I love your Sansa skinchanger meta!! Do you have any thoughts about what direction that will take if she does happen to have a bird as her animal? In the Varamyr chapter it's mentioned that birds are really hard to warg because of how addictive flying can be, do you see this being something Sansa struggles with if she ends up awakening her skinchanging powers, or do you think she'll be able to handle it better due to having that sweet op Stark blood?
I think it’ll be okay, because the “flying is addictive” thing comes from a biased source. Haggon’s word isn’t omnipotent, it’s just his opinion.
Dogs were the easiest beasts to bond with; they lived so close to men that they were almost human. Slipping into a dog's skin was like putting on an old boot, its leather softened by wear. As a boot was shaped to accept a foot, a dog was shaped to accept a collar, even a collar no human eye could see. Wolves were harder. A man might befriend a wolf, even break a wolf, but no man could truly tame a wolf. "Wolves and women wed for life," Haggon often said. "You take one, that's a marriage. The wolf is part of you from that day on, and you're part of him. Both of you will change."
Other beasts were best left alone, the hunter had declared. Cats were vain and cruel, always ready to turn on you. Elk and deer were prey; wear their skins too long, and even the bravest man became a coward. Bears, boars, badgers, weasels… Haggon did not hold with such. "Some skins you never want to wear, boy. You won't like what you'd become." Birds were the worst, to hear him tell it. "Men were not meant to leave the earth. Spend too much time in the clouds and you never want to come back down again. I know skinchangers who've tried hawks, owls, ravens. Even in their own skins, they sit moony, staring up at the bloody blue."
Not all skinchangers felt the same, however. Once, when Lump was ten, Haggon had taken him to a gathering of such. The wargs were the most numerous in that company, the wolf-brothers, but the boy had found the others stranger and more fascinating. Borroq looked so much like his boar that all he lacked was tusks, Orell had his eagle, Briar her shadowcat (the moment he saw them, Lump wanted a shadowcat of his own), the goat woman Grisella… (Prologue, ADWD)
Haggon was a warg, and saw wolves as superior, and believed that no one should bother bonding with another kind of animal. But, “not all skinchangers feel the same”. There probably is a kernel of truth in Haggon’s words, but I don’t think it’s as bad as he saw it. Especially when we look at how flight is portrayed in the text:
The drifts grew so deep that they covered the entrance to the caves, leaving a white wall that Summer had to dig through whenever he went outside to join his pack and hunt. Bran did not oft range with them in those days, but some nights he watched them from above.
Flying was even better than climbing. (Bran III, ADWD)
The lash was still in her hand. She flicked it against Drogon's neck and cried, "Higher!" Her other hand clutched at his scales, her fingers scrabbling for purchase. Drogon's wide black wings beat the air. Dany could feel the heat of him between her thighs. Her heart felt as if it were about to burst. Yes, she thought, yes, now, now, do it, do it, take me, take me, FLY! (Daenerys IX, ADWD)
Flying is consistently associated with freedom and survival in ASOIAF. Bran flying to survive in his first three-eyed crow dream, Dany riding Drogon, Theon and Jeyne “flying” away from Winterfell. I think the same symbolism will be present with Sansa.
That doesn’t mean that there will be no issues, as again, there is probably a kernel of truth in Haggon’s words, but I don’t think that she’s going to be “staring up at the sky all the time”. I do also think that all the Stark kids will have to learn to control their powers at some point. They all need to, not just Sansa. For example, I believe that Borroq is going to serve the purpose of Jon’s skinchanging mentor. Bran could even help teach his siblings about what they are. Bran could warn Sansa not to stay up in the sky for too long, understanding the temptation, because he struggles with the same thing with Summer. And I do think they have, as you called it, that sweet OP Stark blood. I think they’re very powerful, and will become more so once they learn how to use their abilities.
