As Cersei Lannister makes abundantly clear in the first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, the whole show revolves around characters making choices that either allow them to win or cause their deaths. Some characters, like Jon Snow, rarely compromise their morals and accept the consequences for not giving in, while others, such as Littlefinger, will backstab at every opportunity. However, not every situation in Westeros is black and white. There’s plenty of gray, such as when Sansa Stark aligns herself with Littlefinger despite her disdain for him to help Jon when the Battle of the Bastards. But Sansa wasn’t always intended to end up in that situation.
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Game of Thrones plays fast and loose with the source material, just like every other book adaptation. Part of the reason that’s necessary is that the source material’s author, George R.R. Martin, doesn’t always know what he wants to do with a character. Sansa is a great example of that because Martin’s original idea for her story is vastly different from the one in the HBO show.
Sansa Stark Almost Had to Make an Impossible Choice in Game of Thrones
Sansa begins her journey in Game of Thrones with big aspirations. While her younger sister, Arya, wants to be more like their brothers, she is fine playing the role of wife. When the royal family visits Winterfell, Sansa sets her sights on the prince, Joffrey Baratheon. He’s the worst kind of person, but she doesn’t care because she wants all of the rewards that come with being at the king’s side. And it doesn’t take long for all of Sansa’s wishes to come true, as her father, Ned Stark, leaves for King’s Landing to work for the king, Robert Baratheon, and takes her with him.
To celebrate the new arrangement, Ned and Robert decide to join their houses by having Sansa and Joffrey promise themselves to each other. Unfortunately, things in King’s Landing quickly unravel after Robert dies and Ned realizes that Joffrey isn’t the king’s son. Ned loses his head for treason, leaving Sansa as a prisoner in the capital. Robb Stark declares war on Joffrey, which only makes things worse for Sansa. However, following Robb’s death, she escapes with Littlefinger during the Purple Wedding, leaving King’s Landing in her rearview.
When she leaves the capital, Sansa doesn’t have a reason to look back. Sure, she’s married to Tyrion Lannister, but their relationship is a sham. Well, while writing A Song of Ice & Fire, Martin foresaw Sansa’s choice being too easy, so he considered having her marry Joffrey and give birth to a baby boy. With a child in the mix, Sansa would turn away from her family completely to ensure his safety. Of course, Martin didn’t go through with the idea, and that’s probably for the best because Sansa turns into one of Game of Thrones‘ strongest characters after she escapes from King’s Landing.
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Sansa’s Journey in Game of Thrones Is Hard Enough
Rather than help Sansa out of the kindness of her heart, Littlefinger uses her for his own gain. He kills her aunt, Lysa Arryn, giving him control of the Vale, and sells her off to the Boltons, who now control Winterfell. Sansa has unspeakable things done to her by Ramsay Bolton and even has to marry the monster. With the help of a few allies, though, she gets away and finds some semblance of freedom at Castle Black with her brother, Jon. By that point in the show, it’s hard to expect anything of Sansa, but she refuses to let her experiences define her, rallying Jon to put together an army to take back Winterfell.
After Jon defeats Ramsay at the Battle of the Bastards, the two Stark children return home. But Sansa isn’t content standing in the background; she wants to have a seat at the table and help decide the future of Winterfell. It doesn’t take her long to ascend to a leadership role, and by the end of Season 8, she’s queen of the North. While Martin’s original story may have felt right in the moment, changing it was the right move because it gives Sansa a full arc, having her end right where she wants to be at the start, only with a different understanding of what sitting on the throne really means.
Game of Thrones is streaming on Max.
Did you think Sansa Stark’s original story in Game of Thrones would have been better? What effects do you think it would have had on the show? Let us know in the comments below!
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