This is a fantastic point and one that I may be able to come to terms with. Cersei DOES think of Dany's mercy as a weakness and even though she underestimated Drogon's power, she ultimately WOULD have escaped because of Dany's mercy once the bells rang.BarryProfit said:FIDO95 said:
One idea I haven't seen discussed much (admittedly I cannot keep up with every post on this thread), was that she thought the bells were a trap, a fake surrender to get her off Drogon.
Before the battle, Tyrion asks her to stand down at the sound of the bells. She then tells him that Jamie is captured and that he will be executed if he betrays her.
He then betrays her by releasing Jamie. You have to believe that that kind of information would get back to her quickly. That then causes her to believe the bells is another part of her betrayal as she seems to loose it when the bells sound.
I thought it curious that Grey Worm sized up Jon when things started to go south. He looked back at him as if to see what Jons response was. Grey Worm looked ready to fight him if he and the Northern soldiers started attacking unsullied. He turns away only after seeing Jon fighting against KL defenders.
So if Dany and Grey Worm has concerns about treason and the bells ring, Dany believes the betrayal of love has occurred at goes mad queen. No way for her to know Jon still fighting for her on the streets.
I thought the same thing re: the bells. If you want closely you also saw Cersi smile/relax once the bell ringing started, it was definitely her intention to use that "mercy" to her advantage.
Follow me here, Tyrion PUSHED the bells idea and then hatched this treasonous plan to free Jaime so he could go and help cersei escape. Tyrion, Davos, and Jaime all betrayed Dany while she was singlehandedly "saving" the city. If Dany showed mercy, like Cersei expected, and everyone else expected, then they would have been successful and Cersei would have escaped. When the bells rang, she remembered Tyrion's advice and choose to ignore his advice because he's been wrong every single time when it comes to Cersei.
Still not clear why she didn't just go straight to the red keep, but I'll chalk that up to "dramatic effect". She didn't know what schemings was happening on the ground so she just destroyed everything to make sure there was absolutely no way Cersei survived.
TLDR: it is true that Cersei would have escaped if she didn't go Mad Queen. She finally learned her lesson to not trust Tyrion's advice.