Asoiaf Sansa - Tumblr Posts
lydia bennet-19th century sansa stark
Poor Lydia. Her dreams were realized, but, unlike Sansa Stark, she never recognized they were nightmares too. Sansa and Lydia were beauties who insulted their sisters for not adhering to societal standards. Sansa grew exasperated with Arya's boyishness and called her a horseface. Lydia snarks about Wickham's previous love interest and insults Mary's performance. Sansa, however, quickly gets bitten in the butt by the standards she revered. Numerous tragedies, such as the Battle of the Blackwater and Joffrey's abuse, force Sansa to confront how women's conformity only leaves them at the mercy of others.
By contrast, Lydia seems to be rewarded for fitting into society's mold. She and Wickham are deep into the honeymoon phase when they get married. By the end of Pride and Prejudice, she still doesn't know about Wickham's manipulativeness. Lydia even gloats about her marriage to Wickham, seeing no issue with her actions. Slowly but surely, reality sinks in. In the epilogue, Lydia and Wickham move frequently, saddled by debts. Lydia isn't great at managing her money, but Wickham is expected to provide a living income. Even if she were a financial mastermind, Lydia's livelihood would still be hurt by Wickham's inability to manage money. However, the Wickhams are always cushioned from the consequences of their mismanagement. Sadly, it seems like Lydia will always remain blinded to the issues within her society.
sansa stark appreciation month: day 1 women
“margaery’s kindness had been unfailing, and her presence changed everything. her ladies welcomed sansa as well. it has been so long since she has enjoyed the company of other women, she had almost forgotten how pleasant it can be.”
“the kitchen yielded no lemon cakes,but they did find a half of a cold strawberry pie, and that was almost just as good. they ate it on the tower steps, giggling and gossiping and telling secret”
“i must be as strong as my lady mother”
“she never knew why she got to her feet, but she did. don’t be afraid, she told them loudly. the queen has raised the drawbridge this is the safest place in the city”
sansa stark appreciation month day 3 religion
“sansa favored her mother’s gods over her father’s. she loved the statues, the pictures in leaded glass, the fragrance of burning incense, the septons and their robes and crystals, the magical play of rainbows over alters inlaid with mother-of-pearl and onyx and lapis lazuli. yet she could not deny that the godswood had a certain power too.” -sansa II acok
“they tell me you visit the godswood every day. what do you pray for sansa?, i pray for robb’s victory, joffrey’s, and to go home. for winterfell” -sansa III acok
sansa stark appreciation month : day 4 family
“i’ll give him sons, he may come to love me, she would name them eddard and brandon and rickon. in sansa’s dreams her children always looked like the brothers she lost, sometimes there was even a girl who looked like arya”- sansa II asos
“i must be as strong as my lady mother”-sansa V agot
“she had last seen snow the day she’d left winterfell. that was a lighter fall then this, she remembered, robb has melting snowflakes in his hair when he hugged me, and the snowball arya tried coming apart in her hands” - sansa VII asos
sansa stark appreciation month day 5 hope and dreams
“sansa sat up. lady, she whispered. for a moment it was if the direwolf was there in the room with her, looking at her with those golden eyes, sad and knowing. she had been dreaming, she realized. lady was with her, and they were running together, and trying to remember was like catching rain with her fingers. the dream faded and lady was dead again.” -sansa agot III
“she could feel the snow on her lashes, taste it on her lips. It was the taste of Winterfell. the taste of innocence. the taste of dreams.” - sansa asos VII
sansa stark appreciation month day 6 skills
“sansa could sew and dance and sing. she wrote poetry. she knew how to dress. she played the high harp and the bells.”- agot arya I
sansa appreciation month day 10 : prophecies
“i dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair ,venom dripping from their fangs later i dreamt the maid again slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow”
sansa stark appreciation month day 11 :parallels/anti parallels
“another lesson you shall learn, if you hope to sit beside my son. be gentle on a night like this and you’ll have treasons popping up all about like mushrooms after a hard rain. the only way to keep your people loyal is to make certain they fear you more then they do enemy”, “i will remember your grace said sansa, though she has heard to love was a surer route to the people’s loyalty to fear. if i’m ever queen i’ll make them love me” - sansa VI acok
sansa stark appreciation month day 19 : leadership
"lord robert is feeling stronger," alayne told the serving women. "fetch hot water for his bath, but see you don't scald him. and do not pull on his hair when you brush out the tangles, he hates that." one of the squires sniggered, until she said, "terrance, lay out his lordship's riding clothes and his warmest cloak. gyles, you may clean up that broken chamber pot." -alayne II affc
“lancel's hair had turned white and brittle, and he was thin as a stick. without his father beside him holding him up, he would surely have collapsed. yet when sansa praised his valor and said how good it was to see him getting strong again, both lancel and ser kevan beamed. she would have made joffrey a good queen and a better wife if he'd had the sense to love her” - tyrion viii asos
“sansa went to ser lancel and knelt beside him. his wound was bleeding afresh where the queen had struck him. "madness," he gasped. "gods, the Imp was right, was right . . ."
"help him," sansa commanded two of the serving men, together, sansa and the serving man got the wounded knight back on his feet. "take him to maester frenken." lancel was one of them, yet somehow she still could not bring herself to wish him dead. I am soft and weak and stupid, just as Joffrey says. -sansa vi acok
sandor is still an old man who needs to stay away from sansa.
“You look almost a woman … face, teats, and you’re taller too, almost … ah, you’re still a stupid little bird, aren’t you?” he made like this comment towards a 11-12 year old. don’t even get me started on him telling arya about how he wished to assault her. if you honestly ship sansa with him i don’t trust you.
Perhaps the most weapons-grade stupid anti argument is, “If you ship Sansa with an old man, you’re not a real Sansa fan and even less so if he's disabled in some way” because it’s such low hanging fruit and ableist and gross.
I assume that many of these people self-insert themselves into Sansa’s place and thus react to Sansa’s canon pairings as if they themselves were presented with those options. (For the record, if a Sandor Clegane-type man shows up at their door, they can certainly send him my direction and I will take him off their hands and into mine 😏)
It’s not inherently wrong to identify with a character. In fact, one of GRRM’s strengths as a writer is writing compelling characters who are flawed and dimensional. But trying to police what parts of a character and character arc constitute being a “real fan” is even more laughable than just engaging in a good ol’ fashioned ship war.
And what’s ironic is that these are the same people who ignore and trivialize the canon basis of SanSan and Sandor's role in her character arc. Notice I said nothing about them being end game here. I simply acknowledge that they both had a meaningful impact on each other.
So, tell me again who’s the TrUe FaN—the people who read the books and correctly comprehended Sansa’s arc and how other characters impacted it or the people who try to shoehorn their teenage heartthrob fantasies onto a fictional character and get mad when that shoe doesn't fit.
“she was," eddard stark agreed, "beautiful, and willful, and dead before her time." -arya II agot
“sansa wondered. vainly, she searched for friendly faces. not one of them would meet her eyes. It was as if she had become a ghost, dead before her time.”- sansa V agot
the fact that sansa rejected the pomegranate which symbolizes death(and in persephone’s story it symbolized her imprisonment in the underworld) but instead she chose the pear which represented life, immortality and prosperity.
asoiaf twitter got angry because sansa and ned have actual parallels.. or that lyanna and sansa have a few parallels, apparently the only parallel sansa has is with lysa who tried to kill her???
sansa would have known who he was, and the fat one too, but arya had never taken much interest in titles and sigils
each of the lords declarant had brought a thousand [men], and there were six of them. alayne knew their names as well as her own- alayne I affc
petyr had given her a roll of arms to study, so she knew their heraldry if not their faces. - alayne I affc
just thinking about how sansa stark is named after a stark woman who’s birthright got stolen..
sansa stark affc outline “resolve to be sansa stark and take north”.
Hi, one thing I’ve never understood is why everyone thinks sansa is better at being a lady than Arya when Arya is better at the important stuff like managing a household? Because “the womanly arts” are basically just hobbies right? Not that there’s anything wrong with being good at that but surely the actual job of being a lady is something different, and something Arya is better at according to the text?
Okay. Oh man. Anon, I believe you didn’t mean anything by it, but I am wincing and wincing hard.
1. We should not be doing Arya vs Sansa bullshit. (Or indeed female character vs female character bullshit in general.) The direct comparison people kept making between Arya and Sansa is, canonically, one of the things that was most hurtful to Arya! The solution is not to start saying “well, actually, Arya’s better than Sansa at XYZ.” The solution is to realise that both have important, valid skillsets, each has different weaknesses, and that comparing them against each other doesn’t actually make those skillsets better or do a damn thing to offset their respective weaknesses. As Ned told Arya:
“Sansa is your sister. You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you…”
- Arya II, AGoT
That is, ditch the competitive, zero-sum outlook, and adopt a view that they are complementary.
2. “the important stuff,” “just hobbies”
Again, I do not believe you meant anything by it, anon, but this is exactly how the contribution of women to various spheres of accomplishment gets minimised. It’s not important. It’s just a hobby. That phrasing inherently devalues both the talent and the skill involved in being good at the various “womanly arts,” and its value both in and of itself and as support to other pursuits.
Being able to create art or entertainment or use soft skills is important, yeah? I mean, what are we doing here on tumblr if not appreciating someone’s ability to write? A shout out for everyone who puts effort into their writing or their arts or their music or their cooking, for everyone who’s learned how to keep a conversation going or a party entertaining. That was effort! People who do this for their living are working.
Furthermore, one of the best things about Sansa’s presence in the plot, and about her training montage parallel to Arya and Bran, is the implied statement that Sansa’s soft skills are as worthy of training and as significant in their way as Bran’s magic skills and Arya’s intelligence-gathering and combat skills. The narrative is making the effort to demonstrate the importance and utility of her skills. I don’t think this should be written off as “just” anything.
3. The job of being a lady is more than bookkeeping.
Being able to manage accounts is one part of the job, for sure. It’s not the whole of the job. The lady is responsible for keeping the business of the house running - which also means significant managerial responsibilities and significant social duties.
In Alayne I, AFFC we see Sansa actually doing some running of a household, and that involves making sure there are enough provisions for guests and unexpected extras, making sure that rooms are cleaned, furnished, heated, and lit, dealing with all the staff required to accomplish this, and then greeting those guests impeccably (including studying who they are and dressing appropriately for the occasion) and ensuring they receive all the refreshments she’s had prepared. In Alayne II, we see a bit more of how she’s required to deal with the castle staff and Sweetrobin himself. None of this required her to do any sums.
The bigger the castle, the more management the lady in question has to do just to keep the place habitable. On top of anything she has to do in order to facilitate the politics that take place in said castle. A lady who can’t do much in the way of sums, but who can and does use soft skills and manage people effectively, is still doing an important part of managing a household.
So, to answer something that is not quite your question, people think Sansa is good at managing a household because we have seen her manage a household and she is good at it.
Hi, I've been reading your blog with a lot of interest. Since I especially like what you've written about the various queens, I was wondering what your opinion is on something I have been pondering, namely what Ned and Catelyn could have done differently in Sansa's education/upbringing to prepare her for the realities of being a queen/leading lady of a great house? From reading the books I got the idea Catelyn's education was more extensive for example... Thanks! Eva
Well, keep in mind that Catelyn’s upbringing was in some ways quite different from Sansa’s:
I have always done my duty, she thought. Perhaps that was why her lord father had always cherished her best of all his children. Her two older brothers had both died in infancy, so she had been son as well as daughter to Lord Hoster until Edmure was born. Then her mother had died and her father had told her that she must be the lady of Riverrun now, and she had done that too.
Catelyn wasn’t just Hoster’s favorite, but his heir presumptive in the 3-10 years between her birth and Edmure’s. Even after Edmure was born, Catelyn had additional responsibilities that Sansa never had growing up in Winterfell; she had to play the role of Lady Tully after Minisa’s death, presumably performing the sort of social entertaining and possibly also some of the household management that would be expected from the lady of the castle. Catelyn wasn’t voluntarily taking on these responsibilities, of course, but she was exposed to experiences that Sansa not only was not, but that Ned and Catelyn would never have wanted or expected her to be exposed to.
All that said, I don’t think Sansa was poorly raised for the role she was expected to play - that is, great lady (as wife of a great lord) and, eventually, Queen of Westeros. On the contrary, Sansa demonstrates early and often that she is very much suited for this role. For one, of course, she received a pretty good thorough education at Winterfell, and it shows. Not only does Sansa excel at all the traditionally feminine skills - sewing, dancing, music, poetry - but she prides herself on reading and writing better than her brothers, and demonstrates knowledge of Westerosi history. To this end as well, Sansa clearly took to heart the lessons on heraldry she learned growing up, a skill that aids her in the social interactions she would be expected to have on a regular basis as lady/queen.
Speaking of these interactions, this is another area where Sansa does very well - not only remembering the names and key details of nobles and courtiers, but communicating with them in a gracious and charming way:
[“]I am honored to know you, however irregular the manner of our meeting. I am Ser Barristan Selmy, of the Kingsguard.” He bowed.
Sansa knew the name, and now the courtesies that Septa Mordane had taught her over the years came back to her. “The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard,” she said, “and councillor to Robert our king and to Aerys Targaryen before him. The honor is mine, good knight. Even in the far north, the singers praise the deeds of Barristan the Bold.”
The green knight laughed again. “Barristan the Old, you mean. Don’t flatter him too sweetly, child, he thinks overmuch of himself already.” He smiled at her. “Now, wolf girl, if you can put a name to me as well, then I must concede that you are truly our Hand’s daughter.”
Joffrey stiffened beside her. “Have a care how you address my betrothed.”
“I can answer,” Sansa said quickly, to quell her prince’s anger. She smiled at the green knight. “Your helmet bears golden antlers, my lord. The stag is the sigil of the royal House. King Robert has two brothers. By your extreme youth, you can only be Renly Baratheon, Lord of Storm’s End and councillor to the king, and so I name you.”
She is good at this, he thought, as he watched her tell Lord Gyles that his cough was sounding better, compliment Elinor Tyrell on her gown, and question Jalabhar Xho about wedding customs in the Summer Isles. His cousin Ser Lancel had been brought down by Ser Kevan, the first time he’d left his sickbed since the battle. He looks ghastly. Lancel’s hair had turned white and brittle, and he was thin as a stick. Without his father beside him holding him up, he would surely have collapsed. Yet when Sansa praised his valor and said how good it was to see him getting strong again, both Lancel and Ser Kevan beamed.
Sansa also has an extremely keen grasp on the power of symbolism and imagery, especially within a political context - an important skill for a great lady/queen, whose life would be lived to a large degree on display:
Halfway along the route, a wailing woman forced her way between two watchmen and ran out into the street in front of the king and his companions, holding the corpse of her dead baby above her head. It was blue and swollen, grotesque, but the real horror was the mother’s eyes. Joffrey looked for a moment as if he meant to ride her down, but Sansa Stark leaned over and said something to him. The king fumbled in his purse, and flung the woman a silver stag.
There was a gown of purple silk that gave her pause, and another of dark blue velvet slashed with silver that would have woken all the color in her eyes, but in the end she remembered that Alayne was after all a bastard, and must not presume to dress above her station. The dress she picked was lambswool, dark brown and simply cut, with leaves and vines embroidered around the bodice, sleeves, and hem in golden thread. It was modest and becoming, though scarce richer than something a serving girl might wear. Petyr had given her all of Lady Lysa’s jewels as well, and she tried on several necklaces, but they all seemed ostentatious. In the end she chose a simple velvet ribbon in autumn gold.
Though a few were promised, only three were wed; the eight victors would be expected to spend the next three years at Lord Robert’s side, as his own personal guard (Alayne had suggested seven, like the Kingsguard, but Sweetrobin had insisted that he must have more knights than King Tommen), so older men with wives and children had not been invited.And they came, Alayne thought proudly. They all came.It had fallen out just as Petyr said it would, the day the ravens flew. “They’re young, eager, hungry for adventure and renown. Lysa would not let them go to war. This is the next best thing. A chance to serve their lord and prove their prowess. They will come. Even Harry the Heir.” He had smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead. “What a clever daughter you are.”It was clever. The tourney, the prizes, the winged knights, it had all been her own notion. Lord Robert’s mother had filled him full of fears, but he always took courage from the tales she read him of Ser Artys Arryn, the Winged Knight of legend, founder of his line. Why not surround him with Winged Knights?
On a perhaps more practical side of the question, Sansa pretty effectively took on management duties during her time at the Eyrie:
She saw to the mulling of the wine first, found a suitable wheel of sharp white cheese, and commanded the cook to bake bread enough for twenty, in case the Lords Declarant brought more men than expected. Once they eat our bread and salt they are our guests and cannot harm us. The Freys had broken all the laws of hospitality when they’d murdered her lady mother and her brother at the Twins, but she could not believe that a lord as noble as Yohn Royce would ever stoop to do the same.
The solar next. Its floor was covered by a Myrish carpet, so there was no need to lay down rushes. Alayne asked two serving men to erect the trestle table and bring up eight of the heavy oak-and-leather chairs. For a feast she would have placed one at the head of the table, one at the foot, and three along each side, but this was no feast. She had the men arrange six chairs on one side of the table, two on the other. By now the Lords Declarant might have climbed as far as Snow. It took most of a day to make the climb, even on muleback. Afoot, most men took several days.
It might be that the lords would talk late into the night. They would need fresh candles. After Maddy laid the fire, she sent her down to find the scented beeswax candles Lord Waxley had given Lady Lysa when he sought to win her hand. Then she visited the kitchens once again, to make certain of the wine and bread.
Maddy and Gretchel were waiting outside with Maester Colemon. The maester had washed the night soil from his hair and changed his robe. Robert’s squires had turned up as well. Terrance and Gyles could always sniff out trouble.
“Lord Robert is feeling stronger,” Alayne told the serving women. “Fetch hot water for his bath, but see you don’t scald him. And do not pull on his hair when you brush out the tangles, he hates that.” One of the squires sniggered, until she said, “Terrance, lay out his lordship’s riding clothes and his warmest cloak. Gyles, you may clean up that broken chamber pot.”
And of course, none of this is taking into account two important points. One, Sansa has natural intelligence and shrewdness, developed through the series, which complement the skills above: she is not just acting the part of a great lady, but can also see through certain acts on the part of others (whether, for example, it’s the unclear provenance of the Kettleblack brothers, the danger of a Joffrey-Margaery union for Margaery, or Littlefinger’s signature on the declaration giving Nestor Royce the Gates of the Moon). Two, Sansa is still young (yes, even by Westerosi standards). All of the actions above were taken by a girl between the ages of 11 and 13; neither Ned nor Catelyn would have expected Sansa to act as lady of a great household when she was still 11. I would expect adult Sansa (even by Westerosi standards) to be even more effective as a great lady than we’ve seen of her up to this point.
Sansa Stark + Taking Control of People and Situations
It was clever. The tourney, the prizes, the winged knights, it had all been her own notion. Lord Robert’s mother had filled him full of fears, but he always took courage from the tales she read him of Ser Artys Arryn, the Winged Knight of legend. And no sooner did she tell Petyr her idea than he went out and made it happen.