Cersei and Arya as Mirror Characters
The Lannisters and Starks as Mirrors: Part 1, Cersei and Arya (Spoilers Extended)
Many people have brought this up before but there are a lot of parallels and anti parallels between the Lannisters and the Starks. The tensions and connections between their story arcs only emphasize these. In this post series I’m going to explore some of these parallels and darker mirrors. Specifically between Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion and Sansa, Arya, and Bran.
So, Cersei’s most explored Stark connection is definitely Sansa. They have a lot of really interesting interactions and their arcs with regards to the disillusionment in love and marriage (as a result of Joffrey and Robert) work together. But in this post, I’m going to look at the similarities between Cersei and Arya.
Now, the first time I really thought that a similarity between the two existed was reading the battle of the Blackwater. Cersei’s words really reminded me of something Arya would’ve said.
“Tears,” she said scornfully to Sansa as the woman was led from the hall. “The woman’s weapon, my lady mother used to call them. The man’s weapon is a sword. And that tells us all you need to know, doesn’t it?”
Both Arya and Cersei are very scornful of gender norms. They’re bitter about having the women’s role forced on them. Cersei can be seen as a darker Arya who had the ability to perform femininity despite her dislike for it. The major importance difference between the two is that Cersei’s internalized misogyny is really taken out on other women. She hates them and considers herself better and separate from other women. While Arya is much less hateful and more accepting of other women. Both Arya and Cersei grew up with brothers who got opportunities that they did not. It’s easy to see a young Cersei asking to be a king’s counselor because she doesn’t get why she can’t be.
“I would sooner face any number of swords than sit helpless like this, pretending to enjoy the company of this flock of frightened hens.”
In this passage Cersei expresses her desire to fight. She wants to be active. She’s a character who does things and doesn’t like passivity. This strongly reminds me of Arya. Both of them wish to take up a “man’s role” and fight.
“When we were little, Jaime and I were so much alike that even our lord father could not tell us apart. Sometimes as a lark we would dress in each other’s clothes and spend a whole day each as the other. Yet even so, when Jaime was given his first sword, there was none for me. ‘What do I get?’ I remember asking. We were so much alike, I could never understand why they treated us so differently. Jaime learned to fight with sword and lance and mace, while I was taught to smile and sing and please. He was heir to Casterly Rock, while I was to be sold to some stranger like a horse, to be ridden whenever my new owner liked, beaten whenever he liked, and cast aside in time for a younger filly. Jaime’s lot was to be glory and power, while mine was birth and moonblood.”
Both Arya and Cersei have experience dressing as the other gender before puberty when they could easily pass. While Arya does this for safety and still very strongly objects that she is a girl at times, Cersei would try to impersonate Jaime to experience his privilege. I would argue that neither Arya nor Cersei actually wish to be men. They both still identify as women but they simply want to have the opportunities and privileges that come with being men. A major difference between how Arya and Cersei came out was the parenting they received. It’s impossible to imagine Tywin placating Cersei with a sword the way Ned does with Needle for Arya. And Arya grew up with mother and while their relationship may have been complex, she was still loved and still had a female role model. Cersei and Arya receive the same educations and both get absolutely no pleasure from most of the activities expected to them. (This is not because of their ability or lack there of to perform them. Sansa and Brienne both like typically feminine pursuits even though Brienne really struggles to perform them.)
I would consider Cersei a dark mirror of what Arya may have become in a different world. I’m imagining an Arya who was sold into marriage as she would no doubt have been if the events of asoiaf had not unfolded. An Arya who has spent a decade in a stifling abusive marriage might be just as bitter and resentful as Cersei. And Cersei shows is how there almost is a silver lining to the complete tragedy of Arya’s story. Without the events, Arya would’ve probably lived a very similar life to Cersei. Eventually put in a miserable marriage in which her regret and hatred fostered for year because of society’s expectations. In the midst of tragedy, Arya has been able to forge her own path, one that doesn’t conform to society.
