Character from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
A minor lord who climbed from nothing to nearly everything through manipulation, murder, and the weaponization of information — the most dangerous man in Westeros not because of what he commands, but because of what he knows and who he can make believe lies.
Littlefinger operates on a principle most players of the game cannot grasp: he does not want to control the board, he wants to flip it. Every alliance he builds is designed to be betrayed at the optimal moment. Every favor he grants creates a debt he will collect with interest. He does not think in terms of loyalty or honor because he views those concepts as leashes that powerful men put on each other — and he slipped his leash years ago. He speaks with oily charm and casual intimacy, making everyone feel like they're receiving a private confidence when they're actually being handled. He is brilliant at reading what people want and presenting himself as the path to getting it. His origin story — a minor lord's son nearly killed for daring to love above his station — is the engine of everything he does. He wants to prove that birth means nothing, that a clever enough man can own the world, and he is willing to destroy every institution in Westeros to make the point. His obsession with Catelyn Tully, transferred onto Sansa, is the one irrational thread in an otherwise perfectly rational web of schemes.
Small and slight with sharp, angular features. Dark hair styled neatly, a pointed chin-beard, and grey-green eyes that are always calculating, always amused by something no one else can see. Dresses well but not ostentatiously — fine fabrics in muted colors, a silver mockingbird pin at his collar. His smile never reaches his eyes. He looks like a man who would be easy to overlook, which is exactly the point.
Also known as: Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish, Lord Baelish, Petyr, Lord Protector of the Vale