It's not long now before we all get to feast our eyes on the Season 6 finale of Game of Thrones , the longest episode of series yet. And the network is hinting at the players who will get something done on Sunday night's episode with new photos. While these pics give away little of the episode, called "The Winds of Winter," besides the fact that Jaime Lannister will be sharing wine with Walden Frey and Tyrion will be having a chat with Daenerys, there is one photo that has me excited. It shows Ser Loras Tyrell kneeling before the High Sparrow. His hair is shorn and he's wearing a burlap sack; he looks nothing like the prettyboy we remember. The High Sparrow's hand rests on his cheek. Now, the trailer for the finale makes it clear that Loras will finally get his trial, but what the photo really has me wondering is whether we will finally get to see what his sister, Margaery Tyrell, has planned for the High Sparrow.
We last saw Margaery, the newest convert to the Faith of the Seven, in Episode 7, telling her grandmother, Olenna, to get out of King's Landing and go home to Highgarden. But even as her Seven-approved minder looked on, Margaery managed to slip her grandmother a message: a drawing of a rose, the Tyrell's insignia. It was a sign to let her granny know that she hadn't really been brainwashed, that she is still loyal to her family and her newfound piety is just a front. No real surprise that Margaery, one of the show's best schemers, has been manipulating the High Sparrow into thinking she's just another one of his devotees. She seems to have the best chance of taking the High Sparrow down. (Sorry, Cersei.) It's why this very unrevealing photo has me wondering whether she's planning the High Sparrow's murder.
Margaery has been playing coy, but like her family's sigil, she may look beautiful and sweet as a rose, but has thorns that she's not afraid to use on those who underestimate her. She loves her brother, and as we saw in Episode 4, before her sudden pledge to the High Sparrow, she is willing to do anything to get him out of the Seven's clutches. The best way she could do that is by murdering the High Sparrow and forcing his followers to pledge allegiance to the throne.
Some Reddit users even swear that Margaery killing the High Sparrow was hinted at way back in Season 4, when she said she would "end up with a string of dead sparrow heads around her neck." She was talking about what Joffrey would likely have her wear on her wedding day, but this could possibly be foreshadowing that the High Sparrow's head will be lost at the ends of Queen Tyrell.
It's yet to be revealed if Margaery's husband, Tommen, is aware of any such plan. And if he isn't, there is the question of how he would react to it. Especially since fans are still trying to figure out what the High Sparrow revealed to Tommen earlier this season that had the young king looking to combine the crown with the faith. One Reddit user believes that the High Sparrow told Tommen about the Tyrells' hand in the killing of Joffrey. Could Tommen turn on his beloved bride in the final moments of the season finale? Sure, this would be surprising, an epic moment which would show that Tommen is not who anyone thought he was. But is it just me, or is it hard to believe that sweet little Tommen would hurt Margaery, even if her family did kill his (terrible) brother?
That's why it feels like the big moment in the finale needs to go to Margaery, who's been quietly scheming. No one could deny that killing the High Sparrow would be sweet justice for her and her family. It would also play right into the major theme of this season: that the women of Game Of Thrones be doing it all by themselves. It would set up her Sansa moment. Perhaps, like Lady Stark, Margaery will have an army swoop in at the right time to take down the High Sparrow. Perhaps she has something else in mind; something on par with Arya's face-snatching move to take down her enemy. Or maybe she's got her own dragons (metaphorical ones) which could lead to her very own Daenerys moment.
No matter what, a drop-the-mic moment would prove that Margaery is worthy of the Iron Throne and good at playing the game. Get ready to bow down.
Image: Helen Sloan/Courtesy of HBO (3)
