Forum: movies.stackexchange.com
Tags: <character><game-of-thrones>
Title: Significance of Cersei's obsession with elephants?
Question: In  Game of Thrones  S08E01, Cersei was so disappointed for not getting elephants and it's being part of so many memes and jokes now.  But why do elephants matter? Her competition/rivalry is with Daenerys/Starks etc. And they have dragons. So what purpose would elephants fulfill? What is the significance of this obsession?

Answers:
sents: text: It seems they were a kind of Easter-Egg.
text: In the novels, we received a long narrative about the elephants of The Golden Company, which was left out of the show.
text: In George R. R. Martin’s fifth GOT novel, A Dance With Dragons, we learn of The Golden Company through a rather long-winded side story that has thankfully been cut from the HBO show lest it get even more complicated.
text: Someone in the writer’s room clearly wasn’t happy with this decision, and so decided to throw in an elephant-sized easter egg for viewers who have also read the series so far.
text: Cersei’s need for elephants in the Game Of Thrones
text: premiere comes directly from the books - Metro UK
text: So, it seems like this is a special Easter-Egg for those who have read the series.
answer_details: author: movies.stackexchange.com/users/63980/Daeron
score: 53
sents: text: Elephants are always a funny kind of weapon Having a big weapon on your side is a terrible advantage.
text: Elephants are a good historical example: while they don't deal a lot of damage per se, they are terrible for enemy morale.
text: You can only have a few, and each of them won't deal a lot of damage.
text: But if you are on the other side, that's another topic.
text: Gosh, an elephant charging me!
text: Ok, so if we all keep the formation, the elephant will crush on our spear formation.
text: Sure, there will be casualties, but we will win.
text: The only thing we had to do is keep our formation.
text: Hey, what is Joe doing?
text: he can't escape the battle, can he?
text: Whatever, he was a coward.
text: We can keep formation without him.
text: But, wait, Jack is also fleeing!
text: He was the best of us.
text: If even he thinks we are lost...
text: But we need to keep the formation!
text: Oh, no, some others are also running.
text: The formation just broke up, the odds are very bad for me.
text: Yep, better run for my life.
text: Even if the elephant wouldn't do that much damage, it crushes the enemy formation, and you can now deal much more damage.
text: Why on earth wouldn't you want such a weapon?
text: Sure, the enemy also have a huge weapon, but that won't ensure that the foot soldiers will keep the formation.
text: And it's because she doesn't have dragons that she wants a similar, smaller armed animal that can afraid the enemy.
text: So that we don't expect elephants Golden company is well-known for their elephants.
text: Harry Strickland is proud of them, and as it's the final season, we expect massive battles.
text: This scene is also a way for showrunners to tell the spectators to don't expect any elephant.
text: Sorry, all CGI budget was burned on dragons.
answer_details: author: movies.stackexchange.com/users/55803/Kepotx
score: 18
sents: text: Cyvasse G.R.R Martin is a massive chess fan, even working as a chess event organiser .
text: As a result, there are clear chess influences in A Song of Ice and Fire, the main one being Cyvasse .
text: It is suspected by many book readers that the outcomes of " on page " games, particularly those played by Tyrion, are of a prophetic nature.
text: Two of the most notable pieces are Dragons and Elephants.
text: Clearly, there is a potential for symbolism here with Targaryens (Dragons) and The Golden Company (Elephants).
text: Cyvasse isn't shown in the Game of Thrones world, so no in-show cyvasse prophecies will be fulfilled.
text: However, the story is based on the books so there is a very, very small chance that book readers could extrapolate on some of these prophecies on shoe horn them into the books.
text: The one that springs to mind is the Golden Company's missing Elephants .
text: Essentially, this would boil down to an Easter Egg for book readers but with a little more significance than, for example, Arya's Rat Cook pie.
answer_details: author: movies.stackexchange.com/users/44327/josh
score: 5
sents: text: I don't think it was an easter-egg or a joke.
text: Cersei demanded Elephants from Euron Greyjoy, because she wanted to give him an impossible task.
text: She would win either way, if Euron delivered or not.
text: Euron Greyjoy is obviously obsessed with fame, power and, for some weird reason, also with impregnating Cersei.
text: Knowing that, Cersei is full-on using his blind quest for power in her advantage to get as much military reinforcement as possible.
text: I bet even an office sitter like Cersei knows that transporting elephants with ships is a pretty heavy task.
text: But since she is not to keen on giving Euron the feeling, he did everything she ever wanted, she demanded elephants anway.
text: Best case: "Yay, elephants for my army."
text: Worst case: "
text: Oh you did not fulfill my request
text: .. guess you don't get to sit by my side then.
text: I'll take the rest of your army anyway, btw.
text: "
text: This does not fully explain why Cersei let Euron sleep with her in the end, anyway.
text: But I think she had a change of heart (figuratively, she obviously does not have a heart)
text: when Euron returned with his army, because she knew she was already pregnant and could probably use him some more.
text: (Does it show how little I think of Cersei?)
answer_details: author: movies.stackexchange.com/users/47284/Ian
score: 4
sents: text: The scene you're talking about showed Cersei get visibly upset at the fact the Golden Company was only 20,000 strong.
text: Her mention of elephants was more like "did you at least bring tanks to the war?"
text: Since it's only mentioned once, and the captain quickly lets her know they don't have them, then these would seem more of something said out of spite than a real concern.
answer_details: author: movies.stackexchange.com/users/40535/King of NES
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
Cersei's obsession with elephants could be related to Cyvasse as G.R.R Martin is a massive chess fan. As a result, there are clear chess influences in A Song of Ice and Fire, the main one being  Cyvasse . Two of the most notable pieces are Dragons and Elephants. However,  Cyvasse isn't shown in the Game of Thrones world, so no in-show cyvasse prophecies will be fulfilled.  However, the story is based on the books so there is a  very, very  small chance that book readers could extrapolate on some of these prophecies on shoe horn them into the books.
G.R.R Martin is a massive chess fan, even working as a chess event organiser. As a result, there are clear chess influences in A Song of Ice and Fire.