‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 4 Spoilers: Who Poisoned Joffrey?

Well, well, well, finally King Joffrey Baratheon has met his maker. “Game of Thrones” reminded fans last night that a wedding in Westeros normally ends with death, and while last season the Lannisters were on the winning side of the Red Wedding, Season 4 is a whole different game. In episode 2, “The Lion and the Rose” Joffrey and Margaery Tyrell are married in the Great Sept of Baelor, however the union was short-lived because Joffrey is poisoned and killed at his own wedding feast. In a karma infused series of events, Joff’s life comes to an end after mocking the deaths of other young kings, mainly Robb Stark who was slaughtered at the Red Wedding and Renly Baratheon, the King’s uncle.

After the despicable and poorly received charade, the wedding pie arrives much to Joffrey’s delight, he and Margaery indulge in the delicacy until the King grows thirsty, he demands his uncle Tyrion to fetch him his chalice and drinks deep from it. The King then begins to choke in the midst of scolding his uncle, but before he can finish his rant, Joff collapses and begins to spit up blood. His mother, Cersei and father/uncle Jamie rush to his aide, however they soon realize there is little they can do. The young King dies in his mother’s arms, gasping for breath, but not before seemingly indicating his murdered. In his final moments, Joff stretches out his arms and points to his uncle Tyrion, identifying him as the perpetrator. Joffrey’s mother and Tyrion’s sister, Cersei waste no time confirming what her son was attempting to say, and calls for his arrest, which the gold cloaks enforce immediately.

Despite Tyrion’s arrest and his resentment towards his nephew and King, the imp is innocent. The poisoning of Joff was a plot that began in the Season 4 premiere “Two Swords” with none other than the unsuspecting Sansa Stark. Sansa was gifted a beautiful necklace from a seemingly insignificant character, Ser Dontos, however fans will soon discover that Joff’s knight turned fool is more central to the plot than ever expected. Ser Dontos discovered Sansa in the godswood of Kings Landing in the Season 4 premiere, and while the meeting was at first suspenseful, the interaction ended in a sweet exchanges of thanks.

Dontos gifted Sansa a necklace that he revealed was the last thing of value in his life, he wished to give it to Sansa to thank her for saving his life from Joff. At first reluctant, Sansa ended up graciously taking the necklace and assuring Dontos that she would wear the jewelry with pride. The murder plot slowly becomes to unravel, and surprisingly Tyrion is once again proved innocent despite the King’s charge, and Sansa’s only crime was wearing a necklace gifted to her by Dontos. The poison is revealed to be “The Strangler,” it was disguised as amethysts on the necklace, Lady Olenna Redwyne, the scheming grandmother of Margaery is revealed to be the one to deliver the deadly dose of poison into Joffrey’s wine.

During the feast, Olenna greets Sansa and apologizes for the tragic death of her family at the Red Wedding, she then delicately touches Sansa’s necklace, in what seemed tender, however fans will soon learn the move was more sinister. Olenna even foreshadows what she’s about to do, saying, “Killing a man at a wedding ... horrid. What kind of monster would do something like that?” In the next scene when Dontos again approaches Sansa secretly, a jewel is missing from her necklace. As Joff chokes to death, Sansa flees with Dontos, and runs from the Purple Wedding and even far from Kings Landing. Even though she was the one to slip the poison in Joff’s chalice, Lady Olenna is not the only one involved in this plot, Ser Dontos originally gave Sansa the necklace under the order of Petyr Baelish.