Each week, we'll take a deeper look at one character or group of characters from Game of Thrones who play a prominent role in the most recent episode.
If any family has hit the ground running during this season of HBO's Game of Thrones, it's the Tyrells. Not only did they help save the city from Stannis's forces at the Battle of the Blackwater, but Margaery (played by the lovely Natalie Dormer) has been doing charity work in the slums of Flea Bottom, and the foodstuffs from the Reach will help feed the city as Winter draws nearer. They've got the commons on their side. Even more relevant to their immediate survival, Margaery has Joffrey more or less figured out, and, thanks to Sansa, the Queen of Thorns and her prospective queen-to-be know what to expect from him going forward. The union of Tyrell and Lannister would be one of the most powerful alliances seen in Westerosi history. And yet, as Tywin said to Littlefinger back in season two, the Tyrells rebelled against Joffrey, and they need to pay for that crime. If the Tyrells knew that, they may have been slower to trust the Lannisters than they were. On the other hand, perhaps the Lannisters should never have trusted them.
It's easy enough to look up the history of the Tyrell family. Barely more than managers of the castle of Highgarden, they rose to power 300 years before the story began, when the last son of House Gardener, the lord that the Tyrells served, burned to death fighting against Aegon the Conqueror (the founder of House Targaryen) and his sisters. Gardener had raised nearly 40,000 men, but none stood a chance against all three of the Targaryens' fully grown dragons. The Tyrells surrendered, and Aegon rose them up. During Robert's Rebellion, they stayed loyal to the Targaryen family, and laid siege to the castle of Storm's End, home of Stannis and Renly Baratheon. They're now one of the richest families in Westeros (second only, of course, to the Lannisters), have the largest army, the most fertile lands, and, thanks to Margaery, the love of the people of King's Landing.
While it's easy to recite the Tyrell origins, guessing their future is harder still. But a hint may be in the influences that helped create them. George R.R. Martin has made no secret of one of his key influences regarding plot in the series so far. The War of the Five Kings was based on the War of the Roses, more or less. It isn't a perfect analogy, but reading about the various families involved (Yorks and Lancasters, as opposed to Starks and Lannisters), you can see the influence creeping in. The Tyrell family, and especially Margaery, seem to share the same origin. Margaery appears to be loosely based on Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, who used her seductiveness to topple the first queen to become one herself. Margaery not only has sex appeal at her disposal, she knows exactly what to say to get Joffrey wrapped around her finger. Like most of Henry VIII's wives, however, Anne ended badly. She was arrested for adultery, accused of sleeping with her brother, and replaced by yet another queen (and beheaded, of course). Is this a sign of things to come for Margaery? Perhaps. But she's already got the people on her side. Would the Lannisters be willing to risk another riot (and worse) just to remove a thorn in their side? I can think of two who would.
Thomas Fichtenmayer is the author of a Tumblr obsessed with the characters of the Game of Thrones, especially Stannis Baratheon.
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