Why give Sansa the Strangler.

[The Sleeper]

This has been speculated upon a lot. Why didn't Olenna have the poison on her person and involve Sansa at all. The reasons that have been proposed are that she was deliberately implicated either by Olenna, LF or both either to take the fall or to gain leverage over her. While these may also apply to one extent or the other it strikes me that there two practical and immediate reasons.

1. On account of Varys. Varys has had knowledge and use of the passageways in the walls for years and comes up through his littel birds with information he seems impossible to have, leading some people to believe he had mystical powers. More sensible people would dismiss that, of course, but still his knowledge of things appeared uncanny. It was a well known fact that the walls in Red Keep had ears, even if people did not know the specifics. Olenna Tyrell would certainly expect to be spied upon. When the wages are regicide would she risk anyone who was not involved in the plot finding she was in possesssion of a rare poison and the one that turned out to have killed the king? Absolutely not.

2. She was convenient. As it happened LF had already someone inside the Red Keep who would not be the center of attention and whom he could reach without Varys knowing. Sansa met Dontos frequently in the godswood, a location specifrically chosen to be out of sight of Varys' little birds and being a child hostage, alone and friendless would warrant little watching from Varys and the like, thus allowing Olenna to have no contact with the poison until she needed it and no evidence about it afterwards.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

You raise two strong points, I agree with this. But the point that it would have been Sansa who smuggled in the poison (no one would believe she didn't know she had done it, IMO) gave LF an extreme amount of leverage over her, and that would ensure she would keep depending on him. LF needed that as well, and badly.

[The Sleeper]

You raise two strong points, I agree with this. But the point that it would have been Sansa who smuggled in the poison (no one would believe she didn't know she had done it, IMO) gave LF an extreme amount of leverage over her, and that would ensure she would keep depending on him. LF needed that as well, and badly.

This is true to an extent, but I think it applies more to Olenna than to LF. Any leverage LF might have had on Sansa was rendered moot when he extricated her from King's Landing. That action reveals that he knew that Joffrey was to be assassinated and he can't hide that fact since he was seen to have arrived with her by all of Lysa's retinue. In short if she goes down, he goes down with her.Since LF has gotten away with it clean it could be argued that he has more to lose than Sansa if he makes that revelation. Of course there is a chance that LF is too smug to consider that Sansa might realize that this a double edged sword.

This also is lessened by the fact that they are in the Vale, which seems on the way of breaking with the Iron Throne upon which point her complicity or not would became irrelevent.

ETA there are another reasons that would point to Sansa. It would have be someonewho would one expensive jewlery without rasing eyebrows. It would also be someone who ideally wouldn't know what it was yet accept it and in no way that it could be traced back to LF. Since it seems unlikely that LF had arrangements with other highborn women to meet regularly with lackeys of his in the godswood, I think Sansa was one of the few who could sccessfully pull it off with the least chance of being compromised.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

Simple. No one would ever suspect Sansa of being dangerous. At least not before the PW, and really only Cersei thinks she's guilty.

[Maid So Fair]

I think the other option is simply plan B:

Joffrey's torment of Sansa has been pretty public and obvious so Sansa has the perfect motive to kill him and at the same time she is just a young girl, seemingly not very bright and lacking any powerful allies. By having Sansa wear the hairnet to the wedding she is very publicly seen with the poison by pretty much everybody present so if anything went wrong, Olenna could simply implicate Sansa and who would believe her over the matriarch of the house Tyrell who is a master manipulator with no obvious motive? They couldn't have known that Joffrey would unwittingly paint a huge target mark over Tyrion's head.

[The Sleeper]

I think the other option is simply plan B:

Joffrey's torment of Sansa has been pretty public and obvious so Sansa has the perfect motive to kill him and at the same time she is just a young girl, seemingly not very bright and lacking any powerful allies. By having Sansa wear the hairnet to the wedding she is very publicly seen with the poison by pretty much everybody present so if anything went wrong, Olenna could simply implicate Sansa and who would believe her over the matriarch of the house Tyrell who is a master manipulator with no obvious motive? They couldn't have known that Joffrey would unwittingly paint a huge target mark over Tyrion's head.

What other option?

The way I see it Sansa getting caught does not work as a scapegoat. No matter how much motive she might have to kill Joffrey she remains a thirteen year old girl with no allies. Where could she have gotten a rare and expensive poison and had it hidden as a silver hairnet. It seems implausible that she would even know about it. Questioning her would lead to Dontos which as a former knight and current fool sitll cannot account on how he'd have gotten his hands on such a poison. No Sansa getting caught would be dangerous. The whole point of putting it in a hairnet was that it could be brought unseen into the wedding.

This also accounts for Tyrion. A regicide needs a plausible scapegoat, which is why it cannot be an accident that the poisoning occured when Tyrion was made a public spectacle. It is not much of a frame job but drawing attention to him at that moment was enough and his reputation and Cersei did the rest. Unlike Sansa or Dontos, Tyrion has both the knowledge and the resources to obtain such a poison.

In the end the plan was a success. Sansa's hairnet was never identified as the source of the poison.

ETA There is also the fact that Olenna asked Sansa to visit Highgarden once again when she greeted her at the wedding, acted like Tyrion did not exist and told her to smile more. I believe that was a statement of intent and queig her in what was going to happen. I don't believe that Sansa was ever intended to take the fall. She does not make a viable scapegoat and she is far too valuable to sacrifice. She is a young girl with out protectors who has a blood claim on two kingdoms and three major castles. It doesn't get better than this.

[The Sleeper]

Now that I think about it had Sansa been investigated, which she would, she would have been the nail on Tyrion's coffin. She could have been compelled by the Tyrells to tell the judges that Tyrion gave her the hairnet and made her wear it at the wedding. Mace was one of the judges and his mother would have had no trouble swaying him. Her defense is her age and ignorance. And after all was said and done, then they take her to Highgarden and Garlan can claim lord protector of the North and the Riverlands with the might of the Reach behind him. For Olenna this would have been the perfect wort of plan. After Tywin foils their plans, she kills his grandson, destroys his son and takes Sansa anyway.

[Maid So Fair]

What other option?

The way I see it Sansa getting caught does not work as a scapegoat. No matter how much motive she might have to kill Joffrey she remains a thirteen year old girl with no allies. Where could she have gotten a rare and expensive poison and had it hidden as a silver hairnet. It seems implausible that she would even know about it. Questioning her would lead to Dontos which as a former knight and current fool sitll cannot account on how he'd have gotten his hands on such a poison. No Sansa getting caught would be dangerous. The whole point of putting it in a hairnet was that it could be brought unseen into the wedding.

This also accounts for Tyrion. A regicide needs a plausible scapegoat, which is why it cannot be an accident that the poisoning occured when Tyrion was made a public spectacle. It is not much of a frame job but drawing attention to him at that moment was enough and his reputation and Cersei did the rest. Unlike Sansa or Dontos, Tyrion has both the knowledge and the resources to obtain such a poison.

In the end the plan was a success. Sansa's hairnet was never identified as the source of the poison.

ETA There is also the fact that Olenna asked Sansa to visit Highgarden once again when she greeted her at the wedding, acted like Tyrion did not exist and told her to smile more. I believe that was a statement of intent and queig her in what was going to happen. I don't believe that Sansa was ever intended to take the fall. She does not make a viable scapegoat and she is far too valuable to sacrifice. She is a young girl with out protectors who has a blood claim on two kingdoms and three major castles. It doesn't get better than this.

Another option as in another explanation as to shy Sansa was given the hairnet, additional to those outlined by OP (to prevent Varys finding out, convenience) and elsewhere in this thread (it gives LF more power over her).

I suppose this depends on how much you think Olenna and LF are cooperating in the execution of the poisoning (Were the Tyrells aware LF was framing Tyrion? Was Eyrie alwys Sansa's destination or did LF promise to deliver her to Highgarden?). He might have made it one of his conditions that he wants Sansa implicated in the murder (at least in her eyes). But since it seems that the plan on either side was to get Sansa out of King's Landing it makes sense to have a fall back plan in case this doesn't work out. So, if Sansa manages to get away, her absence implicates her by default - and if she gets caught then she is a convenient scapegoat. I don't think she is not viable as one - she has the freedom of the castle now she's married to Tyrion, she does not seem to lack for money and she has ample motive.

[John Suburbs]

For those of us who believe that Tyrion was the real target and the poison was in the pie, not the wine, bringing it in on Sansa makes perfect sense: you have the poison and the victim altogether at the feast. No need to pluck the gem from the hairnet, get it to wherever the chalice happens to be, drop it in, quietly and unobtrusively get back to your seat...

The poison goes directly from net to secret pocket to pie with no suspicious movement, and no one the wiser.

[The Sleeper]

Another option as in another explanation as to shy Sansa was given the hairnet, additional to those outlined by OP (to prevent Varys finding out, convenience) and elsewhere in this thread (it gives LF more power over her).

I suppose this depends on how much you think Olenna and LF are cooperating in the execution of the poisoning (Were the Tyrells aware LF was framing Tyrion? Was Eyrie alwys Sansa's destination or did LF promise to deliver her to Highgarden?). He might have made it one of his conditions that he wants Sansa implicated in the murder (at least in her eyes). But since it seems that the plan on either side was to get Sansa out of King's Landing it makes sense to have a fall back plan in case this doesn't work out. So, if Sansa manages to get away, her absence implicates her by default - and if she gets caught then she is a convenient scapegoat. I don't think she is not viable as one - she has the freedom of the castle now she's married to Tyrion, she does not seem to lack for money and she has ample motive.

As far as the poisoning goes right from the start. Sansa got the hairnet from Dontos at the end of ACoK, immediately after the Tyrells and LF got back in the city. As for making Tyrion the scapegoat it is hard to tell. LF seemed to be planning this for quite a while and he might have other reasons to go after Tyrion, while prior to his wedding to Sansa the Tyrells would have nothing against him that we know off. Olenna's words at the wedding and the timing of the poisoning make me reasonably certain that the Tyrells were in on it too. After all they have both ascertained that they had designs on Sansa and they both would have the motive to want him out of the picture. Now, the Tyrells would have no need to wisk Sansa away form King's Landing. They had power, they had influence, they could have shielded her from the accusations and after everything was done, they would have invited right and proper to Highgarden and gotten her there in the light of day in a gilded carriage.

LF essentially stole her. We know he wants her and has wanted her for a long time. On one hand snatching her away forces her to cling to him, but on the other it was really his only option. After that she would have been out of his reach. It would not be like Olenna could tell on him.

I suppose if push came to shove they could have pin it on Sansa, if it couldn't be helped. I insist, however, getting this kind of poison is not something Sansa can do. Cressen tells us in the prologue, that three groups in the world can make it, that the process is long and difficult and that the ingredients are rare and expensive. Sansa could work as a scapegoat in conjunction with Tyrion, but not on her own and not with Dontos. And the plan was on the way long before the Tyrells would have any reason to implicate Tyrion.

And seriously, why waste her? There countless other stooges they could have tried to pin this on they wouldn't miss.