

This piece contains spoilers for the season 6 finale of Game of Thrones, The Winds of Winter

“I don’t want to be a Queen. I want to be the Queen,” confessed flame-haired beauty Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) in season two of Game of Thrones – and by goodness, she actually did it (even if it did mean tearing through three Baratheon hubbies). For a while, the one-time Queen of Westeros wasn't just playing the Game of Thrones: she was winning it. Her time at the top came to a swift, brutal end – and yet if we'd been forced to bet a few weeks ago on the Westerosi woman most likely to hold on to power, we might well have gone for Margaery.

Throughout her time on the show, she demonstrated an Angelina Jolie-like flair for self-reinvention and for furthering her own mystique. Born into a prominent family, she set her sights on King’s Landing stardom, and knew that stealing King Joffrey’s heart was the way to get there – conveniently disregarding the fact that he was already betrothed to Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner).