Sansa Stark Is Tragically Misunderstood

This video will focus on Sansa's A Game of Thrones (book 1) development.

Calling Sansa stupid, is really misdiagnosing the intention behind her role in the story.

Sansa Stark is unlike every character in ASOIAF. And in most stories this would be considered one of the best things about a character to make them more compelling or fascinating. Sadly, in this story, Sansa Stark is uniquely unremarkable and some fans hate her character.

Lets start by elaborating on that a little bit:

1 Sansa has what you could call a princess complex, she’s almost the embodiment of a stereotypical perfect girl. She does mostly as she is told. She follows her manners and courtesies almost professionally. It is clear early in the first book or in the show that Sansa has put an emphasis on becoming the very best Lady - as in a Lady in regards to a high born daughter of a noble lord.

Sansa makes her dresses, speaks appropriately, performs her curtsys and is always shown to do what is expected of her. Whenever she is scolded, it can be characterized as no more than typical teenage girl antics. Sansa is the epitome of expectations. And while this serves the character well enough, there’s a disconnect from the reader or the audience. People find Sansa boring. She simply meets the expectation, and nothing more. And well, that’s kind of the point. While Sansa would never be able to carry a story on her own with her origin story, the benefit of her character being attached to a much larger story allows the audience to tolerate the Sansa chapters until their favorite character’s POV comes along in the pages that follow.

Here’s the thing, as the rest of this fascinating story takes place around Sansa, something begins to shift as you near the end of the first book. Sansa becomes more interesting, more self aware, at times she does begin to question if she’s simply just reciting the fancy words that her Septa has instructed her to recite. Sansa has no agency. But there are flickers of something more independent occurring within Sansa.

#gameofthrones #sansastark #georgerrmartin

[itsmainelyyou]

She is a little girl. In modern terms a seventh grader. A middle schooler. What was she to do? My heart broke for her. She was resilient and became a formidable woman in the face of endless atrocities and trauma. There are few characters as strong in the end as Sansa.

[faisalkamal]

I believe naive is the word not stupid

[axelsmith]

I believe most people hate 'passive' characters like Sansa because they secretly know they'd act the same if in the same situation even if they wished they could act more like Arya or Brienne. Most of us are delusional and weak, when our livelihood is threatened and become pissed, when faced with our flaws... a bit like Tywin with Tyrion.

[WhitneyAllisonGG]

I don't hate Sansa Stark. Sansa is a product of the world she lives in Westeros. Sansa is growing up and changes what happens to her. Sansa still use her courtesy as a shield and it is now a weapon. I see her growing as a player and she learning how to play.

[lemonadelemon]

Sansa stark is exactly what her name entails. A stark. Daughter of the most noble man in Westeros. She does what is expected because that was essentially what meant her survival. That is until she was dragged to kings landing. Then, she needed to do what a girls gotta do. RUN!

[alicianieto]

Arya or most other characters, in Sansha's hostage position, would not have survived half a year. Sansha's courtesy and grey rocking are quite instrumental

[ginathedreamer]

Great video! I was super disappointed to find out how much the fandom generally dislikes Sansa. When I first read the books she was the most relatable and I found myself always worried about her. When Lady died that seemed liked it could have been foreshadowing that Sansa wasn’t going to make it to the end of the series. But I thought it became obvious as the story went on that she isn’t just a pawn, she is THE pawn. That unassuming piece being moved by others this way and that across the board to eventually be crowned Queen.

[tathoiclassicalindianbollywood]

Sansa is also 12 or at best 13 (even in the show, despite the age of the actress, she only get her first blood in season 2). She's a literal child with dreams of a prince and a fairytale ending. Now, before anyone saying Arya is younger or Robb is 15 in the books, and John's 17 - well, I feel they are all playing into their own little fairytale story of their situation, except Sansa's one was the most unlikely and rags-to-riches of them all.

Robb was always going to be the Lord of Winterfell, eventually. With Ned imprisoned, he suddenly get to be that. He was always going to be the hero of his own little medieval prince story - the dashing, brilliant young man who conquers lands, fells his enemies, brings justice and gets to have a princess. That was ultimately his downfall - he was cosplaying the hero, and fell straight for the romantic side-quest when a rational adult may have skipped that and focused on the main quest even if it meant marrying Frey's daughter.

John was also always meant to take the black. It was clear from the conversation when asks, as that's the best he could have in the world he was in. He was never gonna be allowed to be a full Stark (no matte whaat Robb said) or even a Stark bannerman like Bran or Rikon (I realise now that I have no idea how spell his name as I am listening to the audiobook). He knew he would find a family and brotherhood in the Watch.

Only Sansa was never meant to be a prospective Queen. She was destined to be a lady, most likely to a Stark bannerman and hawked off in a political marriage like her mother and aunt. If she was lucky, she would get an honourable man like her father, although still she would be the lady of a minor house. Or worse, marry someone significantly older like her aunt Lysa to Jon Arryn. The fact that she had relatively visually attractive, right age for her prince being engaged to her, was the most dream come true. For Sansa, the marriage to Jofferey was what every y/n fanfiction with Jofferey as One Direction and Sansa as well herself.

[Meggimagine]

Just like the direwolf in the first episode or the stag being gutted by Tywin Lannister in ep. 7, Lady being killed on Cersei's orders foreshadows Sansa's loss of innocence for me. I also want to believe that Ned being the one to do the deed also foreshadows that HIS death is what shatters Sansa's innocence, but I could be reading too far into this :)

[Jenable]

Sansa was raised to be a lady. She's the dutiful child who does what her parents and the septa teach her to do. She's also a young girl. What really annoys me is when she uses these skills for her survival she's still shit on and called useless. She stood up and pleaded for her dad in court, which sounds terrifying. Later when John leaves to meet Dany, Sansa takes over and runs Winterfell, seems pretty good at it, which makes sense considering her upbringing, and people take her enjoying that positas her trying to take Johns place. She was the heir apparent to Winterfell for quite some time since everyone thought Bran an Rickon were dead. Why would she not ever think of herself to fit that position? She literally got married twice because she was their heir to Winterfell.

[harpereloise]

The thing to remember is: Sansa wasn't stupid or wilfully naive. Everything Sansa did - moulding herself into the perfect lady, she did to make her family proud.

Both Ned Stark and the fandom should be thankful she doesn't have the temper of Arya or Isabela Madrigal.

[octavianpopescu]

I know it's a hot take, but, hear me out, don't throw those stones at me yet 😀, but I'm going to say it: I like Sansa. I liked her in both the show and the books. Why? Because of her resilience. There are a lot of characters that grow cynical and dark under the pressure they're subjected to, they turn to killing or grow ruthless. But if anything, while the abuse she's subjected to does take its toll on her, she still maintains, in the books at least, her principles. It would have been easy for her to break and become Cersei 2, but she doesn't do that. Yes, as Alayne, she learns to be more calculating, but she still has basic decency and kindness in her that other characters have lost, drawn into the game, playing the game. And yes, I will say it: I like her more than Arya. Arya, in my view is less badass cool assassin and more broken little girl going down a very dark path. The story in the books of Ser Soldier illustrates that she's not well at all, mentally. Last, but not least, Sansa is 11-13 years old in the books. A lot of the reasoning critics expect of her is grown up logic and savvy. We should be more lenient in judging her. Ok, you may now throw your stones. 😀

[ljb]

I love seeing fresh videos on ASOIAF. Yours are really thoughtful and well done. Thanks for continuing to produce them!

[VersieKilgannon]

What I've come to understand from the fandom is that a lot of male fans hate Sansa simply for existing and not just being redheaded Arya... Sansa is more nuanced than those fans want to explore... Sansa is actually one of my favorite characters on the show because her time in King's Landing reminds me of what my life was like as a kid. I relate to her helplessness and inexperience that give way to harsh realities

[renataroshu]

There's a scene in the first season I really like, when the north men start being slaughtered and sansa's septa figures it out and tells her to run. Sansa does this very girly, elegant jog. The people I was watching with laughed at it or were annoyed at how "useless" she is, but I found it tragic. She is so brainwashed into performing femininity correctly that even when she runs FOR HER LIFE she can't overwrite her manners (or the alternative interpretation, she is so caught up in her ideal fantasy that she cannot believe anyone would actually kills or hurt her so she doesn't put effort into running)

[diablorose]

Sansa does NOT defy her father Ned rejected her avoided her and taught her HARSHLY that the crowns wishes are above actual justice... HE KILLED LADY, He had multiple informats on Joff's awful character but he still did as the king asked and betrothed Sansa to him THEN DID NOTHING TO PROTECT OR PREPARE HER... it's the same way with Jon finding out what the Wall really is... Ned might have been honorable by westeros standards but he was willfully ignorant and a bad father

[morgan]

Sansa was shown, by Ned, to always defer to the royals. Ned did that by killing Lady. He never told her what was going on. She didnt do anything wrong. And speaking about the Lady incident, Sansa might not even have been playing dumb. Joff had plied her with wine, and she was only 11. She might legit not remember properly. She's shown her character growth, risks everything to warn Margery about Joff, saves Dontos, thinks about and prays for Jon, and Arya. She even imagines eventually having a family and daughters who look and act like Arya and she WANTS that. If that's not proof of love and care idk what is. Im very curious to see where her character goes in WoW. I dont think she will let Littlefinger corrupt her kindness. She might be the one to unravel everything and bring forth the truth.

[shewearsfunnyhat]

Her father did not take the time to explain things to Sansa. I think that was a big mistake.

[laurashortill]

Sansa going to Cersei reminds me of Ariel the Disney little mermaid (she sees her prince once, rescues him once, and when her father confronts her and tells her it’s an impossiblity, she insists “I don’t care” and “daddy I love him!”). Sansa knows it’s wrong to disobey her fatger, but thinks she and Joff are the romantic heroes of the story and their true love must prevail. In her mind, the disobedience is just a plot beat that will culminate in a happy ending. And if you grew up on fairy tales, what other ending would you expect?

[RunningRonnie]

I'll be honest, I was irritated by Sansa during the first season of the show. Furthermore, I did not have much hope for this character, as all seemed, she would be used as some kind of punching bag whenever the writers needed some pity from their audiences, but the further the story went on, the more I started caring for this character. What people sometimes forget (and what is probably a bit more pronounced in the books) is that Sansa does everything "right", in the sense that she acts according to the norms she grew up around and her own inner convictions. She lies about the fight between Joffrey and Arya, because as a Lady, you are supposed to stand at the side of your betrothed. She ridicules Arya for being a tomboy because an older sister should be a model for the younger one. She pleads to Joffrey to pardon her father, because according to the stories and values she heard as a young child, a woman’s word should be the emotional and spiritual guidance of her man.
I feel, as most characters in this show express power through political tactics, physical strength or sharp words, Sansa’s biggest power is somewhat overlooked: her emotional intelligence in the way she becomes able to read people’s intention and display humility and helplessness in a situation where every false word could be the trigger of her captors to finish her off. I’m reading a lot of comments in this threat saying that most people would have reacted similar to Sansa in her situation. Honestly, I slightly disagree. When you think of scenes like Sansa saving Ser Dontos from Joffrey by persuading him, it would be bad luck to kill someone on his name-day, you can actually see hints of how quick-witted this girl can be, despite being under constant threat. I doubt, most people (me included) would suffer through Joffrey’s tormenting and still have the guts to manipulate that brat into sparing someone’s life.