Who really hired the catspaw?

[Nevets]

18 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

I tend to agree with those who think Littlefinger was involved. I think he had some kind of agent embedded in the King's entourage when they arrived at Winterfell who already had instructions to sow discord between the Lannisters and the Starks. That agent sent word quickly via the White Knife to White Harbour as soon as they learned of Bran's fall. From White Harbour, word quickly travelled to the Fingers. There, Littlefinger gathered prisoners to send to the Watch, accompanied by the catspaw who would have gone unremarked among a group of rapists and thieves. Whoever Littlefinger's agent in the King's entourage was, they had the ear of Joffrey and probably had a role in egging Joffrey on in his antagonism towards the Starks long before the fall. So it was not difficult from that start point to put the idea in Joffrey's head that someone should be hired to kill Bran, as soon as they got a reply from Littlefinger.

Littlefinger operated by whispering in Joffrey's ear, and this was not the only occasion.

Littlefinger was in Kings Landing, not the Fingers.  He avoids that place like the plague.  So a much longer trip.

And remember, he had sent the secret message from Lysa (probably written while still in Kings Landing), so would probably expect that to be sufficient to create suspicion.  Obviously, when Catelyn showed up with the dagger, he seized the opportunity, but I doubt he was involved prior to that.

And it has the feel of something Joffrey might do; to prove, if only to himself, that he had the strength and determination to do what his father couldn't.

[Ran]

29 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

I tend to agree with those who think Littlefinger was involved. I think he had some kind of agent embedded in the King's entourage when they arrived at Winterfell who already had instructions to sow discord between the Lannisters and the Starks.

That was the essence of my theory, GUCT, in relation to bran. As repeatedly shown, it was wrong.

I'm going to close this thread on one last, and to me fairly indisputable, piece of evidence: George R.R. Martin's draft for his final episode of Game of Thrones, "The Lion and the Rose". Here is a report on that draft, and below (in spoilers) is the relevant section:

Spoiler

Quote

The Bran Assassination Plot Finally Revealed:

In the show, one major question from Season 1—who sent the assassin with that Valyrian steel dagger to murder Bran Stark?—is never quite resolved. In the books, it’s heavily implied that the culprit was Joffrey. In the show’s Season 7 finale, Arya implies the plot was Littlefinger’s.

But in Martin’s version of the script, which expands on the implications of his novel, the culprit is clearly supposed to be Joffrey. When he receives a sword from his father as a wedding gift, Joffrey publicly boasts, “I am no stranger to Valyrian steel.” Martin then writes: “That chance remark means something Tyrion; we see it on his face. Before he can react, however, Joffrey brings the blade down in a savage two-handed cut on the book that Tyrion had given him.”

In Martin’s script, Tyrion doesn’t keep his suspicions to himself, either. After he comes to the “dangerous realization” that his nephew tried to have Bran Stark killed, Tyrion says: “Perhaps Your Grace would sooner have a dagger to match his sword. A dagger of Valyrian steel . . . and a dragonbone hilt. Your father had a knife like that, I believe.” Martin writes that Tyrion’s words “strike home,” and the king becomes “FLUSTERED” as he responds with “guilt” on his face: “You . . . I mean . . . my father’s knife was stolen at Winterfell . . . those northmen are all thieves.” Then, to underline it all, Martin concludes in his stage directions: “Tyrion’s eyes never leaving the king. It has just fallen into place for him. It was Joffrey who sent the catspaw to kill Bran, the crime that started the whole war. But now that he knows, what can he do about it?”

 

 

Edited July 16 by Ran