Margaery Tyrell

Margaery Tyrell, legally Margaery Baratheon, is a major character in the second, third and fourth seasons. She is played by Natalie Dormer and debuts in "What is Dead May Never Die." Queen Margaery Tyrell is the widow of King Renly Baratheon, a claimant to the Iron Throne in the War of the Five Kings. Her father Lord Mace Tyrell is the ruler of the Reach. She is betrothed to King Joffrey Baratheon after the Battle of Blackwater. Margaery is known for her beauty, political cunning, and ambition, although she has a compassionate side.

Background
Margaery is the only daughter of Lady Alerie Tyrell and Lord Mace Tyrell, the Lord Paramount of the Reach. The Reach is one of the constituent regions of the Seven Kingdoms and House Tyrell is one of the Great Houses of the realm. Margaery was raised in privilege in the family seat and regional capital of Highgarden. She is close to her brother, Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers. She is said to be as beautiful as she is clever.

Season 2
Margaery marries King Renly Baratheon, the lover of her brother Loras, though she's aware of their relationship. Two weeks afterward they have not yet consummated their marriage. Renly camps his army in the Stormlands, near his seat of Storm's End, and holds a tournament for his followers. Margaery is disappointed when Loras is defeated in the final bout by Brienne of Tarth. Catelyn Stark arrives to treat with Renly on behalf of her son Robb Stark and Margaery greets her warmly. Margaery encourages Renly to produce an heir with her but he is unable to become aroused by her. She is pragmatic about his desires and shocks him by offering to bring Loras into their bed.

King Joffrey Baratheon's Master of Coin Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish also visits the camp to treat with Renly. He makes a point of provoking Margaery about her husband's sexuality and she affirms her loyalty to Renly. Renly treats with his brother King Stannis Baratheon but is unable to reach a compromise. Renly is killed in mysterious circumstances and his Kingsguard Brienne of Tarth is blamed for his death. Margaery convinces Loras to flee the camp with her before Stannis arrives. Littlefinger accompanies them to Highgarden having gauged Margaery's ambition to become Queen.

Petyr sways House Tyrell into siding with House Lannister. As a result, House Lannister is victorious at the Battle of the Blackwater.

In a ceremony to celebrate victory, King Joffrey tells Loras he may ask anything of him in return for his aid. He asks Joffrey wed Margaery to cement the new alliance between their Houses through matrimony. Margaery states she has heard of Joffrey's courage and come to love from afar. Joffrey states that he has heard of Margaery's beauty and reciprocates her feelings but balks at setting aside his betrothal to Sansa Stark but is convinced by his courtiers that Sansa's family's status as attainted traitors is reason enough.

Season 3
Lady Margaery Tyrell accompanied her betrothed King Joffrey back from the Great Sept of Baelor in a heavily guarded palanquin. Against official protocol, she stopped the procession in Flea Bottom unexpectedly. To the shock of her guards and the bewilderment of Joffrey, Margaery out of her carriage and began exploring the streets. She eventually arrived at an orphanage and began interacting with the children. Meanwhile, her servants distributed bread and toys, earning her the love of Flea Bottom's smallfolk. That evening, Margaery and her brother Loras Tyrell were visited by Joffrey and his mother Cersei. Cersei was unhappy with Margaery's earlier actions and admonished her boldness; reminding her that her impromptu charity work took place on the same streets where the royal party was assaulted weeks earlier. During this argument, Joffrey defended Margaery and criticized his mother. As a result, Cersei realized that she was on the verge of being outmaneuvered by the Tyrells. While Cersei only knew how to rule through fear, Margaery was adept at winning the hearts and minds of her people, a skill which Cersei lacked.

Later, Margaery and her grandmother, Lady Olenna Tyrell, invited Sansa for a private meeting with them at the gardens of King’s Landing. Loras escorted Sansa to the gardens for the meeting. During the meeting, Lady Olenna dismissed her father Mace as a fool for supporting Renly Baratheon's claim to the throne. By contrast, Margaery spoke well of her late husband Renly. During the meeting, Olenna insisted that Sansa tell them the truth about what Joffrey was like since Margaery was to marry him. While Sansa was initially reluctant to share her feelings, she admitted that Joffrey was a "monster" since he had reneged on his earlier promise to spare her father’s life. While Olenna was disappointed at these revelations, she was not surprised given the rumours that have been circulating about Joffrey's public outbursts. While Sansa was worried that this would mean that the Tyrells would cancel their proposed marriage alliance (meaning Sansa will be stuck with Joffrey again), Olenna assured her that her son Mace was too intent on Margaery entering into a royal marriage to cancel it for anything.

Later, Joffrey gave Margaery a tour of the Great Sept of Baelor, where their royal wedding was scheduled to be held. They were followed by Cersei Lannister and Olenna Tyrell, representing the Lannisters and Tyrells respectively. During their tour, Joffrey talked about the various Targaryen kings who were buried within the Great Sept. Margaery feigned interest in Joffrey's topic but his mother Cersei was annoyed. While Cersei and Olenna were engrossed in a conversation about the men in their lifes, Margaery managed to convince Joffrey to greet the crowd outside. Having been somewhat placated by Margaery's charity, the crowd happily cheered for the pair. As a result of this incident, Cersei felt that she had lost control of Joffrey to the Tyrells. She came to fear that the Tyrells did not have her family’s interest at heart. In response, the Queen Regent ordered Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish to spy on the Tyrells.

Later, Ser Loras invited Margaery and Sansa to watch him sparring him with squire at the castle gardens. During that time, Sansa praised Loras' swordsmanship and expressed her interest in marrying Loras as part of the Tyrell plot to keep her out of the hands of Baelish and/or the Lannisters. Margaery replied that she would "plant the seed" of the idea after she and Joffrey got married. While Sansa was sceptical that Joffrey would let her go, Margaery was confident that he would do it to please his betrothed. Unknown to Margaery and Sansa, Ser Loras was having a secret homosexual relationship with his squire Olyver. During this meeting, Loras briefly mentioned that he was to be married to Sansa. Unknown to Loras, Olyver was a spy working for Littlefinger, who reported to Cersei. In response, Cersei's father Lord Tywin Lannister arranged for Cersei and her brother Tyrion Lannister to marry Loras and Sansa respectively in order to curb the ambitions of House Tyrell and to bolster the marriage alliance between the Lannisters and the Tyrells.

While Sansa was unhappy about this arranged marriage to a Lannister, Maragery Tyrell consoled Sansa by reminding her that Tyrion was far from the worst Lannister and that Tyrion might be able to make her happy given his skills as a lover. Later, Margaery also attended Sansa and Tyrion's wedding. Prior to the wedding reception, she attempted to ingratiate herself with Cersei, commenting that they would technically be sisters soon. However, Cersei rebuffed her friendship by telling Margaery about the story behind the "Rains of Castamere". She explained that the song referred to House Lannister's destruction of the rebellious of House Reyne of Castamere. This was meant to infer similarities between the ambitions and position of Houses Reyne and Tyrell and that the same fate may fall upon House Tyrell if they plotted against the Lannisters). Cersei also threatened to have Margaery strangled in her sleep if she ever dared to call Cersei sister again. During the wedding dinner, Margaery was seated with her grandmother Olenna and the two talked about the dynamics of the Lannister and Tyrell families, with Margaery shooting her grandmother a withering glare when Loras stormed out.

Season 4
Olenna assists Margaery in picking out a necklace for her upcoming wedding. She selects the finest of those on offer, noting affectionately that it is similar to one she received from Margaery's grandfather husband on her 51st name day. Olenna chucks the piece over the rampart and into Blackwater Bay and orders the Tyrell handmaidens to canvass every jeweler in King's Landing for better offerings. After they are left alone, Margaery sardonically suggests letting Joffrey pick out the necklace, which knowing him will likely consist of severed sparrow's heads. Olenna cautions Margaery to mind what she says, even with her. They are shortly interrupted by Brienne of Tarth, who has come to speak with Margaery about Renly's death. In private, Brienne explains what she saw and how the shadow had Stannis's face, and assures Margaery that she will find a way to avenge their king. Margaery reminds Brienne that Joffrey is their king now. Brienne apologizes for any offense given, but Margaery assures her that none was taken.

Behind the scenes

 * On the Season 2 Blu-ray, Margaery narrates Histories & Lore videos on "House Tyrell" and "Robert's Rebellion". On the Season 3 Blu-ray, she narrates "The Reach"​.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Margaery is the unwed daughter of Mace Tyrell, one of the most powerful lords in Westeros. Margaery herself is considered to be not only very beautiful, but very intelligent despite her relatively young age. The Tyrells are a loving family, and Margaery has a good relationship with both her parents and her brother Loras. She also has a close relationship with her paternal grandmother, Olenna Redwyne, who has tutored Margaery in the skills of court intrigue.

Many Houses and eligible lords want to marry their sons to Margaery and gain an alliance with the formidable House Tyrell, but Mace has been holding out for the most favorable match possible.

Magaery is younger in the books, sixteen at the time of her marriage to Renly making her the same age as Robb Stark. However, Margaery has been further aged in the series, making her slightly older than Robb Stark, as Natalie Dormer is four years older than Richard Madden. The TV series producers enjoyed Dormer's audition so much that they decided to overlook this minor difference. Thus while Margaery is the youngest of Mace's children in the books, TV-Margaery is officially a year or two older than her brother Loras - though in the male-dominated culture and inheritance system of the Seven Kingdoms, this does not change Margaery's place in line of succession, or significantly change her character.

Margaery's true motivations are not discussed in the books, but the TV series makes her ambitions clear to the audience. This is largely due to the narrative mechanics: Margaery is not a POV character in the books (neither is Renly or Loras), and the scenes at King Renly's army camp are told from Catelyn's point of view - logically, she doesn't see the inside of Renly's tent nor is she privy to Margaery's actions. The TV series has the freedom to expand on the stories of non-POV characters, hence the apparent expansion of Margaery's character. Thus Margaery in the TV series is faithful to Margaery's actions and behavior in the books, it's just that the TV series actually depicts events which occurred "off screen" in the books.

An interesting result of showing Margaery's POV actions is the effect it will have on portraying the sparring between Margaery and Cersei Lannister. Most of the clashes between Margaery and Cersei are shown from Cersei's POV, but Cersei is an "unreliable narrator". Cersei is vindictive and paranoid, and starts suspecting that anything that goes wrong in the capital, both large and small matters, must be Margaery plotting against her, or at least the Tyrell family in general. Intriguingly, at least some of these attempts to outmaneuver Cersei were objectively true, i.e. the Tyrells do try to marry Sansa to their eldest son (Willas in the books, Loras in the TV series) but how much of these plots were actually masterminded by Margaery, or simply Margaery following orders from her father Mace and grandmother Olenna, weren't entirely clear. The inner mechanics of House Tyrell's political schemes in the capital are not directly portrayed in the narrative of the books. Margaery could conceivably have masterminded some of these, while others may have been the actions of House Tyrell as a whole, though Cersei increasingly fixates on Margaery and blames her for everything the Tyrells are planning, because she fears that Margaery is the new young queen who has come to supplant her. Even so, as Cersei's paranoia increases, she starts blaming Margaery for plots which other parts of the books objectively establish that other people were responsible for (i.e. Littlefinger, Varys, the other scheming courtiers, etc.). Due to these events occurring in Cersei's skewed POV narration the books were never entirely clear about which of these were plots Margaery herself directly orchestrated (at least some actually were), and which of these plots Cersei irrationally blamed on Margaery even though she actually had no hand in them (at least some events were revealed to not involve Margaery at all). Thus the TV series may end up definitively establishing which events Margaery was or was not responsible for, when this was left deliberately vague in the novels.

The first book Game of Thrones features a small subplot hinting that Renly Baratheon was working as an agent to the Tyrells' rising power by trying to bring Margaery to King's Landing. He shows her picture to Ned Stark and asks if resembles Lyanna Stark, hoping that such a resemblance will convince Robert to lay Cersei aside and make Margaery Queen. A slightly bemused Ned insists that Margaery and Lyanna look nothing alike.

"Margaery" in the series is pronounced identically to the real-world "Marjorie".