In the game of thrones, you live or you die.

Of course, we had given up on the lives of our favourite characters, ever since Ned Stark’s head was severed from his body in the first season. And we took an oath to never fall in love with George R R Martin’s characters ever again. Obviously, we broke our oath several times and failed to put a distance between the many fascinating characters of the show. It is just such a wonderfully written show with such rich dialogue and individualistic traits for each character, that you cannot help but fall in love with each of them, however noble or however evil.

The Red Wedding and the death of Hodor evoked an immense amount of hatred in us for the showrunners, and the death of Joffrey and Ramsay evoked an equal amount of pleasure. Rarely have we been indifferent to a death on the show. And after tonight we’ve lost another fascinating character in Olenna Tyrell. The one with equal amount of grit, foresight and sarcasm – she got away with many things that would have got anyone else killed. As she went out in today’s episode, she went out in her own style. Here are some things we will miss tremendously about the queen of sass – Olenna Tyrell:

1. She was neither the proverbial good guy nor the villain. Amongst the royalty, she embodied the spirit of the ultimate survivor in Westeros.

2. Olenna was fiercely protective of her family, especially her protege Margaery. She even went to the extent of killing Joffrey at his own wedding.

3. She was practically fearless – she took on the most conniving character of the seven kingdoms, Cersei, and warned her about her son’s death right in the most subtle way.

4. Her razor-sharp sarcasm could put even the verbose men like Tyrion and Varys to shame. She ALWAYS had the last word in a conversation. Even before her death, with Jaime.

5. She could smell BS from a mile away and had an extremely low tolerance for it. She did not waste any time suffering fools.

6. Olenna was absolutely irreverent towards the ‘Iron Throne’, her house of Tyrells or even the most powerful people in the kingdom like the High Sparrow, or Tywin Lannister (probably the only one she even mildly respected).

7. Her grit was something which made her outlast many more intelligent men than her, and she considered the ability to do things your enemy wouldn’t do, as strength. She wasn’t plain evil, she made sure she could outdo her most evil opponents.

8. When people saw her they saw a frail old woman trying to survive the day in Westeros, however, it was also her wisdom which had seen her through so many days. And she didn’t mind doling out advice to the people she liked – Sansa, Margaery or even Daenerys towards the end.

In the end, Olenna Tyrell played by Dame Diana Rigg is going to be dearly missed. It’s so sad that winter came for House Tyrell, and her straight-faced savagery will no longer be a part of the Great War. Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!