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We need to talk about what happened to Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones last night.

 

Warning: This post contains A LOT of spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8. If you’re not caught up on the latest episode, bookmark us and come back once you’re ready to properly debrief.

On last night’s penultimate episode of Game of Thrones, two of the show’s most important characters were finally killed – Jaime and Cersei Lannister.

As Daenerys Targaryen wreaked havoc on King’s Landing, burning everything and everyone in her way to a crisp, the twin siblings were reunited in the Red Keep.

It was far from the moment we were expecting.

Instead of murdering his twin sister as many fans theorised he would, a mortally-wounded (thanks to Euron Greyjoy) Jaime took Cersei down to the crypts. Tyrion Lannister had left a boat at the cyrpt’s exit, for his brother and sister to ride off into the sunset in, to start a new life.

“I want our baby to live,” Cersei told Jaime as they entered the crypt. “I don’t want to die… not like this.”

But within seconds, the walls of the crypt came crashing down around them.

With their arms wrapped around each other, Jaime and Cersei left the world exactly as they entered it – together.

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Cersei and Jaime died in each other's arms. Image: HBO.
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Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about her character's death, Lena Headey described the fateful moment as "perfect".

"I wanted her to have some big piece or fight with somebody," she admitted.

"But the more [Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime, and herself] talked about it the more it seemed like the perfect end for her," she added.

"They came into the world together and now they leave together."

But I'll be completely honest – Cersei's death felt... wrong.

In fact, it was far from "perfect".

Throughout the entirety of Game of Thrones' eight seasons, Cersei Lannister has been painted as the show's true villain. (Well, besides the Night King, of course). She was vain, cruel and unforgiving – the classic narcissistic villain. She killed people left, right and centre – including burning down the sept in a devastating burst of lime-green wildfire; a vicious attack on her enemies which ended in her own son, Tommen, taking his own life.

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But when it came to the end for Cersei, it almost felt like her death was an afterthought. Instead of a brutal villain's execution she so rightly deserved, Cersei's death was incredibly far from what longtime fans of the show were expecting.

LISTEN: Claire Murphy and Holly Wainwright discuss everything that happened on Game Of Thrones Season 8, Episode 5:

As Vox writer Todd VanDerWerff put it, "Cersei's death – and, honestly, Jaime’s death – felt like an afterthought, like the show suddenly remembered it had all these characters left on the board and it might as well bump them off.”

For her entire life, Cersei Lannister had been obsessed with a prophecy a witch had told her. In the prophecy which the show often called upon, Cersei was told that she would marry the king and have three children who would all die – a prophecy which ultimately came true as Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen all died throughout the series.

But when it came the Valonqar prophecy, which determined how the "valonqar" would kill Cersei, the prophecy was twisted – and not in a good way.

As the prophecy always referred to the "little brother" murdering Cersei, it has long been a common theory that Tyrion would be the one to end his big sister's life.

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All her life, Cersei herself despised Tyrion. She truly believed that he was the one who would one day betray her and kill her – and so did we.

The prophecy read: "The valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you”.

But when the prophecy finally came true, it came with a twist.

Although Cersei's younger twin brother Jaime did wrap his arms around her neck as she cried, it wasn't to kill her – it was to comfort her.

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Cersei's death just felt... wrong.
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You see, in the end, Cersei won.

She died a Queen, in the arms of her incestual lover, with a (fairly) good reputation among the people of King's Landing.

It was far from the death fans longed for.

In fact, I'll be frank with you. The theories about Cersei's Lannister's death – including the theory that Jaime would kill her or even the theory that Arya would murder Cersei in a revenge-fuelled execution – were far better than the reality.

For months on end, her imminent death was hyped up among fans. It was expected to be on the same level as Arya's dramatic takedown of the Night King. But it wasn't delivered.

She was one of the show's biggest all-time villains. But her death had the worst pay off possible.

Online, fans of the show shared their frustrations with the death:

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What do you think about Cersei Lannister's death on Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments.

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