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Sandor after insulting the Kingsguard, the City and the King in the middle of the Blackwaterbay battle goes hiding in Sansas room. He is drunk, dirty and covered in blood. In the books he grabs her and threatens her with his knife, forcing her to sing. All this is very scary for a teenage girl.
Also, the odds for the battle outside are in favor of Stannis, so she expects being safe soon. Now shes out of this keep where all the ladies were guarded by Ilyn Payne, she hopes he wont reach her when Stannis men sack the City.
Thats why she prefers staying in her room instead of fleeing with Sandor.
Probably because he was Joffreys bodyguard, he killed the butchers boy who was playing in the fields with Arya, and he typically kills just for the fun of it. Simply just didnt trust him most likely?
Its worth noting that at this point in the books, (Ser) Dontos Hollard had already sworn to help her escape Kings Landing and take her home. Presumably, Sansa felt that a drunk but (seemingly) noble ex-knight was a safer bet than the scary, threatening and half-mad Hound.
(And, since nothing ever goes well for the characters, Dontos was hired by Littlefinger to steal Sansa away for his own purposes while the Hound – based on his storyline with Arya – would likely have gotten her to her family.)
Sansas story up until the Purple Wedding has been one of childish naiveté.
Although Olenna was the first to attempt getting Sansa to mature, Littlefinger manages to shake her awake simply because she must assist him in pretending shes his niece.
Being married off to Ramsay Bolton was her trial by fire, she needed to not be weak Sansa anymore if she was to survive (emotionally). This awakens the “Catelyn” inside Sansa, where she learns to not be fragile or appear weak to the outside world.
From this, I gather that Sansa has always been naive while she was in Kings Landing. She has a soft character and was easily emotionally perturbed by circumstances.
It stands to reason that such a person would refuse the help of a brash drunken disfigured man known for his combat prowess and who has little to no tact. The Hound was literally the worst person for “princess Sansa” to encounter, he was everything she disliked.
What’s really bizarre about this entire scene, from anonymous sexual proposition to “broken in rough,” is that we don’t know why Sansa sat down here. We don’t know what she wants to say to the Hound.
There’s another bizarre elision here, too. The Hound, the show has told us, changed dramatically after Brienne of Tarth kicked his ass and he nearly died. He fell in with the Brotherhood Without Banners; devoted his strength to fighting the wights; and in Season 7, mourned the deaths of a farmer and his daughter who died of starvation because of his actions. He reconciled with Arya Stark. He’s seen armies of dead people, and seen what became of his brother Gregor. But right here, he doesn’t seem to have changed at all. He’s still putting down Sansa, reminding her of her innocence, her vulnerability, that she used to be a “stupid little bird.” It could be explained—the Hound clearly has a lot of feelings about Sansa, and maybe he’d regress or act out in her presence as a result.
Yes, the Hound’s awful scars carry with them a visible indication of how cruel the world can be, and it’s true that in Seasons 1 and 2, Sansa literally couldn’t face the sight of him. But there’s an edge to her statement here, too. She’s asserting how much stronger she is now, and how much less afraid. She’s doing this partly because she has pride in who she has become, but also because the Hound isn’t being very nice to her.
This is a lot to write about one scene, I know. But it goes to illustrate two points. One: these characters, for so long, have been so beautifully drawn that this compressed, sloppy conclusion is increasingly galling. It’s shortchanged their long-running, thorny, often quite moving transformation as characters. You could analyze nearly every scene in “The Last of the Starks” in this way, and come up just as frustrated and confused as I am here. The way that I feel about Sansa is the way that other fans feel about Tyrion, or Jaime, or Jon, or Missandei. The show’s conclusion is crushing the nuance and movement out of each character, reducing them to bite-size takeaways. To me it seems as if Sansa sat down at that table not to speak to the Hound, but to tell the audience something they already know: she’s been through a lot, and she’s strong now. The way that she did that undermines her own statement—but at this point, Game of Thrones is entirely surface-level. We cannot read more nuance into this scene, even though eight seasons of backstory are there, waiting to be brought to bear into the scene.
This whole time, the Hound hasn’t so much as smiled at her. He’s barely even looked at her. But then he glances up and sees that Sansa is steadily gazing at him. “Used to be you couldn’t look at me,” he grumbles.
Gallery Sansa practicing her needlework with Septa
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Sansa enjoys conventional “ladylike” pursuits, with a keen interest in music, poetry, singing, literature, history, dancing and embroidery. She was taught to play the High harp by Lady Leonette. She has a romantic notion of handsome princes and knights fighting honorably for love and loyalty. She is sharply contrasted with her far less idealistic and tomboyish younger sister, Arya.
Due to a time jump which was originally planned in the books but later dropped, Sansa is only 11 years old when the narrative begins. Author George R.R. Martin himself has said that he would have aged-up the younger characters had he initially known he would abandon the time-jump. Therefore, in the TV series timeline, all of the younger characters including Sansa have been aged up two years from the books. Thus, Sansa is 13 years old in Season 1, and 14 years old in Season 2. Keeping in mind that in medieval times, the age of maturity was lower than it is today, this younger age in the books isnt quite as unusual as it sounds, but due to the abandoned time jump, this still causes some discrepancies. For example, in the books, Joffreys torment of Sansa doesnt have quite the same inherent sexual tension to it because theyre both two years younger. Sansa directly states that she is 13 years old in dialogue from the pilot episode of Season 1. On her wedding night with Tyrion Lannister, however, she says that she is 14 years old when she should be 15 years old because its been two years since the pilot episode. It is possible that she either simply had not reached her nameday and turned exactly 15 yet, or that she was lying to try to shame Tyrion before he took her virginity (though as it turned out, Tyrion still refused to consummate the marriage, morally repulsed at being forced to marry such a young girl).
A subplot in the books which is only somewhat alluded to in the TV series is that in her desperation, Sansa starts latching onto the idea of Sandor Clegane as her protector from Joffrey or a potential source of an escape attempt.
In sharp contrast to Arya, Sansa is very timid, passive and submissive, waiting for things to happen rather than take active actions. She steps out of her passivity only on rare occasions, like the time she intervened to save Ser Dontos or her momentary intent to kill Joffrey, but these are exceptions; during the entire time she was held captive at the Red Keep, she did not make even the slightest effort to find a way to escape.
In the books, Sansa is shown to be partially responsible for her fathers arrest by revealing to Cersei his plan to have his daughters leave the capital city. Given that she is only a naive eleven-year-old, and that Eddard didnt give her any explanation for why he wanted to send her away from Kings Landing, she assumed he was simply fighting with Cersei over some matter of state. Still enraptured with the idea of staying and marrying Joffrey, Sansa thought that if she told Cersei she would then smooth over whatever disagreement they had. Yet the main fault is Eddards, for foolishly revealing his cards to Cersei, and even more foolishly – putting his trust in Littlefinger and revealing his plan to him. Thus Littlefinger and Cersei knew what Eddard planned to do and had time to prepare counter-measures, regardless of what Sansa told Cersei.
When dealing with cruel or frightening people, Sansa uses her courtesy as an armor, as taught by septa Mordane, but it does not protect her from Joffreys cruelty. She is often beaten by any of the Kingsguard (except the Hound), whenever Joffrey feels she needs to be taught a lesson. On one occasion, Joffrey decides that beating Sansa is not enough, and orders Meryn Trant and Boros Blount to strip her; only Tyrions intervention prevents something worse.
Sansa technically gained the title of “princess” when her brother Robb was declared the new King in the North. While her brothers Bran and Rickon use the title of “prince” among the Northerners at Winterfell, Sansas storyline involves her being held as a prisoner at King Joffreys court in Kings Landing. The Lannisters refuse to acknowledge the Norths claims of independence so they dont refer to Sansa as “princess.” Meanwhile, Sansa is in fear for her life and is subjected to frequent beatings at the hands of the Kingsguard at Joffreys whim, so she doesnt refer to herself as “princess” for fear of angering her captors. Thus her title is rarely, if ever, invoked (unless Robb and Catelyn in the Northern camp are discussing her captivity).
Unlike in the show, Sansa does not befriend Shae and does not trust her. Shae does whatever Sansa tells her, but sometimes, she gives Sansa insolent looks. Sansa has no idea why Shae looks at her this way, for Sansa does not know Shae is her husband Tyrions lover.
Following Sansas escape from Kings Landing, Littlefinger takes her first to his ancestral home at the Fingers. There he reveals Sansa part of the scheme to murder Joffrey; he does not reveal what his motive was, nor why it was necessary to involve her in the scheme.
As a precaution, Sansas hair is dyed black (as her auburn hair would reveal her as a Tully) and is given the alias of “Alayne Stone”, Littlefingers bastard daughter who recently decided to seek him out after having been entrusted to the Faith of the Seven. Sansa keeps her true identity hidden whilst in the Vale; starting from her second POV chapter of A Feast for Crows, she is no longer described as “Sansa” in the text but as “Alayne,” even in her own thoughts. In the show, she is introduced simply as “Alayne”, a niece of Petyr, who makes only a vague attempt to hide her hair; she later dyes it of her own volition.
Sansa has no idea that Littlefinger was involved in her fathers downfall, but knows well that he is treacherous and cannot be trusted. She separates “Littlefinger” from “Petyr” in her mind: Petyr is the kind man who saved her from the Lannisters, and who loved her mother, but she knows Littlefinger exists within him, and he was never her friend: she remembers him smiling slyly and whispering in Cerseis ear; she reminds herself that whenever she was in danger, Tyrion and the Hound were the ones who saved her, not him; she knows about his part in Jon Arryns death (Lysa reveals that in her presence); she saw him killing two people – Ser Dontos and her aunt – the latter by his own hands.
Sansas near-death experience demonstrates her submissive personality very clearly: when Lysa accuses her of seducing Littlefinger, all the courage Sansa gathered prior to the confrontation instantly vanishes. Lysa orders her to open the Moon Door, and she complies, foolishly thinking that her deranged aunt would let her go, thus nearly getting herself killed (though she puts up some fight). Only Littlefingers intervention saves her.
In sharp contrast to the show, Sansa does not become full of confidence overnight following her aunts death. She does not lie to the lords about Lysas death at her own behest, but under the command of Littlefinger; she shivers in fear when Nestor Royce inquires about Lysa, barely managing to lie that Marillion was the one who pushed Lysa to her death, and nearly faints when Littlefinger says “it was I who killed her” (as if talking metaphorically); during the meeting with the Lords Declarant, she is overcome with fear when Yohn Royce looks at her closely and asks “Do I know you, girl?” (it is unclear if he recognizes her).
During her time in the Vale, Sansa becomes more astute in political affairs as the protégé of Littlefinger. This subtle change in her personality is different from the more drastic one in the show. She watches Littlefingers manipulations of Lord Nestor Royce and the Lords Declarant, but generally remains timid, passive and obedient as ever: she never questions Littlefingers actions and plans; when he tells that he intends to wed her to Harrold Harding, she does not object even slightly (only pointing out that she is still married to Tyrion); she has no idea about the current events out of the Vale and particularly in the North (except she learns her half-brother Jon has become the Lord Commander of the Nights Watch), that Edmure is held captive at the Twins, and that Riverrun is under siege; she does not even know who currently holds her home and does not bother to ask; she does not take any actions to help either her uncle or her great-uncle.
Although Littlefinger does not intend to keep Sansa to himself, there are hints he lusts after her, perhaps because she resembles her mother: he occasionally gives her not-so-fatherly kisses, and once touched her left breast, while telling her “You are Alayne, and you must be Alayne all the time. Even here. In your heart.”
Sansa finds her cousin Robert Arryn (in the show he is called “Robin”) pitiful and repulsive. After the incident with the snow castle, she thinks angrily that even Joffrey had more spine than Robert. Still, after Lysas death, Sansa feels sorry for him and treats him patiently as she can. At one occasion, he demands “a hundred lemon cakes and five tales”, Sansas patience nearly runs out and she feels like giving him “a hundred spankings and five slaps”, but restrains herself (unlike in the show). Robert, who has no idea of “Alayne”s true identity, initially declares he hates her for ripping his doll, but after Lysas death he forms a strong attachment to her, even sleeping in her bed at night as he used to do in his mothers. Sansa wouldnt have minded if he only slept, but since he tries to nuzzle at her breasts and wets the bed during his seizures – she asks Lothor Brune to lock his door.
In a sample chapter of The Winds of Winter, Robert tells Alayne she should marry him. Sansa, who does not have the heart to tell Robert her negative opinion of him, tells him gently but firmly it is out of the question: as the Lord of the Eyrie and Defender of the Vale, he must wed a highborn lady and father a son – not a bastard, otherwise his bannermen will claim that Littlefinger made him do that, and put her and “her father” to death. In the chapter, preparations are being made for a tourney, as suggested by Sansa to Littlefinger as a means of orchestrating a meeting between Sansa and Harrold Hardyng. Sansa finds Harold attractive, but immediately reminds herself the bitter lesson she learned long ago – not to judge people by their physical appearance; she recalls that Joffrey was comely but a monster, but Tyrion was unattrative but kind to her. Harrold initially speaks to her rudely, calling her “Littlefingers bastard”, nearly moving her to tears; later he apologizes. Sansa treats him courteously but coldly, as Littlefinger instructed her – to charm Harrold but not to look too eager. To test his honesty, Sansa asks him about his bastard daughters, and he answers openly. Harrold asks to wear her favor in the tourney, but she refuses, claiming it is promised to another.
Sansas Season 5 story arc diverged significantly from that in the books. Littlefinger does not arrange for her to marry Ramsay Bolton, whom she never meets, and indeed she does not even leave the Vale. Instead, she is betrothed to Harrold Hardyng, Robert Arryns presumptive heir, should the weak and sickly Robert die prematurely, as Littlefinger expects (perhaps he intends to “help” Robert die). His plan is to wed Sansa to Harold, and for Sansa to reveal her identity to everyone present during the wedding, in order to gain the support of the knights in the Vale for winning her birthright back. Littlefinger says nothing about the Boltons or any military campaigns, since his plans will take several years to come to fruition – the marriage cannot take place before Robert dies, Sansa is widowed and Cersei is done, and there is no way to know in advance who will hold Winterfell and rule the North at that future point.
In the books, Sansas storyline in season five is played out by her best friend Jeyne Poole, who is forced to masquerade as Arya Stark. Jeynes story is almost identical to Sansas season five storyline, although it is not Brienne who offers Jeyne her help if she needs it (indeed, Brienne has not met the Stark girls by the point the books reached). Instead, it is Mance Rayder who infiltrates Winterfell as a bard to rescue her on the orders of Jon, Sansas half-brother. Also, Jeyne never tries to escape Winterfell on her own and does not attempt to force Theon into helping her as she is mentally in a much worse state than Sansa is in while Sansa is married to Ramsay in the show. In the books, while Jeyne is being tormented, Sansa is safe in the Vale, surrounded by friendly people like Myranda Royce and Mya Stone (the elder of Roberts bastards).
Sansa believes herself the last of the Starks, except for Jon, after hearing the news about the alleged deaths of Bran and Rickon and about the Red Wedding. Although she has no idea what has become of Arya, she presumes her dead, too.
Sansa does not make an appearance in the fifth novel A Dance with Dragons. She is mentioned several times by various characters: Theon remembers a time when he had thought that Eddard might marry him to Sansa and claim him for a son, but realizes that had only been a childs fancy; Tyrion speaks about her with his dwarf companion Penny; Cersei recalls that Petyr Baelish had offered to wed her, but was denied because he was much too lowborn; and Jon tells Stannis that Winterfell belongs to Sansa and thinks of Sansa alongside their other siblings while he decides what to do after receiving Ramsays letter.
There is a fan theory that the book scene, in which Sansa builds a snow model of Winterfell and Littlefinger helps her (its analogous show scene in “Mockingbird”) is a foreshadowing that she and Jon, with Littlefingers help, will restore both their home and House Stark. In view of the finale of season 6, it may actually happen in the books too.
According to the TV series official pronunciation guide developed for the cast and crew, “Sansa” is pronounced “SAHN-suh” (i.e. between “San-suh” and “Sohn-suh”).
Game of Thrones WHAT IF: Sansa Leaves With The Hound at Blackwater Bay
Game of Thrones is not just popular because of the main characters. Many of the shows fan favorites are the supporting ones. However, its the ones who have been around since Season 1 who will most likely have the most satisfying payoffs this season, as circles and dangling plot threads will be closed. Perhaps the most satisfying this coming season will be how things end for Sandor Clegane, known as “The Hound.” The Hounds backstory on Game Of Thrones makes his arrival at Winterfell this year all the sweeter.
Sandor is the second son of House Clegane, the young brother of Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane, the most feared knight in Westeros. Gregor burned half of Sandors face as a child, leaving him scarred and afraid of fire. When fans meet Sandor, hes Joffrey Baratheons bodyguard, a terrifying figure who heartlessly murders Arya Starks friend Mycah when ordered.
However, Sandor is not a monster. The Hound falls in love with Joffreys betrothed, Aryas sister Sansa, enchanted by her innocence and romantic dreams. When he decides to abdicate his position during the Battle of the Blackwater, shes the last one he visits. On the road, he runs into the Brotherhood without Banners, who have Arya. Though he tracks her down when she runs away and claims to want to ransom her to her family, in truth, hes protecting her and teaching her survival skills for the road.
He teaches Arya a little too well. When Brienne finds them at the end of Season 4, determined to become Aryas protector, Sandors training leads Arya to take her for a fool. While the Hound and Brienne duke it out, she slips away. When the Hound loses the fight, he lays dying on a hillside, where she returns to steal his money. However, in honor of Mycahs memory, she does not put him down, leaving him instead to die slowly
Aryas cruelty saves the Hounds life. Rescued by Brother Ray and nursed back to health, the Hound discovers a quiet, peaceful world in the forest as part of Rays flock. Unfortunately, his peace is short-lived. When fans find the Hound again in Season 6, his adopted people have been murdered. On his quest for vengeance, he runs back into the Brotherhood, who take him in, and lead him North to the Wall.
Thats where Jon Snow discovers him in Season 7. The Hound becomes part of the team that captures a wight to prove the Night Kings existence and is put in charge of the captive. Arriving back in Kings Landing with his load, the Hound and Brienne meet again, and settle their differences, with the Hound glad to hear Arya is alive, having grown into a total badass.
The Hound is part of the brigade heading to Winterfell as Season 8 begins. It will be the first time hes seen Sansa since Season 2 and Arya since Season 4. Both have grown into stunning women in the meantime.
How will the Hound react to seeing them again? Fans will find out when Game of Thrones returns on April 14, 2019.More like this
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