Discussing Sansa XXI: Parting ways...

[sweetsunray]

18 minutes ago, Woman of War said:

I argue with story rhythm on a meta level while you argue with the two characters' alleged preferences so far on an in-story level.

Meta-level story rhythm:

Sandor walks Sansa home - scene of emotional intimate vulnerability, where Sansa ends up reaching out for Sandor. This type of mutual influential scene is repeated several times, until he departs KL.

Sandor's gone, Loras walks Sansa to Tyrell dinner - Sansa attempts to gain some level of emotional intimacy, but is rebuffed and Loras only pays her empty compliments. He's gay and mourning Renly.

Sansa & Tyrion's wedding night - scene where Sansa recoils from Tyrion mentally, emotionally and physically and can only feel pity. They are together for months, and he's this needy chap around her (in a way men often claim makes them run if a woman shows it. Newsflash: women run from it in men too).

Meta-level story rhythm points eventually to Sandor, even if there's a Darcy-like Harry meta-level rhythm interlude.

 

 

[sweetsunray]

More meta-level story

Political-betrothal with Joffrey - disaster

Political-betrothal proposal with Willas - Sansa realizes it's just for the claim on WF

Forced and greedy political-marriage with Tyrion - Sansa knows it's just for the claim on WF

Greedy political-betrothal with Sweetrobin decided over her head - Sansa knows it's just for the claim of WF

Manipulated into political-betrothal with HtH with her cooperation and hope she gets to have WF back - something will go wrong no doubt

More politically arranged marriages and betrothals by LF or others...

Jaime, "If Sansa's smart she never resurfaces and marries a smith or cook"

Sansa will be jumping for joy imo when she learns she is not the heir to WF at all and be rid of all the political betrothals and marriages

[Meera of Tarth]

5 minutes ago, sweetsunray said:

More meta-level story

Political-betrothal with Joffrey - disaster

Political-betrothal proposal with Willas - Sansa realizes it's just for the claim on WF

Forced and greedy political-marriage with Tyrion - Sansa knows it's just for the claim on WF

Greedy political-betrothal with Sweetrobin decided over her head - Sansa knows it's just for the claim of WF

Manipulated into political-betrothal with HtH with her cooperation and hope she gets to have WF back - something will go wrong no doubt

More politically arranged marriages and betrothals by LF or others...

Jaime, "If Sansa's smart she never resurfaces and marries a smith or cook"

Sansa will be jumping for joy imo when she learns she is not the heir to WF at all and be rid of all the political betrothals and marriages

LOL!  A good summary of Sansa's political marriages....

But show Sansa knows Bran and Rickon are still alive....so technically she knows she is not the heir.....and Jon as well! (unless he suffers post-resurrection amnesia)

however, she might join Stark Forces considering the scene from the trailer. If only it's not related to more marriages......

[Woman of War]

I see Sandor as no more than a step in Sansa's story, a shame since he would deserve a story of his own. Actually I believe the whole SanSan debate hasn't much to do with Sansa's final ending either as Lady of whatever or as wife of Mr Hill or as lonely and icy Northern queen over her brothers' bodies.

But any SanSan story development will doom Sandor to a tragic death imo. He is the main character in any SanSan tragedy, it is his story not hers though she might shed a tear or two in the end. I personally don't care about any SanSan happy ending  stuff, it's pale compared to potential tragedy.  You can discuss it but without me, there have been a million very redundant threads about it. I don't care here if I'm right or wrong, not my topic, enjoy and good night.

[Grail King]

6 hours ago, OldGimletEye said:

This is nonsense. Your trying to interpret "shielding her back" as giving Brienne the authority and right to withold information from Sansa. Sorry, but this is a huge stretch.

Brienne also swore to give Sansa "good counsel". Now how in the hell does Brienne give "good counsel" when she witholds material information from Sansa? The answer is she doesn't.

With regard to what should done about Arya, Sansa is the final decision maker here, not Brienne. And Sansa simply cannot make good decisions if Brienne presumes to withold information from her. Nobody empowered Brienne to make decisions about what should be done about Arya's missing status. Nobody.

But, even if there were not an explicit agreement to give "good counsel" I think its reasonable to infer that the type of relationship that Sansa and Brienne entered into requires a duty of good faith and honest dealing, which, among other things, requires Brienne not to distort information that she would know that Sansa would want.

I'd only be "missing the point" if I were willing to accept your assertion that Brienne is entitled to treat Sansa as a child.

First, when Sansa and Brienne exchanged their respective duties and covenents there was no agreement between them, whether explicit or implicit, that Brienne was entitled to treat Sansa as a child.

The situation between Dany and Barristan is pretty much the same. Suppose something goes bad in Mereen that Barristan knows about it. Would Barristan be entitled to withold that information from Dany? No he wouldn't. She is the ruler there. He might be entitled to withhold information from Dany about a bad situation in Mereen if he were her regent, but he isn't. At no point, did Barristan presume to be her guardian or her regent.

Secondly, nobody conferred any authority on Brienne to be Sansa's guardian or regent. Sansa certainly did not.

Plus there is the plain old fact that Sansa has been through a lot. And her childhood is pretty much over.

This season Sansa is supposed to play a role in retaking the North back for the Starks. Given what she will be doing, I think it's a stretch to say she is a child at this point or should be treated as such.

Are you saying that Brienne is entitled to make major military and political decisions on Sansa's behalf because Sansa is a "child". Because if you are that's a bit ridiculous.

I would have answered sooner, but I kept getting 404 error:

Shielding ones back has many definitions and choices of actions, again at that time with what just happened to Sansa, yes it was probably the softer of the  choices she had, she will have more talks as they head North and when the time is right Sansa will send her to find her sister.

For the point in time Brienne made a choice that she felt was right considering Sansa's situation and state.

Since she told her that at the time that (likely Arya refused her like she did )Arya  seemed safe and protected and spending three days looking for her to no avail was enough to convince her to look for Sansa.

Brienne isn’t treating her as a child, she's respecting her by pledging to her, and giving the pertinent info for now : I saw your sister, she's alive,she refused my service didn't trust me as you did, she ran off and I spent 3 days looking for her and she looked well.

The material information was she found her, she was with a man but looked safe and healthy, she didn't want to leave him for me and she refused my service, I tried for three days; the man's name is immaterial as far as Brienne is concern with what she knows, it would become material knowledge if she knew the history between Sansa and Sandor, she does not.

Now if Sansa starts telling her how only Tyrion and the Hound kept her safe at KL, it will provide an opening.

Sansa childhood may be over but the wounds and scars are still there and will be for a while, providing a name as far as Brienne knows would possibly add to the pain.

And no I'm not saying anything militarily, but you knew that.

We're going to disagree so I'll leave it at this.

[OldGimletEye]

1 hour ago, Grail King said:

Shielding ones back has many definitions and choices of actions, again at that time with what just happened to Sansa, yes it was probably the softer of the  choices she had, she will have more talks as they head North and when the time is right Sansa will send her to find her sister.

I think this takes a lot of liberties with the phrase "shielding her back", particularly when shielding Sansa's back isn't the only covenant Brienne agreed to, another being giving her "good counsel".

And whether Brienne ever gives full disclosure about her sister to Sansa remains to be seen. And we don't know for what purpose Sansa will send Brienne to the RL. It could be something completely different than looking for Arya. And the reason it might be different is because Brienne fails to disclose, in an accurate manner, what she really knows. In short, Sansa may make a decision based on Brienne's misrepresentations of the situation. Not good.

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For the point in time Brienne made a choice that she felt was right considering Sansa's situation and state.

In the end, what Brienne might "feel" is not very relevant. The issue is whether Brienne's choice is reasonable. If were going to admit that Sansa is an adult here and entitled to be treated like an adult, then Brienne not disclosing all facts known to her about Arya is not reasonable, particularly if Brienne's misrepresentations about the situation persist for any length of time.

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Since she told her that at the time that (likely Arya refused her like she did )Arya  seemed safe and protected and spending three days looking for her to no avail was enough to convince her to look for Sansa.

And how does Brienne know that Arya is safe? Why would Brienne just assume that Sandor recovered from his injuries? She threw him off a cliff for pete sake, after bashing him the face.

Yet, Brienne is like, "golly aw shucks Arya is just with like the nicest guy ever and they are safe." That is a complete material misrepresentation of the situation. A misrepresentation that could affect Sansa's decisions about what to do about her missing sister.

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Brienne isn’t treating her as a child, she's respecting her by pledging to her, and giving the pertinent info for now : I saw your sister, she's alive,she refused my service didn't trust me as you did, she ran off and I spent 3 days looking for her and she looked well.

And the "pertinent info" as you call it is inaccurate and misleading and lacks details.

Generally, it's not Brienne's job to filter, edit, omit, change, or delete information she should know her new boss would want. Further, Brienne should know that she has little right to give Sansa a misleading view of the situation. Implying that Arya is safely with "A-Man" is misleading.

Maybe I'll give Brienne a tad bit of leeway here to not tell Sansa everything in order to give Sansa a bit of a time to catch a breather. But, that leeway is very very small. It's Brienne's duty to correct the record and do it quickly.

Also, there is another factor here: Brienne knows she might die given the job she does. I would think she ought to have some sense of urgency in transmitting all the information known to her about Arya's situation in the event of her own death.

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The material information was she found her, she was with a man but looked safe and healthy, she didn't want to leave him for me and she refused my service, I tried for three days; the man's name is immaterial as far as Brienne is concern with what she knows, it would become material knowledge if she knew the history between Sansa and Sandor, she does not.

If Brienne thinks Sandor is a dangerous man to Arya, then that is material information. That is information that Sansa is entitled to. If Brienne still thinks that Sandor is a threat to Arya, then she gave misleading information about the state of Arya's well being.

But, if Brienne concludes that Sandor wasn't a danger to Arya and he meant what he said when he meant to watch over Arya, Brienne gave bad information because she has reason to believe that Sandor might have been severely injured. Sansa is entitled to know that information in order to assess the danger Arya might be in. Brienne should let Sansa know that Arya's protector might have been injured because that information is relevant to how safe Arya is with "A-Man".

And Brienne makes an error here by assuming that Sandor's name might not mean anything to Sansa. Surely, Brienne knows that Sandor and Sansa were in KL together around the same time. Now obviously, Brienne has no reason to know the specific details of Sansa's and Sandor's relationship in KL. But, Brienne assumes the name Sandor would have no meaning to Sansa, one that is not well founded. Assumptions often are the mother of fuck ups. If Brienne doesn't know or isn't sure whether a piece of information would or wouldn't be of interest to her new boss, it would probably be prudent of Brienne to disclose that information.

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Now if Sansa starts telling her how only Tyrion and the Hound kept her safe at KL, it will provide an opening.

This doesn't reall matter. Brienne has knowledge about Arya that she is not sharing with Sansa. It really is not acceptable.

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Sansa childhood may be over but the wounds and scars are still there and will be for a while, providing a name as far as Brienne knows would possibly add to the pain.

Sansa didn't hire Brienne to be her shrink. Learning bad news about Arya might be painful to Sansa, but still Sansa might still want to know that news, pain or not. Brienne doesn't have a lot of leeway here to delete or omit information on the grounds it might save Sansa some pain. Brienne doesn't have a lot of leeway here to decide what Sansa knows or does not know with regard to her sister.

Also, Sansa has been through a lot of shit. Brienne knows Sansa has been through some shit. The fact Sansa hasn't become crazy means she is tough. And Brienne should know that Sansa is tough and not just assume that Sansa needs Brienne's moddy coddling.

And as far as Brienne probably knows, Sansa is now the Heiress of the North. She is likely to have to hear all types of bad news. Brienne should know that. And she should not presume to be the filter of that bad news.

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And no I'm not saying anything militarily, but you knew that.

Well, not exactly. If Brienne is supposed to respect Sansa's political or military decision making and respect Sansa as being the final authority in these matters, then Brienne has no good reason to treat Sansa like a child. None.

In the future, Brienne would do well to give information to her new boss according to:
Who, What, When, Where, and Why

[Grail King]

53 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

I think this takes a lot of liberties with the phrase "shielding her back", particularly when shielding Sansa's back isn't the only covenant Brienne agreed to, another being giving her "good counsel".

And whether Brienne ever gives full disclosure about her sister to Sansa remains to be seen. And we don't know for what purpose Sansa will send Brienne to the RL. It could be something completely different than looking for Arya. And the reason it might be different is because Brienne fails to disclose, in an accurate manner, what she really knows. In short, Sansa may make a decision based on Brienne's misrepresentations of the situation. Not good.

In the end, what Brienne might "feel" is not very relevant. The issue is whether Brienne's choice is reasonable. If were going to admit that Sansa is an adult here and entitled to be treated like an adult, then Brienne not disclosing all facts known to her about Arya is not reasonable, particularly if Brienne's misrepresentations about the situation persist for any length of time.

And how does Brienne know that Arya is safe? Why would Brienne just assume that Sandor recovered from his injuries? She threw him off a cliff for pete sake, after bashing him the face.

Yet, Brienne is like, "golly aw shucks Arya is just with like the nicest guy ever and they are safe." That is a complete material misrepresentation of the situation. A misrepresentation that could affect Sansa's decisions about what to do about her missing sister.

And the "pertinent info" as you call it is inaccurate and misleading and lacks details.

Generally, it's not Brienne's job to filter, edit, omit, change, or delete information she should know her new boss would want. Further, Brienne should know that she has little right to give Sansa a misleading view of the situation. Implying that Arya is safely with "A-Man" is misleading.

Maybe I'll give Brienne a tad bit of leeway here to not tell Sansa everything in order to give Sansa a bit of a time to catch a breather. But, that leeway is very very small. It's Brienne's duty to correct the record and do it quickly.

Also, there is another factor here: Brienne knows she might die given the job she does. I would think she ought to have some sense of urgency in transmitting all the information known to her about Arya's situation in the event of her own death.

If Brienne thinks Sandor is a dangerous man to Arya, then that is material information. That is information that Sansa is entitled to. If Brienne still thinks that Sandor is a threat to Arya, then she gave misleading information about the state of Arya's well being.

But, if Brienne concludes that Sandor wasn't a danger to Arya and he meant what he said when he meant to watch over Arya, Brienne gave bad information because she has reason to believe that Sandor might have been severely injured. Sansa is entitled to know that information in order to assess the danger Arya might be in. Brienne should let Sansa know that Arya's protector might have been injured because that information is relevant to how safe Arya is with "A-Man".

And Brienne makes an error here by assuming that Sandor's name might not mean anything to Sansa. Surely, Brienne knows that Sandor and Sansa were in KL together around the same time. Now obviously, Brienne has no reason to know the specific details of Sansa's and Sandor's relationship in KL. But, Brienne assumes the name Sandor would have no meaning to Sansa, one that is not well founded. Assumptions often are the mother of fuck ups. If Brienne doesn't know or isn't sure whether a piece of information would or wouldn't be of interest to her new boss, it would probably be prudent of Brienne to disclose that information.

This doesn't reall matter. Brienne has knowledge about Arya that she is not sharing with Sansa. It really is not acceptable.

Sansa didn't hire Brienne to be her shrink. Learning bad news about Arya might be painful to Sansa, but still Sansa might still want to know that news, pain or not. Brienne doesn't have a lot of leeway here to delete or omit information on the grounds it might save Sansa some pain. Brienne doesn't have a lot of leeway here to decide what Sansa knows or does not know with regard to her sister.

Also, Sansa has been through a lot of shit. Brienne knows Sansa has been through some shit. The fact Sansa hasn't become crazy means she is tough. And Brienne should know that Sansa is tough and not just assume that Sansa needs Brienne's moddy coddling.

And as far as Brienne probably knows, Sansa is now the Heiress of the North. She is likely to have to hear all types of bad news. Brienne should know that. And she should not presume to be the filter of that bad news.

Well, not exactly. If Brienne is supposed to respect Sansa's political or military decision making and respect Sansa as being the final authority in these matters, then Brienne has no good reason to treat Sansa like a child. None.

In the future, Brienne would do well to give information to her new boss according to:
Who, What, When, Where, and Why

I'm not going over this whole thing, what military decision do you think Sansa will make????

She's not a military person, she has no training in the art of war, she'll be head of the force as a beacon nothing more.

She will leave the military stuff to someone who knows tactics, the best she could do is let whoever leads know what she saw as far as how Ramsey beat Stannis nothing more.

[OldGimletEye]

2 minutes ago, Grail King said:

I'm not going over this whole thing, what military decision do you think Sansa will make????

She's not a military person, she has no training in the art of war, she'll be head of the force as a beacon nothing more.

She will leave the military stuff to someone who knows tactics, the best she could do is let whoever leads know what she saw as far as how Ramsey beat Stannis nothing more.

Of course, she won't be making the day to day decisions regarding military decision making. But, as things stand right now, who does Brienne think is the highest authority among the Starks with Rickon and Bran gone?

And if Sansa is that person, then ultimately all decisions, until Brienne gets further notice, belongs to Sansa, to include military ones, even though Sansa might delegate a great deal of that and rely on the opinions of advisors.

[Tianzi]

3 hours ago, Woman of War said:

Actually I have claimed that my plot idea has logic on it's side. While you claim it hasn't. Well, everybody believes to be right, needless to say. I argue with story rhythm on a meta level while you argue with the two characters' alleged preferences so far on an in-story level.  There is no point in fighting  since we both believe to have logic on our own side, only on a different arguing level.

We both believe to be right and we won't convince the other, it doesn't matter anyway since Martin writes what he writes. Let's be honest and admit that, whatever Martin will write in the end, you and me as readers or show watchers would not like to see the same story development. You will dislike what I like, sorry to say but very simple.

Here I just argued with the general stand stand that 'whatever the author feels like happens' alone, because I just read this as disregarding the previous story and it's logical consequences for the future development. (not in Sansa's case, but in general). I don't think Martin can go just anywhere from when he is now, and knowing one's limitation is... well, part of what causes him to create a better story than in the show, when they don't care about continuity. But if it's just about our different interpretations about what's logical judging the story that already exists, then fine, I certainly didn't mean to come off as a fan who thinks of their speculations as 'facts'  And I'm well aware that Martin's version is another story.

 

About Brienne - isn't there too much weight put on this little conversation? I agree that this omission was dumb, but I also feel that the intricate theories about why she did it are a little too much. She probably thought that Arya's state was the most important thing about this story and she should give it first, not paying attention to the other elements. Naming the Hound might have simply slipped her mind, we are talking about the woman who didn't talk to Sansa in Joff's wedding here.

[OldGimletEye]

32 minutes ago, Tianzi said:

About Brienne - isn't there too much weight put on this little conversation? I agree that this omission was dumb, but I also feel that the intricate theories about why she did it are a little too much. She probably thought that Arya's state was the most important thing about this story and she should give it first, not paying attention to the other elements. Naming the Hound might have simply slipped her mind, we are talking about the woman who didn't talk to Sansa in Joff's wedding her.

I think the issue is that D & D tried to pull off the "unholy trinity".  The unholy trinity here being 1) Brienne fights the Hound, 2) Brienne hooks up with Sansa, and 3) Brienne doesn't give details about the fight. 

I think you can do 2 out of 3, but you really can't get away with all three without something taking a hit. And in this case what has to take the hit is: 1) D & D's writing, or 2) Brienne's judgement or intelligence or integrity.

[Tianzi]

15 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

I think the issue is that D & D tried to pull off the "unholy trinity".  The unholy trinity here being 1) Brienne fights the Hound, 2) Brienne hooks up with Sansa, and 3) Brienne doesn't give details about the fight.

I think you can do 2 out of 3, but you really can't get away with all three without something taking a hit. And this case what has to take the hit is: 1) D & D's writing, or 2) Brienne's judgement or intelligence or integrity.

I agree with the bad writing and Brienne behaving stupidly... I just don't think that there is supposed to be any in-story reason why she acted like that, ie. that she really consciously decided to hide it.

[OldGimletEye]

1 minute ago, Tianzi said:

I agree with the bad writing and Brienne behaving stupidly... I just don't think that there is supposed to be any in-story reason why she acted like that, ie. that she really consciously decided to hide it.

If you believe that bad writing was the culprit, then that's pretty much the end of the story.
On the other hand, if you believe that Brienne had reasons, then those reasons are deserving of scrutiny.

[Tianzi]

9 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

If you believe that bad writing was the culprit, then that's pretty much the end of the story.
On the other hand, if you believe that Brienne had reasons, then those reasons are deserving of scrutiny.

Well, I'm just guessing that they didn't want to deal with the Hound talk now, just like they didn't want to deal with the fact that dragons are savage beasts which should have fried anyone sans Daenerys. And thanks for the writing, for show-only audience Sandor is probably more associated with chickens than with Sansa by now.
 

[OldGimletEye]

6 minutes ago, Tianzi said:

Well, I'm just guessing that they didn't want to deal with the Hound talk now, just like they didn't want to deal with the fact that dragons are savage beasts which should have fried anyone sans Daenerys. And thanks for the writing, for show-only audience Sandor is probably more associated with chickens than with Sansa by now.
 

Well that maybe true. But, like I said, they tried to do the unholy trinity thingy and something had to give because of that choice.
They should have known this. So, I don't have a lot of sympathy because they don't want to deal with something.

[Grail King]

2 hours ago, OldGimletEye said:

Of course, she won't be making the day to day decisions regarding military decision making. But, as things stand right now, who does Brienne think is the highest authority among the Starks with Rickon and Bran gone?

And if Sansa is that person, then ultimately all decisions, until Brienne gets further notice, belongs to Sansa, to include military ones, even though Sansa might delegate a great deal of that and rely on the opinions of advisors.

She's the lady of Winterfell, but she has no power to call for war,she has no understanding of war tactics, she has no military support for it, her primary job will be to get that support and get the other houses to support Jon.

Do you really think Sansa's first thoughts would let's go to war, nope girl has a lot more brains then that, she wants to get to Jon, and she would defer to him and follow his advice, and he or some other person will run the operation, her maximum input would be what she saw at Winterfell with the Stannis battle and get allies to fight for her and Jon..

But we already know she won't show until later and only as a figure head at the front for moral support.

Again you and I aren't going to agree, I'm leaving it as that.

[sweetsunray]

7 hours ago, Woman of War said:

I see Sandor as no more than a step in Sansa's story, a shame since he would deserve a story of his own. Actually I believe the whole SanSan debate hasn't much to do with Sansa's final ending either as Lady of whatever or as wife of Mr Hill or as lonely and icy Northern queen over her brothers' bodies.

But any SanSan story development will doom Sandor to a tragic death imo. He is the main character in any SanSan tragedy, it is his story not hers though she might shed a tear or two in the end. I personally don't care about any SanSan happy ending  stuff, it's pale compared to potential tragedy.  You can discuss it but without me, there have been a million very redundant threads about it. I don't care here if I'm right or wrong, not my topic, enjoy and good night.

It's fine if you see Sandor as only as a part of her story and cannot see a happy ending there.

But if you go by the rhythm of the political marriages, eventually you see that has been repeated quite a lot. So, it's valid to conclude that eventually Sansa will chuck out the idea of political marriage altogether and decides for love, or to be the Nan of future nephews and nieces, if she lives.

[Woman of War]

 

LOL, it is valid to conclude that we don't know a thing about what Martin intends to do with Sansa. All options are open to the author since he carefully has arranged Sansa's story the way that virtually no outcome can be excluded.  And there will for sure not be any outcome for Sansa everybody likes, fandom being so divisive. Actually this is something that counts more or less for many characters  who are not outright villains like Ramsay. But us preferring this or that outcome does not make it more likely, in every war both sides have prayed for victory and Martin, the God of the Realm, will smile and do what he wants.

Let's  have a little faith into the author. Whatever Martin's creations, Sansa, Tyrion  or whoever of them, decide - if they have options to decide - they will have well written reasons for their decisions though we might not always relate to those reasons. And the ending Martin has in mind for his characters has been prepared longterm.

There is not much more to say about this. Of course I understand that you want an ending you like for your favorite, obviously. I happen to want the same for my favorites.  

[Darksky]

I knew that Sansa-Brienne exchange would have Sansan fans riled up. Sansa was shaken up and visibly abused, Brienne didn't know her experience with The Hound was quite a positive one, but she knew his bad rep in Westeros, she didn't want to distress her more at that moment. She knew that just mentioning her little sister was with some man would be worrisome so she quickly added she didn't look like an abused hostage. She didn't mention she killed (for all she knows) that man because then Sansa would worry about Arya being all alone out there. I totally understand why Brienne didn't disclose the details at that point. Sansa was in need of some good news, Brienne wanted her at ease.

[Les Météores D]

1 hour ago, Darksky said:

I knew that Sansa-Brienne exchange would have Sansan fans riled up. Sansa was shaken up and visibly abused, Brienne didn't know her experience with The Hound was quite a positive one, but she knew his bad rep in Westeros, she didn't want to distress her more at that moment. She knew that just mentioning her little sister was with some man would be worrisome so she quickly added she didn't look like an abused hostage. She didn't mention she killed (for all she knows) that man because then Sansa would worry about Arya being all alone out there. I totally understand why Brienne didn't disclose the details at that point. Sansa was in need of some good news, Brienne wanted her at ease.

That's how I read the scene too. Brienne asks about Winterfell but you can tell she already knew and she kept things vague about Arya so Sansa could relax a bit (and because obviously she knew the Hound did nothing to Arya anyway). 

 

Now regarding Sansa's role in the future, the show hasn't been very subtle with the fact Jon's kinda dreadful when it comes to explain his thoughts/actions. He'll be the military commander that's clear now but Sansa will smooth things up (lie even if needs be) just like she did in the Vale with Royce. Also, I'm 99,99% she'll legitimize Jon as a Stark.

[OldGimletEye]

7 hours ago, Grail King said:

She's the lady of Winterfell, but she has no power to call for war,she has no understanding of war tactics, she has no military support for it, her primary job will be to get that support and get the other houses to support Jon.

Do you really think Sansa's first thoughts would let's go to war, nope girl has a lot more brains then that, she wants to get to Jon, and she would defer to him and follow his advice, and he or some other person will run the operation, her maximum input would be what she saw at Winterfell with the Stannis battle and get allies to fight for her and Jon..

But we already know she won't show until later and only as a figure head at the front for moral support.

Again you and I aren't going to agree, I'm leaving it as that.

I understand that Sansa won't be making day to day decisions regarding military things, I get that.
I understand that Sansa will have to rely on Jon or others to do that for her. I get that.
But, the fact is that Sansa is now, apparently, head of House Stark. And ultimately everything is pretty much subject to her approval. And she has the right to be kept informed about things done in the name of House Stark.
The buck stops with Sansa Stark and not with Brienne of Tarth.
Bonus:
Sansa is also the highest judicial authority in the North now. Brienne might want to think about that before she does anymore summary executions.