Nothing though that can peg her down- at least not until later in the series when it all backfires on her, but even then, her hand in certain events cannot be easily proven. Even if she hates someone, her skills in acting are superb and she holds many lies that she does not share with the world, such as all the schemes that she has plus the fact that none of her three children are actually by her husband.

Later then her canon point, she is able to get most to assume that she is subdued after her walk of shame. Her uncle thinks of how she used to burn so bright, but how she doesn't anymore. This is not the case. She is just bidding her time. She knows of ruling and looking after the kingdom, but her way of doing so isn’t the best way. She’d rather rule through fear than through love.

Cersei also knows 'womanly traits', such as sewing, singing, smiling, and how to please- and she realized early on that tears are not a woman's only weapons. She is cunning and underhanded, and in order to beat her, you must play her game- and win. She is suspicious of all, and sometimes that works in her favour but at other times it doesn't. She is self-serving, greedy and cruel, and as others think, that she devours honest men for breakfast. Try to play on a honourable field with her, and anyone would find themselves at a disadvantage; ask Ned Stark. None of these are supernatural abilities in any way though, simply traits that Cersei has picked up and that anyone really could learn if they were so inclined.

Appearance:
There is no doubt that Cersei is a beautiful woman, but her beauty of more cold than warm, as she isn't that welcoming of a person. Like her twin brother Jaime, Cersei has long blonde hair and bright green eyes. Being Queen (and later Regent for her under aged children) and a woman of some pride, she is often adorned in the richest of fabrics that compliment her. Red and gold being her family’s colours and green complimenting and bringing out her eyes: it is these tones that she often wears. In white, she looks the picture of innocence. She is fair of skin and slender of figure despite having three children and when compared to some of the other woman in the book, she looks less ‘worn’ than them. When fitting Sansa for her wedding dress, they compliment her figure, stating, 'your bosom will be as lovely as the queen's'.

Samples:

Actionspam Sample:

[Furious hard green eyes greet the viewer. It is clear that she is angry and spending the last hour trying to understand this thing has not helped her in the least. After all, she is still here and has barely received any answers.

She is dressed now though in those fine garments that she had at her son’s wedding and not a hair seems to be out of place, but they do nothing to make her look more pleasant. She is wroth. She is livid.

An angry Cersei is not a happy Cersei.]

Listen here. I know not what you aim to achieve by kidnapping my person, but I shall tell you this. A Lannister always pays their debts, and if you think you shall profit from my ransom, you shall be sadly mistaken. One does not mess with the Crown Regent, let along a member of House Lannister and not expect retaliation.

[Those beautiful features darken. She does not like loosing power and not being in control.]

And how dare you do such. Speak now. Name your terms. And if you have harmed my son- or any of my children in any way- I shall make you rue the day you laid a hand upon their person.

Prose Sample:

She was seated there at the head table, her eyes sweeping across the guests who had gathered. Her son. She found those green eyes settling on him and her lips started to purse ever so. In her opinion, it was far too soon for him to be wed to anyone, even if it worked to secure his throne. Regardless, it would be a day to remember. That much Cersei had seen too. She had made sure of that, from the big details such as the extravagant feast, to the smaller ones that others might have missed. Nothing less for her golden boy.

She could still remember the day he was born. Robert was gone, hunting again although for what game Cersei wasn't sure, but truthfully she would not have had it any other way. Their union might have once been a dream come true as one heard in those songs of love, but only for those few hours before the bedding. She'd been wet when he had come to her, likely the only time she was truly wet for him, and it had gone on fine, until he had whispered that dead girl's name. Even years later she, a ghost, was still between them. Always between them. But he was dead, joining that strumpet, and Cersei still lived. She was fine with that. She had girls to warm her bed and they never pried her legs open when they got too far into their cups. Never again.

It had been Jaime though who had been there when she had birthed their golden child. None would have kept him from her side, and Cersei knew that none could have. He'd been there through those hours of labour, by her side like he had always been, until their golden child come into the world, whole and hale and screaming. Jaime had always been there for her, her knight, her brother, her lover... It was him she could count on, could let her walls down around, lean on...

Oh, there were times when he made her exasperated. There was no denying that. Yet, there was no denying the fact that he was her other half. Without him there, she felt like she had lost a part of her. Together they had come into the world, with he holding her foot, and together they had grown up. Often, as children, they had crawled into each other's beds and curled up together, not caring one bit, and traded clothing for a lark, prancing about Casterly Rock pretending to be the other. It was natural for them to be as such. One part of two... People couldn't understand what that felt like.

But he was not here. Not at her side and that heavy emptiness flooded through her. No, instead her eyes removed themselves from her firstborn and settled on the brother that was here. The Imp. If anything, her lips pursed further, annoyance written on her features. She had wanted Jaime, but instead she had gotten Tyrion, the brother that had killed her mother to come into this world. She'd commanded her father to come, and instead he had sent him. He was thankfully no longer Hand of the King, as her father had since arrived in a blaze of glory, but ever since his birth, Tyrion had been nothing but a thorn in her side. Bad enough he looked like he did, and the loss of the nose didn't help his features any, but he had killed her mother as his first act in this world. He'd even threatened her... And Cersei had made sure that her father had known of that. To think, choosing some whore over his own family, but how could one be truly surprised?

But, it was a day of celebration. Tyrion had gotten his reward, his little bird, although a maid it seemed she was still. Likely he had to pay some wench in order to get his duty done, but she still remembered how he'd reacted when he'd learned of that. How Sansa had acted when she had learned. It had been sweet and pleasant, and took that sting out of the fact that her father wished for her to wed again, yet no, Cersei never would. Never again...

It wasn’t on those thoughts that she should be dwelling on though. Her dwarf of a brother wouldn’t ruin her happiness or the fact that Jaime wasn’t here with her… Knowing that the court would be watching, she pasted that content smile on her lips. If nothing else, she was a good actress, and as her eyes turned to her new daughter in law, she could not help but think of how unworthy the girl was for her son. Wed once before and now a second time, Cersei doubted the girl was a maid, but she could not otherwise do anything about it. They were reaching far too high, these Tyrells, and no matter what her father said, there surely could have been another way than uniting their two houses.

As her new daughter turned to smile at her, Cersei smiled back, yet smiling was the least thing from her mind. No. There was that touch of coldness behind that warm mask that she showed to anyone looking. Let her laugh and carry on, but it was Cersei’s time in the sun, and she was not going to pass it on to another… Never.