Warning: This article will spoil of “Game of Thrones” thus far. Please do not read ahead if you’re not well caught up.
I have to confess an unpopular opinion. Leana Headey’s Cersei Lannister, the polarizing and widely hated villain in “Game of Thrones,” is one of the best characters in TV. Documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns once said that a great story is when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, where 1+1 does not equal 2, but 3. A great story is when the good guys have very serious flaws and the villains are very compelling.
As such, Cersei Lannister is one of the greatest parts in “Game of Thrones,” a cog that brings out not only the complications of other characters in the show, as well.
Life is complicated, and that means characters are complicated. To see the world as a black and white battle of good and evil is, frankly, boring. I have brought it up in numerous classes about character that Cersei Lannister is a terrific character because she is a compelling villain, and because I hold the unpopular opinion that any character that can draw your hate, ire, and disgust is a great character. I also hold the unpopular opinion, also, that the Lannisters are better than the Starks as characters, even though my heart goes out to Jon Snow, Rob, Sansa, and Ned Stark, my feelings towards Jaime…
