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Littlefinger and Potted Hare


The Fourth Head

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"Boy, are you fond of potted hare?"

So asks Littlefinger, perhaps, rather pointedly, in ACOK.

We all know the context by now. Tyrion has arranged a meeting with Littlefinger in his solar in an attempt to entrap the mischievous master of coin; a doomed hope as ultimately, Maester Pycelle is the one who blunders into the trap. Indeed, this part of the plan eventually backfires in a major way for Tyrion as it earns Littlefinger's enmity, which ultimately put's Tyrion in jail, set up as he was for a murder LF conspired in.

But what is the significance of the hare comment? What is the connection between the scene outside the solar, and what is happening within?

Consider the scenario. Outside, we have Joffrey practicing his crossbow skills ordering Hares to be released- with indifferent success. Inside the solar, we have Tyrion practicing his skills as Hand of the King on the small council, setting them up one by one, catching Pycelle, but failing to catch Littlefinger. Littlefinger takes Tyrion's bait, but Tyrion is wide of the mark in assuming Littlefinger will inform on him to the Queen. The arrow was misdirected.

With me so far? If not, don't worry, there is plenty of mileage here.

Consider the behaviour of the Hare...

Outside...

"The bolt missed by two feet. The hare stood on his hind legs and twitched his nose at the king."

Inside…we have this..

"That's a handsome knife as well."

"Is it?" There was mischief in Littlefinger's eyes. He drew the knife and glanced at it casually, as if he had never seen it before. "Valyrian steel, and a dragonbone hilt. A trifle plain, though. It's yours, if you would like it."

"Mine?" Tyrion gave him a long look. "No. I think not. Never mine." He knows, the insolent wretch. He knows and he knows that I know, and he thinks that I cannot touch him."

The parallel is quite amusing, if you entertain the idea that in this situation, Littlefinger is the hare, twitching his nose insolently at Tyrion, knowing Tyrion cannot touch him. At this stage, I think Tyrion would looove some potted Hare…

A further parallel..

Outside...

"Cursing, Joff spun the wheel to winch back his string, but the animal was gone before he was loaded."

Inside…

We know Littlefinger escapes KL long before Tyrion gets another shot at him. Indeed, Tyrion is the one who inherits LF's financial mess before being set up by him. He really slips through Tyrion's fingers.

So lets expand on this metaphor- that Littlefinger is the hare.

The most immediate and obvious feature of Hares is how difficult they are to catch. They are fast and unpredictable- leaping and hopping about every which way. LF demonstrates nimble and unpredictable behaviour, firstly lying on the spot to Catelyn by framing Tyrion with the Valyrian dagger, and secondly by conspiring to kill Joffrey as a strange smokescreen to steal Sansa away. Varys indicates in AGOT how he has no idea what game LF is playing, despite being able to see most of what he is doing. Throughout ACOK, Varys repeatedly leads Tyrion towards Littlefinger as being a potential suspect behind Ned's execution, and behind Stannis' "epiphany" regarding Cercei's infidelity, yet Tyrion fails, repeatedly, to take the bait because he can't read LF, and inaccurately anticipates LF's moves.

We see Tyrion is thinking along the right lines this chapter…

"No one had ever thought to question the appointments, and why should they? Littlefinger was no threat to anyone. A clever, smiling, genial man, everyone's friend"

so he notices LF's potential to pass under the radar, but he fails to recognise that LF's lowly status could change. Blinded by a hierarchal westerosi class system, he underestimates the extent of LF's ambitions and this results in him being unable to connect the dots Varys so generously laid out for him regarding Ned's death and Stannis' timely "epiphany". Instead, Tyrion assumes LF's MO is to curry favour with the queen by ratting Tyrion out to her, which is a case of his quarrel missing it's mark.

Change, changing direction, changing circumstances are all associated with Hares, and not only does LF's circumstances change, so too do the colour of the clothes he wears and even his sigil.

Lord Petyr was seated on his window seat, languid and elegant in a plush plum-colored doublet and a yellow satin cape

Casting around the internet, a rich series of parallels can be drawn between the Hare in mythology and symbolism, and GRRM's slippery creation that is Littlefinger.

Here are a few of them.

"Hare people are linked with ambition, Hares are also thought of as greedy and selfish. A Hare is seen as a jokester, linked with trickery and fraud and frequently thinking of themselves."

Trickery and Fraud is an obvious link. The Valyrian dagger tale was a trick, his times as master of coin was most probably riddled with fraud- but yet again, Tyrion fails in this chapter to recognise that LF was quite probably syphoning off funds, and cooking the books. Tyrion was along the right lines in studying the books, but sadly, he fails to unravel it all, and so he - perhaps erroneously- concludes that LF was too useful to remove yet from his post. Is this another example of a quarrel missing it's mark?

LF's greed is covered this chapter too...

"So," Lord Petyr continued after a pause, utterly unabashed, "what's in your pot for me?"

oh you cheeky devil!

"Harrenhal"

"It was interesting to watch his face. Littlefinger looked like a boy who had just taken a furtive bite from a honeycomb. He was trying to watch for bees, but the honey was so sweet. "

Greed is quite plainly in evidence here. LF senses a possible trap, but he is too ambitious and greedy to be able to ignore the bait.

T
he hare is often associated with impatience and haste, as we all know from the “Tortoise and the Hare” fable, a
nd this chapter provides a pointed reminder of his impatience…

"Tyrion nodded, waiting, knowing Littlefinger could never abide a long silence."

"In Greco-Roman myth, the hare represented romantic love, lust, abundance, and fercundity. Pliny the Elder recommended the meat of the hare as a cure for sterility, and wrote that a meal of hare enhanced sexual attraction for a period of nine days."

Guess what? , same chapter- are we surprised, Littlefinger makes this claim...

"I had their maidenhoods. Is that close enough?"

It's interesting that in discussing LF's virility, we witness what is both a lie in Cat's case (the trickster in LF?) and the truth in Lysa's. We know he got Lysa pregnant. I have not given much thought to Robert potentially being Littlefinger's son as a product of their recommenced sexual relations at court but Jon's general lack of virility or success in producing heirs is noteworthy- however, this is an aside and not really the focus of discussion here.

Another aspect of Hares is the "Mad March Hare"

"Hares are also associated with madness due to the wild abandon of their mating rituals. The expression "Mad as a March hare" comes from the leaping and boxing of hares during their mating season."

Which neatly parallels LF's "mad" challenge to Brandon to a duel in competing for Catelyn's affections. Irrational, but born out of love. Now whether his professed "love" for Catelyn was genuine, or whether it was merely an elaborate cover to get LF out of Riverrun due to taking Lysa's maidenhead, I don't know, but his boasts of taking Cat's maidenhead, and his asserted "affection" for Cat to Ned may all examples of Littlefinger' "immersing" himself in a lie. Everyone "knows" his feelings for Cat, he makes it so obvious doesn't he? But it enabled LF to fool Ned into trusting him, so whether it is truth or illusion, it has clearly served LF well.

"in Tibetan folktales, The quick-thinking Hare outwits the ruses of predatory Tiger"

Substitute Tiger for Lion, and you aren't a million miles off with Tyrion/LF and Joffrey/LF, and both wielded power over him (or is it crossbows?) Cercei was rather predatory too, yet LF managed to outwit her simply by putting his men in her view at the right time. What a sorry looking pride of Lions...

"Hares can also aid people in recognising the signs around them by attuning to lunar cycles and understanding the tides of movement in their own lives."

How interesting. Clearly, we have seen LF providing Sansa with a few lessons in the workings of westeros and how to play at politics. A further lesson in understanding "cycles" can be attributed to Lysa Arryn, thrown out of the moon door by no other than LF himself after confessing their collusion in Jon's death. A clear operational cycle from LF's perspective is to eliminate those who know too much- Lysa knew about his involvement in Jon's death, Ser Dontos knew about Sansa's escape from KL, and Joffrey knew about his (potential) influence in willing him to kill Ned. All three are dead, and for Sansa, witnessing Lysa's death and hearing her confession, then witnessing Marillion's fate, could prove pivotal in determining whether she lives or dies. Whether she predicts LF's cycle of using people before "tying up loose ends" or becomes a victim of it. Another obvious and pertinent cycle is the seasons, and Sansa's probably affiliation with snow, and winter through her family. Could LF provide information with regards to her role here? Does he know what winter means for the Starks or will he unintentionally provide some insight to Sansa? Or a very creepy thought- Will LF be responsible for a "change" to Sansa's "moonblood" cycle? (an evil...EVIL thought)

"People born into the Year of the Rabbit are said to be intelligent, intuitive, gracious, kind, loyal, sensitive to beauty, diplomatic and peace-loving, but prone to moodiness and periods of melancholy."

Erm, Sansa anyone?

And now for the highly speculative part of my (perhaps overworked?) metaphor...

"Eostre, the Celtic version of Ostara, was a goddess associated with the moon, and with mythic stories of death, redemption, and resurrection during the turning of winter to spring. Eostre, too, was a shape–shifter, taking the shape of a hare at each full moon; all hares were sacred to her, and acted as her messengers. It was believed they could carry messages from the living to the dead and from humankind to the faeries."

Will Sansa be associated with resurrection and spring? Will Sansa communicate to the dead? Or is LF communicating with the dead already?

"Numerous folk tales tell of men led astray by hares who are really witches in disguise, or of old women revealed as witches when they are wounded in their animal shape"

Clearly, LF lead Lysa astray, does that make LF the hare? Is he a witch in disguise? Was Lysa the witch? Or will Sansa become one through her warging abilities and trick the trickster?

And here is the most chilling piece of (potential) foreshadowing yet..

In one pan–African story, the Moon sends the Hare, her divine messenger, down to earth to give mankind the gift of immortality. "Tell them," she says, "that just as the Moon dies and rises again, so shall you." But the Hare, in the role of trickster buffoon, manages to get the message wrong, bestowing mortality instead and bringing death to the human world. The Moon is so angry, she beats Hare with a stick, splitting his nose (as it remains today). It is Hare’s role to lead the dead to the Afterlife in penance for what he’s done.

All of this makes the mind boggle. The strong moon association with the Eyrie is unavoidable.

Overlooking the split nose (Tyrion) (err wait- wasn't Tyrion a threat to LF, knowing about his dagger deception, investigating his books, and trying to trap him? are we certain it was Cercei who tried to have him killed and not LF when we know full well how vindictive LF is, how annoyed he was at being made a part of Tyrion's caper, when we know he tried to set Tyrion up in AGOT and when we know he again, set Tyrion up in ASOS?) we have clearly observed how LF was sent to KL by Jon and Lysa and in that position, he became the chief antagonist in instigating the war of 5 Kings to which, all subsequent deaths can be associated. Quite what the rest means, I have no idea, but given GRRM's increasing emphasis on death and rebirth, (Lady Stoneheart, Beric Dondarrion, Jon Snow (potentially) together with all the mysterious emphasis on the Winterfell crypts, the dead kings souls being trapped (or not) the obvious reanimation of the dead by the Others who appear to be immortal beings, and it really get's the mind racing with regards to LF's previous role, his motivations and his potential role in TWOW. Was he meant to get everyone killed during winter, granting mankind a rather dark GRRM-esque parody of immortality- as wights- and did he mess up and get half of westeros killed too soon- in summer? Clearly, we do not know enough about the Others and winter yet to do anything other than blind speculation.

And as a final nugget...

"In Potawatomi myth, Wabosso is the Great White Hare who travels north to become the greatest of magicians among the supernaturals."

This would seem to point towards Bran, but who knows? LF is clearly the Hare and he, apparently, has plans in the North involving Sansa and Winterfell. We know Vary's secret agenda was to weaken the realm in preparation for Aegon's arrival, and we all assume LF's chaos agenda is to serve himself, but that is merely that- an assumption because we don't truly know what LF's ultimate goal is because he is so unpredictable. Who can rule out the possibility that LF too has been deliberately weakening the realm in preparation for something else…the Others perhaps? All highly speculative, I know. So the question I put to you is the same LF asked Pod in a solar in KL during early Autumn.

Are you fond of potted Hare?

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A lot similarities there. LF is a trickster, ambitious, greedy, associated with lust, etc. That was a fun read.

I had never considered that he made his love for Cat too apparent and maybe he never loved her. I guess I always thought he was too young to hide it and that the lesson he learned in losing the challenge for her hand is part and parcel with the man he became... a man who no longer cared for things like childish love... something others didn't account for to their detriment.

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Good catch with the hare symbolism.

Robert isn't LF's son, or LF wouldn't be trying to kill him.

thanks,

I'm not sure about the Robert thing. All I know is that LF has informed Sansa of plans that don't involve Robert being lord of the Vale. Telling the Vale that Robert is his and Lysa's illegitimate child and not Jon's would be a neat trick to make Harry lord of the Vale- whether truthful or otherwise. He can hardly boost his own authority by making it public knowledge that he fathered Robert, and he has no qualms hurting those close to him. Who knows? It's academic really.

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Robert isn't LF's son, or LF wouldn't be trying to kill him.

Eh, I doubt that. I'm sure its a show-only line, but Varys' remark about Littlefinger burning the whole realm if he could be king of the ashes is right on the mark.

His latest plans count on the death of Sweetrobin and he's worth much more dead than alive, even if he knows its his son.

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To echo Leap- wow. Great work on this! I've never seen an analysis like this about LF, and I think and read about him a lot since I think he is absolutely one of the prime movers of the series.

All I have to add is one minor nitpick- he took Lysa's maidenhead after the duel with Brandon. You seem to imply otherwise- my apologies if I misread that.

I'll be pondering this for a while. :)

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Correction, Lady Gwynhyfvar. LF took Lysa's maidenhead after the feast where Cat rejected him. In his drunken stupor, he called Lysa "Cat." Later, he had sex with Lysa while she comforted him after his duel with Brandon. That's why he truly thinks he had both sisters.

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Very nice job, The Fourth Head.

So LF ought to beware of tortoises...

HaHa! Who's playing a longer, slower, and more consistent game than Littlefinger?

Varys seems a likely candidate, and a clear opposite.

@ Lady Gwynhyfvar, I think you are right on that, but checking awoiaf, is the chronology beyond dispute? Littlefinger was mourning Catelyn's rejection when Lysa entered his bedchamber. When Hoster discovered her pregnancy, LF was forced to leave Riverrun. So if you are right, are we to assume that Littlefinger remained at Reiverrun after his defeat to Brandon? I can't find the exact quote in the book, but the timing seems important, and we may only have Littefinger's word on the timing of events, unless of course it came from Lysa, in which case, that little theory can probably be scrapped.

Any thoughts anyone? Was LF's love of Catelyn ever genuine? Was it genuine before, but went sour with experience, leading to pretence, or has it been genuine all along?

The myths connecting Hares to the afterlife and immortality really got my juices flowing. There is nothing to suggest LF is inherently "magical", but his greater purpose is still, IMO, a mystery. Causing chaos for the sake of it just struck me as something highly misanthropic and paves the way nicely for the Others, and winter. Any thoughts?

And finally, any thoughts connecting Littlefinger with Tyrion's nose? My connection seems a little tenuous- that split noses and hares are connected physically, and through a mythology GRRM seems quite possibly to be drawing on, but ignoring this and focussing entirely on the book, doesn't it seem like just the sort of thing LF would do? Putting the thought of kinslaying in Joffrey or Cercei's head, emphasise Tyrion as a physical threat, work on Cercei's anger at what Tyrion did with Tommen and Myrcella, or work on Joffrey's anger at what Tyrion did to him after the riot, and watch them instruct a member of the Kingsguard to eliminate him? It is a common assumption that LF got rid of Ned in precisely this fashion, and as I suggested, LF had already set Tyrion up once in GOT, Tyrion knew about this and could use it on him, (a word to Bronn, a word to Tywin should the Lannisters prevail?) he was investigating Littlefinger's accounts and had plans to remove LF's men in order to make LF "touchable", he had given LF cause to dislike him and to consider him a greater threat during the potted hare incident, and as we all know, he sets Tyrion up again in SOS, so why not here too? I've always felt it seemed plausible, but a little drastic, even for the likes of Cercei or Joffrey, actively ordering the murder of their own kin, just as killing Ned was drastic, and just as killing Jon seemed drastic for Lysa. The timing also felt off- Tyrion was fighting hard for the Lannisters- why eliminate one of your own kin at that moment when you are all fighting on the same side for your lives? I would have thought killing Tyrion would be the last thing on Cercei's mind given the likelyhood of a Stannis victory and her self-obsessed nature unless something else was at play. the timing just feels...coldly opportunistic.

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thanks,

I'm not sure about the Robert thing. All I know is that LF has informed Sansa of plans that don't involve Robert being lord of the Vale. Telling the Vale that Robert is his and Lysa's illegitimate child and not Jon's would be a neat trick to make Harry lord of the Vale- whether truthful or otherwise. He can hardly boost his own authority by making it public knowledge that he fathered Robert, and he has no qualms hurting those close to him. Who knows? It's academic really.

We know Jon had consumed his marriage to Lysa on several occaissions because Lysa says so. Jon wasn't infertile either IIRC, didn't he get one of his previous wives pregnant (which miscarried)?

I doubt though LF would care much either way, SR is a gonner in his books.

Nice OP though.

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Great post.

Your quotes about the hare leading the dead to their afterlife made me think of the possibility of LF meeting his end at the hands of the Others and perhaps being transformed into a wight. One of Old Nan's stories involves a clever man trapped in a castle of giants. He is able to trick them all and escape the castle, but no sooner does he escape does he get devoured by the Others. I've seen a theory that suggests that this is foreshadowing LF' demise, and I think it is a definite possibility. It makes sense, as it underlines the idea that all his tricks and lies proved to mean nothing when faced by the greatest threat of them all: the Others. It would also be fitting if he meets his end at the hands of the Others when you look at all he's done to weaken the realm and make it vulnerable for the Others to attack.

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