Sweet Surrender

In the end, Cersei abdicates — not to the madness of Daenerys, but to her love of Jaime

In one of the more notorious prophecies to ever be uttered on Game of Thrones, a wood witch tells a young Cersei Lannister that she will grow up to marry a king ( she does); that she will become queen “for a time” ( she does); that a younger, more beautiful woman will cast her down (she does); that she will have three children and they will all die (she does and they do) and, in a portion not aired on the series but written in the books, “when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

Because “valonqar” means “little brother,” for years, the running fan theory has been that her twin brother and lover Jaime would be the one to kill her, while Cersei herself long feared it would be her youngest brother Tyrion, whom she tormented as a child.

By the end, none of these proved to be true — not exactly. In the series’ penultimate episode, Cersei does indeed meet her end alongside Jaime, his hands wrapped around her neck in a loving (rather than murderous) embrace as the Red Keep crumbles around them. It is a bittersweet moment that sees Cersei in an unlikely state: Helpless and in tears, just as the witch promised.

There was no mistaking Cersei would be vanquished eventually. As perhaps her most famous quote dictates: “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” Still, it represents a hastily plotted wrap on one of the series’ most dynamic villains who wrongs just about every family on the map she has painted on her castle floors.

This is a woman who was abused by the men in her family, who marches forward regardless in the pursuit of victory, who manipulates, seduces and kills her way to the top. She is vicious, but she works hard to be for seven long seasons. And yet, in the final episodes of the series, we don’t see or hear much of Cersei except for a gag- i nducing dalliance w i th Euron Greyjoy and the emotionless execution of Missandei.

In the end, she does what she never seemed capable of doing: She surrenders. Defenceless, she leans on her hand, Qyburn, to coax her into taking shelter, and on Jaime, to accept ultimate defeat. It’s reminiscent of another strong female character reduced to tears: Brienne, who, against her entire characterization, begs Jaime to stay in Winterfell in the previous episode. Cersei, too, begs him, to “please don’t let me die, Jaime, please don’t let me die.” ( This is the same woman who blew up the Sept of Baelor in cold blood.)

While there’s nothing wrong with women betraying emotion, it is nonetheless jarring to see two famously tough characters play sobbing puddles against Jaime’s masculine calm. Behind that calm, however, Jaime’s resolve is less masculine and more dependent. It is Cersei, after all, who represents his North Star. She motivates most of his actions, from pushing Bran Stark out the window (“the things I do for love”) to his doomed return to King’s Landing ( to die “in the arms of the woman I love”).

Left with nothing but the one man who loves her, Cersei finally seems to recognize this devotion — and portrays a sense of empathy in return. She feels pain seeing him in pain; she follows him to the bottom of the Red Keep without question; as he futilely tries to find a way out. In their final moments, Cersei offers Jaime a form of allegiance that he had long before given to her. There’s a beautiful and devastating romance to that — for a pair who were damned from the start. While many viewers have spent the series hung up on the taboo nature of the siblings’ incestuous relationship, if we are to live inside this universe — as we have for eight seasons — it’s tough to deny theirs is a complex codependency.

Lena Headey, who plays Cersei, said that when she and Nikolaj Coster-waldau ( Jaime) discussed the script together, she found an appreciation for Cersei’s final scene: “The more we talked about it the more it seemed like the perfect end for her. They came into the world together and now they leave together. I think the important thing is that Jaime had a chance at freedom (with Brienne) and finally liberated himself from Cersei, which I think the audience will be thrilled about. I think the biggest surprise is he came back for her. Cersei realizes just how she loves him and just how much he loves her. It’s the most authentic connection she’s ever had. Ultimately, they belong together. It’s maybe the first time that Cersei has been at peace.”

And that perhaps is why, for the first time, she is truly able to let go, to cry, to be afraid, to mourn. Punctuating the moment, as the pair desperately clutch each other like two lost children, Jaime whispers to Cersei, “Nothing else matters, just us.”

Finally, it’s a refrain that is true for both of them.