Hello again all, and welcome to the final installment in my #CharacterBreakdown series on Littlefinger! I hope you have enjoyed so far, and here are the links to the first two parts if you have not read yet, you will want to before reading on.
Littlefinger the Schemer - Part 1
Littlefinger the Schemer - Part 2
So if you read everything else up until this point, you will see that I have mentioned Ser Dontos, but did not explain his significance yet, so that is where we shall begin!
Ser Dontos the Brilliant
Obviously Littlefinger is using Ser Dontos as a means to get his hands on Sansa. Petyr has Ser Dontos meet with Sansa in the godswood when she is alone and praying, to befriend her and give her an option to leave King's Landing with him. Ser Dontos does not make any mention of LF, likely at his command. Now LF is a clever man and does not want to be caught in this plot if Ser Dontos is caught, but its possible that there is another reason that Ser Dontos makes Sansa think that he would be the one rescuing her if she decided to leave with him, and it has to do with the fact that every time Dontos and Sansa meet, it is in the godswood.
That's right, not only is LF trying to trick all of the political forces in King's Landing, but he is also trying to trick the gods themselves, and it appears it is only the Old Gods that he concerns himself with, or possibly just the CotF / Bloodraven (for further thoughts on the CotF/BR and Old Gods connection, you can check out my Other Northern Conspiracy series that I will link at the end of this blog). Through the eyes of the CotF / BR / Old Gods / Weirwood trees, Ser Dontos appears to be the one who is trying to kidnap Sansa. Preston Jacobs does a great job of explaining why Dontos was chosen, so check out his Littlefinger Debt Scheme series for more on that, but essentially it may be related to the history of the Defiance of Duskendale, and that the new Lord of Duskendale, Ser Dontos, may be trying to repeat history again by kidnapping Sansa, or at least LF wants the Old Gods to believe.
Essentially, he is using Dontos family history as one of his many clever guises in his master plan. So why go through the trouble of all this? Well, Preston again had a good idea in that Littlefinger may be also trying to emulate the 'Durran Godsgrief' story as well. For those unfamiliar, Durran Godsgrief was the mythic first Storm King during the Age of Heroes. He supposedly won the love of Elenei, daughter of the sea god and the goddess of wind, but her parents forbid the relationship. The couple wed anyway, and the gods brought their wrath upon them during their wedding, killing all of Durran's family and guests, and destroying his keep. He declared war on the gods, and the gods responded by hammering the Stormlands with massive storms, whilst King Durran attempted to build a castle to withstand. It took 7 tries, but he eventually succeeds, and some say he had the help of either the CotF, or Bran the Builder, on his final attempt, or in other words, magical help.
What is Littlefinger's plan then?
So Littlefinger is trying to trick the gods / weirwoods into thinking Dontos is kidnapping Sansa, to reproduce the Defiance of Duskendale, which may have been the first attempt at fulfilling the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy. Wait what? Yeah, the Defiance of Duskendale makes no sense, especially the part about the rough treatment of Aerys when the Defiance first began. Lord Denys did have a point about taxes, but his answer was to kidnap the king, killing his escort, and roughly imprisoning Aerys? No way, you could never hope to get what you wanted from that. I think Preston again has a great point about the true purpose of the Defiance, and it lies in the punishments dolled out. Of course most involved were executed, but Lord Denys wife, Serala had her tongue and womanly parts removed, before being burned alive. Why? Because she was punished for the crimes she committed, attempting to, or succeeding in raping the king. The Darklyns happen to be an old house, founded during the Age of Heroes, and largely still of First Men heritage. The Darklyns were some of the first to bend the knee to Aegon the Conquerer, and served House Targaryen loyally for a long time, and had more men from their house the Kingsguard than any other house. However, when the Dance of Dragons began, they chose the Black side, and suffered dearly for it, with Duskendale being sacked, and the Lord being beheaded. The rift between the two families would never heal, as Darklyns would be present at Whitewalls during the Second Blackfyre Rebellion, and would eventually commit the Defiance of Duskendale. The family had likely developed a deep seeded hatred for the Targaryens over the generations, and it may be possible, they came across a prophecy that for told of a savior of mankind that would be born of a mixture of First Men and Valyrian bloodlines, and they therefore attempted to create that child themselves. The other possibility was that they were simply trying to bear a child that would have Targaryen blood, and be loyal to Duskendale. Whatever the reason, it seems they had no intention of giving up Aerys after taking him, for the Mad King already had his reputation for harsh punishment, and the killing of his escort, a Kingsguard, and harsh treatment of himself, would not go unpunished. Its possible Lady Serala was pregnant with the Kings child, and that is why he had her parts torn out.
Littlefinger seems to be combining or confusing a lot of different stories here, but actually, I think what he has done is tried to piece the puzzle together. Durran Godsgrief defied what the Sea/Storm god wanted, and stole away with his 'Queen of Love & Beauty'. The CotF decided to intervene and help Durran defeat these gods. The Defiance of Duskendale did not warrant CotF assistance, because Lord Denys got the prophecy wrong by choosing his wife, a woman of Myrish decent, as the one to produce a Targaryen baby, which of course is insignificant to the CotF. Rhaegar Targaryen defied the Storm King / eventual usurper, and ran off with his 'Queen of Love & Beauty', after GoHH / Bloodraven convinced him it was necessary to create a child savior (or at least 1 out of 3 according to Rhaegar). Now Littlefinger does not come from a line of First Men, and cannot fulfill any legacies with his blood, so he tricks the Old Gods / CotF to help him by making them believe Ser Dontos is the one trying to run off with Sansa, and create this savior. The procurement of Harrenhal, and destruction of the realm are done in preparation for the CotF arrival / offer of assistance. What's missing? Well why haven't we seen a response from CotF yet? It's because, they are already busy trying to assist the real savior or saviors in their eyes, Jon / Dany. Although I don't really have anyway to prove it yet, I think the CotF are furthermore, using the Stark children as their main weapons to accomplish their goals. Bran's association with the CotF is pretty well known already. We have Jon, who is part Stark at the very least, as one of the main Ice and Fire Children, and I have covered numerous times in this blog series as well as my Bloodraven series, and Other Northern Conspiracy series, the many times Bloodraven has assisted Jon. Arya is told by the Ghost of High Heart that Sansa will slay a giant, possibly foreshadowing her eventually killing Littlefinger, who ironically has a Titan Head as his House symbol, though he prefers to fittingly wear a Mockingbird as his house crest, the 'giant' could be a reference to the Titan Head, as well as the fact that Littlefinger has become an increasingly more 'giant' force to be reckoned with politically as well. Even if LF does not end up being this giant, Sansa no doubt has an important role to play moving forward as well.
And then we have Arya, one of George's favorite characters, one on the original manuscript to be still alive in the end, and a character that has more references and connections to the Isle of Faces than any other character in the series, and at one point states that the waters of the gods eye are, 'calling to her'. Not to mention the fact that we spend an incredible amount of time following her antics across the Narrow Sea and training to become a Faceless Man, which is definitely going to come into play in the end as well. While I wish I had some exciting new theory to share on Arya's importance in the end, sadly I do not. I only know that she is intimately connected to the Isle of Faces, and as such, I believe she will be there when a new pact is formed to bring back the Dawn, and play a significant part in the end of this whole thing.
The reason the CotF / Bloodraven are allowing Littlefinger to continue on for now, is because he is aiding in their plan as well, and when they are done with him, they will make sure Sansa deals with him. I know this is a little tinfoily, but these are the dots I have connected so far, and this feeds right into The Other Northern Conspiracy Theory that I am working on finishing now as well. But surely Littlefinger knows that even if he succeeds in getting the CotF out of hiding to offer their assistance, that he himself can still not fulfill this prophecy. So who then? He has done something against the interests of nearly every person who is vying for the throne in the Seven Kingdoms at some point. Well, in part 1 of this series I speculated that LF may be a Targaryen loyalist, working to install Dany on the throne, but another sub set of that idea is this; LF is a Targaryen loyalist trying to put fAegon on the throne. It doesn't make sense for his end game to be Dany with the way he treats Sansa. It could be his intention to place Sansa on the throne with fAegon as her King, and he as their principal advisor however. Of course, I do think the possibility exists as well that he himself does not care about the blood part of the prophecy, but believes that he himself could fulfill it, with Sansa as his Queen. Lastly, another candidate he may have in mind is our Lord of the Eyrie, Robert Arryn, and if that one is the case, then I would say it is highly likely Robin is his son, with Lysa, not Jon Arryn's, and therefore Robin would be able to carry LF's line on, though it doesn't seem like that is LF's primary interest, still it is a possibility.
Wrap that all up for me, would ya?
We've come a long way and this is a pretty complicated story, so let me try and wrap it up:
Petyr's story starts as a young boy infatuated with Cat, but is turned down by her. She is betrothed to Brandon Stark, so he challenges Brandon for her hand and is nearly killed for it. Before he leaves Riverrun, he impregnates Lysa and Hoster forces her to drink a lot of Moon Tea to abort the baby. At this point, LF returns to the fingers to rethink his strategy and may or may not have found this prophecy of ice and fire at this time. He gets in good with Lysa's new husband, the Hand of the King, and gets himself a spot on high council as Master of Coin. Begins to beggar out the realm, pitting houses against each other, and essentially starts a war by murdering Jon Arryn with the help of Lysa, and getting Ned to ride to Kings Landing to investigate, and stoke a feud between Starks and Lannisters. The new war begins and LF continues to stoke the flames, and manages to extinguish enough to earn recognition and procure Harrenhal. He tricks Old Gods / CotF into thinking Dontos is trying to fulfill the ice and fire prophecy by kidnapping Sansa in order to coax CotF out to strike a deal with them. At this point, he may have one of several end games in mind (in no particular oder):
1. Dany on the throne, as he was a Targ loyalist the whole time (see Part 1 for full speculation on that). Would not explain why LF finds Sansa so important though.
2. fAegon on the throne with Sansa by his side. Makes more sense as this fulfills the Ice and Fire prophecy better, and explains LFs strong desire for Sansa.
3. Littlefinger on the throne with Sansa at his side. Negates the Fire side of prophecy, but better explains why he would need to Trick CotF to coax them out in hopes that their magic may be able to allow him to fulfill the prophecy? Not sure on that one, but this still explains his strong desire for Sansa at least.
4. Robert Arryn on the throne with Sansa at his side. In this case, Robert is likely Littlefinger's son, and will continue his blood line as Kings. This also explains his strong desire for Sansa.
So there you have it. While I have not made a bold prediction for Littlefinger, I do hope that you have all enjoyed my take on what he is up to, and what his possible end game might be. I would love to hear anyone else's thoughts on the matter as well. Do you think I made any crazy jumps in this theory? Anything you disagree with? Agree with? This topic is still racking my mind a bit so I would love to discuss with any and all interested in the comments below. Thanks so much for reading, and if you read all 3 parts, a huge thank you to you! Until next time!
Links
The Other Northern Conspiracy, Part 1
The Other Northern Conspiracy, Part 2
The Other Northern Conspiracy, Part 3
Comments (8)
Lf will grab Sansa with a knife at her throat and tell them to step of or else his men will be behind him all of a sudden men will step in Sansa will escape his grasp and he runs towards her Arya will appear and kill hin the end he has to die this season there isn't much more that he can do like
This is show only I predictions starting of with Jon giving the last hearth to the wildlings Lf won't be happy this about telling Sansa that it should be her ruling the north not Jon and that if it hadnt been her bringing / asking for the vales assistance the Boltons would still rule the north she will agree at first until Arya arrives where they will get close again he won't like this wanting sansa all fot himself using her to gain power he will want the Vale Army to go back to the Vale they won't want to though they will want to stsy and help the north he will see that yohan Royce and Jon getting close talking about Ned and that there will be a rider in the night bringing Lf a letter from the Vale Sansa will read it and learn that Lf and cercei are working together this will make her angry because it states to kill Jon she will tell yohan Royce he will tell her that he's too smart and has Robin in his fingers so they'll come up with a plan Sansa will ask lf to meet her in the God's wood Lf will arrive with a few men she will ask him why did he want hin dead he will say because I was promiseD the north if I got rid of Boltons and Stannis it worked but Jon became king so my plan didn't work but not this time my men have followed him to Dragonstone where they will kill Tyrion lannister the blame will be put on Jon and he he killed somethig like that I will soon not need Robin as I didn't need his stupid mother pushing her out the moon door was probaly the best thing for the Vale he will make his heir and then die breaking his neck falling from a horse the power of the Vale will come to me and you will marry me and I will gain the warden of the north title the vale and thr north will get me the iron throne Robin will step out of know where you killed my mother throw hin out the moon door he will scream arrest him yohan Royce will call
I like the theory on LF ing fagon and making Sansa his wife it could be his end game and him being there advicor but this will be when Sansa kills him after someone tells her that Lf betrayed her father and other stuff if he's using Robin to sit on the crown it could happen with Robib marring Sansa and then get rid of him maybe but I do belive that Robin Arryn will survive Sansa will find out that Lf is slowly poisoning him and kill him
Sweet, thanks for the thoughts, and yeah, I could definitely see it going down like that as well!
LF is definitely a believer of prophesy. He sees SweetRobin as key as well. The question is is he trying to kill SweetRobin or put him in a coma with Sweetsleep. Much like Bran, he could unlock his powers. Hard to see what the complete end game will be, but you did an excellent job covering what we know. I will be citing you for the Darkling prophesy theory. There is little other reason to have a woman's parts torn out. I also believe the Order of the Greenhand, I think it was, who surmised that Tywin and Lord Darkling were working together.
Great work!!!!
Thanks so much! He absolutely is tied to prophecy. I decided to stay away from the Sweetrobin topic of sweetsleep and what might be going on there, as I could not figure out myself. I need to finish Order's series on LF still, I missed that part!
Great job in pulling this altogether Jon. Or should we call you Preston? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
LF trying to trick the CotF is quite unique- I like it!
Haha yes, this theory relied heavily on his work, but no need to reinvent the wheel ya know? Preston is brilliant, and while I agree with him on most things, we tend to reach different conclusions in the end. Thanks for the kind words!