Elba the Intoner, on 09 May 2012 - 10:38 AM, said:
So he is trying to entice her to play his game but I agree that with the derogatory comments about Harry he's also saying Harry is not in your league and in the end the only guy who is good for you is me. Does this make any sense?
A bit more yes
However, I think Littlefinger's whole game with Sansa here has larger implications.
If we look at how Littlefinger positions himself initially, and also throughout, it is as Sansa's protector first and foremost. Her new "father" who will help her sort everything out. Then later on he expands this role to also be her teacher and she his protege. But especially in the last chapter in AFFC, he is trying to gradually expand this role to also include romantic suitor or love interest. Look at how he frames the discussion about the marriage contract. He wants her to kiss him properly, and then he pulls her down into his lap and then lastly, he ends it with asking her if that is not worth more kisses.
Ever since he kissed Sansa at the snow castle, he has very gradually tried to wheedle his way in as a love interest with Sansa, but it definitely comes out strongest around the marriage proposal to Harry. Why would he do that if not to completely undermine Harry as a potential love interest and present himself instead?
Of course, we as readers know that Sansa has already met a man previously who seems to have acted mainly as protector/teacher and who has (unconsciously to himself and Sansa) migrated towards also being a potential love interest. But there is a huge difference in how these two interact with Sansa, with Sandor Clegane being brutally honest often bordering on cruel, which Sansa often doesn't like and has a hard time understanding, and then you have Littlefinger who tells the sweetest of lies, knows exactly how to act to please and who can paint the most wonderful scenarios to get people to play along. While Sandor wants her to wake up and smell the proverbial coffee, LF focuses on getting her more entangled and more co-dependant on the lies. We see it the strongest in how he blames her for Marillion's murder with the words "Do you want more blood on your hands?" as if SHE was the one who was behind Lysa's madness and LF shoving her out of the Moon Door while pinning the blame on the singer.
The worst thing with this is that sweet words and pleasant lies are one of Sansa's weaknesses since before. Through AFFC we also see her struggling and coming to terms with a more cynical interpretation of the world around her, but that she's also still vulnerable to LF's lies and manipulations. She can see through some things, but some she can't, and some she struggles with. The "I will give you Winterfell" is almost definitely one of those lies he's telling her to make her play along.
Interestingly, on one level it's almost as if LF and Sansa are playing a game of Cyvasse since they are both deceiving each other and hiding things from each other. We know Sansa is deceiving LF on a few important occasions from her chapters, and it would be too out of character for LF not to deceive her, since LF is all about LF and getting what he wants. The big question is: who will win this particular game? Experience would favour Littlefinger, but hubris_as_method_of_downfall would favour Sansa.
EDIT: Grammar fail
Edited by Lyanna Stark, 09 May 2012 - 02:50 PM.