Five Much Better Deaths that Would've Done Cersei Lannister Justice

The second half of Game of Thrones season 8 started out as a small stain on the reputation of the show that was supposed to be the greatest of all time and episode 5 "The Bells" has poured an entire goblet of red wine onto that once small and forgivable stain.

While the final episode of the season could still redeem writers Dan Weiss and David Benioff, one stain that will never wash out is the death of one of the most prominent and loved to be hated characters, Cersei Lannister.

Death by a collapsing Red Keep. I guess metaphorically you could look at it as all her ambitions collapsing on her head, and while it's a decent thought it's still way down the list of satisfiable deaths for a character with so much history and development.

What were the other options? Why did the writers believe this was the best suitable death for such a character? I'm going to give you five other options, and you decide if they could've been any better.

5. Arya Kills her Green Eyes

One of the top theories about how Cersei would meet her end. Arya getting the kill was talked about repetitively.

Cersei was one of the last names on her kill list that had become the focal point of Arya's arc throughout the whole show, but unfortunately, that has become another casualty to Weiss and Benioff's slaughter of an entire seven seasons worth of foreshadowing.

Speculation was that perhaps Arya would use the face of someone Cersei trusted to get close to the queen and past the Mountain. Someone like Littlefinger or her brother Jaime, assuming he would've died before the episode.

In hindsight, the thought of Jaime dying heroically during "The Long Night" and Arya using his face to kill Cersei would've been a better way to wrap up all three character arcs in a nice bow.

4. If Tyrion's Plan Would've Worked

In the episode, Tyrion borderline tries to sacrifice himself to save Jaime, Cersei, and his unborn niece or nephew, knowing that Daenerys would've more than likely burned him alive once she found out.

Tyrion had Davos smuggle—if you wanna call it that—a small boat to the beach outside of one of the secret exits of the Red Keep and have Jaime lead Cersei out and both of them sail to Pentos and live a new life together.

When I first heard this, I thought there was no way that Cersei would ever agree to abandon her position as Queen, even if she knew death was certain, but it seems that Cersei very much wanted to keep her baby alive.

Had Euron not interfered, maybe Jaime and Cersei could've received a happy ending?

Jaime and Cersei live on to raise their child across the narrow sea and Tyrion dies knowing that he saved his brother's life and making up for the betrayal of his family when he killed their father.

I know that this is not technically a death, but it's still an end to her character.

If anyone wants to complain about it being on a death wish list, I'll add that once they live in Pentos, Cersei dies in childbirth, leaving Jaime to raise their child alone in a strange new country; that's one hell of a spinoff.

3. Burnt Alive by Daenerys and Drogon

One of my biggest gripes with the episode was how quickly mass genocide became a logical solution in Daenerys' eyes, but it could've been so much better if Cersei was a direct victim of her arson adventure.

While Drogon and Dany technically did kill Cersei indirectly by dropping a building on her, it just wasn't the same as seeing the true fear on Cersei's face and vindication on Dany's.

How epic would it have been to see Drogon fly up to the Red Keep and hover right in front of Cersei's window as she and Dany have one last stare down before "Dracarys" were the last words Cersei ever heard.

2. Suicide by Wildfire

While suicide may not seem like an exciting option, I'm thinking if they had taken an "If I can't have it, nobody can" approach and recreate her obliteration of the Great Sept of Baelor with the destruction of the Red Keep.

This was actually one of my own personal theories as to what would happen before episode 5. I never believed that Cersei would willingly give up the throne.

Like she said to Ned in season 1: "When you play the Game of Thrones, you win, or you die." Those were her two options, and I think it would've been so much better for her to cause all of the collateral damage with wildfire, taking her own life in the process.

Not giving Daenerys the satisfaction of taking it by force, leaving Dany with a Red Keep in destruction would've been a very Cersei thing to do.

Little did I know, Dany was going to take that upon herself.

1. Jamie Kills Cersei to defend King's Landing

The biggest and best fan theory was a little too on the nose for the writers. Jaime killing Cersei is a theory that originates from the books and the Valonqar prophecy—people believing that one of Cersei's little brothers would kill her.

This prophecy doesn't relate to the show, but fans assumed that the show would follow closely to the books, but let's hope not at this point.

Jaime killing his sister-lover seems like a stretch but I think that's why so many people loved the idea. It was a shock while also being the most speculated outcome.

Had Jaime came to his sisters' side only to be met with a familiar situation where his Sister is threatening to burn down the city and he's the only one who can save them.

A poetic recreation of the "Burn them all" scene with the Mad King where he got his King Slayer nickname.

A bittersweet moment for Jamie and a meaningful death that's true to Cersei's character. He saves the city and thousands of people but ends the life of the woman he loves and his child.