Asked by Anonymous

I never quite got how the poison went from Sansa's hairnet to the wine. I have read and re-read the chapter trying to get the sleight of hand but I can't for some reason. Now you say it was Garlan, how exactly?

Thanks for the question, Anon.

Don’t worry; GRRM makes it deliberately unclear, except to emphasize the Tyrell involvement. Obviously, Lady Olenna takes the strangler out of Sansa’s “magic” hair net when she and Tyrion first enter the wedding feast:

“You do look quite exquisite, child,” Lady Olenna Tyrell told Sansa when she tottered up to them in a cloth-of-gold gown that must have weighed more than she did. “The wind has been at your hair, though.” The little old woman reached up and fussed at the loose strands, tucking them back into place and straightening Sansa’s hair net. “I was very sorry to hear about your losses,” she said as she tugged and fiddled.



Unfortunately, we don’t see what happens to the Queen of Thorns after her meeting with Tyrion and Sansa; Tyrion notices that Olenna processed inside after them, between her extremely tall guardsmen, but while she’s seated somewhere on the dais with the rest of the Lannister-Tyrell contingent, she’s not mentioned when Tyrion runs down the names in such an exalted place:

The Kingsguard escorted them onto the dais, to the seats of honor beneath the shadow of the Iron Throne, draped for the occasion in long silk streamers of Baratheon gold, Lannister crimson, and Tyrell green. Cersei embraced Margaery and kissed her cheeks. Lord Tywin did the same, and then Lancel and Ser Kevan. Joffrey received loving kisses from the bride’s father and his two new brothers, Loras and Garlan. No one seemed in any great rush to kiss Tyrion. When the king and queen had taken their seats, the High Septon rose to lead a prayer. At least he does not drone as badly as the last one, Tyrion consoled himself. He and Sansa had been seated far to the king’s right, beside Ser Garlan Tyrell and his wife, the Lady Leonette. A dozen others sat closer to Joffrey, which a pricklier man might have taken for a slight, given that he had been the King’s Hand only a short time past. Tyrion would have been glad if there had been a hundred.



So it’s unclear at this point if the Queen of Thorns still has the strangler or not, but it’s certain that the poison isn’t yet in Joffrey’s cup, because the boy king drinks and drinks, and Margaery shares with him:

“Let the cups be filled!” Joffrey proclaimed, when the gods had been given their due. His cupbearer poured a whole flagon of dark Arbor red into the golden wedding chalice that Lord Tyrell had given him that morning. The king had to use both hands to lift it. “To my wife the queen!”



Margaery, of course, smiling sweetly as she and Joffrey shared a drink from the great seven-sided wedding chalice.



Now, it’s when Joffrey comes to “honor” his Uncle Tyrion and make him his cupbearer that things really get interesting for the poisoning.

[S]uddenly he felt Ser Garlan’s hand on his sleeve. “My lord, beware,” the knight warned. “The king. Tyrion turned in his seat. Joffrey was almost upon him, red-faced and staggering, wine slopping over the rim of the great golden wedding chalice he carried in both hands. “Your Grace,” was all he had time to say before the king upended the chalice over his head. The wine washed down over his face in a red torrent. It drenched his hair, stung his eyes, burned in his wound, ran down his cheeks, and soaked the velvet of his new doublet. “How do you like that, Imp?” Joffrey mocked.

Obviously, of course, the strangler still hasn’t been placed in the cup, because it’s emptied over Tyrion’s head and filled with fresh wine later. But who just happens to show up at this exact moment? Why, the Tyrells! Fancy that. And not just any Tyrells, but the two who most certainly know about and organized this poison plot - Margaery and her grandmother (who, again, may or may not still have the strangler on her person):

Queen Margaery appeared suddenly at Joffrey’s elbow. “My sweet king,” the Tyrell girl entreated, “come, return to your place, there’s another singer waiting.”



“Alaric of Eysen,” said Lady Olenna Tyrell, leaning on her cane and taking no more notice of the wine-soaked dwarf than her granddaughter had done. “I do so hope he plays us ‘The Rains of Castamere.’ It has been an hour, I’ve forgotten how it goes.”

It’s interesting to consider what the Tyrells were thinking at this moment. Margaery is eager to get the king back to his place at the center of the dais, presumably in line with whatever had been the original logistics for the regicide. It’s impossible to speculate much about who the Tyrells had originally planned to drop the strangler in his cup (or, indeed, when), but the little queen’s eagernes to get her royal husband back to his place implies to me that the Tyrells needed him there for the original plot.

After Margaery makes her plea, of course, Joffrey decides to further humiliate Tyrion:

“I have no wine,” Joffrey declared. “How can I drink a toast if I have no wine? Uncle Imp, you can serve me. Since you won’t joust you’ll be my cupbearer.”

“I would be most honored.”



“It’s not meant to be an honor!” Joffrey screamed. “Bend down and pick up my chalice.” Tyrion did as he was bid, but as he reached for the handle Joff kicked the chalice through his legs. “Pick it up! Are you as clumsy as you are ugly?” He had to crawl under the table to find the thing. “Good, now fill it with wine.” He claimed a flagon from a serving girl and filled the goblet three-quarters full. “No, on your knees, dwarf.” Kneeling, Tyrion raised up the heavy cup, wondering if he was about to get a second bath. But Joffrey took the wedding chalice one-handed, drank deep, and set it on the table. “You can get up now, Uncle.”



“Your Grace.” Lord Tywin’s voice was impeccably correct. “They are bringing in the pie. Your sword is needed.” “The pie?” Joffrey took his queen by the hand. “Come, my lady, it’s the pie.”



Again, we can see the strangler still isn’t in the cup - Joffrey “drank deep” of the wine Tyrion poured with no ill effects, which hit him almost immediately later post-poisoning. Joffrey’s stunt with Tyrion and his wine was obviously unplanned - the drunken cruelty of an embarrassed teenage sadist out for revenge - but I would be surprised if Olenna wasn’t calculating what to do in this moment. Olenna is smart enough to recognize that the vast majority of the courtiers would be distracted by the king and queen cutting the pie and would, consequently, not notice whatever was happening at the end of the main dais.

This, I think, is the moment Olenna made her move - palming off the strangler to Garlan, who would then quietly and quickly slip the poison into the cup while everyone else was watching the cutting of the wedding pie. Who better than Garlan to poison the wine - the less famous and less noticeable Tyrell brother, who nevertheless is a far better swordsman than Loras by the latter’s own admission, someone swift and agile enough to fight three men at once? Easy enough for Ser Garlan to use those same trained muscles to drop the tiny strangler into the wine before anyone could notice. Certainly, Tyrion himself is very distracted in this moment - watching the young royals and Ilyn Payne, and thinking about the destruction of Ice - and takes exactly no notice of Garlan right next to him.

Eventually, of course, Joffrey returns from the pie cutting for more torture of his uncle:

But before they could make their retreat, Joffrey was back. “Uncle, where are you going? You’re my cupbearer, remember?” “I need to change into fresh garb, Your Grace. May I have your leave?” “No. I like the look of you this way. Serve me my wine.” The king’s chalice was on the table where he’d left it. Tyrion had to climb back onto his chair to reach it. Joff yanked it from his hands and drank long and deep, his throat working as the wine ran purple down his chin. “My lord,” Margaery said, “we should return to our places. Lord Buckler wants to toast us.” “My uncle hasn’t eaten his pigeon pie.” Holding the chalice one-handed, Joff jammed his other into Tyrion’s pie. “It’s ill luck not to eat the pie,” he scolded as he filled his mouth with hot spiced pigeon. “See, it’s good.” Spitting out flakes of crust, he coughed and helped himself to another fistful. “Dry, though. Needs washing down.” Joff took a swallow of wine and coughed again, more violently. “I want to see, kof, see you ride that, kof kof, pig, Uncle. I want …” His words broke up in a fit of coughing.



(As an aside, I think GRRM’s note that the wine “ran purple” down Joffrey’s chin is his hint that it was in fact the wine, and not the pie (as some in the fandom have guessed), that was poisoned with the deep purple strangler.)

There is one major detail to note from the above passage: the chalice is still where Joffrey left it when he humiliated Tyrion, still in front of his uncle … and his brother-in-law Garlan, still sitting next to Tyrion and Sansa. That makes it impossible for Margaery to be the poisoner herself - she was with Joffrey cutting the pie, and even the most deft sleight of hand would not have disguised putting the strangler into the drink with Joffrey grabbing it so quickly. It’s also pretty unlikely Olenna was the poisoner - she presumably returned to her place farther along the dais after Lord Tywin made the announcement about the pie, and when Margaery says that Joffrey is choking, Olenna “move[s] to her side”, implying she was not still with Tyrion and the chalice.

So, to recap. We know Olenna took the strangler from Sansa’s hair net right before the wedding feast began. We don’t know how long Olenna held onto the strangler herself, or when she palmed it off to one of her co-conspirators at any point during the meal (if she did). We know, however, that the wine had to have been poisoned between when Joffrey “drank deep” after Tyrion served him and when Joffrey returned to drink more after cutting his wedding pie. The chalice never left the table from where Joffrey place it after his grandfather called him to cut the pie; someone has to have poisoned it where the king had left it. Who had the physical dexterity and Tyrell allegiance to do so, and was in the closest physical proximity to the chalice? I think Garlan is the most likely answer.

The Queen Regent (NFriel)