What was Olenna's plan for Sansa?

[messem]

How could the plan predate the Tyrion/Sansa wedding?

If the original plan worked out Sansa would be in Highgarden, married to Willis, and would never be in KL.

I do not have any quotes at hand but I doubt the Lannisters let Sansa go before Marg is married to Joff. Why would they hand over such a precious hostage?

[John Suburbs]

The plan predates the Sansa/Tyrion marriage. The Tyrells didn't care about Tyrion, but obviously based on the marriage he was likely to be implicated if Sansa was caught.

Already addressed by Lion, but I'll reiterate: clearly LF the LO did not have all these details worked out at Bitterbridge or else Lady O would not have attempted the Willas plan.

It provides the Tyrells leverage because the Tyrell scheme doesn't involve her escape. Littlefinger's does, and the escape supersedes any possible value of the hairnet, as it automatically incriminates her. As "having the gumption to simply deny the accusation", nobody would believe her, as I said. The Lannisters think she's guilty, and they run the court. Moreover, exposing Sansa would automatically expose Littlefinger too, so it's a completely empty threat, and even Sansa would know that.

Still, no answer to the central question: how in the world are the Tyrells supposed to provide the link between the poisoning and a missing gem in a hairnet without drawing suspicion to themselves? Tywin will know instinctively that Sansa did not pull this off by herself, and with Dontos dead the obvious question will be: who touched the hairnet? which leads right to Lady O.

Okay, now that you've conjured these completely-unmentioned monitors out of nowhere, why not leave the hairnet with them? Fact is, it makes no sense to relinquish control of the hairnet by giving it to Sansa without a clear idea of why you're doing that, and that motive can only involve the seeming frame, because it serves no other purpose.

Oh please, LF is so smart that he knows all the twists and turns of the wedding ahead of time, right down to where the chalice will be when it needs to be poisoned, and you don't think he has someone there besides Dontos to let him know if he needs to split if things go wrong? Oh, I forgot, this plan is so foolproof that nothing could go wrong. Deny it all you want, but Sansa is the perfect person to hold the poison because she doesn't even know she has it, so there is no way for her to double-cross LF and there is nothing suspicious about a highborn lady with a silver hairnet.

No, eminently logical. Why is it beyond the pale that they could have already formed the alliance then, as opposed to over the, what, few extra weeks in KL?

Because they hardly knew each other, if at all. LF was born on the Fingers, raised at Riverrun, apprenticed in the Vale and then sent to KL. Lady O has been in Highgarden for years with no reason at all to come to the capital during Robert's Reign. So now you have these two total strangers sitting down at Bitterbridge to discuss an alliance with the Lannisters and, oh, by the way, how about after your granddaughter fulfills your lifelong dream of bringing a Queen to House Tyrell we murder the king before the marriage can be consummated? Once again, you have these savvy, intelligent players of the game acting like utter idiots.

Littlefinger was long gone from the city by the time of the wedding, and in no position to arrange new layers from a distance. Beyond that, the early introduction of the hairnet clearly supports the Tyrells' involvement, since its introduction coincides with the Tyrells and Littlefinger returning to the city, and, as already explained, the hairnet being given to Sansa serves no other purpose than the one it ultimately serves. The idea that the hairnet absolutely needs to be given to her for "safe keeping" is laughable.

Are you sure? LF departs KL to talk terms with the Tyrells and then we don't see him again until the ship after the wedding. Lysa greets him at the Fingers as if she has not seen him for weeks. Is it so outside the realm of possibility that he was near the capital, perhaps holed up in one of this brothels, for weeks before the wedding, working out the details with the Lady O now that she is on board (to murder Tyrion, not Joff)? Do you honestly think he would launch a plan of this magnitude and then twiddle his thumbs in the Vale as it came to fruition?

Dontos gives Sansa the hairnet. Dontos works for Littlefinger, not the Tyrells. How, then, is it clear that the Tyrells were involved at that point? Just because they arrived at court about the same time that Dontos delivered the hairnet? That's a huge leap in logic. And as already explained, Sansa was given the hairnet because that was the best place to keep it while the target and the means of deployment were being determined. Giving it to anyone else is laughable because it could be used to double-cross Littlefinger.

No, Littlefinger intended for Joffrey to die by poisoned wine and Tyrion to be blamed (though the importance of that is ratcheted up considerably by their being married). Olenna's plan was for Joffrey to be thought to choke, with Sansa as a fallback (who, assuming the fallback plan wasn't used, would then marry Willas, which was scotched when Littlefinger leaked that development, as it interfered with a part of his plan that the Tyrells didn't know about, namely, Sansa's escape).

No, Littlefinger and Lady Olenna intended to poison Tyrion because he posed the greatest threat to both of their geopolitical plans -- exposing LF as an embezzler and delivering the north to Tywin via a Lannister heir to Winterfell. If the intent was to make it appear as if Joffrey choked, why poison the wine? You don't choke on liquid unless you drown yourself in it.

Are hairnets so asymmetrical that there's no chance Sansa puts it on turned 90 or 180 degrees?

Yes, they have a headband of sorts that runs along the brow and the remainder holds the hair in place, so you can't wear it backwards or sideways or any other way. This isn't the 'hood after all.

[The Broke Howard Hughes]

I'm pretty sure her plan for Sansa was pretty simple. Marry her off to her grandson to possibly shore up the North if Robb dies. I don't think their was any plot for her passed that.

[Taenqyrhae]

I highly doubt that the Tyrells know that Sansa is with Littlefinger. He is playing a long game and she is a huge piece of his plans. It would be poor planning and very much out of character to leave a trail that could connect him to Sansa's escape.

Whether the Tyrells know is highly dependent on the plans of Varys, as he's the one who told Tyrion about his ship with two feather beds...or was that show only? Anyway, I doubt LF got away completely free and clear, too many people were involved.

[Amoracchius]

Whether the Tyrells know is highly dependent on the plans of Varys, as he's the one who told Tyrion about his ship with two feather beds...or was that show only? Anyway, I doubt LF got away completely free and clear, too many people were involved.

I'm pretty sure the feather beds thing was only on the show.

As for too many people being involved, that was kind of my point in my last post. I think LF's plan to get Sansa out of the capital was his own idea and not part of the plot with the Tyrells to kill Joffrey. It makes no sense to let the Tyrells know what he's going to do with Sansa because it would increase the number of people involved, and therefore the number of people who could betray LF. Moreover, if the Tyrells were still hoping to marry Sansa to Willas (as many in this thread have suggested), then LF's plan to take her to the Vale and marry her to Harry the Heir would probably not go over well with the Tyrells.