Of all the weddings in Game of Thrones, the one where a glass of wine turned out to be more dangerous than a blade was especially memorable. The Purple Wedding is the day when young King Joffrey Baratheon died. His convulsions, white lips, and angry look at Tyrion became the culmination of the episode and the beginning of a new era in Westeros. But who was behind this theater of death and what was hidden behind the golden feast?
How Joffrey died
At the feast in honor of his wedding to Margaery Tyrell, the king, as always, shone with cruelty. He humiliated the guests, laughed at the dead, and turned mourning into a comedy. But the joke turned into a tragedy, a glass of wine turned out to be fatal. Joffrey died in front of all the nobility, suffocating and dying in his mother's arms. Tyrion Lannister was declared guilty, and he became the scapegoat.
Who Really Poisoned the King
There were two people behind the elegant murder: Lady Olenna Tyrell, Margaery's grandmother, and Petyr Baelish, a notorious schemer. The poison was hidden in the beads of a necklace that Sansa had been given in advance. And at the wedding itself, Lady Olenna deftly pulled out a capsule of poison and added it to the wine while distracting the guests. Everything was calculated down to the last detail.
Why did Olenna do it
Olenna knew well who Joffrey was: unstable, cruel, unpredictable. She did not want her granddaughter to become the wife of a monster. But it was also impossible to dissolve the marriage - this would undermine the political union. Therefore, the old woman chose a third way: to eliminate the king, and then quickly marry Margaery to his younger brother Tommen. A more docile and manageable boy. Cunning and calculating - in the best traditions of the Tyrells.
And why did Littlefinger do it
Petyr Baelish saw a ladder in chaos. The death of the king created the necessary instability. It was important for him to take Sansa from the capital and use her as a key to the north. By participating in the conspiracy, he strengthened his influence, weakened the position of the Lannisters and created the ground for his own manipulations.
Joffrey Baratheon died not at the hands of enemies on the battlefield, but from a silent alliance of two old peoplr with far-sighted plans. Their poison turned out to be stronger than swords, and their motives were much more complex than simple revenge. And, as history has shown, it is precisely such people who most often rewrite the rules of the game.
