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Entertainment July 11, 2017
Better with age. Right?
Sansa Stark in the “Game of Thrones” pilot, “Winter Is Coming,” is an annoying teenager.
She’s mean to her tomboy sister, idolizes her mother and drools over the prince. After season one ended with her father’s head on a pike, things went downhill quickly. The girl couldn’t seem to catch a break. *spoilers for “Game of Thrones”*
Sansa clung for a long time to her no-longer-valid ideation of humanity. Every act of cruelty against the Stark girl hardened her, so that today Sansa Stark is winning battles and feeding men to the dogs. But there’s still more to come for Ned Stark’s eldest pup.
Here are some predictions for what could possibly be to come.
Reason Numero Uno for this is that Sophie Turner has been saying in interviews that Sansa is embracing a darker side. We all cheered when she let Ramsay Bolton’s (Iwan Rheon) dogs snack on him. (Even if we cringed while she watched for an eerily long time.) But that could just be the beginning of Sansa’s descent into darkness.
Sansa has always had a desire for power, beginning with her infatuation with the idea of being a queen. In the show and the book, Sansa’s early arc is very similar to her one-time prospective Mother-in-Law Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). Sansa ending up as a cold-hearted killer would be a 180 from her meek start. Here are some ways we could see that progress:
At the start of the newest trailer for “Game of Thrones,” Sansa Stark is seen walking through what appears to be the Godswood of Winterfell, recalling creepy AF Littlefinger’s whispers. He’s talking about fighting battles in the mind. And Sansa moves her eyes shiftily as she continues her stroll. The idea that she would betray Jon is pretty feasible, especially now that we know that sad puppy Jon is a Targaryen.
Sansa always had trouble accepting Jon as her brother, mostly due to her mother’s intense hatred of him. (The reason I never liked Catelyn Stark. Even if Ned was Jon’s father, the boy didn’t do anything.) But at this point, Jon is the only family that Sansa has and that’s basically the only thread holding them together. If Bran and Arya make it back, and the chances of that are high, Sansa will have her real siblings.
Bran is actually the incumbent Lord of Winterfell, but would most likely be unable to perform his duties because of time traveling. That would leave Sansa pitted against Jon for the title. And with the added information that Jon is just her cousin, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sansa becomes more inclined to listen to Littlefinger’s whispers against Jon. At the end of the trailer, Sansa says “the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.” Jon has always been the lone wolf.
In the book version of “Game of Thrones,” Catelyn dies with Robb at the Red Wedding. But then flaming sword-wielding Beric Dondarrion and his happy crew of R’hllor find Catelyn on a river bank. Beric gives up his life to bring Cat back with a little lord of light magic.
But Cat isn’t quite all there. The trauma of what’s happened to her has coagulated into a deep hatred for anyone remotely involved. And she begins a long vendetta against those who have wronged the Starks.
The show has steered away from that storyline, but there’s a possibility that they could still include it. Cat is long gone but Sansa could serve as a perfectly good replacement. She’s grown harsher from her family’s trauma.
And she’s harboring desire for revenge against all of the people who have wronged and decimated her family. The Hound has been in love with Sansa since season one and it’s not hard to believe he would give his life up for hers or convince Beric to do so.
Westeros is a land based on patriarchal pattern of succession, which means even though Sansa would be the eldest living heir to the lordship of Winterfell, she’s still ineligible for it. This might lead Sansa to marry someone in order to take the helm.
Likely possibilities for the lucky groom include Jon (who is now her cousin instead of her brother, so less gross? No.) and internationally repulsing power hungry creep Littlefinger. Because of the way Sansa’s arc differs in the show, there are a few different candidates in the books as well.
And who knows? She might fall in love. That always works out well on “GoT!”
Some people seem to think that Sansa is going to kick the proverbial bucket, especially after what Maisie Williams said at SXSW. She isn’t exactly devoid of enemies. If a rift opens up between her and Jon, you can rest assured that the people of the North will takes sides. And the vast majority would probably end up on Jon’s side, since they’re backing him as king.
Littlefinger has always had his own ulterior motives and it’s entirely possible that despite his obsession with young Sansa Stark, he could kill her in pursuit of power. There’s always a greater desire.
This is unlikely in my opinion, just because I feel like Sansa is the most powerful Stark politically. Arya and Bran are still too young to actually do anything. And the Starks in general are no Lady Mormont’s when it comes to political prowess at any age. Jon has no idea how to use his listening ears, which is what got him into trouble during the Battle of the Bastards.
Sansa’s the only Stark capable of running Winterfell and “There must always be a Stark in Winterfell.” Plus, Littlefinger likes to keep his options open, so having a pal ruling Winterfell would make a lot of sense.
All the kerfuffle about Williams’ comments seem more feasibly attributed to not remembering wigs exist.
A lot might be up in the air about the young wolf, but one thing’s for sure. Sansa Stark is going to be a MAJOR player when “Game of Thrones” returns to HBO THIS SUNDAY, July 16.
