Sansa/Arya and Lyanna Parallels

[AEJON TARGARYEN]

He could still hear Sansa pleading, as Lyanna had pleaded once.

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard IV

I. PROTECTORS

They shoved him down every time he tried to rise, and kicked him when he curled up on the ground. But then they heard a roar. “That’s my father’s man you’re kicking,” howled the she-wolf.

— A Storm Of Swords, Bran II

---

Sansa heard herself gasp. “No, you can’t.” Joffrey turned his head. […] “He is,” Sansa said. “A fool. You’re so clever to see it. He’s better fitted to be a fool than a knight, isn’t he? You ought to dress him in motley and make him clown for you. He doesn’t deserve the mercy of a quick death.”

— A Clash Of Kings, Sansa I

II. SONGS

The dragon prince sang a song so sad it made the wolf maid sniffle, but when her pup brother teased her for crying, she poured wine over his head.

— A Storm Of Swords, Bran II

---

They were beautiful songs, but terribly sad. Several of the women began to weep, and Sansa felt her own eyes growing moist.

— A Clash Of Kings, Sansa VI

III. TOURNEYS

Ned remembered the moment when all the smiles died, when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horse past his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell, to lay the queen of beauty’s laurel in Lyanna’s lap. He could see it still: a crown of winter roses, blue as frost. Ned Stark reached out his hand to grasp the flowery crown, but beneath the pale blue petals the thorns lay hidden. He felt them clawing at his skin, sharp and cruel, saw the slow trickle of blood run down his fingers, and woke, trembling, in the dark. Promise me, Ned, his sister had whispered from her bed of blood. She had loved the scent of winter roses.

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard XV

The Targaryen prince armored all in black. On his breastplate was the three-headed dragon of his House, wrought all in rubies that flashed like fire in the sunlight.

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard I

Yet when the jousting began, the day belonged to Rhaegar Targaryen. The crown prince wore the armor he would die in: gleaming black plate with the three-headed dragon of his House wrought in rubies on the breast.

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard XV

Rhaegar wore a black armor with rubies and he gave her blue rose(s).

---

When the white horse stopped in front of her, she thought her heart would burst. To the other maidens he had given white roses, but the one he plucked for her was red. “Sweet lady,” he said, “No victory is half so beautiful as you.” Sansa took the flower timidly, struck dumb by his gallantry. His hair was a mass of lazy brown curls, his eyes like liquid gold. She inhaled the sweet fragrance of the rose and sat clutching it long after Ser Loras had ridden off. […] Septa Mordane quickly took a hand. “Sweet child, this is Lord Petyr Baelish, of the king’s small council.” “Your mother was my queen of beauty once.” The man said quietly.

— A Game Of Thrones, Sansa II

Ser Loras Tyrell was slender as a reed, dressed in a suit of fabulous silver armor polished to a blinding sheen and filigreed with twining black vines and tiny blue forget-me-nots. The commons realized in the same instant as Ned that the blue of the flowers came from sapphires.

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard VII

Loras wore a silver armor with sapphires and he gave her a red rose.

IV. BAEL THE BARD

“All I ask is a flower,” Bael answered, “The fairest flower that blooms in the gardens of Winterfell.” Now as it happened the winter roses had only then come into bloom, and no flower is so rare nor precious. So the Stark sent to his glass gardens and commanded that the most beautiful of the winter roses be plucked for the singer’s payment. And so it was done. But when morning come, the singer had vanished and so had Lord Brandon’s maiden daughter. Her bed they found empty, but for the pale blue rose that Bael had left on the pillow where her head had lain.  

— A Clash Of Kings, Jon VI

Bael climbed the Wall, took the King's Road and entered Winterfell under the guise of a singer named Sygerrik of Skagos, meaning deceiver. Martin uses it as a parallel to Rhaegar and Lyanna but there is a connection that can be made between the fictional names Bael and Petyr Baelish, the story ends with Bael’s son killing him, similar to LF’s demise possibly being at the hands of his unnatural daughter, Alayne. 

V. WINTERFELL

Lyanna had only been sixteen, a child-woman of surpassing loveliness. Ned had loved her with all his heart. Robert had loved her even more. She was to have been his bride. [...] “Ah, damn it, Ned, did you have to bury her in a place like this?” His voice was hoarse with remembered grief. “She deserved more than darkness.” “She was a Stark of Winterfell.” Ned said quietly. “This is her place.” “She should be on a hill somewhere, under a fruit tree, with the sun and clouds above her and the rain to wash her clean.” “I was with her when she died,” Ned reminded the king. “She wanted to come home, to rest beside Brandon and Father.” He could hear her still at times.

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard I

---

They were all staring at him, but it was Sansa’s look that cut. “She is of the north. She deserves better than a butcher.” He left the room with his eyes burning and his daughter’s wails echoing in his ears, and found the direwolf pup where they chained her. Ned sat beside her for a while. “Lady,” he said, tasting the name. He had never paid much attention to the names the children had picked, but looking at her now, he knew that Sansa had chosen well. She was the smallest of the litter, the prettiest, the most gentle and trusting. [...] Shortly, Jory brought him Ice. When it was over, he said, “Choose four men and have them take the body north. Bury her at Winterfell.” “All that way?” Jory said, astonished. “All that way,” Ned affirmed. “The Lannister woman shall never have this skin.”

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard III

VI. FLOWERS

Ned could recall none of it. "I bring her flowers when I can," he said. "Lyanna was fond of flowers."

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard I

Ned Stark thought of pale blue roses, and for a moment he wanted to weep.

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard XII

---

It was enough that she could walk in the yard, pick flowers in Myrcella's garden, and visit the sept to pray for her father.

— A Game Of Thrones, Sansa V

"I am composing a new song, you should know. A song so sweet and sad it will melt even your frozen heart: The Roadside Rose, I mean to call it. About a baseborn girl so beautiful she bewitched every man who laid eyes upon her."

— A Storm Of Swords, Sansa VII

VII. INNER BEAUTY

“You never knew Lyanna as I did, Robert,” Ned told him. “You saw her beauty, but not the iron underneath.”

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard VII

---

“My skin has turned to porcelain, to ivory, to steel.”  

— A Storm Of Swords, Sansa V

VIII. BETROTHALS

“Robert will never keep to one bed,” Lyanna had told him at Winterfell, on the night long ago when their father had promised her hand to the young Lord of Storm’s End. “I hear he has gotten a child on some girl in the Vale.” Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. “Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man’s nature.”

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard IX

Robert Baratheon was an orphan, attractive, good fighter, connection to House Arryn, fostered by Lord Jon Arryn, lover of women, two bastards by low-born women before he was even out of his teens. Mya Stone was his first child, who is around three or four years older than the second one.

---

“I have heard that you are about to be a father,” It was not something most girls would say to their almost-betrothed, but she wanted to see if Ser Harrold would lie. “For the second time. My daughter Alys is two years old.” Your bastard daughter Alys, Alayne thought, but what she said was, “That one had a different mother, though.”

— The Winds Of Winter, Alayne I

Harry Hardyng is an orphan, attractive, good fighter, connection to House Arryn, heir presumptive of Lord Robert Arryn, lover of women, two bastards by low-born women before he is even out of his teens. Alys Stone is his first child, who is around three years older than the second one.

IX. REPERCUSSIONS

“She was,” Eddard Stark agreed, “Beautiful, and willful, and dead before her time.”  

— A Game Of Thrones, Arya II

Lyanna refuses to return to Winterfell, choosing a prince over her father's decision for her.

Indirectly causes a war ending the Targaryen Dynasty, that, in turn, works into the disaster that eventually kills her father and brother.

---

It was as if she had become a ghost, dead before her time.

— A Game Of Thrones, Sansa V

Sansa refuses to return to Winterfell, choosing a prince over her father's decision for her.

Indirectly causes a war ending the Baratheon Dynasty, that, in turn, works into the disaster that eventually kills her father and brother.

ARYA'S VERSION

[Ralphis Baratheon]

And so, just like her Aunt Lyanna, Sansa will run away with the handsome Targaryen Prince and son of Rhaegar...Aegon Targaryen the handsome silver haired, purple eyed hero who has just landed in Westeros.

[AEJON TARGARYEN]

2 hours ago, Ralphis Baratheon said:

And so, just like her Aunt Lyanna, Sansa will run away with the handsome Targaryen Prince and son of Rhaegar...Aegon Targaryen the handsome silver haired, purple eyed hero who has just landed in Westeros.

Eh, maybe.  

I will post Arya/Lyanna parallels too, who is her Rhaegar? 

[AEJON TARGARYEN]

“Arya, you have a wildness in you, child. The wolf blood, my father would call it. Lyanna had a touch of it."

— A Game Of Thrones, Arya II

I. APPEARANCE

"Lyanna might have carried a sword, if my lord father had allowed it. You remind me of her sometimes. You even look like her."  "Lyanna was beautiful," Arya said, startled. Everybody said so. It was not a thing that was ever said of Arya.

— A Game Of Thrones, Arya II

Now two children danced across the godswood, hooting at one another as they dueled with broken branches. The girl was the older and taller of the two. Arya, Bran thought eagerly, as he watched her leap up onto a rock and cut at the boy. But that couldn’t be right. If the girl was Arya, the boy was Bran himself, and he had never worn his hair so long. And Arya never beat me playing swords, the way that girl is beating him.

— A Dance With Dragons, Bran III

II. PERSONALITY

"You be quiet, stupid," the girl said, tossing her own branch aside. "It's just water. Do you want Old Nan to hear and run tell Father?" She knelt and pulled her brother from the pool.

— A Dance With Dragons, Bran III

---

"You stupid," she told him, "you scared the baby," but Jon and Robb just laughed and laughed, and pretty soon Bran and Arya were laughing too.

— A Game Of Thrones, Arya IV

---

“She was,” Eddard Stark agreed, “Beautiful, and willful, and dead before her time.”  

— A Game Of Thrones, Arya II

---

“This willfulness of yours, the running off, the angry words, the disobedience.”

— A Game Of Thrones, Arya II

---

The dragon prince sang a song so sad it made the wolf maid sniffle, but when her pup brother teased her for crying, she poured wine over his head.

— A Storm Of Swords, Bran II

---

Behind them, Gendry groaned. “Lords and ladies,” he proclaimed in a disgusted tone. Arya plucked a withered crabapple off a passing branch and whipped it at him, bouncing it off his thick bull head. “Ow,” he said. “That hurt.”

— A Storm Of Swords, Arya VIII

III. PROTECTORS

But then they heard a roar. "That's my father's man you're kicking," howled the she-wolf. [...] "The she-wolf laid into the squires with a tourney sword, scattering them all.”

— A Storm Of Swords, Bran II

Lyanna beating up the squires with a wooden sword at Harrenhall.

---

A bright bud of blood blossomed where his sword pressed into Mycah’s flesh, and a slow red line trickled down the boy’s cheek. “Stop it!” Arya screamed. She grabbed up her fallen stick. Sansa was afraid. “Arya, you stay out of this.” “I won’t hurt him … much,” Prince Joffrey told Arya, never taking his eyes off the butcher’s boy. Arya went for him. Sansa slid off her mare, but she was too slow. Arya swung with both hands. There was a loud crack as the wood split against the back of the prince’s head, and then everything happened at once before Sansa’s horrified eyes.

— A Game Of Thrones, Sansa I

Arya disarming Joffery with a stick, stones, and a direwolf at the Trident.

IV. WOLVES

"A wolf on four legs, or two?"  "Two," said Meera.

— A Storm Of Swords, Bran II

---

"Fine with me. Either way I win. And so do you, she-wolf.”

— A Storm Of Swords, Arya IX

V. FLOWERS

Ned could recall none of it. "I bring her flowers when I can," he said. "Lyanna was fond of flowers."

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard I

---

None of which stopped Arya, of course. One day she came back grinning her horsey grin, her hair all tangled and her clothes covered in mud, clutching a raggedy bunch of purple and green flowers for Father.

— A Game Of Thrones, Sansa I

VI. SONGS

The dragon prince sang a song so sad it made the wolf maid sniffle, but when her pup brother teased her for crying, she poured wine over his head.

— A Storm Of Swords, Bran II

---

Tom and Hot Pie resumed their song on the other side of the brook, with the duck hanging from Lem’s belt beneath his yellow cloak. Somehow the singing made the miles seem shorter.

— A Storm Of Swords, Arya II

VII. HORSE RIDING

"You ride like a northman, milady,” Harwin said when he’d drawn them to a halt.  “Your aunt was the same. Lady Lyanna. But my father was master of horse, remember."

— A Storm Of Swords, Arya III

[Prince Yourwetdream Aeryn]

I am waiting for shewolves of Winterfell.

[Vaedys Targaryen]

I love the parallel between Lyanna and Sansa; I've always assumed that it's Arya who resembles her the most, but Sansa is a lot more similar to Lyanna than I thought she was.

[chrisdaw]

Pretty meaningless lines you've matched here. The flowers are about Dany and Jon and nothing to do with Sansa and Arya.

Though both sets of fans desperately want their character to be the Lyanna parallel, the character is not there as a heroine to aspire to, her unwillingness to do her duty hurt the realm, hurt the people. An unfair situation for a girl to be put in, no doubt, but it was what it was and remains what it is. And both Sansa and Arya will have circumstances arranged to allow them to choose a similar course of action. As Jon did in his rejection of the cave with Ygritte.

Sansa will try the runner with Sandor, but Sandor will reject it. The conclusion the author will mean to be drawn is that Sansa is not better than Lyanna, but she chose and was attracted to a man of better character than was Lyanna, despite the man being physically unattractive and lowly in comparison to Lyanna's rock star prince.

Arya will have the chance to do the runner with Gendry, whom she will love, but will instead stay and marry who she is told, a king she doesn't love, and for it the realm will heal and there will be peace. Conclusion obvious.

[AEJON TARGARYEN]

13 minutes ago, chrisdaw said:

Pretty meaningless lines you've matched here. The flowers are about Dany and Jon and nothing to do with Sansa and Arya.

Ned could recall none of it. "I bring her flowers when I can," he said. "Lyanna was fond of flowers."

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard I

How is this about Dany or Jon? Lyanna is a character, not just a plot device.  GRRM likes different interpretations, Lyanna is a mixture of Sansa and Arya, I'm just pointing out their similarities.

"Martin: That’s certainly one way to interpret it. That’s for my readers to argue out. That may be one possible meaning. There may be a secondary meaning, or a tertiary meaning as well."

No comment on your tinfoil theories.

[chrisdaw]

16 minutes ago, TRILOGY said:

Ned could recall none of it. "I bring her flowers when I can," he said. "Lyanna was fond of flowers."

— A Game Of Thrones, Eddard I

How is this about Dany or Jon? Lyanna is a character, not just a plot device.  GRRM likes different interpretations, Lyanna is a mixture of Sansa and Arya, I'm just pointing out their similarities.

"Martin: That’s certainly one way to interpret it. That’s for my readers to argue out. That may be one possible meaning. There may be a secondary meaning, or a tertiary meaning as well."

No comment on your tinfoil theories.

The association between Lyanna and flowers such as in this line and others are for the purpose of creating symbolism for Jon, which will/is coming around for Dany.

You're pointing out similarities, ok, for what purpose? To what end? What are you trying to prove or find out? What have you found out?

[AEJON TARGARYEN]

6 minutes ago, chrisdaw said:

The association between Lyanna and flowers such as in this line and others are for the purpose of creating symbolism for Jon, which will/is coming around for Dany.

You're pointing out similarities, ok, for what purpose? To what end? What are you trying to prove or find out? What have you found out?

Yes, that's one interpretation, hence Martin's quote. 

Do I need a reason?  It seems like you take it too seriously.

[purple-eyes]

Good job, OP!

I agree Lyanna shares significant similarity with Sansa. How San fell in love with Joffery and Loras, is how Lyanna fell in love with Rhaegar. Not to mention how Lyanna cried with Rhaegar's song, which parallels Sansa’s love in songs. And how Loras gave Sansa rose, parallels Rhaegar gave Lyanna rose. 

 

[zandru]

1 hour ago, TRILOGY said:

It seems like you take it too seriously.

So you're saying all this was just tinfoil for the sake of tinfoil?

[AEJON TARGARYEN]

1 hour ago, zandru said:

So you're saying all this was just tinfoil for the sake of tinfoil?

I guess? Not exactly tinfoil, I'm not proposing any theory or conclusion. Not all the posts have to be in-depth analyses? 

1 hour ago, purple-eyes said:

Good job, OP!

I agree Lyanna shares significant similarity with Sansa. How San fell in love with Joffery and Loras, is how Lyanna fell in love with Rhaegar. Not to mention how Lyanna cried with Rhaegar's song, which parallels Sansa’s love in songs. And how Loras gave Sansa rose, parallels Rhaegar gave Lyanna rose. 

Thank you!

[Ygrain]

I think you have done a good job, OP. Lots of people claim "Lyanna would never do XY because she's basically Arya", but they fail to take into consideration the similarites between her and Sansa. Acting wilfully because she wanted her princes brought terrible consequences for both Lyanna and Sansa as well as all of House Stark.

[Traverys]

Really, really good job laying out all the quotes. I'm thoroughly impressed. I have no theory/tinfoil about any of this but it was interesting to read. I don't think you need one. I fully support exploring the text without having to come to a conclusion or theory.

My thoughts drifted to trying to paint a picture of who Lyanna was as a person. It makes me wonder if she would have been as comfortable in armor as she was in a gown, like Dacey Mormont was described. Or was she more like Arya, who probably tried to get away with wearing pants any chance she got? I think I worked under the assumption that Arya and Lyanna were near identical in personality, but now that I see it all together I start to doubt the truth in that.

There's a lot of "feminine" imagery/descriptions surrounding Lyanna. Winter roses, her love of flowers in general, a song brought her to tears, her concern about having a faithful husband, etc. Those are things I haven't considered before, so thank you.

[Pikachu101]

We don't know enough about Lyanna, but Arya is definitely Cat's daughter whilst Sansa is all Ned. 

Lyanna/Arya:

• Impulsive and hotheaded 
• Protects the weak
• Likes flowers
• Skilled horserider 

Lyanna/Sansa is more based on how you see the Lyanna/Rhaegar situation in parallel to Sansa/Joffrey, personally I think a 13 year old Lyanna was incredibly naive just like her sheltered niece. Joffrey promised to make Sansa his queen perhaps Rhaegar promised to make Lyanna a knight? 

[Philokles]

8 hours ago, Traverys said:

I think I worked under the assumption that Arya and Lyanna were near identical in personality, but now that I see it all together I start to doubt the truth in that.

There's a lot of "feminine" imagery/descriptions surrounding Lyanna. Winter roses, her love of flowers in general, a song brought her to tears, her concern about having a faithful husband, etc. Those are things I haven't considered before, so thank you.

And so there are the same things about Arya. Most obviously the flowers:

"One day she came back grinning her horsey grin, her hair all tangled and her clothes covered in mud, clutching a raggedy bunch of purple and green flowers for Father. Sansa kept hoping he would tell Arya to behave herself and act like the highborn lady she was supposed to be, but he never did, he only hugged her and thanked her for the flowers." Sansa I, AGOT

"When we were crossing the Neck, I counted thirty-six flowers I never saw before, and Mycah showed me a lizard-lion." Sansa I, AGOT

 

Songs too, though she prefers the ones with strong, independent to the romantic ones Sansa likes:

"Arya named hers after some old witch queen in the songs." Bran II, AGOT

"she could ride with Gendry and be an outlaw, like Wenda the White Fawn in the songs." Arya XII, ASOS

Even then Nymeria's story certainly has its fair share of romance. One of its most famous tellings is the Loves of Queen Nymeria.

 

Arya too, really cares about not being married off to someone who sees her as nothing more than breeding chattel:

"Arya cocked her head to one side. "Can I be a king's councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?"
"You," Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, "will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon."
Arya screwed up her face. "No," she said, "that's Sansa."" Ned V, AGOT

[elipride]

Not really about the original post which is great, but I disagree with the popular idea that Lyanna and Sansa are similar because they are both romantic (although they do have things in common). Considering Sansa's personality, she would never run away from an engagement with a dashing man from an important family, she accepts tradition and she tends to see what she wants to see in people. Lyanna was more practical, she saw Roberts true nature and rejected him, which is more in line with Arya's personality. And this theory also works on the assumption that Arya would never fall in love, and honestly, running off with a completely inadequate man because she likes him sounds like something I can imagine an older Arya doing. 

[Ygrain]

1 hour ago, elipride said:

Not really about the original post which is great, but I disagree with the popular idea that Lyanna and Sansa are similar because they are both romantic (although they do have things in common). Considering Sansa's personality, she would never run away from an engagement with a dashing man from an important family, she accepts tradition and she tends to see what she wants to see in people. Lyanna was more practical, she saw Roberts true nature and rejected him, which is more in line with Arya's personality. And this theory also works on the assumption that Arya would never fall in love, and honestly, running off with a completely inadequate man because she likes him sounds like something I can imagine an older Arya doing. 

Yet, Sansa's disobedience of her father also defies tradition...

[Springwatch]

On 03/11/2017 at 1:49 AM, chrisdaw said:

The association between Lyanna and flowers such as in this line and others are for the purpose of creating symbolism for Jon, which will/is coming around for Dany.

I really doubt Dany's blue rose is Jon: the original blue rose was a daughter of Winterfell, as was Lyanna, and patterns are repeated.

Flowers are for maidens or women, and for blood - linked by the idea of a 'maiden flowered'. The Tyrell rose marks the power of the families women. The Knight of Flowers will be a knight (or monster) for the maidens - (however that works out). Arya's gift of flowers to Ned was sweet, but also looks like a bad omen of the treatment he's going to get from Cersei.

On 03/11/2017 at 1:49 AM, chrisdaw said:

You're pointing out similarities, ok, for what purpose? To what end? What are you trying to prove or find out? What have you found out?

At the very least, these parallels show the truth of Ned's words to Arya:

Sansa is your sister. You may be as different as the sun and moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts.

1 hour ago, elipride said:

Considering Sansa's personality, she would never run away from an engagement with a dashing man from an important family...

Well, she'll get her chance quite soon, won't she?