on sweet robins, poisoned lemoncakes, and Littlefingerâs goal
I think most of us agree that Petyr Baelish is slowly poisoning Sweetrobin with sweetsleep, a poison that can be used to treat shaking fits in small doses but that is fatal after a certain amount
âSweetsleep is the gentlest of poisons,â the waif told her, as she was grinding some with a mortar and a pestle. âA few grains will slow a pounding heart and stop a hand from shaking, and make a man feel calm and strong. A pinch will grant a night a deep and dreamless sleep. Three pinches will produce that sleep which does not end. The taste is very sweet, so it is best used in cakes and pies and honeyed wines. Here, you can smell the sweetness.â She let her have a whiff, then sent her up the ladders to find a red glass bottle.
â AFFC, A Cat of the Canals
throughout the Vale arc, we see how Maester Colemon is being pressured to administer sweetsleep to little Robert by Baelish, then by Sansa on Baelishâs behalf. unfortunately, we learn later that the poison doesnât leave the body and it can cause death if administered enough times regardless
the passage in Alayne I also makes it clear that the poison hadnât been thought of to treat Sweetrobinâs seizures before and itâs doubtful that other maesters would willingly administer it (perhaps the risk is just too great). but it is very evident that this is meant to result in his death, though the who knows and the why is another matter
a lot of people think Maester Colemon is in on it but I donât think that to be the case? he demonstrates concern when he thinks Sweetrobin might be having a nosebleed and is consistently shown to be reluctantly administering the sweetsleep. if anything, heâs guilty of being a pushover. though he does put âsomething vileâ in SRâs milk so make that what you will
but you might have noticed that in both Alayne I and II, close attention is paid to Colemonâs Adamâs apple. references to apple in/of his throat moving up and down or bobbing happen only four times throughout the whole series, three of which are in reference to Maester Colemon possibly knowing more than heâs letting onâŚ
She turned to behold Maester Colemon, a cup of wine in his hand. âHe was planning to send the boy to Dragonstone for fostering, you know⌠oh, but Iâm speaking out of turn.â The apple of his throat bobbed anxiously beneath the loose maesterâs chain.
this is him essentially revealing to Cat that her sister had lied about the circumstances surrounding Jon Arrynâs death. he would know. though others (Pycelle, especially) tried to paint Colemon as inexperienced, if he hadnât been dismissed in AGOT, itâs very likely that Jon Arryn would have survived being poisoned
He looked shrunken, both smaller and frailer than he had been when they burst in on him. âYes,â he whimpered, âyes, Colemon was purging, so I sent him away. The queen needed Lord Arryn dead (âŚ)â
so when he is reluctant to treat SR with sweetsleep, we can trust his medical say in this. but going back to them apples, the term Adamâs apple comes of course from the myth of Adam and Eve, who are expelled from the Garden of Eden after taking a bite out of a forbidden fruit (usually an apple but might have been originally a pomegranate) from the tree of knowledge. which indicates that Colemon is aware of Baelishâs meddling in the Vale but that said knowledge will bring upon his own downfallâŚ
which is why I believe the âsomething vileâ that he put in Sweetrobinâs milk wasnât that vile. in fact, I think it makes more sense for it to have been nothing at all! remember that sweetsleep is sweet. SR could be so accustomed to his sweetmilk that drinking without it would be vile. I guess it could also be an antidote of sorts? but Iâm not confident such a thing exists, or else it might have been mentioned by the waif in Aryaâs A Cat of the Canals chapter⌠either way, Colemon hiding whatever it is suggests he knows Baelish wants Robert dead
if Baelish had as loose lipped of an accomplice, trust that he would be dead already⌠to him, Colemon is not an ally so much as he is a useful fool (like Dontos) to be discarded with the evidence later
and do you know whatâs also a really good way to get rid of evidence? eating it
so we have established that sweetsleep is best used in cakes (and pies and honeyed wines) to hide its overly sweet taste and that Baelish is using Sansa to kill SR, just like he used her to kill Joffrey. and if the maester doesnât want to administer it anymore (or is unable to), then the perfect conduit might very well just be a cake he loves. which is why Iâm afraid that Sweetrobinâs next lemoncake might be his lastâŚ
Iâve seen A LOT of people disagree with the theory altogether, however, because they think killing Robert would be just about the dumbest thing Baelish could do, which, yeah⌠if killing him was his only goal then sure. but it isnât his only goal, now is it?
He knows heâs walking on a tightrope. itâs only a matter of time before the Lords Declarant come to challenge his position and take the boy away from him for good. the only way that he can retain his influence over the Vale IS if poor Sweetrobin diesâŚ
âOur poor brave Sweetrobin is such a sickly boy, it is only a matter of time. When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie.â
he canât betroth âAlayneâ to SR, the rank gap there is abysmal and it would create suspicion regarding her identity. but promising the Lord Protectorâs daughter, bastard or not, to a squire from a minor house of landed knights is perfectly acceptable even before you account for the debt LF bought
but why does he think he would have a better shot at controlling the Vale through Harry via Sansa than through Sweetrobin? and why does he want to marry Sansa to someone else when he so clearly wants her for himself? both have the same answer: the marriage between Sansa and Harry is not the end goal
Baelishâs goal is deeply tied to his childhood and to how he was treated as a child of a lesser lord, a weak and inferior ânothingâ. what he wants most of all is vindication against the highborn lords who have always looked down on him. in his mind, the way to do that is through absolute power and control. because thatâs exactly what he did not have as a child. he also seeks to possess Cat. Sansa (though her daughter, not Cat herself) offers him all of those things. dozens of sweet song birds, only one Stone
âJon Arrynâs bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon⌠and when they come together for this wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maidenâs cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back⌠why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright. So those are your gifts from me, my sweet Sansa⌠Harry, the Eyrie, and Winterfell. Thatâs worth another kiss now, donât you think?â
when LF says âthose are your gifts from meâ, he really means âthose are your gifts to meâ⌠he doesnât plan to stop at Robert (though itâs the one that will hurt Sansa the most), he would go for Harry next! but only after Sansa is pregnant with an Arryn heir so that she can become regent of the Vale and North. LF is now Lord Paramount of the Trident, so their little âempireâ would already be larger than the other kingdoms without them
having said that, Harry will most certainly die before this. perhaps as soon as in TWOW at the tourney for the Brotherhood of Winged Knights. but that doesnât mean that Baelish would just give up. after all, if he is good at anything, itâs adapting to the current play and, at the moment, all roads lead to dragonsâŚ
if youâve been in this fandom for a decent amount of time then you know of the suitors theory, in which Sansaâs engagement trajectory mirrors the Ashford Tourney. I personally take this to mean that LF will opt to use Sansa to gain control of the Iron Throne via fAegon. honestly? Baelish would absolutely go all or nothing. itâs also not a coincidence that he is said to be friends with the Graftons, Corbrays, and Lynderlys â the first two sided with the Targaryens during Robertâs Rebellion, though we donât know about the Lynderlysâ allegiances, I suspect the same is true for them⌠and the Sunderlands were Blackfyre supporters besides, in need of money no less!
âSunderland would require me to hand you over if he knew of you.â Borrell did fealty for Sweetsister, as Longthorpe did for Longsister and Torrent for Littlesister; all were sworn to Triston Sunderland, the Lord of the Three Sisters. âHeâd sell you to the queen for a pot of that Lannister gold. Poor man needs every dragon, with seven sons all determined to be knights.â The Lord picked up a wooden spoon and attacked his stew again. âI used to curse the gods who gave me only daughters until I heard Tristan bemoaning the cost of destriers.â
and what do you know? we have just the man to solve that problem! conveniently, three out of these seven sons will participate in the tourney of the Brotherhood of Winged Knights. they all dance with Sansa in her TWOW sample chapter tooâŚ
Just as Petyr had promised, the young knights flocked around her, vying for her favour. (âŚ) She danced with all three Sunderlands, none of whom had webs between their fingers, though she could not vouch for their toes.
â TWOW, Alayne I (sample)
I think thereâs a certain reluctance in the fandom to recognise Sansa as so instrumental in Baelishâs plans, maybe in part because we tend to assume Littlefinger thinks more on the long term than he actually seems to. but Sansa is his weakness because she is such a major piece on his board, not in spite of it
