THE story behind Cersei Lannister’s name in Game of Thrones couldn’t be more fitting.
Cersei (Lena Headey) proved to be one of the HBO series’ most notorious villains, both enraging and enthralling viewers with her extraordinary cruelty.
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Aside from a love for her children and brother Jamie, the Lannister matriarch demonstrated no redeemable qualities whatsoever as she orchestrated one atrocity after another in Westeros.
So it seems only fitting then that the wicked queen was named after a famously wicked enchantress from Greek mythology.
The ancient spelling, Circe, pronounced the same way, was a figure who struck fear into the hearts of all who encountered her.
The demi-goddess had the power to bewitch her victims and was known for her ability to craft potions and poisons from all manner of herbs.
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In fact, according to legends she poisoned one of her love rivals, nymph Scylla, in pursuit of sea-god Glaucus.
Given that Cersei commanded that The Mountain was brought back from the dead using mysterious concoctions and even blew up the Great Sept of Baelor using noxious liquid wildfire, she clearly had no qualms about dabbling in the darker sides of apothecary.
Both figures are known for acting out of jealous and vengeance too.
Circe was famed for transforming men who rebuffed her sexual advanced into animals, such as Italian king Picus, who she turned into a woodpecker.
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Meanwhile Cersei’s own thirst for vengeance was made clear when she poisoned Ellaria Sand’s daughter with a poisonous lipstick, just as her own daughter Myrcella was assassinated.
She also made her disdain for the Tyrells known, jealous of Margaery’s power to manipulate Joffrey and subsequently Tommen, who she essentially made her puppet.
When Margaery encouraged Tommen to send her away from the capital, she empowered the Faith of the Seven to bear arms and target Margaery’s brother Loras for his homosexuality, a move that ultimately backfired when her incest came to light.
Clearly George RR Martin is clued up on his Greek mythology and named Game of Thrones‘ Cersei after the original femme fatale.
He must also be up to speed with his Celtic, as it turns out Bran Stark’s name fittingly has connections to both kings and ravens, referencing both his rise to power and ability to see through the eyes of birds.
