Game Of Thrones: Cersei, Wine, And Historical Relativism

Published May 3, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey Guys,

New listener to the podcast — but love it so far. I’ve been planning to re-watch the entire series after season 8 is over and now I know what I will be listening to as I do that.

Anyway, this has to do with the debate about whether or not Cersei is pregnant, and much of the theory seems to be based on her wine consumption. In one scene, she proves she is pregnant by not drinking wine, and then in another scene with Euron, she proves she’s trying to fool him into thinking she’s NOT pregnant by drinking wine.

This represents a minor infraction of historical relativism – not quite up to the level of a crime, but definitely an error. It’s either an error on the part of the showrunners or of the fans.

Westeros is obviously based on medieval Europe, and would likely share at least some portion of its scientific knowledge as well. Not only did women drink during pregnancy during this time, nearly everyone consumed alcoholic beverages regularly, from childhood. The reason was that distilled and brewed beverages were far safer to drink than water. They didn’t necessarily understand why, not having the germ theory or knowledge of microscopic parasites, but they observed that people who drank alcoholic beverages, even weak ones, did not get sick as often as those who drank water. True fact: the reason the Pilgrims had to put to shore when they did in Massachusetts in 1620 is because they had run out of beer and they had nothing safe to drink.

Not only that, but many alcoholic drinks, particularly wine and brandywine, were promoted as healthful, nutritious drinks that would “fortify the blood”. A wealthy pregnant woman such as Cersei would likely be encouraged to drink wine or brandy during her pregnancy to strengthen her constitution. Not that Cersei needs a lot of encouragement.

Not only THAT, but it was not widely understood that drinking even moderately during pregnancy was harmful at all until studies started coming out in the 1970s connecting alcohol consumption during pregnancy to low birth weights and more serious disorders, such as fetal alcohol syndrome (defined in 1973). My mother was encouraged by her doctor to drink one beer a day during both her pregnancies, both to help with morning sickness and as a sort of high-calorie healthy drink. This was in the 1960s.

So, if Westeros is a parallel to medieval Europe, Cersei’s wine consumption during pregnancy would have been just following doctor’s orders.

…Barb

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