Home » Margaery Tyrell & Anne Boleyn: More in Common than Natalie Dormer?

Margaery Tyrell & Anne Boleyn: More in Common than Natalie Dormer?

by Lili Klein
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Image source: http://anneboleyns.tumblr.com/post/33353788784

It is widely known  that George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire book series is loosely based on historical actors and events of England’s Wars of the Roses (a series of dynastic wars fought between two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York—sound familiar?).  The extent to which specific characters or plot lines are actually derived from this period is debatable, and perhaps better saved for a later article, but one likeness in particular is difficult to ignore.

Perhaps it was just a casting coincidence but it’s noteworthy that British actress Natalie Dormer plays both a riveting rendition of Anne Boleyn during the first 2 seasons of Showtime’s The Tudors and an arguably enhanced version of Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones. The actress has made an intentional attempt to differentiate the two.  In a recent interview Dormer had this to say:

“You’ll appreciate that I’m trying very, very hard as an actor to separate my characterizations. It was a concern for me when I took on the role [of Margaery] that I wanted to differentiate them as much as possible. So I aim to do that and I challenge myself to do that every single day. I want to create a completely independent character.”

I would argue, however, that she is fighting an up-hill battle given some pretty striking similarities between the lives and aspirations of the two women. It should be noted that these similarities could be purely coincidental and that George Martin perhaps drew no inspiration for Margaery from Anne. In fact, Anne Boleyn reigned alongside Henry VIII about 50 years after the period generally thought of as the Rose Wars. I also doubt that Martin would have approved the casting choice for Margaery had she been intentionally modeled after the real-life Anne. Regardless, let’s take a closer look:

Family

Tyrell-Family-DinnerAnne Boleyn was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, a respected diplomat, and Lady Elizabeth Howard. On the Howard side, Anne was the grand-daughter and then niece of the Duke of Norfolk. This made Anne a member of one of the most powerful and influential English families of the time. Similarly, Margaery comes from the Tyrell family which is among the most influential families (aka Houses) in Westeros. Their power is evidenced by the fact that their support of the Lannisters in the Battle of the Blackwater made the difference in keeping Joffrey on his throne.

Anne Boleyn was especially close to her brother George Boleyn. And, at least as portrayed in The Tudors, George had some very personal interactions with other men. Similarly, Margaery is portrayed as very close with her brother Loras, who it’s widely known had a more-than-friends relationship with Renly Baratheon and at least one other male character so far.

Charisma

Both Anne Boleyn and Margaery Tyrell are characterized as especially adept at maneuvering the political world of a royal court. The American historian [amazon_link id=”0521406773″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Retha M. Warnicke writes that Anne[/amazon_link] was:

“The perfect woman courtier… her carriage was graceful and her French clothes were pleasing and stylish; she danced with ease, had a pleasant singing voice, played the lute and several other musical instruments well, and spoke French fluently… A remarkable, intelligent, quick-witted young noblewoman… that first drew people into conversation with her and then amused and entertained them. In short, her energy and vitality made her the center of attention in any social gathering.”

Margaery-Anne

This seems like a pretty accurate description for Margaery, too. Margaery is portrayed in both the books and the show as among the Realm’s most beautiful and stylish young women, skilled in all the womanly charms expected of ladies in her station. In SHOWTIME’s The Tudors, Anne is (at least until her eventual demise) portrayed as having a great deal of influence and control over her man, King Henry VIII. She manages to oust the King’s most trusted advisor, the powerful Cardinol Wolsey, and is instrumental in ultimately persuading Henry to style himself as head of the Church of England. Margaery is adept at placating Joffrey, holds her own against both Littlefinger and Cersei, and demonstrates multiple times that she is highly skilled at the public relations of ruling a kingdom.

Motivations

Game-of-Thrones-Season-3-Margaery-TyrellI would argue that both Anne Boleyn and Margaery Tyrell are extremely motivated by power. Both women desperately want to be Queen. Anne Boleyn waited for at least 6 years while Henry VIII petitioned the Pope for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, in the hopes that she would eventually be raised to take her place. This persistence did, eventually, earn her the Queenship she so coveted. It is impossible to tell where the real-life Anne derived this fiery ambition but in The Tudors, at least, it is partially inspired by her extremely ambitious family. Eventually her thirst for power seems to come purely from within. Similarly, Margaery Tyrell is driven by her family toward the highest position in the Realm. Her family first tries to interest King Robert Baratheon in Margaery, describing her beauty as similar to that of Robert’s true love Lyanna Stark. Upon his death, she marries Renly Baratheon. It is at this point that she tells Littlefinger of her true ambitions:

“I want to be the queen”.


Her ambition next brings her to King’s Landing and a betrothal to King Joffrey.

Fate (SPOILER ALERT!!)

We found out an interesting tidbit about Margaery in last night’s episode. She and Sansa have a sisterly walk & talk scene in which they discuss the subject of marital duty. Margaery overtly implies that she’s had her fair share of sexual experience. This was only speculated about in the books but is part of what contributes to her eventual fate. Anne Boleyn’s sexual experience before marrying Henry VIII was also much speculated about and contributed to her eventual downfall as well.

The-Bear-and-the-Maiden-Fair

Even if you didn’t watch The Tudors, you probably know that Anne Boleyn met with a violent demise. Her luck ran out when she was famously beheaded, having fallen out of favor with her husband, Henry VIII.  After several failed attempts at providing the King with his much-needed male heir, charges were brought against Anne that she had committed the treasonous sin of adultery. Anne was accused and convicted of having adulterous relations with not one but five men, including her brother George Boleyn. The first of her supposed lovers to be arrested and the only to confess, likely under torture, was Anne’s musician Mark Smeaton. All five men were also executed for their “crimes”.

It should be evident already to show-only Game of Thrones fans that Margaery and Cersei do not share a great affection for one another. Cersei fears Margaery’s influence over Joffrey and eventually Tommen. She’s also probably more than a little jealous of Margaery’s youth, beauty and attention at court. Book-readers know that Cersei will eventually plot Margaery’s downfall, accusing her of adultery and treason.  Cersei lined up an impressive, but fictitious, list of lovers and conspirators, the first of which was Margaery’s personal musician, the Blue Bard. Under torture, he confessed to the crime–sound familiar?

Eventually, Margaery is released to await her trial, due to a lack of any strong evidence against her. Though Anne Boleyn was not so lucky, history now recognizes the trumped-up nature of her charges. We don’t know yet where fate will take Margaery next, but will definitely stay-tuned to find out!

Despite the above similarities, Margaery and Anne are not identical characters. Natalie Dormer offers an explanation of what she feels differentiates the two:

“Insofar as it’s “A Song of Ice and Fire,” Anne Boleyn was fire and Margaery is ice. Margaery is a lot more practical, cool. She’s been trained for this sort of level of politics and machinations from an early age. She’s intellectual about it, whereas Anne Boleyn was very much a creature driven by passion an instinct and visceral qualities. So, in their roots, the characterizations come from two different places.”

Just as the rest of A Song of Ice and Fire is only loosely based on historical events, Margaery is a fictional character. So, while not necessarily modeled directly after Anne Boleyn, Margaery Tyrell is a similiarly confident, ambitious, and powerful young woman. And, let’s face it, these characteristics weren’t all that commonplace in either Tudor England or Westeros. Coincidence? Perhaps. Either way: you go girls!

Marg-Lili-150x150Lili Klein loves both A Song of Ice and Fire and Tudors historical fiction. As a result, she’s a huge Natalie Dormer fan and even got a chance to meet up with her at a a GoT premiere event.
When not writing about TV, Lili enjoys painting (sometimes dabbling in GoT fan art) and hanging out with her Shiba Inu, Henry, who she named after Henry VIII because they’re both tyrannical red-heads. She uses Sling to stream Game of Thrones regularly.

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27 comments

yawn April 18, 2014 - 12:06 am

The only problem with the idea that ASOIAF is playing out the Wars of the Roses is the fact that the Starks and Lannisters are not cadet houses of a larger dynasty. The Wars of the Roses at no point had six kings vying for control at the same time.

Tywin is most certainly not Warwick. Tywin has not made any kings. Unless you are counting marrying Cersei to Robert and producing Joff “king making”… Oh but that probably had more to do with Jon Arryn – Robert marrying Cersei, that is. I actually don’t think there is a Warwick parallel in the books to be honest, but it’s definitely not Tywin if there is one.

Sansa is also not Elizabeth of York, that makes no sense, as, for that to work, Sansa would have actually had to marry Joffrey and end the Lannister/Stark conflict. This further plays into the idea that the current continuity of ASOIAF is not portraying the wars of the roses; The Stark’s declared INDEPENDENCE. At no point did they lay claim to the throne of all westeros. They were exerting an ancient tradition as a distinct and separate ethnic group (the first men / North Men).

Joff is not usurping the throne from the Starks, he is usurping it from Stannis Baratheon (i.e. a house that actually is a cadet branch of the Targaryen dynasty). Case in point, this war has FAR too many factions to resemble anything like the wars of the roses.

This article has taken a very common posited theory – Which is absolutely correct – But the author has missed the mark. The parallels between the WoTR and ASOIAF are in the BACK STORY of Westerosi history. The WoTR is played out in the Blackfyre rebellions.

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Jessica April 17, 2014 - 5:44 pm

She does, for sure. But you are missing something. Margaery has a lot of parallels with Anne’s predecessor, Catherine of Aragon too. You should take a look on that.

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Eric Pharand April 4, 2014 - 6:26 pm Reply
Targyrean ghost January 14, 2014 - 7:30 am

This is excellent analysis. It makes sense because when I think go it, I couldn’t really match Margery tyrell to any character in war of roses. Would u agree that: 1) twin lannister is Warwick d kingmaker; 2) Robert baratheon is Henry Iv of Bolingbroke; 3) cerise I lannisrer is Margaret of Anjou; 4) Eddard stark is Richard of York; 5) rob stark is Edward Iv ; 6) bran and rickon r princes of d tower; 7) Sansa stark is Elizabeth of York?

Who do you think is Richard iii? Is he possibly stannis baratheon?

Tardy reman ghost

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Missus Tudor April 11, 2014 - 1:17 pm

Robert Baratheon is pure Edward IV, if you ask me. Great warrior in his youth, rescuing the crown from a “mad” King (Henry VI) and then going spectacularly to seed. As for the rest, mixtures of all. Daenarys has a lot of Henry VII in her – an exiled claimant, dodging assassins every ten minutes and largely forgotten about by most. Even the dragon sigil. That’s about it. I would be disappointed if the like of Cersei is based on Margaret of Anjou – its’ the worst kind of historical stereotyping that GRRM is so much better than.

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Joe October 16, 2013 - 7:16 am

Natalie is up and coming in the acting business, but from what I have seen of her on film so far, it seems like she can play many roles, be serious but also have some fun with a part as well. I belive we will be seeing more of her in movies in the next few years.

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Emily Shannon October 15, 2013 - 9:04 am

Hi. The graphic in the beginning of this article that you’ve posted is actually one of mine. I created that graphic. The fact that you’ve posted it here with NO credit at all to the original artist is very frustrating. I made that graphic and posted it on my tumblr a year ago; here is the link: http://anneboleyns.tumblr.com/post/33353788784. Please alter your post to at least provide a credit to the person who created it: me. Thank you.

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Cian Gaffney October 15, 2013 - 9:17 am

Sincerest apologies, with the amount of images being used we sometimes slip up. I’ve modified the post to include the original source for the image.

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Jacob Klein October 15, 2013 - 9:34 am

Thanks for taking care of this, Cian. I just wanted to second our apologies. Hey! If you’re interested in getting some more exposure we’d love to bring you on board to create some more interesting images for our featured articles. Full credit, links etc of course. We obviously like what you do. Let me know if you’re interested in taking it to the next level.

Jacob
HBOWatch Founder

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Emily Shannon October 15, 2013 - 10:23 pm

Thank you for taking the time to comment on this. And yes, I’m very interested in such an agreement! I’m not entirely sure what you’d want of me, but I’m open to discussion. I’m very flattered that you like my work so much, and I’m very excited that you’ve offered this!

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Emily Shannon October 15, 2013 - 10:21 pm

Thank you for taking care of this so quickly, I really do appreciate it.

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Kevyne September 10, 2013 - 5:48 am

Despite of their differences, they share a common trait: Being Ambitious and wants to be placed in a higher rank. Whereas Anne wanted to be Queen and Margaery wanted to be queen Also.

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Ana July 9, 2013 - 4:14 pm

Nice but to me Anne and Cersei are more similar :)

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Jacob Klein July 10, 2013 - 10:42 am

I’ve seen versions of Anne as more innocent and some that seemed more like Cersei. Even readers don’t really know for sure how either character’s arc’s are going to end up.

Either way I think MargTy would fit right in to KHVIII’s court.

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ShrykeAbysmal October 15, 2018 - 6:22 pm

There’s no way on that. Anne was incredibly aware of and compassionate towards the lowest in the kingdom in station. Cersei considers them fiscal and military chips at best and filthy burdens at worst. Margaery shares Anne’s respect for and consideration of all of the king’s subjects regardless of station.

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Rhiannon Kavity May 28, 2013 - 11:05 am

Amazing article! I loved all the parallels you drew between the two characters. I think differentiating them was very important to Natalie but I wouldn’t be surprised if some the inspiration for Margaery came from Anne!

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Rochelle May 17, 2013 - 6:44 pm

I totally see the resemblance in the characters! Such a great catch! I hope Margaery is more successful than Anne…I would much rather see Joffrey die from her betrayal than see Joffrey follow King Henry’s steps with Anne!

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Katie Durham May 16, 2013 - 11:15 am

I loved this article. I am not as familiar with the Tudors as I am GOT but I loved all the correlations between the two. Thank-you for this.

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Jef Dinsmore May 15, 2013 - 10:39 pm

Just goes to show you how clueless I can be. I never heard of natalie Dormer before GAME OF THRONES. Thanks for the interesting insight.

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Tamara Winfrey May 15, 2013 - 3:57 am

That’s what I thought! Marjorie *is* similar to Anne Boleyn! I think the same thing about Sansa and Elizabeth I.

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Lili Klein May 16, 2013 - 12:58 pm

Oh, I hadn’t thought of that one! Elizabeth I was Anne Boleyn’s daughter, by the way!

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Tamara Winfrey May 16, 2013 - 1:02 pm Reply
Edy Waiter May 22, 2013 - 11:59 am

This is a brilliant vid. Thanks so much for sharing. Elizabeth I is my fave person from history. Next to her dad!

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MJ Snow May 14, 2013 - 12:14 pm

Great piece, Lili! I’ve heard the comparison between Anne & Margaery, but it’s fun to have it laid out this way. I really enjoyed reading it!

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Lili Klein May 16, 2013 - 12:59 pm

Thanks!

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Eleonora Iafano May 14, 2013 - 10:32 am

Fantastic article! I have loved Natalie Dormer since “Casanova” in 2005. I was hooked on the Tudors and when I heard that Natalie Dormer was going to be on Game of Thrones, I was ecstatic! Love the comparisons and similarities of both characters!

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Lili Klein May 16, 2013 - 1:01 pm

I was pretty excited when I heard she’d be joining the cast too! Even better that they’ve really amped up Margaery’s character from the books to the show–love Natalie!

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