Ja, det finns i böckerna. Olenna kallade Mace Tyrell "Lord oaf" och mycket mer.
En storm av svärd , kapitel 6, Sansa I.
“Renly was brave and gentle, Grandmother,” said Margaery. “Father liked him as well, and so did Loras.”
“Loras is young,” Lady Olenna said crisply, “and very good at knocking men off horses with a stick. That does not make him wise. As to your father, would that I’d been born a peasant woman with a big wooden spoon, I might have been able to beat some sense into his fat head.”
“Mother,” Lady Alerie scolded.
“Hush, Alerie, don’t take that tone with me. And don’t call me Mother. If I’d given birth to you, I’m sure I’d remember. I’m only to blame for your husband, the lord oaf of Highgarden.”
“Grandmother,” Margaery said, “mind your words, or what will Sansa think of us?”
“She might think we have some wits about us. One of us, at any rate.” The old woman turned back to Sansa. “It’s treason, I warned them, Robert has two sons, and Renly has an older brother, how can he possibly have any claim to that ugly iron chair? Tut-tut, says my son, don’t you want your sweetling to be queen? You Starks were kings once, the Arryns and the Lannisters as well, and even the Baratheons through the female line, but the Tyrells were no more than stewards until Aegon the Dragon came along and cooked the rightful King of the Reach on the Field of Fire. If truth be told, even our claim to Highgarden is a bit dodgy, just as those dreadful Florents are always whining. ‘What does it matter?’ you ask, and of course it doesn’t, except to oafs like my son. The thought that one day he may see his grandson with his arse on the Iron Throne makes Mace puff up like . . . now, what do you call it? Margaery, you’re clever, be a dear and tell your poor old half-daft grandmother the name of that queer fish from the Summer Isles that puffs up to ten times its own size when you poke it.”
“They call them puff fish, Grandmother.”
“Of course they do. Summer Islanders have no imagination. My son ought to take the puff fish for his sigil, if truth be told. He could put a crown on it, the way the Baratheons do their stag, mayhap that would make him happy. We should have stayed well out of all this bloody foolishness if you ask me, but once the cow’s been milked there’s no squirting the cream back up her udder. After Lord Puff Fish put that crown on Renly’s head, we were into the pudding up to our knees, so here we are to see things through. And what do you say to that, Sansa?”
Och igen i samma kapitel.
As the servants brought out a broth of leeks and mushrooms, Butterbumps began to juggle and Lady Olenna pushed herself forward to rest her elbows on the table. “Do you know my son, Sansa? Lord Puff Fish of Highgarden?”
“A great lord,” Sansa answered politely.
“A great oaf,” said the Queen of Thorns. “His father was an oaf as well. My husband, the late Lord Luthor. Oh, I loved him well enough, don’t mistake me. A kind man, and not unskilled in the bedchamber, but an appalling oaf all the same. He managed to ride off a cliff whilst hawking. They say he was looking up at the sky and paying no mind to where his horse was taking him.
“And now my oaf son is doing the same, only he’s riding a lion instead of a palfrey. It is easy to mount a lion and not so easy to get off, I warned him, but he only chuckles. Should you ever have a son, Sansa, beat him frequently so he learns to mind you. I only had the one boy and I hardly beat him at all, so now he pays more heed to Butterbumps than he does to me. A lion is not a lap cat, I told him, and he gives me a ‘tut-tut-Mother.’ There is entirely too much tut-tutting in this realm, if you ask me. All these kings would do a deal better if they would put down their swords and listen to their mothers.”
Men nej det är han inte så dumt. Mace vet att Lannisters behöver honom, och försöker använda det här till förmån för sitt hus och till personliga fördelar också. Kanske är han för ambitiös och ibland bländar han honom, som när han närmade sig Cersei under begravningen av Lord Tywin (AFFC, kapitel 7, Cersei) och antydde att han vill ha Handens ställning och påminde henne om att Tywin lovade ställningen för Mästare av mynt till sin farbror. Det här hyser Cersei och i slutändan ger ingen Tyrells det i Cerseis lilla råd. Så Mace serverar under Cersei händer bara i tv-servern.
George RR Martin tycker Mace från TV-seriet visas som en idiot. Han säger att karaktären i showen kombinerar Mace med Harys Swyft , och verkar faktiskt mer som den senare.
Of course, it could also be a subtle bit of characterization, as you suggest, intended to show that Mace is an idiot who does not know his Westerosi history. (Not a mistake that Book Mace would make, but the character in the show combines Mace with Harys Swyft, and actually seems more like the latter).
Spoilers, kort sammanfattning av framtida händelser:
After Cersei gets imprisoned by the Faith, she confesses her guilt and is forced to step down as Queen Regent. Tywin's brother Kevan starts to act as new Regent and Mace Tyrell gets his desired position, and becomes the new Hand of the King. How good a Hand he will make will be revealed after The Winds of Winter (the next and much awaited book from ASOIAF series) gets released.