Petyr Baelish

Lord Petyr Baelish also referred as Littlefinger is a recurring character from the book series A Song of Ice and Fire as well as in the TV series Game of Thrones.

Petyr Baelish’s great-grandfather was a Braavosi sellsword in the service of Lord Corbray; when his son became a hedge knight he took the stone head of the Titan of Braavos as his sigil. Lord Baelish’s father was the smallest of small lords of a few rocky acres on the smallest of the Fingers. His father befriended Hoster Tully during their service in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, which led to Petyr being sent to be fostered at Riverrun with Lord Tully’s children.

At Riverrun Petyr was fostered as a ward and raised alongside his social betters, the Tully children, Catelyn, Lysa and Edmure, who first gave him the nickname "Littlefinger" as a reference to his family holdings. As they grew older, Petyr fell in love with Catelyn, who in turn loved him as a brother, but no more. When the betrothal between Catelyn and Brandon Stark was announced, Petyr challenged the much older Brandon to a duel for her hand. Brandon won handily, leaving Baelish with a significant scar, but spared his life in compliance with Catelyn's request. Catelyn did not speak to him afterwards and burned the single letter Petyr sent after Brandon's death.

Lysa, on the other hand, was in love with Petyr. Overlooking his obsession with her sister, one night, while he was drunk and miserable over Catelyn's rejection, she slipped into his bedchamber and bedded him. The delirious Petyr may have mistaken Lysa for Catelyn, and indeed called her "Catelyn" that night. He has since claimed (at court and in private) to have taken the maidenhood of both Tully sisters. Lysa became pregnant with Petyr's child as a result of their encounter. When Hoster Tully discovered this, he forced Lysa to drink moon tea to abort the pregnancy and banished Petyr from Riverrun, as the Baelish family was too small and insignificant to wed into his house.

Petyr maintained a relationship with Lysa even after her marriage to Lord Jon Arryn. Lysa convinced her husband to give Petyr control of customs at Gulltown, where he increased incomes tenfold. His skill with finances resulted in a series of appointments leading to his being named Master of Coin in King's Landing under King Robert Baratheon. There his influence furnished him with many allies and contacts, including the City Watch. He also bought numerous brothels in the city.

Just before the events of the first book, Jon Arryn discovered that all of King Robert Baratheon's children were actually fathered by Jaime Lannister and planned to alert the king. Petyr manipulated Lysa to poison her husband, claiming that it was to prevent him from sending her young son Robert away to be fostered. Lysa, who was fiercely protective of her son, did his bidding. After Jon was killed, Petyr convinced Lysa to write a letter to her sister Catelyn stating that Lord Arryn had been poisoned and that the Queen was responsible.