Who & Why, Part 7
I’ll tentatively call this the final installment in the series. Last post is here.
I’ve spent thousands of words on several posts talking about why other Valonqar candidates, especially Cersei’s not-little brother Jaime, are missing the “oh shit” factor that would make the best fulfillment of the prophecy.
After all those rounds of “no, not him, not him, nope, not that,” what is my positive answer to the question of Who & Why?
After ruling out FrankenGregor the Giant Zombie and Qyburn the Mad Scientist, what other named characters are still in a position of trust and proximity to Cersei? That leaves us with Euron Greyjoy. The guy with lots of ships and two good hands.
Euron’s reasoning for killing Cersei would not be sexual jealousy. He doesn’t give a fly’s fart how many other guys have tapped that fine ass. It wouldn’t be to prevent her committing an atrocity. If anything, it’s because he wants to commit bigger atrocities and it’s time to get Cersei out of the way.
Cersei’s a useful idiot to Euron, and when she’s outlived her usefulness, he’ll have no reason to keep her around. That’s when he’ll choke the life from her.
But even more fun than the reasoning for Euron is the revelation to Cersei. She really should have seen this coming. She knew, before she let him into her circle, that he was already established in killing his allies when it suited him. He told her, to her face, that he had no respect for taboos against things like kinslaying, and she somehow thought she’d be different. Why was that? Why was she so willing to get into bed with this guy who had already admitted to killing his older brother and king?
Euron offered to help Cersei with killing Tyrion.
I don’t know if he’ll offer her that, in as many words, when they meet in the book version, but in Season 7, he’s already done so. He’s the guy who’s perfectly happy to kill his own family members and help Cersei kill hers. Shit, by late TWOW he may offer, in exactly those terms, to help her kill BOTH her brothers, and she’ll be all in favor.
He was supposed to be the capstone in her lifelong plan to thwart the prophecy. That’s how he gets close enough to become the Valonqar of the prophecy. That’s the part where Cersei says to herself: “Oh shit.”