Cersei Lannister is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones, where she is portrayed by actress Lena Headey.

She subsequently appears in A Clash of Kings (1998) and A Storm of Swords (2000), and becomes a prominent point of view character beginning with A Feast for Crows (2005).

Cersei's main character attributes are her lust for power, scheming, transgressive viewpoint, and her love for her children, whom she seeks to protect.

Headey and the rest of the cast were nominated for seven Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

She informed Jaime that their father planned to marry him to Lysa Tully and persuaded him to join the Kingsguard in order to be near her, after the twins had slept together for the first time.

During her teenage years, believing that her betrothal to Rhaegar would soon be announced, Cersei brought her companions Melara Hetherspoon and Jeyne Farman to a witch named Maggy the Frog.

Additionally, Cersei had a firstborn, black-haired son born to Robert Baratheon (portrayed by Mark Addy) who died as an infant.

Ned eventually discovers the truth of Cersei's infidelity and confronts her, giving her the opportunity to flee into exile and thus spare her children certain execution.

When Stannis Baratheon sails on King's Landing, Cersei and Joffrey stay enclosed in the Red Keep, leaving Tyrion to mastermind the defense of the city.

After formally assuming his position as Hand of the King, Tywin makes it clear to Cersei that she is no longer welcome at the small council meetings, de facto stripping her of political authority.

Cersei's rule descends into a series of political and economic blunders due to her short temper, egotism, and paranoia, greatly damaging her relationship with Jaime and alienating allies such as Pycelle and Kevan Lannister.

However, this plot backfires as the investigation into Margaery reveals evidence of Cersei's own adultery and her complicity in Robert's death, resulting in her arrest by the Faith.

[8][9] The Hollywood Reporter called the raises "huge", noting that the deal would make the performers "among the highest-paid actors on cable TV".

[13] Robert meets his end as the result of a boar attack on a hunting trip, before Ned Stark tells him the truth about his children.

Cersei works quickly to instate her oldest son, Joffrey, on the throne, with her as his chief political advisor and Queen Regent.

Cersei is eventually allowed to return to the Red Keep after confessing to having committed adultery with Lancel, but has her hair cut off and is forced to walk naked through the streets of King's Landing as atonement.

Cersei returns, distraught from the abuse directed at her by the smallfolk of King's Landing, but is consoled by Qyburn's successful reanimation of Ser Gregor Clegane.

Despite being stripped of her allies, Cersei opts to remain in King's Landing, having named Ser Gregor as her champion in her trial by combat.

[17] Despite nominally being ruler of Westeros, Cersei's grip on the throne is tenuous, with the Riverlands in upheaval following Arya Stark's massacre of House Frey, the Vale and the North's declaration of Ned Stark's bastard son Jon Snow King in the North, and Tyrion, Yara Greyjoy, Dorne, and the Reach all supporting Daenerys Targaryen, whose fleet has seized Dragonstone.

With no children left to protect, Cersei's malice and vindictiveness have grown, and she relentlessly seeks to expand her power and destroy her enemies.

She agrees to marry Euron after the war is won; however, she continues her affair with Jaime, no longer attempting to hide their relationship from their servants.

The Tyrells' wealth is transported safely to King's Landing, but the food the Lannisters steal from the Reach is destroyed when Daenerys attacks the caravan with her Dothraki horde and dragon, Drogon.

Daenerys and Jon meet with Cersei in the Dragonpit on the outskirts of King's Landing, and present to her a wight captured from the White Walkers as evidence of their threat.

However, she later reveals to Jaime that she intends for her enemies to wipe each other out and then attack the victor, and has sent Euron to Essos to transport the Golden Company to Westeros.

Cersei permits civilians to seek refuge in the Red Keep – ostensibly to protect them from an invasion of King's Landing, but in reality she plans to use them as human shields to deter an attack.

Daenerys subsequently launches an attack on the Iron Fleet, and the anti-dragon defenses Cersei has had installed on King's Landing's walls, prompting the city's surrender.

Their bodies are later found by Tyrion, whose subsequent grief leads him to renounce his loyalty to Daenerys and persuade Jon Snow to kill her.

5 on a list of the "Top 40 Game of Thrones Characters", describing Cersei as a woman and matriarch who "battles for a place at the table in a world made for men" and would do anything to protect her offspring.

Described as the "most dangerous human being in Westeros" and "one of the most complex and fascinating characters on television", Cersei is also a "strangely sympathetic figure, warped by being treated like an expensive brood mare by powerful men her entire life and genuine in her affections", while her bitter experience makes her her own worst enemy and "the villain of her own story".

"[21] In The New Yorker, Clive James wrote that she is a "beautiful expression of arbitrary terror, combining shapely grace with limitless evil in just the right measure to scare a man to death while rendering him helpless with desire", praising the depth to which Heady "beams Cersei's radiant malevolence" into the viewer's mind "that she reawakens a formative disturbance”.