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[thebraxiatelcollection]

It’s going to be difficult now for me to watch any Doctor Who story involving Gallifrey after the fuck-up that is the Timeless Children. I’m doing my best to pretend it’s never happened but knowing Series 12 exists and what Chibnall has done to the lore of Gallifrey just feels…tainted.

I’m doing my best to ignore Chibnall era and not associating with it but it’s hard because I love Doctor Who and all it’s done for me and more importantly, I just love Gallifrey and the Time-Lord’s.

[enbizaka-murders]

I think we need to adress the sad fact about Rey, that she has absolutely zero personality.

Like literally, try to think up any trait about her. There will be something she does that contradicts it. Alot of r*ylos saw rey as a girl who would be kind to Kylo and help him while alot of other people saw her as someonw who would just kick his ass. What does she do? She does both; she beats him up and then she’s for some reason tender with him. One movie she’s a dirty sand gremlin, the next she’s pretty and feminine, letting her hair down. She’s feral but she’s somehow never tempted by the dark side.

What are Rey’s motivations? We don’t know. I can’t be try to find her family because then she would have left. How is she such a good pilot when she never left the planet? Even Luke and Anakin had flown or driven before we see them do their heroic deeds. How can she swim if she’s lived on a desert planet for her entire life? How can she wield a lightsaber without training? How can she use the force within 48 hours to lift a bunch of rocks when it took Luke three years of self studying to pull Anakin’s lightsaber out of the snow. Even after three years of training Luke got his ass kicked but Rey picks up a lightsaber for the first time and kicks ass. A lightsaber can’t be wielded by anyone, you need to be trained with the force to wield it correctly. And don’t say that growing up on Jakku made her able to fight. There’s a diffrence between a staff you can hold to your body and a sword that can cut through flesh and bone like butter.

How could she do a mind trick, a technique that takes at least a couple of months to master? Luke learned it after a year sure, but as has been established, his father was literally born from the force, making him a quarter force so him or Leia learning techniques fast isn’t weird in that universe. But Rey is just like anyone else, except she isn’t because she is for some bananas fucking reason better than the fucking chosen one.

Rey is not a character. She is a skin for girls to put on so that they can fantasize about being in that galaxy far far away. And even though you might want to think diffrently, Anakin and Luke were not male power fantasies.

Luke’s story is a story about team work and how compassion, trust, mercy, and love for your friends and family can save the day more than you might think. You might have to make lots of sacrifices, but hopefully it will all be worth it. That’s not a male power fantasy that’s a fantasy of all kinds of people, regardless of race, age, or gender.

Anakin’s story is a story about how a young man was groomed and taken advantage of for the most of his life because people wanted him not for who he was, but for what he could do to them. And the only one who did love him for him was cruely taken away and he was left in chronic agony for over 20 years until he finally died. That not a male power fantasy that’s a fucking nightmare.

What was Rey’s story? Nobody knows because disney just wanted to make money and Kathleen Kennedy wanted to see her own self insert fanfic on the big screen.

[kitsn0w]

Game of Thrones S8 - Last Day On Set (pt.3 | pt.2 | pt.1) (requested)

[abovethemists]

Gwendoline Christie’s 2019 Emmys dress has a ‘Game of Thrones’ Easter egg

The actress’ gown pays homage to Brienne of Tarth.

The gown’s red draping is held in place at her shoulders with a gold lion brooch holding a blue sapphire-like stone in its mouth. Fans of “GoT” will recognize the gold lion as the symbol of the Lannisters; Jaimie Lannister was Brienne’s love interest on the show.

The sapphires, meanwhile, reference Christie’s character’s homeland of Tarth, known as the Sapphire Isle because of its blue waters.

In other words, Christie’s Emmys gown is probably the closest thing fans will get to a happy ending for this star-crossed couple.

LIONS WITH SAPPHIRES IN THEIR MOUTHS! GWEN SAID BRAIME RIGHTS!

[mygreatadventurehasbegun]

WHAT.

[theusurpersdog]

Sansa in A Game of Thrones

Sansa’s character arc in AGoT is one of the best, and was the first clear sign that GRRM wasn’t writing your typical fantasy novel. Sadly, GRRM proved smarter than most of his audience, and a lot of the nuance was missed in Sansa’s character. Revisiting AGoT, here’s my take on her development.  A handful of themes and narrative elements are present in all of Sansa’s chapters, and laid the groundwork for how she perceives the world, and where her character arc will go for the rest of the series.

Family

GRRM created Sansa to be the “black sheep” of the Stark family, and her feelings as an outsider in Winterfell are key to her character. From her first chapter, there is a sense that she and Ned are not as close as Ned is to his other children, and her relationship with Arya is already strained. Of course, the events at the Trident heighten all of these issues to a boiling point, and cause most of Sansa’s internal turmoil.

Keep reading

[theusurpersdog]

Dragons Plant No Trees

This is my fourth and final piece about Daenerys in A Dance with Dragons, and the last in a series I’ve written about her arcs through all four books. Here’s the links to the other pieces: Waking the Dragon, The Beggar Queen, An Avenging Dragon, Floppy Ears, He Would Make a Monster of Me, and The Price of Peace.

At the start of Daenerys X, she has been lost in the Dothraki Sea with Drogon for days, if not weeks. On the rock formation she dubs Dragonstone, she is hardly drinking and only eating the scraps of Drogon’s kills. Pushed to the brink of survival, Daenerys has fever dreams about Viserys, Jorah, Quaithe, and the time she spent in Meereen; these dreams push her to finally make the decision she’s been headed toward the whole time, embracing Fire & Blood.

At first, she still plans on returning to Meereen:

Her home was back in Meereen, with her husband and her lover. That was where she belonged, surely.

But Drogon refuses to take her; no matter what, at the end of the day he always flies back to Dragonstone. So, for the second time, Daenerys must abandon him and walk to Meereen alone.

While we’ve seen Meereen’s collapse through Barristan and Quentyn’s eyes, Daenerys doesn’t consider that anything may have gone wrong since she left:

By now the Yunkai’i will be marching home. That was why she had done all that she had done. For peace.

Daenerys does not understand the choice she has already made. Before, when she was presented with the aftermath of Drogon’s fire (Hazzea’s bones) she was able to put her people first. But in the moment in Daznak’s Pit, she placed Drogon’s life above everyone else:

Below, she saw men whirling, wreathed in flame, hands up in the air as if caught in the throes of some mad dance. A woman in a green tokar reached for a weeping child, pulling him down into her arms to shield him from the flames. Dany saw the color vividly, but not the woman’s face. People were stepping on her as they lay tangled on the bricks. Some were on fire.

Then all of that had faded, the sounds dwindling, the people shrinking, the spears and arrows falling back beneath them as Drogon clawed his way into the sky. Up and up and up he’d borne her, high above the pyramids and pits, his wings outstretched to catch the warm air rising from the city’s sunbaked bricks. If I fall and die, it will still have been worth it, she had thought.

This passage is incredibly similar to lines from Dany’s last chapter in A Game of Thrones:

The pyre roared in the deepening dusk like some great beast, drowning out the fainter sound of Mirri Maz Duur’s screaming and sending up long tongues of flame to lick at the belly of the night. As the smoke grew thicker, the Dothraki backed away, coughing. Huge orange gouts of fire unfurled their banners in that hellish wind, the logs hissing and cracking, glowing cinders rising on the smoke to float away into the dark like so many newborn fireflies. The heat beat at the air with great red wings, driving the Dothraki back, driving off even Mormont, but Dany stood her ground. She was the blood of the dragon, and the fire was in her.

Even from the beginning, Daenerys has been too distracted by the beauty of fire to hear people’s screams. That’s why she cannot have both her dragons and her people; she will always forget one in favor of the other. 

And Drogon’s refusal to take her to Meereen makes this point even clearer; Dany can have the dragons or Meereen, but not both. She doesn’t understand this, though, and keeps trying to get back to Meereen by herself. But as the days pass and she makes little progress, and grows more fatigued and ill, she can no longer pretend with herself:

Meereen was not her home, and never would be. It was a city of strange men with strange gods and stranger hair, of slavers wrapped in fringed tokars, where grace was earned through whoring, butchery was art, and dog was a delicacy. Meereen would always be the Harpy’s city, and Daenerys could not be a harpy.

This is where the chapter takes a turn; before, it had been the story of Daenerys struggling to return to Meereen, no matter what. Now, GRRM weaves symbolism, hallucinations, and Daenerys’ revelations into a breathtakingly beautiful chapter about Daenerys giving up on Meereen.

Keep reading

[sophiestarke]

Sansa Stark and her influence on the common folk

Throughout the books of ASOIAF and the GOT TV show, the common folk of Westeros have suffered immensely. Whether that be under Joffreys rule (they were so desperate for bread that they started multiple dangerous riots) how they were affected by Tywin Lannister’s men (villages raided, people killed and assaulted) and Theon’s taking of Winterfell (the people he killed, especially the two farm boys he burned alive) there is no argument to their suffering. What I have listed is just a few examples of many of how the common folk (or peasants, if you want) are treated. It’s unjustified, horrific and just downright saddening.

They desperately need a ruler who cares for them. King Robert didn’t, he had such a difficult time with accepting his responsibilities as king that even he himself admitted that he didn’t want to be king. Joffrey, well, we all know about him and his ruling. Tommen allowed a dangerous group of religious fanatics to enter the city, which resulted in Cersei bombing the Sept of Baelor, which undeniably resulted in many, many deaths and suffering of the small folk.

But there’s someone who cares deeply about the small folk, and not for any sort of ulterior motive or personal benefit.

Sansa Stark.

Time and time again, we have seen Sansa Stark stick up for people even when she wouldn’t benefit from it, and even place herself at risk. Here are just a few examples that I’ve collected from the show, and the books.

This is one of my favourite examples from the show. I’ve talked about it before, but it’s just so important and says so much about Sansas character that gosh darn it, imma bring it up again. Before Sansa says this quote, she was nearly gang r*ped by a group of men, beaten by them, and left bleeding and traumatized. But what does Sansa still want to do, despite what they did to her? She wants to help them. She wants to give them food, what she knows started the riots in the first place. I’ve never seen a royal show a display of such selflessness on the whole damn show. Contrast it with how Margaery treats the common folk (no hate on Margaery, she’s one of my faves). One of them does it for political gain, one does it out of kindness.

Now, for book examples.

These quotes are pulled from a Tyrion chapter from a Clash of Kings:

“Joffrey looked for a moment as if he meant to ride her (the crazed grieving mother) down, but Sansa Stark leaned over and said something to him. The King fumbled in his purse, and flung the woman a silver stag”

This not only shows Sansa’s compassion, (nobody else did or said anything for the woman, who was holding her own dead child above her head) and how she could influence people, even heartless Joffrey.

“Please, your Grace, let him go”

This quote was pulled from when a commoner threw mud or dung or whatever you wanna call it on Joffrey and Sansa. Anybody, especially a Westerosi royal would be humiliated to have such nastiness tossed onto them especially in a crowd of other royals, but Sansa has no regard for herself, but instead, the man who threw it, because she knew Joffrey would hurt him.

Sansa’s kindness towards the common folk doesn’t just stop there. It extends to her rule over Winterfell in S7, where she is patiently listening to complaints (despite her annoyance to the men bickering about Jon) and making sure her people will have food and warm battle armour for the winter.

There are many more examples but I don’t want to make this post a mile long. I just don’t see any other character in GOT having such a selfless kindness towards the common folk. If Sansa had the IT (“I will make them love me”) (and her being referred to as a “little dove”, and doves are known symbols of peace) she would without a doubt give the common folk kindness and safety.

[nutellaninja0001]

I love and admire Sansa Starks character because I don’t think fans truly grasp just how much strength it took just to survive growing up in King’s Landing as a prisoner of war and the grace needed to handle it the way she did.

The one thing that truly angers me about this fandom is their blatant ignorance of her character. For years, time and time again Sansa is painted as the “weak” damsel in distress because she was unable to escape King’s Landing and was unable to physically fight off those who abused her for years. They miss the entire point of her character. She’s not supposed to fight with a sword. She’s not supposed to survive this world using magic. She’s still here without having all that shit at her disposal.

I resonate with her character because as someone who’s grown up in an abusive situation it’s not always possible to leave. It’s not always possible to protect yourself and you need emotional strength everyday just to keep going. And Sansa does. Not only does she survive, she does it all with grace and never lets her abusers sour her the way they try. A key example is Cersei but we will come back to that later.

This meta will be focusing on her arc from the end of season 1 to the early episodes of season 4 so it will get long.

She has to handle the likes of Joffery. Sansa was Joffery’s plaything to torment. He murdered her father, forced her to look at his head and those of her household, and still, Sansa did not break. She’s 13 when all of this begins and instead she looks Joffery in the eyes and tells him perhaps Robb will give her his head.

What happens when she say this? We all know.

In this moment Sansa learned she could not speak out and if she was going to survive, she had to keep her true emotions to herself and continue on. She ends her season 1 arc realizing all that she knew of the world and royalty was a lie and from here this is her ivory stage when season 2 begins.

Can y’all imagine how hard this must have been for her to say? She’s sitting next to the boy who murdered her father and she musters the strength to look Tyrion in the eye and repeat what she has learned with zero emotions behind it. She detaches herself from this moment so that neither her tone nor her expression could be used against her. But anyone with half a brain cell can see right through it. I’m not going to get into this scene as a whole, but even at this age and already everything that’s happened to her she will not let it change who she is.

She stops Joffery from brutally murdering Ser Dontos and finds a way to not only manipulate Joffery, but save a man’s life in the process all at the risk of her own safety. Her kindness never diminishes and that isn’t easy in the face of such horror.

She received regular verbal and emotional abuse from Cersei who enjoyed mocking and terrorizing her just in a different form from her son’s preferable physical abuse.

She must sit with Cersei and play a part of a happy young girl who’s betrothed to a boy who enjoys abusing her and a family who is actively fighting her own. This whole scene is agonizing for Sansa as Cersei reminds her she will do her duty regardless if Joffery murders her brother. As they speak of her family as traitors and Cersei watches Sansa’s every word. She’s on the verge of tears throughout it but does not let them slip and instead continues playing her part. It’s a horrible scene for Sansa but truly amazing at the ability this girl has in moments like this.

The abuse by the hands of the Lannisters doesn’t ease up.

She is taken in the throne room, stripped threatened, and beaten while the whole court watches and does nothing in this moment. She is powerless to stop the abuse and when she is thankfully rescued from further abuse by Tyrion, she keeps her head high and repeats the words.

If I was a 13 year old girl and had just been beaten by a grown man, I sure as shit wouldn’t have been able to speak let alone kept a straight face and walked out with dignity. This is her subtle resistance that no abuse will break her no matter how hard they try.

Continuing with the horrors Sansa is assaulted and nearly gang raped during a riot. That in of itself is completely terrifying and later we see causes Sansa to develop PTSD. But when Shae is tending to her wounds she is not hateful. She has every right to be afraid and angry but she only asks why the the common folk hated her and if she had food to give them, she would have.

She shows compassion even for those who literally attacked her and has no lingering hate for these people. I respect the shit out of that kind of empathy so big in someone so young and again, her kindness towards other isn’t shaken after seeing how ugly the world can be.

She stops Sandor, and says she should have come sooner to thank him for saving her earlier. She challenges his bitter outlook and asks why he’s so hateful. Yes, Sandor has been through some serious shit and it’s turned him into the hateful man he is today. This is why it’s so important that her spirit is not broken even up until this point.

Another moment is when Sansa gets her first period and is immediately terrified by the realization she can now bear children for Joffery. She is just a child here and is already forced to fear womanhood by the patriarchal society that she used to do everything “right” by. Now, it’s no longer the future she dreamed of with Joffery. She doesn’t sit ideally by and skip to Cersei of what has happened. She even attempts to hide it along wit Shae before she is found out and is unable to do anything.

She’s taken to Cersei as Cersei, in her own way, tries to pass on some “womanly wisdom” to Sansa on this day. This is an interesting scene for characters like Cersei and Sansa in their position as queens who’s only talent will be recognized in society for their ability to bear children. I don’t think Cersei is trying to mock Sansa here. I do believe she is trying to teach Sansa the things she has learned over time but, it’s subtle in Sansa’s rejection of this particular piece of “wisdom” “love no one but your children.” We see Sansa hold the importance of family very close to her heart and later on with Jon, Bran, and Arya, Sansa doesn’t hold back in her love for those around her.

Possibly one of my favorite examples of Sansa’s clever wit is when before the siege by Stannis, Joffery calls her over to kiss his blade and further torment her that he she will possibly kiss the blood of Robb off his sword. She subtly manipulates Joffery and even tries to encourage him through the poking of his ego that he should go to vanguard as the most dangerous part of the battle.

It goes right over Joffery’s head and he’s not even aware of what is happening. The only one she cannot fool with her real intentions is Tyrion who time and time again sees Sansa as she plays this part and admires her for this performance.

Unfortunately, as she awaits in the room with Cersei and the rest of the ladies, Cersei is drinking and picks out Sansa to keep her occupied. It’s clear from these scenes Cersei’s resentment towards Sansa comes from how much she sees her former “stupid” self in Sansa. Again, Sansa must play the part with her words that she is praying for Cersei and Joffery.

She’s mocked for praying, called a fool, forced to drink, must endure Cersei’s drunken bitterness of her duties as a queen while she even brings up the possibility of Sansa being raped if the city should fall. Note, Sansa was nearly gang raped just a few episodes before this. Cersei tries to advise of ruling through fear but we see later on in the series that Sansa does not keep this idea as she becomes a woman her people truly respect and want as their ruler. An accomplishment Cersei herself never learned.

Sansa’s kindness is showcased beautifully again when Cersei believes the battle is lost and leaves the room while the ladies began to become very frightened. Remember, these are the same women who sat back and snicker at her, and watch as she is beaten. She’s in the room with the same man who took her father’s head and will kill her too if the battle is lost. What does she do? She reassures these women and calms them with a hyme. Only leaving when Shae tells her to. Showing herself as more of a queen than the queen herself.

When she gets to her room, she finds Sandor. The man she was told to fear. He’s drunken and covered in blood with an offer to come away with him. She’s a 13 year old child alone with a man who openly admits he enjoys killing people. Instead, she looks him in the eyes and tells him “You won’t hurt me.” Sure, he’s shown her some resemblance of kindness in the past but it’s hard for anyone to say what he would do when he’s already defied his king and abandons the battle. But above all Sansa shows courage in this moment.

Season 2 ends with Sansa’s betrothal to Joffery ending when the Tyrells come to KL and she’s unable to hide her joy when she leaves until Littlefinger comes to tell her she still isn’t safe under Joffery’s rule. We won’t get into all of it, but it’s another example of just how much Sansa was constantly in danger while in KL in more ways than one.

Season 3 picks up with Sansa as the target for so many around her. Varys, the Tyrells, Littlefinger, the Lannisters. They all see her as a piece and not a person and she is forced into situations beyond her control. A very, VERY overlooked moment of courage and strength is showcased once again when she has lunch with Margaery and Olenna who’s only point to having her here in the first place is to seek info about Joffery.

She’s probed and probed on the kind of person he is. Remember, she doesn’t know the Tyrells well at all. She’s putting herself at a huge risk if she tells the truth. We see Sansa constantly needing to remember her words because one slip and she’s dead.

But she does go through with it and looks Olenna in the eye when she says Joffery is a monster. That ^^^ took unbelievable courage under the circumstances and I don’t see how fans can miss the weight she was under and how careful she had to be at all times.

Her hope of escape and perhaps a chance at a happy life or, at the very least, somewhat of a happy life are within reach with a betrothal to Ser Loros and it’s taken away just as soon as it appears. Instead, she’s forced to marry a man twice her age and into the family she loathes, who’s only intentions are to still her claim to Winterfell and usurper her ancestral home from under her. She’s left with no choice but to go through with it and she keeps her head high throughout the ceremony. Even after Joffery threatens her with rape and she must await with a drunk Tyrion expecting the night to end with having to sleep with him whether she likes it or not.

She’s 14 during all of this! And it’s amazing just how much Sansa has endured throughout her time in KL.

We end the season with the reaction shot of Sansa after the news of the Red Wedding. She cannot say a word or express any type of grievances towards the death of her mother and brother publicy and she’s still within the clutches of those who were behind it. She’s still married to Tyrion and is still very much the property of the Lannisters. Tyrion knows there is nothing to say to her and walks away.

Season 4 begins with Sansa still greatly affected (and rightfully so) by the aftermath of the Red Wedding. She isn’t eating nor is she sleeping and can only think of the gruesome ways on which her family was brutally murdered. Again, she is 14 and handling all of this completely alone for the most part but what’s extremely resilient of her shows in the next episode when she is confronted by Ser Dontos.

Lastly I want to focus on her last two scenes in KL before Joffery’s death and she is smuggled away.

Her conversation with Ser Dontos and at Joffery’s Wedding.

When Ser Dontos comes to give her the poisoned necklace, he also thanks her for saving his life and I’ve brought this up before but, look at her reaction.

It’s a small, but very important example of Sansa’s kindness. She doesn’t even believe she did anything special and shrugs it off as nothing even though it was a HUGE act of bravery. Especially when compared to how everyone else witnessing the act does nothing but can only look on not wanting to get mixed into the mess or consequences of speaking up.

This reminds me so much of the rest of her siblings who see it as simple decency even if it’s downright fucking heroic of them.

Now the wedding. Joffery’s wedding is anything but pleasant for her. She must sit as Tyrion’s wife while Joffery takes every chance to torment both Tyrion and Sansa. Starting with the big preformece of the war of the five kings parody. One of the performers as Robb Stark. She must watch as her brother’s who’s death is still very, very, fresh be mocked.

She can not say a word but instead looks on at the act with a straight face and is unable to show any signs of pain. That alone is not an easy thing to do. Especially given the circumstances! But she continues to play the part she’s played for years and doesn’t shed a tear.

Her last show of resistance in KL is when Joffery is being especially petty and obnoxious towards Tyrion, forcing him to be his Royal cup bearer as he drops his cup and forces Tyrion to get it from under the table. Sansa breaks this act as she reaches down to hand Tyrion the cup. Subtle, yet open defiance of what Joffery is doing to Tyrion in this moment and she doesn’t even need to say a word.

She’s smuggled away while Joffery is dying and so ends her arc in King’s Landing since her arrival as a young child.

It had been painful for Sansa in so many ways and what I respect is she never loses who she is. She never stops being kind, decent, empathetic, and she never forgets who she is as a Stark. So many have tried to break her down but her inner strength stays true. She grows, damn right. She learned a lot, fuck yeah. But she comes out the other end not bitter nor broken. She’s always been a survivor and as we’ve seen time, and time again that’s not an easy thing for characters in this story. Especially a young girl like her. And I respect the hell out of that and can relate to far more than I could any other character in the series. She’s taught that you can’t always fight those who hurt you, but that doesn’t mean they can win.

Sansa Stark wasn’t ever the girl who was supposed to drop kick her enemies or burn them alive. She was the girl who’s eniemies made a grave mistake turning her skin from porcelain, to ivory to steel and she’s all the better for it.

[hellsbellschime]

Can you do meta on Sansa and Dany?

HECK YES I CAN. Because what I think is really interesting about Sansa and Dany is that they are very much two sides of the same coin, they’re both girls who started off their stories young and pretty naive and absolutely got put through the wringer and have come out the other side as two of the most significant political players in Westeros. 

On the one hand Sansa was raised by really supportive and loving parents in a good family that sheltered her from the world, and on the other hand Dany was essentially raised by one psychotic abuser, but interestingly enough they were both raised on nearly identical fairy tale ideas, that they would become a queen and be loved and empowered in their lives, and they had similar dreams and ideas of what that eventual reality of that would be. But that’s where their whole character developments really start to diverge. 

Dany starts off her journey as powerless, but her progression as a character is literally a progression of her becoming stronger and more powerful with nothing ever putting a stop to her or even really getting in the way. She becomes the khaleesi, she births dragons, she gets an army, and she legitimately conquers Westeros on her own. She definitely has her obstacles, but she constantly has people falling in line behind her and she completely steamrolls anyone who opposes her. But when you combine that experience of essentially never having to lose and having your people treat you like the messiah with the fact that the idea that she was extraordinary, destined for greatness, and destined to retake the throne that was stolen from her family, you have an incredibly dangerous situation. What has always fascinated me about Dany as a character is that you really do have every reason to believe that she could be the hero savior of the world, but you can’t really know whether or not it’s true. And the fact that Dany has accomplished other extraordinary things doesn’t automatically mean that it is true. 

Sansa on the other hand starts off her journey as essentially a pawn in someone else’s game, and her personal agency and power only continues to be stripped away. She also began her story as a girl who was just supposed to be married off to some king as a tool for solidifying alliances, but then she just became a hostage to barter with, and then she became even less than that. She was sold on a dream of the perfect life when she was young and every aspect of that dream was systematically destroyed by awful people until there was nothing left. And we see Sansa continually have hopes that things might get better, and then they don’t. In that sense she is everything that Dany isn’t, she sees everything that she knows is good destroyed by terrible people and she can’t do anything about it, and everything that she was raised to believe was “special” about her is just used as someone else’s means to their own ends. Dany began her life with violence and abuse that she rose up against, and Sansa began her life with love and caring that devolved into violence and abuse that she had no choice but to endure. 

And you can see how these experiences and life lessons are reflected in their own leadership. Dany is an incredible conqueror and knows how to inspire awe and admiration in the people who follow her, but she also doesn’t pay a lot of mind to the collateral damage that she incurs along the way, which is almost always a part of her downfalls as a leader. Sansa on the other hand only sees the collateral damage, which is why, much like the other Starks, she tends to inspire loyalty above all other things. Dany also tends to see things in very black and white because she can do that, because for her things are very black and white, being the most powerful person in the world has made it that way. She doesn’t have to think through what she does because in the end it doesn’t much matter, she’ll win no matter what, and her focus has always been on getting where she wants to go instead of what to do when she gets there. I think Sansa’s complete lack of escape from so many of her horrible experiences have given her the opposite perspective, she is very much about what she can do in the here and now, she places a lot of value on the smallfolk, and she’s much more focused on working together instead of either forcing people to join her or destroying them if they don’t. 

Ironically, I think this is what makes Sansa the best leader out of anyone. She’s the least extraordinary person that we see, she’s not a hero, she’s not the mother of dragons, she’s not the three eyed raven or a world traveled assassin, she’s a girl who had to suffer in silence for half of her life and it forced her to be clever and fostered an enormous amount of empathy in her heart. Dany is a character with huge ideas and no real plan for enacting those ideas, and when it comes to getting what she wants she’s a real bull in a china shop. She’s a great conqueror and she knows how to inspire people, but she’s terrible at actually governing people. 

And the real problem is that for all of her talk about wanting the Iron throne, she doesn’t actually WANT to be the queen and all that entails. She wants what she believes is rightfully hers, but she doesn’t want to be the woman who spends her time working on the minutia of managing a kingdom, I mean she’s even tried it more than once before and she never actually stuck it out, so I think even if she gets the throne she won’t be satisfied if she does. On the other hand, I think Sansa would probably only venture south again with a knife at her throat, but she really does want to govern her people. Not rule them, but govern them. Because she understands what it means to be the powerless one and what it means to be at the mercy of another person, and she doesn’t want to leave anyone at the mercy of someone who is cruel or careless or dangerous.  And ultimately I think that’s why she should be queen.

[winterfellsroses]

I want many things for Sansa in the books, but here my main wishes :

- her finding someone who will be her friend : probably Brienne, Sansa is craving for female friendships, she's totally desilusioned about knights, Brienne is a true knight. It would show her development (at the beginning she had fixed ideas about what a proper lady was and a part of her arc is accepting others for who they are). It would obviously be an amazing thing for Brienne, she promised to find Sansa and she would honour the vows she made to a woman she admires Catelyn. She doesn't have many friends and deserves a lot. Also, according to Martin, she's Sansa with a sword... meaning they have a LOT in common. And it would be great to read a female friendship for once.

- her reuniting with her family, her siblings obviously and meeting her great uncle maybe. Since he was knight of the gate at one point and has probably still allies, he will maybe play a role in her storyline. And going back at Winterfell... the narrative punished her for her dreams of the south and since her father death she only wants to go home, so if she doesn't get there, I will be disappointed

- and (that's extremely important) all the creepy old men attracted to her leaving her alone... definitely ! They can all die for all I care...

[florencemachines]

Costume appreciation series: Padmé Amidala’s wardrobe in Star Wars (1999-2005) dir George Lucas

Costume Design by Trisha Biggar

[sayruq]

However, she’d soon come to realize that Pod was as frightened of her as she was of his cousin. Whenever she spoke to him, he turned the most alarming shade of red.

how adorable. podrick is the only character who has a crush on sansa without harming her

[esther-dot]

Sansa wasn’t manipulative

It’s interesting that a general consensus in the GoT fandom is that Sansa is conniving, but the only instance we really have of that in the show is how she vouches for Littlefinger in the Vale, summons him to retake Winterfell, and then keeps him close until having him executed. She doesn’t tell Jon about asking him to come in s6, but after he says they need to trust each other, Sansa is done playing games with people she trusts.

Some fans were angry with her in s6-7 for speaking her mind and “undermining” Jon, but Sansa was being forthright. While she was reserved with those she didn’t trust (Littlefinger), she was brutally honest with Jon, telling him things he didn’t want to but needed to hear (Ramsay will kill Rickon), telling him he was making mistakes (“we need more men,” “they respect you they really do, but…”, “it’s a trap”). None of that was a mind game. Sansa wasn’t pointlessly making him question himself, she was trying to help him succeed.

Sansa even spells this out to Arya in s7. She wants Arya to say what she means. She thinks they’re on the same team, she wants honesty which is what she had been offering Jon. So, it isn’t out of nowhere for her to tell Tyrion what she thinks, to tell Dany what she thinks, to tell everyone what she thinks in s8. That’s what she’s been working towards since s6. Instead of being sneaky, she’s pretty Ned-like. In contrast to fans of other characters, Sansa fans wanted her to be subversive in s8, and I think in our disappointment that she wasn’t, we ignore the fact that just as Sansa rejected Cersei’s bad advice, she rejected Littlefinger’s too. Sansa wanted to work with people rather than use them. In s8, Dany is vouched for by two men that Sansa trusts, and while Sansa refuses to join the Dany cult, her behavior is pretty consisted with what it was in s7.

Sansa doesn’t trust Dany, doesn’t like her, not before she met her, not when she met her, not during their tete-a-tete, but thinking Dany used a man’s stupidity to get what she wanted is very different than thinking that she’s capable of burning a city of innocents. Being a conqueror doesn’t mean you’re prone to fits of anger which involve threatening to burn your advisors or their families alive, and there’s no reason for Sansa to suspect any of that is true when merciful Jon is seemingly in love with Dany. All Sansa has is her intuition; Jon and Tyrion have spent much more time with Dany and they are telling her she’s wrong, so it isn’t unreasonable for Sansa to test the waters and ask about Northern Independence.

Arya played games with Sansa in s7 and (insincerely) threatened her life, Tyrion had grave concerns about Dany but said she would be a good queen (duplicitous), Jon bent the knee and refused to clarify the circumstances (possibly dishonest), Dany threatened Sansa and wanted Jon to live a lie in order to secure her throne (coercion). In the last two seasons, there were a lot of mixed motivations, emotionally compromised decisions, outright manipulation, threats and lies, but Sansa wasn’t the one doing it. She acknowledged and pursued her goals openly. Her mistake was believing that others would speak as honestly with her as she did with them. She was surprised that Tyrion was afraid of Dany. She didn’t know that Jon and Tyrion were telling her to trust a woman that they didn’t trust themselves. And yet, somehow, she is the one perceived as manipulative.

[trinuviel]

She didn’t know that Jon and Tyrion were telling her to trust a woman that they didn’t trust themselves. And yet, somehow, she is the one perceived as manipulative.

This is such a good point! Sansa wasn’t manipulative in season 8 - rather she was the one that various people tried to manipulate. Dany tried, Tyrion tried and I’d say that Jon tried as well, clearly using her love for him to demand blind trust that he wasn’t willing to give himself. Arya was literally the only one who had her back in season 8 (and Jon only did the right thing at the final moment when he realized that Dany would kill Sansa).

I think season 7 made it clear that Jon saw enough of Dany’s fickle nature to not really trust her - but the way he treated his family, and particularly Sansa, in season 8 was so shitty because he demanded blind faith and obedience without sincerity. I get that he was caught in his lone wolf mode (repeating the mistake that got him killed in season 5) and that he was TERRIFIED of Dany but he forgot that he wasn’t alone and in the process he betrayed his family and put them in danger, especially Sansa who would have been more circumspect if she actually knew how often Dany issued veiled threats against her. However, I think that Jon didn’t want Sansa to directly oppose his decision to bend the knee if she knew he was afraid of Dany - we’ve seen how he doesn’t like it when she questions his decisions (even though he accepted other people doing the same).

[mneiai]

I don't think I'll ever be able to get over people who say Jon "betrayed" Dany by telling only his two sisters, who he said he would tell, after making them swear secrecy before a heart tree, about his parentage.

So, big rant lol

Dany was being unrepetently cruel to ask him never to tell anyone else. Period. It doesn't matter what her motivations are, she had zero right to ask him to keep it secret from his sisters. It was his secret and a huge piece of information about him that he'd been desperate to know that answered a huge fucking question about Ned Stark for his children.

"But she begged him!" Yeah, sorry, I'm honestly really disturbed about what your relationships are like if you think you have to consent to anything someone says they're begging you about while you're drunk after they just tried to guilt trip you for daring to tell them something important to you that affected your relationship. (Also she lied about never begging for anything, for that matter)

But beyond that, it was not an order and Jon did not promise not to tell anyone. How the fuck is it an actual betrayal if someone asks you to do something and you don't ever agree to do it?

When it comes to the secret of Jon's parentage, basically everyone else betrayed Jon. Bran for making sure the timing sucked, Sam for going along with Bran (and leading with the incest thing), Sansa for breaking her promise and telling Tyrion, Dany for acting like she had a right to deny Jon the truth of his literal identity and make him live a lie for the rest of his life when she claimed to love him. Arya is literally the only one we don't see being a complete asshat to him about it.

Dany wasn't like "oh, hey, as soon as we take KL you can ride Rhaegal back up here and let your sisters know." She wasn't like "I want to control when this info comes out to help us, once we know what's going on in the South we can decide how you can tell people." She wasn't even like "this is a huge deal for you and I totally respect that you must be having one hell of an identity crisis, I think you should wait until things calm down and you can fully process this."

Everyone's pissed that Jon didn't respond perfectly to her about everything, but if ~emotional betrayals~ are so damn important, she betrayed him first down in those crypts when her first reaction to finding out he was her only living relative was to get pissed off about it.

In fact, part of Jon's reasoning in telling Arya and Sansa is that they're his family--and Daenerys makes no attempt to claim Jon as her family. She literally had an opening right then and didn't even pretend to care that he was her nephew. She's rejected that he's a Targaryen and left him with only his Stark family to fall back on, and then act like he committed some horrific crime when he does so.

[sarang-ansli]

I agree that Daenerys was cruel toward Jon. She never cared about his feelings at any point in their relationship. I also agree that Jon did not betray Daenerys. Jon never promised her that he wouldn't tell Sansa and Arya.

I would like to say in Sansa’s defense that she did not tell Tyrion Jon’s secret. According to David Nutter, the director of E4, Tyrion put two and two together and figured out that Jon was a Targ. Sansa never explicitly told Tyrion -

Q: “Given that she swears secrecy to Jon one minute and spills the tea the next, we asked Nutter why Sansa couldn’t just play the quiet game a little while longer.

Nutter’s answer: “Well, she doesn’t say it blatantly, of course, basically inferred it, so I think that that’s a moment that Tyrion has to put two and two together,” Nutter said. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/game-of-thrones-season-8-director-questions_n_5cd45cb5e4b0796a95d84ece?guccounter=1

There is a deleted scene in which Tyrion and Varys discuss Jon flying Rhaegal and whether it is possible for a non-Targ to fly a dragon. They are basically figuring out that Jon could be a Targ.

Tyrion later told Jon that Sansa told him - “Why do you think Sansa told me?” - but according to Nutter, Sansa didn’t, so Tyrion wasn’t telling the truth.

[hereforthestarks]

WAIT...WHAT????? The director says Sansa DIDNT tell Tyrion about RLJ? Even though they totally telegraphed it like she did and afterward Tyrion and Dany explicitly blamed her? Leading Jon to believe she told when she didn’t? And not being sure he forgave her in that god awful finale script? About something she didn’t even do?

[trinuviel]

Winterfell’s Daughter. On Sansa Stark (part 6)

This is the sixth part of my analysis of Sansa Stark’s character in Game of Thrones. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) and it concludes the analysis of Sansa Stark’s season 1 arc. This is where the story takes a turn against the Starks and where Sansa’s life becomes a nightmare.

LIFE IS NOT A SONG

In my last post, I showed how Sansa’s illusions about chivalry, court and love were restored after they had been undermined by the vicious behavior of Joffrey, Cersei and the Mountain. In the very same episode as Joffrey mendaciously woo Sansa with pretty words and a pretty necklace, Ned falls out with Robert over Daenerys Targaryen and decides to break off Sansa’s betrothal to Joffrey and leave King’s Landing (ep06). Unsurprisingly, Sansa doesn’t react well when Ned tells her and Sansa that they’ll return to Winterfell.

Keep reading

[trinuviel]

Winterfell’s Daughter. On Sansa Stark (part 5)

This is the fifth part of my analysis of Sansa Stark’s character arc in Game of Thrones. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4). This post will focus on how certain events and certain people serve to re-establish Sansa’s romantic illusions after they had been temporarily dashed. Sansa puts her blinders back on but only because she is persuaded to do so.

Keep reading

[trinuviel]

Winterfell’s Daughter. On Sansa Stark (part 4)

This is the fourth part of my analysis of Sansa Stark’s character arc in Game of Thrones. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Unlike the previous three posts, this one will focus solely on one particular sequence from S01ep04: the first day of the Tourney of the Hand, the event that is supposed to celebrate Ned Stark’s appointment as Hand of the King.

THE HAND’S TOURNEY – THE UGLY TRUTH BENEATH THE CHIVALRIC PAGEANTRY

Sansa attends The Hand’s Tourney along with Arya and Septa Mordane. On the first day, a young knight, Ser Hugh of the Vale, is brutally killed by Ser Gregor Clegane (the Mountain) by “accident”. They have ringside seats to the action and thus Sansa is directly confronted with the ugly and bloody truth that hides beneath the chivalric pageantry that she adores when she has to watch Ser Hugh slowly drowning in his own blood.

Keep reading