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Monday, August 14, 2017

The big Cersei plot twist on 'Game of Thrones' might have been foreshadowed months ago

[Cersei Jaime Lannister Game of Thrones Helen Sloan]Helen Sloan/HBO WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR "GAME OF THRONES" SEASON SEVEN, EPISODE FIVE, "EASTWATCH." Cersei Lannister has never been in a more powerful yet vulnerable position on "Game of Thrones." After seasons of struggling against her status as woman in a man's world of ruling, the new Queen of the Seven Kingdoms just surprised her twin brother by revealing she was once again pregnant with his child.  Fans were likely just as taken aback as Jaime when Cersei revealed she was carrying a child, but there might have been some sly foreshadowing of this reveal in a Time Magazine photoshoot. Ahead of the season seven premiere, Time Magazine published a cover story about "Game of Thrones" and its stars. Photographer Miles Aldrige's portrait of Lena Headey, who plays Cersei, featured a pomegranate — a fruit often used as a symbol of fertility. [Lena Headey Time Magazine photoshoot Game of Thrones season seven]Miles Aldridge/Time "Lena Headey, meanwhile, stands in front of a table of swollen pomegranates — the symbol of life, rebirth and marriage — suggestive of her character's fierce maternal instinct," Time's Alexandra Genova wrote about the photoshoot. The pomegranate has been used as a symbol for prosperity, fertility, and sensuality in storytelling in ancient Near Eastern cultures and in Greek mythology. While we don't have confirmation that this stylistic choice for Headey's photoshoot was made knowing about Cersei's season seven pregnancy, the connection is hard to miss. When the magazine cover debuted, this symbol was likely interpreted by many as a look at Cersei's past. Her love for Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella was a defining aspect of Cersei's personality and motivations for the first six seasons. But what now? CERSEI'S MATERNAL LOVE ONCE MOTIVATED HER CHOICES "You love your children," Tyrion told Cersei on season two. "It's your one redeeming quality — that and your cheekbones." [Cersei Lannister and Tommen Game of Thrones Helen Sloan HBO]Helen Sloan/HBO When Tommen threw himself out of a window on the sixth season finale, it looked like Cersei was finally cutting ties with that maternal instinct. One could argue that Tommen wouldn't have killed himself if Cersei had been there with him, instead of leaving him alone to watch the Sept of Baelor explode with his beloved with Margaery inside. But by the season six finale, after Myrcella and Joffrey had been murdered, Cersei seemed resigned to allowing the deadly prophecy predicting her children's deaths to be borne out. Cersei believed Tommen had betrayed her the moment he sided with the High Sparrow, and it seemed as if she chose to prioritize eradicating her enemies over protecting Tommen. With his death, Cersei was finally free to claim the Iron Throne for herself and rule openly instead of as Queen Regent behind one of her sons.  [Cersei Lannister Game of Thrones season one]HBO Jaime and Cersei's "twincest" might be the worst kept secret in Westeros, but that doesn't mean they can easily present a bastard child to the world without consequences. Cersei's coup of the Iron Throne meant she should already be on rocky ground when it comes to her royal claim, and giving birth to a child born of incest likely wouldn't help her situation. The pregnancy also calls back to Jaime and Cersei's conversation on the season seven premiere about the war they found themselves in the midst of. "Whoever wins could launch a dynasty that lasts a thousand years," Cersei said. "A dynasty for whom? Our children are dead," Jaime replied. "We're the last of us." HOW DOES CERSEI'S PREGNANCY WORK WITH THE PROPHECY? This isn't the first show-only pregnancy of Cersei's we've seen. On the first season, when Catelyn was sitting day and night by Bran's bedside as he lay in a coma, Cersei came to speak with her. She told Catelyn that she had lost a child too — a young baby with black hair, Robert's child. This was a surprise to book readers, since Cersei and Robert never conceived in the books series, not even a baby which tragically died young or miscarried. And now this pregnancy with Jaime is a new surprise, and people aren't sure how what it means for the prophecy from Maggy the Frog we saw on the fifth season premiere. [Young Cersei Game of Thrones Helen Sloan]HBO "Will the king and I have children?" Cersei asked the witch. "The king will have twenty, you will have three," Maggy said, cryptically referring to Robert Baratheon's bastards and Cersei's children with Jaime. Fans aren't sure if the writer's invention of Cersei's child with Robert was taken into account with this prophecy. Either the child technically isn't included since it didn't live long, or it was an early writing choice that was later brushed aside as the prophecy was introduced. But if Cersei and Jaime have a fourth child, wouldn't that mean Maggy's entire prophecy was wrong? The book version of the prophecy includes the prediction of Cersei's death at the hands of "the valonqar" — which many interpret as Jaime. Is this part of the prophecy bogus, too? Or is the prophecy real, and this means Cersei will lose this child just like her firstborn? Or we could go further, and perhaps Cersei will die before she can give birth — possibly at the hands (hand?) of Jaime. These are questions that will hopefully have answers in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime we're going to sit back and be concerned for Jaime because he seems way over his head with Cersei's manipulations, paranoia, and obsession with power. 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