Last night’s body count of semi-significant characters in the “Game of Thrones” Season 6 finale is the highest we’ve seen in a while. From Tommen (RIP) to Grand Maester Pycelle to the High Sparrow to Lancel, the Cersei-induced carnage at King’s Landing was pretty damn sweeping. (Does the wildfire explosion have a catchy, Red Wedding-esque name yet? Trial by fire, perhaps?)
Yet no death from this episode feels more unfair than that of Margaery Tyrell, who clawed, charmed and plotted her way to survival through three royal marriages and five bloody seasons. Since her first appearance in Season 2, Margaery has used her wits and resources to prevail in nearly every dangerous situation—she survived Joffrey, for God’s sake, if mostly because of her grandmother—and it really looked as though she would make it out of this one, too. After an apparent conversion to the High Sparrow’s puritanical credo, and with Lady Olenna sent away by a reassuring drawing of a rose, it was clear Margaery had a plan. We could all breathe a sigh of relief.
And just four episodes later, she was dead, felled by the same stupid firebomb that downed the High Sparrow and hundreds of others. That’s the part that feels most unsatisfying of all. Instead of going out in a bold or sacrificial way (to save Loras, maybe?), she instead was incinerated alongside the very man she was supposed to be outsmarting—the one she warned against Cersei’s likely plot minutes before it all quite literally blew up. Like, really, David Benioff/D.B. Weiss? No resolution to her plan? No clues as to what she would have done after Cersei’s trial? As a longtime Margaery fan, I felt cheated, like she deserved more than that.
But here’s the thing about “Game of Thrones”: No one ever really gets what they “deserve.” It’s a grim truth that’s been creeping up on us since Ned Stark was executed back in Season 1, but Margaery’s death seems like a kind of series turning point in that regard. Ned’s death, although unjust, could be written off as necessary plot momentum. “Game of Thrones” can’t really exist without dead Ned. Yeah, you could argue that Lady Olenna needed incentive to head to Dorne—and ostensibly provide Daenerys with Tyrell forces—but her pre-existing Lannister hatred probably would have been enough motivation as-is. And although there have been more wholly good and pure characters to die (Shireen, obviously, although there are too many to list here), they too were usually just unfortunate side effects of the plot at large.
Margaery, on the other hand, still could have been useful; we weren’t quite done with her yet. In such a matriarchal, female-centric season, it would have been immensely rewarding to watch her escape the throes of the King’s Landing power ladder to join forces with Dany and Co. alongside her grandmother. I don’t think anyone could deny that there was room for one more badass lady on that fleet, right? Could she not have slipped out of the Sept in some way? Made a getaway while the High Sparrow was distracted instead of loudly confronting him?
Instead, she was consigned to an unimportant, fiery fate. Margaery’s death proves that no matter how clever or resilient or seemingly important you are, your survival is never assured in “Game of Thrones”—you mess up, you get betrayed or someone outsmarts you. “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die,” Cersei famously told Ned in Season 1. Yet even as Margaery is trying to escape the game, she is snuffed out. It seems that the game has become more insidious than anyone could have imagined way back then.
Season 6 ended on a relative high note despite the deadly beginnings, and it’s hard not to be excited about Dany’s inevitable takeover of the Iron Throne. After all this time and bloodshed and last-minute dragon swoop-ins, it really feels like she’s earned her passage across the narrow sea. But as the unstoppable threat of the White Walkers looms beyond the Wall, you can’t help but wonder if that well-deserved success will be anything other than temporary.
![Four years into cannabis legalization in Illinois, celebrations of the April 20 informal weed holiday known as 420 are getting bigger and more widespread. Named for the time of day a group of friends met to get high, 420 has become a chance for marijuana users to publicly share a previously illegal drug and the counter-cultural atmosphere surrounding it. The main event in downtown Chicago likely will be the second annual 420 Sesh Fest, at Green Rose Dispensary. The party will include live music, a magic show, carnival games, food trucks, pop ups, and product discounts. It also will feature Grammy-nominated […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-Illinois-marijuana_175925141.jpg?w=546 "Four years into cannabis legalization in Illinois, celebrations of the April 20 informal weed holiday known as 420 are getting bigger and more widespread. Named for the time of day a group of friends met to get high, 420 has become a chance for marijuana users to publicly share a previously illegal drug and the counter-cultural atmosphere surrounding it. The main event in downtown Chicago likely will be the second annual 420 Sesh Fest, at Green Rose Dispensary. The party will include live music, a magic show, carnival games, food trucks, pop ups, and product discounts. It also will feature Grammy-nominated […]")
