Udvarnoky

For those keeping score at home, StepStark has used the word "stupid" no less than twenty-four (24) times over the last six pages. He's also accused two people of not understanding the "concept of possession." I'll keep you guys abreast of these growing statistics, if for no other reason than all the calories I'll burn.

Exactly. There's a reason they included Roose's line "We've become a great house by..." Sure, he points out that they can't hold the North (a big fucking place) if all the other houses rise up against them, but that hardly makes them a negligible power. The fact that the other northern houses would have to team up to threaten them says something in and of itself.

You're justifying his prior crazy decisions based on their end result. We don't know what end result Littlefinger is hoping to achieve just yet.

You could say he was an idiot for deciding to lie about the dagger when he was shown it in Season 1. There were plenty of ways that could have gone wrong that would have wound up with him executed. Same goes for plotting to kill the king with the Tyrells, or with trusting that Sansa would bail him out in front of Royce after Lysa's murder. Littlefinger takes massive risks for the potential of massive gains. He puts it all on the line, every time. It's disingenuous to accept all those instances in the past and suddenly take umbrage with it now. Tywin's reasons for wanting to hold onto Sansa don't adapt to Baelish, whose strategy to gain power involves manipulating others and pitting them against each other. Tywin was the head of an already powerful family looking to establish a long-term dynasty. Baelish is/was a nobody who's climbing the latter by orchestrating things behind-the-scenes. Finally, isn't it also risky for Littlefinger to hold on to Sansa? If Cersei finds out he had her, he's completely boned. There seems to be an implicit understanding between Roose and Littlefinger that Roose will keep that secret for him. Littlefinger's walking a very treacherous line regardless of what he does.

Littlefinger has done plenty of risky things from the beginning. He's Littlefinger. All his plays are Hail Mary plays. We don't know what his end game is yet, but when it's revealed, it's likely that this marriage will prove to have been a crucial part in it. In that light, the only thing "problematic" is his willingness to treat Sansa as collateral...except that's not problematic at all, because Littlefinger putting his ambitions ahead of everything else is perfectly in character. The only part I find a little ropey is how quickly Sansa was convinced. However, the show leaves room for Littlefinger to have expounded on how avenging her family might work, exactly, during the ride between Moat Cailin and Winterfell.

I'm not too worried. Revenge missions never end up well in this universe. My speculation on Brienne and Pod is thus: If they're captured by Stannis, they'll serve a function similar to Asha Greyjoy. If they're captured by the Boltons, they'll likely fill book Mance's role. Obviously, the latter would be a way worse deal for those two. I'd hate to see Brienne wearing a Pod skin blanket.