8 Game of Thrones characters who were secret villains

Olenna Tyrell

Look, I love Olenna Tyrell. She’s one of the best Game of Thrones characters, but she is especially cutthroat, despite the kind, grandmotherly moments she shares with Sansa, Margaery, and other characters.

There’s no doubt that the Queen of Thorns is one of the best secret villains in Game of Thrones. Olenna partners with Petyr Baelish to poison Joffrey Baratheon during his wedding celebration. She also manipulates Sansa into being part of the murder, one of many reasons Sansa finds it hard to trust people over the long term. Killing an unpopular character like Joffrey isn’t that villainous on the surface, but how it’s done, at his own wedding feast, is a wicked twist of the knife. Plus, she features in one of the most villainous moments of the series when she says to Jaime — Joffrey’s father! — “Tell Cersei. I want her to know it was me.” It’s epic!

Olenna is always seeking what’s best for House Tyrell, and she’s not afraid to make major moves to get it. I respect the game that Olenna Tyrell played in Game of Thrones. Truly, she did the best with what she had, but she was dealt quite a bad hand and couldn’t quite keep up in the end.