One of the biggest questions remaining in 'Game Of Thrones' is who will kill Cersei? Let's make some predictions.
Credit: HBOWe are entering the final stretch of Game of Thrones and I am officially depressed.
Despite some rocky episodes in the final couple seasons, this remains one of my favorite TV shows of all time, based upon one of my favorite series of (unfinished) novels. I hate to see it go, and even more so because I'm not sure if we will ever get the conclusion George R.R. Martin planned for his Song of Ice and Fire.
In any case, Sunday's episode looks as epic as any that have come before (read my preview of the episode here) and while I don't know who will die yet, I suspect we'll get a few more major character deaths. One of these, I predict, will be Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey).
Cersei is a fascinating character. She's been around since the very first episode, which makes her the last-boss-standing (for now, in any case) and the villain with the most screen-time, even if she's never been the most horrifically vile of the bad guys. Sure, blowing up the Great Sept of Baelor and killing off basically all her immediate enemies was a brutal move, but it's not like she raped and tortured along the way. Cersei has been a calculating villain, and petty and cruel, but never sadistic in the same way as her son or Ramsay. She is cut from the same cloth as Tywin, though never as cool and controlled.
Perhaps her worst sin was loving her children at any cost, enabling her monstrous son Joffrey to become the vile creature he was which invariably led to not only his death but, in time, the deaths of his two siblings as well, leaving Cersei an even colder husk of a person in the wake of all this tragedy.
This was all part of a prophecy that Cersei heard when she was young, when she visited a Seer named Maggie the Frog.
Here's the exchange:
Cersei: When will I wed the prince?
Maggy: Never. You will wed the king.
Cersei: I will be queen, though?
Maggy: Aye. Queen you shall be... until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.
Cersei: Will the king and I have children?
Maggy: Oh, aye. Six-and-ten for him, and three for you. Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds, she said. And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.
Maggie the Frong
Credit: HBOThe first part refers to Cersei marrying Robert Baratheon, the Usurper. Cersei was married to hiim after he had won the rebellion and become king, but lost Lyanna Stark, the woman he loved (but who loved Rhaegar Targeryen instead). Cersei wed into a loveless, neglectful and at times abusive marriage to a man who preferred strong drink and whores to his lovely Lannister wife. A political alliance and nothing more.
The second part almost certainly refers to Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) though at one time or another Cersei has attributed its meaning to Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer). She was cruel to the former and killed the latter.
The third part predicts Robert's many bastards as well as the death of her and Jaime's children, all of which came true in the end, making this prophecy more believable than ever.
And the final part refers to her own killer--the valonqar--which for a long time Cersei has believed to be Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) her "little brother" both in terms of chronology and size, since "valonqar" means "little brother" in High Valyrian.
Since then, many others have assumed this to be a red herring, noting that her twin, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) was the second twin to be born and could instead be the "little brother" in question.
But notice the phrasing. It does not say your valonqar. It refers to her children as her children but when it comes to "little brother" it says merely the valonqar. The little brother, not your little brother.
Cersei and Euron, with the Mountain looming in the background.
Credit: HBOThis leaves us with two separate candidates for Cersei's killer other than her brothers, as she has now surrounded herself with not one, but two brothers from different families.
The first is Euron Greyjoy, a man who she has made her general as well as her lover and who she has lied to about her pregnancy, telling Euron that the baby (if there is a baby) is his when in fact it's (probably) Jaime's.
In last week's episode, that lie may have been sprung from its lockbox, when Tyrion told Cersei to think of her baby's life, not just her own, in the coming conflict. Euron was in earshot and he must be wondering by now how Tyrion would know of this secret child if it was, indeed, his own.
Euron, you may recall, is the little brother of Balon Greyjoy, who he murdered to take power in the Iron Islands. It is quite possible that a jilted Euron, already prone to murder, might wrap his hands about Cersei's pale throat and choke the life from her.
Indeed, this seems far more likely than Jaime killing her. Jaime is a good man now, and killing his sister--who he loved and will always love to some degree--would break him, especially if she's pregnant with their child. He's already Kingslayer, but he had no love for the Mad King, and saved millions of lives by killing one man. (Of course, if the baby is a lie he may be more prone to do the deed. We shall see.)
The other "little brother" who could come into play is the little brother of Cersei's fiercest bodyguard.
The Hound rides with Arya to King's Landing.
Credit: HBOSandor "The Hound" Clegane (Rory McCann) is headed back to King's Landing with Arya (Maisie Williams) presumably to deal with his older brother, Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane, who is now a half-zombie but every bit as sick and twisted as he was in life. Everyone anticipates a "Cleganebowl" showdown between the two, but it could go many other less predictable ways.
It's possible, though less likely, that the Hound could kill Cersei in the end, perhaps as revenge for something terrible (like killing Arya, perhaps?)
I doubt this outcome simply because I doubt the show will throw such a curve ball at this point, but it would be its own kind of poetic justice. Cersei used the Hound to kill and do her dirty work for a long time. To have her own dog turn on her would be quite satisfying. And it would be surprising in a good way, less the sort of destiny-driven fantasy we've seen in later seasons and more the shocking brutality of earlier ones.
The point of all of this is to simply say: the valonqar does not necessarily mean Cersei's valonqar. Martin's phrasing is very specific. I can't help but think that the use of "the" instead of "your" is intentional. It may be the most poetic ending to have Jaime do the deed, but it would be almost too ugly and heartbreaking, especially given his character arc toward redemption and goodness. The more surprising choice is someone less predictable.
A little brother, to be sure. But which one?
Game of Thrones returns for its second-to-last episode on Sunday. Read my preview of the coming episode here.
You can find all my Game of Thrones reviews right here.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2019/05/12/game-of-thrones-may-kill-off-cersei-in-a-very-shocking-way-if-this-theory-is-true/
2019-05-12 12:00:00Z
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