--- title: Why Did Hillary Clinton Compare Herself to Cersei Lannister? description: Here's why Hillary Clinton's reference to hit television show Game of Thrones in her new memoir What Happened is garnering attention. canonical: https://time.com/4939575/hillary-clinton-on-cersei-lannister-game-of-thrones/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-13T16:52:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:51:15.645Z og:title: Here's Why Hillary Clinton Compared Herself to Cersei Lannister og:description: "People seemed to think I was evil" og:url: https://time.com/4939575/hillary-clinton-on-cersei-lannister-game-of-thrones/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10a2554f1d6b6a4e/6988dd9597cdff100c6b26c4/cersei-hillary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3799 og:image:height: 2137 og:image:alt: cersei-hillary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why Hillary Clinton Compared Herself to Cersei Lannister twitter:description: "People seemed to think I was evil" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10a2554f1d6b6a4e/6988dd9597cdff100c6b26c4/cersei-hillary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The _Game of Thrones_\-Inspired Reason Hillary Clinton Compared Herself to Cersei Lannister > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c98a4014-56ed-444c-a281-09e1a9263b23&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: FIRSTS Hillary Rodham Clinton [Watch (HLS stream): FIRSTS Hillary Rodham Clinton](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nRyrhM31.m3u8) (1:35)  _Published 2017-09-06. Hillary Rodham Clinton is the FIRST woman to win a major party’s nomination for President of the United States._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 13, 2017 4:52 PM UTC Hillary Rodham Clinton is the FIRST woman to win a major party’s nomination for President of the United States.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 13, 2017 4:52 PM UTC [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4937204/hillary-clinton-ivanka-trump-held-accountable/) name-drops a [number of books](http://time.com/4937416/hillary-clinton-what-happened-books/) in her new memoir [_What_](http://time.com/4938413/hillary-clinton-what-happened-sarah-sanders/)[ Happened](http://time.com/4938413/hillary-clinton-what-happened-sarah-sanders/), but it’s her reference to hit television show [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/game-of-thrones-2017/)that seems to be garnering the most attention. In a passage focused on the hostility leveled at her by Trump supporters at the now-President’s campaign rallies, Clinton compared herself to Cersei Lannister — the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms played by Lena Headey in the HBO drama. “Crowds at Trump rallies called for my imprisonment more times than I can count,” she wrote. “They shouted, ‘Guilty! Guilty!’ like the religious zealots in _Game of Thrones_ chanting ‘Shame! Shame!’ while Cersei Lannister walked back to the Red Keep.” Clinton was, of course, referencing the infamous scene in _Thrones_‘ season five finale in which Cersei is forced to make a ‘walk of atonement’ through the streets of King’s Landing as public penance for her sins. > [](https://twitter.com/charliespiering/status/907587984983289861) Clinton went on to explain how she was floored by the “flood of hatred” she was confronted with during her run for the presidency. “People seemed to think I was evil,” she wrote. “Was this all because I’m a woman? No. But I believe it was motivation for some of those chanters and some of that bile.” ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:04] I don't think women need to do anything other than [00:06] what they're doing right now and that's moving [00:09] forward. [ MUSIC ] We're coming. [00:14] [ MUSIC ] It's essential that in life you see yourself [00:18] Reflected in other people's stories. I was always [00:22] looking for anybody that kinda looked like me. [00:25] [ MUSIC ] [00:28] The first time I walked out to pitch, different guys were [00:32] all just like telling jokes to their teammates and the [00:34] parents were laughing. When they saw me face the first [00:37] batter, didn't really hear anything from that side of the [00:40] field. [ MUSIC ] [00:43] I've dealt with a lot of people who second guess me, [00:45] who undermined me because of my age. People would [00:49] associate what my hard work meant. They would [00:50] diminish it. A lot of what pioneers do, they do [00:54] not benefit from it. [ MUSIC ] There's plenty of room in [00:58] the world for mediocre men. There is no room for [01:00] mediocre women. [ MUSIC ] [01:05] The glass ceiling, that vocabulary is violent. I wouldn't [01:10] have gone to that class yelling and screaming, I'm [01:12] gonna make you break! She literally put me in a [01:14] catapult and threw me at it. [ MUSIC ] Here [01:19] we are Early in the 21st century. [ MUSIC ] The [01:24] time has just come to finally break through. People are [01:28] on their feet. [ APPLAUSE ] The glass ceiling is [01:32] nothing compared to the determination of women. [01:37] Danica Patrick [ MUSIC ] [01:42] Not one thing ever does it. [ UNKNOWN ] [01:46] It's a series of consistent things The people [01:53] say, ha, it's time for change. 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