Queen of Swords
- Pauline Olive
- Jun 17, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: May 24, 2023
Playing with the new Game of Thrones cards. Just waiting for someone to pull the Queen of Swords for advice - "Purge with Wildfire, take no prisoners unless you want to torture them". Or maybe just clean up your contacts list in Facebook and change your privacy settings 🤣😉😝
But seriously, who is the Queen of Swords?
She is the Queen of the mental world. Intellectually powerful, incredibly witty and often dripping with sarcasm. Although she often exceeds all expectations in everything she does, she nevertheless feels not good enough because she carries a deep, mental wound. She is not the son she believes her father wanted (expressed or otherwise) and, despite all her attempts to excel in the rational world of men, she is not a man and cannot help but fall short. This is amplified if the father protests that he wants her to be the daughter. Being a "woman" is unacceptable to her. She cannot trust her intuition or express her emotions as these things are seen as feminine and would undermine her attempts to be worthy of love.
As a choice for the Queen of Swords, it would seem obvious it should be Cersei Lannister. After all, she sits on the throne of swords when Winter finally arrives. But setting aside the obvious, Arya Stark and Brienne of Tarth share many similarities with Cersei. They are all born into a world that says women have a particular path in life and it is not for them to be concerned with fighting, either strategically or physically. Brienne has cast aside any identification with the feminine to be taken seriously as a warrior. Arya gets the subtle nod from her father when secretly learning to shoot arrows. She knows in her heart he approves of both her and her defiance of the social rules of the day.
Cersei, however, is never seen as anything but a female pawn to be played in the game of thrones by her father. He will not allow her to step outside her designated role while he is alive. Such is the extent of the damage to her psyche, even when she sits on the throne, she is always striving to prove herself. She has to be twice as ruthless to be considered half as good at leading. However, being twice as ruthless just means she is ultimately seen as being crazy.