Cersei Lannister: Narcissism for the Family, Strategy Without Feeling

Cersei's self-focus shows an interesting variant: she isn't only fixated on herself, but on "House Lannister" as an extension of herself. Research knows this pattern as collective narcissism — an inflated love of one's own group, combined with the sense that the group isn't sufficiently recognized by others.

That explains why Cersei reads differently from a purely self-obsessed lone actor: her care for her children is genuine, but it ultimately serves the same purpose as her cruelty toward everyone else — protecting and preserving her own status.

Machiavellianism is defined by deliberate, long-term calculation rather than impulsivity. Cersei's political maneuvers — forging and breaking alliances, controlling information, preparing the wildfire attack for years — are the textbook example of that definition: none of it is spontaneous.

Unlike Dexter or Bateman, Cersei consistently shows genuine emotional attachment — to her children, partly to Jaime. High psychopathy is hard to reconcile with stable, genuine affection. That makes her a good example of how the three Dark Triad traits vary independently: a character can run extreme on two axes and comparatively moderate on the third.