Game of Thrones Symbolism: The Tyrells

[Do you like it Nana? ] [Another golden rose. How original.

I eat from plates stamped with roses. I sleep in sheets embroidered with roses. I have a golden rose painted on my chamber pot.

As if that makes it smell any better. Roses are boring dear. ] The Tyrell sigil is a gold rose on a green field.

Beautiful roses on the outside, the Tyrells hide thorns if anyone tries to cross them. As Wardens of the South, the Tyrells hold their title from their seat at Highgarden in the Reach, the most fertile land in Westeros. The Reach keeps the people fed, supplying less fruitful areas like King’s Landing with grain, fruit, wine, and livestock.

It's one of the richest lands in Westeros, second only to the Lannisters’ Westerlands. [I have an outrageous amount of money. ] [Not as much as the Lannisters.

] [But a lot more than you. ] So for the Tyrells, tending the green field really does grow into a rose made of gold. While the other Houses are hated by commoners, the Westerosi people love the Tyrells because of their seemingly good nature.

Margaery Tyrell is pretty much the only ruler we’ve seen in King’s Landing who even takes a moment to pretend to care about the peasants. But behind their charitable and poised outer temperament -- like the thorny rose -- the Tyrells are cunning and ruthless. And like a flower bending with the wind and to the sun, the Tyrells are nothing if not flexible, taking advantage of every opportunity, making the best of every situation.

We might see the Tyrells as a cross between the Starks and the Lannisters: Like the Starks, they love each other and project a noble code of honor. Though in the Tyrells’ case this code is a superficial facade. Like the Lannisters, they lead an inner life that’s a very different story from their outer, and they are not to be messed with.

[Beware this video will contain spoilers ] While there may be a few minor cousins remaining, most of the key Tyrells -- Margaery, Loras and Mace -- were wiped out by Cersei’s wildfire at the end of Season 6. [Cersei stole the future from me. Survival is not what I'm after now.

] Unless some of these minor Tyrell relations are still alive and come into play, Lady Olenna’s death marks the extinction of another major house in Game of Thrones. Overall, House Tyrell represents fertility and prosperity, outer benevolence, pragmatic opportunism, flexible cunning, hidden strength, matriarchy, and family solidarity. The Tyrell motto “Growing Strong” speaks to their place in the Reach, an area with a booming population and fertile land.

The word “growing” makes us think of a closeness to nature and “strong” reminds us their wealth is based not on currency and politics, but on a firm foundation of resources from the land. Their knowledge of agriculture is reflected in their patience and plotting nature both of which are necessary to reap the rewards of what you sow, whether agriculturally or politically. Planting a seed means it’ll take a while, but it will eventually bear fruit.

Moreover, they have a very long view of the game. “Growing strong” also means that the Tyrells have a strong familial bond at the center of their House. They're a loving and tight-knit family with nothing like the Lannister or Baratheon internal rivalries.

The members of House Tyrell genuinely love, accept and support one another something that’s almost revolutionary in the world of Game of Thrones. This difference may something to do with the fact that the family is really run by the women, and has been for centuries. [Do you know my son?

The Lord of Highgarden? ] [I haven't had the pleasure. ] [No great pleasure, believe me.

Ponderous oaf. ] Show creator D. B.

Weiss maintains that the House Tyrell is an unofficial matriarchy. And Olenna’s advice to Daenerys is to never listen to a man: [I've known a great many clever men. I've outlived them all.

You know why? I ignored them. ] Tyrell women demonstrate three secrets of growth: pragmatism, adaptability, and acceptance.

[Yes. All Lannisters are lions. And when a Tyrell farts, it smells like a rose.

] Opportunists through and through, they are prone to picking the side that is likely to win. The Tyrells began not as rulers, but as stewards to the Gardener Kings in the Reach. They first rose to power by voluntarily surrendering Highgarden to Aegon Targaryen, after Aegon burned the Garderner King and his heirs alive in battle.

Aegon made the Tyrells Lords Paramount of the Reach, passing over other families who ranked above them. For this reason the Tyrells are always wary that other Houses in the Reach might not respect their rule, especially House Florent who claims more direct lineage from the Gardener Kings. [I've known Olenna since I was a child.

] [She was a great woman. Once. Now she's broken.

] In Robert’s Rebellion, the Tyrells supported the likely victors the Targaryens, but surrendered once they realized Robert would win. In the present timeline, the Tyrells align first with Renly, then with the dominant Lannisters, marrying Margaery off to Joffrey to become Queen. But they soon plot to put Tommen on the throne, as he’ll be easier to control.

Margaery impressively manages to navigate marriages to Renly, Joffrey and Tommen adapting to each with grace and manipulating the three very different men to her own purposes. This speaks to her exceptional skill at accepting the reality that’s given to her, which she seems to inherit from her grandmother. [But once the cow's been milked, there's no squirting the cream back up her udders.

So here we are to see things through. ] Olenna and Margaery don’t hesitate to accept that Margaery’s brother Loras is gay. They simply work with it.

[A sword swallower, through and through. But it's a natural thing, two boys having a go at it beneath the sheets. ] This is a notable contrast to someone like Tywin Lannister who won’t face his children’s incest even after Cersei rubs it in his face.

[Everything they say is true about Jaime and me. Your legacy is a lie. ] [I don't believe you.

] Unlike “fire and blood” or “hear me roar, the motto “growing strong” is not boastful or threatening. The Tyrells aren’t making a big performance of might and power. They take advantage of being underestimated.

No one would suspect Lady Olenna of killing King Joffrey. Like the roots of a flower, the extent of her influence is often unseen. Yet the “strong” in growing strong is equally accurate: the Tyrells are not the innocent flower or pacifist farmers -- but a force to be reckoned with.

[Do you want to be a Queen? ] [No. ] [I want to be THE Queen.

] Olenna’s words to Daenerys speaks to her own strength as well: [You're a dragon. Be a dragon. ] The Tyrell Gold and Green encapsulate the source of their power: Gold is the color of wealth, and Green is the color of nature.

The Reach’s natural plentitude provides food for the Seven Kingdoms, which means gold for the Tyrells. [When House Tyrell stops sending our crops to the capitol, everyone here will starve. And I make sure the hungry knows who's to blame.

] Like the Lannisters who also use the color gold, the Tyrells like to rule and are cunning in court politics, but they’re even more subtle than the Lannisters, who tend to need more validation and public shows of vengeance. Green is harmonious, nurturing, a symbol of spring, freshness and life itself. It’s seen as a stable color -- just like the Tyrell women.

But it also has negative connotations of selfishness and greed or envy. And Margaery and Olenna Tyrell are incredibly manipulative and unwavering in pursuing their self-interest. The representations of the sigil vary the intensity of the green -- pale versions suggest that they’re sometimes trying to underplay their greedy nature in favor of their generous, kind reputation.

In the beginning the Tyrells mute the colors of their garments, sporting an understated teal in place of a true green. However, by “Oathkeeper,” the episode in which Olenna admits that she played a part in Joffrey’s murder, the Tyrells start showing off their true colors. And once Tommen becomes king, Margaery is seen more often in bright regal gold, asserting her place as royalty.

One of the few houses without an animal, the Tyrell boasts a rose on their sigil, symbolizing the source of their power in the growth of Highgarden. The national flower of England, the rose makes us think of the real-life Tudor badge. After the War of the Roses -- the history that loosely inspires Game of Thrones -- the reigning Tudors combined the red & white rose symbols that the houses of Lancaster and York were believed to have used.

While animals fight with one another, roses “grow strong” in their gardens without openly clashing, only competing for the light. It’s significant that this female-led house is embodied by a non-violent symbol that avoids confrontation in favor of more productive moves. Roses are a symbol of femininity and beauty, which not only embodies the Tyrells’ matriarchy but also makes us think of the way they play on people’s perception of the feminine to appear weaker and less significant than they are.

Olenna and Margaery play up their passive and docile facade -- Margaery in her charitable image, and Olenna letting others dismiss her as antiquated and peripheral. But both understand that a captivating, love-inspiring rose beauty only gets them so far in the ruthless game. [Of course, I can't remember a Queen who was better loved than my granddaughter.

The common people loved her. The nobles loved her. What is left of her now?

Ashes. ] The Tyrell allure and kind demeanor is matched by their sharp, protective thorns. Olenna is known as the Queen of Thorns, thanks to her sharp wit, [We both know you're not writing anything.

] [Ah, yes, the famously tart-tongued Queen of Thorns. ] [And the famous tart, Queen Cersei. ] but the monkier also speaks to the grandmother’s talent for self-preservation and family protection.

The Tyrells are driven by protecting their own, ruthless in defending their loved ones from danger. Olenna isn't going to let Margaery stay married to so unstable and violent a king as Joffrey. [You don't think I'd let you marry that beast, do you?

] Margaery is driven by the mission to free her brother. And while Cersei did outsmart her, Margaery’s self-preserving intelligence showed in that she was the only one to foresee what was about to happen in the Sept. The fact that the Tyrells are killed by green fire has an ironic symbolism.

It's not only their own color green, but it's also an uncontrollable wild force on the opposite end of the nature spectrum from their philosophy of carefully cultivating stable growth. In the books, the Tyrells have more siblings and minor cousins -- and in the show, some of the handmaidens we’ve seen are implied to be Tyrell relations, so it’s possible that there are still some remaining Tyrells to continue the bloodline. Either way House Tyrell has provided some of the most clever and cunning players in the game, and taught us some interesting lessons about how to grow strong.

[It was horrible enough for me. A shocking scene. Not at all what I intended.