8 Game of Thrones characters who were secret villains

Petyr Baelish

Petyr Baelish is the quintessential secret villain in Game of Thrones. Obviously, we find out Petyr is a true villain quite early in the series when we meet him in King’s Landing. What we don’t realize then is just how integral to the chaos in Westeros Petyr Baelish actually is.

It’s Petyr Baelish, with the help of Lysa Arryn, who brings the Starks into this conflict in the first place. Ned and the family seemed perfectly happy to stay up in the North. Murdering Jon Arryn was the first step in instigating the War of the Five Kings, plunging the realm into conflict, the biggest since Robert’s Rebellion years before the series begins.

And Littlefinger is responsible for so much worse than that, including the deaths of Ned Stark, Joffrey Baratheon, Lysa Arryn, and others. There’s everything that happens with Sansa, including marrying her to the brutal Ramsay Bolton, and basically stirring the pot so much that the Lannisters and Starks had no choice but to go for each other’s throats. He’s almost solely responsible for many of the major plot points, and he did most of it behind the scenes.

Littlefinger isn’t the only strategist and opportunist in the Seven Kingdoms, but looking at a shortlist of his crimes confirms that he is the secret villain of Game of Thrones.

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