[SPOILERS] Tyrion and Sansa

[Khal Pono]

There was one plotline/scene that left me a bit confused. Can someone help clear it up for me?

Toward the end of LF's weird "climb" monologue, it shows Sansa crying as Littlefinger's ship departs without her. What does this signify?

I understand Sansa being upset that she doesn't get to marry Ser Loras and she has to marry Tyrion. But what does that have to do with Littlefinger's ship leaving? Surely she can't be upset that he's leaving; does she not understand that it was he that sold her out to the queen? Or is she regretting that earlier this season she told LF that she wanted to stay in KL rather than come with him--because now she doesn't get Loras and she doesn't get to leave either? Or is she just looking at the ship, thinking about how upset she is about LF betraying her?

[Pinkie Baelish]

There was one plotline/scene that left me a bit confused. Can someone help clear it up for me?

Toward the end of LF's weird "climb" monologue, it shows Sansa crying as Littlefinger's ship departs without her. What does this signify?

I understand Sansa being upset that she doesn't get to marry Ser Loras and she has to marry Tyrion. But what does that have to do with Littlefinger's ship leaving? Surely she can't be upset that he's leaving; does she not understand that it was he that sold her out to the queen? Or is she regretting that earlier this season she told LF that she wanted to stay in KL rather than come with him--because now she doesn't get Loras and she doesn't get to leave either? Or is she just looking at the ship, thinking about how upset she is about LF betraying her?

Littlefinger was Sansa's last hope to get out of King's Landing, hence her tears. She has no reason to believe that Littlefinger told Cersei about the Tyrells' plot, given that she didn't spill the beans to him about the marriage to Loras. She seems to trust him enough for her not to believe that he was responsible for the cancellation of her marriage to Loras.

I think she's definitely upset about the fact that she can no longer marry Loras, and instead has to marry into the family her brother is fighting against, but she's even more upset about the fact that Loras and Littlefinger were her tickets out of the city, and now they're both gone.

[Newstar]

To go way back to the OP's original question about the change of the manner in which TV Sansa learned the news of her engagement, it seems like there are a lot of tweaks to the Sansa marriage plot storyline already and to Sansa and Tyrion's arcs in particular that make the writers' treatment of the Sansa/Tyrion wedding/marriage and events leading up to and following the PW difficult to predict:

1. Very close, genuine relationship between Tyrion and Shae

2. Very close, genuine friendship between Shae and Sansa

3. Loras/Willas swap, Loras being the heir to Highgarden

4. Loras/Cersei engagement forestalling the Loras/Sansa engagement

5. No Dontos in Season 3 (to date, anyway)

6. Direct interaction between Littlefinger and Sansa

7. Whitewashed Tyrion, whitewashed Shae, (slightly) whitewashed Cersei

...and so on. I assume (hope?) the writers know what they're doing, because it's as clear as mud where they're going with all this, beyond some general notion of Sansa being miserable and fleeing her marriage, Tyrion winding up accused of murder, and Shae dead.

There was one plotline/scene that left me a bit confused. Can someone help clear it up for me?

Toward the end of LF's weird "climb" monologue, it shows Sansa crying as Littlefinger's ship departs without her. What does this signify?

I understand Sansa being upset that she doesn't get to marry Ser Loras and she has to marry Tyrion. But what does that have to do with Littlefinger's ship leaving? Surely she can't be upset that he's leaving; does she not understand that it was he that sold her out to the queen? Or is she regretting that earlier this season she told LF that she wanted to stay in KL rather than come with him--because now she doesn't get Loras and she doesn't get to leave either? Or is she just looking at the ship, thinking about how upset she is about LF betraying her?

Sansa wouldn't realize that LF betrayed her, since she never revealed her real reason for wanting to remain in the city to him. She never mentioned Loras or the engagement to LF, so she wouldn't have any reason to believe that the demise of her engagement had anything to do with him.

Sansa is crying in that last shot for some combination of three reasons:

1. She has just been told that she won't be marrying Loras, the gorgeous, gallant, fashion-forward knight of her dreams.

2. Her ideal plan to escape King's Landing (marrying Loras) has failed, and her backup plan to escape King's Landing, leaving with Littlefinger when he departs for the Vale, is no longer feasible, as that ship has sailed, quite literally. This means that she'll be trapped in King's Landing indefinitely, maybe forever.

3. She's going to be marrying Tyrion, and there's nothing she can do about it.

The exact proportions of which factor is predominant in her devastation--is it 50% no Loras/25% trapped in King's Landing/25% marrying Tyrion, 10% no Loras/50% trapped in King's Landing/40% marrying Tyrion, or some other combination?--are left to the imagination.

[Gannicus]

This. People deflecting criticism from Tyrion by saying that Sansa is whiny?

This is completely missing a large part of Tyrion's character.

I guess this is how it works:

Sansa makes a negative comment: "She's such a whiny bitch."

Sansa doesn't make a negative comment: "She's so stupid; she doesn't understand anything that's going on! What a bitch!"

I know it's cliche, but I really think some people need to go back and read again.

Is that really a common sentiment? I certainly don't think so.

[DaBillmann]

Loras was already in the Kingsguard. Sansa thought for a second they were talking about him but the QoT was like "nope, he's Kingsguard. I meant Wyllas." They weren't mean about it.

I do think it's sad Sansa finds out right before the wedding but it would seem like Tyrion being unnecessarily cruel for not even warning her.

That said, I REALLY hope they get across that Sansa isn't being "a whiny brat" for not welcoming her kind and genteel husband.

Perhaps not outright mean, but a little snappish about it. I can't remember what Olenna said exactly, but she pretty much called Sansa a fool for thinking they meant for her to marry a member of the Kingsguard.

[Zman1863]

Is that really a common sentiment? I certainly don't think so.

I don't think so either. Naturally, people will defend their favorite characters from unfair criticism and distortions that result from the adaptation. But I think sometimes the defensive instincts are triggered in anticipation of reactions to the show before they happen. There also is a tendency to overestimate the prevalence of the radical opinions while underestimating the prevalence of reasonable ones.