Spoilers ahead for the most recent episode of Game of Thrones.
While Season 7 of Game of Thrones will only span a few episodes, it's certainly delivering in regards to brutal character deaths, new interactions, and keeping the war between Cersei and Dany exciting. One of the ways HBO has done this is by promptly taking out Dany's Westerosi supporters, the Tyrells and the Dornish. Lady Olenna Tyrell's tenure on Game of Thrones has unfortunately come to an end, and her razor sharp wit and epic shade throwing abilities will be sorely missed, so now let's go back and remember her most savage moments on the series.
When She Accused Tywin Lannister Of Fooling Around With Boys
One thing that House Tyrell was able to do that most other families in Game of Thrones fail to do is to completely accept their own. Loras Tyrell was gay (something thoroughly frowned upon in Westeros), but Margaery and Olenna were unfazed by his orientation. And when Olenna was negotiating the duel marriages between the Tyrell and Lannister houses, Tywin Lannister brought up Loras' "affliction". After admitting he was a "sword swallower through and through" (lol), she questioned the Lannister patriarch about his relationships with male cousins and squires as a child. She accused him of playing around at least once, and you could almost see the steam escaping Tywin's ears.
Simultaneously Hitting On And Humiliating Varys
During Olenna Tyrell's earlier appearances on Game of Thrones, the Queen of Thorns spent most of her time taking guests in a King's Landing Garden. And when Varys arrived to speak with and possibly manipulate Olenna, they sparred in one of her trademark verbal altercations. When asking if Varys was trying to woo her and encouraging him to please continue, she began to ponder how their love making would be possible. What followed was one of her most hilarious lines of dialogue: "What happens when the nonexistent bumps against the decrepit?". Varys comedically looks down at his lack of genitalia, and the sparring match continues. Save AF.
Reading The Sand Snakes To Filth
After Cersei blew up the Sept of Baelor in Game of Thrones' Season 6 finale, Olenna was the only surviving member of the proper Tyrell House. Losing both of her grandchildren and son in one fowl swoop gave the Queen of Thornes some bloodlust, and she traveld to Dorne to speak with Ellaria Sand about their common enemy. And while she was happy to scheme with Ellaria, she managed to shut all three of Oberyn's bastards up at once. In fact, poor Tyene never even got a word in during the process. Let the grown women speak, indeed. Too bad "fire and blood" never came while the women were alive to see it.
Telling Cersei She's The Worst
The Queen of Thorns had an interesting arc in Season 6. With both Margaery and Loras wasting away in the cells underneath the Red Keep, Olenna's focus was to try and free the heirs to Highgarden. Olenna first planned her grandchildren's rescue with Hand of the King Kevan Lannister, before Jaime and Cersei provided a plan to take back Margaery by force. It turns out this was for nothing, as Margaery had already manipulated Tommen into aligning with the High Sparrow so she could avoid her walk of atonement. And after Margaery convinced her grandmother to leave King's Landing for her own safety, she had one final scene with Cersei. In it she calmly told Cersei how abhorrent she was, with "I wonder if you're the worst person I've ever met." Turns out, she totally was.
Her Last Words
While Olenna Tyrell unfortunately perished in the last episode of Game of Thrones, she went down swinging. Seeing the writing on the wall as the Lannister and Tarley forces marched on High Garden, it was clear that Olenna had losvt her role in the Great Game. Jaime Lannister awards the Queen of Thornes a merciful death, slipping some painless poison into her wine. After chugging her goblet, Olenna had a few last words that were absolutely incredible. She admits to poisoning Joffrey Baratheon at the Purple Wedding, which you can see break Jaime's heart in the moment. And as she waited to death to come, she asked him to tell Cersei it was she that killed their oldest child. Olenna wants Cersei to know the truth, and also realized that she missed her chance at a more violent mode of death for the Tyrell matriarch. Olenna Tyrell will always go down as one of the only characters to seize control of her own death scene, and for being savage until her final breath.
