Why Littlefinger Marrying Sansa off to Ramsay Made No Sense

Littlefinger’s decision to marry Sansa off to the Boltons in Season 5 made absolutely no sense? This short uses evidence from A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons and The Winds of Winter.

A Game of Thrones theory explained, prepare for The Winds of Winter release date with a theory video of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series and something to think about while waiting for HBO's House of the Dragon Season 2.

[aegonthedragon]

Its legitimately one of the most baffling decisions because it derailed Sansa’s entire character arc from the past 4 parts and also made Littlefinger look like a complete fool when careful maneuvering has been the thing that got him on top.

[AlexanderTheBloodraven]

As usual, the books made this plot line a thousand times better.

In the books, Littlefinger actually intends to marry a disguised Sansa off to Robert Arryns heir, Harrold Hardyng, then he plans to have his ‘beloved nephew’ meet with a little accident, so that Sansa’s new husband would become the new Lord of the Eyrie, meaning Littlefinger would effectively become the Lord Paramount of the Vale through his control over Sansa.

Not only that, but since Sansa is a Stark through her father and a Tully through her mother and technically a Lannister because of her marriage to Tyrion, Littlefinger could potentially gain control of not just the Vale, but the North, the Riverlands and even the Westerlands.

Therefore, in the books, Littlefinger plans to essentially acquire the loyalty of FOUR of the Seven Kingdoms JUST through Sansa’s marriage alone.

Meanwhile, in the show, he had her marry the Boltons with nothing to gain and basically everything to lose.

[Ducky-vlmp]

This is the exact moment the show went downhill

[realwaifus]

Honestly the biggest disservice this plot did was to Sansa. Years of subtle growth and development that chipped away at her innocence and honour until she was finally ready to start playing the game and it all gets flushed down the drain in favour of “I got r***d so now I’m badass and ruthless and don’t need to grow at all for the next 3 seasons.”

[ryanxwonbin]

Not to mention Sansa is also a Tully, and would have been instrumental in getting the Riverlands to side with the Eyrie if she publicly revealed herself... She's also at the point the heir to Winterfell so Littlefinger and Sansa could have also easily shook the Boltons off their power by getting the other Northern lords to rebel since practically most of the houses hated them.

Season 5 is the tragic downfall in to a pit of stupidity and nonsense to what was once the greatest show on television.

[VersieKilgannon]

The plot you explained sounds way more like something Littlefinger would do than how it played out in the show

[SelahGrace]

And that's why cutting all the side characters and side stories worked AGAINST the show writers.
They wanted to include the Boltons marrying "Arya", but they couldn't do it as it was written so we got the Sansa arc no one asked for or wanted

[Katarzynaaaaaaaaa]

Season 4 was the last good season and I will die on this hill

[garymutunga]

Damn...There was so much going on in the show, I didn't even realise Big Toe's Decision to marry Sansa off was pointless

[jewsco]

One of if not the smartest schemer in all of Westeros does something this dumb ? Then is dumb the rest of the show . They ruined littlefinger from this point onward .
Littlefinger either will try to marry Sansa himself in the books or more than likely continue with his plan to marry her to the heir of the Vale as a way to secure the Vale for himself

[adamglenen]

The single worst change from novels to show. It wasn't just terribly written and trite torture porn, but also just a horrendously stupid move from a character who is supposed to be one of the smartest players of the game of thrones.

[davidspooner]

He fast travels to King's Landing and tells Cersei about it and asks to be Warden of the North when he's already Lord of the Vale

[Xaviar_St.Thomas]

Thank you for pointing this out.
This is the main characteristic & justification that verifies why D&D should never be allowed to write anything again.

It is a outright insult and obvious display of contempt of the audience.

[johnozzmond]

I think Baelish intended for her to undermine the Boltons, and counted on the North's loyalty to the Stark name. After the defeat of the Bolton's, he expected her to rule the North, then marry her himself. He was quite visibly taken aback by Jon being named King in the North. I think he was also counting on her former naivety, and that she'd accept his claim that he didn't know Ramsay was a monster. Unfortunately for him, she finally started to smarten up by then

[teamblack]

If Lannisters and Boltons ended up destroying each other, then Stannis could conquer the North and then the throne. Which is something Baelish wouldn't want since he knows Stannis would execute him

[troperhghar]

Littlefinger clearly wanted to marry sansa himself

[jaemenez]

What I still don’t understand is how we’re supposed to ignore the fact that she’s already married! You can’t just marry someone else, right?

[Robrolm]

The show went from telling a story to just trying to figure out what next big shocking moment they can tease in the trailers and that's when it went bad. Jon being targaryen just a big shock moment that led nowhere. Jon looking dany. Rickon coming back just to die. The hound pointlessly killing himself. Jaime pointlessly killing himself. Arya being the one to kill the night king.

[notbill]

I think the show runners, Dumb and Dumber, needed a reason to have the episode BOTB. Also to further demonstrate that Sansa was a strong, savvy young woman capable of strategic planning and revenge.

[yunnie]

Yeah it's something i've been wondering ever since i've watched the show. The only explaination i came up with is that too many people were aware Sansa was in the Vale, littlefinger was scared lannister' spies would find out so he decided to give her to the Boltons. In order to turn them against each other without anyone knowing he was to blame for her returning home.