Even the author of the saga didn't know how to define the most shocking scene that happened to one of his female characters
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| Image Credit: HBO |
Loved and hated at the same time, Cersei Lannister is certainly one of the most complex and fascinating characters in Game of Thrones. Many hoped to see her pay for her misdeeds against the Stark family, and the long-awaited moment finally arrived in the fifth season, where the queen had to face one of the most humiliating punishments: the so-called Walk of Repentance. Accused by the High Sparrow of fornication, incest, treason, and the murder of King Robert Baratheon, Cersei decides to express her repentance to the religious caste and is subjected to the Walk of Shame.
Without clothes or hair, she is forced to march through the streets of the city, from the Temple to the Red Keep, at the mercy of general ridicule, insults, and lynching of the people. As often happened in the Game of Thrones saga, the author George R.R. Martin took inspiration for this sequence from real events, and in particular from the punishment inflicted in the fifteenth century on Lady Jane Shore, lover of King Edward IV, who was forced to parade through the streets of London in a very similar way.
Despite this, even Martin did not know what to expect during the broadcast of this episode. Even before the season aired, he had stated: «It is a punishment designed to break the pride of women. And Cersei is defined by her very strong pride. When it airs, it will be a controversial scene. People will ask themselves: is she misogynistic, or is she a feminist?».
The writer didn't give his interpretation, but whatever fans thought, there's at least one person who didn't like the scene: Lena Headey, who plays Cersei. The actress, who worked with a stunt double to shoot the scenes in which the queen appeared without clothes, felt truly humiliated like her character: "It's not difficult when you look like a rag and you have dozens of people screaming at you. Part of me was frightened, f***ing. I can't even imagine what it would feel like to be in the middle of a crowd that wants to take your life. Cersei made a lot of mistakes, but she didn't deserve all this."
Source: FandomWire