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Foreshadowing and Symbolism in Sansa's Snow Castle


Ragnorak

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...

I think there's a lot to suggest some kind of supernatural influence in this chapter as well as Sansa's last AFFC chapter.

Over in the ADWD forum, redriver has a thread about a possible supernatural connection between Winterfell and the weather: Winter Fell?

Because those themes seemed to be so directly connected to Sansa's snow Winterfell, I decided to look into it. (I may have gotten a bit pissy because I didn't think they were talking about Sansa enough... oops)

Anyways here's some stuff I posted in that thread (a combination of my own observations and things I had read in threads like this one):

Snow-castle scene: My personal belief is that there was something supernatural about Sansa's snow-castle scene beyond foreshadowing. If you read it carefully, there are a few things of note:

- Sansa *blacks out*. She loses time for no apparent or obvious reason.

- She is single minded about the building of Winterfell ignoring concerns about food and other needs... It's almost like she enters a meditative or trance like state

- She builds Winterfell in an incredibly detailed manner. She includes details that Bran, in AGOT, thought that no one knew but him... that he thought you couldn't know unless you viewed Winterfell from on high.

I think all of this points to some supernatural influence.

There's also a lot of material in Sansa's last AFFC chapter:

There may be more evidence of some supernatural association between Sansa and winter weather.

At the beginning of the chapter, it's winter at the Eyrie (where Sansa is) and autumn in the valley below. Towards the start of the chapter, she states that "on the valley floor autumn still lingered, warm and golden" and "far below the Vale stretched green and golden." She also talks about crossing the snow line in a timely manner. Clearly, there is no snow at the Gates of the Moon.

In contrast, the Eyrie is "wrapped in an icy mantle, the Giant's Lance above buried in waist deep snows." Her thoughts also suggest that it has been winter at the Eyrie for some time: "but winter had closed around the mountain peaks. They had weathered three snowstorms, and an ice storm that transformed the castle into crystal for a fortnight."

It is also a bright, sunny day at the beginning of the chapter. Though when they leave Mya notes "there's a smell of snow in the air."

Then, "the snow began to fall as they were leaving Stone", just as dusk falls.

Half the night was gone before they sighted the lights of the Gates of the Moon through the falling snow. The last part of their journey was the most peaceful. The snow fell steadily, cloaking all the world in white.

So essentially, winter comes with Sansa down the mountain.

and a few extras from that chapter:

Even the gods were silent. The Eyrie boasted a sept, but no septon; a godswood, but no heart tree. No prayers are answered here, she often thought, though some days she felt so lonely she had to try. Only the wind answered her, sighing endlessly around the seven slim white towers and rattling the Moon Door every time it gusted.

The gods of the seven and the old gods are not answering her prayers. Instead, the winter winds answer her. Later on in this same chapter she associates the winds with a ghost wolf, thus connecting the wind with wolves (house stark/winterfell) and the dead (crypts of winterfell?).

It's unfortunate that we don't have any Sansa chapters in ADWD (where the supernatural really picks up for the other Stark POVs). It can be hard to separate symbolism and foreshadowing with supernatural elements of the plot.

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Good analysis greensleeves! I've read the Winter Fell thread with interest, and I think you're onto something with Sansa bringing winter with her down the mountain. Great that you're representing for her in the more heretical stuff too :) They mostly tend to overlook her relevance I think.

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beautiful and thourogh work greensleeves, I have a few comments:

I think there's a lot to suggest some kind of supernatural influence in this chapter as well as Sansa's last AFFC chapter.

Over in the ADWD forum, redriver has a thread about a possible supernatural connection between Winterfell and the weather: Winter Fell?

Because those themes seemed to be so directly connected to Sansa's snow Winterfell, I decided to look into it. (I may have gotten a bit pissy because I didn't think they were talking about Sansa enough... oops)

Anyways here's some stuff I posted in that thread (a combination of my own observations and things I had read in threads like this one):

Snow-castle scene: My personal belief is that there was something supernatural about Sansa's snow-castle scene beyond foreshadowing. If you read it carefully, there are a few things of note:

- Sansa *blacks out*. She loses time for no apparent or obvious reason.

- She is single minded about the building of Winterfell ignoring concerns about food and other needs... It's almost like she enters a meditative or trance like state

- She builds Winterfell in an incredibly detailed manner. She includes details that Bran, in AGOT, thought that no one knew but him... that he thought you couldn't know unless you viewed Winterfell from on high.

I think all of this points to some supernatural influence.

To me this is so interesting because it reminds me ultimately of Bran's coma, and his chapter with the three eyed crow. Maybe us NOT being in Sansa's head during her blackout is indicative of her still vague connection to her inner wolf self, but I do think that the blackout is connected to her warging abilities. GRRM has confirmed that all the Stark kids are wargs, and so far Sansa's arc is reflecting that her journey to discover this particular gift will be more difficult than for her siblings. This is probably due partially to her calm nature and preference in lifestyle (court life rather than a fierce warrior) but also partially to her losing Lady.

With that in mind, I think the best guess of what she was dreaming of (considering of what she does afterwards) was obviously Winterfell, specifically the buildings the towers and all this in very great detail . But in what manner was she there? I think the detail aspect of her building suggests a birds eye view...

Could she have maybe flown on the wings of a crow over Winterfell, thus getting a view from the top ? I know it's all speculative, and we might never know for certain, but I think Bran's dreams during his coma set a precedent here on how to speculate on Sansa's dreams.

There's also a lot of material in Sansa's last AFFC chapter:

There may be more evidence of some supernatural association between Sansa and winter weather.

<excellent examples>

So essentially, winter comes with Sansa down the mountain.

just wanna say this is some beautiful writing (and analysis)

bravo on picking these up :)

and a few extras from that chapter:

Even the gods were silent. The Eyrie boasted a sept, but no septon; a godswood, but no heart tree. No prayers are answered here, she often thought, though some days she felt so lonely she had to try. Only the wind answered her, sighing endlessly around the seven slim white towers and rattling the Moon Door every time it gusted.

The gods of the seven and the old gods are not answering her prayers. Instead, the winter winds answer her. Later on in this same chapter she associates the winds with a ghost wolf, thus connecting the wind with wolves (house stark/winterfell) and the dead (crypts of winterfell?).

It's unfortunate that we don't have any Sansa chapters in ADWD (where the supernatural really picks up for the other Stark POVs). It can be hard to separate symbolism and foreshadowing with supernatural elements of the plot.

you know what this says to me? As soon as Sansa does encounter a godswood, some very VERY interesting things are about to happen, and she just left the Eyrie, didn't she? Maybe the "winter winds" are in a way blowing in her direction, beckoning her to form a connection with her wolfish self. I think it's foreshadowing of what's to come when she encounters a heart tree the next time.

(on a personal note... I am too excited! :wideeyed: )

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Wonderful stuff, Elba!

Lyanna Stark looked at the statue and the position earlier in thread. Tze had a really good post in the Learning to Lead thread about tears. I think this line of thought can be applied here to Sansa.

<snip>

It seems like "tears" have been used to implicitly differentiate the cultures and values of the South and North, "summer's people" versus "winter's people". Jon pointed out that none of the wildlings cried, not even the hostages, because they are winter's people and where they come from, tears freeze upon your cheeks. But in the Vale, we heard the tale of Alyssa Arryn, who was punished by the gods (the Seven, given that she was an Arryn) for failing to cry. And of course "tears" have been associated heavily with poison in the South. So by crying, an activity shunned by the forces of the North and advocated by the forces of the South, Bowen Marsh implicitly divorces himself from "winter's people", and symbolically associates himself with the (poisonous) concerns of the South, not the North.

<snip>

I like your supernatural angle, greensleeves. "Mystical" was the word that came to mind for me when I thought about the tone of the chapter. "Spiritual" too which is interesting when compared to the sept without a septon and the godswood without a heart tree.

The Bridge between Bran and Sansa

The Jon and Arya connections of the keep and armory make a good deal of sense. The rookery as a tie between Bran and Sansa also makes sense given their strong connections to birds, but the Bell Tower still has me wondering. As a place to send alarms the bridge between the Bell Tower and rookery is needed. A raven arrives and if needed an alarm is raised or if an alarm is raised locally and ravens are sent abroad. The idea of Sansa simply having information is more plot related than character related and all the other aspects are about the characters. So what is meant by the Bell Tower?

Skimming through the books for bell references several things come up. Dany and the Dothraki victory bells are probably the most frequent and Tyrion has bells on his slave collar but those seem unique to Essos. In Westeros bells are worn by fools instead of warriors with both Patchface and Jinglebell are mentioned as bell wearing jesters. So there may be a return to innocence aspect or possibly a prophetic fool element which could be tied to the weirwood seeing making it another old gods connection. Jinglebell is tied to her mother and Robb's death at the Red Wedding and Patchface seems connected to Jon now.

"Ring your bell" is used several times as a sexual reference but I see limited applicability for that with Bran and Sansa. They would have to be already reunited for Bran to be the official patriarch of House Stark to enable a love based wedding for Sansa or her to coach Bran with women. "Ring your bell" comes up as a training threat or phrase in the practice yard too but I don't see that mattering either. The Battle of the Bells seems to be a fairly important event but I can't tie it to a Bran/Sansa connection.

Bells, bells, bells?

Bells do come up with Sansa four main times even if they are not prominent throughout her story. There's also the Ghost of Highheart prophesy that references Jinglebell right before Sansa.

I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams, but the saddest sound was the little bells. I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs. And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow.”

She knew how to dress. She played the high harp and the bells. Worse, she was beautiful. Sansa had gotten their mother’s fine high cheekbones and the thick auburn hair of the Tullys.

Then we have Robert's death which heralded the slaughter of the Northmen in the Tower of the Hand.

At sunset on the second day, a great bell began to ring. Its voice was deep and sonorous, and the long slow clanging filled Sansa with a sense of dread. The ringing went on and on, and after a while they heard other bells answering from the Great Sept of Baelor on Visenya’s Hill. The sound rumbled across the city like thunder, warning of the storm to come.

“What is it?” Jeyne asked, covering her ears. “Why are they ringing the bells?”

“The king is dead.” Sansa could not say how she knew it, yet she did. The slow, endless clanging filled their room, as mournful as a dirge. Had some enemy stormed the castle and murdered King Robert? Was that the meaning of the fighting they had heard?

(Ned's beheading is heralded by bells too but we only see this from Arya's POV even though Sansa certainly would have heard them too.)

After the Blackwater which includes a bloody cloak connection.

When she crawled out of bed, long moments later, she was alone. She found his cloak on the floor, twisted up tight, the white wool stained by blood and fire. The sky outside was darker by then, with only a few pale green ghosts dancing against the stars. A chill wind was blowing, banging the shutters. Sansa was cold. She shook out the torn cloak and huddled beneath it on the floor, shivering.

How long she stayed there she could not have said, but after a time she heard a bell ringing, far off across the city. The sound was a deep-throated bronze booming, coming faster with each knell. Sansa was wondering what it might mean when a second bell joined in, and a third, their voices calling across the hills and hollows, the alleys and towers, to every corner of King’s Landing. She threw off the cloak and went to her window.

The first faint hint of dawn was visible in the east, and the Red Keep’s own bells were ringing now, joining in the swelling river of sound that flowed from the seven crystal towers of the Great Sept of Baelor. They had rung the bells when King Robert died, she remembered, but this was different, no slow dolorous death knell but a joyful thunder. She could hear men shouting in the streets as well, and something that could only be cheers.

The most prominent bells in Sansa's POV are when she's fleeing Joffrey's wedding where they show up throughout the chapter. The opening line is: "Far across the city, a bell began to toll." and the bells are prominent throughout the escape until: "The shore fell away, the fog grew thicker, the sound of the bells began to fade. Finally even the lights were gone, lost somewhere behind them. They were out in Blackwater Bay, and the world shrank to dark water, blowing mist, and their silent companion stooped over the oars." Sansa uses the bells to count out her 10 second wait to follow Dontos (another treacherous descent) and that bell heralds her realization that her hairnet was poisoned along with a great deal of bell associations with her emotional elation at escaping. I looked at the Sansa reread for this chapter but it doesn't look like the bells were discussed. I think Milady's piece on Singing and Emotional Bonding touches on one facet but I think there's more to the bells and Sansa especially in Sansa V SoS-- I'm just not sure what it is. Any thoughts?

Some Relevant Bran Passages

He could see the comet hanging above the Guards Hall and the Bell Tower, and farther back the First Keep, squat and round, its gargoyles black shapes against the bruised purple dusk. Once Bran had known every stone of those buildings, inside and out; he had climbed them all, scampering up walls as easily as other boys ran down stairs. Their rooftops had been his secret places, and the crows atop the broken tower his special friends.

Who are they mourning now? Had some enemy slain the King in the North, who used to be his brother Robb? Had his bastard brother Jon Snow fallen from the Wall? Had his mother died, or one of his sisters? Or was this something else, as maester and septon and Old Nan seemed to think?

If I were truly a direwolf, I would understand the song, he thought wistfully.

The great granite walls remained, blackened here and there by fire but otherwise untouched. But within, all was death and destruction. The doors of the Great Hall were charred and smoldering, and inside the rafters had given way and the whole roof had crashed down onto the floor. The green and yellow panes of the glass gardens were all in shards, the trees and fruits and flowers torn up or left exposed to die. Of the stables, made of wood and thatch, nothing remained but ashes, embers, and dead horses. Bran thought of his Dancer, and wanted to weep. There was a shallow steaming lake beneath the Library Tower, and hot water gushing from a crack in its side. The bridge between the Bell Tower and the rookery had collapsed into the yard below, and Maester Luwin’s turret was gone. They saw a dull red glow shining up through the narrow cellar windows beneath the Great Keep, and a second fire still burning in one of the storehouses.

They spent half the day poking through the castle. Some of the towers had fallen down and others looked unsafe, but they climbed the bell tower (the bells were gone) and the rookery (the birds were gone). Beneath the brewhouse they found a vault of huge oaken casks that boomed hollowly when Hodor knocked on them. They found a library (the shelves and bins had collapsed, the books were gone, and rats were everywhere).

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My dear Ragnorak, sometimes I am glad I am part of this community just to have opportunity to read pieces like this. I don`t know how many times I said you impress me with your insightfullness, but it seems I should say it one more. Really well done.

Connecting Sansa`s storyarc in KL and the bell symbolism, I have to refer to three situations when bells are ringing in KL - death of a King, siege of town and wedding. Sansa, as I recall was in KL for all of those. And they made great circle.

First bell was the one Robert died, symbolizing death. Second, during Stannis`s siege of KL, symbolizing war, blood, and conquest, and third is of course wedding - Joffrey`s and Margaery`s. So, we have a full circle - death, battle, wedding. Through this circle we can see poetic journey Sansa has embarked throughout ASOIAF. First, it was her father`s death, and the death of her naivite, ideals and dreams, then came the battle for survival, combining it with blood she bleed during her period, and lastly the wedding. But after the wedding, after completion of the circle another is started, creating a wonderful chain reaction. With Joffrey`s death, and another bells, Sansa escaped KL and `died` transforming into Alayne, then we had the `siege` of Eyrie and possible wedding for HtH. This circle of lies will end up with wedding and death, symbolizing another beginning for Sansa. For the new circle shall begin when the old one is complete, and then Sansa will emerge from Alayne and start her own path through death, blood and at last wedding.

Guys, it`s almost 4 am here in Belgrade, so if I don`t make any sense, please don`t be too cruel :). The idea is still whirling in my brain, and perhaps I have made poor case.

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Ragnorak, the bell references are intriguing. I think the idea that bells connect Bran and Sansa has merit because it might foreshadow Bran assisting Sansa to foil the plan of the character obsessed with bells --Connington. I think it is possible for Connington and or Aegon to end up in the Vale. I think it's possible for Sansa and Bran to foil Connington even to the point of causing Aegon's downfall. If Aegon falls, Connington will never get the ringing of the bells out of his head. Sansa and Bran being the ones to prevent Connington from getting rid of the bells also mean Connington is once again defeated by Stark and Tully.

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Good analysis greensleeves! I've read the Winter Fell thread with interest, and I think you're onto something with Sansa bringing winter with her down the mountain. Great that you're representing for her in the more heretical stuff too :) They mostly tend to overlook her relevance I think.

Thanks! To be fair to the Heresy people, they are far more interested in theorizing about magic than in character analysis. They pick up on a lot of seemingly minor details that I completely overlook, but it also leads them to understandably prioritize other characters over Sansa. It can be occasionally frustrating though.

just wanna say this is some beautiful writing (and analysis)

bravo on picking these up :)

...

you know what this says to me? As soon as Sansa does encounter a godswood, some very VERY interesting things are about to happen, and she just left the Eyrie, didn't she? Maybe the "winter winds" are in a way blowing in her direction, beckoning her to form a connection with her wolfish self. I think it's foreshadowing of what's to come when she encounters a heart tree the next time.

(on a personal note... I am too excited! :wideeyed: )

Thanks so much!

I'm also looking forward to Sansa finally being in a true godswood. If the Lady-for-Bran theory is true, it seems like it should come out there.

The wording of that particular quote, however, makes me wonder if she's actually being answered by the gods of the white walkers (one of the basic tennets of heresy being that they aren't any more evil than the children's gods or r'hllor). One of the main characteristics of the others is that they appear along with winter weather.

I like your supernatural angle, greensleeves. "Mystical" was the word that came to mind for me when I thought about the tone of the chapter. "Spiritual" too which is interesting when compared to the sept without a septon and the godswood without a heart tree.

You are better at words than me.

Okay, I'm on my last legs here (I didn't get any sleep last night) so here are some random thoughts from a sleep-deprived mind:

Starks are associated with blue flowers. It just so happens that here in Texas we have a flower called a Texas bluebell. It also just so happens that there is a Texas ice cream company named for this flower (Blue Bell Ice Cream) that's extremely popular in the southern U.S. (including New Mexico where GRRM lives).

Starks, Blue Flowers, bells, Winter/snow, Ice Cream

George R.R. Martin is basing his symbolism on junk food.

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I'm also looking forward to Sansa finally being in a true godswood. If the Lady-for-Bran theory is true, it seems like it should come out there.

sorry, but what are you referring to as "Lady-for-Bran" theory?

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For some ungodly reason I hadn't come across this yet, but I love it. I really do think that Sansa is the one who brings down Littlefinger and that the snow castle and Robin's doll were a foreshadowing within a foreshadowing. The analysis is fascinating, because at this point, I find Sansa extremely fascinating — I feel like she's right on the cusp of a breakthrough, and I can't think of anything cooler than her tapping into her dormant skinchanging abilities, rallying the Vale lords to fight for her and knocking down Baelish.

Where Arya and Sansa are concerned with Jon, I'm of the mind that eventually they'll be his Visenya and Rhaenys. Not romantically, but politically and in terms of what they bring to the table.

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@Ragnorak

What a wonderful post. I had forgot that Sansa could play the high harp and the bells, although it is hard to forget the sound of bells ringing during her escape from KL.

The word bell derives from the word bellan, Old High German, which means to roar.

As an instrument, it has been used mostly to signal change, transition and transformation. It can be used to entertain or to control a person's time.

As Mladen already pointed, in Sansa's arc, bells signal death, peace, war, marriage and rebirth.

Bells have also been associated with memory. In English there is the expression "ring a bell?", which associates the sound of bells with the evocation of a lost memory. Bells have been used in experiments that focused on memory and reaction. The most notable example is the experiment conducted by Ivan Pavlov. Everytime he rang a bell, he fed the dogs. Eventually the dogs associated the sound of the bell with food and in the end the mere sound of the bell made them drooling. The sound of the bells reminded them that the previous time Pavlov had rang the instruments, they were fed.

Bells were often part of a person's clothing. In the middle ages, people who sufferred from leprosy were forced to wear bells, so that others were warned of his presence. So far I can't recall any relevant reference in asoiaf. Another category of people who wore bells, but this time for entertaining purposes, were the jesters. Aegon Frey, Lord Walder's grandson and jester, wears a crown with bells and his kin simply refer to him as Jingle Bell.

Bells are also associated with graveyards.

According to legend, people who sufferred from fear of premature burial, were buried along with a bell, so that the graveguards would immediately knew that someone had been buried alive and they would come to the rescue. I think that phrases such as "Saved by the bell" and "graveyard shift" originate from that story. Supposedly the graveyard shift, referred to people, who were employed with the sole task of spending the night in the graveyard, just in case a bell rang. According to a popular theory, Sandor Clegane, is none other than the gravedigger Brienne meets.

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Ragnorak and Everyone

This is a wonderful thread! So much insight into the Sansa character and the symbolism of the snow castle WF. I am printing these pages off to study them.

The only other reference I can come up with in regard to bells and also pomegranates is that the high priests of Israel wore both around the bottom hem of their blue robes. The golden bells are heard, all hearts rejoiced. The High Priest faced the mercy seat and yet he lived."

I referenced this from Judaism only because I tend to notice much of the symbolism GRRM has written into the series so very skillfully that relate to the Scriptures. Depending on one's background, readers can pick up on a lot of different religious imagery in this series.

Jon's arch is just full of messianic implications.

Due to the wonderful analysis done on this thread regarding Sansa and to me at least almost a communion type of writing by George with the white snow falling on her face imagery. I would love to think that somehow Sansa and her bells are a spiritual hint that she will be involved in bringing spring and hearts rejoicing in the Stark family.

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Well we might as well throw Norvos and Areo's/Doran's recollections into the mix :)

As he honed the axe, Hotah thought of Norvos, the high city on the hill, and the low beside the river. He could still recall the sounds of the three bells, the way that Noom's deep peals set his very bones to shuddering, the proud strong voice of Narrah, sweet Nyel's silvery laughter.

...

"I saw Volantis once, on my way to Norvos, where I first met Mellario. The bells were ringing, and the bears danced down the steps. Areo will recall that day."

"I remember," echoed Areo Hotah in his deep voice. "The bears danced and the bells rang and prince wore red and gold and orange. My lady asked me who it was who shone so bright."

For these men, their memories of the bells ringing are predominantly nostalgic and pleasant. Doran is recollecting the happy days of his love match to Mellario, and Areo of his childhood before joining the bearded priests. I think that in Sansa's memories as well, bells will hold similar bittersweet meaning. Two of the three times she's heard them whilst in KL have signalled dire news - the death of kings, and the Starks are always implicated/affected by these events. With Robert's death, Sansa was locked in Maegor's Holdfast ostensibly to be protected by the queen, but her father and his household are being arrested and slaughtered. At the Purple wedding she's used by the Tyrells/LF to carry the poison to the wedding, and Cersei declares her guilty along with Tyrion. And while she knows that Joffrey deserved his fate, the gravity of what has happened is terrible, especially when she thinks of Robb who died at his own wedding celebration.

So broadly speaking, I'd argue that bells are associated with Sansa's movement from innocence to experience, from pawn to player. In Sansa V she thinks:

My skin has turned to porcelain, to ivory, to steel

On her way out of the city she also notices that the hollow knights are turning into dragons - an important bit of foreshadowing within the story. So the bells could symbolize Sansa's awakening and maturity, and the awakening of other forces in Westeros and beyond. We have yet to see the precise role she will play in this changing landscape, but it's safe to say her involvement will be significant.

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OK, just a small digression. Sorry for that. It just occured to me, and I don`t want to forget it.

It was more than Sansa could stand.“Robert, stop that.” Instead he swung the doll again, and a foot of wall exploded. She grabbed for his hand but she caught the doll instead. There was a loud ripping sound as the thin cloth tore. Suddenly she had the doll’s head, Robert had the legs and body, and the rag-and-sawdust stuffing was spilling in the snow.

Someone possibly noticed this, and please be free to correct me or redirect me, in any case. Here it is, Sansa grabbed for his hand. His hand here can symbolize two things:

1. Their engagement (the hand is very clear assosiation for engagements)

2. Arryn power that supports the Giant - Littlefinger

But, as said, she caught the doll instead. Also, this can symbolize 2 things in regard of two previously mentioned cases:

1. The break-up of her engagements to Robert, and possibly even Harry

2. Seizing the power of Arryn forces from Littlefinger

In both of the cases, Sansa`s rage isn`t against Robert, or her primal instincts led her to grab the doll, not the boy, and to hurt him. She doesn`t hurt Robert, she has just ripped the Giant`s head. Which could symbolize Sansa`s destruction of Littlefinger without hurting any Arryn or their cause.

I am sorry for derailing a thread a bit. Hope you understand :)

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Really interesting stuff, everyone.

The transition from innocence to adulthood I like especially because part of that successful transition is retaining a portion of that innocence which fits with Brashcandy's Areo and Doran's recollections and Danelle's bit about bells as a herald of change or transition. Doran's concern for children with his Water Garden philosophy is very similar at its core to Ned's beliefs as well as the Stark children's recollection of home-- especially Sansa's in this Snow Winterfell chapter.

There's still something about Sansa V nagging at me because the bells seem mixed with everything else in the chapter. They are mixed with the wind in the godswood which has ties to the old gods, Bloodraven, and even the wind that Joffrey could not suck in that is the cause of these bells in the first place. They are tied to her realization of where the poison came from as if the bells outside made a bell go off in her head. Her descent down the stone ladder is somewhat similar to her climb down from the Eyrie. She recalls Bran's fall and counts off her wait by the toll of the bells. The bells also add a third fool with bells to add to Jinglebell and Patchface since Dontos is a Florian the Fool character here. As a bit of a side note, doesn't House Waynwood of Harry the Heir fame have bells on their sigil?

So if I had to put forth a hypothesis based on the bells so far I would say the bell tower/bridge metaphor linking Bran and Sansa is one of helping each other transition to adulthood while retaining innocence.

ETA:

Maybe the Bell Tower as a place of warning or alarms is about internal development? Based on the DwD prologue Bran seems to be straying into some warging related grey areas. Maybe Sansa is the one to send Bran alarms about not warging Hodor and Bran sends Sansa alarms to keep her centered during the Littlefinger manipulations and temptations?

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