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Baelish Exposed?


Maester Wiles

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Can we just take a moment to geek out over how "aha!" this is?




"Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you. Remember that, Sansa, when you come to play the game." - Petyr Baelish




Feel free to shoot me down on this, but I think this is the first time we've had any clear(ish) insight into LF's inner-workings. It's marvelous. The fact that this could be another one of his manipulations makes it that much better as well.



However, actual application for the quoted Baelishosophy above would only work within certain parameters; Sansa, being obviously inferior in the clever department than LF, wouldn't be too great at the game. As for now, the one advantage I believe Sansa has is that she's underestimated, only if she's quicker-witted than she lets on.


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I kind of stand in awe of LF's scheming, even if I can't figure it out. My assumption is that he isn't entirely telling the truth here, and there actually was a larger plan involved, but who knows?

I also think that you nailed one of Sansa's big advantages, which, along with her beauty, gives her a chance.

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I also think that you nailed one of Sansa's big advantages, which, along with her beauty, gives her a chance.

Totally forgot about her comeliness ;P

And to revise what I said, Cersei has clearly shown that it doesn't take a genius to get ahead in the game (if you know how to use what you have). So I admit that Sansa does have a chance, but at the same time, Cersei herself thinks of Sansa as stupid. Which, as both of us agree, could be to Sansa's advantage or a fatal flaw. Emphasis on the "fatal".

There are way too many factors involved in speculations. GRRM really knows how to screw with people intimately D:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Baelish reminds me a bit of David Xanatos from Gargoyles. Definitely a gray character, can be good when he wants to be, but not a person to cross even unwittingly. Littlefinger also knows how to "ride below the ridge" so that the more flamboyant characters are the ones to be noticed and thus suspected of anything first. He's in a great position: power, respect, authority, prestige, but not actively in the public or political eye. So long as he does his job well, no one's going to pay a lot of attention to him.



What Sansa needs is more confidence and the ability to play the "poor-girl-deer-in-the-headlight" look to its fullest. Granted this may only work for her for a short time, but as long as she can avoid entangling herself in too many lines at once, she may be able to pull it off.


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Sansa, is doing what she needs to do to survive. The less imposing she is the more people will see her as a pawn not a Queen. For someone who seems to know nothing, it's amazing how she always finds a champion. In the end I feel she will be a major player even though she really never had a grand plan.


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Sansa, is doing what she needs to do to survive. The less imposing she is the more people will see her as a pawn not a Queen. For someone who seems to know nothing, it's amazing how she always finds a champion. In the end I feel she will be a major player even though she really never had a grand plan.

She is certainly an underrated character. She knows that her footing is poor and she's known it all along so she has played it safe. She's gathered a lot of information and a lot of different ways of going about things. She got to watch Cersei's manipulation in action and see what it's like to exert your power when those around you have no respect for you. She knows a lot more than she is letting on.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I think Littlefinger is one of most intelligent/cunning/dangerous people matched only by Varys (I'm actually curious which one of them is the better player)! To achieve what he did despite being lowborn is extraordinary by itself and when we got to see a bit of his inner workings through Sansa I was mesmerized! His only flaw is that he's starting to fall in love with Sansa, otherwise this guy could've ended up as king (ok maybe not but close :P).



As for Sansa, I don't think she ever was as stupid as Cersei believes, but she was pretty helpless and useless. Until now her only saving grace were her looks, but that won't be enough after a while so she must adapt pr die, and I think she will adapt considering she has the best teacher one can ask for.


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  • 5 weeks later...

I like how Sansa is learning and getting smarter. Sure she was an airhead and naive and was duped into betraying her father and his people, but she was only a (somewhat) spoiled pre-adolescent princess. Perhaps her parents and her septa deserve some blame for pampering her. But now she's suffered a lifetime's worth of emotional abuse (and some physical abuse as well), in just a year or so and she's starting to grow up and wise up. She's also a little older. And now sweet innocent Sansa is under the wing and being tutored by the most cynical and ruthless machiavellian schemer in all of Westeros. Love it.



But what are LF's motives? Is he a benevolent father to her because of the (unrequited) love he had for her mother? Does he want to use her for his own ambition? Does he want to build her up before tearing her down to avenge the fact that her mother spurned him? Is he a lecherous creep who merely seeks to steal her heart and keep her for himself (if he could not have Catelyn Stark, he'll have her daughter)? A combination of all the above, I think.



I never felt that he betrayed Ned out of spite, although there was definitely some spite and jealousy toward Ned. He only took the Lannister side when Ned ignored his advice and opted for a course toward certain defeat and death and Renly and Loras Tyrell had fled the city.


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  • 4 weeks later...

It's so hard to ever know whether Petyr is being genuine or scheming. This is possibly because I don't think we've ever seen him be genuine and honest.

The only thing that I think he ever really cared about was Catelyn. Now that she's dead, he intends on helping her daughter (who looks like her) succeed where her mother failed.

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  • 2 months later...

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