Chekhov's Hairnet [spoilers]

[Lord Martin]

I recently noticed that the hairnet Sansa apparently made the trip to the Vale with her. What are the odds that Sansa uses another poison stone to kill Littlefinger? I think it pretty good. In fact, I'm going to suggest that Sansa's whole arc is a subversion of the classic fairy tale trope and that this is done on multiple levels. A highly logical end of the deepest level would be for Sansa to kill LF with poison and become a princess or queen in the process.

In the classic story, the maiden is taken from her family by a monster only to be saved by a heroic knight who slays the monster, returns her to her father and she is then married to the handsome prince, becomes the Queen. She and the prince then live happily ever after. This is the life of song that Sansa is so enamored with in AGOT.

But in Martin's world, fairy tales don't come true and nothing is as it seems. We are presented with a surface subversion of the fairy tale trope. Here, the monster is the prince and marrying him is a nightmare instead of dream. Here, those who appear to be monsters are really as heroic as knights or as kind and caring as princes. And sometimes the monsters win, slaying the maiden's father and claiming her for his own to torment.

So on one level Joffrey is the prince who is really a monster that kills her father. The Hound is the chivalrous hero with a monster's face who "is NOT a knight" yet has more honor vis-a-vi Sansa than most true knights. The Imp is a supposed monster but is really a caring husband and protector. Sansa is the maiden caught up in all of it. On this level she is a piece, not a player.

But there is a deeper level still, one that Sansa is largely ignorant of for the time being. The real monster is Littlefinger. He and Lysa convinced Ned to come to King's Landing and set the WOT5K into motion. It is heavily suggested that he is the one who talked Joffrey into killing Ned instead of sending him to the Wall. This makes LF the real monster in Sansa's arc, not Joffrey. Littlefinger has set himself up as Sansa's hero but in truth he is anything but. He killed her father, desired her mother and intends to use Sansa for his own benefit. On this deeper level, Sansa will have to become her own heroine, her own knight in shining armor.

Speaking of armor. The way Sansa's arc in AGOT ends is very telling:

The moment was gone. Sansa lowered her eyes. "Thank you," she said when he was done. She was a good girl, and always remembered her courtesies.

The last sentence has "sing-songy" fairy tale element to it. Instead of "she lived happily ever after" we get "she was a good girl, and always remembered her courtesies." The theme of courtesy comes up again in her very next chapter, her first in ACOK.

After she speaks up for Ser Dontos, Tyrion rides up to the Name Day Tournament. Sansa has this little moment:

Joffrey frowned. Sansa felt that she ought to say something. What was it that Septa Mordane used to tell her? A lady's armor is courtesy, that was it. She donned her armor and said, "I'm sorry my lady mother took you captive, my lord."

"A great many people are sorry for that," Tyrion replied, "and before I am done, some may be a deal sorrier . . . yet I thank you for the sentiment. Joffrey, where might I find your mother?

So in many ways at the end of AGOT, Sansa dons her armor and makes immediate use of it to protect herself at King's Landing. Thus on a deeper level, she is the knight of her tale, not the maiden, as only knight's wear armor.

There is added intrigue in this scene from Clash based on Tyrion's comments that "before I am done, some may be a deal sorrier" since Tyrion is clearly referring to LF here. Tyrion wants revenge for being framed. Instead, LF will get the best of Tyrion once again with the jousting dwarves and getting Tyrion blamed for Joff's murder. If Sansa does indeed slay LF, the deeper level twist will be that she has avenged the wrongs LF did to her husband whereas the classic trope is for the avenging husband to make good on the dishonor to his wife.

Now fast forward to Sansa's last chapter in ACOK when she gets the hairnet:

ere, I have something for you." Ser Dontos fumbled in his pouch and drew out a silvery spiderweb, dangling it between his thick fingers. It was a hair net of fine-spun silver, the strands so thin and delicate the net seemed to weigh no more than a breath of air when Sansa took it in her fingers. Small gems were set wherever two strands crossed, so dark they drank the moonlight. "What stones are these?"

"Black amethysts from Asshai. The rarest kind, a deep true purple by daylight."

"It's very lovely," Sansa said, thinking, It is a ship I need, not a net for my hair.

"Lovelier than you know, sweet child. It's magic, you see. It's justice you hold. It's vengeance for your father." Dontos leaned close and kissed her again. "It's home."

[The North Dismembers]

Sansa has become a favourite character of mine and if your prediction on her poisoning LF came true it would be please me to no end. The fact that the show version showed LF toss the poison necklace away was discouraging to this theory I thought, but hey there has been many changes in the show, especially with Sansa's arc. While poison would be a satisfying end for LF, personally I would prefer if Sansa worked with the Vale lords that LF believed to be idiotic pawns he could move around and/or manipulated LF into placing himself in danger and ruining his plans. The Vale lords know of his involvement in Ned's death, and Sansa already heard from Lysa that he lied to Catelyn and made Lysa poison Jon Arryn. I hope she pieces these bits of information together to realize the destruction LF caused her family and actively seek to avenge them.

I think that manipulating, rather than poisoning would better suit her arc of learning to read people and situations, and eventually how to play them. She already correctly deduced LF's arrangement with Lyn Corbray. Manipulating LF would also sit better with me as she genuinely seems to me to be his weakness. He sought out Dontos to smuggle her out of King's Landing even before Rickon and Bran were believed to be dead, and she became claimant to the North. He is strongly attracted to her and sometimes can't control this attraction. She reminds him of a younger even more beautiful Cat, and symbolizes everything he's wanted in this world but was refused. Cersei once omentioned how on the small council, LF proposed that he be allowed wed Sansa. And IIRC I think he proposed her marriage to Tyrion, although I'm unsure about this. If he did, it could mean planning immediately to frame Tyrion for Joffrey's murder so as to keep Sansa for himself. LF is a man who has no allegiance, family or honour to hold him back. GRRM has made it clear that all characters have at least one weakness, and I truly believe Sansa is his. He confides a significant amount of his plans to her, enough to endanger himself and rashly kisses her out in the open for anyone to see. Her unique power over him and her knowledge of his plans puts her in the perfect position to take him down if the vale lords trust her. All of the other characters have died because of their weaknesses, Ned for his honour, Robb for love and honour, Cat and the love for her family, Tywin for his ignorance and mistreatment when it comes to his children etc.. I sincerely hope LF gets a similar comeuppance at the hands of his little bird who knows how to sing all the right songs

[King Viserys Targaryen IV]

Does it say that all of the stones are poison or just the specific one that was used?

[Light a wight tonight]

It would make things more certain if all the gems were lethal. Silly to go through all that trouble and drop a dud in the wine.

[Lord Martin]

I do assume all the gems were poison. How else would the QoT know which stone to take?

[King Viserys Targaryen IV]

I do assume all the gems were poison. How else would the QoT know which stone to take?

a slight color change, different shape, placement. I am sure there would be a number of different ways to do it.

I know this is not concrete proof, but in the show Littlefinger destroyed the necklace (hairnet replacement), if there were plans for it would they still do that? Like I said not concrete.

[Qhorin Halfhand and Yoren]

I expect Sansa to use LF dagger to kill Littlefinger stabbing him with it. Chekhov's dagger maybe. But I like your thread as an alternative scenario of a different kill weapon.

[Lord Martin]

a slight color change, different shape, placement. I am sure there would be a number of different ways to do it.

I know this is not concrete proof, but in the show Littlefinger destroyed the necklace (hairnet replacement), if there were plans for it would they still do that? Like I said not concrete.

All possible, there was a "smudge" in the bracket when Sansa inspected the net. Plus, that is a lot of wasted strangler, which is difficult to make.

As for the show, its becoming increasingly apparent that show adaptation and book cannon are very different.

[Lord Martin]

I expect Sansa to use LF dagger to kill Littlefinger stabbing him with it. Chekhov's dagger maybe. But I like your thread as an alternative scenario of a different kill weapon.

There would be some irony in using the Valyrian steel dagger. However, the whole bit about armor is a woman's courtesy and poison a woman's weapon would be lost.

[voodooqueen126]

a slight color change, different shape, placement. I am sure there would be a number of different ways to do it.

I know this is not concrete proof, but in the show Littlefinger destroyed the necklace (hairnet replacement), if there were plans for it would they still do that? Like I said not concrete.

Perhaps the show intends to play the "husband rescues wife from the man who dishonours her" trope straight. hence the destruction of Chekhov's hairnet.

[Shadrich The Mad Mouse]

I have a feeling that Sansa is going to kill Littlefingers, he is clearly not going to to wait for sweetrobin to die of his own accord and I hope when the times comes the Wolf will save the Falcon...

[voodooqueen126]

http://thirtyseven.scientopia.org/2014/04/15/chemistry-and-king-joffrey/

Also I like strychnine as a poison: it comes from distant India, located in the mystic east, whilst the strangler comes from Asshai, land of magic.

I also looked up strychnine on wikipedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strychnos_nux-vomica

it's deadly at 120 mg, which roughly the size of a pill capsule, the amethysts on Sansa's hairnet would be bigger than that, so there was definitely enough poison in a single gem.

 

Actually what do you think is the significance of hairnet vs necklace.

Necklaces are purely ornamental where as hairnets have practical purpose (modesty, keeping the hair neat, clothes of working women).

Also if you had been picking a gem stone, would you have chosen amethyst?

These two sites provide gem stone symbolism

https://crystal-cure.com/gemstone-meanings.html

the latter seems marginally less hippyish, but that's not really a high bar. Sadly it's not as extensive list of gemstones.

http://www.gemselect.com/other-info/gemstone-meanings.php

[John Suburbs]

I don't recall if Sansa has the hairnet or does Littlefinger? I would be surprised of LF would let a little detail like an entire collection of extremely rare and highly lethal poisons just slip away, so if Sansa does still have the net I would guess that none of the other stones are poison. It would be relatively easy for Lady O to know exactly which stone was poison -- I would even go so far as to suggest LF had a duplicate hairnet made so Lady O could practice the release mechanism before the actual event.

[aryagonnakill#2]

^ There is no way for them to have known how Sansa would wear a symmetrical hair net.  Every bead has to be strangler otherwise Olenna would not have known.  Were talking about Sansa not noticing a stone was different and a 70 year old who's eye sight would not be as good being able to notice, and the stone just happened to be where Olenna could see it and not in back of her head.

[Clegane'sPup]

 

" Littlefinger pointed out a cedar chest under the porthole. "You'll find fresh garb within. Dresses, smallclothes, warm stockings, a cloak.

 

Although Sansa stuffed the silver hair net down deep in the pocket of her cloak, she may not be in possession of the hair net made of black amethyst stones from Asshai because:

 

 

" Littlefinger pointed out a cedar chest under the porthole. "You'll find fresh garb within. Dresses, smallclothes, warm stockings, a cloak.

 

Since LF is leading Sansa down gaslight alley I would think that when Sansa changed into fresh garb the old garb would have been removed.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

It's almost guaranteed that SOMEONE is going to die via hairnet.  Not sure it will be LF.  If any of those beads aren't poison and Sansa puts the wrong one in his wine, he will know exactly what she tried to do.  So for her sake, I hope that if she tries it all the beads are the strangler.  And in that case we need a countdown based on how many "black amethysts" are left. 

 

 

^ There is no way for them to have known how Sansa would wear a symmetrical hair net.  Every bead has to be strangler otherwise Olenna would not have known.  Were talking about Sansa not noticing a stone was different and a 70 year old who's eye sight would not be as good being able to notice, and the stone just happened to be where Olenna could see it and not in back of her head.

Excellent point!

 

I have this little head-scene of Petyr dying and then Arya climbs through the window to save her sister who doesn't need saving after all.

 

Arya *looking at body*: I guess I don't need to kill him then.

 

Sansa: No. 

 

Arya: What did you use?

 

Sansa: Strangler.

 

Arya *nodding*: Good choice.  We should probably get out of here before someone finds him.

 

Sansa: Just let me get my hairnet.

[voodooqueen126]

what do you think the significance of amethyst are? Like why amethysts?

Of all the poisonous gems listed here and to the best of my knowledge only arsenic and cinnabar were available in the middle ages.

The closest in colour to purple was chalcanthite...

Does anybody know if arsenic would dissolve in wine? perhaps it could be died purple, though it would look pasty.

http://www.gemstonedeva.com/dangerous.php

This lists Halite as a salt that dissolves in water

http://everythingunderthemoon.net/forum/list-poisonous-stones-t18294.html

 

This gives a more extensive list

https://hibiscusmooncrystalacademy.com/resources/toxic-crystals-stones/

http://meanings.crystalsandjewelry.com/toxic-or-harmful-stones/

These are all hippy websites (gem elixirs!!!!) and thererefore not known for their scientific accuracy.

but this final one is more humourous than hippy

 

http://listverse.com/2013/03/07/10-most-deadly-rocks-and-minerals/

 

Even cinnabar is not particularly poisonous... or atleast it requires long term consumption or inhalation to do damage.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2755212/

[Illyrio Mo'Parties]

I think we can all agree that it's a Chekhovian hairnet, or whatever. But I'd be surprised if Littlefinger's comeuppance were to come from the poison, or the dagger. It's too neat for Garge. I thought Tywin or Joffrey would be killed with Ned Stark's sword, for instance, or with one of the melted down replacements, but it wasn't to be.

 

Recall also that Chekhov's Mushrooms were hanging on the wall for a whole book before being used on some minor slavedriver, and, if you've read the sample chapters from TWOW you'll know that Chekhov's [spoiler]Tapestries[/spoiler] appear to have been pretty insignificant.

 

But there's plenty of other people for Sansa to poison. The hairnet may provide her with a way to begin manipulating the realm independently of Littlefinger. She may also find the hairnet useful in proving Littlefinger's complicity in Joffrey's poisoning: no one would believe Sansa could have acquired such a thing by herself, although they'll probably still think she was in on it.

 

But friends, there's another use that the hairnet could yet be put to... but first, some minor points:

 

The Hound is the chivalrous hero with a monster's face who "is NOT a knight" yet has more honor vis-a-vi Sansa than most true knights.

 

I understand you're saying that the honour wasn't honourable generally, but I wouldn't say that he acted particularly honourably with Sansa either. He didn't lie to her, but was an honest man or did he just delight in scaring her? The best we can say is that he didn't hit her, and that when he went to rape her he had a change of heart.

 

I think the way he subverts the ideal of knighthood is not by being more honourable than the knights, but by being a patently dishonourable man who is nevertheless

(a) no worse than many knights, and

(b) offended at being thought of as one.

 

To put it another way, what does it say about knighthood if even the Hound looks down on it?

 

She already correctly deduced LF's arrangement with Lyn Corbray. ... [Littlefinger] sought out Dontos to smuggle her out of King's Landing even before Rickon and Bran were believed to be dead, and she became claimant to the North.

 

I thought Littlefinger just flat out told her that Lyn Corbray was his?

 

And good catch with the timeline. This means that he can't have had a long-term plan to claim the North through Sansa, and reinforces the idea that his efforts to rescue her are less political than personal. I wonder what else it portends?

 

Since LF is leading Sansa down gaslight alley...

 

I've never heard that expression before, what does it mean?

 

I don't recall if Sansa has the hairnet or does Littlefinger? I would be surprised of LF would let a little detail like an entire collection of extremely rare and highly lethal poisons just slip away, so if Sansa does still have the net I would guess that none of the other stones are poison. It would be relatively easy for Lady O to know exactly which stone was poison -- I would even go so far as to suggest LF had a duplicate hairnet made so Lady O could practice the release mechanism before the actual event.

 

The quote mentioned above by BigReadEyes could mean he took it from her on the ship to the Vale, but I seem to remember Sansa thinking about the hairnet in a later chapter as if it were in her possession. That's certainly been my assumption, anyway: that Sansa still has it.

 

I agree that Littlefinger would be unlikely to leave a deadly, incriminating poison out of his control. I suppose it's possible that he trusts Sansa more than we assume, or that he's comfortable with the risk for now, i.e., he may not have the hairnet directly in his control, but he knows where it is and can get it when it's needed. This doesn't seem all that likely to me, but I include it out of completeness.

 

Of course, if we really want to be complete, there's another unlikely theory as to why Littlefinger would be careless with the hairnet... ;)

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/129589-littlefinger-was-lying-about-the-purple-wedding/

 

And if this theory and its handsome progenitor are right, then there's really no reason for Littlefinger to be concerned about the hairnet, because it's not dangerous at all. In fact, should this prove to be true, then it might still function as Chekhov's Hairnet: Sansa could try to poison someone, and when the attempt fails, she might realise that Littlefinger had been lying to her all along.

[voodooqueen126]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

This discusses gaslighting.

 

An interesting post (and discussion about the various theories)

but I tend to go with Occam's razor that indeed Baelish was not lying.

[John Suburbs]

The quote mentioned above by BigReadEyes could mean he took it from her on the ship to the Vale, but I seem to remember Sansa thinking about the hairnet in a later chapter as if it were in her possession. That's certainly been my assumption, anyway: that Sansa still has it.

 

I agree that Littlefinger would be unlikely to leave a deadly, incriminating poison out of his control. I suppose it's possible that he trusts Sansa more than we assume, or that he's comfortable with the risk for now, i.e., he may not have the hairnet directly in his control, but he knows where it is and can get it when it's needed. This doesn't seem all that likely to me, but I include it out of completeness.

 

Of course, if we really want to be complete, there's another unlikely theory as to why Littlefinger would be careless with the hairnet... ;)

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/129589-littlefinger-was-lying-about-the-purple-wedding/

 

And if this theory and its handsome progenitor are right, then there's really no reason for Littlefinger to be concerned about the hairnet, because it's not dangerous at all. In fact, should this prove to be true, then it might still function as Chekhov's Hairnet: Sansa could try to poison someone, and when the attempt fails, she might realise that Littlefinger had been lying to her all along.

 

I don't pretend to know a lot about hairnets, but I'm thinking they are not symmetrical. Don't they wrap around the forehead or higher up on the scalp, then either over or behind the ears and then there is a longish back end to contain Sansa's long hair? You couldn't put it on backward because then the long side would be hanging over your face and you can't wear it inside out because then the amethysts would get tangled in your hair. 

 

So correct me if I'm wrong, but I see only one way to wear the hairnet, which means the exact crystal can be easily spotted. And given the seriousness of the crime, I find it completely plausible that LF gave LO a duplicate hairnet to practice with. There must be some sort of clasp or latch to release the stone, and it is inconceivable that Lady O would walk into the banquet without knowing exactly how to do it given the brief amount of time she has.

 

And not to rehash that thread here, but honestly Grody, don't you think the entire premise is just a little ridiculous? It is dedicated to the idea that just because the purple crystal was present at both the Cressen and Joffrey murders, and just because the Ghost of High Heart described a girl with purple serpents in her hair, and just because both killings happened in exactly the same way, and just because the contents of the chalice at the end of the PW were laced with poison and they came directly from Joffrey's mouth, there is no reason at all to conclude that Joffrey was actually poisoned.