21 Game of Thrones Characters as Disney Songs

Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO

8. Cersei Lannister: “Mother Knows Best”

"I love you most Don’t forget it You’ll regret it Mother knows best —Tangled"

For years, most Game of Thrones fans have agreed that Cersei’s one redeeming quality was her love for and devotion to her children. Her actions all revolve around protecting them. Like Mother Gothel, when her children begin to slip from her grasp, Cersei panics and resorts to scheming to keep them by her side.

Cersei loses Myrcella to marriage politics, and in some ways she loses her sons the same. With Joffrey and Tommen both, Cersei is unable to usurp Margaery Tyrell’s newfound place in their affections. No matter how Cersei speaks ill of Margaery, Joffrey is too pompous and Tommen too besotted to take her seriously. As Mother Gothel doesn’t trust the outside world with Rapunzel, Cersei doesn’t trust Margaery with her sons or the Seven Kingdoms. Her children are her number one, and she detests the idea of playing second fiddle to another woman, no matter how different the relationship.

Despite the setback that is Margaery Tyrell, Cersei continues to claim that she has her children’s best interests at heart. This is true for a time, until her own personal vendetta blinds her to the damage she’s doing to Tommen. After the destruction of the Sept of Baelor and Margaery’s death, Cersei neglects to look after her last remaining child. Instead, she descends to the black cells to gloat over Septa Unella’s imprisonment. And so, left alone and broken, Tommen commits suicide.

In a way, Mother Gothel’s words come back to haunt Cersei. She herself forgot, at least for a moment, her love for her children in favor of herself. Now she is left with nothing but a crown and her regrets.

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