the psychology of PETYR BAELISH | therapist analyzes Littlefinger 

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I'm a simple person, I see little thought tree and I click.

Whenever I think of book Petyr, I think of the phrase "Dan, from Accounting." Just some guy you would never think twice about and forget the moment his existence wasn't relevant to the conversation anymore.

Petyr always struck me as the kid that grew up poor, loved a rich girl he could never have, and deeply resented being poor and those that were rich

He is also one of the people who had a romantic view of the world, before he was cut by Brandon, like Sansa believed the songs, and the hound believed in knighthood before his brother was knighted. They become jaded after pain of realization in childhood.

Littlefinger is everything Tyrion thinks he is. Tyrion is actually quite a privileged person even for a noble.

As someone who was firmly in the "he makes my skin crawl" camp as a book reader, I really appreciate this discussion giving me a different perspective on this character. Always enjoy your videos!

Hey! Petyr! Leave them kids alone! Seeing how he interacts with the people who raised him puts his obsession with Catelyn Tully in perspective to me. She was probably the only person the "sweet boy" Petyr was every really vulnerable with. And she "betrayed" him. For Brandon Stark, then Eddard. In a way. Sansa represents BOTH having Catelyn, and one upping the men who emasculated him. I think its about absolute control for him. Never being in a position for his ego to suffer such a blow again. So he keeps everyone on a string and cuts off those he can't. He is a wounded little boy grown into very sick man who doesn't care that he hurts people, so long as it helps him maintain his control. After all. "after everything they have done to me I'm not the villain, I just got better at their game. I'm smarter. I am better. I am self made. They aren't better than me. Why cant I climb to the highest positions and spit on those below me? Why can't I sit in the high castles? Why can't I be a conqueror who ruins the man and steals the woman? (Brandon). Sansa represents the ultimate elevation in status for him. As long as he control the girl, he is winning the game. She isn't even the end goal. There isn't one. She is a means to an end in his own emasculated pathology. Littlefinger would see Sansa dead and buried before he let her out of his ultimate influence. Thats why he is such a scary villain to me. So long as it was him that owned her life in the end. So long as he was in control of "the ball." He can say "I won" In matters of misogyny. women are not the other team. They are "the ball" in the unconscious competitions men play with each other over status. To me Littlefinger is a personification of this. And Sansa is in danger because despite all he says and even what he himself may think. Sansa Stark means nothing to Petyr Baelish.

I love how, in the books, it's only Tyrion that sees through Petyr's nice-guy facade, and even then the only reason why he does is because he knows that Petyr set him up with the whole incident about the dagger. Before then, Tyrion probably saw Petyr the same as everyone else: as a nice guy who's harmless and who's almost like a magician who rubs his fingers together and produces gold from thin air. But then after the whole dagger-thing, Tyrion finally sees him for who he really is. _“Is it?” There was mischief in Littlefinger’s eyes. He drew the knife and glanced at it casually, as if he had never seen it before. “Valyrian steel, and a dragonbone hilt. A trifle plain, though. It’s yours, if you would like it.”_ _“Mine?” Tyrion gave him a long look. “No. I think not. Never mine.” _*_He knows, the insolent wretch. He knows and he knows that I know, and he thinks that I cannot touch him... Oh, he was clever._*

I never watched HBO’s Game of Thrones because of how they treated Littlefinger. Littlefinger is one of my favorite characters in the books because of his subtlety and cleverness, and the way the shows turned him into a Snidely Whiplash-esque character convinced me right away that, whatever the other merits of the show in drama or spectacle, I would not be interested. The way the show went on to butcher my other favorite characters, especially Stannis, ensured that I have never regretted my decision.

Don't forget, "taking Cat's virginity" is also a way of spiting the memory of Brandon and Ned. The men might have her body, but HE got that something special they could never get. He still "won" even when Brandon almost killed him and Ned ended up marrying her.

He was honestly one of my favorite characters. I hated the way he died.

Petyr is a treasure trove of fucked up psychological breakdowns; not the least of which pursuing Sansa for looking like his childhood crush, identifying her as his daughter, and renaming her after his mother THE MAN MUST BE DISSECTED

I love these ! Also I really appreciate that, despite not having enough visuals, you're not resorting to using AI pics. Very refreshing and commendable 💚

I'd love to see an episode about the Spider himself, Varys. He always come across as one of the most coldly logical characters but he's also (at least vocally) motivated by the maximization of human wellbeing, at least for the common folk. He always came across to me as more of a force of nature because of how little his emotions seem to come into things. It'd be fascinating to see a dig into his psyche!

please do the psychology of Theon Greyjoy/Reek!!!! he's such an underrated character i find him so interesting 🥹

babe wake up, my little thought tree dropped another analysis

Excellent video. Martin has such skill at building deep, complicated characters. The story and the world-building are top notch, but it's his characters that really elevate these books.

There was a theory going around that the pie actually killed Joffrey, and Tyrion was the actual target of the purple wedding. A lot of people say the wine, and that matches with what we saw in ACOK prologue. But the Tyrell's were adamant that the pie killed the king, and they were in on it. Joffrey grabs Tyrion's pie and takes a bite right before coughing. If Tryion dies Sansa is free, this benefits Littlefinger and the Tyrells, both want the same thing.

Finally, an analysis of good ole Creepy Finger.

Petyr is not a psychopath--he is vengeful and sadistic, but his sadism is one that comes from trauma--he is deeply invested in torturing people emotionally in a way a psychopath wouldn't be able to understand. He holds onto the traumas he's suffered and recreates them with himself in the position of power. With Sansa, he feels that he finally has control over Cat--over her beauty, her strength, her intelligence, her empathy, her nobility, over all the things Petyr fantasized about as a child. And he repeats the situation with Robert and Sansa that occurred between him and Cat. Because Sweetrobin fantasizes and idealizes Sansa in the same way Petyr did Cat. But this time, Petyr is in control, Petyr can poison and manipulate the Lord of the Vale. I think he does similar things with Jeyne and Lysa, torturing them sexually and using them to advance his position. He uses power to try to cope with his insecurity, like most of the powerful characters in the text.

Regarding Lysa and trauma, I think you're maybe over applying a modern understanding of SA in a world where SA of men is perceived very differently. Considering the culture Petyr grew up in, I don't think him waking up and realizing Lysa took advantage of him left him feeling violated or disempowered. I do think it traumatized him though but I think his mindset was more like: Lysa is the cheap substitute to Cat, the lesser girl in the same way Petyr's home in the fingers is a lesser hold to Riverrun, the same way Petyr is a lesser lord. I think the first thing he must have felt after realizing what happened with Lysa was anger. Anger that he thought he had the real and awesome thing, Cat, but he only had the cheap substitute. And he must have been thinking then that all his life, he would only get the cheap substitute. And that's what motivates his quest for power. As such, when he kills Lysa, I don't think of it as revenge or taking back power from her, I think of it more as a symbol of commitment to his goals. Petyr decides "I will never settle for the cheap substitute again, I will have everything or I will have nothing."

I used to be one of those people who believed that Petyr had some master plan to take over the North, the Vale, and the Riverlands as revenge against the families he feels slighted him. However, I've now come around to your way of thinking that, while he may have some vague idea of revenge driving him, he's confused about what he truly wants. He himself doesn't know what the goal is because everything he's doing is about trying to patch up this gaping wound of his past trauma and he's throwing everything he can at it, hoping that something sticks. He's desperately hoping that *something* he achieves through one of his plans-power, title, wealth, revenge, Sansa-will finally be the thing that ends the hurt. So, like you said, he's just stuck in this cycle, striving for something that he can't get through scheming, which is healing.

Great video as ever, thank you! It's hinted that sweet Robin might be his son really, he's so small. feels like lysa continued to abuse pb basically in king's landing using blackmail. I think Jayne Poole is a surrogate lysa, one he can enact his revenge on.

I have looked a lot into the" "A Song of Ice and Fire" is a sociological narrative, not a psychological one, like what we are used to" articles. In a psychological narrative people always grow in some way. They make more or less moral decisions and are rewarded or punished for them (if they are rewarded or punished does depend on how idealistical or cynical the narration is). Sociological narratives work quite differently: there people are not just acting for or against other people, but also within a system, in Westeros this is, of course, a feudal society. Those are rather stable, there is not much social mobility, neither up nor down. Also there is a strict way of valueing a person: Value the noble over the common, the man over the woman, the knight over all non-combatants. This comes up again and again: Lady Olenna tries to work within the system (as does Cat), figures like Petyr, Arya, Brienne or even Cersei fight the system. But they can't have an outsiders perspective like we can. They still hold to the ideals of the system in a way, while they are fighting the system itself. I think Petyr esp. has to be seen in that light: had he lived in Braavos, where is greatgrandfather was from, he might have been a lot more successful then in Westeros. I could totally see Petyr in a high position of the Iron Bank. Maybe he can, too. I sometimes had the feeling that Petyr pretty much resents his family because they (esp his father) adapted the Westerosi idea of value while he himself found himself to have different abilities then from that valued there. Also as somebody who is succeptable to limerence, Petyr give off vibes that he feels limerence for Cat. It is normal to be infatuated and to get over it. But some of us just can't (my first limerence took hold of me for more then 10 years). You are very much crazed, and it takes a lot of experience and introspection to get over this kind of emotion. Petyr never had any. And you get very delusional about the other partys feelings, too. I think Petyr thinks Cat came to him and he never realized it was Lysa. She might have stayed the night, but I don't think she did stay until he was fully awake (and her feelings for him were along the same line). There was this letter Petyr sent to Cat and that she burned unread. I am pretty sure getting Cat was his whole game from the outset. Everything else is just a way to prove himself worthy. (not enough space to fully explain why I think so). Also I looked up the ages to compare. Ned is supposed to have been born 263 AC, Cat 264/265, Lysa between 266 and very early 268, Petyr (being about a year younger then Lysa) in 268 and Edmure between 264-274 (dates are not very precise on him, but if I remember correctly, he was 9 years younger then Cat, placing his birth at the lower end of that range, 273/274. So there was not that much of an age gap between Ned and Petyr (but the age was a weak point for Ned, so Petyr would use that) and likely Edmure would have tried to one-up Petyr would be be a lot closer in age to his cool older sister then he himself, that (as well as the fact that I find it very likely that Edmure is not that much of a socially skilled person) might have led to a lot of teasing that hurt deeper then intended.

This has completely changed my opinion of Petyr Baelish, he is still a villain, but I have a better appreciation of his character

100% down for another 2 hour Sansa video

My read of Petyr's mistreatment of Jeyne was that he wanted to break her down enough to make her entirely compliant with his plans. He needed a girl from Winterfell so that she would know the place and the scheme would work, but Jeyne was the daughter of the steward and apparently perfectly well-adjusted and confident. I believe Petyr wanted to cow her enough that she wouldn't reach out to someone at Winterfell for help. (Rather like Ramsay did to Theon/Reek in fact).

Really enjoyed your insights and your contextualizing, and your narration of the book passages are so good. The lingering question about Jeyne Poole is interesting, I wonder if Petyr saw/projected too much of a parallel (Jeyne as the daughter of a steward, born of a minor house, friend-or lackey-to a greater noble) and reacted punitively. Maybe that creates distance? Maybe I'm drowning in the waters of speculation?

Oh cool, I needed an excuse to make popcorn...

For what it's worth, I love your longer videos! I would have loved to hear some of your thoughts on the speculations of how it was probably Lysa who convinced Jon Arryn to bring Petyr to King's Landing, how she might have continued the SA by threatening to expose him, and how he may have turned the tables on her by helping her kill her husband. They really seemed to be in a very unhealthy, codependent relationship, and in the books there is a very noticeable gap between Petyr getting sent back to the Fingers, and Petyr ending up in King's Landing.

Sorry for the long comment. I struggle to feel empathy for Petyr. I can pity him for the way society treated him as a child, and that he didn't have little if any healthy emotional connection. But I don't think I had so much malice as I do for Petyr. His actions make me feel like he is irredeemable, not because he couldn't in theory grow as a person, but because he looks down on the things that would heal him. He can't see his issues, and he won't let anyone close enough to him for them to be able to help him. Also his actions are atrocious. I don't think enough attention is given to him embezzling funds. That is a horrible thing to do. It's even worse because of his position. People in positions like Petyr if they lose integrity can create a culture of cleptocracy. His trying to create chaos to gain power is also pretty meaningless. What luxury, or respect has he given. I don't think it's even clear if his quality of life is better. Also his treatment of Jeyne Poole and others, are unnecessary and cruel. He is giving worse trauma to people even more vulnerable than he was.

68 minutes of fascinating analysis! Thank you.

Been waiting for this one!

He has a lot going on in the background I have no doubt, imagine GOT from his point of view. That be insane

I'm loving the hour long videos to be honest, I feel like you're able to go into the character's more thoroughly compared to the 20 to 30 minute ones :))

This video summed up: "I'm rather confused."

Truthfully, I've never read the books, and I only got to about season six of the HBO series so I'm always half apprehensive to comment too deeply on a character and their motives / background besides in broad stroke. But Petyr has always struck me as the type of villain that is more similar to real life. There are parallels to real world traumas and life events that many people can still tangibly relate to leading up to his present-day persona. Limerence is such an interesting concept we don't talk about enough as a society, at least in a productive way behind villainizing or mocking it. There are usually ties to significant insecurity, attachment wounds, trauma bonds, etc. Those all are applicable to Petyr. From what we know about his background it makes sense he'd fixate on Cat at least a little bit. She's acted as a sort of cornerstone for his boyhood in many ways. Trauma has a funny way of trapping the mind in certain developmental stages. People experiencing this phenomenon often see the person as the "light" and the hope for better days because they don't have the confidence in themselves to create a better future independently. Everything eventually circles back to that one person much like Gatsby with Daisy and the green light. Believing "they will make me whole. they will make me happy. Being with them will give me peace at last." It's a coping skill in it's own way because the skills to handle obstacles other ways aren't had. He's wayward in his own mental prison. A person might feel more empathetic if he didn't use his trauma as an excuse to hurt others. The SA significance cannot be ignored either. We as a society so greatly devalue the trauma that can be caused from female on male SA. It's even made a joke of often times, and that is in the present day! let alone 100s of years into "fantasy War of the Roses" past. I truly appreciated this element of the story being to my knowledge it is one of the few mainstream media examples that forces the viewer to face the possible realities and harm that can be caused by F on M assault in a tangible way, and appreciate that it isn't a joke. How it can harm someone mentally, psychologically, socially, sexually and romantically in the thereafter.

Asymmetric love/desire sucks. It sheared my heart in half when my gf left me. She just wasn't that invested in it, though I was head over heels. And that was a year or so of my life. I can't imagine marinating in that incel acid for decades and the damage that would do to my brain. His lust for Catlin isn't the only thing that shapes Petyr but it is an essential component.

eep! i've been waiting for this one! baelish is one of my favorite book/show characters.

Dropped in the middle of my re-watch after many years. What a coinsidence.

This is the first video I've seen that delves into Petyr's feelings rather than his plots and theories of what he truly 'wants'. He is a very complex character and I really like the points you brought up in your video. I'd really like to see a psychology video about Theon! I think he's pretty interesting, and there's probably a lot of videos about him out there but I'd love to see your takes on him

So well done. Rare content that focuses and brings light on the aspect of How Petyr also wanted to Care for someone as vulnerable as he had been once. Beautiful ❤️

wonderful video, thank you! could've watched 2 hours of this really.

Love your videos! ❤ Excited for what's to come 😊

Saw the video and thought how did i miss the video on petyr then i saw it was only updated yesterday! Love your videos man! I was just telling my boyfriend about one of them and said i was shocked you didnt have way more subscribers cause your videos are so well done and youre so thoughtful and you have a nice lil intro lol glad im so early keep it up love this stuff

Been re-binging on GOT and HOTD before the s2 premier, so I love that you’re still uploading character breakdowns!

I have been waiting for this one!!

wooo this is gonna be so fun to watch, I'm excited!

I identify with Littlefinger. He’s a person who manipulates and schemes as a survival mechanism. I remember a time when I had no money and was terrified of dying on the streets I was very much like him. He crossed lines I couldn’t, but I knew where a lot of those lines were from personal experience. It’s a shame he never had some one understand how insecure and vulnerable he was. Give him a hug and tell him it’s okay

Wow, this is a good analysis from the character. It comes from a place in understanding more.

Brilliant analysis & video. Thank you.

Sansa = Catelyn So, does Jeyne Poole = Lysa? She’s Sansa’s best friend and Petyr then casts her as Arya.

Thanks for giving enough context that I could follow without problem! I loved this one, great analysis.

I love these videos so much. It's so interesting

Keep these coming 🙌

I love this series! It reminds me of the final project I had in my "Abnormal Psychology" class in Uni (to analyze a fictional character of our choice with possible diagnoses). ❤ I appreciate your warning that this isnt something you cna do with people.

The littlest of fingers

I see character analysis from Little Thought tree, and I click. These have been so good and very interesting! I'm making my way through the books slowly, and the insight in these is really interesting as someone who just watched the show 👀✨

"I dont want to give the impression that therapy is someone magically psychoanalyses everything about you" don't lie to the people! That's precisely what it is! Just last week my therapist told me my motive was food driven, and my character alignment was Chaotic Neutral

Love your analysis

I personally like these long videos. Might take me a min to get to, but do love them.

I find it very telling, that Martin calls Petyr a little boy. A lot of people would say, that at 13-15 you’re already a young adult and becoming a man. That’s not true though. Yes, you want to be taken more serious as a teenager and should you look older, people will treat you accordingly, most of the time. But at 15 you’re still developing and still in need of guidance regarding all sort of things. So Martin acknowledging that shows how dependent he was on that, but also how little agency he was given. And yes, I do know that he could just’ve meant the time of Petyr’s arrival, but I think then he would’ve said little boy to teenager/young man, though that’s just my interpretation.

Wow, you made me feel for LittleFinger. You're pretty good.

Now I understand him bettah. Thank you for that.

Loving your channel! Subscribed. Game of Thrones has such rich characters, great to see people still talking about despite the show. Would love your view on the keepers of the faith such as Melissandre and High Sparrow. Thanks!

i couldn’t help but look up what jeyne poole said and wow, ramsey’s even worse in the books. i get why you didn’t include it and that it wasn’t in the show either

Thanks for the ad. I was trying to remember what the website was while i was working on some writing stuff and for the life of me couldn't

52:00 -- RE: Petyr and Sex; One thing the books and the show did establish well is that Petyr speaks with more than an adolescent libido because he's not only Master of Coin but a de-facto Master of Brothels too. It is as if the actual source of Golden Dragon power is Prostitution and that's how I'd define his involvement with Sansa. He compels her to be a Player not a Piece but I have little doubt that he's the Pimp in that relationship.

Great video! Peter is a very interesting character, and while he has done evil things, I have always found it strange that many people who can empathize with, say, Jaime or Cersei, seem to be unable to have any empathy at all for Petyr.

This video was anoher great one. I hope we get a video on Euron soon.

The problem with Jeyne Poole is that she was the only girl they had access to that knew enough about the Starks to play Arya. Training another child would still need her insight, so it seems simpler to just use her.

TIL I really relate to Petyr Baelish actually. Wow

Heck yeah !

Thank you! Your videos always help me have so much more empathy and understanding for these characters. Hopefully that will transfer to real life😜

i LOOOOOVE your videos

This cycle of trauma actually makes the shows unexplainable action of her being given to the Bolton’s make sense. He finally comes out with it and wants her, his second cat, the chance to do things right this time, and at that moment of triumph for him, Sansa will reject him, unfortunately repeating the cycle for him, and he’ll handle that by making her make the same mistake he views Cat as making, Cat died because she chose the wrong man. He’ll make the second cat have the worst possible husband in Westeros just to make sure she gets what she deserves. From that reading, giving her to Ramsay makes sense, he pretends to forgive her for the no, makes it seem as if like her father he’ll find her a northern lord to help her rule etc, to make it up for her, and then marries her off to a union sure to see her suffer and die.

I have spent years trying to phrase how I feel about the games we men play (strive to not, I swear there’s an instinct to do so that requires constant effort to resist) however you have a single sentence that sums it up beautifully. I am going to be using it in the future to explain my stance to my male friends.

Peter somehow pulled off being a pimp and a simp.

You're very good at reading aloud.

Is it just me or does the narrator sound very much like Ed Hope (Ed Hope's sick notes)? Great video as always!

Appreciate including the point that even if it HAD been Catelyn, it would have still constituted SA because he was unable to consent!

People forget that Peter Baelish and the Hound and very similar characters. Commonborn men caught up in politics, one slashed through the sternum the other had his baby cheeks literally melted away.

To support your idea that Petyr held a grudge, their is a decently popular fan theory that littlefinger was trying to kill Tyrion, and that the poison was in Tyrion's pie that Joffrey ate from.

He plays the perfect boring bureaucrat well. Somebody that seemingly has very little interest in anything but pleasing the big fish at the table, while he’s nibbling away at everybody.

There's a theory that Petyr might be a warg and an appretince from the Three-eyed Raven just like Bran (and, possibly, Euron). It seems the TeR only come in dreams of people who were on the verge of dying, like Bran after the fall, Petyr was recovering from his fight with Brandon, which would explain why is able to be a step ahead of everyone!!!!

Oh! And would love your view on the character Ripley from the Netflix series. Is his world really black and white? Again loved the channel!

Petyr is like Cersei for me, yes they had trauma but due to their actions overtime they get zero sympathy or empathy from me.

lets goooo!

good video

I see Petyr as wearing a mask screwed on so tight. There is cunning and rage behind that mask.

Jokes on you I’ve been subbed to Quinn I found you from your Littlefinger video …. And I’ve watched most of the ASOIAF character studies

I'm convinced that, despite all appearances, Petyr is not in love with Kat, he thinks he is, but no. He is in love with the idea of her, of what she represents. Love and desire is connected to power in his head, Kat is the daughter of the lord who was the most powerful in young Petyr's world, whereas Sansa is the heir to Winterfell. The fact that possessing these women would give Petyr a position at the top of society is a dizzying prospect. Thank you for talking about the revenge aspect behind a lot of his actions, though, I never realized how mad he is at Tyrion for exposing him or how much he felt used when Lysa played a trick on him as a teenager. This experience would explain why he has never had a healthy relationship to women.

You are so good at being analytical, i find humans far too complex.

Baelish was one the best characters in GoT. I wish we’d gotten more backstory for Baelish in the show. His grandfather was a Braavosi sellsword. His house sigil has the Titan of Braavos on it. Would’ve been interesting to learn more about his family. But I would say that Petyr is a psychopath. He claimed to love both Catelyn and Sansa and yet has absolutely no qualms about betraying both of them to get what he truly wanted-power. If not psychopath or sociopath…he was def amoral.

I think it’s easy to underestimate just how much embezzlement Petyr has done. He bought up most of the brothels in the capital city; that cannot have been cheap!

Bruh, took you long enough🎉🎉

I wonder how his Herritage from Bravos effects his views on the world.

ANOTHER VIDEO TO WATCH WHILE PLAYING ELDEN RING RAHHHHH

Also, I'm really sorry that you weren't able to recover the Spirited Away video... :( I can imagine how demoralizing that must be. Did I understand correctly that you lost the finished, edited video, but you still have the (unedited) stuff you recorded for it?