Warning: spoilers ahead for the Season 7 finale of Game of Thrones, called "The Dragon and the Wolf." If you haven't seen the episode yet, feel free to check out some of our other TV articles.
Game of Thrones season finales tend to feature huge twists that give fans plenty to wonder and theorize about over hiatus. The Season 7 finale certainly gave us a lot to talk about, with twists ranging from the Wall coming down to the reveal of Jon Snow's true name. "The Dragon and the Wolf" featured one big death that will mean a very different show next season. Littlefinger finally bit the dust in the Season 7 finale, and how his death came about could point to big changes in Season 8.
Littlefinger has been pulling the strings of powerful players from the very beginning of the show, making and breaking alliances whenever convenient to him. He sunk his claws into Sansa a few seasons ago, and his scheming got her into some seriously unpleasant situations. Still, she went along with him for quite a while, and his manipulations seemed to be going as smoothly as always in Season 7 when he started pitting the Stark sisters against each other. He planted a letter that would convince Arya that Sansa had betrayed their family years ago, and he tried to convince Sansa that Arya needed to be taken care of sooner rather than later if Sansa's position as lady of Winterfell was to remain hers.
Yes, everything seemed to be going according to plan for Littlefinger when Sansa had her guards fetch Arya down to the Great Hall, where she was surrounded by armed men of the North and the Vale. The end seemed nigh for Arya and/or Sansa, if Arya had the time to draw Needle or the catspaw dagger. Luckily, Sansa is a little more wily that Littlefinger gave her credit for. She turned the table on Littlefinger, charging him with murder and treason, and all of Littlefinger's little moves over the years came back to haunt him.
Unfortunately for Littlefinger, Sansa learned quite a lot about him in all his lessons about playing the political game. She was able to charge him with the deaths of Jon Arryn and Lysa Arryn, along with conspiring with the Lannisters to lead to the execution of Ned Stark. Sansa didn't name all of his treasonous acts, but that's probably for the best. There are only six episodes left in the series now, and naming all of Littlefinger's betrayals would take a while.
Littlefinger lost any support he might have gotten from the knights of the Vale as soon as Sansa revealed what he'd done to the Arryns, and he certainly wasn't going to get any protection from the Northmen. Judging by the little smile on Arya's face, the Stark sisters had planned this confrontation ahead of time. Bran was evidently in on the scheme as well, as he was clearly unsurprised by the turn of events and was able to confirm thanks to his Three-Eyed Raven abilities that Littlefinger had betrayed Ned. Sansa passed the judgment, Bran provided support, and Arya exacted justice with Littlefinger's own blade.
All things considered, the death of Littlefinger has been a long time coming. He betrayed too many people and had too few people loyal to him to last until the end of the series, and Sansa deserved to live to see him die after how he sold her to the Boltons. The manner of his death points to a united set of Stark siblings in Season 8. Sansa and Arya both seem content with their positions in life, and neither is going to try and usurp the other. For all that he's a different person now than he was back before he became the Three-Eyed Raven, Bran still turned up to support his family.
With Sansa's savvy, Bran's unique abilities, and Arya's deadly skills, the Stark siblings are a united and formidable front, and that unity may make all the difference with the Great War looming in Season 8. Sadly, we have a while to wait before we see the Stark siblings back together again. No premiere date has been set for Game of Thrones Season 8 just yet. We can only hope that it comes sooner rather than later. Check out our fall TV premiere schedule for what you can watch while we wait for more Game of Thrones news.
