In a show like Game of Thrones, where most characters are layered and complex, there are a few characters that are truly evil, like Joffrey Baratheon and Ramsay Bolton. Then there are those that lean strongly toward the evil side, redeemed only by the most minute amount of goodness inside them, like Cersei Lannister.
For the most part, Cersei is a ruthless character who tears down whoever she needs to in order to play the game of thrones. But despite all the horrible things that she does, there are still a couple of moments where we actually have pity for Cersei. Read on to find out what Cersei’s eight most evil moments are, and which scenes actually had us feeling sorry for her.
Ordering Lady To Be Executed
Viewers can tell from the very first episode that Cersei Lannister doesn’t have the kindest heart in Westeros. It’s fairly early on in the series that we find out she is truly evil and that’s when she insists that Sansa’s dire wolf Lady be executed.
It’s really Arya’s dire wolf who bites Cersei’s son Joffrey, but in all fairness, Joffrey antagonizes the creature beforehand. And when Arya’s dire wolf runs away, the only wolf left to slay for Joffrey’s justice is the innocent Lady. To demand that an innocent animal be executed shows how evil a person truly is.
Forcing Ellaria Sand To Watch Tyene’s Death
They say there is no greater pain than a parent having to bury their child. But if there something worse, it’s actually being there at the moment that your child passes away. And Cersei Lannister makes sure that her enemy, Ellaria Sand, is only inches away from her daughter Tyene as she dies from Cersei’s poison.
From Cersei’s perspective, there’s a sense of poetic justice here, as the poison she uses on Tyene is the very one that killed her own daughter, Myrcella. Still, Cersei didn’t have to watch the life leave her daughter’s body the way Ellaria does.
Orchestrating The Perfect Scene For Robert Baratheon’s Death
All the trouble in Westeros well and truly hits the fan following the untimely death of King Robert Baratheon in the first season. It is strongly implied that Cersei, who was married to the king, has a hand in his death. Although it is ultimately the tusk of a bore that kills Robert, Cersei makes sure he is no state to defend himself by indirectly giving him access to strongwine through her cousin Lancel.
Robert is by no means a good husband to Cersei, who suffers a lot for the duration of their marriage. But that doesn’t excuse setting up his death and paving the way for all the consequences that follow.
Having Her Guards Beat A Nine-Year-Old Girl During Her Childhood
Cersei didn’t grow into her evilness when she hit adulthood. Instead, it is something that seems to have been with her from the very beginning. Case in point: when nine-year-old Cersei had one of her servants, another child, brutally beaten by her guards. The beating was so severe that the girl lost an eye.
This is one moment in Cersei’s life that viewers don’t get to witness, as it takes place before the beginning of the story. But it still counts as one of the evilest moments in the life of Cersei Lannister.
Killing Robert’s Illegitimate Children
Only the truly evil could kill a baby. We never actually see Cersei doing this during the series, but we hear it from Littlefinger. According to Petyr Baelish, a maidservant at Cersei’s home of Casterly Rock gave birth to twin illegitimate children that were fathered by Robert Baratheon. Cersei supposedly had them killed and then sold their mother to a slaver.
While we don’t have proof of this happening, it does seem like something Cersei would do. Littlefinger may not be the most trustworthy character in Westeros, but he also knows more than the average person.
Getting Margaery And Loras Tyrell In Trouble With The Faith Militant
The tensions between Cersei and her daughter-in-law, Margaery Tyrell, continue to rise until Cersei decides to put a stop to the Tyrell nuisance once and for all. After Margaery is married to Tommen and appears to control him, Cersei conjures a story about Margaery being an adulteress and takes it to the High Sparrow.
Of course, Cersei’s wrongdoing here is paid back when her plan backfires and she is the one that is revealed as a sinner to be punished by the faith militant. Ironically, Cersei is sentenced to the walk of shame while Margaery escapes mostly unscathed (before being killed by Cersei in the Sept of Bailor).
Having Ros Beaten To Get Back At Tyrion
Out of all the terrible things Cersei does, some of the worst are aimed at her younger brother Tyrion. Because Tyrion is such an endearing character, knowing that Cersei tries so hard to hurt him makes her even more unlikeable among viewers of the show.
Cersei does a lot of horrible things to Tyrion, including having Ros beaten. She does this believing that Tyrion and Ros are romantically involved when really it is Shae that Tyrion is in love with. Even though this isn’t as devastating to Tyrion, it still highlights Cersei’s malice.
Beheading Missandei
Not only are many of Cersei’s actions truly evil, but they’re also carried out with no regard for the future. Executing Daenerys’s right-hand woman, Missandei, is a completely malevolent thing to do considering Missandei never actually did anything wrong. But it’s also one of the factors that ultimately pushes Daenerys to the end of her tether and turns her into the Mad Queen who burns King’s Landing.
Throughout the series, Cersei constantly pushes people without any fear of the consequences. This time, her actions helped to push Daenerys over the edge, which wasn’t good for anyone.
We Felt Sorry For Her: Her Walk Of Shame
Even after all the terrible things that Cersei does in the show, there are still a few times when we feel sorry for her. Of course, one of those is her walk of shame. Seeing anybody stripped, degraded, and marched through the city in front of all those crowds is hard to watch, whether it’s an evil character like Cersei or somebody else.
Although Cersei’s walk of shame is brutal, she does regain some of her dignity by taking revenge on the people who played a part in her punishment, including the High Sparrow and Septa Unella.
We Felt Sorry For Her: When She Learned Of Myrcella’s Death
For most of the series, Cersei seems like she has a heart of iron. The only thing that ever seems to affect her is the love she has for her three children, Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella. By the end of the series, Cersei loses all three of her children, but the saddest moment of all of them is when she learns of the death of Myrcella.
Joffrey’s death isn’t nearly as tragic because he’s such an unlikeable character. And Tommen’s death is almost bittersweet for Cersei because it lands her on the Iron Throne. But losing Myrcella shatters Cersei to pieces.
