Rewatching
Game of Thrones, I was reminded of
how much I love this character. Not only
was Margaery my first exposure to the excellent Natalie Dormer, but she’s
someone unlike anyone I’ve ever seen of her archetype, and the show has
definitely been made better for her presence (Margaery-related spoilers.)
On the
face of it, we’ve all seen Margaery’s type before: scheming social climber/honey trap. It’s one that’s always at minimum tinged with
sexism, the danger of the beautiful woman who lures you in unawares. And certainly, I won’t dispute that Margaery
does what she does for her own personal gain and the upward mobility of her
family. Even though the Tyrells are
already the second-richest family in Westeros and one of the most
well-respected families, Margaery knows she can do better than that. She wants to be queen, and she’s not
overly-picky about who gets her there.
What
makes Margaery stand out, to me, is the ingenuity and savviness she
demonstrates in furthering that goal. In
these scenarios, the so-called honey trap usually employs her beauty and her
body to “snare her man,” and indeed, on the show, we see that sort of story
play out with Melisandre and Gendry, Osha and Theon, and different women
working for Littlefinger with whomever he wants to backmail/trap/etc. (I should mention that, with Melisandre and
Osha, the woman has a very specific motive that varies from the usual, but the
scenes themselves fit the pattern of women using their sexuality to trap
men.) But with Margaery, it’s never
merely a matter of offering herself to her king on a platter. For each case, she devises a different
strategy specific to him.
Her first
husband, Renly, is the toughest nut to crack in a traditional sense, because
he’s gay and sleeping with her brother.
For him, Margaery is the understanding queen, openly acknowledging the
delicacy of the situation to him but reminding him that he’ll need an heir to
continue his line. She’s prepared to
accomplish that in whatever way is least uncomfortable for him, suggesting at
one point that they bring in Loras to “get [Renly] started.” In all things, she’s gentle, reassuring, and
nonjudgmental.
King #2,
Joffrey, also requires a different approach than pure sex appeal, but it
couldn’t be more unlike the tack Margaery takes with Renly. For Joffrey, she recognizes his morbid
fascinations and mirrors them back to them, letting him take her on tours of
the Red Keep to hear about all the traitors his father executed after Robert’s
Rebellion and musing on the pleasure of hunting/having the power to end a life
in one’s hands. It works to secure
Joffrey’s admiration, but it also serves the purpose of keeping Margaery comparatively
safe with the sadistic young king. By
presenting herself as a kindred spirit, she becomes someone that Joffrey
wouldn’t regard as a weak or easy target to dominate (not, by the way, saying that Joffrey’s other victims are to be
blamed for any perceived weakness – Joffrey is a monster, and no one deserves
what they get at his whim – just that Margaery is shrewd in trying to protect
herself this way.)
And
finally, there’s Joffrey’s younger brother Tommen. Margaery probably veers closest to the “usual
method” with him, but her approach is mindful of his youth and naivete. Her first private “visit” with Tommen, a
brief chat in his bedroom at night, is quite smart. Margaery is warm and friendly, subtly playing
to his desire to feel older than he is by emphasizing his power as the king and
how she’ll essentially belong to him when she’s his queen. She brings up sex and conceiving an heir, but
gently, acting as if she’s nearly as wide-eyed and innocent at the thought as
he is.
All of
which shows that Margaery is a sharp judge of character, a skilled mimic, and
one smart cookie. And it’s a talent she
uses not just with her husbands. She
“seduces” Sansa in friendship almost as thoroughly, becoming a kind confidante
only slightly more worldly than Sansa herself – enough to advise/look out for
her but not so much as to shock the sheltered girl’s sensibilities. And while she’s with Joffrey, she earns her
name “the people’s queen” before she’s even married, taking time to show her
love to the poor and provide them with food and attention. Yes, it’s all in service of her desire to
gain power through marrying a king, but that kind of talent for savvy,
tailor-made manipulation has to be respected.
Margaery plays the game in King’s Landing better than most, and she does
it all with little of the violence and destructiveness that some of the city’s
other more ambitious citizens employ. I
always enjoyed watching the master at work, and losing her on the show was a
hard blow for me – King’s Landing just isn’t the same without her.
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