From Pawn to Player? Rereading Sansa III

[brashcandy]

Sansa I and Tyrion I coming soon. Was supposed to have it up today, but it will be up in the next couple of hours. I'm strangely excited for ASOS, there's so much stuff to talk about!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[Fragile Bird]

Fragile Bird is an Unreliable Narrator *grin*

I know nothing, I admit it!

[Elba the Intoner]

Oh good. So glad that some Tyrion chapters will be reviewed as well. I was all set to discuss Tyrion's thoughts on Sansa's intellect and then realized that that would all come from his POVs. Now there will be a logical way to bring that in to the discussion.

So, while we are waiting for the next chapters to go up, is there someone who could tell me how to get a cool avatar like many of you have? Is there a website for that or a site somewhere on this forum where I could get a good one? I really have no idea how to go about doing that. Thanks!

[Grail King]

mine is from a wall paper I have of a red and blue dragons, I re sized it to about 200x200 px then cropped it to a square and uploaded the file in to my profile.

sounds harder than it actually is, took all but to minutes to do.

[Elba the Intoner]

It's really petty Grail King. So, where did you get the wallpaper from? Can I just google some image like that?

[brashcandy]

It's really petty Grail King. So, where did you get the wallpaper from? Can I just google some image like that?

Yeah, that's basically my strategy. I decide what I want my avatar to communicate, and then I do a google image/gif search. Pretty easy :) I find the gifs work better when I save them to my picture folder and then use them instead of pulling the URL address.

[Houndbird]

I wonder if anyone can explain the scene on Quiet Isle when Brienne is talking to EB about the Stark girl and Sandor. EB says Sansa Stark immediately. how did he know about Sansa and Sandor's connection?

I think that Sandor must have talked about her to him or maybe mentioned her name in a delirium as he was really sick.

[Yvonesan]

Elba, I can create an avatar for you if you have something in particular in mind. Keep meaning to do one for myself, guess I haven't really decided what I want yet. Anyways, send me a message if you'd like me to try one for you ...no pressure to accept either.

[Christina Ceriddwynn]

I wonder if anyone can explain the scene on Quiet Isle when Brienne is talking to EB about the Stark girl and Sandor. EB says Sansa Stark immediately. how did he know about Sansa and Sandor's connection?

I think that Sandor must have talked about her to him or maybe mentioned her name in a delirium as he was really sick.

It's most likely well-known across the kingdom that sansa is missing and what her description is

but yes, i would agree he also heard it from sandor

[brashcandy]

Hello all,

My apologies for the delay in getting this chapter up. In ASOS, Sansa’s experiences become very intertwined with those of Tyrion Lannister, and we get a lot of insight into her character, and what she is experiencing from his POV chapters. To this end, we’ll be reviewing more Tyrion chapters for this stage of the re-read. I’ve decided to analyse Tyrion’s first chapter of ASOS as it provides us with useful details on just how low Tyrion has fallen after the Blackwater Battle and his relationship with his father which has significant consequences for Sansa later on.

ASOS – Tyrion I

Summary

Tyrion wakes up weak and disoriented. Seeing a shape moving towards him, he is at first terrified that it may be someone in Cersei’s service, but realises that it’s Bronn, his former sellsword mercenary. Bronn proceeds to mock his features and we get the first description of Tyrion’s terrible facial injuries:

Tyrion’s fingers went to the great gash that ran from above one eye down to his jaw, across what remained of his nose. The proud flesh was still raw and warm to the touch.

In contrast to Tyrion, Bronn cuts a fine figure, dressed in leather and silk, with his hair washed and brushed. Tyrion questions why he has now come to see him after he sent for him a long time ago, but Bronn informs him that it’s only been a couple days since Tyrion made the request, and that he had visited twice only to find the dwarf “dead to the world.”

He proceeds to fill Tyrion in on what has occurred since the battle, and Tyrion learns of just how much has changed for him whilst he was recovering from his injuries:

1. Bronn has been made a knight by Tywin Lannister: Bronn of the Blackwater.
   
2. The Hound has disappeared and thousands have perished in the battle.
   
3. Tywin has officially taken up the post of Hand of the King.
   
4. A knight called Addam Marbrand (one of Tywin’s westermen) is in charge of the gold cloaks now.
   
5. The Burned men have returned to the Vale, the Stone Crows are still in the Kingswood, and Black Ears were run off by Tywin’s red cloaks.
   
6. Alayaya has been released by Cersei but only after receiving a whipping
   
7. Cersei has retrieved Tommen from the Rosbys and Tyrion can no longer gain access to him
   
8. The Kettlebacks are no longer working for him either, having gone too long without payment and have now been made knights by the Queen.
   
9. Everyone is talking about Renly’s ghost during the battle, and no credit has been given to Tyrion for his design of the chain etc.
   
10. The Tyrells have won the love and favour of the city in Margaery’s name, handing out barrels of food in Kings Landing.
    

All in all, it’s a bitter awakening for Tyrion:

My hirelings betray me, my friends are scourged and shamed, and I lie here rotting… I thought I won the bloody battle. Is this what triumph feels like?

He is anxious to find out more about Ser Mandon and firmly believes that the man was hired by Cersei to kill him.

What he wanted was proof that Ser Mandon had been Cersei’s, but he dare not say so aloud. In the Red Keep a man did best to hold his tongue. There were rats in the walls and little birds who talked too much, and spiders.

Deciding to pay a visit to his father, he gets dressed painfully and leaves Maegor’s Holdfast. The castle is filled to capacity with Tyrells and their banner men who have all come to take part in the wedding celebrations. He meets Ser Addam Marbrand on the way and learns that his father is still keeping up the search for Tyrek Lannister who went missing during the riots.

On entering the solar, Tyrion finds his father writing letters, and notices Tywin’s chilly reception of him. The conversation that follows between them is awkward and resentful:

“What I want…” His throat felt raw and tight. What did he want? More than you could ever give me, Father. “Pod tells me that Littlefinger’s been made Lord of Harrenhal.”

“An empty title, so long as Roose Bolton holds the castle for Robb Stark, yet Lord Baelish was desirous of the honor. He did us good service in the matter of the Tyrell marriage. A Lannister pays his debts.”

The Tyrell marriage had been Tyrion’s notion, in point of fact, but it would seem churlish to try to claim that now. “That title may not be as empty as you think,” he warned. “Littlefinger does nothing without good reason…

The conversation turns to Tyrion’s efforts in the battle, with Tywin grudgingly giving him credit for the chain idea and his help in brokering the Dornish alliance. Tyrion tells him that the Martells want more than just a hostage and questions whether his father would be willing to part with Gregor Clegane:

Ser Gregor has his uses, as did his brother. Every lord has need of a beast from time to time … a lesson you seemed to have learned from Ser Bronn and those clansmen of yours.”

Getting up to leave, Tyrion finds the courage to ask for what he really wants from his father: Casterly Rock. But Tywin is brutally clear on his chances of ever getting his birthright:

Lord Tywin’s eyes were a pale green flecked with gold, as luminous as they were merciless. “Casterly Rock,” he declared in a flat cold dead tone. And then, “Never.”

The word hung between them, huge, sharp, poisoned.

I knew the answer before I asked, Tyrion said. Eighteen years since Jaime joined the Kingsguard, and I never once raised the issue. I must have known. I must have always known. “Why?” he made himself ask, though he knew he would rue the question.

“You ask that? You, who killed your mother to come into the world? You are an ill-made, devious, disobedient, spiteful little creature full of envy, lust, and low cunning. Men’s laws give you the right to bear my name and display my colors, since I cannot prove that you are not mine. To teach me humility, the gods have condemned me to watch you waddle about wearing that proud lion that was my father’s sigil and his father’s before him. But neither gods not man shall ever compel me to let you turn Casterly Rock into your whorehouse.”

After this remark, Tyrion realises that Tywin knows about Alayaya, and his father reveals his disgust that Tyrion would threaten his own nephew to protect his whore. It was Tywin who had Alayaya whipped, but he promises to do worse:

Go back to your bed, Tyrion, and speak to me no more of your rights to Casterly Rock. You shall have your reward, but it shall be one I deem appropriate to your service and station. And make no mistake –this was the last time I will suffer you to bring shame onto House Lannister. You are done with whores. The next one I find in your bed, I’ll hang.

ASOS – Sansa I

Summary

Sansa is perplexed and bewildered upon having received a letter from Margaery Tyrell inviting her to supper. She doesn’t know why the girl would want to dine with a traitor’s daughter, and is worried that Margaery might be taking some perverse pleasure by wanting to get a closer look at the girl she’s replaced or that she might believe Sansa wishes her harm. She has seen Marg’s celebrated entry into the city, with her mother and grandmother following close behind, and the townspeople cheering and throwing flowers in her path.

The same smallfolk who pulled me from my horse and would have killed me, if not for the Hound. Sansa had done nothing to make the commons hate her, no more than Margaery Tyrell had done to win their love.

She is fearful that Joff could be behind the invitation from the Tyrells, and worries that he might try to shame her in front of Margaery by having her stripped again. This time, she notes, with Tyrion injured, there will be no one to stop him. She thinks that only Dontos, her Florian can save her now, but she has to wait until the night of Joffrey’s wedding to make her escape. Even though she is reluctant to accept the invitation, she realises she must, but this isn’t going to erase her suspicions:

It might be just a supper. But this was the Red Keep, this was Kings Landing, this was the court of King Joffrey Baratheon, the First of his Name, and if there was one thing that Sansa Stark had learned here, it was mistrust.

Her thoughts mirror the ones Tyrion has about talking in the Red Keep and not being able to trust anyone. Again, she's still a prisoner and pawn, but she's learnt the first rule of playing the game: mistrust everyone and everything. In thinking over her fallen status, her thoughts turn to Sandor Clegane:

I wish the Hound were here. The night of the battle, Sandor Clegane had come to her chambers to take her from the city, but Sansa had refused. Sometimes she lay awake at night wondering if she’d been wise. She had his stained white cloak hidden in a cedar chest beneath her summer silks. She could not say why she she’d kept it. The Hound had turned craven, she heard it said; at the height of the battle, he got so drunk the Imp had to take his men. But Sansa understood. She knew the secret of his burned face. It was only the fire he feared. That night, wildfire had set the river itself ablaze, and filled the very air with green flame. Even in the castle, Sansa had been afraid. Outside … she could scarcely imagine it.

On the night of the dinner, Loras Tyrell turns up to escort her down, and Sansa is enraptured by his beauty and presence. She notes that he is as different from Sandor Clegane as “a flower from a dog.” Sansa cannot believe that she is so near to Loras, and that he is actually touching her arm. She manages to mumble out that he looks lovely and Loras gives her a puzzled look, but returns her compliment.

She continues to note his good looks and that he has the “warmest laugh” whilst being nervous about her conversational skills:

He was beautiful though. He seemed taller than he’d been when she’d first met him, but still so lithe and graceful, and Sansa had never seen another boy with such wonderful eyes. He’s no boy, though, he’s a man grown, a knight of the Kingsguard. She thought he looked even finer in white than in the greens and golds of House Tyrell.

They pass men training in the yards, and when Loras comments that his brother Garlan is a better sword than he is, but he’s more skilled with the lance, Sansa agrees and reminds him that she saw him ride during the Hand’s tourney where he threw the other girls white roses, but gave her a red one. When Loras only gives a polite response, she grasps the truth of the matter:

He doesn’t remember, Sansa realised, startled. He is only being kind to me, he doesn’t remember me or the rose or any of it. She had been so certain that it meant something, that it meant everything. A red rose, not a white.

Desperately trying to get Loras to remember, she mentions him unhorsing Ser Robar Royce, but her efforts have the opposite effect, and remind Loras of what happened when Renly was murdered. Sansa has heard of the incident, and that Loras killed Royce and another of Renly’s rainbow guard from the serving women in the castle.

“That was when Lord Renly was killed, wasn’t it? How terrible for your poor sister.”

For Margaery? His voice was tight. “To be sure. She was at Bitterbridge, though. She did not see.”

“Even so, when she heard…”

Ser Loras brushed the hilt of his sword lightly with his hand. Its grip was white leather, its pommel a rose in alabaster. “Renly is dead. Robar as well. What use to speak of them?”

Loras' tone is sharp and Sansa is dismayed over her mistake. She realises that saying anything more would only make it worse. Housed in the maidenvault, Margaery comes to greet Sansa graciously when she arrives.

Sansa knelt at the foot of the future queen. “You do me great honour, Your Grace.”

Telling Sansa to call her Margaery, and asking if she can call her Sansa, Marg takes her to meet the other Tyrell women in attendance at the dinner. Margaery’s mother, Lady Alerie is there, in addition to Garlan’s wife, Lady Leonette, and Marg’s three cousins, Megga, Alla and Elinor, among others. Sansa’s final introduction is to the Queen of Thorns, Lady Olenna, Mace’s mother and Marg’s grandmother.

The old lady wastes no time in getting acquainted with Sansa. She tells the girl that she knew her grandfather Lord Rickard, and expresses sympathy for Sansa’s recent losses. When Sansa replies that she too was sorry to hear of the gallant Lord Renly’s death, the Queen of Thorns is dismissive:

“Gallant, yes, and charming, and very clean. He knew how to dress and he knew how to smile and he knew how to bathe, and somehow he got the notion that this made him fit to be king. The Baratheons have always had some queer notions to be sure. It comes from their Targaryen blood, I should think.” She sniffed. “They tried to marry me to a Targaryen once, but I soon put an end to that.”

And so goes Sansa’s introduction to the Lady Olenna, and her understanding of just why the old woman is considered so prickly deepens. Olenna proceeds to go off on a tangent about her worthless son, her warnings that it would all not end well when Renly decided to pursue the crown, and how the Tyrells are not only family who can trace their ancestry back to Garth Greenhand. She sends for Butterbumps and while he is entertaining the other women, puts a sharp question to Sansa:

“I want you to tell me the truth about this royal boy.” said Lady Olenna abruptly. “This Joffrey.”

Sansa immediately begins to panic inwardly, and stumbles over her words, but Olenna insists on hearing what she knows, telling Sansa that they have heard “troubling tales” back in Highgarden. Sansa still cannot bring herself to admit the truth about Joffrey, and states that he is “fair and handsome, and … and as brave as lion.”

This answer annoys Lady Olenna:

Yes, all Lannisters are lions, and when a Tyrell breaks wind it smells just like a rose,” the old woman snapped. But how kind is he? How clever? Has he a good heart, a gentle hand? Is he chivalrous as befits a king? Will he cherish Margaery and treat her tenderly, protect her honor as he would his own?”

“He will” Sansa lied. “He is very comely”

“You said that.” You know, child, some say that you are as big a fool as Butterbumps here, and I am starting to believe them. Comely? I have taught my Margaery what comely is worth, I hope. Somewhat less than a mummer’s fart. Aerion Brightfire was comely enough, but a monster all the same. The question is, what is Joffrey?”

Lady Olenna tells her that no harm will come to her if she speaks the truth, and Sansa states that her father always told the truth but Joff cut his head off after promising to be merciful. This is the opening the Tyrells wanted, and Marg tries to urge Sansa to continue, but she is too petrified of the consequences. Noting that she is aware that the walls have ears in the Red Keep, Lady Olenna calls on Butterbumps to sing The Bear and Maiden Fair very very loudly. As Butterbumps bellows out the song, Sansa confesses to Joffrey’s depravity:

Sansa felt as though her heart was lodged in her throat. The Queen of Thorns was so close she could smell the old woman’s sour breath. Her gaunt thin fingers were pinching her wrist. To her other side, Margaery was listening as well. A shiver went through her. “A monster,” she whispered, so tremulously she could scarcely hear her own voice. “Joffrey is a monster. He lied about the butcher’s boy and made Father kill my wolf. When I displease him he has the Kingsguard beat me. He’s evil and cruel, my lady, it’s so. And the queen as well.”

Margaery and her grandmother exchange a glance, and Sansa is terrified that now Marg will call off the wedding, but Olenna reassures her that Macy is set on his daughter being a queen. The Tyrells then put forward their secret plan to wed Sansa to Willas Tyrell, but at first Sansa thinks they are speaking of Loras, and indulges in a fantasy:

Wed to Ser Loras, oh … Sansa’s breath caught in her throat. She remembered Loras in his sparkling sapphire armor, tossing her a rose. Ser Loras in white silk, so pure, innocent, beautiful. The dimples at the corner of his mouth when he smiled. The sweetness of his laugh, the warmth of his hand. She could only imagine what it would be like to pull up his tunic and caress the smooth skin underneath, to stand on her toes and kiss him, to run her fingers through those thick brown curls and drown in his deep brown eyes. A flush crept up her neck.

Her thoughts are quickly dashed on realization that it is another brother, Willas Tyrell, the crippled heir of Highgarden that Lady Olenna and Marg are alluding to.

Sansa felt dizzy; one instant her head was full of dreams of Loras and the next they had all been snatched away. Willas? Willas? “I,” she said stupidly. Courtesy is a lady’s armor. You must not offend them, be careful what you say. “I do not know Ser Willas. I have never had the pleasure, my lady. Is he … is he as great a knight as his brothers?”

The Tyrells then explain that Willas was crippled after falling off his horse in his first tourney, and place the blame on Oberyn Martell and his maester. Margaery tells her:

“Willas has a bad leg but a good heart… He used to read to me when I was a little girl, and draw me pictures of the stars. You will love him as much as we do, Sansa.”

Sansa inquires when she might meet him and Marg tells her Lady Olenna will personally escort her after she is wed to Joff. Their meeting comes to a close as the song ends.

[brashcandy]

Analysis

Tyrion’s chapter is useful to study because we see Tywin’s absolute disgust with his son and his determination that Tyrion will not get Casterly Rock, but will receive another prize more suitable to his station. We all know what that prize turns out to be. However, besides highlighting how Tywin can be cold, callous and cruel towards his son, and their strained relations, I thought that the chapter really revealed Tyrion’s love of power and prestige, a love that arguably leads him later on to not resist his father as strongly as he could have over the lure of Winterfell and Sansa.

When Bronn comes to visit him he is upset when he learns the sellsword has already been knighted. Bronn tells him that it was by his lord father’s command and Tyrion responds petulantly:

“I was the one who promised you knighthood, remember?” He had liked that “by your lord father’s command” not at all.

When he learns that Addam Marbrand has taken over control of the gold cloaks:

In most cases the gold cloaks would have resented having an outsider placed over them, but Ser Addam Marbrand was a shrewd choice. Like Jaime, he was the sort of man other men liked to follow. I have lost the City Watch.

When he next asks after his clansmen and learns that they’ve returned home or are in the surrounding forests, and that the Black Ears were chased from the city and pelted with dung by townspeople, he thinks:

Ingrates. The Black Wars died for them.

The only time Tyrion seems to feel genuine concern for another person is when he hears that Alayaya was scourged, but even then, it quickly becomes a battle between him and Cersei and how he can pay her back:

“I promised my sister I would treat Tommen as she treated Alayaya,” he remembered aloud. “How can I scourge an eight year old boy?” But if I don’t Cersei wins.

That thought really disturbed me, and then it was compounded by Tyrion’s chagrin, but ultimate relief that he wouldn’t have to make such a choice because Cersei had regained control of her son.

He then inquires if it is true that Stannis was defeated by Renly’s ghost. When Bronn fills in him that indeed this is the popular tale making the rounds, Tyrion reflects bitterly:

After all his planning, after the sortie and the bridge of ships, after getting his face slashed in two, Tyrion had been eclipsed by a dead man.

His thoughts on Ser Mandon Moore don’t really seem to be about investigating who hired the man, but rather in proving that it was Cersei who did so. Asking about Margaery’s arrival and learning that the townspeople are celebrating the Tyrell’s arrival, Tyrion again feels the sting of resentment:

They spit on me, and buy drinks for the Tyrells.

When Addam Marbrand tells him that he’ll find his father in his solar, Tyrion thinks, “my solar”. He compliments his father on the hand’s chain, but thinks:

Though it looked better on me

See the pattern developing? Honestly, one can sympathise with Tyrion’s frustrations about being gravely injured and his sense that people have overlooked his efforts in helping to win the war, but there’s a disturbing trend in all his thoughts in this chapter which highlight an overwhelming love for power and authority, and a lack of concern for the soldiers who put their lives in grave danger, and the townspeople who were regularly terrorized by the clansmen. I felt for him when he expressed his desire for Casterly Rock and was thoroughly insulted and denigrated by his father, but for the most part, Tyrion’s “me,me,me” attitude in this chapter really undermined the little sympathy I had for his dreams being dashed. I can honestly understand why Genna Lannister later claimed that Tyrion was Tywin writ small. He may be capable of doing nice things and being kind, but Tyrion does possess the same kind of obsessive determination to playing the game of thrones and winning, holding on to power, and paranoia over being humiliated or seen as weak.

Sansa

GRRM did a great job in illustrating all the facets of Sansa’s character and personality in this chapter. She’s developing into a young lady, but is still prone to girlish behavior and nervousness around cute boys. She’s learnt the hard way not to be trusting and naïve when it comes to other people, and weighs all the possible implications of Marg’s letter, but is still mature enough to realize that she has to follow protocol and accept the invitation.

The first point of interest for me in the chapter was her observation that just as she had done nothing to make the townspeople hate her, Margaery had essentially done nothing to make them love her. It’s an astute judgment on the fickleness of treatment from the masses: one minute they can love you, and the next they can turn on you viciously. Compare this to Tyrion’s jealous reaction concerning the love the citizens have for the Tyrells, and Sansa’s reflection is even more noteworthy.

It’s interesting that in the midst of her uncertainty and consternation, Sansa thinks that she misses the Hound. Wishing that he was there is understandable given that she’s confused about Marg’s letter, and probably desires the one honest and frank person she has come to trust. However, the curiosity of this desire deepens when we learn she has kept the Hound’s cloak, placing it in her cedar chest beneath her summer silks. How are we supposed to read this action, and of course, Martin cleverly prevents any direct interpretation by having Sansa note that she doesn’t know why she did this.

We also learn that some nights she stays up wondering if she should have gone with him, another indication that he’s been on her mind often since he left KL. This personal connection between them is further strengthened by Sansa’s secret knowledge of just why the Hound deserted the battle. She knows it was due to his fear of fire and not from any cowardly reaction. It’s puzzling as to why others don’t realize this as well, besides Tyrion, really. Sansa knows the truth, and Tyrion, I suppose, is fairly intelligent, but otherwise it highlights the superficiality of these people at court. No one concerns themselves with looking deeper into a situation and realizing what could have made the Hound quit his duty that night. Their sole concern is that he left the battle, which equates to cowardice. There’s no consideration or appreciation of what the man had to face again, even though everyone knows he suffered terrible burns. The moment he stopped being a machine, was the moment he became useless, a craven. So in keeping his cloak, Sansa is performing a kind of personal homage to the Hound, one which undermines the public perception of the man after the battle. She knows the truth, and that’s what matters to her.

When Sansa noted that Margaery was cheered into the city with her mother and grandmother following close behind her, I couldn’t help but remember her own considerable lack of a similar matriarchal support system when she came to KL. As we see later on, when she goes to the meeting with the QOT, Margaery has an invaluable resource that she can draw on for advice and that can be relied on to have her best interests at heart. We know the circumstances of how the girls came to journey to KL with only their septa and father, but I still think it was incredibly short-sighted of both Ned and Cat to allow Sansa and Arya to be initiated into a place like Kings Landing with no maternal guidance for them along the way.

Sansa gets another initiation into a standard rite of passage for nearly everyone in this chapter: unrequited love/infatuation. Poor girl. It was funny to watch her freaking out over Loras Tyrell. The excitement of being near to someone she idolized, someone that represents her perfect man, was captured extremely well by Martin (he likes fangirls after all!), from the inability to form coherent sentences, not knowing what to say, and inwardly doing back flips because the person is actually touching you. Of course, I felt badly for her too, not knowing of Loras’ romantic involvement with Renly, and blundering into mentioning Marg and Robar Royce. Loras was Sansa’s first real crush and the fantasy she develops about him when she thinks she is going to marry him reveals a young girl developing her first strains of sexual desire.

It’s interesting how Martin chooses to be very explicit when describing Sansa’s feelings for other men, but keeps her thoughts on the Hound veiled and cryptic. Also intriguing, her comparison of Loras Tyrell to the Hound when he comes to collect her for the dinner, and her reference to him in this evaluation as Sandor Clegane. Are we meant to read the comparison as her way of contrasting the men as potential romantic suitors? Or is she simply drawing on the one KG knight that she knows well?

Personally, I’m not a fan of the Tyrells in general. I consider them to be sweet-smelling Lannisters, and Lady Olenna’s aggressive questioning of Sansa and brazen personality was a bit off-putting. However, I really do admire the old woman’s fierce protection of Margaery, and her frank assessment about gallantry and “comeliness” in a man. If Sansa had had some of this tough talking whilst growing up, her awakening to the real world would not have been half so painful. The qualities that Lady Olenna emphasizes that a king should possess are just the qualities that Sansa is realizing matter in a man: chivalry, gentleness, protecting their woman’s honour as they would their own. As it happens, the one person who has ticked off these boxes in Sansa’s life so far, appears to be Sandor Clegane:

• Chivalry – rescuing from the riot
  
• Gentle – how many times did Martin write ‘not ungently’ with regards to Sandor’s touch
  
• Protecting honour: “No one would hurt you again, or I’d kill them.”
  

These are the things that count a lot more than good looks, reflected in what Marg tells her about Willas Tyrell: he “has a bad leg, but a good heart.”

It’s clear that this is the conversation that sealed Joffrey’s fate, and it’s the height of karmic justice that it would be his treatment of Sansa that convinced the Tyrells to kill him. Sansa’s testimony is a damning validation of all they must have heard rumored about Joffrey. The structuring of Sansa’s confession, punctuated by the bellowing song of The Bear and the Maiden Fair, symbolizes her moving from fear and concern over telling the Tyrells what she knew, to the shock and surprise that they are planning to marry her off to Willas - someone who is not a knight and crippled - and finally her mature acceptance of the idea of being involved with a “bear.”

This has been an important chapter for Sansa’s development. She’s experienced the thrill of being near to Loras Tyrell, but has grasped the truth that he is not interested in her and does not remember even giving her the rose. She’s finally been able to tell the truth to someone about the kind of monster Joffrey is, and now she’s secretly planning to go to Highgarden to marry a man she would never have thought of as a possible husband. The Tyrells might have had their own mercenary reasons for wanting Sansa married to Willas, but there’s no denying that she had agency in this situation to either accept or refuse, and that ultimately, Willas would have been a much better option than the one she is later forced to choose.

[brashcandy]

For some reason, my quote tags would not work in the summary post, so I've highlighted the quotes in blue.

[Nymeria's pup]

Excellent summary and analysis as usual. I just want to bring up a point for you to consider later that occured to me while reading this. I would wait until you get to the chapter in question, but I know I will forget! Sansa has kept the Hound's cloak which we learn in this chapter. What I wonder is why is that cloak not mentioned later? Surely Sansa's trunk is searched for clues to where she has gone. Wouldn't someone question why she has a KG cloak. Perhaps this is of no consequence, but I thought I would mention it.

[Christina Ceriddwynn]

oooh.....great analysis! It is a shame LF decided the Willas option was not to his liking but...we shall see ;)

I always thought Tyrion was a little too accepting of the marriage. He was counting on her youth to sway her to his charms and we all know he needs to be wanted. The Winterfell inheritence was also not passed him, either.

Also, too, Sansa is learning that pretty boys aren't always all they are cracked up to be!

He was beautiful though. He seemed taller than he’d been when she’d first met him, but still so lithe and graceful, and Sansa had never seen another boy with such wonderful eyes. He’s no boy, though, he’s a man grown, a knight of the Kingsguard.

I read this part to be that she literally had to remind herself he was a man and not a boy. either that or she is finally noticing the qualities of men vs boys?

[Christina Ceriddwynn]

Excellent summary and analysis as usual. I just want to bring up a point for you to consider later that occured to me while reading this. I would wait until you get to the chapter in question, but I know I will forget! Sansa has kept the Hound's cloak which we learn in this chapter. What I wonder is why is that cloak not mentioned later? Surely Sansa's trunk is searched for clues to where she has gone. Wouldn't someone question why she has a KG cloak. Perhaps this is of no consequence, but I thought I would mention it.

this has been brought up before, in other threads....the magical, mystical cloak, who will find it and will this person discover the meaning behind it

[Grail King]

It's really petty Grail King. So, where did you get the wallpaper from? Can I just google some image like that?

I follow usenet and use a news reader and go on groups devoted to wallpapers and images, you could also do a google (or what search engine you use) for wallpapers and find many free ones, they are subdivided into groups such as fantasy, celebs, cars etc.

[Maroucia]

About Lady Olenna telling Sansa she's stupid as everyone says, because she tells her how comely and brave as a lion Joffrey is, can't she understand the girl HAS to lie??

It's not the first time people have that reaction when Sansa pretends to love Joffrey and it makes me mad every time. :tantrum:

As Brascandy said about the courtly people, they don't try to look farther than what the situations look like at first sight... The Hound ran away, he's a craven, Sansa is being beaten every day by Joffrey but still claims to love him, she's stupid. No, YOU are stupid courtly people!

[Grail King]

@brashcandy

Well I was going to add something, but it's in the next Sans chapter so I'll let it go, suffice it to say though Sansa is maturing big time as we will see.

Tyrion is really getting dark and I would say it is kind of a long time coming from how he thinks of harming Tommen he's becoming a very short lit fuse.

[Fire Eater]

About Lady Olenna telling Sansa she's stupid as everyone says, because she tells her how comely and brave as a lion Joffrey is, can't she understand the girl HAS to lie??

It's not the first time people have that reaction when Sansa pretends to love Joffrey and it makes me mad every time. :tantrum:

As Brascandy said about the courtly people, they don't try to look farther than what the situations look like at first sight... The Hound ran away, he's a craven, Sansa is being beaten every day by Joffrey but still claims to love him, she's stupid. No, YOU are stupid courtly people!

I agree, after hearing of Joff's treatment of Sansa did Olenna really think that Sansa would just tell the truth about Joffrey without fear of retribution from the Lannisters?

[childofsummer]

:shocked: I had never noticed the parallels between Willas and Sandor: the phrase "he has a bad leg, but a good heart" could apply to either. Both love animals. Both are gentle (Willas, heard of as gentle from Margaery, and, strangely, Tywin; Sandor in practice with Sansa). Both are patient with children (Willas reading to Margaery; Sandor lauding Tommen's bravery). Both have been snatched away from her just as she had begun to depend on them - Willas, for the dream of Highgarden and the puppies; and Sandor, as the unknighted knight. Interesting. Thanks for highlighting that, Brash!