In the ‘Game of Thrones‘ book series, ‘A Song of Ice and Fire‘, Cersei Lannister made a deliberate and ruthless choice: she would never allow Robert Baratheon to have a living child through her.
This decision was not accidental, emotional, or made in panic. In fact, it was all planned, repeated, and carried out with full awareness.
Why Cersei Lannister Never Wanted Robert’s Kids
Cersei’s marriage to Robert was political, not personal. It was arranged after Robert’s Rebellion to secure an alliance between House Lannister and the new king. Cersei did not choose Robert, and she never loved him. Any remaining hope she had for the marriage ended on their wedding night.
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Robert was drunk and called her by the name of Lyanna Stark, the woman he truly loved. From that moment, Cersei understood that she was not wanted for who she was, only for her title. Over time, her resentment grew into hatred.
Robert drank heavily, slept with other women, and hurt Cersei during sex when he was drunk. When she told him he had hurt her, he blamed the alcohol and claimed not to remember. Cersei believed he remembered everything and simply did not care. She began to despise him completely.
To Cersei, giving birth to Robert’s children would have meant tying herself forever to a man she hated and allowing his bloodline to rule through her body. That was something she refused to accept.
Early in the marriage, Cersei became pregnant by Robert. But she arranged for the pregnancy to end. She sent Jaime Lannister to find a woman who could help her “cleanse” herself. This was the first time Cersei killed one of Robert’s children in the womb. But it was not the last.
How Cersei Kept Killing Robert’s Offsprings in ‘Game of Thrones’
After that pregnancy, Cersei made sure it would never happen again. Whenever Robert came to her bed, she took steps to prevent conception and to end it if necessary. She used moon tea, a known medieval contraceptive in Westeros. She also took other measures after sex to ensure no pregnancy could survive.
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In her own thoughts in the novels, Cersei reflects on how many of Robert’s children died this way while he slept. He never knew what she did. To her, these were not innocent lives. They were Robert’s heirs, and therefore her enemies.
Cersei believed that, as a woman, power was denied to her. Marriage and motherhood felt like cages, not privileges. Giving Robert children would have only strengthened his legacy, not hers. By killing his unborn children, Cersei felt she was taking control in the only place she truly could: her own body.
Cersei did want children, just not Robert’s. She willingly gave birth to three children fathered by Jaime: Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen. She loved these children deeply and protected them fiercely. Cersei even passed them off as Robert’s heirs, deceiving the entire kingdom and placing her own bloodline on the Iron Throne.
However, the TV series changes this by claiming that Cersei once had a black-haired son with Robert, who died of an illness. This child does not exist in the book canon, though. In the books, Cersei makes sure Robert’s bloodline ends with him.
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