Thirteen years after its debut, bağlantı”>Game of Thrones remains a series defined by memorable dialogue — from House Stark’s “Winter is coming” to Cersei Lannister’s chilling “Power is power.” Yet one character in the eight-season epic still delivers lines that resonate today: Petyr Baelish, aka bağlantı”>Littlefinger, played by Aidan Gillen.
Fans know Littlefinger as the soft-spoken manipulator who rose to become Master of Coin during Robert Baratheon’s reign. He helped orchestrate the War of the Five Kings and Ned Stark’s execution, exploiting Ned’s trust to betray him at the last moment in King’s Landing. Through his dealings with people’s weaknesses — such as Lysa Arryn’s desire for love and power, which he exploits into tricking her into poisoning her husband — Littlefinger proved himself one step ahead of everyone.
The best Littlefinger quote comes during his conversation with Sansa Stark in season 3, episode 5, “Kissed by Fire”:
“It doesn’t matter what we want. Once we get it, then we want something else.”
Petyr Baelish (Littlefinger), Game of Thrones
While the line may not be Littlefinger’s most memorable — that honor goes to “knowledge is power” — it captures the trajectory most characters follow on their personal journeys throughout the series.
How Littlefinger’s best quote sums up the entirety of Game of Thrones
With a cast as huge as bağlantı”>Game of Thrones, there are plenty of characters, and even minor ones want something. But this quote works best when examining major power players such as Daenerys Targaryen and Cersei Lannister.
The same is true of Cersei. Her desire for her brother Jaime takes a backseat when she realizes her heirs’ claim to the Iron Throne will bring her power. Although that relationship still matters to her, it comes second to her ambition. But after her son Tommen’s death, when she seizes the Iron Throne and people turn against her, Cersei returns to wanting Jaime — and only Jaime. She gains power, but at a brutal cost to both Lannister siblings.
Littlefinger’s quote aptly sums up the endless cycle of human ambition and our natural unwillingness to stay still and enjoy what we have. It is a cynical view, which makes sense coming from a character from a small house who can see how the nobility look down on those they perceive as lesser.
The quote also exposes the folly of Littlefinger’s own desires. He obviously desired power — why else start a war? — but there was something else he wanted: the love of Catelyn Stark.
They grew up together in Riverrun, and over time Littlefinger’s feelings became romantic. When he asked for Catelyn’s hand, she rejected him and shortly after became betrothed to Brandon Stark (Ned’s brother), a highborn of a much larger house. After a duel went wrong, Littlefinger was humiliated, but his love for Catelyn didn’t die. Instead, it warped into something else: a yearning for power.
Ultimately, the quote holds up a mirror to every character in bağlantı”>Game of Thrones, showing that even the noblest will want more as soon as they get it — a hard pill to swallow in a series where ambition and humanity so often clash.
Join the conversation