the game of thrones show severely fucked up shae’s character in the end but one thing i absolutely loved that they added was her relationship with sansa. because i think about the lines “if he asks anything of you, or tries anything, or touches you, i want you to tell me.” “why what would you do?” “i will make him stop.” all of the time. it is such a fucking good scene. because sansa has no one at that point in the story. no one looking out for her, only people who wish her harm. because the hound has left at that point, and while he inarguably protected her when he could, sansa was still scared of him. and shae is a person who despite the fact that she really shouldn’t care about sansa she does.
in the book shae doesn’t give a fuck about sansa. she’s jealous of the fact that sansa is highborn and marrying tyrion while shae will only ever be viewed as a whore. and having just one person that against all odds cares cares about sansa and wants to protect her is really fucking important.
and that’s one of the reasons that shae’s ending makes no sense in the show. she cares about sansa so much. she says “i love that girl. i would kill for her.” and then she joins up with tywin in the end? one of the greatest threats to sansa? that doesn’t make any sense. even after sansa left, the devotion that we see shae have for sansa would mean that she would never willingly work with the lannisters. her turning on tyrion in the trial makes sense, they threatened her, but shacking up with tywin after, betraying the girl that she loves and wants to protect, makes no sense. in the books shae doesn’t like sansa at all and she tells tyrion that she is with tywin because she is scared of him. the showrunners taking away the fact that she was scared and forced to be with tywin completely erases not only the horror of what she’s been forced to do but also disregards the love and care that they put into her character in regard to sansa, a love and care that they completely made up for her show counterpart.
