[MagicHef]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

I guess I'm not getting across the distinction between admiration and grudging admiration.

Nothing she does says 'when I grow up I want to be like that.' It's more, 'she has her POV and her objectives, and she pursues them doggedly.'

She's born into wealth and power, but has little of it to herself. She's told as a child that her progeny will die tragically before her. But she tries to wield power in the ways she's allowed, and tries bitterly to avoid her prophecy even as she sees it unfolding as foretold. If life were kinder to her, she'd have happy children with her brother and no one would bat an eye, and her children would wield the power she is adjacent to, but denied. Instead, she's shipped off to an arranged marriage, and her kids are despised and killed.

Perhaps its best put this way, you can admire her resolve without admiring her aims.

If Cersei had her way, she's actually be married to Rheagar. It wasn't her fault that Aerys broke off their marriage to get back at Tywin.