Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBOWinter finally came, with Game of Thrones' ladies causing the storm. (Warning, MAJOR GOT spoilers ahead!)
HBO's hit series closed out its sixth season with an explosive (literally and figuratively) finale on Sunday night, with the show's creative team making like new Queen Cersei (Lena Headey) by striking a match and lighting EVERYTHING on fire. And what a season it was for the female characters, including Cersei, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie), as well as more supporting characters, such as Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan) and the Internet's new obsession Lyanna Mormont (Bella Ramsey), the young leader of House Mormont who has no interest in biting her tongue.
However, there was one female character, who has been one of our favorites since she was introduced in season two, that didn't have the standout season or send-off we think she deserved: Margaery Tryell (Natalie Dormer), who became just one of Cersei's many victims in the Sept after the wildfire explosion, after warning the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) that s--t was about to go down. Of course, he didn't listen. And then: BOOM goes the Sept.
"I thought it was an inspired choice," Dormer told Entertainment Weekly of Margaery's demise. "And it's really interesting that I am given a moment of some vindication at the very end, which was the perfect way for Margaery to leave the show. She's given a platform to say that she was right, as she always is. But because the power was taken from her, she couldn't do anything about it."
Listen, it's great to be right, we agree, but dying kind of makes the whole being right thing not really matter.
All season we were made to believe Margaery, who always seems to be thinking two steps ahead, had a secret plan, and would ultimately play and betray the High Sparrow. Oh, how wrong we were. Turns out, Margaery just really wanted to stay alive.
Unlike many other characters on the show, Margaery was willing to play the game. Hell, she relished playing the game, and proved her staying power. She married not one, not two, but THREE kings to stay in the game, manipulating and influencing them with her intelligence, wit and other charms. And ultimately, it was just another man she tethered her fate to that led to her demise. "By the end, Margaery is a victim of the High Sparrow's incompetence," Dormer told EW.
So yes, to see Margaery taken out in an explosion as just one of many with the man too arrogant to listen to her felt so underwhelming and unfair. And we know, we know! No one ever said Game of Thrones was fair. But after four seasons of character development and a truly epic season for the women of Westeros, we were just hoping for a bit more for our Margaery.
But that's just the exquisite torture Game of Thrones forces its fans to endure. It's just one of the reasons we love Game of Thrones is that even a major (and strong) player in the quest for the Iron Throne can be a random casualty of war. So many shows say no one is safe, but none actually mean it quite like GOT.