Sansa Stark, A Portrait of a Psychopath?

[Morgemil]

Is Sansa a psychopath?

Having read ASOIAF very soon after reading Jon Ronson's Psychopath Test, I came to this series with a dectective's eye. For a series with such a volume of murderer, rapists and deceiptful players, it is strange that of all of them I fixated on the young, and seemingly innocent Sansa.

The revelation that Sansa might be a psychopath, or psychopath in the making came when reading AGOT Chpt 29:Sansa, the chapter of the Tourney of the hand. Sansa, with her friend Jeyne Poole, witness the death of Ser Hugh of the Vale. Whilst Jeyne cries out/vomits* at the incident, Sansa looks at the dying chokes with a morbid curiosity. This struck me as frightenly similar to a quote from the criminal psychologist Robert. D Hare, telling Nicole Kidman how she might act out a psychopath:

"Here’s a scene you can use. You’re walking down a street and there’s an accident. A car has hit a child. A crowd of people gather round. You walk up, the child’s lying on the ground and there’s blood running all over the place. You get a little blood on your shoes and you look down and say, ‘Oh shit.’ You look over at the child, kind of interested, but you’re not repelled or horrified. You’re just interested. Then you look at the mother and you’re really fascinated by the mother, who’s emoting, crying out, doing all these different things. After a few minutes you turn away and go back to your house. You go into the bathroom and practice mimicking the facial expressions of the mother"

Now, given that Sansa has had the rigid discipline of a Septa guiding her for her pre-teenage years, I think it is fair to assume that she knows appropriate behaviour for most situations to 'fit in'. This would be in contrast to a more obvious psychopath, of say, Ramsay Bolton, who had a questionable upbringing, and struggles to act lordly man to befit his new name and title.

This structure in her youth makes other aspects of her potential diagnosis rather difficult to spot. Combine this with the fact that Sansa as yet has had little chance to display such tendencies, I wonder if this is a potential plot twist to her storyline in the upcoming installments?

Other instances you have noticed which would tally with Robert D. Hare's list, would be welcome.

* excuse my bad memory

[Fire Eater]

Sansa has one trait that psychopaths are known to lack: empathy.

She keeps the people in the Queen's Ballroom calm, and gets help for a wounded Lancel even though if KL falls she will lose her head to Ilyn Payne and Lancel never tried to defend her when Joff had her beaten.

[The Mother of The Others]

You're asking for it with this prompt, but the title made me laugh.

She's certainly had enough jarring experiences that may have left her unbalanced. Just how unbalanced hasn't come to light yet. The stoic aspect of her suffering worries me a bit, as it may be masking an undercurrent of crazy that could surface in a memorable way, such as when she goes nuts on Petyr after finding out his involvement in her tragedies. And, based on Lysa, she seems to have a family history of being zany.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Sansa has one trait that psychopaths are known to lack: sympathy.

Yep. A psychopath wouldn't care what happened to Dontos, wouldn't take care of Sweetrobin, wouldn't comfort women during the Blackwater, etc.

Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't one of the reasons Sansa doesn't cry or display distress when Hugh gets killed because she thinks she has to maintain ladylike dignity?

[Florina Laufeyson]

Yeah...the hounds of the seven hells are gonna be released with this one, OP. Brace yourself.

Anyway, i disagree. Pretty damn strongly. Sansa isnt exactly my favorite character but i do not think for a moment she is a psychopath or is gonna be one. A lot of the mental blockage she does relates to a sort of internal defense mechanism. She avoids or "forgets" certain things. She changes things around in her mind or "invents" things to help her cope with a situation. She faced a lot of trauma and is coping with it.

[Pod The Impaler]

I think there are better examples out there for the Hare list.

Sansa has genuine empathy, I don't think psychopaths would.

[Foxhound]

Remember this cruel comment by her?

“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.”

Clearly a monster in the making.

[Florina Laufeyson]

Remember this cruel comment by her?

Clearly a monster in the making.

Excuse my inner brashcandy coming out in this instance, but i really hope thats sarcasm. She does that in order to spare Dontos's life.

[Éadaoin]

I don't see it. Psychopaths are notorious for their inability to feel empathy, but Sansa clearly feels empathy.

Her emotional distancing seems like a coping mechanism.

[Fire Eater]

On a sidenote, I think you mistake Sansa for Joffrey, he has all the symptoms.

[butterbumps!]

Is Sansa a psychopath?

Having read ASOIAF very soon after reading Jon Ronson's Psychopath Test, I came to this series with a dectective's eye. For a series with such a volume of murderer, rapists and deceiptful players, it is strange that of all of them I fixated on the young, and seemingly innocent Sansa.

The revelation that Sansa might be a psychopath, or psychopath in the making came when reading AGOT Chpt 29:Sansa, the chapter of the Tourney of the hand. Sansa, with her friend Jeyne Poole, witness the death of Ser Hugh of the Vale. Whilst Jeyne cries out/vomits* at the incident, Sansa looks at the dying chokes with a morbid curiosity. This struck me as frightenly similar to a quote from the criminal psychologist Robert. D Hare, telling Nicole Kidman how she might act out a psychopath:

"Here’s a scene you can use. You’re walking down a street and there’s an accident. A car has hit a child. A crowd of people gather round. You walk up, the child’s lying on the ground and there’s blood running all over the place. You get a little blood on your shoes and you look down and say, ‘Oh shit.’ You look over at the child, kind of interested, but you’re not repelled or horrified. You’re just interested. Then you look at the mother and you’re really fascinated by the mother, who’s emoting, crying out, doing all these different things. After a few minutes you turn away and go back to your house. You go into the bathroom and practice mimicking the facial expressions of the mother"

Now, given that Sansa has had the rigid discipline of a Septa guiding her for her pre-teenage years, I think it is fair to assume that she knows appropriate behaviour for most situations to 'fit in'. This would be in contrast to a more obvious psychopath, of say, Ramsay Bolton, who had a questionable upbringing, and struggles to act lordly man to befit his new name and title.

This structure in her youth makes other aspects of her potential diagnosis rather difficult to spot. Combine this with the fact that Sansa as yet has had little chance to display such tendencies, I wonder if this is a potential plot twist to her storyline in the upcoming installments?

Other instances you have noticed which would tally with Robert D. Hare's list, would be welcome.

* excuse my bad memory

What's interesting about the event that you are citing is that not looking away is considered the "lady-like" thing to do. Septa Mordane is really, really proud of Sansa for not vomiting and causing a scene like Jeyne. Sansa's "psychopathic" reaction here, as you call it, is what her culture is teaching her to do-- confronting things like gore are considered positive traits in Westeros.

There's a lot going against your argument, some of which has been listed, but to name a few more, she didn't spend portions of her childhood dissecting animals, she stops Joffrey from riding down the woman holding a dead baby before the riot, she's the only one who helps a freaked out Lollys cross the bridge, she genuinely loves her family, and she thinks that if she were queen she would try to make the people love her.

[Djinn]

Of course! How could i have missed it! When she ordered the cruxifition of people and tought that all seftas deserved a got rapping, i should've suspected. The poisoining of her husband, susgestion that the wildings should be left to die, attempts to sack Oldtown, stabbing singers, constant maneuvering for polical power, colecting enemies ears as trophies and hanging boys in the Riverlands are all dead giveways of Sansa madness.

[Summer is Ending]

Not that I think Sansa is a psycho but those are two separate incidents.

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.

Then Kingslayer rode against Royce, Caron and Selmy. Talk of the Hound and then the scene with the Mountain.

Jeyne Poole wept so hysterically that Septa Mordane finally took her off to regain her composure, but Sansa sat with her hands folded in her lap, watching with a strange fascination. She had never seen a man die before. She ought to be crying too, she thought, but the tears would not come. Perhaps she had used up all her tears for Lady and Bran. It would be different if it had been Jory or Ser Rodrik or Father, she told herself. The young knight in the blue cloak was nothing to her, some stranger from the Vale of Arryn whose name she had forgotten as soon as she heard it. And now the world would forget his name too, Sansa realized; there would be no songs sung for him. That was sad.

We're not talking about how she appeared outwardly, these are her inner thoughts.

This is one of those things were it might be hard to relate. We're talking a culture where Bran as a nine year old boy was not only expected to attend his father executing a man by chopping his head off but expected to not even flinch away from seeing it.

One thing I've been wondering is how deeply she was affected by losing Lady. We know all the children are wargs and the wolves and the children both feed off of and influence each other. It's reasonable to think that the trauma from losing her went deeper than a normal child losing a regular pet. Not as extreme as Sixskins feeling his first death as a dog but pointing that way.

[Pinkie Baelish]

Of course she's a psychopath. Just like her evil mother who kills mentally disabled people. She betrayed her own father for her insatiable lust for Joffrey, a truly virtuous character, and then persuaded Joffrey to have her father beheaded(Arya is an unreliable narrator. Joffrey was reluctant to execute Ned. He just wanted to go back to the Red Keep and play with his cats). All the redheaded characters in this series(Sansa, Cat, Melisandre, Ygritte) are nothing but evil defined. Because as we all know, redheads are the servants of the devil.

...

Seriously though, no, I highly doubt that Sansa is a psychopath. But she might turn into one if LF's sociopathic ways are contagious.

[Grail King]

Yep. A psychopath wouldn't care what happened to Dontos, wouldn't take care of Sweetrobin, wouldn't comfort women during the Blackwater, etc.

Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't one of the reasons Sansa doesn't cry or display distress when Hugh gets killed because she thinks she has to maintain ladylike dignity?

Youre not wrong AM

[Grail King]

Remember this cruel comment by her?

“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.”

Clearly a monster in the making.

I also hope you are joking here, she was playing Joffery to save Dontos and Sophie Turner nailed that scene in episode 1 of season 2 of GOT.

ETA: caps Miss Turner's name

[The Great Walrus]

Yeah...the hounds of the seven hells are gonna be released with this one, OP. Brace yourself.

Anyway, i disagree. Pretty damn strongly. Sansa isnt exactly my favorite character but i do not think for a moment she is a psychopath or is gonna be one. A lot of the mental blockage she does relates to a sort of internal defense mechanism. She avoids or "forgets" certain things. She changes things around in her mind or "invents" things to help her cope with a situation. She faced a lot of trauma and is coping with it.

This is horribly off-topic, but damnit Florina! why did you change your amazing title?

[Pinkie Baelish]

I also hope you are joking here, she was playing Joffery to save Dontos and sophie turner nailed that scene in episode 1 of season 2 of GOT.

No, Sansa was being a total bitch because she was denying Dontos wine. Joffrey, being the kind-hearted boy he is just wanted to quench Dontos' thirst.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

I believe Foxhound was very much joking. Also glad to know I did not misremember that scene — Sansa kept a stiff upper lip because it was ladylike, not because it wasn't affecting her because she's the next Lizzie Borden (red hair though, never a good sign ...).

[Tagganaro]

No, Sansa was being a total bitch because she was denying Dontos wine. Joffrey, being the kind-hearted boy he is just wanted to quench Dontos' thirst.

You don't even know...Sansa was just saving Dontos there because she wanted to torture him a little bit more before egging on LF to kill him with an arrow. All part of the sick, twisted little psychopath's plan to give Dontos some hope before ruthlessly snatching it away from him.

No, but in all seriousness, this reminds me of that great thread a while back about Sansa being the worst person in all of Westeros. Those were some good times...