Jak O' the Shadows

Leftist, Anarchist, Socialist, Anti imperialism, Anti-settler colonialism. Frustrated ASoIaF fan waiting forever for the next book. Fantasy/Science fiction - Wheel of Time, Tolkien, The Sandman, The Expanse, Star Wars, Dune, 12 Monkeys, Dark etc. I also like Viking shows, Pirates and period drama. This blog is mostly for my political rants but also 50% ASoIaF, puppies and kittens. Welcome!

[jackoshadows]

It's honestly so weird (i.e racist) when every female character opposite Sansa is drawn in darker skin tones as if to highlight Sansa's white skin because that's so important to her looks...

I will always talk about this when I see it, because as a brown person in the asoiaf fandom it's incredibly frustrating to see my skin colour being used to promulgate certain racist headcanons.

ALL the characters depicted below are white in the books.

Sansa and Arya - Ok, let's just accept this is the bog standard, accepted in fandom, racist head canon of Arya. For ex. like this fanart of dark-skinned Arya with an overbite ... (from where in the world do they conjure up such headcanons of Arya?!)

Moving on, Sansa and Jeyne -

Okay, let's just accept that Jeyne is pretending to be Arya and can be headcanoned as having the same skin tone. This is contrary to the books of course, where, other than being skinny and having brown hair they don't look similar at all, as Theon points out. Arya has grey eyes and Jeyne has brown eyes. Jeyne Poole, along with Sansa, bullies Arya as being 'horse-faced', mocking Arya's long face.

Moving on, Sansa and Mya Stone -

Even if we look past Arya and Jeyne, why in the world is Mya Stone now a POC? Is it because she is non-conforming? Because she is a bastard? Because she wears riding leathers? Because she has short hair?

This is Robert Baratheon's daughter by the way! Robert 'The Seed is Strong' Baratheon! The drawing above is especially egregious because Sansa describes Mya's best features as her big, blue eyes. The artist however has given those big, blue eyes to Sansa instead.

So all the high born female characters - like Sansa and Myranda Royce depicted above - are white (except for Arya because she is not as good looking as her sister) and the bastards and small folk are poc?

Hmm. I wonder why...

It's similar to how Rickon and Bran are now slowly being drawn in darker shades in other fanart because Rickon is living with cannibals and Bran is communing with Trees and there is a need to separate Sansa as special -

Rickon, Arya, Bran, Robb and Sansa - ALL canonically white in the books.

Remember this popular post about how Sansa alone out of all the Starks was special because of her 'porcelain skin' and 'red hair' like that of a weirwood?

Here's another one where the Starks are all hilariously different shades ranging from darkest - Arya/Jon - to the lightest - Robb and Sansa.

I guess only the high born lady like and non magical 'civilized' Starks are allowed to be white in asoiaf headcanons.

It's really something when the fans turn out to be even more racist than the author. There didn't even have to be poc characters in the series for them to be racist. They just created those poc characters to accommodate their racism!

[jackoshadows]

The Starks + Howland Reed looking badass and ready for the Tourney in The Mad King rehearsals!

PS: I love how Ned and Howland are the same height 😆😆

More pictures here.

[alysscoven]

asos, catelyn ii / asos, jon vi.

[i-ambirby]

the start of arya no good very bad road trip

tbh I don’t know how to color this but this was my best attempt

[viralfrog]

[rae-xoxo00]

omg the girlies

[astra-the-dragon]

omg the girls are saviiiiiiiing wiiiildliiiiife

[highlyillogicalandroid]

Not all heroes wear capes. Or trousers.

[poppy-tarts-stuff]

Not leaving this in the tags

[asukam]

I saw this on insta and someone commented asking her how she knew they were in there and she said that she saw the mama duck with only one duckling and thought it was suspicious so she stopped to check and hear them quacking down there... :') <3

[uncomfortablecliche]

the way the momma duck sped up once she saw her babies yayyyy

[millennial-review-deactivated20]

[thankunexts]

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE 3.02 "Toledo" | 3.06 "Montreal"

[gloomheaven]

[vvaterling]

“It is the obligation of every person who claims to oppose oppression to resist the oppressor by every means at his or her disposal. Not to engage in physical resistance, armed resistance to oppression, is to serve the interests of the oppressor; no more, no less. There are no exceptions to the rule, no easy out…”

— Assata Shakur (1984)

[save-maryam]

Sometimes, time seems to move in a vicious cycle, repeating itself in a painfully astonishing manner, as if mocking humanity's ability to learn from its mistakes. Two images are separated by 79 years, yet they appear as though no time has passed, as if the gap between them is merely a few fleeting moments.

[save-maryam]

The first image: A Palestinian elder holding the keys to his home, from which he was forcibly displaced after the Nakba of 1948. An image filled with pain, with tears that dried on faces, and hearts that collapsed under the weight of loss. Yet, hope for return still filled those hearts.

💳 Please donate - ✅️ Vetted # 15

[save-maryam]

The second image: A recent photo that tells the same story, but this time, the protagonist is my young sister, Maryam, holding the keys to our home from which we were displaced and demolished after the Nakba of 2023.

There is no difference between the two stories, except that this time, the story is even harsher and more painful.

[save-maryam]

Please help Maryam.. help us and donate 🙏

[pomscorner]

please share and donate!!!

[immaculate-008]

Vetted fundraiser! Please donate or at least share!!

[save-maryam]

If you see this, PLEASE donate to Maryam and our family of seven before it's too late.... please

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

[oediex]

Last donation was three days ago! Please help!

[oediex]

Listen to me.

I know exactly how few donations this campaign has been receiving lately, because I am the organiser. I receive an e-mail every time a donation is made. I put them all in a folder, unread, so I can see exactly how many people have donated at any time. Seeing that number go up means my friends are more secure, and their situation is anything but right now.

I have made two transfers to Maryam's family since I started this fundraiser. They were much needed. They still are.

This is a verified fundraiser. Gazavetters #15.

These are my friends.

Please. Donate. Please. Share. I'm begging you.

If you want to donate but have questions about how the funds are transferred, feel free to get in touch!

tagging for reach, please share and aks your friends to share as well, thank you <3 (let me know if you don't want me to tag you anymore, apologies for any multiple tags)

@ankle-beez @comrademango @c-u-c-koo-4-40k @kyra45-helping-others @ot3

@beserkerjewel @soft-sunbird @klapollo @virovac @a-casual-egg

@gryficowa @vaas @addisayshi @rhubarbspring @seasnicker

@jolyne-best-jojo @yveshusband @thatdiabolicalfeminist @autisticmudkip @zone0neko

@scoutbot @huzni @nevert-the-guy @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @yiddishfisting

@afro-elf @monstermashpotato @voidofsp-ace @qattdraws @farsight-the-char

@apocalyptic-dancehall @yixiaosuige @tooningin @mobthoughts @volfoss

@myceliacrochet @rhythmlessgay @cfo-of-antifa @labutansa @kiirodora

@good-old-gossip @elyserie @generallyjl @gorey @mauesartetc

@cozyprincessnook @magicalemma @undeadbutstillhasahead

[jackoshadows]

In a piece called 'The Next Black President' Coates takes us through the history of the American empire and asks the question if a black and Asian woman, the daughter of immigrants who came from countries that had been the the victims of colonialism, came from colonial entities that had been besieged by Great Britain, right? Somebody who is the daughter of two parents from that background and who's also a woman and a black woman and an Asian woman, a woman of color, can she truly embody the imperial state?

TA-NEHISI COATES: The Next Black President

Perhaps the answer lay in what Harris did say. At the convention, the vice president pledged to "ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world." This language is fairly boilerplate for most people seeking the presidency. But it is also at odds with the very tradition that brought Harris to the brink. Hamer was a student of nonviolence—and not just for protesters in Mississippi. As early as 1964 she opposed the Vietnam War, horrified at the prospect of American bombs being dropped on a much weaker people half a world away. "I am sick of the racist war in Vietnam," Hamer said at an antiwar rally in the 1960s, "when we don't have justice in the United States." Perhaps it is naive to expect Harris, a candidate for the American presidency, to speak in the same register as Hamer, who was its antagonist. But it was that very antagonist whom Harris and her party claimed as a champion. The dynamic is familiar—Barack Obama's claim of Martin Luther King Jr. was similarly incongruent. That is because a black presidency is a contradiction—it owes its power to a movement against racist state violence at home but seeks an office which has always practiced racist state violence abroad.

[jackoshadows]

DEI Undone by Sabreena Ghaffar-Siddiqui

Liberty Leading the [Palestinian] People | Acrylic on Canvas | 2018 | By Huda Salha

DEI Undone is a fearless excavation of how diversity, equity, and inclusion rose from radical liberation movements, and how it was co-opted, corporatized, and ultimately weaponized against the very communities it claimed to serve. Tracing DEI’s evolution from grassroots struggle to institutional branding, this book exposes performative allyship, tokenism, and “woke capitalism,” revealing who truly benefited while structural inequality remained intact. Through sharp analysis, real-world case studies, and an unflinching examination of Palestine as DEI’s ultimate litmus test, DEI Undone names the limits of liberal inclusion and the politics of silencing dissent. Refusing despair, it charts a path forward toward decolonization, redistributed power, and thriving communities rooted in justice, truth, activism, and collective liberation. This is not a defense of DEI as it exists, but a demand to radically reimagine what liberation actually requires and how it can be implemented.

[spiirt-deactivated20191026]

HELLO??????

[thelittlebirdandthemeandog]

I have no problems with saying that Sansa is less important that her sibilings still alive except Rickon but saying that she is not important at all and that GRRM does not care about her is senseless.

If she is exclusively meant to give texture to Arya's character why she has more chapters than BRAN THE FIRST CHARACTER EVER CREATED STARK? A character that STILL should only and exclusively be Arya's shadow would have so much space.

If she is just a cam why does she has a profecy still to complete that was mentioned in ARYA ONE OF GEORGE FAVE CHARACTER STARK? It is senseless and pure cope.

"if she was important GRRM wouldn't even think about kill her" honey, GRRM killed Ned in the book in which he was so central that most people thought he would be THE MAIN CHARACTER.

[jackoshadows]

If she is exclusively meant to give texture to Arya's character why she has more chapters than BRAN THE FIRST CHARACTER EVER CREATED STARK?

Mainly because - as GRRM has mentioned several times - Bran is a very difficult character to write and the most magical character compared to characters like Tyrion whom GRRM loves writing for.

Bran has so few chapters because his is the most important POV, is the POV with the important magical/fantasy component that underpins the entire series - the threat from beyond the Wall - and GRRM needs to handle it carefully.

There's Time Travel involved and as any science fiction/fantasy fan will tell you that's one of the hardest concepts to successfully land in a story. There's problems like causal loops and temporal parodoxes like the Grandfather paradox, which GRRM, IMO, was planning to resolve by having Bran's consciousness travel instead of his body.

Keep in mind that we haven't even got to the Hodor scene from the TV show which happened I think in 2015!! And which D&D have said multiple times is from the books.

In other words, it's easier for GRRM to write Sansa Stark organizing feasts in the Vale and describe the food and Brienne wandering the Riverlands looking for a maiden than spend time writing a complicated time travel subplot for Bran Stark.

This is also why the books have barely moved in plot because like a typical procrastinator GRRM spend his time writing the easier traveling monologues while Bran is stagnating beyond the Wall and GRRM is finding it harder and harder to write the fantasy/magical aspect of the story -

GRRM at Oxford, 2024:

"Now it's harder when you're talking about dreams and you're talking about other types of magic, how do you handle it? Well… It's tough. It's not easy. I uh… People have sometimes asked me, which is the easiest character to write in my series, which is the hardest character to write? The easiest for me has always been Tyrion Lannister because, I don't know, he's fun to write. He's a smart ass. He gets into very dramatic situations. The hardest to write is Bran. Uh Bran Stark, who is the character who is MOST involved in the magical side of it. And I have to be… he's also the youngest character, so it's also hard to write from the viewpoint of an 8 year old, because I'm actually a little older than that. You have to think, what he would know, what he would not know, what he would understand, what he would misinterpret. Um. But then there's the magic! And how do you handle the magic? Um. All I can say is it's something that does require a lot of thought."

George R. R. Martin Answers Fan Questions

"I had a very hard time, a struggle, with writing from Bran. Because Bran, of all the characters, was the one who was most involved in magic. And I think magic in fantasy, sorcery, the supernatural, all of these things have to be handled with a great deal of care, or they can overwhelm the story. So, I rewrote some of those Bran chapters over and over again."

GRRM SSM May 2005

Bran will have one or two chapters in ADwD, where otherwise he would have been left out of the what would have been the fourth book entirely. He remains one of the most difficult POVs to write due to his youth, crippled status and the magic.

In the above 2005 SSM he also talks about the 5 year gap and how it affects the children and he keeps talking about Bran and Arya - never Sansa. It's clear that for GRRM it was important for Arya and Bran having a 5 year time jump. Sansa was never even a consideration when GRRM was crafting the story and ran into obstacles.

If she is just a cam why does she has a profecy still to complete that was mentioned in ARYA ONE OF GEORGE FAVE CHARACTER STARK? It is senseless and pure cope.

Prophecy? Everything that the Ghost of High Heart talks about happens in or before ASoS.

“The old gods stir and will not let me sleep. I dreamt I saw a shadow with a burning heart butchering a golden stag, aye.” - Renly (Happens in ACoK)

I dreamt of a man without a face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung. On his shoulder perched a drowned crow with seaweed hanging from his wings - Euron (Happens in ASoS)

I dreamt of a roaring river and a woman that was a fish. Dead she drifted, with red tears on her cheeks, but when her eyes did open - Lady Stoneheart (Happens in ASoS)

I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain, but no one heard his grief. I dreamt such a clangor I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams but the saddest sound was the little bells. - Red Wedding (Happens in ASoS)

I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs - Sansa/Purple Wedding (happens in ASoS)

And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow - Sansa tearing apart SweetRobin's doll in the snow model of Winterfell (happens in ASoS)

So basically EVERYTHING the Ghost of High Heart mentioned has ALREADY happened. Renly's death is old news by the time she has her vision. It's not exactly prophecy but some visions that the Ghost has.

Sansa's so called 'prophecy' is complete. The giant is SweetRobin's doll in a castle 'built of snow' - it could not be any more clear that this is the castle of snow that Sansa was building.

"if she was important GRRM wouldn't even think about kill her" honey, GRRM killed Ned in the book in which he was so central that most people thought he would be THE MAIN CHARACTER.

I would say that Sansa has become important now because she is dealing with Littlefinger - one of the most important human antagonists of the series, responsible for the downfall of the Starks. If Sansa manages to play a role in his downfall that's a big deal indeed.

However, I would also say she is one step below the tier one - central 5 key characters - in the series and yes, any character can die as GRRM mentioned in his OG outline to his editor -

Old characters will die, and new ones will be introduced. Some of the fatalities will include sympathetic viewpoint characters. I want the reader to feel that no one is ever completely safe, not even the characters who seem to be the heroes. The suspense always ratchets up a notch when you know that any character can die at any time. Five central characters will make it through all three volumes, however, growing from children to adults and changing the world and themselves in the process. In a sense, my trilogy is almost a generational saga, telling the life stories of these five characters, three men and two women. The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Arya, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow. All of them are introduced at some length in the chapters you have to hand.

Hope this answers your questions.

[thelittlebirdandthemeandog]

I fear that there is a misunderstanding due to my broken english, i am not saying that she is more important than Bran - as i said i agree that all her alive sibilings except Rickon have a more important role, which absolutely include Bran - what i meant is that she has a disproportionately high number of chapters for some not important character.

My post is not implying or supporting that she is more important tha Bran because she has more chapters, but that Grrm introduced many characters - even just for one chapter if needed - to let us know what we need to know, so why focusing so much on her?.

The fact that he write her so often surely is due to the fact that Sansa - and almost every other character - is easier to write for him than Bran but it also mean that he want to built something with her.

Sansa has really a huge amount of pov that would be a waist to write if he did not aim to get somewhere important with her, expecially because some chapters were obectively just for let us know how she interact with others more than give us important informations.

---

Here - very respectully - I disagree, i am sorry : it make no sense to me use the second line to describe a doll for the simple fact that its just a doll and we already know that its about Sansa. All the other part of the prophecy are about important character inside the books and about their journey, to make the last part about a doll not only seems to reduce the pathos created by the prophecy itself but we could only justify it with "Martin wanted to confirm that it was indeed Sansa the one the line immediately before was talking about". The problem is that every word inside a prophecy has a meaning yet we really do NOT need a confirmation for anyone else, why would we need it for Sansa when it was obvious that it was about her and the purple wedding?

It make more sense that the first and last part of the prophecy would "match" being the only ones "outside of ASOS" and being about Sansa being involved AGAIN in someone's death.

-------

"If Sansa manages to play a role in his downfall that's a big deal indeed. However, I would also say she is one step below the tier one."

That is the very point that i am trying to make in my broken english.

There is a huge difference between not being in the top 5 and not being in the top 10: she has so many chapters and she is the only one that is around Littlefinger - with a whole plot in Vale that is not just about food but about her identity and inherence (her whole dynimic with Littlefinger is about that) - for a reason, she does mean something to the story.

The giant over the snow castle would make way more sense if it was inedeed about Sansa and Littlefinger, which would explain why their relationiship seems to be a reversion of Persephone and Hades's myth:

Petyr cut a pomegranate in two with his dagger, offering half to Sansa. "You should try and eat, my lady." "Thank you, my lord." Pomegranate seeds were so messy; Sansa chose a pear instead, and took a small delicate bite. It was very ripe. The juice ran down her chin. Lord Petyr loosened a seed with the point of his dagger. (A Storm of Swords - Sansa VI)

He brought the seed to his mouth with the knife. "In King's Landing, there are two sorts of people. The players and the pieces." "And I was a piece?" She dreaded the answer. "Yes, but don't let that trouble you. You're still half a child. Every man's a piece to start with, and every maid as well. Even some who think they are players." (A Storm of Swords - Sansa VI)

Lord Petyr dismissed him with a wave, and returned to the pomegranate again as Oswell shuffled down the steps. "Tell me, Alayne—which is more dangerous, the dagger brandished by an enemy, or the hidden one pressed to your back by someone you never even see?" "The hidden dagger." (A Storm of Swords - Sansa VI)

"Remember that, Sansa, when you come to play the game." "What...what game?" "The only game. The game of thrones." (A Storm of Swords - Sansa V)

Now, i see no way in which Littlefinger could be killed by anyone else since he is not equally releted to anyone else story as to Sansa's one . For Jon or Arya to kill Littlefinger would surely be a revenge or even an act of justice - Littlefinger hurted many people not only the Starks - but it would never be as satisfying as seem him perish for the actions of the girl that look like the woman that "triggered" his horrible actions.

Lord Littlefinger kissed her cheek. “With my wits and Cat’s beauty, the world will be yours, sweetling.” (A Feast for Crows - Sansa I)

“Sansa was a lady at three, always so courteous and eager to please. She loved nothing so well as tales of knightly valor. Men would say she had my look, but she will grow into a woman far more beautiful than I ever was, you can see that.  (A Clash of Kings - Catelyn VII)

"You are Eddard Stark’s daughter, and Cat’s. But I think you might be even more beautiful than your mother was, when she was your age.” (A Storm of Swords - Sansa VII)

You will be the most beautiful woman in the hall tonight, as lovely as your lady mother at your age. (The Winds of Winter - Alayne I)

Also we cant forget that GRRM himself said that Littlefinger is obsessed with Sansa and this objectively make her look like Petyr's only weakness. If not her who else ?

-----------

also she is meant to be the anti Petyr, in my honest opinion, showing pity to those that wronged her, and having some positive instinct to SweetRobin, so again make sense for her to be Petyr's doom:

"Help him," Sansa commanded two of the serving men. One just looked at her and ran, flagon and all. Other servants were leaving the hall as well, but she could not help that. 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. I should be killing him, not helping him. (A Clash of Kings - Sansa VII)

"Sweetrobin? You can stay, but try not to squirm around. Just close your eyes and sleep, little one." "I will." He cuddled close and laid his head between her breasts. "Alayne? Are you my mother now?" "I suppose I am," she said. (A Feast for Crows - Sansa I)

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? She had thought one night, after Sweetrobin had finally drifted off to sleep. His own Kingsguard, to keep him safe and make him brave.  (The Winds of Winter - Alayne I)

[jackoshadows]

what i meant is that she has a disproportionately high number of chapters for some not important character.

She has the same number of published chapters so far as Catelyn Stark. If we ever get TWoW, then she will cross Catelyn but for now, she and Catelyn are on par. Take from that what you will.

I only addressed your post because you seem to correlate Bran's chapters with GRRM's intentions in creating the character of Sansa, which he has explicitly talked about in interviews.

My point is that the number of chapters don't directly co-relate to character importance. Rather it currently co-relates to ease of writing for a procrastinator like GRRM who seems to now hate his story, hates writing asoiaf and finds it be a burdern. Even for the key 5 look at the disparity -

Tyrion (49), Jon (42), and Arya (34) Daenerys (31)

Dany should actually be up there and should have reached Westeros by now but GRRM is caught up in the infamous 'Meereenese Knot' which he has STILL NOT unraveled while the man LOVES writing for Tyrion.

Bran is lagging behind for the reasons I mentioned and I have always maintained that TWoW needs to be Bran heavy for there to be any plot progress and for the story to move forward. And maybe that's why we are never getting another book because the author finds it very difficult to write the character.

to let us know what we need to know, so why focusing so much on her?.

I can give you an answer, but you are clearly not going to like it and we are going to have to agree to disagree on this point.

A character like Sansa functions great as a narrator of events without digging too deep into why something is happening.

She is the perfect character to dispassionately observe the likes of Littlefinger and Olenna without any further introspection. Such writing would not work all the time with someone like Tyrion for example who would eventually figure out what they were up to or even simply question why they were doing what they were doing.

Tyrion is meant to be smart - he can be outsmarted a couple of times by the likes of LF/Olenna/Varys etc. but not ALL the time. That would change the character.

Just read a Tyrion chapter in KL and a Sansa chapter in KL and you can see the clear difference in how GRRM writes them. Tyrion's is full of information, critical thinking, strategical planning and even character growth. Sansa's is static and full of self pity without the introspection to back that up. It's one step forward, two steps backward each time. At the end of AGoT, she realizes that appearance is not everything and she was wrong to trust the Lannisters based on appearance and then we get to ACoK and she is back to trusting the Tyrells because they are good looking and charming.

Now you can say this is because Tyrion is an adult who has agency and Sansa is a child who was a political hostage and pawn. I agree. Doesn't negate the fact that Sansa works primarily as a narrator in both KL and the vale and I would even argue that GRRM send Sansa to the Vale for precisely this function.

Arya's story in the Riverlands and now in Braavos is ABOUT Arya. No one else. Dany's story in Essos is about Dany. Jon's story when he is with the Freefolk is about Jon. Bran's story at Winterfell and beyond the Wall is about Bran.

Sansa's story meanwhile is about what the characters around her are doing - this is primarily why there is very little character growth and proactive decision making for her compared to her peers in Arya, Dany, Jon and even Bran with lesser chapters.

Like you point out, Bran has fewer chapters than Sansa and yet he has covered more ground than her. Unlike Sansa, Bran actually has a learning to rule the North arc, where, he is sitting in the great hall of Winterfell and Maester Luwin is instructing him on the intricacies of how the Harvest feast is actually a political summit to discuss treaties, law, diplomacy, justice, land, marriage, trade etc. This makes Bran more qualified than Sansa to rule the North.

Just see the difference in the way characters like Tyrion, Daenerys and Jon Snow describe feasts - when there is a scarcity of food - and when Sansa does it. This is a character whose fans proclaim is the most compassionate, most intelligent politician and will become Queen. At no point in Littlefinger's extravagant feast in the sample TWoW chapter does she think on what she just heard regarding LF hoarding food from a starving populace for a price gouging scheme.

We the readers hear Littlefinger talking about it through Sansa's POV. So we as readers know about it because Sansa is hearing it. And yet the character herself doesn't spend a line in the books thinking on it - when that's an important point especially when an extravagant feast with some 64 dishes is laid out in contrast. This is why she comes across as a narrator who shows the reader what Littlefinger is doing, but who herself doesn't ever reflect on these truths or experience the growth and intelligence to examine these truths - possibly until the end of the books or whenever GRRM decides that LF's story is over.

It's the same reason why Jonsa annoys me so much because their relationship is so non-existent and it's clear that for the author their relationship is a distant last amongst the Starks. It would have been so easy for GRRM to give Sansa a little character growth with regards to her classism because she is playing a pretend bastard and this would be the perfect opportunity for her to reflect on how poorly she thought of Jon Snow. And yet there too, there is no introspection.

Same with her relationship with Arya. Even after realizing Joffrey's sadism when she became the target of his abuse, there is no self-reflection on how she sided against Arya in support of Joffrey. Or even tattling on her father to Cersei. GRRM mentions in an interview that Sansa becomes more sympathetic because she expresses regret/remorse for her part in what happened - but I never read that anywhere in the books.

We know Sansa hears Littlefinger and Lysa's conversation before her death. We read all that in Sansa's POV. But Sansa herself never introspects on all of that. We know Sansa knows that Jeyne Poole was last seen with Littlefinger. We read that in her POV. But Sansa herself never thinks about this.

For example, Sansa and the reader knows - from what the doctor is telling her - that SweetRobin is being overdosed with dangerously high levels of a drug. Sansa and the reader also know - from Littlefinger's exposition of his plans to her - that SweetRobin needs to die for their plans to succeed and for Harry to become heir. These tidbits are little clues for the readers to follow along and we get them from Sansa's POV chapters - and yet Sansa herself never connects the dots, she just tells us.

And this is why, I personally don't think of Sansa as an important character - YET - in the grand scheme of things. Important in the sense of not being up there with the importance of the Key Five. It is also why it didn't surprise me when GRRM said that he always intended to kill off Sansa. It's very evident to me that GRRM does not write her like he writes her peers in Arya, Jon, Dany and Bran.

Like I mentioned earlier, If Sansa does end up playing an active role in the Vale - where she proactively plans and implements Littlefinger's downfall - then she will most certainly be an important character in my opinion. That has so far not happened. She is still obediently following orders and thinks LF knows best.

And finally coming to the Ghost of HH

It make more sense that the first and last part of the prophecy would "match" being the only ones "outside of ASOS" and being about Sansa being involved AGAIN in someone's death.

By that logic, since Renly's death was in ACoK then whatever Sansa was doing should have happened in AFfC. Or if I give some leeway, even in ADwD. Two books have passed and still nothing? I think Sansa fans will wait till the last page of the last book thinking that somewhere Sansa is going to slay a giant in a snow castle.

GRRM has not for some strange reason, singled out Sansa alone of all those characters for some future prophecy to happen several books later. It's pretty straightforward - the poisoned hairnet represented as snakes spitting venom and SweetRobin's doll rampaging through the snow model being the giant that Sansa slays or tears apart. There's a reason that happens - it is what the GoHH sees.

"I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain, but no one heard his grief," the dwarf woman was saying. "I dreamt such a clangor I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams, but the saddest sound was the little bells. I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs. And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow."

Everything that GoHH says in this one paragraph has happened. What she says is not meant to be taken literally. The Giant is a doll - but the castle built of snow gives it away and later confirmed when Sansa builds Winterfell out of snow.

Now if you want to argue that Sansa is so special that she alone out of all the characters mentioned in GoHH's vision will have a prophecy that happens several books and years later, then go for it. I disagree. I think everything the GoHH mentioned has already happened.

It's possible that Sansa will take down LF or - given what GRRM revealed - it's also possible for Littlefinger to give Sansa the Lysa treatment and get rid of her. Either way Sansa and LF's stories are intricately entwined and we can only hope GRRM gives her a happier ending than her aunt just like he gives Arya a happier ending than Lyanna.

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Lord Crow

commission by @adelikashere

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Jon Snow and Satin Flowers, A song of ice and fire

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Queen daenerys Targaryen and lord commander jon snow