They may be terrible, but these are 15 TV characters we love to hate

Cersei Lannister – Game of Thrones

What’s her deal: Scorned wife and bereaved mother, Cersei translates her pain and trauma into a powerful bid to rule the world. Although it seems like we should be cheering on her feminist victories, we have to consider the atrocities and horrors she’s perpetrated. She’s super scary, and she’s made it pretty clear she doesn’t care who she has to murder or maim to get her way.

Why we love her anyway: Uhhh… she’s super badass. If she were a male character, we wouldn’t have to justify our need to “love them anyway” because characters are allowed to be terrifying and ferocious, yet loved anyway. Cersei, despite all the abuse and injury, has risen above everyone to become a real contender for the iron throne. There is no one as fierce as Cersei, and depending on where your allegiances fall, we might consider her a pretty good candidate to have the Iron Throne.

Yes, she’s done a lot of really bad stuff, but she’s also been a devoted mother to her children, and a loving “companion” to her brother Jaime. She did what she had to do to get where she wanted to be, and if we aren’t going to make Jon Snow apologize for what he had to do, I don’t think we should make Cersei.

Where to find her: It’s going to be a long time before you get to see Cersei in any new episodes. Game of Thrones won’t air it’s final season until 2019, but you can rewatch previous seasons on HBOGo.