Man With a Plan: What game has Littlefinger been playing in Game of Thrones season 7?

7×02: “Stormborn”

In the second episode, Petyr’s “love” for Sansa comes up again. Littlefinger only shows up for one scene: the one where he approaches Jon in the Winterfell crypts and Jon pushes him against a wall. But that one scene leaves an impact.

We have two Petyr Baelishes fighting it out in this episode. Littlefinger wants to be in charge of change of Winterfell, and Petyr wants to protect and love Sansa. They both come out in the scene with Jon. Littlefinger says outright that he cares for Sansa, which inspires Jon to his act of violence. But the fact that he’s trying to forge a relationship with Jon in the first is notable. He says he wants to talk “properly” with Jon. Why? We know that Littlefinger wants Sansa to rule Winterfell. If he’s trying to make inroads with Jon, it’ll be so he can get close enough to undermine him.

Again, the duality comes up. Does Littlefinger want to raise Sansa up because he loves her? Does he truly look at this young woman and see her for who she is, or does he see her mother? He lost Catelyn to Brandon Stark, who beat Petyr in a duel. Here, again, a member of the Stark family (for all anybody knows) roughs Petyr up for the sake of a Tully girl. Littlefinger wants to prove to himself that he can get the girl. He can get the “lady of Winterfell” or, even better, the Queen in the North.

And Littlefinger isn’t going to do that by fighting Jon back. He’s going to do it by manipulating those around him. Petyr works best when he puts people in the positions they want to be in, so that they owe him. We’ve seen that time and time again. Even worse, we’ve seen with Sansa that he often puts her in danger only to save her. Littlefinger couples a passion for Sansa with a God complex. Not good.