#same with all the lannister sibs tho they are intelligent in different ways

[ilynpilled]

an interesting thing when it comes to evaluating intelligence in media with deep characters is that i think ppl tend of ignore the difference between a character genuinely failing to see something and purposely choosing to not see something. in asoiaf especially it is possible to see that a character does have all the information to come to certain conclusions, or whether they do have ultimately rational ways of viewing the world, we are in their head, but then there are different reasons as to why they act or think in certain ways. there is a difference between cognitive dissonance, characters that need a subconscious psychological wall put up to protect themselves from deep hurt and despair, and characters failing to connect certain dots due to inexperience or a blind spot or a genuine lack of critical thinking ability. there is a distinction between cognitive dissonance or self-delusion rooted in emotion and trauma etc. and a character lacking intelligence. for example the lannister siblings: they are all intelligent/clever/sharp in different ways, cersei absolutely is too, but they can be very insistent on trapping themselves in narratives or going against their own rationality (especially because the alternative would be soul crushing for them). i also like how intelligence in general is treated with nuance. there is a lot to intelligence. characters can be intelligent in different ways, and there are different types of intelligence. it is not something super rigid and linear.