The Lady Of Winterfell | In Sansas Dreams, Her Children Looked Just Like The Brothers She Had Lost. Sometimes

The Lady of Winterfell | “ In Sansa’s dreams, her children looked just like the brothers she had lost. Sometimes there was even a girl who looked like Arya…”

I don't think GRRM hates Sansa but more in the like of he despises what Sansa as a character represents in AGOT .

Hello Anon,

Martin doesn't hate Sansa, that's for sure.

And I don't think that he despises her character's position in AGOT either.

Tbh, I don't know what exactly you mean by what her character represents in AGOT? So I'll try to assume.

Do you mean naive and romantic girl who wants to become a queen? Who was in kind of denial to achieve her Disney princess dreams?

Let's look at his thoughts about romantic ideals:

He was asked or mentioned most of the stuff that's already been covered, but one thing he talked about that I found particularly interesting was Romanticism. He said that he is a romantic, in the classical sense. He said the trouble with being a romantic is that from a very early age you keep having your face smashed into the harshness of reality. That things aren't always fair, bad things happen to good people, etc. He said it's a realists world, so romantics are burned quite often. This theme of romantic idealism conflicting with harsh reality is something he finds very dramatic and compelling, and he weaves it into his work. Specifically he mentioned that the Knight exemplifies this, as the chivalric code is one of the most idealistic out there, protection of the weak, paragon of all that is good, fighting for truth and justice. The reality was that they were people, and therefore could do horrible cruel things, rape, pillage, wanton killing, made all the more striking or horrifying because it was in complete opposition to what they were "supposed" to be. Really interesting stuff. [SSM 2005]

As you can see, Martin faced what Sansa faced in Agot in his life... So I doubt that he can despise her for what she represents because she represents a part of himself. And this is not just Sansa you know.. we see this in characters like Samwell, Brienne, Jon, Young Jaime etc. He doesn't despise what she represents in AGOT, in contrary he works on this in his books and he makes this one of the central themes of the series.

I found this passage in an article and I want to share it here:

This first paper tackled “Disney Medievalism” by examining the way in which authors like George R.R. Martin smash the traditional fantasy genre with “gritty” medieval realism. Martin takes the reader through this process with Sansa Stark, a character who represents this notion of the “idealised medieval” i.e., knights, fair ladies, chivalry and camp merriment at every turn. Martin destroys Sansa and the reader’s fantasy of the medieval through constantly forcing her into real life situations as far from her perceived ideal as possible.

[...]

“Disney Medievalism” descends from Victorian medievalism. Disney medievalism is for children and Martin’s work breaks from that and is purposely written for adults. Martin sets up situations and characters to show his audience that his books will not be the usual Disney trope common with most fantasy series.

[...]

Sansa struggles to digest this cruel reality and eventually realises that life is not a song. She finally starts to see that her vision of life is immarture just before the Battle of Blackwater however, she still acts like a lady even if her circumstances aren’t ideal. It’s her way of clinging to a vestige of the idealised world she craves.

[...]

Martin’s work is often shocking to fans who come from reading traditional fantasy novels. He writes to portray the realities of the human condition, not the idealised Victorian medievalism that is rampant in most fantasy tales. While he is smashing the mould, he still gives the reader hope that virtue is not entirely out of reach for Sansa and Jamie, it comes from within, not from romaticised ideals, songs and fairly tales.

source

I think this article was on point enough. Sansa faces the harsh reality but Martin still shows the gleams of hope that come from inner romantic ideals. Martin crashes her world view but not her spirit. He makes sure that her weakness AND strength come from the same romantic ideals. She is not wrong to have those ideals... she just needs to face the reality to know better and still hold on to that ideals to make her statement against the world. This is a very powerful message. I hope I managed to explain it well.

BUT do I think he was wrong to write her in less sympathetic light? Yes I do, I can see that he wanted to make readers see her as a mean older sister to Arya "on the surface".

Do I think he made her face the harsh reality too much? Yes I do... she is the only character who can't catch a break. He made her face the same reality over and over again by keep writing perverts molesting her and etc.

And do I think he doesn't examine her inner struggles enough? Yes I do... He doesn't examine the reasons of her so called betrayal to her father enough... he doesn't examine her bitterness towards her family/abusers enough and so many other things.

SO I do believe that he uses her to represent one of the most important themes of the series but when it comes to her as a character he owes her a lot.

BUT he doesn't hate her. And he doesn't despise her. He just failed to utilize her character and he made some mistakes by writing her in bad light sometimes but that's all.

Thanks for the ask. Have a nice day.

saera

Lady Dyanna Dayne

Me faltaba dibujarla con el cabello de su hijo mayor que seguro heredó de ella y tan pocas artes Tendría 30 años, no sé mucho más y tampoco creo que sea el autor xd

pearl veil, found here (♡)

Catelyn in the Godswood

I had the privilege of doing my take on Catelyn Stark last year for FFG’s upcoming Game of Thrones LCG, 2nd Edition.