10 Scariest Characters In Non-Horror TV Shows
4. Cersei Lannister (Game Of Thrones)
The most terrifying individual in Westeros isn’t a towering warrior or a vicious sellsword - it’s the woman at the top of the pile who pulls the strings, and makes the decisions. With a gleefully unsympathetic performance from the great Lena Heady, the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms is the most despicable, loathsome, and downright terrifying character in George R. R. Martin’s sprawling universe.
She’s trouble from the start: by the pilot’s end, she’s engaged in graphic incest and arranged for a child to be pushed out of a high tower. It only gets worse from there. Cersei coddles her awful son to become a brutal tyrant, spiritually crushes the children of her enemy, and sends good men to their death out of spite.
When Cersei is toppled by her younger son’s new bride, it seems for a while she’ll get her just desserts; instead she blows up a church, killing hundreds and finally gaining absolute power in King’s Landing, albeit at the cost of her last sliver of humanity.
Power is what makes Cersei so chilling, and more to the point her willingness to use it to truly despicable ends. She’s a tragic character in many ways, with unhappiness rife in her backstory, but she lashes out at the world with extreme prejudice.