Her main struggle is with her gender. Her greatest desire is power, yet despite being fully capable and confident, she is held back because she is a woman. At the same time, however, she doesn't disown her womanhood - she clearly cares for her children, and she uses her vagina to her advantage as she fucks half the castle for her own gain in her brother's(Her twin! Her lover!!!!!!! ) absence. She even goes so far as to attempt passionless and brutal sex with another woman(I believe she imagines that she's a boar's tusk ripping her wide open), which leaves her distressed and drives home the point that she is comfortable as neither a man or a woman. She also eventually begins to go insane as she's eaten by her paranoia, and does a lot of silly shit, and at this point in the series, is about to get F'd in the A by a bunch of religious whackos(which she inadvertently gave way to in her hastened attempts to destroy her soon-to-be daughter-in-law and queen).

I adore the fact that she's evil-but-not-really-evil. The reason I love the fourth book so much is because we get to see her life, and her husband, who until that point had been the jolly old king. When rape and physical abuse are added into the equation, suddenly her having him gored to death by a boar doesn't seem so terribly cruel. Also, her relationship with her twin brother is the only heterosexual relationship I've ever enjoyed reading about. I love them.