‘Game of Thrones': Everyone in Winterfell Has Secret Plans and We Don’t Know What They Are
Littlefinger, Sansa and Arya are in a three-way struggle for power that’s growing more and more dangerous, and nobody seems sure what the others are up to
Phil Hornshaw | August 20, 2017 @ 8:44 PM
Last Updated: August 21, 2017 @ 6:38 PM
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(Spoilers ahead for “Beyond the Wall,” the Aug. 20 episode of “Game of Thrones”)
In the game of thrones, you win or you die. In “Game of Thrones” Season 7, the most serious and potentially lethal intrigue is taking place between the Stark kids at Winterfell.
The sixth episode of Season 7, “Beyond the Wall,” spends a lot of time with Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), who have less and less trust for each other. In the last episode, “Eastwatch,” Arya discovered a message Sansa wrote in Season 1 to her brother Robb (Richard Madden).
In the latest episode, Arya confronts Sansa with the message, saying that Sansa betrayed the family to the Lannisters by trying to get Robb to pledge fealty to Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson). Sansa doesn’t see it that way, but she is worried that Arya will show the message to the northern lords who named Jon Snow (Kit Harington) King in the North.
Arya also thinks that Sansa, enjoying the power she has as Lady of Winterfell and ruling in Jon’s stead, wants to take power from him — and that some of the northern lords even prefer Sansa to Jon. If Arya shows the message to the lords, they’ll abandon Sansa, and Sansa worries the fickle northern lords might even use the message as an excuse to abandon Jon and run back to their homes.
There’s a lot of old baggage between Arya and Sansa that leads them to not trust each other. First, the two girls have always been very different, and never liked one another. Sansa was the quintessential lady, and gave Arya a hard time about wanting to be a warrior rather than a wife.
But back in Season 1, the two went through some serious issues. In Episode 2, “Kingsroad,” Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) assaulted Arya and threatened her friend with his sword. Arya’s direwolf, Nymeria, attacked Joffrey as a result. When King Robert (Mark Addy) asked Sansa what happened, she lied on Joffrey’s behalf and blamed Arya. But since Nymeria couldn’t be found, Cersei (Lena Headey) ordered Lady, Sansa’s direwolf, killed instead.
So Arya always thought Sansa was willing to turn on her family to gain favor with the Lannisters, and Sansa hated Arya for messing things up for her and getting her pet killed. and seeing her sister at the execution of Ned Stark (Sean Bean) just reinforced that. Finding the letter Sansa wrote to Robb, then, would play right into what Arya already thinks of her sister. But neither sister knows anything about what the other one has been through, so Sansa and Arya don’t really have anything but their old beliefs about each other to go on.
And right now, it appears that neither Arya nor Sansa realize that it was Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) who maneuvered the message into Arya’s hands in order to widen the rift between them. In “Eastwatch,” Arya watched Littlefinger secretly meeting with various people around Winterfell, before she saw Maester Wolkan (Richard Rycroft) deliver the message to Littlefinger’s room. She later broke into his room and stole the message, but didn’t see Littlefinger watching her, revealing that those events were all part of his plan.
Arya doesn’t trust Littlefinger, but it’s obvious that Sansa doesn’t either. After Littlefinger suggests that, if Arya tries to do anything to Sansa, Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) would be honor-bound to step in, Sansa sends Brienne to King’s Landing. Ostensibly, Brienne will represent Sansa at the big meeting between Cersei (Lena Headey), Jon and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) — but it’s clear that Sansa is also trying to mess up whatever Littlefinger is planning since that move represents her directly disregarding his advicee.
And just what is Littlefinger planning? He’s been trying to get on Sansa’s good side all season, and showed up with the Knights of the Vale at the end of Season 6, at Sansa’s request. Littlefinger previously told Sansa his end goal is to take the Iron Throne for himself and to make Sansa his queen. Right now, it seems that Littlefinger’s plan is to get the northern lords and the Knights of the Vale to support Sansa over Jon. With the strength of the North behind him, he could then rival Cersei for the throne.
Littlefinger’s strategy is always to create chaos and let his enemies destroy each other, and with Daenerys and Cersei squaring off, it’d work to his advantage to be the only person with a major army when the dust settles. But right now, he’s got a couple of big speed bumps in the way: Arya Stark, and Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright).
We saw Littlefinger try to endear himself to Bran by giving him his Valyrian steel dagger. Bran shut him down, though, with his “Chaos is a ladder” comment — giving away that he knows about the intrigue Littlefinger gets up to by mentioning a private conversation that happened in King’s Landing. Bran isn’t going to be an ally to Littlefinger, that’s pretty clear.
Sansa and Arya might not trust each other, but it seems clear Sansa doesn’t think Arya is her true enemy — Littlefinger is. By sending Brienne to King’s Landing, she seems to be angling to throw a wrench into Littlefinger’s plan, and stop him from using Brienne against Arya.
Meanwhile, Arya obviously has plans of her own, but it’s not clear how much she’s been taken in by Littlefinger’s attempts to manipulate her. Right now, she appears to be playing right into his hands, by distrusting Sansa and falling for his trap.
But Arya has been around her share of face-changing spies and secret killer conspiracies. She’s also executed a few. It seems unlikely that Arya would bite every hook Littlefinger casts. Does she have something more up her sleeve? We’re guessing yes, considering the way that scene in which she threatened to kill Sansa and take her face ended: with Arya flipping that previously mentioned Valyrian steel dagger and handing it to Sansa. That feels like some kind of hint that Sansa shouldn’t actually feel threatened, and that perhaps this whole to-do is just for show.
And then there’s Bran, who is magic and knows everything. That makes him the X factor in the situation, and it seems impossible that he wouldn’t be using that information to protect his family. Then again, Bran is so weird at this point, who knows what he’s up to.
What’s clear is that everything is quickly coming to a head at Winterfell, and everyone’s trying to make moves. Littlefinger is responsible for quite a few of the deaths and disasters that have happened on “Game of Thrones,” and he’s not to be underestimated. But he’s also helped train Sansa to be as good as he is, and he’s never gone up against a face-switching Stark assassin before.
'Game of Thrones': Key Events in the Series So Far
If you hate missing out on the pop culture phenomenon that is "Game of Thrones" but can't be bothered to watch the whole thing, or you just need a refresher on the past seven seasons of murder and intrigue, check our list of the big events in the series' history you absolutely have to know as we approach the eighth and final season. (Spoilers, of course)
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Ned Stark's execution (Season 1)
Ned had discovered that King Robert's kids were actually fathered by Jaime Lannister, but the new king Joffrey wouldn't have any of that talk about his incestuous parentage and took off Ned's head, sparking a war that that kicked off the larger arc of the show in Westeros. This was particularly shocking because Ned was positioned as the protagonist of the series before being killed nine episodes in.
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Daenerys gives birth to dragons (Season 1)
After her husband Khal Drogo died, Daenerys burned his body on a funeral pyre -- and then walked into the fire herself with three ancient dragon eggs. She survived, because as a true "dragon" of the Targaryen dynasty is immune to heat and fire ... and the dragon eggs hatched.
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Renly Baratheon's murder (Season 2)
Renly was killed by the ghost baby of Stannis and Melisandre. Don't worry about the specifics. Just know that it happened.
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The Battle of the Blackwater (Season 2)
Stannis took a fleet of ships into Blackwater Bay to try to take King's Landing and the Iron Throne from Joffrey, but a combination of Tyrion's superior tactics and the timely intervention of Lannister and Tyrell forces from the Riverlands saved the day.
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Theon takes Winterfell, then pretends to kill Bran and Rickon (Season 2)
Theon turned on his Stark allies by occupying Winterfell with men from his homeland, the Iron Islands, while the Stark army was occupied in the south. The Star children, Bran and Rickon, escaped with Hodor and the wildling Osha, so Theon murdered two other boys and burned their bodies and told everybody it was the Stark boys.
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The Red Wedding (Season 3)
Robb Stark had vowed to marry one of Walder Frey's daughters in exchange for use of a strategically-located bridge, but then broke that vow and married Talisa instead. The Starks put forth Robb's uncle Edmure Tully to wed one ofthe Frey daughters instead, but Walder and Stark supporter Roose Bolton secretly made a pact with the Lannisters. At Edmure's wedding, the Freys and they butchered Robb, Talisa and Catelyn at the nuptials, along with the rest of the Stark forces who were present.
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Daenerys overthrows the Masters of Slaver's Bay (Seasons 3 and 4)
Daenerys marches into Slaver's Bay with riches pilfered from the city of Qarth, and arranges to buy a slave army called the Unsullied. But instead of paying, she sacks the city of Astapor with her dragons, freeing the local slaves. She then also takes two other cities and then settles in the third, Mereen, where she rules.
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Joffrey's wedding (Season 4)
King Joffrey weds Margaery Tyrell, but is poisoned at the Purple Wedding feast. It's hilarious, until Tyrion is arrested for his nephew's murder.
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Tyrion's trial (Season 4)
Tyrion didn't poison Joffrey, but he takes the fall. He demands a trial by combat, with the Red Viper Oberyn Martell as his champion -- but the Viper is killed fighting a giant man called The Mountain. His brother Jaime and spymaster Varys help him escape execution, and Tyrion then murders his dad Tywin on the way out for good measure.
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The Battle of Castle Black (Season 4)
A group of wildlings, including Jon Snow's lover Ygritte, attempt to take Castle Black at the Wall, but they lose the battle. Ygritte is killed and dies in Jon's arms.
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Hardhome (Season 5)
After being elected Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jon Snow travels north of the Wall to the wildling city Hardhome, to try to save them from death at the hands of the White Walkers and their undead horde. But those supernatural foes show up when Jon is in town, and a ridiculously awesome battle ensues.
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The attempted coup by the Sons of the Harpy in Meereen (Season 5)
Not everybody is happy with Dany's rule in Slaver's Bay. A secret society called the Sons of the Harpy attempt to take her out during a gladiator battle, but she escapes on the back of one of her dragons.
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The return of the Faith Militant (Season 5)
A man known only as the High Sparrow ascends to the top of the food chain in the Faith of the Seven, and with Cersei's help reinstitutes an old order called the Faith Militant to clean up the dirty streets of the capital. The plan backfires, though, and over the course of Seasons 5 and 6 the High Sparrow has become the most powerful man in King's Landing.
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Stannis burns his daughter alive, and then dies (Season 5)
In order to ensure his victory in the north and the survival of his men, Stannis sacrifices his daughter Shireen to the Lord of Light. It doesn't work, though -- much of Stannis' army goes AWOL the next day, his wife hangs herself, and then Stannis himself and the rest of his army is killed at Winterfell. Oops.
Ramsay Bolton is sadistic as hell, capturing Theon after his shenanigans at Winterfell, and spending an entire season torturing him, including castration. Then, Sansa Stark is forced to marry Ramsay, and he sexually assaults her repeatedly, until Sansa and Theon escape.
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Jon Snow is murdered ... and is resurrected (Seasons 5 and 6)
Not all of the Night's Watch is happy with Lord Commander Snow's decision to ally with wildlings from beyond the wall. A small group of them stab Jon to death. But Melisandre resurrects him, and Jon gets his revenge against the mutineers by hanging them.
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Melisandre is really, really old (Season 6)
The sexy Red Woman, it turns out, is actually an old lady using a magical gem to preserve the appearance of youthfulness.
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The Sand Snakes take over Dorne (Season 6)
Led by Prince Oberyn's paramour, Ellaria Sand, Oberyn's daughters (known as the Sand Snakes) murder Prince Doran and his son Trystane, effectively taking over the country. They're plan is to wage war against the Lannisters and get revenge for Prince Oberyn's death.
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Daenerys takes control of the Dothraki (season 6)
After escaping the coup in Mereen on her dragon, Dany is stranded in the wilderness and captured by Dothraki, who force her to live among other wives of dead Khals. But she pulls a fast one, killing all the living Khals in a fire and then walking out, taking control of all the Dothraki forces.
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Hodor dies (Season 6)
Hodor held the door to the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven so Meera and Bran could escape the White Walkers' undead horde, dying in the process and causing a social media frenzy as the origin of his name is revealed. There is time travel and a paradoxical time looped involved, awesomely.
King Tommen and Queen Margaery join the church (Season 6)
With Queen Margaery and her brother Loras in church prison for all of season 6 so far, Tommen spent a lot of time with the High Sparrow trying to get him to let them go. The impressionable Tommen ended up instead establishing a partnership between the crown and the Faith of the Seven, thanks to prodding from both Margaery and the High Sparrow, alienating his mother Cersei in the process.
Euron Greyjoy becomes king of the Ironborn (Season 6)
Pretty much coming out of nowhere is Euron Greyjoy, the raider brother of Theon and Yara's father, Baelon Greyjoy, who named himself king of the Iron Isles. Euron tosses Baelon off a bridge in the middle of a storm, and then wins the kingsmoot, an election in which a new king is chosen. He then goes on the warpath again, trying to eliminate Baelon's kids so they can't rival his claim to power. The Greyjoy kids wind up teaming up with Danaerys.
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The Masters of Slaver's Bay invade Meereen (Season 6)
Tyrion tried to appease the Masters by allowing them to keep their slaves for seven years while they figured out how to rework their economy into a slaveless one. The Masters responded by sacking Meereen. But Daenerys showed up in the nick of time with her dragons and defeated them soundly, claiming their fleet of ships for her own.
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The Battle of the Bastards (Season 6)
Sansa Stark and her half-brother Jon Snow took an army of wildlings to Winterfell to reclaim it from Ramsay Bolton and the rogue House Umber. They succeeded, thanks to the timely intervention of the knights of the Vale, who came at Sansa's behest.
In the finale, Cersei goes full Mad Queen and in one fell swoop, destroys most of her enemies. Cersei had Qyburn use children to light a cache of wildfire beneath the sept, placed there by order of King Aerys years earlier. The huge explosion wiped out most of the Tyrells, including Margaery, Loras and Lord Mace Tyrell, as well as Cersei's uncle Kevan Lannister, the High Sparrow, and the Faith Militant. As a result, King Tommen committed suicide by throwing himself out a window, leaving Cersei on the Iron Throne.
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Jon Snow becomes the King in the North (Season 6)
With Winterfell recaptured, the houses of the Vale and the North pledge themselves to Jon Snow, who they name the King in the North. Meanwhile, Sansa Stark is technically Lady of Winterfell and the rightful Stark heir.
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Bran Stark heads south, now imbued with the magical abilities of the Three-Eyed Raven
Bran was absent for a season because he was training with the ancient Three-Eyed Raven to hone his "sight" -- the ability to see the distant future and the past -- for example, when he sees a vision of his father Ned's fateful visit to the Tower of Joy, where Ned's sister Lyanna dies after giving birth to Jon Snow, whose true father was Raegar Targaryen. How Bran's new powers will play into the new war in Westeros is yet unknown.
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Arya kills Walder Frey (Season 6)
Returning to Westeros, Arya gets her revenge for the Red Wedding by first killing Lord Walder Frey's sons, then baking them into a pie. She gets Lord Walder to eat the pie before slitting his throat and reveling in it the whole time.
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Daenerys sails for Westeros (Season 6)
After six whole seasons of waiting, Danaerys and her dragons finally sail for Westeros with all her allies, a massive fleet, and the biggest army in the world.
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Arya gets her revenge on the Freys (Season 7)
With Walder Frey's face, Arya takes down the rest of House Frey in a beautifully horrific echo of the Red Wedding. She poisons all the remaining Frey men -- 51 of them by our count -- and leaves Walder's young wife with the message, "Winter has come for House Frey."
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Cersei courts an alliance with Euron Greyjoy (Season 7)
With no allies left and enemies on all sides, Cersei entertains the possibility of siding with the psychopathic Euron Greyjoy, king of the Iron Isles. She refuses his marriage proposal, but as a show of faith, he promises her a "priceless gift." Foreshadowing much?
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Euron captures Yara Greyjoy and Ellaria Sand (Season 7)
Daenerys sent Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes back to Dorne to raise their army, escorted by Yara and the Iron Fleet. Along the way, though, they were intercepted by Euron's fleet and attacked. Euron killed two of the Sand Snakes, Obara and Nymeria, and captured Ellaria, Yara, and the third Sand Snake, Tyene. Theon Greyjoy managed to escape by (seemingly) selfishly diving overboard.
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Jon meets Daenerys (Season 7)
The first meeting between the Mother of Dragons and the King in the North could have gone better, with Daenerys demanding fealty from Jon, who refused. She doesn't believe him about the Night King, either, which is a major problem. But Dany does allow Jon to mine Dragonstone's Dragonglass, which will be key in that battle.
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Cersei gets her revenge (Season 7)
With Ellaria captured, Cersei uses the same poison that killed her daughter Myrcella to kill Ellaria's daughter, Tyene. Then Jaime executes a deft strategic move and, while the Unsullied are capturing Casterly Rock, he marches on Highgarden, the seat of House Tyrell. Jaime gets the Tyrell fortress, eliminates Lady Olenna, and nabs the money of the wealthiest family in Westeros. It's a major blow to Daenerys' war effort.
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The Stark kids reunite (Season 7)
In something of a more subdued moment, Arya Stark returns to Winterfell, where Sansa Stark is the Lady of Winterfell. Brann Stark, now the Three-Eyed Raven (and thoroughly weird) has arrived as well, bringing more Stark kids together in one place than we’ve seen since Season 1. Clearly, the reunion of House Stark is going to have some major consequences going forward.
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Daenerys attacks the Lannister line (Season 7)
In response to losing Highgarden and Dorne, Daenerys finally takes warfare into her own hands. She and her Dothraki warriors head for King’s Landing, but they don’t attack the city — they attack the Lannister supply line bringing gold and grain to the city from their victory in Highgarden. Dany uses Drogon to destroy the Lannister supply wagons and the Dothraki decimate at least a part of the Lannister army, but we don’t see the full aftermath of the battle, or Jaime Lannister’s fate.
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Daenerys wipes out House Tarly (Season 7)
After defeating the Lannister army last episode, Daenerys has the survivors in her mercy -- including Randyll and Dickon Tarly (Samwell's father and brother). They refused to bend the knee and for keeping their honor, were burned to a crisp by Drogon. That leaves House Tarly without a head... unless Samwell ever leaves the Night's Watch without being executed for desertion.
Samwell Tarly abandons maester training (Season 7)
Sam has been training to become a maester, but he's increasingly frustrated by the order's unwillingness to consider his own experience with the White Walkers, or prepare in a meaningful way for the war to come. So he goes to the library, steals some important books, and bounces along with Gilly and Sam junior.
Cersei is pregnant (Season 7)
All of their children may be dead, but Cersei revealed to Jaime that she's expecting another baby -- and as far as he knows, it's his. In fact Cersei says she plans to tell everyone Jaime is the father. Whether that's true remains to be seen.
Jon Snow assembles Westeros' Magnificent Seven (Season 7)
As far as Jon is concerned, the only important matter is to convince everyone they need to be freaked out about the Night King's invasion. Which means, he needs to grab a Wight and bring it south. To help, he recruits Gendry, Tormund, Ser Jorah, Thoros of Myr, Ser Berric, and Sandor Clegane (The Hound). Holy crap.
Littlefinger maneuvers Arya and Sansa against each other (Season 7)
Machinations are afoot in Winterfell, where Littlefinger seems to be trying to get Sansa to turn on Jon Snow, and Arya to turn on Sansa, as part of his own plan. But Sansa clearly doesn't trust him, Arya seemingly has plans of her own, and Bran's there with his magical Three-Eyed Raven powers. The intrigue is building to a potentially lethal head.
The expedition beyond the Wall captures a wight (Season 7)
Though they were nearly killed by the army of the dead when they were surrounded, Jon Snow's expedition beyond the Wall managed to capture a wight to prove the existence of the Night King to everyone in Westeros. Jon was nearly killed in the battle after falling into a frozen lake, however.
Benjen Stark saves Jon Snow (Season 7)
As the army of the dead is closing on Jon after he pulls himself out of the frozen lake, he's saved from certain doom by Benjen Stark, Jon's uncle. Benjen was killed by the White Walkers but saved by the Children of the Forest, and had previously saved Bran and Meera Reed at the Three-Eyed Raven's behest. He gives Jon his horse and save's the King in the North's life, but is overwhelmed by wights while Jon escapes.
Jon Snow pledges fealty to Daenerys (Season 7)
After Jon makes it back to Eastwatch, he and Daenerys have a conversation aboard the ship bearing them to Dragonstone. Having seen the Night King, Daenerys pledges to help Jon fight it. He, in turn, tells her he'll bend the knee and declare her his queen.
The Night King kills and reanimates Viserion (Season 7)
During the battle beyond the Wall, the Night King uses an ice spear to slay one of Daenerys' dragons, Viserion. After everyone escapes, he uses his army of the dead to drag Viserion's body out of the frozen lake into which it crashed, and then revives him as an undead wight to add to his forces.
Cersei declares a truce with Daenerys and Jon Snow (Season 7)
In a meeting in King's Landing, Jon demonstrates the threat the Night King poses, using the wight captured beyond the Wall. Cersei agrees to send her troops north to help fight the dead, but secretly plans to remain in the south and retake the lands she lost to Daenerys while her enemies go north.
Sansa and Arya execute Littlefinger (Season 7)
Throughout Season 7, Littlefinger has tried to pit Sansa Stark against her sister Arya, but didn't realize the women were actually manipulating him. Once they had the loyalty of the Knights of the Vale guaranteed, they laid out Littlefinger's crimes in public, and Arya cut his throat.
Jaime leaves Cersei (Season 7)
When Cersei reveals she intends to betray Daenerys, Jaime argues with her. He believes the dead are the greater threat and he intends to honor his word and ride north to fight. When Cersei seemingly threatens to kill him for the betrayal, Jaime storms out, leaving King's Landing alone.
The Night King breaches the Wall (Season 7)
It appears that Jon Snow's plan to capture a wight from beyond the Wall played right into the plan of the Night King. When Daenerys arrived with her dragons to save Jon and his companions, the Night King killed one and reanimated it as part of his army. Riding the dragon, he was able to use its magical blue flame to rip a hole in the Wall large enough for the army of the dead to pass through.
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If you’ve never watched the show or just need a refresher ahead of the final season, The Wrap has you covered
If you hate missing out on the pop culture phenomenon that is "Game of Thrones" but can't be bothered to watch the whole thing, or you just need a refresher on the past seven seasons of murder and intrigue, check our list of the big events in the series' history you absolutely have to know as we approach the eighth and final season. (Spoilers, of course)
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