Who did Sansa write to, because my first thought was not LF.

[Anarcho]

Littlefinger seems the obvious answer, given he's already offered. I wouldn't be surprised if Blackfish turned up - compared to the book, Jaime has considerably more justification for simply letting him go - but Sansa's already sent Brienne, so why would she send another letter? If it was to some Northern lord, I would have thought she'd take a lot more pride in writing than she seemed to. Plus a Deus Ex Machina isn't going to happen from someone we've never seen on the show.

It could be to Howland Reed, but again I still think she'd be happier about it.

[daemonTheBlack]

I wish it was otherwise... but I agree with those here that say the show is not as complex/creative as the books, and Sansa is simply writing to Littlefinger.

There will be no betrayal by the Umbers. Ramsay will burn Rickon before the battle. The Starks will almost get their a*ses kicked, and Littlefinger will come and save the day. The most simplistic outcome possible.

If this was GRRM writing (of course the situation is much different in the books.. but hypothetically if it was the same), Littlefinger will show up and join the Boltons instead after making some twisted deal. Brienne arrives with the Tullys... and a small force of Lannisters led by Jaimie, who honors his oath of protecting the Stark daughters. Still they are not enough. Ramsay's force is too big. Then the Umbers and Karstarks betray the Boltons. All Northern Lords, each whisper "The North Remembers" in Ramsay's ear as they stab him to death. Sansa is about to oversee Littlefinger's execution (Episode 10), when the White Walkers arrive. Littlefinger is revealed to be a servant of The Great Other (along with Euron, High Sparrow(, Darkstar) et al) who has been gradually weakening the Seven Kingdoms from inside through war and treachery to prepare for the Winter Invasion. The Northman are slaughtered, while a handful flee for Winterfell. Season ends. 

[TickTak7]

14 minutes ago, daemonTheBlack said:

I wish it was otherwise... but I agree with those here that say the show is not as complex/creative as the books, and Sansa is simply writing to Littlefinger.

There will be no betrayal by the Umbers. Ramsay will burn Rickon before the battle. The Starks will almost get their a*ses kicked, and Littlefinger will come and save the day. The most simplistic outcome possible.

It's almost too predictable, isn't it. 

The only adjustment I'd make from your timeline of events, is that Jon / Sansa will see Rickon die. Much more significant dramatic effect

[daemonTheBlack]

Just now, TickTak7 said:

It's almost too predictable, isn't it. 

The only adjustment I'd make from your timeline of events, is that Jon / Sansa will see Rickon die. Much more significant dramatic effect

Yes thats what I meant.

I mean I hope I am wrong, but they handled Jon Snow's resurrection in the same predictable simplistic way. "Hold the Door" was mindblowing of course, but I am sure it was concretely laid out by GRRM.

Besides the Spanish spoiler guy also claims exactly the same thing as my post will happen. He has been right most of the time.

[Hoppy Hour]

She wrote Littlefinger. Simple as that.

[Ingelheim]

http://imgur.com/TQoCXYn

Here's a pic of the letter. 

LF it is. As we suspected.

[elbucho3]

So we know two things:

1) Littlefinger REALLY REALLY REALLY wants Sansa to go avenge her family and stop being a "bystander". He's got the Starks pegged and this helps him either predict or manipulate what they do. He also very likely wrote that "come and see" letter from Ramsay just to get everyone on the road down to do battle with the Boltons, and he knows that Sansa will likely reach out to ask him for help, and the Vale army swooping in to save them will be great political coin in the North and in the Riverlands. 

2) We also know that Littlefinger told Sansa that the best way to play the game is to make moves that seem like they work against you just to throw off your enemies. 

So from that, either ...

3) The letter wasn't to Littlefinger and is some unexpected move that nobody would ever think about (like potentially a letter to Ramsay tipping him off about the Army of the Vale and an offer for something ... maybe immunity for all that he's done, maybe an offer to help his army take Kings Landing ... I have no idea what it would be) but just ANYTHING that seems like it would be the total opposite of what Sansa should do, or ...

4) Following along with what Littlefinger expects as a means to take advantage of his confidence that he'll know what she'll do. Like "hey we're attacking the Bolton's on Wednesday and need your help, love ya!" knowing fully that LF's plan is to show up on Thursday and fight a depleted Bolton army for an easy win without much risk, while also knowing that JS's plan is to show up on Friday to fight, and now they have a numerical advantage over the Boltons because of it. 

Either way, I'm 100% confident that the letter will in some way lead to something very advantageous for Sansa in a very sneaky, unexpected way. 

 

[Gertrude]

1 hour ago, TickTak7 said:

One could argue that this is an example of Sansa being strong? 

No longer is she thinking impulsively or with emotion, but strategically? 

She hates Littlefinger, but sees him as a necessary evil to forward her cause, and therefore is prepared to use him - essentially playing the game herself? 

I feel like this season's Sansa is more in line with the sort of firm, interesting Sansa that we've been dying to see. 

I could argue that it isn't. I keep getting my hopes up that Sansa will come into her own at some point. The writers and Sophie keeps saying it season after season and I don't see any real progress there. Sure, she's pushed down her emotional response to asking Petyr for help but man, I really would have liked to see her becoming the powerful player I want her to be, and am losing hope in ever seeing on my screen. Be inspiring, Sansa, don't sulk and bitch, which is mainly what she's been shown doing. We have three episodes to see her become the boss ass bitch Sophie promised, and I'm not sure how that's going to happen. But this is the show-verse, so we will have one scene where she is all cool and in charge and that will count as character growth. We shall see, I suppose, but I didn't count her sassing Miranda in her bath and snarking on Ramsey as powerful either.

I am disillusioned. I kept watching the show because I didn't want to be 3rd hand spoiled by social media for the books plots, but getting them half-assed and guessing what is real and what is not I think is worse for me.

[Nami]

6 hours ago, Future Null Infinity said:

I think about jaime, Sansa sent a raven to Brienne to convince Jaime to join Jon's war, Jaime is desperately searching for a last heroic action of justice, before that he refused to go and kill sansa when Cersei requested it and he also sent Brienne to help Sansa

This is Larry we're talking about, mate.

[Desert Fox]

3 hours ago, takfar said:

They've name-dropped Manderly so many times that I have a hard time believing they won't play a part in the battle. MAYBE she's writing them, or MAYBE they'll be pretending to be on the Boltons' side and turn during the battle.

This whole thing is being set up to make it seem like the North Forgot only for a surprise twist that they were plotting against Ramsay the whole time. My guess is Manderly and Umber will turn during the battle.

And the Vale Knights that Sansa just invited in will be a huge mistake going forward or they end up being the army that defeats the Others. Hopefully Sansa has LF bring the Vale army to winterfell, then immediatly tells Royce what LF really did and he gets got.

[JonisHenryTudor]

7 hours ago, dariopatke said:

But she is not lady of WF, Bran is.

There is no chance Robin gets a message without LF reading it first. 

Umm Bran is not the lady of Winterfell either....Bran is a boy.. .

[JonisHenryTudor]

14 minutes ago, Desert Fox said:

This whole thing is being set up to make it seem like the North Forgot only for a surprise twist that they were plotting against Ramsay the whole time. My guess is Manderly and Umber will turn during the battle.

And the Vale Knights that Sansa just invited in will be a huge mistake going forward or they end up being the army that defeats the Others. Hopefully Sansa has LF bring the Vale army to winterfell, then immediatly tells Royce what LF really did and he gets got.

Yep. I have argued this since the SJ scene, that it is set up like the Battle of Northampton in 1460. 

[Lord Martin]

Fully believe the letter was to LF.

But I think the twist is that Sansa promised to marry Baelish in return for his help.  This would make him Lord Protector of both the Vale and the North.  And LF would get to satisfy his perverted little fantasy about Cat and Sansa.

However, I think its a trap by Sansa as well.  Recall she told LF, "I know what you want."  There were really two answers, 1) power and 2) her.  So by offering both, she gives LF an offer he can't refuse.

This will then give her the ability to murder him on their wedding night as revenge for giving her to Ramsay.  Fittingly, it could be in the very same room as the terrible rape scene.  This could also be revenge for LF setting the whole calamity into motion, but I'm not sure the show will go there.

Rickon will be dead by this time and Jon will have to head back to the wall.  So there might be some resistance to Sansa marrying LF, but not enough.  

[dariopatke]

49 minutes ago, JonisHenryTudor said:

Umm Bran is not the lady of Winterfell either....Bran is a boy.. .

So what if he is a boy? He is rightful lord of WF. He should have a regent but he is lord and regent may be Jon, Sansa or whoever. Sansa is the worst choise for leader of North because she is married to a Bolton and a Lannister. 

[Darksky]

nvm already posted

[Solstice]

4 minutes ago, dariopatke said:

So what if he is a boy? He is rightful lord of WF. He should have a regent but he is lord and regent may be Jon, Sansa or whoever. Sansa is the worst choise for leader of North because she is married to a Bolton and a Lannister. 

I think this was some kind of joke

[JonisHenryTudor]

47 minutes ago, dariopatke said:

So what if he is a boy? He is rightful lord of WF. He should have a regent but he is lord and regent may be Jon, Sansa or whoever. Sansa is the worst choise for leader of North because she is married to a Bolton and a Lannister. 

hahaha Yes I know that. You said  "But she is not the lady of WF, Bran is" which implies that Bran is the Lady of Winterfell ;). I am guessing you meant Lord? 

[Nerevanin]

3 hours ago, Bear Claw said:

I don't agree. I think she wants her home and family back.  If they fail they will all be executed. The stakes are high. She wanted to try to take the North without LF's help, but they just don't have enough men. The look on her face when she wrote the letter didn't reflect self-satisfaction at playing her game.  She seemed very serious and concerned. I think the not telling Jon is more of a show method to reflect how she has learned intrigue. However, I think that Jon would not agree to any help from LF  so not telling him might be understandable in that regard. In any case, they need the Vale. 

Honestly, I'd say Sansa's story can go two ways now. 1) Either she is a good little girl who tries to help her brother in capturing their home and acts the way she acts about LF because he's a bad bad guy and doesn't want to be in contact with him ever again. 2) Or she is becoming a real player in quite a LF-ish way who wants power and kill her enemies and doesn't hesitate much to use even her (half)brother for it. In some scenes, I was leaning more towards explanation 2. Especially lying about how she found out about Blackfish and secretly sending Brienne there. That concerned look you mentioned could be explained by the fact that she might not be happy to play her LF+the Vale card so early but she feels like she has no other choice. But really, I'm not saying this is the truth, I just want to say that it is a possibility. Most of her actions and face expressions etc after her meeting with LF are quite ambiguous and can go either way.

[Robb_Warged]

3 hours ago, Ingelheim said:

http://imgur.com/TQoCXYn

Here's a pic of the letter. 

LF it is. As we suspected.

I didn't see LF's name in there.  Maybe she wrote Sweetrobin

[Ingelheim]

2 minutes ago, Robb_Warged said:

I didn't see LF's name in there.  Maybe she wrote Sweetrobin

Or Lord Royce, who knows. But I think it's LF, no doubt about it. She clearly looks like she's having a bad timing writting the letter.

Also, it makes sense for the plot.