Sullied on Unsullied: Does Littlefinger realize how much danger he’s putting Sansa in?

This week on WiC Live, our merry band of Unsullied Game of Thrones fans discussed the latest episode, “High Sparrow.” When they reached the topic of Littlefinger arranging for Sansa to marry noted psychopath Ramsay Bolton, they wondered whether Littlefinger realized the extent of the danger to which he was exposing the eldest Stark.

Unlike the WiC Live panelists, I’ve read the books, but can’t offer as much context as I would like, since the show is more or less going its own way with this plot. Even so, I disagree with Alison when she suggests that Littlefinger knows exactly what he’s getting Sansa into but doesn’t care so long as she serves the role he’s outlined for her in his master plan. For one thing, this goes against what Littlefinger says to Ramsay as the two talk on the scaffolding above Winterfell. “I’ve heard very little about you,” Littlefinger says to Ramsay, “which makes you quite a rare thing, as lords go.” This suggests that Littlefinger doesn’t realize the horors Ramsay is capable of.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Littlefinger was telling the truth in this scene—the man’s not known for his honesty, after all. Still, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Littlefinger, who’s been based out of King’s Landing for years, wouldn’t know much about the bastard son of a Stark bannerman. The North is very far removed, geographically speaking, from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms (remember Roose Bolton telling Ramsay that the Lannisters had never sent their army as far north as Winterfell), and news comes out of there less reliably than it does out of other parts of the realm. Plus, the ever-ambitious Littlefinger is probably less interested in information about noble bastards than he is in information about noble lords. Littlefinger, above all, wants to rise in the world, and bastards can’t really help him do that.

So I do think that Littlefinger may have slipped up here, effectively locking Sansa in a room with a violent, dangerous sadist when he didn’t mean to. It’s been implied by the producers that Sansa will be standing in for the character of Jeyne Poole, who got married to Ramsay in the books and lived to regret it. That doesn’t bode well for her.

At the same time, this doesn’t mean Sansa is doomed. The producers have already altered many plots from the book, and I find it hard to believe that they’re going to rehash the story from Seasons 1-2 where Sansa suffered at the hands of Joffrey Baratheon, her last sadistic fiance. Instead, I predict that Sansa will take to heart the message Littlefinger imparted to her on the bluffs overlooking Moat Cailin. “There’s no justice in the world unless we make it. You loved your family. Avenge them.”

In Littlefinger’s world, this means establishing your usefulness and biding your time until an opportunity to achieve your goals presents itself. This is the lesson Sansa’s been slowly absorbing over the last few years, and while she might have to take a few lumps before she can apply it, I’m confident she’ll get her chance.

• Published on 04/28/2015 at 5:00 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT