Margaery Tyrell was easily one of the fan favorites in Game of Thrones. Her beauty, charisma, wisdom, and cleverness was second to none. Moreover, she always showed compassion towards the poor, which made her one of our most loved characters. Sadly, her horrible end left everyone heartbroken. But, could she have won the Game of Thrones?
She was different in the show than in the books
One thing that we have to set aside from the start is that Margaery Tyrell in the show was way better than the books. We never even got a POV chapter of Margaery in any of the 5 books. However, we have to thank the writers as well as Natalie Dormer herself for portraying her so amazingly well in the show. She did complete justice to her character, and more!
Now that that’s out of our system, let’s see how she could have won the Game of Thrones!
How could she have won the Iron Throne?
By Iron Throne, we don’t necessarily mean that Margaery Tyrell would be the Queen of all the Seven Kingdoms. She could easily be the most influential person in Westeros. Much like Tywin Lannister was when the Mad King sat on the Throne. So, here are the scenarios:
She keeps her peace with Cersei:
As we all know, messing with Cersei was the biggest mistake she made. It eventually resulted in her death, as Cersei blew up the Great Sept of Baelor. But, she could have gone a long way had she kept her peace with Cersei. The thing about Cersei is that she was obsessed with her children. And as soon as she realized that Margaery was a threat to her power over her children, she obliterated her. Well, not just her, but the entire church and God himself! That’s how obsessed she was.
Therefore, the best solution Margaery Tyrell had was to keep things at ease with Cersei. She should have tried her best to manipulate Cersei, knowing full well the extremes she’d go to for her kids. If she was able to keep her at bay, her chances would have grown. Of course, keeping a check over Cersei would still have been a thorn in her side, but it’s better than being consumed by wildfire, isn’t it?
What if she survived the wildfire and teamed up with Daenerys?
Now, this theory is a bit of a long shot. This theory was first spotted on Reddit, and it made complete sense, but for one tiny little detail. For it to happen, Margaery Tyrell had to survive the blowing up of the Sept. This could have happened if she had grown suspicious of Tommen’s absence, compelling her to leave. Of course, that would lead Margaery and Lady Olenna to be the only surviving Tyrells. Moreover, that would have left her powerless for the first time, while being Queen only in name.
However, the Tyrells command one of the largest standing armies in all of Westeros. To top it off, they rule over the most fertile lands of the Seven Kingdoms. Margaery could easily have returned to House Tyrell’s seat of power, High Garden, and plotted against House Lannister from there. She could have taken any route, with either siding with the North, after Jon Snow assembled them, or by siding with Daenerys when she sailed to Westeros with her 3 mighty dragons.
Had she sided with Dany, she might have kept her sane too, instead of turning into the Queen of Ashes as she always feared. Margaery always had compassion for the common folk in her heart. She could have easily used that to win over Dany, without posing as a threat. This could have won her a significant place in the Small Council, at the very least!
In short, Margaery Tyrell had infinite potential in her to become something special. But, Cersei ended up using her nuclear arsenal to take everything down. However, it would have been interesting had the showrunners taken this route. She wasn’t just loved by the fans, but a genuinely sensible and likable character. But as the French say, C’est La Vie.
