I really dislike Sansa—but bear with me. I’m not tagging this to be a jerkwad; I’m tagging this so you can correct me. It’s been a long while since I’ve read the books, and I didn’t really watch the show, so there are a number of things I’ve forgotten. I am open to discussion, and I’m open to liking Sansa if you can make a valid point. In the meantime, here are my thoughts.
How far have you read? Because there’s a tremendous amount of character growth there…
Her family is constantly in danger; she is being manipulated and surrounded by people who mean her harm.
Bingo.
Woman, do something!
- She pleads to the queen of the entire realm for her father’s life;
- She watches her father get beheaded (that’s not really “doing” anything but a point we should remember…);
- She nearly commits suicide in order to kill Joffrey;
- She survives beating after beating after beating at the hands of fully-armored, full-grown men at the behest of her fiance (and surviving is doing something, as it’s not curling up and dying);
- She manipulates Joffrey into sparing Dontos’ life;
- She comforts the women of the court when Cersei loses it during Blackwater;
- She makes a grown-ass manly-man cry;
- She survives being married to her enemy, faced with the prospect of being raped by him and bearing his children and losing her birthright to him and those children;
- She escapes when she gets her first real chance, while publicly being accused by the queen for regicide;
- She survives a stormy trip to the Vale in the infamous autumn storms;
- She runs the Eyrie.
Followers, did I miss anything?
She also manages to do this without sacrificing her sense of self, compassion, or drive to just go home. Her ability to love and to be kind is astounding in the face of all of this. She has not broken or turned cynical. Her optimism is a sign of her strength of mind—she still believes in the best of humanity, as we can see by how she interacts with Dontos and the Tyrells and Sweetrobin and Randa.
We’ve also seen her mature, emotionally. She looks back on how she treated Jon and regrets it. She just wants to hold Arya again. She’s growing up and wants to go home, and she’s willing to wait and endure to get it. Suffering this abuse is what she thinks her cost is to go home, make Winterfell suitable for the Starks again. It’s just as noble as waging any war to go home. She’s not just “taking it.” She’s positioning herself to take back Winterfell. She’s learning the game to take back Winterfell. She’s with Littlefinger to learn how to take back Winterfell.
She’s not weak. She’s a survivor. And she’s gonna take back everything that was wrested from her and her family.
To be just, to be fair, and to be bold, was to be a woman. To be a survivor, was to be a Stark.
30 Days of A Song of Ice and Fire | Day 6: Characters you wish would interact (again)
Sansa and Arya Stark - “Sansa is your sister. You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you.”
Day 2 - Character you feel the need to defend: Sansa Stark
“My skin has turned to porcelain, to ivory, to steel.”
‘Tell me the truth, do you want an end to this the engagement?’
#this girl right here #will be the future queen of westeros #and you know why? #because she’s playing the game #because she understands what she has to do #to survive #because she knows what she has to do #to get revenge for her family #and she knows that she’s not going to get it on the battlefield #no one does #thats why she has to pledge her love #for this one human being #that she hates most #she has to pretend #she has to fight for her life #with strategy and cunning ways #but yet she will survive #and then i will see your faces#when sansa stark is sitting on the iron throne #with the mother of dragon’s blood dripping from her sleeves#and then she will make you love her #because she’s sansa #simply sansa. #winter is coming bitches #and its name is sansa stark
