25 of the most toxic relationships on TV
By Sundi Rose
Game of Thrones Season 1 Episode 1. Official Image via HBO/Helen Sloan
Cersei and Jaime
I won’t ask you to overlook the fact that Cersei and Jaime are brother and sister. That’s a hard penny to shine. But their love takes place in an alternate universe, in a made up time, in which the rules of conventional love don’t apply. If they weren’t so mean and despicable to each other (and to everyone else, for that matter) then we might could squint one eye and possibly be okay with it. Maybe.
However, siblings or not, this relationship is so twisted and lethal, that their being related isn’t even the worst thing about them. For one, they almost killed a kid – a Stark kid, no less – to keep their love a secret. Jaime actually pushed Brand out of a window, paralyzing him instead of murdering him. From then on, everything they’ve done to “protect” their love has been vicious and unyielding.
Jaime lost a hand, Cersei had to traipse naked through the street, getting pelted with rotten food and feces. Deception and treachery is a way of life for everybody in Game of Thrones, but Cersei and Jaime have to overcome much more than just politics. Even in the realm, brothers and sisters aren’t really supposed to be in love, so the more they cling to each other, the more dangerous it become for them, and everyone else – including their children.