If Game of Thrones were a more conventional story, there would be no doubt at all that at some point during the final two seasons of the HBO series, Cersei Lannister would get a comeuppance for all the evil deeds she’s done. But Game of Thrones, remember, gained such a purchase on the pop culture in the first place for subverting those expectations. The noble Starks were dying like flies and the Westerosi schemers kept winding up on top. So, no, it wouldn’t entirely surprise me if, when all is said and done, Cersei Lannister managed to survive both the Clash of Kings and the Great War to come. But a tiny detail from the trailer has some book-reading fans a little worried for her—or eagerly anticipating her demise? It’s hard to track where Cersei stands with the people these days. What follows is not a spoiler, merely observations laced with book knowledge.
The Season 7 trailer came out a few days ago so, by now, Game of Thrones fans have had the chance to break it down in moderate detail (as we did here) or highly obsessive detail (as the clever people at Watchers on the Wall did here). But one tiny little visual escaped most people’s notice. There may be a fun clue hidden in the shot of Cersei and Jaime Lannister standing on the large painted map of Westeros that only eagle-eyed book readers would notice.
Cersei is standing on the part of Westeros known as “The Neck” so-named, likely, because it’s where the continent narrows before expanding again into the wilds of the North. Meera and Jojen Reed came from the Neck—which is a marshy swampland—and generations of Northerners have been able to maintain their independence from the South thanks to the way the swampy region forces armies on both sides into a bottleneck at the holdfast of Moat Cailin. Ramsay Bolton was only able to take the North in Season 4 by having Theon Greyjoy act as his Trojan Horse at the ironborn-held door of Moat Cailin.
So that’s The Neck. Cersei’s dear brother/lover Jaime Lannister is standing at the part of the map known as “The Fingers” so-named because, well, that’s what it look like. The Fingers are a series of rocky, narrow peninsulas northeast of the Vale of Arryn where the Eyrie sits. Lord Baelish hails from there which is how he got the nickname “Littlefinger.” So, to sum up, Cersei is at the Neck and Jaime is at the Fingers. Why does that matter?
Well, in the books a young Cersei Lannister hears a dire prophecy from a fortuneteller named “Maggy.” The HBO series showed part of this book scene in Season 5. It’s where Cersei learned, quite accurately, that all three of her children would die before her: “gold will be their crowns and gold their shrouds.” But in the book there’s a section of Maggy’s prophecy that foretells Cersei’s death as well. After the death of her children “when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”
The word “valonqar” is high Valyrian for “little brother” and this prophecy concerning her own death by choking is one of the reasons Cersei was always such a monster to her little (in a couple of ways) brother Tyrion. It would certainly make sense for Tyrion to kill Cersei after all she did to him over the years including, but not limited to, actively rooting for his death during his trial by combat in Season 4.
But Tyrion is the obvious answer to the “valonqar” puzzle and, as many book readers have pointed out over the years, George R.R. Martin is not always about the obvious answer. Wouldn’t it be more poignant if Cersei were killed by her other brother? Not the one she considered an enemy her whole life, but the one she considered her closest ally and other half? Yes, Cersei’s twin Jaime Lannister is also technically her little brother given that he exited the womb right behind her. “He came into this world holding my foot, our old maester said,” Cersei observed in the first novel. Though Cersei and Jaime had been close their whole lives, the Kingslayer wasn’t looking very supportive of her sitting on the Iron Throne at the end of Season 6.
“He does not understand what the game plan is,” Nikolaj Coster-Waldau said of his character following last year’s finale. “No one will accept [Cersei] as queen willingly. I’m not sure he understands or knows who that person is now. And that’s scary.” Will Jaime grow from Kingslayer to Kinslayer/Queenslayer? Is this map moment a little visual promise that he will soon wrap his fingers around Cersei’s neck? Maybe. Or it may just be a fun little easter egg for book readers. (Game of Thrones is fond of its visual easter eggs.) Or, disappointingly, it may just be an accidental coincidence and have nothing to do with the Cersei’s death at all. I suppose we’ll all have to stay tuned to find out when Game of Thrones returns on HBO July 16.
