What if Lady had not been killed?

[naseridrl]

What do people think would have happened to Sansa, her personality and her journey had Lady not been killed? Say Robert blames Joffrey/Mycah for what happened and Lady isn't killed in place of Nymeria.

I've always wondered what having Lady around would have done for Sansa. Nymeria seems to keep Arya from losing herself and acts as a sort of anchor for her, would Lady have meant Sansa wouldn't become Alayne, or would Littlefinger think a Stark with a wolf was even better for his pursuit of the North? I always though Lady was from what little we knew the direwolf who seemed most representative of her Stark. It'd be interesting to see if Lady would become more wolfish and fierce as Sansa experiences hurts. Maybe through the bond between each Stark and their direwolf maybe Sansa would communicate her desire for a protector to Lady and Lady become less Lady and more Warrior in the future.

Also what would the knock on effect for Arya be of having Nymeria around, and not being so far apart from her beloved wolf? Would her journey lead her somewhere totally different? Would both girls realise their warging abilities sooner being closer to their wolves for longer?

[Arlan of Pennytree]

She would've had more respect at court!

[John Carroll]

I'd imagine Joffrey's throat would have been ripped out long before Ned Stark lost his head.

[Lord Damian]

Curious as there would have been initially two direwolves around the tower of the Hand in the Red Keep? Then, there never has been,.... yet. It makes me wonder if GRRM has a pov in mind in the future with a Stark direwolf in the Red Keep in Kings Landing and it is to be memorable so he did not want to spoil that with getting one or both of the girl's wolves there early in the story.

[Mad Madam Mim]

The death of lady serves a more symbolic purpose for Sansa's arc rather than a straightforward literal death but ultimately Lady's fate would have been the same, Cersei would not have allowed Lady to remain alive in King's Landing for long and Lady would have been killed when Ned was captured. Perhaps the inevitability of Lady's death could represent the inevitability of the fate of the Starks?It's interesting that none of the wolves made it to King's Landing, suggesting the Starks had no place in King's Landing and would not survive it intact.

[Epyon]

If say Nymeria was killed instead of Lady, and Lady goes to KL..

She still would have died during the Lannister purge of House Stark after Ned's arrest.

And if none of the incident on the road happened, and both Lady and Nymeria made it to KL, well then both dogs would be dead in the purge, and/or Arya would have been far more likely to be caught in the city if she did free Nym.

It's hard to imagine either Direwolf not being locked up for the vast majority of their time in KL... Though I now have mental images of Arya trying to "chase cats" for Syrio... with Nymeria just slaughtering them before Arya can catch them.

[Stoned Dragon]

The death of lady serves a more symbolic purpose for Sansa's arc rather than a straightforward literal death but ultimately Lady's fate would have been the same, Cersei would not have allowed Lady to remain alive in King's Landing for long and Lady would have been killed when Ned was captured. Perhaps the inevitability of Lady's death could represent the inevitability of the fate of the Starks?It's interesting that none of the wolves made it to King's Landing, suggesting the Starks had no place in King's Landing and would not survive it intact.

I think this is probably the right answer.

None of the direwolves would have survived in King's Landing after Ned was arrested -- while there's value in keeping the girls alive, their direwolves were nothing but dangerous and threatening. Cersei would have had them killed. But on a symbolic level, it's probably meant to once again foreshadow the dangers associated with "direwolves" heading south, whether they're literally wolves, like Lady or Greywind, or metaphorical wolves like Brandon, Rickard, Lyanna, Ned, or Robb.

Sansa has outlasted every other Stark that has ever come South -- and she's done it by hiding her Stark identity behind false curtesy and a bastard's name. Lady wouldn't have helped that process, and more likely would have hindered her in some respects.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

The same that happened to Grey Wind during the Red Wedding. Direwolves aren't immortal. At some point, Cersei would have tried to get her killed, specially if she wanted Sansa completely under her control.

[RainGhost]

I think this is probably the right answer.

None of the direwolves would have survived in King's Landing after Ned was arrested -- while there's value in keeping the girls alive, their direwolves were nothing but dangerous and threatening. Cersei would have had them killed. But on a symbolic level, it's probably meant to once again foreshadow the dangers associated with "direwolves" heading south, whether they're literally wolves, like Lady or Greywind, or metaphorical wolves like Brandon, Rickard, Lyanna, Ned, or Robb.

Sansa has outlasted every other Stark that has ever come South -- and she's done it by hiding her Stark identity behind false curtesy and a bastard's name. Lady wouldn't have helped that process, and more likely would have hindered her in some respects.

This. Lady would have been killed in KL, perhaps after attacking/killing people first, Nymeria even more so.

It's interesting that Sansa and Arya both lose their direwolves as soon as they come south, symbolising that the south is no place for direwolves. Robb doesn't lose Grey Wind yet he's the one who dies, not even the direwolf can protect him. That suggests that losing the direwolves was actually essential for the girls' survival - the direwolves would have betrayed their identity, which would have put them in danger. Arya could never have gone unnoticed in the riverlands with a great big direwolf alongside her.