From Pawn to Player: Rethinking Sansa XVIII

[Elba the Intoner]

Karmarni and Daphne those are really great points and I agree with you both. They do mirror each other in a lot of ways. For example Jeyne saying how she "loves" her husband is reminiscent of Sansa's refrain that she loves Joffrey. I have also felt that Sansa's and Arya's arcs parallel each other in many ways and considering that Jeyne is being passed off as Arya that makes for some other interesting connections.

[ShadowCat Rivers]

...

Jeyne Poole's arc is kind of like a horrible, demented, funhouse mirror, nightmare version of Sansa's:

1. Sansa and Jeyne are separated in AGOT.

2. Sansa is kept in King's Landing. She is beaten by the Kingsguard (although I haven't seen anything to suggest that they left lasting marks) on a regular basis. Jeyne is spirited off to a brothel, where she is whipped to the point where she bears scars.

3. Despite threats of rape from numerous quarters, Sansa's virginity remains intact. Jeyne is "trained" to learn how to please her future husband (and I don't think it's much of a stretch to suggest this training involved rape).

4. Sansa and Jeyne are both married off against their will. Sansa's husband does not consummate the marriage on their wedding night. Jeyne's husband not only rapes her on her wedding night but also recruits a third party to perform oral sex on her against her will.

5. Sansa's husband never consummates the marriage. Jeyne's husband leaves bite marks on her breasts, threatens to cut off her feet (and other body parts, presumably), terrorizes, and rapes her on a regular basis (and also forces her to perform sexual acts with a dog, it's implied).

6. Sansa's rescuer is a wealthy, powerful man with resources and many men loyal to him. Jeyne's rescuer is, well, Theon (and the spearwives, to be fair).

7. Despite the many emotional traumas Sansa has suffered, she hasn't been physically scarred or altered (that we know of). Jeyne bears whip scars and in TWOW we learn

that the tip of her nose is black with frostbite (implying she will likely lose it). She also broke a few ribs when Theon jumped with her.

The sad thing is that Littlefinger is pretty much the driving force behind Sansa and Jeyne's respective fates over the course of the books. We can see how he treats his Cat-replacement at some personal risk (the elaborate "Alayne" charade, going to all that trouble to get her out of KL, giving her a fairly comfortable position, bastard status notwithstanding) versus how he treats the disposable and useful Jeyne (leaving her in a brothel, dealing with her through third parties, arranging for her marriage to a psychopath for personal gain, etc.). Sansa, were she not a Cat clone, could just as easily have been a "Jeyne." Arya, if Littlefinger had ever gotten his hands on her, could just as easily have been a "Jeyne."

To add one more point in the mirroring facts, Littlefinger plans to reveal Sansa as a Stark in her wedding to Harry the Heir in order to win the North. This includes revealing Jayne as imposter in order to expose the Boltons, most probably leading to Jayne's death as she's no longer useful.

[Mladen]

This is why I love P2P threads, in one day you have so many great answers. Ok, now it`s time for my reply to all of the commments

@Karmarni,I like you mentioning the parallels between Jeyne and Sansa. But as much as they are similar, they are also different. Both of them are married against their will, but unfortunately only one of them - Sansa was strong enough to endure the psychological pain that came from it. I understand that Tyrion isn`t Ramsay, that he is not either forcing himself on her or torture her in any way, but that doesn`t diminsh Sansa`s power to endure. Psychollogicaly, certainly it was hell to sleep with him in one bed, it was humiliating to be married to him, but Sansa did managed to survive it. Unlike so many other women whose arranged marriages destroyed them - Cersei, Lysa, Sansa remained who she was, a strong but compassionate girl.

@Daphne23, what a great post. I couldn`t agree more on two girls` path to be inversion of each other. In Re-reading Arya, I have made comparison between HotPie and Jeyne, and how both Stark girls missed them despite being irritated by them, but also they managed to forget them soon. Neither Sansa or Arya think often about Jeyne and HotPie. Why? They are compassionate, both of them, but they quickly learnt how this world is harsh and unfair, and to suffer for everyone, that would have broken them down. But also, meeting new people, provokes new compassions for both of girls. Sansa may have forgotten Jeyne, but she was compassionate to Dontos, Margaery, even her husband and Cersei, later to SR, and in some way to Lysa and Marillion. Sansa may have started to play the Game with LF, but also she remains herself. Her instincts, her most profound feelings remain the same. She may become player, but never forgaet, she`ll become a compassionate player. And that`s the Game no one played before.

@Newstar, I agree with you, with just few additions. You are right about Lannisters `allowing` Sansa some freedom. Although, it`s not their allowing as it`s her winning that. Like Sandor said to her `give them what they want`. And she did it. Everything Lannisters asked of her to do, she did, she was obedient but never loyal. The one thing is interesting for me, and that`s Tyrion`s observation on Sansa. How dutiful, calm and mannered she is, but all of that lost its meaning when he thought of her possibly be in love with Joffrey. Cersei and Tywin may have neglected to see her, they didn`t care, but Tyrion is the one who came out as complete fool when she was in question. And we now come to LF, he thinks he can play her any time, he`s so convinced that she is so dependable on him. Like you said, enthusiasm is demanded. But what difference does it make? Lannisters demanded her to be quiet, and she gave them that and then run away, and now Littlefinger wants her to be enthusiastic, and she is. Sansa, in some way, can control and fool people around herself, by seeing and understanding what people want, and ultimately giving that to them. As I said there are so many ways to play the Game

@Pod, LF and Tyrion feel the same thing. Lust, with addition LF has some pervertic sense of love. The funny thing is that they are both the same. They want something from her, something she can`t give them and ultimately her inability to give them what they want will make them completely fools. One day, LF will feel what Tyrion felt in his cell in Red Keep. That he has underestimated Sansa in every possible way. Lf is more dangerous, but his prevertic love and lust will make a new Tyrion. And that`s so ironically beautiful

@Elba, I made good connection between Sansa`s and Arya`s storyarcs. One is being tossed from one arranged marriage to another, and another from one captor to another. They both felt powerless in being Stark. And, ultimately both of them got free of each of their masters.

Wow, so many great posts. I hope I haven`t missed anything, but it was delightful to read them.

[Karmarni]

Newstar you've summed up what I was getting at wonderfully.

Jeyne Poole's arc is kind of like a horrible, demented, funhouse mirror, nightmare version of Sansa's:

1. Sansa and Jeyne are separated in AGOT.

2. Sansa is kept in King's Landing. She is beaten by the Kingsguard (although I haven't seen anything to suggest that they left lasting marks) on a regular basis. Jeyne is spirited off to a brothel, where she is whipped to the point where she bears scars.

3. Despite threats of rape from numerous quarters, Sansa's virginity remains intact. Jeyne is "trained" to learn how to please her future husband (and I don't think it's much of a stretch to suggest this training involved rape).

4. Sansa and Jeyne are both married off against their will. Sansa's husband does not consummate the marriage on their wedding night. Jeyne's husband not only rapes her on her wedding night but also recruits a third party to perform oral sex on her against her will.

5. Sansa's husband never consummates the marriage. Jeyne's husband leaves bite marks on her breasts, threatens to cut off her feet (and other body parts, presumably), terrorizes, and rapes her on a regular basis (and also forces her to perform sexual acts with a dog, it's implied).

6. Sansa's rescuer is a wealthy, powerful man with resources and many men loyal to him. Jeyne's rescuer is, well, Theon (and the spearwives, to be fair).

7. Despite the many emotional traumas Sansa has suffered, she hasn't been physically

scarred or altered (that we know of). Jeyne bears whip scars and in TWOW we learn.

"arranging for her marriage to a psychopath for personal gain"; "Littlefinger plans to reveal Sansa as a Stark in her wedding to Harry the Heir in order to win the North. This includes revealing Jayne as imposter in order to expose the Boltons, most probably leading to Jayne's death as she's no longer useful."

Feeling slow on the uptake myself here. I've thought mainly in regard to what Sansa is experiencing and less about Baelish's plans. Thanks for opening my eyes. It's possible that Theon will be successful in 'saving' Jeyne, thereby lightening a little the stain on his character.

[The Mother of The Others]

Sansa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Sansa has turned XVIII, I just noticed. You know what that means! She's legal!

[Newstar]

Hahaha, I guess I should make it clear that I don't think the Lannisters are great humanitarians or anything for failing to launch an all-out psychological brainwashing op to get Sansa to drink the Lannister Kool-Aid, such as it is. It's just not the Lannisters' style, really, since the Lannisters are all about causing damage without caring about the consequences to others, and their lack of concern for Sansa's feelings is just an extension of that. They just don't give a crap, one way or the other, and if they do occasionally give a crap, it's all about them and their hurt feelings rather than their victims': that's the problem.

And we now come to LF, he thinks he can play her any time, he`s so convinced that she is so dependable on him. Like you said, enthusiasm is demanded. But what difference does it make? Lannisters demanded her to be quiet, and she gave them that and then run away, and now Littlefinger wants her to be enthusiastic, and she is. Sansa, in some way, can control and fool people around herself, by seeing and understanding what people want, and ultimately giving that to them. As I said there are so many ways to play the Game

The distinction is requiring that Sansa do X--shut up and don't make a fuss, basically--versus requiring that Sansa feel X and, if she doesn't feel X, doing whatever is in their power to make it happen. It's the difference between physical freedom and psychological freedom, as we were saying. Your captors making you do something external is one thing. Your captors waging an all-out war to make you internally feel something or believe something is another matter altogether.

If you're tossed into jail, but you're allowed to feel whatever you want and no one attempts to brainwash you, coerce you to another way of thinking, "turn" you, etc. etc., or if they try but immediately abandon it when you show yourself to be unreceptive, then that's one thing. You may be physically imprisoned, but your mind and soul are still free: your thoughts are your own, your beliefs are your own, your feelings are your own, and no one is making it their business to mess with that or take that away from you. You may not have bodily autonomy, but you have mental autonomy. If you're physically imprisoned, then once you're freed of your prison, then your captors have no influence or thrall over you; you have to deal with the physical effects of your imprisonment, but your mind and soul are intact. There are lots of characters who have been physically imprisoned over the course of the series, and we see that once they're freed of these prisons, they seem to be able to shake it off and move on (barring mutilation).

With psychological imprisonment, an attack is launched on your psychological autonomy: your beliefs, thoughts, feelings, identity, etc. If your captor manages to trap you in a psychological prison, where he or she manages to manipulate you to the point where you identify with their goals, come to love them, come to reject your own identity, come to accept your imprisonment and reject freedom, what have you, then it's much harder to get free. In fact, if the prison is strong enough and well-constructed enough, even physical freedom won't do anything to undo the prison. (Brody from the TV show Homeland is a good example of this.) This comes up in ADWD when Tyrion reflects on Penny's "slave" mentality. It comes up with Theon/Reek. And it may come up with Sansa. If Littlefinger manages to win her over--and I'd argue that even though there are signs that she'll be able to resist, there are also signs that he is slowly winning her over--then she will be trapped in Littlefinger's prison, and she may continue to identify with/support Littlefinger even as other potential allies show themselves. Thus the concern.

Both of them are married against their will, but unfortunately only one of them - Sansa was strong enough to endure the psychological pain that came from it. I understand that Tyrion isn`t Ramsay, that he is not either forcing himself on her or torture her in any way, but that doesn`t diminsh Sansa`s power to endure.

I really don't think this is fair to Jeyne. If Sansa had been raped several times (probably by multiple people), whipped, raped by her husband on a regular basis (and possibly impregnated), terrorized by her husband with threats and physical mutilation (breast bites and God knows what else) and remained as strong as she did in ASOS, then sure, by all means. The two really don't compare. There's no need to tear down Jeyne's reactions to her traumas by comparing her to Sansa, since what Sansa endured--awful as it was--was a drop in the bucket compared to what Jeyne went through. Sansa's life since AGOT, beatings and all, has been a luxury cruise compared to Jeyne's. And comparing Tyrion to Ramsay in the hellish husband department is a bit wrongheaded, as I suspect GRRM deliberately wrote Ramsay and Jeyne's wedding night to be as horrific as possible to make Tyrion look better in comparison. And granted, "not raping your terrified child bride" is a pretty low bar, but I have to wonder why else would GRRM write such a nightmarish wedding night sequence for Ramsay and Jeyne.

[straits]

Sansa!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Sansa has turned XVIII, I just noticed. You know what that means! She's legal!

Don't tell Littlefinger.

[Karmarni]

Mladen, your comments make me think of this:

“Sweet lady,” said Florian, “all men are fools, and all men are knights, where women are concerned.”

Sansa has the ability to charm most men she encounters. I wonder if it could be argued that those who do not respond to her, like Joffrey or Ser Meryn, are revealing more about their dark natures? I realize her interactions with male characters have been explored in earlier threads and will look back again for more insight.

She’s both lucky and unlucky in this regard. Lucky that their being ‘fools’ keeps her relatively safe and unlucky that that safety comes with a price. She needs to learn how to wield her magnetism (magic?) instead of having it used against her. Of course, we have Cersei telling her:

“You little fool. Tears are not a woman’s only weapon. You’ve got another one between your legs, and you’d best learn to use it. You’ll find men use their swords freely enough. Both kinds of swords.”

I don’t think Sansa will follow Cersei down this path to its bitter cynical conclusion, but perhaps there is an alternate path that might be useful to her.

[straits]

@Karmarni,I like you mentioning the parallels between Jeyne and Sansa. But as much as they are similar, they are also different. Both of them are married against their will, but unfortunately only one of them - Sansa was strong enough to endure the psychological pain that came from it. I understand that Tyrion isn`t Ramsay, that he is not either forcing himself on her or torture her in any way, but that doesn`t diminsh Sansa`s power to endure. Psychollogicaly, certainly it was hell to sleep with him in one bed, it was humiliating to be married to him, but Sansa did managed to survive it. Unlike so many other women whose arranged marriages destroyed them - Cersei, Lysa, Sansa remained who she was, a strong but compassionate girl.

Have you been reading the Theon chapters? Equating Sansa's ordeal to Jeyne's is ridiculous. Give Ramsay a week with Sansa and see what happens to the little bird. That Jeyne kept her sanity is amazing.

[greensleeves]

Hahaha, I guess I should make it clear that I don't think the Lannisters are great humanitarians or anything for failing to launch an all-out psychological brainwashing op to get Sansa to drink the Lannister Kool-Aid, such as it is. It's just not the Lannisters' style, really, since the Lannisters are all about causing damage without caring about the consequences to others, and their lack of concern for Sansa's feelings is just an extension of that. They just don't give a crap, one way or the other, and if they do occasionally give a crap, it's all about them and their hurt feelings rather than their victims': that's the problem.

I disagree with this. Joffrey definitely demonstrated a desire to cause Sansa emotional distress. Sandor has it right when he tells Sansa that Joffrey wants her love and her fear. What do you think that whole sequence with showing her Ned's head was? Why do you think he continues to threaten her with rape, publicly, after she's married to Tyrion? He cares about her emotional state in a very negative way. Cersei too, though her behavior is more tempered than Joffrey's.

There was a very real aspect of psychological and emotional torment to Sansa's imprisonment in King's Landing.

[Mladen]

The distinction is requiring that Sansa do X--shut up and don't make a fuss, basically--versus requiring that Sansa feel X and, if she doesn't feel X, doing whatever is in their power to make it happen. It's the difference between physical freedom and psychological freedom, as we were saying. Your captors making you do something external is one thing. Your captors waging an all-out war to make you internally feel something or believe something is another matter altogether.

I understand the concern, but I believe in Sansa. I don`t think he will be able to win her like he won Ned or anyone else. She is also playing his game along. I don`t know, everything I have read from her chapters indicate LF will face problems in order to break Sansa.

I really don't think this is fair to Jeyne. If Sansa had been raped several times (probably by multiple people), whipped, raped by her husband on a regular basis (and possibly impregnated), terrorized by her husband with threats and physical mutilation (breast bites and God knows what else) and remained as strong as she did in ASOS, then sure, by all means. The two really don't compare. There's no need to tear down Jeyne's reactions to her traumas by comparing her to Sansa, since what Sansa endured--awful as it was--was a drop in the bucket compared to what Jeyne went through. Sansa's life since AGOT, beatings and all, has been a luxury cruise compared to Jeyne's. And comparing Tyrion to Ramsay in the hellish husband department is a bit wrongheaded, as I suspect GRRM deliberately wrote Ramsay and Jeyne's wedding night to be as horrific as possible to make Tyrion look better in comparison. And granted, "not raping your terrified child bride" is a pretty low bar, but I have to wonder why else would GRRM write such a nightmarish wedding night sequence for Ramsay and Jeyne.

I agree but I didn`t mean to minimize Jeyne`s horrific experience. I was merely pointing out Sansa`s strength. I wrongly took this example, but there are more of them. look at Cersei and Robert. She was in prison of arranged marriage and she get out of that by basically destroying herself in a way. Sansa managed to get free of her marriage without doing something so extreme is really a wonder.

[Mladen]

Have you been reading the Theon chapters? Equating Sansa's ordeal to Jeyne's is ridiculous. Give Ramsay a week with Sansa and see what happens to the little bird. That Jeyne kept her sanity is amazing.

I haven`t equalized her pain to Jeyne`s as I clearly stated it can`t be comparable, since Tyrion did nothing of Ramsay`s malice. But, that doesn`t diminish Sansa`s strength... And I agree, Jeyne keeping her sanity is completely amazing

[straits]

I haven`t equalized her pain to Jeyne`s as I clearly stated it can`t be comparable, since Tyrion did nothing of Ramsay`s malice. But, that doesn`t diminish Sansa`s strength... And I agree, Jeyne keeping her sanity is completely amazing

You used Jeyne and a few other women to portray Sansa as stronger. Sansa's ordeal was shorter than any of theirs. And horrid as he may be, Tyrion's intentions of using her as leverage for Winterfell did not hurt her, nor did any of his other intentions, because they did not come to fruition. Sansa may be strong, but this strength can in no way be defined by contrasting with other women.

[greensleeves]

Have you been reading the Theon chapters? Equating Sansa's ordeal to Jeyne's is ridiculous. Give Ramsay a week with Sansa and see what happens to the little bird. That Jeyne kept her sanity is amazing.

You used Jeyne and a few other women to portray Sansa as stronger. Sansa's ordeal was shorter than any of theirs. And horrid as he may be, Tyrion's intentions of using her as leverage for Winterfell did not hurt her, nor did any of his other intentions, because they did not come to fruition. Sansa may be strong, but this strength can in no way be defined by contrasting with other women.

You are contradicting yourself.

[Mladen]

You used Jeyne and a few other women to portray Sansa as stronger. Sansa's ordeal was shorter than any of theirs. And horrid as he may be, Tyrion's intentions of using her as leverage for Winterfell did not hurt her, nor did any of his other intentions, because they did not come to fruition. Sansa may be strong, but this strength can in no way be defined by contrasting with other women.

Coparing to Lysa and Cersei, whom I have mentioned, Sansa`s ordeal was shorter? Explain me how is Robert worse husband than Tyrion. Of course, he has been violent Cersei from time to time, but he did nothing to ruin her, and psychologically Tyrion was a nightmare for Sansa. Yes, his intentions didn`t come to fruition but that doesn`t mean that she hadn`t lived in fear one day they could. I agree upon Jeyne due to violation and psychological and physial torture, but comparing to Lysa and Cersei, Sansa is the stronger one, in every way

[straits]

Coparing to Lysa and Cersei, whom I have mentioned, Sansa`s ordeal was shorter? Explain me how is Robert worse husband than Tyrion. Of course, he has been violent Cersei from time to time, but he did nothing to ruin her, and psychologically Tyrion was a nightmare for Sansa. Yes, his intentions didn`t come to fruition but that doesn`t mean that she hadn`t lived in fear one day they could. I agree upon Jeyne due to violation and psychological and physial torture, but comparing to Lysa and Cersei, Sansa is the stronger one, in every way

Yeah, Robert only slapped Cersei around from time to time. He also raped her from time to time. That Tyrion was a nightmare for Sansa is less telling of her strength and more of her vulnerability.

Lysa's situation is different because she was forced to abort a child before her marriage, and was torn away from someone she actually loved.

Saying that Tyrion posed a psychological nightmare to Sansa would imply that Tyrion went out of his way to be nasty to her, plotting pitfalls, using her physically, breaking her down by asserting that her family will be slaughtered, et cetera. Instead, he avoided her.

So no, her strength does not stand out from that of other women - none of whom were given a way out eventually.

edit:

You are contradicting yourself.

I never called any of the women stronger. I'm not going to blow one candle out to make the other brighter, is all.

[Mladen]

Saying that Tyrion posed a psychological nightmare to Sansa would imply that Tyrion went out of his way to be nasty to her, plotting pitfalls, using her physically, breaking her down by asserting that her family will be slaughtered, et cetera. Instead, he avoided her.

So, being married to a family that killed your mother, father and brother isn`t psychological torture? To be with man whom everyone find so despicable and whom you can`t trust. The man that obviously wants you can have you any time, and that`s not torture? Sansa lived the hell with Joffrey but to say Tyrion made her easy is wrong. I admit Tyrion had some morals, but all and all, that marriage was torture for Sansa. To lie ti the cleverest man in Westeros and to escape right under his (non-existing :)) nose are signs of strength. I am sorry, the threat sometimes is as equally painful as the deed.

[straits]

So, being married to a family that killed your mother, father and brother isn`t psychological torture? To be with man whom everyone find so despicable and whom you can`t trust. The man that obviously wants you can have you any time, and that`s not torture? Sansa lived the hell with Joffrey but to say Tyrion made her easy is wrong. I admit Tyrion had some morals, but all and all, that marriage was torture for Sansa. To lie ti the cleverest man in Westeros and to escape right under his (non-existing :)) nose are signs of strength. I am sorry, the threat sometimes is as equally painful as the deed.

Correction, married to a family that wanted her family dead. Tywin's involvement in the Red Wedding was minimal; all of the dirty work was done by the Freys and Boltons. Furthermore, the RW was orchestrated by one Frey woman who kept in touch with Tywin. And Tywin did not create a situation which would facilitate a betrayal, either. He profited by batting an eyelid.

Being with a man whom everyone else finds despicable is probably a bonus because they both feel enmity from the same sources - their surroundings. Tyrion is definitely not the cleverest man in Westeros - that one would probably go to Varys or someone in the Citadel. Lying to him out of a sense of preservation would be a matter of intelligence, so I suppose you can call that mental fortitude. Escaping from him would be quite a feat if it didn't involve an escort. Given the stage at which she left, it would have been harder to stay than to leave.

The threat can be seen as equally painful as the deed only until it is carried out. She was not directly threatened by him, though. Perhaps you mean to say that the possibility of a threat is equally as painful as the threat, which is in turn equally as painful as the deed?

[Mladen]

Correction, married to a family that wanted her family dead. Tywin's involvement in the Red Wedding was minimal; all of the dirty work was done by the Freys and Boltons. Furthermore, the RW was orchestrated by one Frey woman who kept in touch with Tywin. And Tywin did not create a situation which would facilitate a betrayal, either. He profited by batting an eyelid.

Being with a man whom everyone else finds despicable is probably a bonus because they both feel enmity from the same sources - their surroundings. Tyrion is definitely not the cleverest man in Westeros - that one would probably go to Varys or someone in the Citadel. Lying to him out of a sense of preservation would be a matter of intelligence, so I suppose you can call that mental fortitude. Escaping from him would be quite a feat if it didn't involve an escort. Given the stage at which she left, it would have been harder to stay than to leave.

The threat can be seen as equally painful as the deed only until it is carried out. She was not directly threatened by him, though. Perhaps you mean to say that the possibility of a threat is equally as painful as the threat, which is in turn equally as painful as the deed?

So, orchastrating entire even is minimal? Not a chance. The one who thought it trough is the one to blame the most

So, following your logic, she had to be compassionate towards Tyrion, because they are both hated. Why would she be? She gained nothing by that marriage, and he got it all. Make no mistake here, Tyrion could only benefit from this marriage, and for Sansa it was unbearable prison, just like Cersei or Lysa thought of their marriages. Tyrion is one of the smartest men in Westeros, so much cunning people haven`t been able to lie to him, and somehow Sansa did. Sansa escaped putting her hopes into Dontos, not LF.

No, threat itself sometimes is very effective. And Tyrion was a threat for Sansa, make no mistake there. To lay every night with him not knowing whether he is going to exercise his right as husband, it must have been easy for her, by your logic? No, he wanted her, and she knew it. And his lust was clear threat to her. He even said he wants her. The only thing left for him to do is actuallyto have had sex with her.

[straits]

So, orchastrating entire even is minimal? Not a chance. The one who thought it trough is the one to blame the most

Tywin didn't orchestrate it. The Freys did, one in particular.

So, following your logic, she had to be compassionate towards Tyrion, because they are both hated. Why would she be? She gained nothing by that marriage, and he got it all. Make no mistake here, Tyrion could only benefit from this marriage, and for Sansa it was unbearable prison, just like Cersei or Lysa thought of their marriages.

You're not following my logic, you're constructing a strawmanperson. I am saying that being married to Tyrion is a better alternative to anyone who is a direct puppet of Cersei's, or Joffrey. And I'm pointing this out because you've stated that being married to Tyrion is comparatively worse.

Nor did Tyrion gain anything, even theoretically. Appointing him Warden of the North would have lost the Lannisters the support of Boltons and other northerners. He did indeed ponder if he is gaining anything, of course.

Tyrion is one of the smartest men in Westeros, so much cunning people haven`t been able to lie to him, and somehow Sansa did. Sansa escaped putting her hopes into Dontos, not LF.

Tyrion's been duped before. He's even duped himself, by a prostitute. Sansa's escape had courage in it, but I'm not seeing the Prison Break element.

No, threat itself sometimes is very effective. And Tyrion was a threat for Sansa, make no mistake there. To lay every night with him not knowing whether he is going to exercise his right as husband, it must have been easy for her, by your logic? No, he wanted her, and she knew it.

Describing a threat as effective would mean it served a purpose. What purpose did this one serve? She did indeed experience great turmoil, given the prospect of Tyrion raping her. But:

The only thing left for him to do is actuallyto have had sex with her.

'The only thing that prevented him from being judged a criminal is committing the crime itself'.