Oh, Cersei Lannister. You had quite a day in the Game of Thrones season 6 finale [Vigorous spoilers for which follow immediately henceforth]. You have become the queen, the true queen, the sovereign queen, the role you’ve always wanted. But it came at a terrible cost. The prophecy of Maggy the Frog has been fulfilled. All of Cersei’s children are dead and she has become queen. But she’s alone. It’s time for her to take the next step… to pick a husband. To marry her brother, Jaime Lannister.

Cersei Has Lost Everything But Love

Cersei’s life has fallen apart in quite short order. In just a short time, both Myrcella and Tommen died—Myrcella because of a match Cersei never wanted and Tommen because of a scheme Cersei herself cooked up. She saw Myrcella was in danger, but could do nothing. And she should have foreseen Tommen’s reaction, but was too selfish and smug about her victory to realize its stunning cost. Now, she has taken the Iron Throne, simply because there’s no one else to take it. The line of the Baratheons is ended, and the closest living relative to Robert Baratheon is in fact Daenerys Targaryen. Cersei has stepped into the vacuum. But in the vacuum, she is alone.

Almost everyone we care about in King’s Landing is dead or fled, except for Queen Cersei—and Jaime Lannister, the love of her life. Jaime spent a season or two feeling ambivalent about Cersei, and surely still does, but his speech to Edmure Tully reveals that his love for Cersei is truly boundless. If she asks Jaime to marry her, will he really say no?

And don’t dismiss the idea as being as ridiculous as it sounds. First off, the Targaryens married brother and sister all the time. People didn’t like it, but they had the power—even after the days of the dragons. Daenerys and Jon Snow are probably going to end up doing the same thing, marrying nephew to aunt. And Cersei has nothing to lose. Her children are dead. Her rule over the crownlands is secure, but much of the rest of the Seven Kingdoms is already in revolt (the Vale, the North, the Iron Islands, and now Dorne and the Reach—only the crownlands, westerlands, stormlands and riverlands are hers). In the medium term, her rule is almost certainly doomed. But in the meantime, she should do what she’s always wanted to do. Marry her own brother.