info.

THE BASICS

name: sansa stark
series: game of thrones
canon point: post-season 6.
character age: 18
background:

"the truth is either terrible, or boring."

PERSONALITY

Sansa's life, and so the development she goes through, is synonymous with one word: disillusionment. She comes to King's Landing a naive girl, trusting and kind, a terrible liar and seeing the world through the lens of all the tales of knightly valour she has read in her childhood — she believes that people are kind, that nobility means goodness of heart, that she will finally be free of the boring life in the safety of Winterfell and find a knight that will sweep her off her feet. But little by little, that naivety and trust chip away, starting from her father's death.

There are no heroes... In life, the monsters win.


From then on, Sansa becomes someone else: a survivor. She uses her courtly skills and courtesies as her armor, being nothing but dutiful and hiding her true feelings behind the empty deference she shows towards her captors. She doesn't let her armor down even for a moment; even after Joffrey has had her beaten publicly, when Tyrion asks if she wants an end to the engagement, she declares her love and loyalty to Joffrey with her head held high. She declares her family to be traitors over and over again, never letting her true feelings come to light, showing her determination and strength to survive even the most horrible of situations. She's also smart, capable and clever: she can come up with stories on the spot, an example of which is her managing to save a drunken knight from being killed by making up a tale that makes Joffrey do what she wants him to do. Furthermore, she clouds her true thoughts behind words that seem to say one thing, but in reality mean another, like her famous comment to Tyrion about praying for his safe return, just as she prays for the King's. It is wordplay, a clever way for her to tell her captors just what she truly thinks, without really saying anything incriminating at all.



As honesty is something she can't afford, Sansa learns to lie convincingly, easily, well enough to fool even those most used to playing the game (culminating in her lying about her aunt Lysa's death, speaking so convincingly that for a moment, even Littlefinger believes her) — but it is all because it's a necessity. Every single transformation Sansa goes through in King's Landing and the Eyrie is because she has to: because if she doesn't, she will die. Her days are spent in terror, fearing for her remaining family, uncertain of her own future, knowing that it is not in her own hands.

Her experiences have made her grow more self-aware. She realizes the value of seeing what you have instead of dreaming for what you don't, is able to look back on who she was and how she acted with more insight than before. She blames herself for believing in the tales she used to read, often thinking that she's just as they keep telling her: a little bird, caged because of her own stupidity. The abuse she has endured has made her afraid of speaking her mind, going far enough as begging Margaery and Lady Olenna to not make her say any more as they ask her about Joffrey, fearing it would somehow get back to him — she has realized what trusting the wrong people can cause, and so trusts very few. She feels alone and is resigned to people only ever seeing her as a piece on a chess board, a prize that will give them a claim to the North, rather than an actual person, to be married to whoever others see fit.

However, the horrors she has to bear in King's Landing aren't enough to strip away who she is, underneath it all: a kind, sweet girl who is loyal, loves her family and wants to live a happy life. She shows kindness for those less fortunate, tries to stop Joffrey from being cruel to those who don't deserve it. She's compassionate, and while her naivety has left her when it comes to the uglier sides of life, it hasn't abandoned her completely: when it comes to things like swear words or sex, she is woefully naive and gullible, thinking that Margaery's knowledge of sex has been taught to her by her mother, and believing "shift" to be the vulgar word for "dung". And despite being far more mature than she used to be as a child, she still retains some of the annoyance and even petulance she used to have as a girl: an example of this is when she slaps Robin for destroying the snow castle she had built in the Eyrie.

And though she has little inclination to be happy where she is, that doesn't mean she can't be; she laughs and even jokes with Shae, Margaery and later Tyrion, sharing stories about her life in Winterfell and seeming genuinely curious about the tales of others; in the Eyrie, she sees the snow as a sign of home, delights in it.

Because of her experiences, Sansa has also grown colder, hardened, more vengeful: she hates Joffrey and wants him to die, even considering killing him herself when he shows her Ned's head on a spike, later thinking she has little sympathy for any of the Lannisters, for what they have done to her and her family. She is angry for what her family has endured, and seems to think the "monsters" in life deserve suffering for what they have done. However, that doesn't mean she is ever unjust: when Baelish kills Ser Dontos, she is horrified at his practical approach as in her eyes, there was no need to kill someone who had helped her, even if there was a possibility of him betraying her later on.

"Cold" is not synonymous with "unfeeling", as that example shows, but it also applies to the more negative feelings: despite doing her best to conceal her true feelings, they nevertheless come out especially when she feels strongly enough, crying when she feels sad or afraid, or in pain. When grieving, she is brusque and silent, refusing to eat or do anything at all, only seeking solitude. A true sign of just how badly all the horrible things in her life have affected her is the fact she even gives up on praying, believing that the gods won't care, not if they have let so many horrible things happen already.

In the end, all Sansa wants is the life she had, the life she dreamed of: a warm, loving family, even if that brings with it the constant disagreements with her sister, or the cold walls of Winterfell; to marry because someone wants her, not the position she can give them; to be normal, not to have to fear for her life or the lives of her family members... but what she gets is politics, needing to push away the childish notions of trust and honesty in order to survive. Sansa is a lady through and through, her courtesy as her armor, a sharp mind concealed by a beautiful face. She starts out as a victim, but the girl she was is dead, replaced by a young woman who has no desire to be used by others any longer, a young woman who is capable of playing the game of thrones... and living.

POWERS / ABILITIES

• sewing & embroidery


• other ladylike duties : singing, dancing, poetry, literature, etc.


• horseback riding


• lying : she is a highly accomplished liar, which is why it's important to mention.

INVENTORY

• upon arrival, only the clothes that are on her : a dress with feathers on it and a necklace.

INCENTIVES:

Ultimately, what Sansa wants is to no longer feel like a pawn, and for her family to be safe. So for those two things, the Orbiters would have her full cooperation. As long as they ensure those she loves still live and have a chance to wake up, and as long as they promise not to force her to marry for gain or power, she will do what they ask.