Sansa and Lady

[Oakkin]

Lady is the only direwolf to have died (aside from Ghost who died with Rob) while her human still lives. Do you think this has some sort of symbolic meaning towards Sansa? Early on it seemed pretty clear to me that Sansa was different than the rest of her siblings and when Lady died I was pretty sure it meant that Sansa would move away from House Stark in a loyal sense (especially in the way she was at first very happy to be at King's Landing). But now i'm not so sure that she will shun her background.

[TheGriffonReborn]

1) Grey Wind died, not Ghost. Ghost is Jon's direwolf.

2) Robb has two b's.

Why would someone stray from their family because their pet died?

[BeneathTheGold]

I had not considered it in that sense before, it is true that Martin appears to like putting in elements of foreshadowing in everywhere, even when the direwolves were discovered with the antler in the wolf's throat, I think you are right.

[Oakkin]

1) Woops Grey Wind not Ghost right

2) Ya ya two b's

3) Have you never read any books that used literary techniques such as this? If not I suggest you expand your library.

From what I can tell there is a fairly deep connection between the wolves and the Stark children (the dreams). She wouldn't stray 'because her pet died' but maybe it symbolically means she will. It was Arya's wolf that attacked Joeffry not Sansa's, why would Martin make Sansa's wolf die without it being significant at all? It was just a thought that perhaps it meant that her connection to her family died with the wolf. I bring it up as i read AFFC because it seems Martin is being ambiguous with what Sansa feels in her heart while she is Alayne.

In the end Sansa may end up claiming Winterfell, but that seems unlikely with both Bran and Rickon still alive.

[The Hedge Knight]

Well it does seem that Sansa gets the wolf dreams, just 'disconnected.' If this is an allusion to her drifting from her house, then maybe it is to show she can never truly get completely away?

[Oakkin]

Has she gotten the wolf dreams before? I don't remember them. If she hasn't she would be the only one of the 4 (who has their perspective told) that does not get the dreams, which would further highlight her disconnection.

[Christopher]

I'm pretty sure Lady being dead will have some sort of repercussions later on in the series. George does do something like that for no reason. I did not like Sansa very much at first, she was started to grow on me though.

[NorthernBird]

Sansa has so much inner strength. I like her very much.

[TheGriffonReborn]

1) Woops Grey Wind not Ghost right

2) Ya ya two b's

3) Have you never read any books that used literary techniques such as this? If not I suggest you expand your library.

From what I can tell there is a fairly deep connection between the wolves and the Stark children (the dreams). She wouldn't stray 'because her pet died' but maybe it symbolically means she will. It was Arya's wolf that attacked Joeffry not Sansa's, why would Martin make Sansa's wolf die without it being significant at all? It was just a thought that perhaps it meant that her connection to her family died with the wolf. I bring it up as i read AFFC because it seems Martin is being ambiguous with what Sansa feels in her heart while she is Alayne.

In the end Sansa may end up claiming Winterfell, but that seems unlikely with both Bran and Rickon still alive.

I see what you're saying about the symbolism, but the way you said it in the OP made me feel like you thought it was Sansa's desire to leave her family.

[TwoHeadedSnake]

Sansa did betray her family, though unintentionally, in GoT, when she went crying to Cersei about Ned's plan to leave KL. She also betrayed herself, though unintentionally, when she blabbed to Dontos about the Tyrell marriage plot in SoS. She has to be strong because her own innocnet "misunderestimating" of other characters causes her, and others, so much trouble. She also seemed the least "Starkish" of the Starks, more like her mother in appearance, too refined and lofty, not grounded in reality. Mayhaps she just reminds me too much of old girlfriends, but I really get irritated with her character. I don't see it in her to abandon her loyalty to her family, intentionally, though. I think her bigger issue, now that she believes herself the last of the line, is finding a new family to belong to. Preferably with the Stark family values of honor, truth, etc.

[KhaleesiDany]

I want to know where GRRM is going with this, too. I hope it wasn't just to make us feel bad for Sansa and like she has no one to protect her in King's Landing (because I felt bad enough for her once she got to know Joffrey.) If it wasn't important for Lady to die and her bones to go back to Winterfell, then she could have just ran off the way Nymeria did. The sisters losing their wolves helped drive a wedge between them, but I hope Lady is more than a literary device. It might have just been Sansa's first lesson in killing her romantic fantasies. She loses herself more and more after Lady's death, even to the point of losing her name, at the same time paradoxically coming into her own character. still, she gets strength later from Lady's memory, for example when she crosses the stone bridge and imagines the wind is like a wolf howling.

I have two theories about it

1) Sansa is going to die in a way that was somehow foreshadowed by Lady's death (sacrificial) or

2) When Lady is condemned Robert tells Ned "Get her a dog, she'll be happier for it" so this was foreshadowing her relationship with the Hound (that she will not have Lady to protect her, but she will have him.)

However after reading this book and the last one I have my doubts about theory #2, though it is the happy result that I am hoping for.

[Devaki Khanna]

I think Sansa's loss of Lady eventually leads to a loss of all her protectors--her father, her septa, her guardsmen, her friend Jeyne and eventually her family, to the extent that she has no one but her own wits to aid her in KL and the Eyrie. She has to learn to survive, using her brains, making mistakes, with little or no support from the northern magic that supposedly protects her siblings. Arya's loss of her wolf, who is forced to run away, probably indicates her relying more on the wild side of her nature. She has to run away and learn to survive in the wild, with Yoren and the boy's he's taking to the Wall; then at Harrenhal and finally with the BwB and the Hound. Sansa, on the other hand, has to learn patience and self-control, even when she is beaten by Joffrey's Kingsguard. She has to learn to play a part, with the Lannisters and Littlefinger, as a survival mechanism.

[Devaki Khanna]

In fact, Cersei in AFfC is at the same point in her story arc as Sansa is in at AGoT, when she loses her father. After Tywin's death, Cersei's paranoia drives her to the point of ruin--she seems to have a genius for alienating people. Sansa, on the other hand, manages to keep her head--even telling Dontos about the Tyrell wedding has its up-side, as he quite honestly tells her she cannot trust them.

[Faceless_One]

Possibly it sybolizes the shit storm Sansa has gone through losing everyone. It could be the Lady's death that shows that she is somewhat dead inside because she has lost her mother, father, and brother. She may go through the motions, but it seems to me that her direwolf died and some part of her spirit died with Lady.

[Arya-Underfoot]

The Stark children with their Direwolves reminded both my friend and me of Philip Pullman's daemons in His Dark Materials, even early on. The fact that Lady was killed seems to mark Sansa out as separate from her siblings - superficially because she can't share in their wolf dreams. She's missing something that is critical to the others - maybe this will show in other parts of her life. I'll be interested to see if her story develops to support this theory. (At the moment I'm early on in AFFC and haven't seen Sansa in this book yet.)

[Myrcella]

I always thought the death of Lady symbolized how her idealized notions of knightly knights would slowly be destroyed.