The Official Appreciation Thread for The Queen in the North, Sansa Stark

[ZacharyB]

She's also one of the woobiest characters in the series. The loss of Lady is much more significant thatn anybody realises at the time, and the fact that it comes about due to her own bratty behavior is even sadder.

She is the only living Stark without a wolf. I often wonder how much the loss of her wolf effects her. While the rest of the Stark children appear to have some Warg abilities, this trait is so far absent in Sansa. Arya, on the other hand, hasn't seen Nymeria in years, but still retains a link to her that strengthens and sustains her. Without her wolf, Sansa seems that much weaker than the other Stark children.

If the wolves were a gift from the old gods meant to protect and empower the Stark children, I often wonder if the death of Lady signifies a lack of divine protection.

Despite the fact that she's almost completely powerless, she still manages to be endlessly fascinating to me. I've not been happy with the Arya in Bravvos chapters but I still eagerly await any Sansa news.

As a bonus, the actress that portrays her in the show is just sublime in the role.

I always thought (and hoped in the beginning) that Sansa losing her wolf meant she would die first. Thankfully I was wrong. It was probably just to signify how different she was from the other Starks, I suppose. Now I wouldn't be surprised if she somehow came back upon a wolf or saw Lady in a dream or something. She's become a little Stark. :)

Also, I didn't really like Sansa for most of the first season. Sophie Turner was fantastic, but they really hurt her character I think. One of her last scenes, with Ned's head on the spike, was fantastic though. She conveyed it so well.

[Queensmoot]

Also, I didn't really like Sansa for most of the first season. Sophie Turner was fantastic, but they really hurt her character I think. One of her last scenes, with Ned's head on the spike, was fantastic though. She conveyed it so well.

Sophie Turner is a pretty good actress, especially considering her age. She played that scene so well, especially what could be her best line from the books (paraphrased): "What if he brings me yours?"

I strongly approve of this thread! I also didn't like Sansa at first, but by ASOS I was in love. Yay Sansa!!! :cheers:

[Grail King]

I'm impressed with Sophie, Maise and Natalia Tenna (Osha), I think they watered down Sansa on TV as not to make her too bratty or make her look as a turn cloak to her family when she went to the Queen.

She actually wanted to go to King Robert but was afraid of him so as any 11/12 year old went to another grown up she thought she could trust, and spoke something like ... Queen Cersie could you talk to father he wants me to go back to Winterfell but I rather like to stay here if I could, would you speak to him ?

When she lost her wolf I think a good number of people thought she die, but I think she just have to find her self back through her own inner strength and along the way pick up life lessons learn the game, and all Starks can warg, Sansa hasn't had the training or knowledge yet but she sensed Lady with her in the keep after crying all night she may learn that ability now that she is in the Vale.

ETA: Her look in that scene with King Joffery was great no words were really needed

[Ignacia]

Sansa is my favorite character. She is the POV that feels more like "home" to me, so I liked her a lot even in AGoT, despite the fact that I knew she was being annoying at the time and not contributing too much to the story. But she has grown so much, and from the second half of ASoS I believe it's clear that she will have an important role in the political plotline of the books. I think Sansa will be the Stark that restores her family in the political aspect, through diplomacy and alliances and such. I see her growing into some Queen of Thornes type (probably more polite, though).

I believe she will stay in the south, and that it was forshadowed in Lady's death. Her roots and her past may be in the north, but her future is in the south. To me, the snow castle and the wolves howling in the wind are more about her missing her lost home and her family than returning to Winterfell and rebuilding it. It's sad, because the Winterfell she knew doesn't exists anymore and never will be the same. And Sansa has always been more southern-like, she even seems to prefer the seven over the old gods.

Any way, I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't be happy with a blacksmith or an innkeeper, disappearing among the smallfolk and finding her true love that only loves her for who she is that way. Mostly because I have the suspicion that the nobles aren't the only ones that get married for practical reasons. I imagine that a peasant will probably have more options for choosing someone they know and like, but still they would be more concerned if that person can work or not. Cooking, cleaning, taking care of the children, helping with the harvest, that sort of thing. Sansa would be seen as kind of useless in most of that aspects, and I suspect that her noble upbringing would end up making her some sort of outcast in that situation.

[Raksha the Demon]

I can't see Sansa doing, year after year, the scything and picking, backbreaking work of harvesting - exhausting. I mean, if there were absolutely no alternative, but choosing to live a peasant's exhausting life because she's in love? She wasn't raised that way.

Sansa might be willing to marry a lord of a smaller holding than Winterfell or Highgarden; if she could marry a man she could respect and who might love her; she's not as much into the pretty-princeling ideal anymore. But GRRM is hard to pin down in terms of foreshadowing/hinting. He's foreshadowed Tyrion as a king, Sansa as a queen, Sansa as a restorer of Winterfell, Sansa as the wife of an innkeep or blacksmith....I can't see Sandor as an innkeeper, though; don't innkeepers have to be congenial to the public, rather than growl at them? Sandor as a blacksmith, maybe, but would he have the patience to apprentice? The only other youngish blacksmith we know is Gendry, who is good-looking and talented; and probably would get tongue-tied if he was introduced to either Alayne Stone or Sansa Stark...(and I'm hoping for a Gendry/Arya romance in about six years if Gendry can stay unattached that long)...

[Hound's She-wolf]

I can't see Sansa as a farmers wife either, possibly a country lord's wife. I had to laugh at the thought of Sandor as an innkeeper, his slogan "If you don't like your food or room...BUGGER OFF!" Not really into customer sevice.

[ZacharyB]

I can't see Sansa as a farmers wife either, possibly a country lord's wife. I had to laugh at the thought of Sandor as an innkeeper, his slogan "If you don't like your food or room...BUGGER OFF!" Not really into customer sevice.

The Hound does not serve people in inns; he kills them. :lol:

Also RE farmer's wife: I don't take the foreshadowing of Jamie Lannister to heart. She's destined for something great. :)

[Alexia]

Sansa will be the next Lady of Riverrun. It is known.

[pansy25]

I didn't like Sansa at first because she was pretty shallow but at the last part of the AGoT I realize regardless of her first impression, she was actually a real Stark. You had to grind her a bit but its there. Reading the proceeding books made me love her quiet and subtle defiance against her enemies. She was literally among a bunch of snakes and to be beaten and humiliated by Joffrey just makes me want to kill him again and again.

She may not be Queen in the North because she will gladly give that title to her little brothers or even to Jon but I think she would be an excellent Queen in the South. I really don't like the Sansa/Sandor pairing and since GRRM is the author I doubt that would ever happen :) If she wanted to be with Sandor, she should have accepted his offer when he asked but the point to the matter is her arc is not yet over and her frivolous believe in gallant knights and handsome princes saving her are dashed to smithereens. This is all about her and how she grows strong and become the she-wolf that would unite her family. Not about sappy love stories about knights and damsels in distress... yeah right.

I hope when she does marry, it would be to someone kind and power that would treat her right. I'm willing to take Jon or even Young Griff because I really believe that she is the younger more beautiful Queen in the prophecy.

[Raksha the Demon]

Sophie Turner is a pretty good actress, especially considering her age. She played that scene so well, especially what could be her best line from the books (paraphrased): "What if he brings me yours?"

I strongly approve of this thread! I also didn't like Sansa at first, but by ASOS I was in love. Yay Sansa!!! :cheers:

That was my favorite Sansa scene in the television adaption - for a moment, you could see the Stark in her, when she turns and faces Joffrey with that line, she's got the eyes of a wolf, absolutely cold and implacable, rather than a scared young girl.

My only problem Sophie Turner's performance was not of her making - the hairdo with the coiled braid on top of her hair made her look ten years older. Cersei had the same hairdo in at least one scene, and it didn't make her look good either.

I have always been intrigued by Sansa in the books; not because I always like her, but because I can identify with her and find her far more believable than some of the other female characters. I had a fairly sheltered upbringing, daydreamed and loved stories, and thought of future boyfriends when I was eleven (though I was terrible at needlework!) and preferred bookstores to clothes stores, but I was quite naive, well into my twenties...And although Sansa makes some huge mistakes in AGOT, she is still very much a child; and is then thrust into a most hostile environment, complete with physical abuse and forced marriage at the hands of her enemies, and without friends or anyone who has her best interests at heart, and no warging abilities or wolves or magic visions; just her own senses and the mind of a lonely young girl. Her situation, even more than the great perils and sorrows endured by her siblings; engaged me as a reader. Maybe because of Sansa's mistakes - I also want to see her recognize those mistakes, and learn from them and grow, while retaining her compassion...

[No True Lady]

It's almost inevitable that Sansa's going to become more morally ambiguous. I personally think that's the point of Sansa's "memory lapses" - she's very good at going into denial and making herself forget/remember what she "needs" to in any given situation. In the case of the Arya/Joffrey fight, she thought she "needed" to curry favor with Joffrey's family to secure her place as his fiance (and was also mad at her sister), so she "forgot" what happened during the fight.

I think she will eventually learn how to turn this ability towards others (i.e. manipulation via her "courtly manners") and become a BAMF. Of the remaining Stark kids, Arya's going to be the warrior, Bran the mystic, Rickon the...I'm not sure yet. So that leaves Sansa to be the leader. She showed natural leadership abilities as early as the Battle of Blackwater when she calmed the guests at Cersei's dinner. And of course she's now enrolled in Littlefinger's creepy school of hard knocks (an equivalent to Arya's tutelage in Braavos and Bran's with Coldhands?). I'll be very surprised if Sansa ends up on the Iron Throne, but I have a feeling she'll become the ruler of one of the Seven Kingdoms. And she'll rule in her own right as a Stark.

And let's not forget Cersei's personal prophecy that she will be cast down by a younger and more beautiful queen. The general consensus seems to be that this "younger queen" is either Margaery or Dany. But I hope it's going to be Sansa. Margaery certainly deserves to get revenge against Cersei, but not nearly as much as Sansa does. And Dany's hatred has always been fixated on King Robert. I don't think she's ever given a thought to Cersei at all.

I'm not sure how a final confrontation between Sansa and Cersei would come about, but I imagine the power dynamic they had through AGoT and ACoK will be delightfully reversed: Sansa will be on a throne in her glory and Cersei will be on her knees, scared and ready to say anything to save her skin. At this point, Sansa will be on the verge of a political marriage (one that's actually going to happen this time!) to someone she's not keen on. Perhaps her cousin Robin (who is certifiably nutty at this point). Also, Sansa will know the truth about Cersei's kids and Jaime. She'll demand to know how Cersei pulled of the ruse for so long, and Cersei will tell her all her queenly protips - but end up dead all the same. Then Sansa will use this knowledge to keep her icky husband out of her bed and only have children with her true consort: the captain of her queensguard. Maybe you've heard of him - the last of the Celganes? :cool4:

[Woman of War]

I can't see Sansa as a farmers wife either, possibly a country lord's wife. I had to laugh at the thought of Sandor as an innkeeper, his slogan "If you don't like your food or room...BUGGER OFF!" Not really into customer sevice.

:agree:

But unfortunately Sandor would behave the same if his wife told him to change his underwear or not to spit on the floor. And if Sansa realised after a few months that a younger guy with manners would be nicer - well, knife at throat, fuck her bloody instead of leaving her to another man........domestic violence.

I think that Sansa, along with the growth of her personality strength, will realize that she does not need an infatuated protector anymore to whom she is his "little bird" but a partner, politically and intellectually. This might be someone who shares a remote life with her or , if that is her ambition, someone who is willing to treat her as equal in political competence, may it be as "evil" or "good".

[Howlin' Howland Reed]

But unfortunately Sandor would behave the same if his wife told him to change his underwear or not to spit on the floor. And if Sansa realised after a few months that a younger guy with manners would be nicer - well, knife at throat, fuck her bloody instead of leaving her to another man........domestic violence.

I think that Sansa, along with the growth of her personality strength, will realize that she does not need an infatuated protector anymore to whom she is his "little bird" but a partner, politically and intellectually. This might be someone who shares a remote life with her or , if that is her ambition, someone who is willing to treat her as equal in political competence, may it be as "evil" or "good".

I don't know, I mean I'm as scared and confused of what's going on in those Sandor Clegane threads as the next guy, but domestic abuse doesn't really seem to be his shtick. He's angry at the world at large, or something like that, not really angry at everything in it.

As to the rest, I sort of agree, but I usually don't really ship the characters with anyone. I don't have that matchmaking need, I'd rather just see who they go for and then approve/disapprove, I guess! :) Besides, whatever Westerosi culture may, or may not, make of her womanhood, she's still a child to me...

[Erinne]

Sansa started out as Ned 2.0 - good and honourable and expecting everybody else to also behave honourably. She's now learning to be more politically savvy so she doesn't make the same mistakes her father did, and while I believe she will do some more morally ambiguous acts, I don't think she will become a completely selfish schemer only out for herself - that would pretty much require a complete change of her personality. I think a turning point for her character will be whether she decides to oppose or go along with Littlefinger's plan to kill Robert Arryn. As for where she'll end up, I honestly can't guess at this point. She will probably have some sort of political power; ruling the entire Seven Kingdoms seems unlikely, I'm not even sure it will exist as an unified entity by the end of the series, but being a farmer's wife is even more unlikely.

Also,

I have always been intrigued by Sansa in the books; not because I always like her, but because I can identify with her and find her far more believable than some of the other female characters. I had a fairly sheltered upbringing, daydreamed and loved stories, and thought of future boyfriends when I was eleven (though I was terrible at needlework!) and preferred bookstores to clothes stores, but I was quite naive, well into my twenties...And although Sansa makes some huge mistakes in AGOT, she is still very much a child; and is then thrust into a most hostile environment, complete with physical abuse and forced marriage at the hands of her enemies, and without friends or anyone who has her best interests at heart, and no warging abilities or wolves or magic visions; just her own senses and the mind of a lonely young girl. Her situation, even more than the great perils and sorrows endured by her siblings; engaged me as a reader. Maybe because of Sansa's mistakes - I also want to see her recognize those mistakes, and learn from them and grow, while retaining her compassion...

:agree:

Thank you, you perfectly summed up why I like Sansa so much.

And I'm kind of hoping she doesn't develop warging abilities for this reason, even though we know she has the potential for it - I just feel it would make for a better story if she succeeded without relying on magical means, just using her own mind.

As to the rest, I sort of agree, but I usually don't really ship the characters with anyone. I don't have that matchmaking need, I'd rather just see who they go for and then approve/disapprove, I guess! :) Besides, whatever Westerosi culture may, or may not, make of her womanhood, she's still a child to me...

Sansa is like the fandom bicycle, people pair her with everyone, it gets a little ridiculous tbh. I don't mind though, it's always entertaining to find out what latest crackship people have come up with :lol:.

[weirwood woman]

She is the only living Stark without a wolf. I often wonder how much the loss of her wolf effects her. While the rest of the Stark children appear to have some Warg abilities, this trait is so far absent in Sansa. Arya, on the other hand, hasn't seen Nymeria in years, but still retains a link to her that strengthens and sustains her. Without her wolf, Sansa seems that much weaker than the other Stark children.

If the wolves were a gift from the old gods meant to protect and empower the Stark children, I often wonder if the death of Lady signifies a lack of divine protection.

I have often wondered about this. I cant believe i cried so much when lady died! What does it really mean for Sansa without Lady?? No escape from the moment with a bit of warging thats for sure. Poor thing.

[Zmeischa]

I like her a lot, for several reasons.

1) She is a person in development, always interesting to watch. We see her evolve from a naive, vain, spoiled, shallow and not very truthful girl into a woman with a gentle heart, a sense of responsibility and a working brain.

2) She is one of the few genuinely "good" people in the saga. Her words and deeds may end in misfortune to herself and others, but she never willingly gives pain to anyone. She is compassionate, she tries to do the right thing even to the danger to herself.

3) She is mostly passive, she doesn't make things happen, they happen to her. That is a strange reason to like a person, I know, but still. Her very helplessness makes every tiny detail of her day so very intense.

[Zmeischa]

She actually wanted to go to King Robert but was afraid of him so as any 11/12 year old went to another grown up she thought she could trust, and spoke something like ... Queen Cersie could you talk to father he wants me to go back to Winterfell but I rather like to stay here if I could, would you speak to him ?

To tell the truth, Ned's talk with her was stupid to the extreme. "The boy you like isn't good for you, I'll find you someone better... someday". How submissive or how naive would she have to be to fall for that?

[Grail King]

Sansa started out as Ned 2.0 - good and honourable and expecting everybody else to also behave honourably. She's now learning to be more politically savvy so she doesn't make the same mistakes her father did, and while I believe she will do some more morally ambiguous acts, I don't think she will become a completely selfish schemer only out for herself - that would pretty much require a complete change of her personality. I think a turning point for her character will be whether she decides to oppose or go along with Littlefinger's plan to kill Robert Arryn. As for where she'll end up, I honestly can't guess at this point. She will probably have some sort of political power; ruling the entire Seven Kingdoms seems unlikely, I'm not even sure it will exist as an unified entity by the end of the series, but being a farmer's wife is even more unlikely.

Also,

:agree:

Thank you, you perfectly summed up why I like Sansa so much.

And I'm kind of hoping she doesn't develop warging abilities for this reason, even though we know she has the potential for it - I just feel it would make for a better story if she succeeded without relying on magical means, just using her own mind.

Sansa is like the fandom bicycle, people pair her with everyone, it gets a little ridiculous tbh. I don't mind though, it's always entertaining to find out what latest crackship people have come up with :lol:.

Yes but using your intellect means using all assets at your disposal so a little bird cage here, puppy dog there and a pretty little kitty somewhere could be helpful in filling in what her human side can't and you keep your enemies guessing.

[Grail King]

To tell the truth, Ned's talk with her was stupid to the extreme. "The boy you like isn't good for you, I'll find you someone better... someday". How submissive or how naive would she have to be to fall for that?

:agree:

yes it's a product of who they are as a whole Ned learned to late Sansa and Arya have to learn soooo much quicker, and as a dad I agree with Ned " war is easier than daughters" :drunk:

[headtrip_honey]

:agree:

But unfortunately Sandor would behave the same if his wife told him to change his underwear or not to spit on the floor. And if Sansa realised after a few months that a younger guy with manners would be nicer - well, knife at throat, fuck her bloody instead of leaving her to another man........domestic violence.

I think that Sansa, along with the growth of her personality strength, will realize that she does not need an infatuated protector anymore to whom she is his "little bird" but a partner, politically and intellectually. This might be someone who shares a remote life with her or , if that is her ambition, someone who is willing to treat her as equal in political competence, may it be as "evil" or "good".

Let me be clear on one thing - Sandor says "I should have fucked her bloody and ripped her heart out before leaving her for that dwarf."

He is not saying that he wishes he'd raped her when he had the chance. He's saying that rape and murder would have been a better fate than leaving her to marry Tyrion. Is it an AWFUL thing to say? Yes. But so often the "fucked her bloody" phrase overshadows the rest of the sentence. He ALSO says he should have ripped her heart out, and we know that he doesn't want to kill her. He's saying that marrying Tyrion is a fate worse than rape and death. Whether or not you agree with that statement...well, that's different.

I think that after Sansa's ordeals, her playing the game both as a pawn and a player, she'd rather have someone like Sandor who is brutally honest. He doesn't play games.