Littlefinger the Schemer - Part 2

Hello again all! It is time for my second piece on Littlefinger, and what he is up to. If you haven't already, please check out Littlefinger the Schemer Part 1 first. In Part 1, I discussed Petyr's past, the beginning of his schemings, how he is pitting the Houses of the Reach against each other, indebting the Houses of the Vale to the Iron Bank, and the possibility that he is trying to fulfill the same prophecy as Rhaegar Targaryen was. In this part, I will discuss the importance of Harrenhal, and the other prophecy Petyr may be trying to fulfill, and then try to piece all of this together to figure out what his end game will be. Without further adieu, let's begin!

"The Seasons of My Love"

I loved a maid as fair as summer

with sunlight in her hair.

I loved a maid as red as autumn

with sunset in her hair.

I loved a maid as white as winter

with moonglow in her hair.

I wanted to start with this piece because it is a song that comes up often in references in the story, and I will bring up later in this blog.

Harrenhal, Catelyn, and Sansa Stark

Catelyn Stark's mother was Lady Minisa Whent, whose families House seat is Harrenhal. Customs in Westeros dictate that women take on their husbands names and lands, and their children continue on their father's name, but the First Men (wildlings), seem to be more matriarchal in this matter. When Osha is describing her family, she talks of her mother, mother's mother, etc., and reminds Bran that the Free Folk (wildlings) ''. So in a matriarchal way, Catelyn and her daughters are tied to Harrenhal. The two main towers of Harrenhal are called the Widow's Tower and the Wailing Tower, and we have many references to Sansa as a widow, and of course Cat is widowed pretty early on in the story as well. Although Sansa has not been officially widowed yet, the situation with Joffrey is very similar, and Littlefinger at one point even says to her

"Widowhood will become you, Sansa"

- Sansa V, A Storm of Swords

We also have a couple references to "bats" with Sansa, and the bat is the symbol used on House Whent's arms.

At Joff's wedding, Sansa has this thought;

"Every time Joffrey looked at her, her tummy got so fluttery that she felt as though she swallowed a bat."

- Sansa IV, A Storm of Swords

Later, after the rumor has spread of Sansa's disappearance from the capitol in conjunction with Joffrey's death, Polliver is speaking about the situation and says, he heard;

"..she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window."

- Arya XII, A Storm of Swords

So Harrenhal is strangely linked to Cat and Sansa, and Littlefinger is of course obsessed with both characters, Cat at first and Sansa later, AND he is obsessed with Harrenhal, and does an awful lot of scheming to make sure he gets it.

Now everyone re when Cat freed Jamie and sent Brienne with him to trade him for Sansa and Arya, but there is a weird moment that happens not too long before Cat makes this rash move. Moonlight hits her through a window, she hears a singer sing, "I loved a maid as red as autumn," and then she loses multiple hours of time, thinking it had ed in a heartbeat. This is very familiar to when Samwell lost hours of time when he first looked into the glass candle at the Citadel, and indicates that someone may have influenced Cat's decision to free Jaime, with the use of a glass candle. It is also odd that Cat first asks Jaime and Brienne to bring back both of her daughters, but Arya is strangely later dropped from this oath and the main goal becomes to rescue Sansa. Jaime and Brienne have an odd relationship and Jaime first expresses his sexual feelings for Brienne (in his own head) in the bath tubs at Harrenhal. Later, after Jaime leaves Harrenhal, he has a weird dream about Brienne and oaths after he had been sleeping in moonlight, yet again indicating there may have been a glass candle involved. Of course, not too long after this dream, Jaime decides to return to Harrenhal for Brienne and rescues her from the bear pit.

Later, Jaime of course gives Oathkeeper to Brienne, as well as a shield, and tasks her to go and find and protect Sansa. Oathkeeper is of course House Stark's legendary sword Ice, melted down, and the other part of that sword is given the name Widow's Wail, the names of the main two towers at Harrenhal. The shield that Brienne receives, is actually from the armory in Harrenhal, and the chipped paint still showed the great black bat of House Lothston. So essentially, Brienne is tasked with rescuing Sansa, who is tied to Harrenhal on her mothers side and Winterfell on her fathers, and Brienne is given the shield of Harrenhal and a sword "of Winterfell" to go and do this.

So what is the big deal with Harrenhal then?

That is a much more difficult question to answer, but I believe the answer actually gives us a much better idea of what prophecy Rhaegar was chasing, only he did not fully understand it. Its possible Littlefinger does not fully understand it either, but I believe he is much closer to hitting the mark, and will become a pivotal piece because of that, in the end of this whole thing.

Harrenhal is strategically located smack dab in the middle of Westeros, right next to another land mark that is sometimes overlooked, the Isle of Faces, often referred to as the God's Eye in the story. Some great blogs have been done on speculation about the Isle of Faces, such as Isle of Faces: Where it All Ends post, so check those out if you haven't already, and I will try to not cover too much of the same info as them. Benjen points out that we hear about Isle of Faces for the first time in Catelyn's first chapter, in the beginning of the first book, and it is only mentioned a total of 30 times so far, in the entire main series. Its mentioned twice when Meera is telling Bran the story of the First Long Night (AGoT - Bran VII) and the pact made to end the war on the Isle of Faces. Arya mentions twice in same chapter (ACoK - Arya II) when navigating that area with Yoren and the Nights Watch recruits, and notes that the packs of wolves have grown bolder specifically around the Gods Eye. It is then mentioned a total of 9 more times in the proceeding Arya chapters in ACoK as well as ASoS, as she is captured by the Mountain and his men around the Gods Eye, and then is transported to Harrenhal, so spends a decent amount of time there, and then it is mentioned once more for Arya when she is recalling bad memories from the Tickler torturing folks at Harrenhal (AFFC - Arya II). During this time, we have the following, once in reference to the Gods Eye

"Arya felt as though the lake were calling her."

- ACoK, Arya V

Though, she does talk about wanting to get clean right after that, still I found the wording interesting.

It's mentioned a total of 3 times in Catelyn's chapters as well, and once here:

"The riverlands are awash in blood and flame all around the Gods Eye."

- ACoK, Catelyn I

When the Blackfish is giving a status report on the battles to Catelyn, but the fire and blood reference can't be missed. Its mentioned twice in Tyrion's chapters, once in reference to being lit afire. Twice in Dany's chapters, in reference to the only story she knows involving that location, the infamous Tourney at Harrenhal. Twice for Jon, once listed as a place that he believes he will never see, and again here:

"..how Grigg yearned to visit the green men on the Isle of Faces,"

- ASoS, Jon V

Which is interesting because apparently its common knowledge that Green Men reside there still, yet nobody pays them any mind? Anyway, its mentioned once in Jaime's chapter in ing reference as directions (ASoS - Jaime VI). And the rest of the mentions, a total of 8, are in Bran's chapters, most of the rest coming during Meera's story about the Tourney at Harrenhal from her father's perspective, and the others we discussed already. So here is the list of character POV's that its mentioned in:

1. Arya - 12 total

2. Bran - 8 total

3. Catelyn - 3 total

T4. Dany - 2 total

T4. Jon - 2 total

T4. Tyrion - 2 total

5. Jaime - 1 total

Why am I spending so much time talking about this? Well, I know that Arya happened to be the character that spent the most time around the Isle of Faces, but I don't think that was done unintentionally. Look at this list of characters. These are our major POVs, and many are on George's original manuscript for characters that would be alive in or near the end, and this is the place that some believe the end will go down at, and also where the first Long Night was ended at. Yes, Cat is dead, but she is still kind of alive, shout out to Lady Stoneheart, and might make it as LS until the end, who knows? BUT, one character strangely missing from this list...Sansa Stark. There is plenty of connections to her and Harrenhal, but no mention of Isle of Faces or Gods Eye in her POVs. Why? Well, I know I said this was just going to be two parts, but look how far we have come already! I fear this may have been a long read already and I don't want to lose your attention, so here we will split into part 3, where I promise, I will finally reach my point. Until next time!

#CharacterBreakdown

#IceMPyre

#DBD

#HouseStark

#WinterIsComing