On Game of Thrones, the story is the most important thing. But right after that is hair. From Jon Snow’s black mop to Margaery’s reality-defying updos, a character’s hair always has significance beyond just how it looks.
No character exemplifies this idea better than Sansa Stark, who’s hairstyle has changed wildly depending on where she is on her journey. In particular, Sansa tends to model her hair on women she admires at the time. In season 1, that was Cersei Lannister:
After that fell through spectacularly, Sansa started taking cues from Margaery Tyrell:
Then came her brief goth phase, when she was taking Littlefinger’s advice and dyed her hair black to avoid detection while on the run from the Lannisters:
By the end of season 6 she was embracing her roots (geddit?) and doing her hair like her mother:
And that pretty much brings us to now. Last night, HBO dropped a new teaser trailer for the final season of the show, and we got a good look at Sansa’s new hairstyle: tight in the front and long in the back, with a complex braid:
Some fans have noticed that it bears a certain similarity to Daenerys’ hairstyle, which has long involved complicated braid-work:
Does this signal a partnership between Sansa and Daenerys in season 8? That would go against what we’ve seen of the two in an advance clip from the premiere episode. Sansa hands over control of Winterfell to the Mother of Dragons, sure, but she doesn’t seem too pleased about it:
Or perhaps Sansa is wearing her hair that way to minimize Dany’s suspicions. The possibilities are many.
Finally, the boring explanation: Sansa was already wearing her hair with some webbing in the back in season 7, so maybe this isn’t that big of a change:
Whatever it means, all praise to the show’s hairstylists and wigmasters. You’re the real stars.
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