A Little Love for the Villain

We need villains in our novels to give us some drama and spice things up. In my reading, I'm currently back in Westeros, doing a combined reading of A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. My problem right now is that Daenerys Targaryen is boring me to death. I almost want to root for Cersei Lannister because at least she has a personality! Sure, she's a horrible person, but I just want some action and entertainment! So, this Fangirl Friday is all about Cersei Lannister. Love her or despise her, she is never, ever boring! (Disclaimer: I have only read up to the beginning of AFFC and ADWD, and beware of spoilers.)


Chew you up and spit you out.

Entertaining. Let's face it, this woman is funny! We already knew she had a quick wit and a sharp tongue. When we get to see her from her POV, in A Feast for Crows, the thoughts she keeps to herself are deliciously awful!

Though his hair had gone white, his mustache fuzz remained a sandy color. Cersei had often gazed up at it while the boy was inside her, pumping dutifully away. It looks like a smudge of dirt on his lip. She used to threaten to scrub it off with a little spit. "The riverlands have need of a strong hand, my father says." A pity that they're getting yours, she wanted to say. Instead she smiled. "And you are to be wed as well."..."A Frey girl, and not of my choosing..."...Best not let her lord grandfather host the wedding, though. 

Real. This woman is going to tell you like it is. No sugar coating from her.

"Wait until you birth a child, Sansa. A woman's life is nine parts mess to one part magic, you'll learn soon enough...and the parts that look like magic often turn out to be the messiest of all."

S ex. Damn it, Cersei is the only main, strong, powerful female that is getting some! She takes what she wants, be it with her brother, Jaime, or her cousin, Lancell, or Osmund Kettleblack, and makes no apologies for it. Maybe you're not down with incest, and neither am I, but Dany's chastity is getting on my nerves, so I'll take what I can get.

Equality for women. Cersei has never been respected her whole life, simply because she is a woman.

She was tired of Jaime balking her. No one had ever balked her lord father. When Tywin Lannister spoke, men obeyed. When Cersei spoke, they felt free to counsel her, to contradict her, even refuse her. It is all because I'm a woman. Because I cannot fight them with a sword. They gave Robert more respect than they give me, and Robert was a witless sot..."

In great need of therapy. Even as a little girl, she has always been a *bit* off. There's that lovely story Prince Oberyn told Tyrion about the first time he met him. Tyrion was just a baby. Cersei showed Baby Tyrion to Oberyn and his sister, Elia. Oberyn told Tyrion this:

"...When I commented that you seemed a poor sort of monster, your sister said, 'He killed my mother,' and twisted your little cock so hard I thought she like to pull it off. You shrieked, but it was only when your brother Jaime said, 'Leave him be, you're hurting him,' that Cersei let go of you. 'It doesn't matter,' she told us. 'Everyone says he's like to die soon. He shouldn't have even lived this long.' "

Fellow ASOIAF readers, how do you feel about Cersei? Is she just a loathsome villain that needs destroying? Or has her POVs in AFFC made her grow on you a bit, like she did me?