The seventh season of Game of Thrones might be shortened with fewer episodes, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t enough drama and action to keep the show on its toes for what is building up to an amazing finale this summer.
After losing her daughter, Myrcella to the hands of Ellaria Sand in season five, Cersei Lannister is hell-bent on seeking revenge — naturally. And this season is the one to really have the Lannister “pay her debts” in the best way she knows how.
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With a show that doesn’t shy away from the allusion of parallels, foreshadowing and flashbacks to help drop hints of upcoming plots, it’s one that often sends fans into an array of elaborate theories, one being Cersei might actually be heading down the path of Daenerys’ crazy, violent father, Aerys II Targaryen who was simply known as the “Mad King.” Fans noticed immediately and took to social media to share their thoughts.
Well is Cersei right on track to become the Mad Queen, now that I think of it Cersei might be the villain we were promised this season.
— N. (@mazi_keen) August 4, 2017
I wanna see jaime try and call dany mad queen when he’s totally fine with miss cersei blowing up the sept
— marta (@sunsbak) August 4, 2017
cersei is the mad queen
— heda viserion (@daenercys) August 4, 2017
Nope. And she proved it in the last episode. Cersei is the mad queen, using Aerys’ ideas. Dany could have destroy King’s Landing in 5min
— Viki Vuksanović (@vikky_vuk) August 5, 2017
After blowing the Great Sept of Baelor in the show’s season six finale within seconds, fans took to social media and forums to draw comparisons between Cersei and “the Mad King” as they both went to extremes when it meant to get exactly what they wanted.
However, it might just be her revenge against Ellaria Sand in season seven’s episode, “The Queen’s Justice” that proves Cersei is transforming into a certifiable, unhinged, insane, deranged and unsound individual who is treading some serious psycho vibes reminiscent of Aerys II Targaryen. Was it justice or just madness?
“The Mad King” was no stranger to such methods. When he sat on the throne of King’s Landing, Ned Stark’s father, Lord Rickard and his brother, Brandon attempted to confront him over the acts of his son, Prince Rhaegar who had kidnapped Ned’s sister, Lyanna, asking for the King’s help in intervening.
But because of his cruelty, Aerys killed them in what was shared by the Stark family as a brutal, sadistic death that had Lord Rickard tied up and burned alive, while Brandon had a noose around his neck and a sword out of reach, that found him strangling himself to death while trying to get free and save his father.
It was this conclusion that drew both a young Robert Baratheon and Ned to wage war against the king in what comes to be known as Robert’s Rebellion.
In “The Queen’s Justice,” Cersei takes revenge against Ellaria in a way that is unnervingly suggestive of the Mad King’s modus operandi.
With Ellaria kissing Myrcella with poisoned lips, Cersei does the same with her daughter, yet explains that she is out of reach from any help and will be forced to watch her die slowly, and most painfully — similarly to how the Mad King treated Lord Rickard in Brandon’s last moments. However, Cersei takes that madness a bit further by having Ellaria alive to watch her daughter’s corpse decay, while all being out of reach.
While audiences won’t be seeing anymore of Ellaria, one can only imagine the lengths she could go to reach and comfort her last surviving daughter in those moments.
