Game of Thrones: Honoring our favorite Westerosi moms for Mother’s Day
Hannah Murray as Gilly and John Bradley as Samwell Tarly. Photo: Courtesy of HBO
Game of Thrones features many moms we can celebrate for Mother’s Day. Here’s a rundown of the moms, for better or worse, with their most endearing moments.
Mothers get no breaks on Game of Thrones. Selyse Baratheon never showed her daughter love until after she was burned to death. Elia Martell was a suddenly single mom whose husband left her and her two children to go chasing “true love” or whatever. Lysa Arryn is an overprotective nightmare. Earlier on in the series we hear rumors that she kept her stillborn children in jars…creepy! She is “momxiety,” personified.
Motherhood isn’t easy anywhere, so it stands to reason in a Game of Thrones world, some are not cut out for the job, and some just don’t have the luck. This isn’t a family show. Ellaria Sand, for example, must have been a fascinating mother as she and her three daughters, adopted or not, were vicious women who were beautiful, cunning, and strong. But we don’t see the chemistry or characters build before they are killed off (or worse).
Well, here are some mothers who really nailed it!
Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister. Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO
Cersei Lannister
There’s not much left to say about Cersei Lannister and “motherhood” that hasn’t already been said, including the idea that maybe she never could love her children. Being a narcissist, she sees her children as extensions of herself.
But there is still a soft spot for Myrcella that we don’t see for Tommen and Joffrey. When Myrcella is sent to live with the Martells, Cersei exposes her greatest moments of weakness. She physically collapses after Tyrion first tells her. A year later when Oberyn tells her Myrcella is safe and happy, she responds with more genuine sorrow on her face.
In “The Red Woman,” Myrcella returns to King’s Landing. At first, thinking her little girl is still alive, Cersei smiles, runs, and practically skips to the harbor to greet her. This wicked woman is…giddy. The narcissistic murderer is actually cute. It is so real, so pure, and so unguarded that I really was convinced Cersei had managed to love someone.
It is short lived, but a powerful high to the next low. “She was so good…I don’t know where she came from,” Cersei says, in a rare moment with genuine sincerity while mourning for her daughter, real tears streaming down her face.