I did warn you not to trust me
These words from Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, uttered ironically in Season One of Game of Thrones, came back to haunt him in the Season Seven finale, as Three-Eyed Raven Bran Stark pulled Baelish’s statement out of some mystical archive to use as evidence in a surprise trial. Littlefinger failed to achieve his desired destiny of being on the Iron Throne with Sansa Stark by his side; he instead met a more grisly fate delivered by the blade of Faceless Man Arya Stark.
Littlefinger’s rise to power and influence, through treachery and double-dealing, appeared to be the winning Game of Thrones philosophy over the honorable ethos shown by Lord Eddard Stark, with Ned’s honesty and plain-dealing being seen as a disadvantage in comparison. Baelish’s comment on trust is entirely about Ned Stark’s lack-of-success in King’s Landing. Trust no one, would be Littlefinger’s advice. But now Lord Baelish has been taken out of the game as well.
So is Littlefinger’s fall a repudiation of his treacherous ways? Well, not just by itself.
There’s a certain satisfaction in honorable aw-shucks Ned Stark’s daughters taking revenge for their father’s death, with Sansa being the one to pass the sentence and Arya being the one to swing the steel. But I don’t know if his demise necessarily invalidates Littlefinger’s methodology. Sometimes one plays the Game of Thrones and still loses, regardless of how skillful a player they might be.
After all, Margaery Tyrell was considered a savvy political operative, and although she survived her time in the capital longer than Ned did, she ended up just as dead – by making the same mistakes Lord Eddard had made:
- underestimating the desperate measures Cersei might take
- overestimating the personal security afforded by their high positions.
It might not be that Littlefinger played the game badly, it might just have been that his number was up. We’ll come back to the topic of his gaming proficiency near the end of this…
To return to the first question I posed: is the justice meted out by honorable Ned Stark’s daughters a repudiation of treachery and a validation of honor? I somewhat think it is, but not only because of Ned Stark.
Let’s not forget that Arya and Sansa are also Catelyn Stark’s daughters.
Catelyn often gets brought up in the context of Littlefinger’s storyline. The core of his shady backstory starts with him ill-advisedly challenging Brandon “I Kill Things It’s What I Do” Stark to a duel, with unmarried Catelyn Tully’s hand as the prize. (Her hand and the rest of her.)
Baelish seemed ever-ready to talk wistfully of his love for Catelyn at the drop of a hat. You know, to random whores who were auditioning for work, to Lysa Arryn right before he pushed her out the Moon Door, to nearly everyone with some relation to Catelyn.
Baelish: You know, I loved your mother…
Sansa: Uh, cool?
Baelish: Did you know that I loved your estranged and forbidding step-mother? Or did you know nothing about this?
Jon Snow: That is literally the last thing I’ve ever wanted to know about.
I’m sort of surprised a scene like this didn’t happen at Harrenhal when Littlefinger was visiting Lord Tywin in Season Two:
Baelish: I say, little plucky serving girl, did you know that I once loved Lady Catelyn Stark? It’s true. We always had a certain undeniable chemistry. A certain Je ne sais quoi. That’s High Valyrian for “she could get it.”
Arya: JAQEN! I have my third name for you!
Jaqen: A man is in the privy! Bother a man with names later!
Littlefinger did set Ned up for a coup-de-main after Robert’s death, when Ned planned to enforce Robert’s last wishes for a Stark regency until Robert’s heir could come of age and be crowned. Which would have gone something like this…
Joffrey: Why do I have to wait any amount of time to be king?
Ned: Just relax…
Stannis: I’m here. You, septon. Tell me I’m king.
Septon: You’re king?
Stannis: That’s that. I do like an efficient coronation We’re done here, vassals, go get busy vassaling.
Ned: Thank the Old Gods! I’m heading back North.
Stannis: Whatever. I have some housecleaning to do.
… but the larger betrayal was Littlefinger’s bold lies to Catelyn about the backstory of the Valyrian steel dagger used by the bargain-basement assassin who tried to kill Bran Stark, catching Tyrion Lannister in the web of false statements. Catelyn trusted Baelish because of their childhood together; she considered Lord Petyr almost like a little brother, and we know family is important to the Tullys.
Catelyn: Pete, you’ll take care of Ned, won’t you?
Baelish: Oh, I’ll take good care of him. You can trust me on that.
Because of his falsehoods (and using Catelyn’s sister to murder Hand of the King Jon Arryn and unjustly blame the innocent Lannisters) Catelyn was primed, armed, and fired by Baelish like a weapon to provide a reason for Tywin Lannister’s rampage through the Riverlands and the near-destruction of House Tully.
But these aren’t the aspects of Catelyn that I want to focus on. I don’t want to dwell on her as the object of any skeevy guy’s affections, or the victim of his puppetmaster machinations.
I want to talk about Catelyn taking a direct action that led to Baelish’s downfall, an action that wasn’t in the Littlefinger Chaos-is-a-Ladder rulebook. An action that Baelish would have dismissed and mocked.
I’m talking about Catelyn putting her trust and faith in someone. Someone not necessarily known for his honor and fidelity.
Despite his reputation, Catelyn saw fit to place her trust in Ser Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer. She charged him to honor her releasing him as a fair hostage exchange for Sansa and Arya (both were believed to be held at King’s Landing.)
And Jaime did. (It was touch and go a bit there, but he did.)
Catelyn did not live to see this happen, she died at the Red Wedding long before there were any positive outcomes from the release of the Kingslayer to free the girls. But Jaime followed through as best as he could.
Arya’s fate was unknown, and with Sansa a fugitive from King’s Landing after the death of his son Joffrey, Jaime authorized Brienne of Tarth to seek out, serve, and protect the Stark girls. He granted the maid of Tarth armor, resources, Podrick Payne, and a priceless Valyrian steel sword, forged from Ned Stark’s greatsword Ice.
Brienne sought the girls in the Riverlands, tracking Sansa north into Winterfell and rescuing her from Flayed Man search parties after Sansa and Theon Greyjoy’s escape from Bolton captivity. Free from the Boltons, who were now robbed of their political advantage over the North, Sansa was free to assist Jon Snow in rousing what loyal support he could. She even brought Littlefinger in with a force of knights from the Vale.
Sansa: Please come with a bunch of guys. You’ll get a reward.
Baelish: Will I? Nice.
Sansa: Yup. You’ll get what’s coming to you.
Brienne directly assisted Sansa, allowing her to venture on a path that led her to the Great Hall, sitting in judgment on Baelish. I think that’s reasonably clear. But can the same be said about Arya, Catelyn’s other daughter?
Sort of. In a different way.
Brienne tried to serve Arya, running across her and the Hound in the Riverlands. Due to a reasonable distrust of motives (Brienne and all that Lannister-financed gear) Brienne and the Hound fought an epic battle, allowing Arya to escape from Brienne, but also from the Hound. From there, Arya traveled to Braavos and obtained some skills from the Faceless Men assassins. Skills which obviously including a proficiency for killing.
So what benefit did Brienne bring for Arya? In essence, she allowed Arya to have her own agency and follow her own course. Had Brienne not debilitated the Hound, Arya might not have left his side so easily. (Book readers, no need to correct me on this, I’m working from the show here.)
Growing up, Sansa was the one Catelyn had the most influence on – Arya was quite the wild child. So it seems appropriate the Catelyn’s gift from beyond the grave to her girls, the service of Brienne, followed suit. Brienne was the loyal and valiant knight that the lady Sansa needed. Arya had no such use for a knight in shining armor, but she did need to go her own way. Brienne’s intervention took care of that.
The gift of Brienne was made manifest by the release of Jaime Lannister. Whom Cat trusted to do the honorable thing.
So, I prefer to think that it wasn’t so much the spirit of Ned Stark in the Hall, guiding the events and bringing a dishonorable traitor to his end, but the ghost of Catelyn Stark, both Lady and hard-hearted Avenger, dispatching an enemy who’d lived in opposition to the House Tully words of “Family, Duty, Honor.”
Family, duty, and honor are the kinds of things that live on, that are hard to overcome in the long term. The North remembers, it doesn’t forget.
Baelish had played a good game, it’s quite possible that he could have engineered an escape earlier had he not been so focused on the vision of having Sansa Stark be the companion to his grand ambitions. He’d made a similar error in challenging the elder Brandon Stark for Catelyn.
Bran Stark: I feel like I’m not getting any credit here. I did bring up the whole “I did warn you not to trust me” line at the trial. Boom.
Me: Okay, fine. This was the second time a Bran Stark punked Petyr Baelish. Are you happy now?
Bran: Happiness is overrated. I feel a combination of enlightenment and –
Me: Dude, please stop talking.
So, I hope in whatever cosmology holds legitimate sway in Westeros, that Catelyn Stark is pleased that her faith in Jaime Lannister paid off.
Jaime Lannister: I hope I get a warm reception at Winterfell. These winter roads are freezing! (And I hope Bran doesn’t remember me tossing him out a window.)
Bran: I remember everything. You can trust me on this.
So after hearing what Royce heard at the ‘hearing’ it would not have surprised me that Royce would have killed LF right off.
There should have been an awkward conversation between Royce and Sansa , but knowing what she had been through he would have forgiven her.
I guess we never see Robin again?
Tho the Vale will be pulled into the Great War.
Game of thrones s8 theories
1. Arya will train Sansa to be a Faceless Girl
2. Theon G is Azor A
3. Daario Naaharis will bring The Golden Comp
4. Harrenhal will be Great Fight Theater
Highly recommended video on “Robert’s Rebellion Was Built on a Lie”:
With confiscated Slaver gold Dany will top Cersei’s price for the Golden Company.
Nice writeup! I like the idea that Catelyn is the first avenger, or Captain America, if you will, who brought down Red Skull, erm, Littlefinger.
She is aided by other Avengers Bran, Sansa, Arya, Brienne, and Jaime, all of whom played their part in maneuvering the pieces into place that crafted Baelish’s downfall.
Good stuff!
That was good! I never thought of Cat and Jamie’s role in LF’s end but you make a very persuasive case for them. And Brienne as well. In the end, I would say the spirits of both Ned and Cat were in the great hall and now they can rest easier knowing the LF threat is gone from WF.
Laughed at the convo between LF and Arya at Harrenhall! He did really tell just about everyone about his love for Cat (or it seemed that way).
Arya isnt actually a Faceless Man. She never completed her training. She learned a lot but she’s not one of them. She’s quite cocky but that might end up being her undoing.
Damn it! I’m still pissed that LF never got exposed for deceiving Catelyn into agreeing to the scam “hostage exchange” by lying to her that Arya was alive and well in KL. He knew she wasn’t. He knew the hostage exchange was a deception.
He deceived Cat into disobeying and undermining Robb – and indirectly caused Lord Karstark’s beheading and the loss of half of Robb’s army. Not to mention LF’s conspiring with Tywin at Harrenhall to defeat Robb and the Starks by allying the Lannisters and Tyrells.
F*cking LF got off easy. Arya should’ve given him the full-on Meryn F*cking Trant treatment. Grey Worm can do a swift jugular slice. Arya is more…creative with her blade. 🔪
According to Jaqen 2.0, Arya graduated FM University. The Waif’s bloody face was her diploma. 👺
Question: On the WF battlements after LF’s execution, Arya congratulated Sansa for psssing the sentence.
How come they didn’t go through the formalities that Ned did when executing the deserter on behalf of King Robert in S1e1, or when Brienne executed the One True King on behalf of the treasonous false king Renly ?
I was exprcting Sansa to announce: “I, Sansa Stark, Lady of Winterfell, on behalf of Jon Snow, the King in the North etc., sentence you to die. Do you have any last words, Lord Douchebag?”
Instead, it was “Thank you for all of your lessons, Lord Baelish. I’ll never forget them” – followed by Arya matter of factly slicing open his throat, like just another day at the office.
How does that work? Is the formal death sentence announcement optional?
Wasn’t it Littlefinger himself who talked Cat into exchanging Jaime for the Stark girls, after giving Ned’s bones as a token of good will? (Well, it was Tyrion’s idea, but Littlefinger got Harrenhall for his help)
Of course, it’s still possible that Littlefinger didn’t expect Jaime to uphold his personal vow. But still, I think it’s easier to say that he gambled too much and ran out of houses he could cheat (perhaps Greyjoy, Martell and Targaryen). I mean, after declaring for the Starks he couldn’t go back to the Vale anymore, it would have made him vulnerable to Cersei, so he had to stick with the Starks, who would eventually find out.
Was this in a deleted scene because I don’t recall him ever saying anything of the sort. She told him to his face that she is Arya Stark and she is going home.
I disagree. I think what really did Littlefinger in was not so much Catelyn’s trust in Jaime’s honor, though that did set off various indirect chains of events like you mention that ended with Littlefinger’s just end, but his own inability to understand people who aren’t playing the same game he is. He was so focused on climbing the ladder of power, to the next rung and the next, that he failed to realize that other people don’t share that goal. You could see it in his conversation with Varys way back in the first seasons in the throne room, but it was brought to relief in the earlier scene with Sansa, where he was playing his game, as well as in Arya’s scene with Sansa in the previous episode.
Both Arya and Littlefinger tried playing a game with Sansa. Arya’s game was the Game of Faces, where Arya accused Sansa of scheming and betraying to become Lady of Winterfell. Littlefinger’s game with Sansa accused Arya of scheming and betraying to become Lady of Winterfell. Sansa never answered Arya during her game. Why? Perhaps she wasn’t sure of the answer herself. In the previous season, Littlefinger was quite clear to Sansa that he was there to help her become Lady of Winterfell, and Sansa realized that it was Littlefinger‘s goal to have power, not hers or Arya’s. After everything Sansa suffered, she wasn’t in Winterfell to become its ruler; she was there because she wanted to be home. When Littlefinger played his game with Sansa, she reached the conclusion that Arya was there to be Lady of Winterfell… which was patently ridiculous (they’d just had a conversation to that effect an episode or two earlier, where Arya’s reminiscing about her archery practice). Of course Arya wasn’t gunning for Sansa’s position! She just wanted to be home! So she played through Littlefinger’s game and realized that Littlefinger was the only one to which those motives applied.
Family. Duty. Honor. You mention Catelyn Tully and Ned Stark, and both of them emphasized these values. But they both lost the Game of Thrones, because at no point were either of them thirsty for power. It took Sansa looking beyond Family, Duty, and Honor, which Ned Stark couldn’t do when he warned Cersei back in Season 1, for her to make winter come for Littlefinger. Catelyn saw the best in Jaime and was able to do some good thereby. Sansa saw the worst in Arya and realized that who she was seeing was actually Littlefinger.
Contrast this with Jaime and Tyrion, who tried to see the best in Cersei this episode. We saw how that turned out.
I reckon in this case Sansa didn’t want to let LF know what was coming? Hence just a nod to Arya for her to get on with it. Perhaps also the ‘official’ death sentence statement may only apply to those who will carry it out – i.e. To swing the blade? Not a thing that Sansa would do… Well, that’s just my interpretation on it.
fdr,
“Wasn’t it Littlefinger himself who talked Cat into exchanging Jaime for the Stark girls, after giving Ned’s bones as a token of good will? (Well, it was Tyrion’s idea, but Littlefinger got Harrenhall for his help).”
—————————
Yes it was LF who talked Cat into the 2-1 exchange. And he KNEW it was a “deception”: he lied about seeing Arya in KL in the custody of Cersei and Joffrey. See S2e4 and E6, along with Tyrion’s presentation to LF of the proposal as a “deception” in a prior episode. But it was LF’s express lie that Arya was alive and in Lannister custody that swayed Catelyn into disobeying Robb and getting played.
(I’m still perplexed that when Brienne finally made it to KL, she never thought or said “hey wait a minute; I understand that Sansa’s now married to the Imp, but Arya was supposed to be here too!” Instead, Brienne seemed to accept without question the story that nobody had seen Arya since Ned’s execution. She even repeated that to Hot Pie in S4e7.)
Ser Broccoli McBroccoliface,
Jaqen 2.0 announced: “Finally a girl is No One.” Unless they have a formal graduation ceremony, I took that to mean she completed her course work.
I guess Ill have to rewatch that. It seemed to me Arya chose to not become a Faceless Man by asserting she was Arya Stark and that she was leaving. The whole point of being a Faceless Man is giving up your identity so you can become anyone. If the show is taking artistic license so be it.
Catelyn trusted Tyrion would return her daughters, not Jaime. It was a gesture in good faith in delivering Jaime first (of course he was still shackled and under guard).
A wonderful and thought out article with a good dose of humour. Very much appreciated 🙂
That was a fun read Patrick! Thank you!
Yohn Royce: Your grace, I’ve brought good news and bad news.
Robin Arryn: The good news is you brought me a falcon?
Yohn Royce: No, the good news is your stepfather Petyr Baelish is dead.
Robin Arryn: Meh. What’s the bad news?
Yohn Royce: Your character is returning for the final season.
Robin Arryn: Wow, that’s great! But how is that bad news?
Yohn Royce: You’re being replaced by Adrien Brody.
(Maybe I should hire the very funny Patrick Sponaugle to write my jokes?)
Black Raven,
Sansa may not have known of Ned’s admonition that he who passes sentence must swing the blade. Ned followed it with the deserter and Jon followed it at the Wall. Or perhaps she just wanted to admire her sister in action. Obviously Arya was relaxed during the trial, she was at parade rest and knew the outcome, as well as the work ahead of her.
Ser Broccoli McBroccoliface,
Unlikely, sadly her plot armour will mean we get the “joy” of putting up with her till the end. Which will be dumb as hell.
No proxy needed. You’ll do. 🙂
I think I’d just get in your way. That was some excellent dialog, and a nice use of huge-nosed Brody.
Thank you for this kind feedback, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I’m very pleased you enjoyed it, thank you!
Thanks David! You might be giving me too much credit in making a Marvel’s Avengers connection, but that’s my fault for saying upper-case Lady and an Avenger, instead of lady and an avenger (I was trying for a Lady Stoneheart type of spin.)
But I like what you’re saying. To expand on Littlefinger’s role, he’s pretty close to being Loki, all said.
Thanks again, I appreciate you reading the article and your response!
Thanks, I’m glad you liked that particular bit of dialog, thanks for the comment
I don’t quite agree. Jaime Lannister was going to be killed by the Karstarks, or at least Cat must have believed that. Had Jaime been killed, Robb would have had to behead Lord Rickard, if only to hope that there would be no reprisals against the girls.
Littlefinger brought Catelyn the fake news about Arya – but Catelyn isn’t dumb, she didn’t need anyone telling her that there was the possibility of a hostage exchange.
But Robb refused that. And Littlefinger didn’t suggest that Cat let Jaime go with practically zero assurances, particularly from the Lannisters, that the girls would be freed. That was all Cat putting her trust in Jaime being honorable.
If Robb had agreed, then a time and place would have been set up, in relatively neutral territory, with a strong armed escort for Jaime. Not just Brienne.
Fair enough, although I didn’t claim that what did Littlefinger in was Catelyn’s trust solely. A lot of factors came into play.
Earlier this week, there was a very good post about not having the home court advantage, comparing Ned and Littlefinger. I wanted to highlight Cat in this, and not as a victim or a prize to be won.
Dothraki Scum,
You may well be right. However, it would seem that – “I (followed by name and titles) sentence you to die – Do you have any last words?” is a well known expression for those carrying out executions?
Brienne said it to Stannis, Danaerys to the Tarlys (although her dragon did the bisso!) and Jon to Janos Slynt for disobeying his order? Vaguely recall Robb Stark said the same when he executed old man Karstark for murdering the Lannister boys and Theon when he beheaded Ser Roderick… So it would seem like many know this as a formal statement before carrying out a death sentence?
Sansa probably never learned (or even considered) she may have to use those words one day? I recall she had to be prompted by Podrick to her reply to Brienne after she swore an oath to protect her after she and Pod saved her and Theon from Ramsey’s soldiers after they escaped from Winterfell.
So it would seem even swearing oaths as well as passing death sentences follows a standard format that people from noble Westerosi families would learn as part of their upbringing?
Just my take on it 😉
Erica,
(*-_-)
Patrick Sponaugle,
+ﾟ☆ﾟ+
I just wanted to say that I *finally* have some respect for Sansa.
I’ve been feeling sorry for her for a long time, of course. She’s been through a huge number of traumatic horrors that she absolutely did not deserve… it’s just that she had a lot of very nasty, selfish, shallow tendencies for quite some time.
For example… even with all the perspective her life with Joffrey should’ve given her (after overlooking his sociopathy because she wanted to make cute blonde babies with him until the moment he attacked her personally), as well as dealing with Ramsey’s unspeakable behavior, she still couldn’t get over having to marry a short guy. That kind of thing.
But at least she *finally* chose her sister over whatever megalomaniacal sociopath she’d been hanging out with.
I wish I had revisited this post earlier! I have no idea what +ﾟ☆ﾟ+ means, but I like it!