These Tyrells are only Lannisters with flowers.
The idea that is expressed here is that every house, no matter how nice they seem in the beginning, only care about a single thing, and that is power. Dantos believes that there are no honest people in King’s Landing, people who would help others just because it is the right thing to do. For him, everyone has a hidden motive and it is better to remain reserved and suspicions regarding everyone rather that regret it later.
I dreamt I saw a shadow with a burning hearth butchering a golden stag, aye. I dreamt of a man without a face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung. On his shoulders perched a drowned crow with seaweed hanging from his wings. I dreamt of a roaring river and a woman that was a fish. Dead she drifted, with red tears on her cheeks, but when her eyes did open, oh, I woke from terror.
The dreams that the old woman recalled have a prophetic value and foreshadow some of the events that will later happen in the book. When she talks about a woman that was a fish, the character Catalyn Stark is implied. Her father’s house, the Tully, has a fish on their banner and their castle is surrounded by rivers. The old woman’s dream about Catelyn will come to pass at the Red Wedding where Catelyn will be killed. The first vision is actually something that already happened, and that is the death of Renly Baratheon, the gold stag, murdered by a shadow cast by the Red Priestess.
‘’Loras is young,’’ Lady Olenna said crisply, ‘’and very good at knocking men off horses with a stick. That doesn’t make him wise.’’
The main idea that is transmitted through this quote is that physical power is useless if that person is not wise enough to know how to use it. It is also hinted that many assume that power and wisdom are synonymous and that the existence of one represents both.
‘’All men are fools, if truth be told, but the ones in motley are more amusing than ones with crowns.’’
The idea that men are easily manipulated is present throughout the book. Most of the times, the decisions that men took in the book proved to be the result of careful manipulation done by stronger women that are usually left in the shadows. The power actually belongs to those who are able to manipulate others in such a way as not to be noticed. Lady Olenna is one such character whose power, even though it is not as visible, can’t be denied or ignored.
‘’Love is not always wise, I’ve learned. It can lead us to great folly, but we follow our hearts…wherever they take us.’’
Even is love is a minor theme in the book, the vast majority of decisions taken by character that in the end prove to be disastrous are born from the desire to protect their loved one or to avenge them. For example, Joffrey’s death was a result of Lady Olenna’s love for her granddaughter and her desire to not see her suffer.
