That night Sansa dreamt of Joffrey on the throne, with herself seated beside him in a gown of woven gold. She had a crown on her head, and everyone she had ever known came before her, to bend the knee and say their courtesies. (AGOT)
It is my comet, Theon told himself, sliding a hand into his fur-lined cloak to touch the oilskin pouch snug in its pocket. Inside was the letter Robb Stark had given him, paper as good as a crown. (ACOK)
Compared to birds
“You have forgotten more than you know. And you are a great fool if you believe your lord father will ever hand these holy islands over to a Stark. Now be silent. The ride is long enough without your magpie chatterings.” (ACOK)
“You’re like one of those birds from the Summer Isles, aren’t you? A pretty little talking bird, repeating all the pretty little words they taught you to recite.” (AGOT)
Ned's sword
Lord Stark had not treated him cruelly, but the long steel shadow of his greatsword had always been between them. He was kind to me, but never warm. he knew that one day he might need to put me to death. (ADWD)
He left the room with his eyes burning and his daughter's wails echoing in his ears, and found the direwolf pup where they chained her. Ned sat beside her for a while. "Lady," he said, tasting the name. He had never paid much attention to the names the children had picked, but looking at her now, he knew that Sansa had chosen well. She was the smallest of the litter, the prettiest, the most gentle and trusting. She looked at him with bright golden eyes, and he ruffled her thick grey fur. Shortly, Jory brought him Ice. (AGOT)
Attention to clothes
He chose boots of supple black leather, soft lambswool breeches of silvery-grey, a black velvet doublet with the golden kraken of the Greyjoys embroidered on the breast. Around his throat he fastened a slender gold chain. (ACOK)
She had taken special care to make herself beautiful. Her gown was the ivory silk that the queen had given her... She had fretted over her jewelry for hours an finally decided upon the elegant simplicity of a plain silver chain. (AGOT)
"Worm Lips"
His lips were as soft and red as the worms you found after a rain, and his eyes were vain and cruel. (AGOT)
His lips look like two worms fucking. (ACOK)
Forced identities
Reek, Reek, my name is Reek. He had not been born with that name. In another life he had been someone else, but here and now, his name was Reek. He remembered. (ADWD)
It will mean my head if I am found, she reminded herself as she descended a flight of icy stone steps. I must be Alayne all the time, inside and out. (AFFC)
Inner Strength
He can make me look at the heads, she told herself, but he can’t make me see them. (AGOT)
I must not let him drive me mad. He can take my fingers and my toes, he can put out my eyes and slive my ears off, but he cannot take my wits unless I let him. (ADWD)
"Life is not a song"
In songs, the hero always saved the maiden from the monster’s castle, but life was not a song, no more than Jeyne was Arya Stark. (ADWD)
... She remembered what Lord Petyr had said to her, here in this very hall. "Life is not a song, sweetling," he'd told her. "You may learn that one day to your sorrow." In life, the monsters win, she told herself, and now it was the Hound's voice she heard, a cold rasp, metal on stone. (AGOT)
Frustration with Jeyne crying
Jeyne Poole had been confined with her, but Jeyne was useless. Her face was puffy from all her crying, and she could not seem to stop sobbing about her father. "I'm certain your father is well," Sansa told her when she had finally gotten the dress buttoned right. "I'll ask the queen to let you see him." She thought that kindness might lift Jeyne's spirits, but the other girl just looked at her with red, swollen eyes and began to cry all the harder. She was such a child. (AGOT)
"It is," his sister had said, so softly that he was afraid that she might cry. Theon hated that. He hated women weeping. Jeyne Poole had wept all the way from Winterfell to here, wept until her face was purple as a beetroot and the tears had frozen on her cheeks, and all because he told her that she must be Arya, or else the wolves might send them back. (TWOW)
Kissed by snow
When he raised his head, the snowflakes brushed his cheeks like cold soft kisses. He could hear the sound of music from the hall behind him. A soft song now, and sad. For a moment he felt almost at peace. (ADWD)
Drifting snowflakes brushed her face as light as lover’s kisses, and melted on her cheeks. At the center of the garden, beside the statue of the weeping woman that lay broken and half-buried on the ground, she turned her face up to the sky and closed her eyes. 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. (ASOS)
Dancing
What would she do when the music began to play? It was a vexing question, to which her heart and head gave different answers. Sansa loved to dance, but Alayne… (AFFC)
The Prince of Winterfell had been a graceful dancer, but Reek with his missing toes would be grotesque. (ADWD)
Considering killing their abusers
All it would take was a shove, she told herself. He was standing right there, right there, smirking at her with those fat wormlips. You could do it, she told herself. You could. Do it right now. It wouldn’t even matter if she went over with him. It wouldn’t matter at all. (AGOT)
Theon drew the dagger. All I need do is turn and stab him. The knife is in my hand. He knew the game by then. Another trap, he told himself, remembering Kyra with her keys. He wants me to try to kill him. And when I fail, he’ll flay the skin from the hand I used to hold the blade. (ADWD)
Reflecting on Heroes
There are no heroes here, only whores. (ADWD)
... a voice inside her whispered, There are no heroes. (AGOT)
Hoping that Stannis will bring them salvation
He’d owned a sword named Lion’s Tooth once, Sansa remembered. Arya had taken it from him and thrown it in a river. I hope Stannis does the same with this one. (ACOK)
Theon never believed a word of it. He would dance this dance for them because he had no choice, but afterward… He will give me back to Ramsay then, he thought, and Ramsay will take a few more fingers and turn me into Reek once more. Unless the gods were good, and Stannis Baratheon descended on Winterfell and put all of them to the sword, himself included. That was the best he could hope for. (ADWD)
Kindness in dire circumstances
Even so, he knelt beside her, pulled down the furs, touched her cheek. “You know me. I’m Theon, you remember. I know you too. I know your name.”
“My name?” She shook her head. “My name … it’s …”
He put a finger to her lips. “We can talk about that later. You need to be quiet now. Come with us. With me. We will take you away from here. Away from him.”
Her eyes widened. “Please,” she whispered. “Oh, please.”
Theon slipped his hand through hers. The stumps of his lost fingers tingled as he drew the girl to her feet. (ADWD)
Alayne took Robert's gloved hand in her own to stop his shaking. "Sweetrobin," she said, "I'm scared. Hold my hand, and help me get across. I know you're not afraid."
He looked at her, his pupils small dark pinpricks in eyes as big and white as eggs. "I'm not?"
"Not you. You're my winged knight, Ser Sweetrobin."
"The Winged Knight could fly," Robert whispered.
"Higher than the mountains." She gave his hand a squeeze. (AFFC)
Rescuing Sweetrobin and Jeyne
Alayne knew that she dare not wait for Mya to return. She helped the boy dismount, and hand in hand they walked out onto the bare stone saddle, their cloaks snapping and flapping behind them. All around was empty air and sky, the ground falling away sharply to either side. There was ice underfoot, and broken stones just waiting to turn an ankle, and the wind was howling fiercely. It sounds like a wolf, thought Sansa. A ghost wolf, big as mountains. And then they were on the other side, and Mya Stone was laughing and lifting Robert for a hug. (AFFC)
The crossbow snapped. A bolt passed within a foot of him, shattering the crust of frozen snow that had plugged the closest crenel. Of Abel, Rowan, Squirrel, and the others there was no sign. He and the girl were alone. If they take us alive, they will deliver us to Ramsay. Theon grabbed Jeyne about the waist and jumped. (ADWD)
Flying motif
"We flew. Let Abel make a song of that, we flew." (TWOW)
The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. (ASOS)
THE STARKS ARE BY FAR THE MOST PROLIFIC FAMILY IN THE UPPER ECHELONS OF SOCIETY
⠀ Sansa Stark has all that a debutant might wish for herself: she's the first daughter of a lord of great name and fortune, has beauty that goes beyond words and all the manners and talents a lady ought to possess. But apparently these aren't enough attributes, because the end of her first season is approaching and she hasn't received any considerable proposal.
⠀ That is, until her older brother's best friend suggestes a ruse that might help her attract the attention she seeks: he'll pretend to court her.
⠀ It's only acting, of course, since Theon Greyjoy is not only an infamous rake, but also has no intention of ever marrying. But the effect is immediate and undeniable, and every pair of eyes in polite society is turned to them, while they exchange seductive glances and smiles that will blur the line between reality and make-believe and leave both Sansa and Theon conflicted by the strong attraction they feel toward each other when both want completely different things for their lives.
