In my opinion, Sansa Stark is among the Game of Thrones characters who have grown the most over the course of the show. She went from a naïve girl with shallow aspirations to an intelligent woman hardened by circumstances, and if the new season 8 teaser indicates anything, she’s also fiercely protective of her family.
Both in the books and on the show, Sansa begins her journey a hopeless romantic who dreams of becoming queen. Unlike Arya, she’s “ladylike,” and very adept at all things considered womanly in Westeros. For the four seasons of the show, Sansa’s journey more or less mirrors the one she takes in the book, give or take a few changes. Her relationship with Sandor “the Hound” Clegane is a little different, for example.
On the show as in the books, Sandor Clegane acts kindly towards Sansa during her imprisonment in King’s Landing. He steps in when she’s about to push Joffrey off a ledge immediately following the execution of her father, saving her from getting executed herself. On Joffrey’s birthday tournament, he supports her when she makes up a lie about it being bad luck to kill someone on your name day, thus saving Ser Dontos Hollard’s life.
In the books, there are some romantic undertones to their relationship. The Hound is written as being gentle with Sansa, but still harsh in calling her out for her fanciful ideas of romance and honor. Sansa seems to have a distorted memory of a night when Sandor kissed her while drunk — this happens when the Hound is preparing to leave the Red Keep during the Battle of Blackwater. In the show, he merely asks Sansa to accompany him before leaving. Sansa is reminded of this moment when she lets Robin Arryn kiss her in the Vale.
I’ve never been an ardent fan of the Sansa-Sandor relationship, and don’t feel the show is missing out by toning it down.
The show starts to diverge from the books after Sansa arrives in the Vale. On the show, Sansa pretends to be Petyr’s niece as opposed to being his bastard daughter. In season 5 of Game of Thrones, Sansa leaves the Vale and travels to Winterfell, where she marries the psychopath Ramsay Bolton. We have yet to see if she’ll go through similar tribulations on the page. At the end of A Feast for Crows, she’s in the Vale, having a very different set of experiences.
In the books, Littlefinger arranges for Sansa to be engaged to Harrold Hardyng, heir to the Vale should young Robyn Arryn die. While he fits the mold of what Sansa initially wanted in a perfect husband — handsome, dashing and a lord in waiting — Sansa now sees through this and pegs him as an arrogant man who cares far too much about status. Baelish is plotting to reveal to Sansa’s identity after she and Harrold are married, so she can then use the army of the Vale to reclaim Winterfell. In a sample chapter of The Winds of Winter, Sansa — acting as Alayne Littlefinger’s daughter — successfully charms Harrold, who asks for her favor. Toying with him, she says she’s already given it to another.
In the books, Sansa is saved the horror of being married to Ramsay Bolton, but her best friend Jeyne Poole takes her place, marrying into the Bolton family at the behest of the Lannisters, posing as Arya Stark.
Unfortunately, Baelish still lives in the books. The iconic “How do you answer these charges, Lord Baelish?” moment hasn’t yet happened. It may never, depending on the direction that story takes.
In both mediums, Sansa has grown a lot as a character, but I suspect she has a ways to go in the books before she emerges as the confident leader we know from TV. The show picked up the pace pretty drastically in the last few seasons, unwilling to let Sansa remain in the Vale while other plots moved forward.
While there have been hiccups, overall I like this change. In the books, it sometimes feels like Sansa has nothing but hurdles to jump, while on the show some things have finally turned in her favor (for now, at least). That Sansa has grown from being a hopeless romantic dreaming of marrying the perfect man to a woman who is fiercely protective of her home and family demonstrates a lot of strength. It’s yet to be seen if Sansa will travel all the way down this path in the books. I hope she does.
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