Game Of Thrones: 10 Worst Things The Lannisters Have Ever Done

In Westeros, George R. R. Martin has created a dog eat dog world often dominated by war and conflict. This often results in good people doing bad things, leaving virtually none with a clear conscience. Even Ned Stark, the most honourable man in the country, has lied to those he loves and taken lives.

While almost no-one in the song of Ice and Fire saga is purely good or purely evil, of all the characters, the Lannisters sit closer to evil than most. Those who play the biggest parts in this story, Tywin and his children, Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion, are all spread across this spectrum of good and evil.

Tywin and Cersei are the most similar in that they put their family above absolutely anything else, no matter the cost, Jaime is deep down a good man who embraces his bad reputation, and Tyrion has always tried to do the right thing in spite of his reputation. Anyone can do horrible things in order to survive war in Westeros, but this is not the same as some of the down right heinous acts of this great house.

Cersei Lannister is a mean, cold-hearted woman with an unparalleled ability to destroy literally anyone or anything that stands in her way. Her one redeeming quality however, is the unconditional love she holds for her children, even Joffrey, a monster who kills and hurts people for fun.

Devastated when Tyrion arranged to send her only daughter to Dorne, Cersei's already intense hatred for her little brother only grew. Knowing that Myrcella was out of her reach hundreds of leagues away was something she couldn't bare, and her greatest fears were realised when Jaime returned with their daughter hidden behind a golden shroud.

The need for closure and revenge against Myrcella's killers is something that would surely be natural for Cersei, however she decided to implement this revenge in the cruelest way imaginable. The Queen Regent locked her daughter's killer, Ellaria Sand, in the dungeons beneath Casterly Rock opposite Tyene, Ellaria's own daughter.

There are literally hundreds of ways Cersei could have taken Ellaria's life, but she wanted Oberyn's paramour to feel exactly what she felt. Cersei poisoned Tyene with the same formula Ellaria used to kill Myrcella, and forced the mother to witness her daughter die before her. Only then was Ellaria allowed to die herself.