the fact d&d and the director of the finale have said in separate interviews that cersei's still got her fire and hasn't been beaten makes me SO ready for her next season
fabulous yes, one thing they have right tbh. i’ve already talked about cersei’s movements post-walk here & here but i’ll just highlight a few key points in my response. my favourite quote to summarise it ( & my arc tag for the duration ) is:
“a humble & a contrite heart proved to have benefits over & beyond cleansing the soul of sin.”
beautiful. the sort of subservient submissive obedient cersei lannister we see towards the end ( broken, the mental agony she’s gone through visible on her face, which kills the man ) -- is fake.it’s a front. like before, when she would smile like the world was made for you & treat those she wanted something from as if they were a precious gift to the world, whilst imagining their lightly salted faces frying in a skillet, to borrow a term from mr underwood. she is weaponising the very state of being meek, learning to control her fury & ill-temperament ( more than she used to, at least ) — or at least to contain it, to bide her time. she is learning that sometimes it pays more to play nice / obey their ‘cleanse your soul!!!!!’ rules & get what you want, than to resist out of pride / arrogance so characteristic to her house. ft:
“no, septa. but one day i will have your tongue ripped out with hot pincers, & that will be hilarious.”. & that’s why she’s still my baby girl. uwu. ( TURNING SUBMISSIVENESS INTO DISCRETE MANIPULATION IN PREPARATION FOR HER UNBRIDLED WRATH DON’T LOOK AT ME I’M IN LOVE ) & this little passage here shows you quite clearly that, despite cersei’s “”“change of heart”“” & “”“”wholehearted confessions”“”” ( it is from immediately after she ‘confesses’ to his high holiness ) her soul is as black as ever. u w u ( it is a+, one of my favs, look at my baby go ) :
“We have all been praying for Your Grace,” Septa Moelle said as they were climbing. “Yes,” Septa Scolera echoed, “& you must feel so much lighter now, clean & innocent as a maid on the morning of her wedding.” I fucked Jaime on the morning of my wedding, the queen recalled. “I do,” she said, “I feel reborn, as if a festering boil has been lanced & now at last I can begin to heal. I could almost fly.” She imagined how sweet it would be to slam an elbow into Septa Scolera’s face & send her careening down the spiral steps. If the gods were good, the wrinkled old cunt might crash into Septa Unella & take her down with her.
bringing me onto my point: i think this frighteningly contained, mild cersei is thrice as dangerous as before. before, eventhough highly, highly internalised-- cersei had some outlet. some solace. jaime, her crown, the powers that granted her, her children, etc. she wasn’t bound, gagged & silenced like she was / is with the faith. it’ll be terrifying. before, she was ruled by whim & fury because she had some of the luxury ( in no way do i imply cersei got all she wanted, but compared to the torture she endured / living her life a third in prayer a third in her bath & a third with her son, all under continuous glaring watch, even when she sleeps, she had freedom. yelling at someone & calling them “as useless as nipples on a breastplate” must sound as deliriously luxurious as sweetwine rn ) -- but now, she’s been forced to learn the lesson of patience-- & not even tyrion thought it wise to face a “composed & cunning” cersei prior to this “downfall”, so now...... i still think she’ll be reckless, i still think it’ll all go wrong, that this ‘bottled’ fury will explode catastrophically ( possibly with the threat of green flames on the horizon?? who knows. most definitely ft. demise of all three of her children / a valonqar situation all up in here as my golden queen goes up in the flames of her own grief / paranoia / selfish greed etc-- ) but i will love her / relish in the tragedy of her chaotic downward spiral anyway. uw u . to quote my previous meta, “#( SHE IMAGINED HOW SWEET IT WOULD BE TO SLAM AN ELBOW INTO SEPTA SCOLERA'S FACE !!!! #MY LO VE ; )” clearly i am a lost cause.