They’re her one redeeming quality that and her cheekbones. Her devotion to her offspring is clearer in the show than in the books, but Cersei’s mothering instincts are perhaps her strongest trait. Cruel and shortsighted, Cersei will stop at nothing to protect her children.

Other stories take a similar approach, albeit in a more bluntly sentimental way whereas something like Harry Potter says, “there’s nothing more powerful than a mother’s love,” A Song of Ice and Fire says, “there’s nothing more dangerous than a mother’s rage.”Ĭersei Lannister is perhaps the best example of this message. Their actions are questionable, often causing significant problems for the children they’re desperately trying to shield from the world’s cruelties. The story’s most prominent female figures are mothers willing to sacrifice everything and everyone to protect their children. In the world of Ice and Fire, female rage is all about mothers. How could they be when everywhere in the world they hurt little girls? Call me mother From Daenerys and Cersei to Catelyn and Brienne, Arya and Sansa, Margaery and Olenna, and Elaria and Shae, in the game of thrones, no woman was quiet. Game of Thrones was at the forefront of redefining the angry woman, thanks to a myriad of layered and defiant ladies who refused to conform to the norms. Characters like Amy Dunne, Betty Draper, and Cassie Thomas flipped the script on female anger, converting it into a tool, not just a weapon. HBO led the charge in changing the trope on television, with figures like Carmela Soprano, Selina Meyer, and Renata Klein. She’s angrier than ever, but her rage is understandable. Nowadays, stories are changing, allowing the angry woman more depth and complexity. Yet, regardless of tone or genre, an angry woman is a force to be reckoned with her rage is terrifying. The scariest type of angry woman is the one with sufficient power to exact her revenge, like Nancy in The Craft, Hayley in Hard Candy, Amy in Gone Girl, or Carrie from Stephen King’s novel of the same ame. Then there’s the woman scorned, a man’s worst nightmare think of Foxy Brown in the blaxploitation films of the 1970s and Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction. Comedies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The First Wives Club, and Cruella play their female characters’ anger for laughs. Think of Medea from Greek mythology, arguably the first-ever angry woman. Her anger is treated as either silly and meaningless or scary and invasive there are no middle lines. The angry woman contrasts with the story’s classic heroine by violating everyone else’s tranquility. Film and television portray her as prone to overreacting and making a scene she’s scandalous and impertinent, lacking self-control and decorum. The “angry woman” trope is particularly problematic. The saga is not perfect by any means - it sends some confusing and ultimately detrimental messages about women in power - but it still allows its leading ladies to be fully fleshed-out characters capable of exploring and displaying their rage. There’s no clear answer about anyone’s nature in Westeros there’s no “good” or “bad.” The women in the story are messy, brutal, complicated, prone to making mistakes, and allowed to do so. Whereas other franchises limit their women to the roles of ethereal goddesses or the standard “strong female character” trope, A Song of Ice and Fire goes deeper into its characters’ psyche. Still, the nature of Westeros and Essos provides these characters with much more agency than many other females in fantasy. It’s not like Martin’s world has a shortage of female power, as some of Game of Thrones‘ most iconic figures are women. Above all, it has some of the most compelling female characters in Martin’s world in fact, the Dance of the Dragons is all about women, for better and worse. It has dragons, exciting battles, and political intrigue aplenty. The Dance of the Dragons is one of the flashier chapters in the larger World of Ice and Fire, if not the most complex. After disposing of a costly spinoff that would’ve expanded on the White Walker lore, HBO chose to focus on a less risky bet that would make audiences’ return to Westeros more digestible: the Targaryen dynasty. If fans were to return to Westeros, they wanted things bigger and bolder than ever they wanted dragons raging in the sky and fantasy elements to spare, two aspects that the original show didn’t use enough. House of the Dragon was the last chance to save Game of Thrones‘ stained reputation.

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