*Warning: Spoilers ahead*
As the saying goes, “When you play the Game of Thrones you win, or you die.” In the case of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), we all know how that’s going to play out. Come hell or high water, someone is going to take the (maybe) Mad Queen out. The only question is who?
As far as we see it, there are only two people who can end Cersei’s reign of terror: Arya (Maisie Williams) or Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Why? Let’s discuss.
There are two key reasons all signs point to Arya. We’ve long suspected her as Cersei’s ultimate murderer because she’s been building up to this for many seasons. Cersei has been on her kill list since the beginning because she killed Arya’s father, Ned Stark (Sean Bean).
PureWow discussed this theory with Christopher Williams, English, History and a Game of Thrones tutor (yep, that’s a thing) for Varsity Tutors.
He purported, “She’s been broken down to nothing and now [after killing the Night King] she’s something. She’s got a purpose and she’s definitely got a goal. I don’t think the Night King was a part of that agenda… But I think tactically she’s been working toward killing Cersei.”
We have to agree, but there’s another detail that really drives the point home.
In season eight, episode three, when Arya and Melisandre (Carice von Houten) meet again, the Red Priestess tells her, “I know you.” Arya replies, “You said we’d meet again. You said I’d shut many eyes for good and you were right about that, too,” to which Melisandre replies, “Brown eyes, green eyes and blue eyes.” Arya darts off to kill ol’ blue eyes himself, the Night King (Vladimir Furdik) and we’re left to wonder who the brown and green eyes belong to.
Well, she’s already killed Walder Frey and Meryn Trant, both of whom have brown eyes. But guess who has green eyes? Cersei. (Yeah, Daenerys has green eyes, too, but the odds of that are slimmer.) We rest our case…or do we?
The possibility of Jaime killing his twin sister who’s also carrying his baby is another enticing option. It’s no secret that the two of them have been at odds since their blow-up fight in season seven when he realized just how evil she is and headed north to join the Starks. Since then, she’s put a hit out on him and cozied up to Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek)…presumably so she can pretend Jaime’s baby is his baby and use him for his Golden Company connects.
Williams brings up another point: the Lannister family history. (No, not that they always repay their debts but rather that they do their bidding behind closed doors.)
“I think Cersei is going to be betrayed by Jaime. She is [pregnant] with Jaime’s child or supposedly she is. But you know the Lannisters, they don’t do open confrontation. I think she’s going to be betrayed the way Lannisters have betrayed and ruled for a very long time,” he explains.
So, what might that look like? A popular theory around the PureWow office is that Cersei will, either directly or indirectly, cause Brienne of Tarth’s (Gwendoline Christie) death to get back at Jaime. Then, he’ll act out in a fit of rage and kill his sister/ex-girlfriend because deep down he really loves Brienne.
Either way, ding-dong the wicked witch will soon be gone. No shade, Lena Headey.
