Game of Thrones season 7: What’s the endgame for Littlefinger?

Entering Game of Thrones season 7, Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (we like writing it like that almost like he’s being introduced in a starting lineup) remains one of the series’ most curious characters. He’s hyper-intelligent, but also incredibly shrewd and calculating. He’s such an underdog that you want to root for him to slither his way to the Iron Throne, but he’s also such a creep and so pervy around Sansa Stark that it’s impossible to. He’s probably the perfect example of a George R.R. Martin flawed character accented well on the show — he has endearing qualities, but then also ones so unredeemable that he’s uncomfortable to watch.

Entering the new season, his position is also intriguing. He’s got a significant seat at the table with Sansa, largely because of the history that they share and also his abilities to manipulate and play the strategic game. We said earlier on in this endgame series that characters are often either incredibly aggressive or incredibly strategic, but rarely both. Littlefinger is a strategist, and could probably be killed by a good 90% of the characters on this show. His weapon is that he finds a way to slither out of almost every situation.

It’s with that in mind that it wouldn’t be altogether shocking if this is the man who sits on the Iron Throne at the end of all of this.

Think about things this way: Who is coming for Littlefinger’s head? He may not be well-liked, but he’s also not regarded as altogether dangerous. There are few people out there who have put a bounty on him and want him gone, and so look as he insulates himself around aggressive people, he can watch everyone kill each other off. He doesn’t need to get his hands dirty, and when plans shake out, he can take credit for them and pat himself on the back.

What are some other scenarios that could play out for him?

We could see Sansa being the one to kill him after he tries to make some sneaky play for more power, and that would be endlessly entertaining. Yet, simultaneously we can picture some sort of horror-show scenario where the two marry just for the sake of political clout and Littlefinger ends the show on the Iron Throne with Sansa.

Beyond her killing him, though, it’s very easy to see him surviving this series. He’s not going into battle, and so much of his journey has been watching this guy go from running a brothel to being a powerful ally and political influence. Even if you don’t like the guy, what he’s done to climb several strata in Westeros is impressive. He deserves some sort of appreciation for that, even if he doesn’t for virtually anything else that he puts out there into the universe.

In the end, we’ll have a chance to assess his endgame further in the matter of just a few short days…

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If you head over here, you can see some further news, including some photos for the premiere episode. (Photo: HBO.)