Are you a Male Sansa fan? Please come and tell me why? and is your a female fan also come share the love.

[Rockroi]

Sansa is written like a real person; she acts and says things that I think a real person would do and say. That is to say- of course -that real people would not always do or say the most heroic things; they would not always have access to the most capable teachers and protectors. Sansa acts the way a teen-age, under-prepared child would act in her circumstances. Sansa is doing her absolute best to survive and thrive in an environment that is out to use her. Every "mentor" she has - fron Joff to Littlefinger to the Queen of Thorns - has either wanted to use her for their own ends or fuck her (and in LF's case, both). She has never been given the sometimes ludicrous benefits that other characters have received (*cough*Arya*cough*)

Take a step back and look at the horrible, terrible, situation her father left her in and her value to a Medieval society. The eldest daughter of a dying yet powerful family....and so close to child-bearing age. Sansa is now a pawn in every player's game of thrones- from LF to Cersei to Highgarden to Tywin.

Being exposed to Sansa as she struggles against this reality; as she tries to grow from the isolated child of Winterfell to a player in the GoT; to witness her inner-strength as she survives; to watch her mature is a very nuanced and well-crafted journey that is very special. It shows how Martin expresses the reality of being the non-heroic, yet intimately human young woman and how she grows.

I think that young men and women dislike Sansa for a variety of reasons. For one, she acts like a teenage girl and they can be annoying. Second, she is always juxtaposed against Arya who is, to put it mildly, ultra-uber-super-gifted in her place in the story. Off the top of my head Arya's mentors include a former lord of Braavos, a member of the Kingsguard, a never-dying rebel, a Lord of Winetrfell, a Faceless man, an ultra-loyal blacksmith, a super-assassin guild; not once do any of those people ever try to fuck her. She has wolf dreams, a customized sword, and the best fucking luck you could ever imagine. Sansa? Her mentors include Cersei, Joff and LF- at two of those people wanted to fuck her; unlike Arya who gets wolf dreams, Sansa's wolf is dead, she has no sword; she was routinely beaten by her betrothed and his guards. She has no super-assassin guild to train her.

Metaphorically speaking, Sansa is the aunt who used to baby sit you in her one-bedroom apartment that was always clean and you could never play video-games, even though the X-Box was RIGHT THERE. Arya is the aunt who let you ride on her Harley and let you smoke weed after you got back from the bar.

Finally- and its only fair- Sansa does do things in the story that should make you a little angry and those are magnified because UNLIKE other characters who do and say bad things, Sansa never balances them against super-cool stuff she says and does. Sansa is, after all, just a child and she acts it.

Oh, and it doesn't help that Sansa is attractive and knows it. Good looking people, in the sci-fi world, should never know they are good looking. That's the trick.

[Greywind84]

In my post Ned grief I was vehemently anti-Sansa, to the point where I blamed her more than Joffrey. But I got over it and began to appreciate the survival instinct that she has. Plus she's one of the few early on to see what a cesspool King's Landing truly is.

The thing that still irks me is her willingness to believe Littlefinger's b.s. but she's not alone in that so it doesn't put me off her. Plus she suffers on this board much like Stannis or Dany in that some supporters are borderline fanatic and it can lead others to go off her, but that's not the fault of the character.

Ultimately I think Sansa's evolved from the spoiled brat of the first book into a well rounded and genuine character, something I would have thought impossible given my first impressions of her.

[OnionAhaiReborn]

I'm a male Sansa fan. Although I don't know if I count, as I'm also an oppressive matriarch.

There are lots of reasons why and a few different levels on which we can like or dislike characters. There's plenty to be said about what makes Sansa interesting, or good, or a clever deconstruction, all of which would be true. But ultimately there's just that sort of irreducible factor of enjoying spending time with a character, enjoying when they're on the page. I just like Sansa, I enjoy her POVs, I'm glad when she's on the page in front of me.

[butterbumps!]

Huh, I'm doing that Eddard reread. Need to update it soon.

Like, I have Eddard II "finished"

Like, do you guys have a Bran reread setup or something?

I'd like to be a part of that as well.

oh, don't worry, we won't encroach on your Ned turf-- we're not planning to cover Ned. we're doing the major POVs located in the North (Jon, Bran, Theon, (both of which are short) + "secret project")-- so yea, Bran is next (should be sort of soon-- we're at Jon XI aSoS, so there's basically just DwD left). Why don't you PM me about Bran questions so we don't derail.

perfunctory on topic response: I'm female, and like Sansa because I excel at projecting things that don't exist on characters (as per the adjacent thread that posited this)

ETA

This comment gives me much duress.

Yea yea, I know brah. you and Sansa both know why the gilded caged bird sings.

[E-Ro]

lol, yea, it occurs to me that his wild endorsements of various Sansa threads might be nothing more than a mistake due to some sort of dyslexic reading of the titles.

This comment gives me much duress.

[Mladen]

perfunctory on topic response: I'm female, and like Sansa because I excel at projecting things that don't exist on characters (as per the adjacent thread that posited this)

As was told to Jane Lynch at the Emmys: "I doubt anyone thinks of you as the woman" :)

And, this was relatively naughty respond... Needless to say, I enjoyed every bit of it.

[GreyWindsRevenge]

I started the series disliking Sansa but ever since she had to watch her father get executed I grew to be very sympathetic to her. She became one of the series best prisms to view the cruelty of GRRM world through.

I also admire how he hasn't lost her humanity or became too overly bitter about her circumstances. I am looking forward to Sansa figuring out that LF is pretty much the main contributing factor to her fathers death and then taking vengeance on him.

[The Mighty Dragonzzilla]

She's evolving as a person, at least in my opinion. Instead of being a wide-eyed idealist who believes all the tales of knighthood and chivalry, I think she's now "holding out" for someone like that. After all, all stories have a basis in reality... so there must be someone like that.

[Mark Antony]

oh thank you! The Jon one is approaching the best part of his arc now (imo).

we're looking to do Bran next (Mark Anthony had requested it not that long ago). I think we want to finish out all of the North.

I agree about Jon. It will be interesting to compare the dance chapters in the Jon re-read you are doing now to the Learning to Lead re-read. Both are phenomenal threads

:commie: If you guys do Bran i'll probably fail my classes cause I will have to participate instead of being my normal lurker self :D But seriously hearing Bran is the contention to be the next re-read makes me squee with fanboy joy. As far as the North goes he is the POV you want. So much history sprinkled in his chapters :wub:

Anyway sorry for derailing. Back to the lovely Sansa Stark.

A dozen times Jeyne and Sansa cried out in unison as riders crashed together, lances exploding into splinters while the commons screamed for their favorites. Jeyne covered her eyes whenever a man fell, like a frightened little girl, but Sansa was made of sterner stuff. A great lady knew how to behave at tournaments. Even Septa Mordane noted her composure and nodded in approval.

One of my favorite moments from her in GoT. One of the many small moments that led to me loving her character.

My favorite quote of hers is probably

“I will remember, Your Grace,” said Sansa, though she had always heard that love was a surer route to the people’s loyalty than fear. If I am ever a queen, I’ll make them love me.

She shouldn't have a problem with that :D

[Mladen]

I am disappointed that Mladen has not yet posted in this thread.

I'm sure he's typing up a multi-page reply as we speak :P

We'd be reading his post for an hour at least :P

Just saw these...

:lmao: :lmao: :bowdown: :bowdown:

Am I that transparent?

BTW, it's post #40... Read it, comment it, preach it...

[Ser Hippie]

Male Sansa fan here.

Unfortunately, Rockroi pretty much covered every point I'd have made, so I'm going to find another thread to avoid work in. I'd like his post if I could, though.

[Nyrhex]

Male Sansa fan.

Why? Because she is one of the better written characters, is actually good, and feals more real than most of the other characters.

[Ser Not Appearing]

To disagree with the OP a bit - she's not overly normal.

She's a 1950's pretty pretty princess whose vanity and naivety destroyed what life of hers wasn't already destroyed by the fact that the pillars of the dreams she had/was led to adopt don't exist in the real world. She is in some ways what would happen if a Disney character came to life and was forced to life in the real world... only exaggerated... and potentially she will learn how to overcome her struggles as well. She is an anti-trope because she is a trope living in a non-trope world. She started as an amalgamation of almost everything wrong with weak female characters in that she vain, attractive, defines herself by those things and wants nothing more from life than a Prince Charming to dote on her as she embroiders napkins and whelps heirs... then she got worse because she was also naive/blind to an absurd degree that bordered on sheer idiocy... and now she is hopefully getting better because she has no other choice in the absence of her dreams and the trappings of having been born into a great house. She's not there yet, however, and her character's journey has been one of the most stereotyped (or reverse stereotyped in some ways) and least normal, imo.

Otherwise, yes I am male but no I don't like Sansa. She may become a character worthy of admiration but as of now she is not. Apart from that, the topic of Sansa is toxic on this forum and I'll stay away from it.

[Mikkel]

Just saw these...

:lmao: :lmao: :bowdown: :bowdown:

Am I that transparent?

BTW, it's post #40... Read it, comment it, preach it...

Well, you've made no secret of certain preferences, as there's indeed no reason to! :)

[Sansa_Stark]

I never understood why people think Sansa is so hated. Cat yeah. Dany yeah. But Sansa seems more liked than anything to me.

[El Guapo]

I am a male and a big Sansa fan. She is my second favorite character in the story (behind Dany). I just feel that she is one of the more realistic characters and I find her story arc very compelling. The various Sansa threads on this board are amazing and have made me enjoy the character much more than I did when I first read the books.

[Mladen]

Well, you've made no secret of certain preferences, as there's indeed no reason to! :)

And all this time I thought I was being subtle... ;)

[Mark Antony]

I never understood why people think Sansa is so hated. Cat yeah. Dany yeah. But Sansa seems more liked than anything to me.

When I first joined in 2011 there was much more hate spewed her way.

[DJIM]

I like her. She is the most like Ned from the remaining Stark children so i want her to do well. I hope she sabotages Littlefinger. If she joins forces with him i am certain i will stop liking her though.

[Roose The Weddingcrasher]

Simply put, she is just a very good person. Brave, humble, caring and relatively independent mentally. And I don't think this can be said for many (pov)-characters.