Summary
It’s hard to believe thatGame of Thronesfirst aired 14 years ago on HBO and almost from the get-go, fans soon realized that none of its characters were safe from the Grim Reaper. Whether they were beloved, like Ned Stark and Kaitlyn Stark, or universally hated, like Ramsay Bolton or Walder Frey, their time on the show could be snuffed out in a matter of minutes.
The gruesome events at the Red Wedding inGame of ThronesSeason 3 horrified fans to their core, but the upcomingPurple Wedding in Season 4had viewers clapping their hands in delight due to King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) finally getting what he deserved. However, some were scratching their heads at the complexity of how it all went down, and seemingly still are today. Starring Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (Aidan Gillen), Olenna Tyrell (the late Diana Rigg), an unsuspecting Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Hayden Dinklage), the Purple Wedding not only included that shocking scene of Joffrey bloated and choking to death, but it also was a significant plot point inGame of Thrones' narrative, with so many twists and turns leading up to his murder that some viewers are still trying to get their heads around the why’s and the how’s 11 years after it aired.
Game of Thrones Fans Are Still Trying To Work Out Joffrey’s Death
Over on Reddit, oneGame of Thronesfan posted about their confusion regardingthe lead-up to Joffrey’s demiseand why it had to be “needlessly elaborate”. Although it wasn’t the fact that Joffrey was assassinated that confused the poster, as he certainly had it coming, it was the manner in which he was poisoned and how that had always perplexed them. Joffrey died after drinking wine that had a lethal poison in it called “the strangler," which was taken from the maester’s supplies chamber, and how it got from there to Joffrey’s drink is fairly simple, at least now, after many years of discussions on the topic.
Fans were quick to guide the confused poster into how a sequence of well-timed events and the need for greed helped orchestrate Joffrey’s death in a way that pointed the finger at Tyrion and Sansa, who were well known to hate Joffrey due to his relentless cruelty towards them both. To make a complex situation a lot easier to understand, Sansa Stark wore a beautiful necklace that was given to her by Ser Dontos, an employee of Littlefinger’s, who was also in cahoots withOlenna Tyrell, who wanted to see the end of Joffrey since he was marrying her daughter, Margaery.After Joffrey’s death, Sansa and Tyrion were the key suspects, especially after Ser Dontos told Sansa she needed to escape, with Littlefinger waiting for her on a boat as her “hero” to save her.
He points out to Sansa that one of the stones was missing from her necklace, and tells her that the missing stone was a crystalline form of the strangler, which was placed in Joffrey’s drink by one of his agents. However, it was later revealed that while Olenna Tyrell was admiring Sansa’s necklace at the dinner table, she had plucked one of the stones, and it was she who dropped it into Joffrey’s goblet, killing him.
What some fans are wondering about is what Littlefinger got out of this, as it was obvious why Olenna Tyrell wanted Joffrey dead.Littlefinger wanted to establish control over Sansa, and now that she was vulnerable and accused of being an accessory to murder, he knew she would need him to protect her even more, as she had no one else now. However, his creepy fascination with her didn’t end there, as it was greed that was his ultimate motivation, and that was to be warden of the north; as long as he had Sansa, he could play both sides.
The complexity surrounding Joffrey’s death is yet another reason whyGame of Throneswas such a compelling series and why many fans are still talking about it today. Not only are viewers still finding out mysteries and exploring plot points many years after it ended, but it’s also a great example of how some of its stories might not be understood at the time, but due to discussing the series long after it was finalized, it still keeps the show fresh in fans' minds,continuing its thrilling narrative and unforgettable characters.
