Ah, Game of Thrones. A chapter of my life that I have long since revisited several times – but you want to know what has changed? My perception of Sansa Stark.
Let me preface this by saying that the world of A Song of Ice and Fire has plenty of characters that you either grow to hate or grow to love. Sansa was undoubtedly one of those for me. Ever since I began watching the show back in 2016, and watched it through the end, I never had the fondest thoughts about good old Lady Stark.
But, I recently rewatched Game of Thrones for fun, and as I did, I slowly began to realize that how I viewed Sansa, as an annoying little girl at first, had changed completely.
Maybe it was because my frontal lobe was fully developed at the time, and I finally had the sense to think about what the character had gone through. Even so, here I was…coming to a shocking realization that Sansa really…isn’t that bad. Like at all. And people need to stop hating her.
Before We Dig Into The Character – Sophie Turner Was Fantastic As Sansa Throughout The Show
So, let’s start off by saying that I love Sophie Turner with all my heart. I have so much respect for anyone in the Game of Thrones cast, but I have even more major respect for the young men and women who began this show as children and turned into formidable actors by the end of it, yet still delivered a performance in their younger years that is nearly impossible to beat.
Turner is one of those actors. While I do have a particular love for her, considering she’s rooted for Penn State, my alma mater, in the past, we’re talking solely about her acting skills here, and she knocked it out of the park from day one. Watching her when she was a teenager, playing a younger Sansa with that quiver and shake in her voice – it’s hard to portray that kind of emotion at such a young age.
You can’t help but respect her. Honestly, I’ll support anything she does in the future with that amount of acting skill.
Let’s Begin By Saying I Used To Hate Sansa
Alright, now that I’ve finished praising Turner, let’s dig into Sansa.
I absolutely hated her when I was younger. And I think I know why. When I first watched this show, only six seasons were available, and while Sansa had gone through a lot in those six seasons, it wasn’t really until later seasons that we started to see that shift with her from a highborn lady to a natural leader.
Then I had to wait years for the next two seasons, and I think, like D&D, that I just forgot everything she had gone through. Watching this series consistently without breaks in content allowed me to fully digest her insane character arc and how much she had survived.
But before I had that, I couldn’t stand her. I thought she was just a privileged little lady who had everything in life and just wanted more and more. Personally, Season 1 Sansa is still that way, even on a rewatch, but boy…now, as an adult, everything changes in Season 2.
Season 2 Is Where Things Began To Change
Season 2 is where we really start to see Sansa fighting for her life. Her father has been killed in one of the most shocking Game of Thrones moments ever, and her brother is now warring with the Lannisters. This is the moment we see her forced to grow up.
It takes time. A lot of time. But she’s forced to play the Game of Thrones in a way that we haven’t really seen – from the inside out, trying to look as potentially loyal as possible while attaining allies who could maybe help her escape, such as Margaery, but that doesn’t come until Season 3. We see her genuinely starting to realize the situation she has gotten herself into.
Her privileged attitude really begins to go right out the window. Seasons 3 and 4 put this mentality to the test, where she does exactly as she’s told to do to survive, but in Season 5…it all changes again.
Season 5 As An Adult Made Me Want To Save Her Myself And Give Her A Home
I don’t want to spend that much time on Sansa’s story in Season 5. It’s disgusting and heartbreaking, and it makes adult-me want to sob every time I watch it. When I was younger, watching this was saddening but not nearly as enraging it was now, realizing just how much this young woman had dealt with.
Then, Ramsay had to come along and ruin everything. I’ve seen some horrible things said about this scene online, and all I want to say is that no matter what Sansa has said or done in the past, she never deserved what happened to her. I was forever grateful when Theon was able to get her out of the castle. Truthfully, now, it made me want to give her a home, too. No one should ever have to go through that.
I Never Realized Just How Badass She Was Until Season 6
Season 6 is probably one of my favorite seasons of Game of Thrones for various reasons, but now, rewatching it, I realize it’s the moment Sansa really started to become a leader. While she doesn’t know anything about battle strategy, she has the mind of the nobles that she was forced to reside with for years on end on her side.
She uses that to her advantage, and helps Jon Snow gain allies in order to fight Ramsey. Not only that, but she pulls a fast one and gets the army of the Vale to end the Battle of the Bastards real quick. Do you know how badass she looks as she stands there, watching as Ramsey and his men are taken down? Ugh, utter revenge; sweet revenge.
Honestly, She Deserves The Ending She Got After Everything She Went Through And How She's Grown
I still don’t necessarily agree with how we ended some stories for Season 8 and the overall Game of Thrones ending. There are some things I still don’t agree with to this day, and even rewatching it reminds me of how much I don’t agree with them.
However, I’ve grown to realize that Sansa deserves the title of Queen in the North. She really did everything that she could do to get her home back and show that the Starks deserve to stay in the North, showing a complete turnaround from what she was as a child – a needy lady who wanted to go south to King’s Landing.
Sure, she can’t fight. She’s not a warrior. She doesn’t have dragons, or direwolves anymore to use as weapons. But she has her mind. She’s a capable young woman who grew up in probably some of the most traumatizing ways a girl can imagine…and for that, she earns my utmost respect, and I would support her in a heartbeat.
I still think Daenerys should have become queen, that she and Sansa could have worked something out that didn't seem so quickly done like with Bran because, of course, it was. Still, even so, I’m glad that at least one of the mighty women that I adored throughout this series got the ending they deserved.
While Game of Thrones is long over, House of the Dragon Season 3 is coming in a few years, and who knows? I might end up liking a character there just as much as I like Sansa now. But, perhaps another Game of Thrones rewatch is needed before we decide on that. Regardless, she’ll always be my Queen in the North.
