[1] Ahh... ok. See I’ll give you my perception. For me her portrayal was like some cheap sketch of a ‚ambitious‘, ‚manipulative‘ feeling person. You know all about the pleasentness with a smirk thrown in here and there. You get little material what she is all about. What is her motivation (besides being ‚the queen‘). I mean it’s like all veneer, but it’s like I personally could not really grasp... well something that goes deeper.I will agree with you, the character of Margaery does seem fairly one dimensional. [1] A behind the scenes interview reveals that the show's writers attempted to give her more depth than is apparent in the novels. That she has any complexity is a consequence of the actress's ability more than anything. Natalie Dormer just has this almost fatalistic feminine presence to her; very present, alert, a hint of world weary kindness behind the formidable persona.
[2] That she so easily manipulated Joffery, much to Cersei's umbrage, shows an interesting facet to the Lannister family, a kind of sycophancy that reveals a obvious weakness. In the same light, underneath the coniving and posturing, there is a nobility to the Tyrell family characters that just falls short of the Stark's rightousness. Its as though Margaery can see the correctness of things, [3] but a pragmatic "counting of coins" holds her actions in check, she is not entirelly driven by ambition. Although there is a compassion there. I do not see the Tyrells either as totally complicit in their pursuit of the top spots as say the Lannisters are, but they do know how to play the game.
[2] Yeah... thats an interesting thought. I mean, I always thought the achilles heel of the Lannisters were their interpersonal dramatics. Cersei vs. Tyrion. Tyrion vs. Tywin. Cersei vs. Tywin. Jaime like standing there... wuh. They was no real unity. They were tearing themselves apart, before anybody else got the chance to do so. You could really see the contrast with the Tyrells. The Lannisters are more like one hand didn’t knew, what the other was doing/planning.
The Tyrells have more of this vibe that if one person was in, the whole family was in. Loras supports Renly – the Tyrells go to war. There is more of a bond between the family members. More of a unit. Also like when Olenna asks about Joffrey character and her part in the purple wedding. I think this way of handling things just bleeds out everywhere. I mean I agree... the Tyrells have a very ‚political‘ ‚pragmatic‘ ("counting of coins") vibe.
[3] (... they do know how to play the game). What I mean is like during the rebellion, when they sided with Robert, because it became clear to them that his rebellion might indeed become a successful one. I mean the Tyrells have this standing for me like, they don’t really have deeply woven ‚loyality‘ ties with any of the houses. They will side with what’s best for them in the end. You could say opportunistic, you could also say pragmatic and I mean they are the richest house in Westeros.
That’s where I see some parallels with House Martell. The Martells are another house, who don’t really have these strong ‚loyality ties‘. Their driving force is the revenge of Elia. But their kingdom lies very south and like I said don’t really have any real reason to ally themselves with other houses. I mean like the Tyrells they would only provide the resources, they would give and would loose sth. without really having anything to gain.
So that’s where I found Doran and Olenna interesting. Like with Doran (I’m the grass. I’m the grass... lmao... awesome), he is bound to his wheelchair, he will probably not go down in dornish history as the guy, who rode all the way to Kings Landing and slayed Tywin Lannister with his bare hands. But he may play the role of someone, who made the decision to keep Dorne out of this, instead of blindly/mindlessly dishing out, so that when they real conflict starts to brew, where Dorne has to get involved, they will still have the resources to do so.
And with Olenna you get the feeling that she has this shrewdness. You know sth. like, know the ‚truth‘ about yourself, so that you reckognize the lie in someone else. Like with all the talk about ‚oh we are the Tyrells‘ ‚roses and stuff‘, I mean look at the Starks ‚Winter is coming‘, well that’s a family motto. Like she can poke a bit fun at herself and everything. (I do not see the Tyrells either as totally complicit in their pursuit of the top spots as say the Lannisters...)
Yeah what I see is that with these 2 you have people who are trying not to loose their head over the game. You know like an awareness about what the quest for power really entails, what sacrifices and decisions have to be made at times and they like are trying to not cause too much damage to their respective kingdoms. Like I mean I stumbled upon this blog one day http://warsofasoiaf.tumblr.com/ (it's more dealing with the books)
And you see in the books it’s even much more complex. I mean this is just skimming the surface of things. You see on that big of a scale everything is going to develop it’s own dynamic. Like Cersei says in the show: No matter who you are, no matter how strong you are, sooner or later, you'll face circumstances beyond your control. Events you couldn't possibly have anticipated or prevented even if you had. You cannot blame yourself for fate.
I'm a bit tired today, sorry if it's too much of a rant...


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