David Benioff and D. B. Weiss created the HBO fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones. It is based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, the first of which is A Game of Thrones.
The show was shot in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, and Spain. It debuted on HBO in the United States on April 17, 2011, and ended on May 19, 2019, with 73 episodes spread across eight seasons.
Why did Sansa Stark defend Petyr Baelish during his trial at the Vale in ‘Game of Thrones’?
Several reasons, perhaps more obvious in the books than in the show:
- She owed Littlefinger a debt of gratitude for bringing her out of King’s Landing. Tyrion was doing his best to protect her, but he was under a lot of pressure to implant a Lannister heir into her stomach. Given how much of a hypocrite Tywin was in this area, it’s hardly improbable that he eventually did the deed himself. Sansa, on the other hand, would not have been a willing companion.
- She knew that Littlefinger was teaching her how to play Game of Thrones. She guessed what he was up to several times as soon as he invited her to guess. Littlefinger was really impressed in the books when she surmised he’d bribed Lord Corbray to behave improperly in order to scandalize the other Lords.
- The Lords of the Vale preferred to avoid conflict with King’s Landing. If she had approached them for assistance before Littlefinger had them under his control, they would have judged that turning her over to the Lannisters would benefit them more.
Hence, Sansa fed up with being the “little bird” who everyone maneuvered around the board to their benefit, determined to learn how to play the game. She knew Littlefinger was slick and had creepy-uncle feelings (worse in the books when she’s pretending to be his bastard daughter Alayne), but she saw that if she didn’t learn what he was teaching, she’d always be vulnerable to other people’s manipulations.
