Cersei Lannister

Dolorous Edd
Noble
(09-02-01):

Tywin's guards discovered his body in the middle of the night; everyone in the chapter is tired from being awoken; and everyone is shocked. The biggest shock - discovering that Tywin was screwing Shae (this makes for some funny dialogue). Cersei orders Shae's body removed and threatens to cut out the tongue/kill anyone whoever mentions it again.

Jaime doesn't seem to upset about the death although we only see him for a few moments. He spurns Cersei's offer to be Hand -- "a Hand without a hand is a cruel jape indeed" - and when she says that she will rule until Tommen comes of age, he says "I don't know who I pity more, Tommen or the realm" and she slaps him. Things are definitely different between them. She decides to make Kevan Hand; he also seems to be genuinely crushed that Tywin is dead.

Cersei orders Varys' arrest (his absence at the crime scene when he is usually anywhere something important happened, plus the fact that the killer used tunnels in the walls make her suspicious of him) and then they discover that Tyrion is missing from his cell.

Other little facts: Cersei does genuinely believe that Tyrion killed Joff. Cersei did cut a deal with Shae the night before Tyrion's trial.

In reference to a question about Cersei's deal with Shae: Cersei's recollection of the deal was that Shae thought she should be rewarded for her testimony with a manse in the city and marriage to a knight, but that Cersei wasn't going to give the whore anything until Shae gave her info on Sansa Stark's whereabouts - "you were her maid; how can you not know anything of her plans?"

One of them had to use the privy.

Telisiane
(09-02-01):

Cersei is genuinely terrified of Tyrion. She has nightmares of him, worries about his threats to her children, honestly believes he murdered Joffrey, hates that he sold Myrcella to the Martells, and hears his voice mocking her in her head when she tries to be her most strong and confident. This clears up any controversy about her framing Tyrion for Joffrey's murder to get him out of the way. She really believed that he did it.

(2) Her mental images of Tyrion killing her children seem to involve strangling, which IIRC is what she almost did to Tyrion when he was a baby. She seems to have some repressed guilt over this incident.

(3) She cannot bring herself to believe that Tywin was sleeping with Shae and has them dump the body. She makes threats to kill anyone who would reveal this detail. She recalls that Tywin once found his father's mistress dressed up in his late mother's clothing and jewelry, which would help explain his hatred of whores.

(4) Cersei honestly revered her father and was in shock over his death. She kept having trouble believing that it wasn't a dream. She hates that he has been brought out of the privy and left half-naked and exposed on his own bed with the arrow still in him and gets mad at the men surrounding her. She calls herself "the best son he had."

Lannister
Kingslayer
(09-03-01):

PoV opens up with Cersei dreaming she is sitting on the Iron Throne looking down on all the little people below her. She is quite happy with this state of affairs until she sees Tyrion capering below her. He laughs and points at her, the rest of the court begins to laugh at her as well. Then she looks down to see that she is naked. She tries to cover herself but in the process she cuts herself on the Iron Throne and blood flows from wounds on her naked arms and legs. All the while, Tyrion mocks her.

Ser Osmund Kettleblack wakes Cersei and attempts to tell her that Tywin (pronounced Tie-win, by the way) has been murdered. Her head is muddled from sleep and she does not understand. Boros Blount arrives and stands guard over Cersei. When the whole thing begins to make sense to her she is stunned by the revelation and lets her coverlets fall to reveal her breasts.

She sees the guards around the room staring at her nakedness but she says 'Let them stare and let them speak about her breasts in the barracks for they were considered the finest in the Seven Kingdoms.

It is mentioned that Loras Tyrell is guarding Tommen and Cersei thinks to herself that the Tyrells are not to be trusted.

Cersei is told 'Blum' found Tywin dead in the privy. Who Blum is, I'm not sure, but that's what I have written in my notes.

She thinks about the Lannister family and reveals that she believes she is the only true son Tywin had.

Cersei goes to Tywin's chamber and finds Trant guarding the door and Pycelle asleep in front of it. She enters to find Tywin dead on the privy. Kevan is holding his hand and looks very distraught. The quarrel that Tyrion shot had sunk deeply into Tywin's lower abdomen below the navel but above his 'cock'. Cersei is told that Pycelle has declared Tywin dead.

Jaime was not in the room but Cersei was told that he had found a secret opening that led to passages behind the walls. Jaime had gone through to investigate. Cersei wonders how Jaime is managing this with only one hand.

Cersei thinks back and remembers her grandfather Tytos. He was immensely fat and had died when Cersei was only one year old.

Cersei ordered Pycelle woken, and when he was, he was told to supervise Tywin's funeral preparations.

Cersei is shocked when she is told that a woman was found dead and naked in Tywin's bed. She is even more shocked to find that the woman is Shae. When crude jokes are made of this fact, Cersei gets all uppity and says that Tywin must have been questioning her.

This was a source of great amusement for both the characters in the book and the listeners at the Con. In Cersei's head, she hears Tyrion say that he likes to question women with their legs spread too.

Cersei thinks back to the 'deal' that she and Shae had agreed upon. Shae had asked for gems, a manor and a knight to marry. Cersei orders the gold hand necklace to be removed Shae's neck. However, the hands are imbedded deep in her flesh. It will not be easy to remove them.

Cersei orders Osney, Osford and Osmund to dispose of Shae's body quietly so the details did not become public knowledge.

Jaime returns and reports that there are small narrow passages behind the walls and that a shaft with iron rungs leads down to underground basement passages. Impulsively, Cersei says that it is time for Jaime to be Hand of the King and take his proper place beside his � (she stops herself just in time) � King. Jaime refuses disgustedly and turns his back on his sister.

Cersei then decides that Jaime was a poor choice, indeed, and that Kevan would be a much more compliant Hand. She does not say this aloud, however.

Suspiciously, Varys is missing and Meryn Trant is sent to find him. Cersei thinks it is strange that he is not here since he is always around when something significant happens in King's Landing. She wonders whether she should have Varys beheaded.

The last part of this chapter is Cersei obsessing over Tyrion. She imagines him crawling through these secret passages looking for people to strangle.

Babyraven
(09-04-01):

Hey there -- a couple clarifications from my point of view as an audience member of the readings...

Lannister, at one point you say "Someone, in Tywin's bedchamber, mentions that they like to question women with their legs spread too." Actually, the person who made that jape was Tyrion - in Cersei's imagination. Tyrion's obviously become her personal daemon now, in her head he says all the things she can't face.

Qyburn

Upon her return from Tywin's viewing Cersei receives Qyburn. She is disgusted with his old maestar cloak, which is stained and frayed at the elbows. She asks about the status of Ser Gregor Clegane. Apparently at first Pycelle found that the poison used by the Red Viper was one of a manticor.

However, later he began doubting his own diagnosis, since the manticor venom goes straight to the heart and stops it, therefore Ser Gregor would have been dead by now. Qyburn explains that the venom was "thickened" in a particular way with the purpose of not causing an immediate death but rather an incredible pain. It remains very much lethal though, the veins in Ser Gregor's body have turned black and the poison ate a hole in his stomach.

Qyburn hints that the thickening was done through supernatural means. Cersei is impressed and asks why he was banished from the Order. Qyburn mutters about "the cowards from the Citadel". He says that the maestars have been good at "opening" living bodies to learn about life whereas he wanted to open dead bodies to understand death.

He boasts that he knows more about death than any maestar in the realm.

Still Cersei does not want Ser Gregor's agony to continue. His screams scare Tommen who cannot sleep because of that. Besides she promised Ser Gregor's head to Prince Doran. The Mountain is so stupid, he does not even know when to die. He does not need any more visits from maestars he needs a visit from Ser Ilyn.

However Qyburn wants to study the effects of the venom, he is able to convince Cersei that such knowledge could be useful in the future. She gives her permission to continue but it has to be done in the black cells. Finally, Cersei orders him to get a more presentable robe and promises to tell Lord Gyles to make sure that Qyburn has the gold necessary for his pursuits.