Game of Thrones/HBOUnsurprisingly, Game of Throne’s teen assassin Arya does not trust slimy Littlefinger as far she could throw him and can’t resist rooting around in his chambers.
When she stumbled across a letter signed by Sansa, it wasn’t instantly clear what this was, however, after careful analysis, dedicated fans have twigged it’s the very same letter Sansa was manipulated into writing while under the ‘care’ of Cersei Lannister.
Penned while she was still fawning over psychopathic King Joffrey, the letter urged her brother Robb to ride to King’s Landing and make peace with the Lannisters after Ned’s alleged betrayal:
Robb, I write to you with a heavy heart. Our good king Robert is dead, killed from wounds he took in a boar hunt. Father has been charged with treason. He conspired with Robert’s brothers against my beloved Joffrey and tried to steal his throne.
Game of Thrones/HBOThe letter continues:
The Lannisters are treating me very well and provide me with every comfort. I beg you: come to King’s Landing, swear fealty to King Joffrey and prevent any strife between the great houses of Lannister and Stark.
Robb instantly recognised the words as being Cersei’s – even if it was Sansa who wrote them.
At the time the letter was written, Sansa was in a very vulnerable and confusing situation, believing she could save her father’s life if the bonds between the Lannisters and the Starks could be restored.
HBOHowever, there is no guarantee Arya will see things this way.
In their younger years, the girls clashed on multiple occasions over Sansa’s naïve devotion and loyalty to King Joffrey.
In the now distant past, Sansa’s willingness to lie for her bloodthirsty betrothed led directly to the deaths of Lady the direwolf and of course Arya’s friend, Mycah.
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This new find could well open old wounds, stopping the young Stark women from trusting each other at a crucial time – Arya will be reminded that while she was out plotting the demise of the Lannisters, Sansa was living with them, albeit against her will.
Of course, master manipulator Littlefinger knows this all too well and of course, left this letter lying around deliberately for Arya to find – the return of clever, capable Arya to Winterfell has really thrown a spanner in the works for whatever devious plans he has in store.
Littlefinger knows he has to nip the renewed sisterly bond in the bud in order to keep close to Sansa.
Game of Thrones/HBOAccording to the Radio Times , showrunner D.B. Weiss has revealed Littlefinger is attempting to get Arya to show genuine anger towards Sansa:
Arya is very used to being more clever and more stealthy, and smarter than any of the people she’s up against, but she hasn’t dealt with Littlefinger for a while.
She gets roped into spying on somebody who’s actually leading her by the nose to something that he wants her to have.
He’s looking for a way to prevent this sister bond from developing further because the tighter they are the more definitively he is caught on the outside of it.
On the Sansa end of the relationship he’s seen the opening and now all he needs to do is give Arya a cause to display real rage towards Sansa and, he knows full well that with what’s going on in Sansa’s head with regards to Arya and how dangerous she is, when Arya starts to act dangerous and angry, he knows where Sansa is going to turn.
Damn that letter Arya read was the one Sansa was forced to write to Robb about swearing fealty to Joffery but Arya doesnt know the context
— kizer fan acc (@JRAMTHAGOAT24) August 14, 2017
Hopefully Arya will be able to see right through Littlefinger’s latest dastardly scheme…
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.