Sansa Stark

Character and appearances

Sansa Stark is the second child and the elder of the two daughters born to Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Catelyn Stark, the ruling liege of the North. She was born and raised in Winterfell with an older brother Robb, a younger sister Arya, two younger brothers Bran and Rickon, and an older bastard half-brother Jon Snow. Through her mother, Sansa is also first cousin to Robert Arryn, the lord paramount of The Vale, and the niece of Edmure Tully, the lord paramount of the Riverlands. She was once betrothed to Crown Prince Joffrey Baratheon and is still legally married (though never consummated) to Tyrion Lannister by the end of A Dance with Dragons.

Raised as a noblewoman, Sansa embodies the traditional femininity stereotype expected by the Westerosi society and is widely praised as a courteous and lovable young maiden. Sansa has been described as tall, slim, womanly and classically beautiful, destined to be a lady or a queen. Inheriting from her mother, Sansa has the Tully features, blue eyes, high cheekbones, and thick auburn hair, but later has her hair dyed dark brown while hiding in the Vale under the guise of "Alayne Stone", the alleged bastard daughter of Petyr Baelish. Sansa's interests are music, poetry, and singing, and she excels in embroidery. She fantasizes about becoming like the damsels of romantic tales who will find a prince, knight, or gentleman to fall in love with. She once owned a direwolf cub named Lady, who was killed in place of Arya's direwolf Nymeria due to the latter having fled after attacking and wounding Crown Prince Joffrey.

Sansa is 11 years old at the beginning of A Game of Thrones and nearly 14 at the end of A Feast for Crows. The most naive of the Stark children at the start of the series, Sansa is smittened with her then-fiancé Joffrey and chooses to side with the treacherous Queen Cersei over her father, and is responsible for her father's political downfall and subsequent execution. She then finds herself abused by Joffrey and later is forced to marry Tyrion (who is also unwilling) as a pawn in the machinations of House Lannister's scheme to claim Winterfell. However, as the story progresses, she matures and becomes more of a strategic player in the political game.

Martin drew heavily from Elizabeth of York in the creation of Sansa’s character. Both Sansa and Elizabeth are noblewomen from the northern part of their realm and become the heir to their respective dynasties after the untimely death of their fathers and disappearance of their two younger brothers. This vaunted status makes them a key chess piece in the dynastic marriage game, although Elizabeth’s marriage grew to be a happy one unlike Sansa’s forced marriage to Tyrion Lannister. Physically, they resemble each other as well, being tall, red-headed and beautiful.

Storylines

Sansa is a prominent point-of-view character and had the sixth-most chapters by the end of the five published novels of the series. She is not present in the fifth book A Dance with Dragons, but a preview chapter of her narration has been released from the upcoming sixth book The Winds of Winter.

A Game of Thrones

When King Robert Baratheon visits Winterfell to see Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark, Sansa is happily betrothed to Crown Prince Joffrey Baratheon, still believing Joffrey to be a gallant prince akin to those she had been told and read as a younger child. Sansa and her sister, Arya, then travel with their father to the capital, King's Landing, where Eddard will assume the role of Hand of the King. While Joffrey and Sansa walk through the woods before their journey, Joffrey notices Arya sparring with a local butcher's boy, Mycah, using wooden swords. He then begins to torment the boy with a real sword. A fight erupts, and Arya's direwolf, Nymeria, attacks Joffrey after he threatens to hurt Arya. Sansa lies to King Robert about what happened to protect Joffrey. Since Arya has driven off her wolf to save her, Sansa's wolf, Lady, is killed instead, causing a rift between the Stark sisters.

During the Tourney of the Hand held in King's Landing to honour her father, Lord Eddard, Sansa is enchanted by the knights performing in the event. At the request of his mother, Queen Cersei Lannister, Joffrey spends a portion of the tourney with Sansa; near the end of the tourney, he commands his guard, Sandor "the Hound" Clegane, to take her back to her quarters. Sandor explains that his older brother, Gregor, pushed his face into a brazier of hot coals for playing with one of Gregor's wooden toys when they were young, causing the disfiguring scars that cover half of his head.

After Eddard uncovers the truth about Joffrey's paternity—that the Baratheon children by Cersei were actually fathered by Cersei's twin brother, Jaime Lannister, via incest—he tells Sansa that he is sending her and Arya back to Winterfell. Sansa is devastated and wants to stay in King's Landing, so she runs to Queen Cersei to inform her of her father's plans, giving Cersei the information she needs to prevent her and Arya's departure. After Robert's death and Ned's arrest by Cersei's forces on charges of treason—based on Ned's argument that the Iron Throne should pass to Robert's elder surviving brother, Lord Stannis Baratheon, not Joffrey, based on the law of succession—Sansa begs Joffrey to show mercy to her father. Joffrey agrees to honour her request if Ned swears an oath of fealty to him. However, he still beheads Ned publicly, forcing Sansa to watch. Thereafter, Sansa essentially becomes a hostage in King's Landing and finally accepts Joffrey's true, sadistic nature when he makes her gaze at her father's tarred head.

A Clash of Kings

Sansa remains a hostage in King's Landing and has learned to be outwardly loyal to King Joffrey to avoid severe physical abuse. At the celebration for Joffrey's name day (i.e., birthday), she ostensibly saves the life of Ser Dontos Hollard when he shows up late and inebriated, begging Joffrey to spare him, in turn winning Dontos's loyalty. Joffrey's guards routinely beat Sansa. After her brother wins a battle against Joffrey's maternal family, House Lannister, she is publicly beaten in the throne room and has her clothes torn. Tyrion Lannister, the black sheep of the family owing to his dwarfism, intervenes on her behalf, and Sandor Clegane gives her his cloak to cover herself. Later, Sandor Clegane saves Sansa from a riot in King's Landing.

During the Battle of Blackwater Bay, all of the highborn ladies in King's Landing seek refuge within a doubly secure, moated chamber within the Red Keep. There, Queen Cersei talks about her own life experiences with Sansa, then flees to the throne room with her other son, Tommen Baratheon, when the tide of the battle turns. This leaves Sansa to stay to give comfort to the ladies before retreating to her own quarters. There she finds Sandor Clegane, who offers to take her away from any imminent danger and the Lannisters themselves, which Sansa declines. When Sansa awakens, the battle is over. House Lannister has won, but her betrothal to Joffrey is soon ended so that he may marry Margaery Tyrell, whose family just helped turn the tide of battle, in a more beneficial political marriage. However, Joffrey informs Sansa that he will still have use for her when married, and to "expect a nightly visitor for a long while".

A Storm of Swords

In the third book, Sansa is invited to dine with Margaery and her grandmother, Olenna Redwyne of the Arbor. The two women seek to learn the true nature of Joffrey Baratheon now that he and Margaery are betrothed. In turn, Olenna suggests that Sansa should marry her grandson, Willas Tyrell, who is disabled and significantly older than Sansa. Sansa reveals the marriage plan to Ser Dontos, who warns her about the Tyrells; however, Sansa develops a close friendship with Margaery and is excited to become part of her family. However, when Tywin Lannister, patriarch of House Lannister, learns of the marriage plot, he schemes to have Sansa's brother Robb Stark killed, knowing that would leave Sansa to inherit Winterfell and the North. He then commands his son Tyrion to marry Sansa. Tyrion initially opposes the marriage but is eventually persuaded by the idea of becoming Lord of Winterfell, so he agrees to marry her.

Sansa wakes one morning to the shock of being fitted for a wedding gown—she is to wed Tyrion that same day in a forced marriage. Joffrey taunts her and, having killed her father, Ned, takes on the ceremonial role of giving her away to the groom as another humiliating display of control. Sansa ignores Tyrion and refuses to bend as he attempts to put his cloak around her, a wedding ceremony custom in Westeros. In turn, Joffrey commands Ser Dontos to act as a stool so that Tyrion can cloak his bride despite his short stature. At the banquet, Sansa dances with many lords who offer words of comfort, while Joffrey merely threatens to rape her. Tyrion intervenes and states his desire to castrate Joffrey. After the wedding ceremony, Tyrion chooses not to consummate the marriage due to Sansa's lack of desire in him. It is not long before many in King's Landing come to know that the marriage was never consummated.

Not long after Sansa's marriage, Joffrey and Margaery are wed, and afterward there is a grand feast. At the wedding, Joffrey is poisoned. As Joffrey begins to choke to death, Cersei orders both Tyrion and Sansa arrested, but Sansa manages to flee in the chaos. Once in her room, she gathers her belongings and notices that one of the amethysts from her hairnet, a gift from Ser Dontos, is missing. Sansa immediately realizes that the prince had been poisoned and starts to doubt Ser Dontos's supposed rescue plan. Understanding that she will be implicated in the murder of Joffrey, she chooses to flee King's Landing with the knight anyway. Ser Dontos is later killed by Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, who reveals that he is the mastermind behind nearly all of the capital intrigue. He reveals that he was the one who sent Dontos to her and that Olenna took the amethyst from Sansa's hairnet.

A Feast for Crows

After Lysa's death, Sansa becomes mistress of the Eyrie and still pretends to be Baelish's illegitimate daughter, Alayne Stone. Baelish successfully pacifies the lords of the Vale, who suspected Baelish's hand in Lysa's death. Afterwards, Baelish reveals to Sansa his plans to eventually marry her to the heir to the Vale, Harrold Hardyng, and his long-term plans to reveal her true identity and reclaim the North. Sansa serves as a motherly figure to the young Robert Arryn, caring for him after Lysa's death. By now, she has lost much of her naivety and trust in Baelish.

The Winds of Winter

A preview chapter titled "Alayne", having been removed from the published version of A Dance with Dragons in June 2010, was released on George R. R. Martin's website in March 2015. In the chapter, Sansa (in the guise of Alayne Stone) meets Harrold Hardyng, the handsome but arrogant cousin and heir presumptive of Robert Arryn, before a tourney. She also bumps into Ser Shadrich "Mad Mouse" of the Shady Glen, a bankrupt hedge knight who was previously encountered by Brienne of Tarth seeking rewards for finding Sansa. During the tourney feast, Sansa catches the affection of and dances with several young knights, including Harrold.

Adaptations

Media

Sansa appears in several adaptations of A Song of Ice and Fire. She is a main character for eight seasons of the HBO television series, Game of Thrones (2011—2019), and the graphic novel series, A Game of Thrones (2011—2014). She has also appeared in the video game Reigns: Game of Thrones (2018) based on the television series interpretation of the character.

In the television series, Sansa is adapted by D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. She first appears in the series two years older than her book counterpart, and her storyline diverges significantly from the fifth season onwards. However, there are also numerous differences from the beginning of the series. Izzy Meikle-Small auditioned for the role, the two finalists for the role were Small and Sophie Turner with the latter winning, Small said she was sad that she lost the role due to the show being massive but also said she was happy that she didn't get cast as she felt her parents wouldn't have approved the "flesh" of the show.

Television storylines

Sansa is first seen with Arya at Winterfell, during their embroidery lesson with Septa Mordane. Following the arrival of Robert Baratheon and his escort at Winterfell, he insists to Ned that Joffrey and Sansa should be married in order to join their houses. Sansa, who is desperate to leave Winterfell, begs Catelyn to make Ned agree to the engagement.

Joffrey is bitten by Arya's direwolf Nymeria while bullying Mycah the butcher's boy and Arya. Sansa, an eyewitness, claims to be ignorant of the event at the inquest. As retribution for Joffrey's injury, Cersei convinces Robert to have Sansa's direwolf, Lady, killed in place of the now-missing Nymeria.

After arriving at King's Landing, Sansa attends the Hand's Tourney where Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish tells Sansa and Arya the story behind Sandor "The Hound" Clegane's gruesome facial burns. As time passes, Sansa wears her hair like a southerner and is more flippant with Mordane, expressing fears she will fail to give Joffrey a male heir.

Following Ned's initial resignation as Hand of the King, Sansa is devastated to hear she must return to Winterfell. She likens Joffrey to a lion and says he is nothing like Robert Baratheon. This statement inspires Ned to investigate the Baratheon family line, prompting him to realise that Cersei's children are bastards fathered by her twin brother Jaime Lannister, not Robert Baratheon.

Following Robert's death and Ned's arrest for treason, all Stark servants in King's Landing are executed. Cersei exhorts Sansa to write Robb and Catelyn, imploring them to swear fealty to Joffrey. At court, Sansa pleads for her father's life; all agree on the condition Ned confesses his treason and swears fealty. Sansa is present at the Great Sept of Baelor and is horrified when Joffrey orders Ned's execution, fainting as Ned is beheaded.

Grieving the death of her father, Sansa is forced by Joffrey to look upon the spiked heads of both Ned and Septa Mordane. She begs to return home, but he informs Sansa that they are still to be married, and she will stay and obey. Joffrey promises to present Robb's head also, to which she retorts that Robb may give her Joffrey's head, instead. While on the catwalk, Sansa moves to push Joffrey to his death but is stopped by Sandor Clegane, who offers practical consoling advice.

Reception

As her storyline has progressed, Sansa has received critical scrutiny and praise for the development of her character and her emergence from a naive girl to a strong young woman. Rolling Stone ranked Sansa as No. 4 on a list of the "Top 40 Game of Thrones Characters", saying that Sansa is "often overlooked in favor of her killer kid sister", but that her "quiet, innate political shrewedness and emotional strength have enabled her to survive", and calling her "the show's best-kept secret". In The Wrap's ranking of the 48 best Game of Thrones main characters in the first five seasons, Sansa was ranked at No. 4, ahead of the more popular Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, and Tyrion Lannister, stating that "Sansa has been kind of great in Season 6, turning into the sort of badass we always hoped but never thought she actually could become".

Writing for Mic, Julianne Ross said that Sansa is "often cited as one of the most reviled characters on Game of Thrones", and "not coincidentally, she is also one of the most classically feminine characters on the show." Ross criticized the heavy hatred for Sansa, particularly in contrast to her sister Arya, opining that this is because "she doesn't fit the narrow 'strong female character' mold we're used to rooting for." In an MTV article, Crystal Bell regarded Sansa as the most relatable character in the series. "She's often despised for having no agency", Bell wrote, but she is hated for her passivity as a woman as it "denotes weakness" and "she is the epitome of femininity" in the series. Bell felt that Sansa's greatest strength is her "unwavering resilience".

Sansa received acclaim in Season 6 of the show, during which she began her quest to retake her family home and exact revenge on those who wronged her. Megan Garber of The Atlantic praised the show's decision to have Sansa be the one orchestrating Ramsay's death in "Battle of the Bastards", saying that "in the end, it was Sansa making the decisions about who would be the victim." Bennett Madison of Vanity Fair wrote: "As far back as King's Landing, Sansa's been quietly protecting herself ... learning how to game the system, and slithering through situations that would have gotten the best of the show's more flashy or impulsive characters." In "Battle of the Bastards", she was "defiantly, gloriously correct in her convictions" and "saved the day with her foresight and savvy".

In an interview with The New York Times, actress Sophie Turner said that "[Sansa is] no longer a pawn in anyone's game; she's no longer a prisoner...she's the one taking charge and doing her own thing, which is very exciting". Turner later told Time magazine about how gratifying it was to watch Sansa's development during Season 6 and defended the show on the criticism of its cruel treatment of women: "In my opinion, Game of Thrones is not sexist, and it's accurate to medieval time. The show puts social boundaries on the women, and they break out of these boundaries."

Controversy

In the episode "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken", Sansa's rape at Ramsay's hands was one of many subjects of controversy for the show's deviations from the books. The majority of professional criticism concerned the showrunners' decision to have Ramsay rape Sansa, with most critics describing the scene as gratuitous and artistically unnecessary. "This grim scene was difficult for the show to justify," said Charlotte Runcie of The Daily Telegraph. Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair added, "this rape scene undercuts all the agency that’s been growing in Sansa since the end of last season. [...] I’d never advocate that Game of Thrones (or any work of fiction) shy away from edgy plots out of fear of pushback or controversy. But edgy plots should always accomplish something above pure titillation or shock value and what, exactly, was accomplished here?" Christopher Orr wrote in The Atlantic, "I continue to be astonished that showrunners Benioff and Weiss still apparently believe that their tendency to ramp up the sex, violence, and—especially—sexual violence of George R.R. Martin’s source material is a strength rather than the defining weakness of their adaptation." Myles McNutt of The A.V. Club wrote, "The issue with the show returning to rape as a trope is not simply because there have been thinkpieces speaking out against it, and is not solely driven by the rational concerns lying at the heart of those thinkpieces. It’s also that the show has lost my faith as a viewer." Writers from Vanity Fair, The Mary Sue and The Daily Beast all disapproved of the decision to use Sansa's victimization as a motivating agent for Theon, saying that the scene undermined Sansa's character development: "Was it really important to make that scene about Theon's pain?" wrote Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair.

Other critics responded positively to the scene. Sean T. Collins of Rolling Stone wrote: "[B]y involving a multidimensional main character instead of one introduced primarily to suffer, the series has a chance to grant this story the gravity and seriousness it deserves. Sarah Hughes of The Guardian wrote: "I have repeatedly made clear that I’m not a fan of rape as a plot device—but the story of Ramsay and Sansa’s wedding was more than that. [...] The writers are walking a very fine line here. They handled it well tonight, telling a gothic tale of innocence sacrificed". Alyssa Rosenberg of The Washington Post wrote that the scene "managed to maintain a fine balance, employing a dignity and care for the experiences of victims that Game of Thrones has not always demonstrated."

Some critics questioned why this scene in particular should generate outrage when similar scenes have not. Sara Stewart of the New York Post pointed out that the rape and sexual abuse of both female and male characters is typical for Game of Thrones: "Why are we suddenly so outraged about the rape of Sansa Stark, when this show has served up a steady diet of sexual assault and violence against women since its first season began?" Cathy Young of Reason magazine, writing in Time noted what she calls a lack of complaint in response to the sexual mistreatment of male characters in earlier seasons, specifically the literal emasculation of Theon Greyjoy and the sexual assault of Gendry.

Recognition and awards

Sophie Turner has received several award nominations for her portrayal of Sansa including an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2019. For her performance in the series she earned the Glamour Award for Best UK TV Actress in 2016 and 2017, and an EWwy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2016. Other nominations include the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series by a Supporting Young Actress in 2012, and the EWwy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2015.