A Jon and Sansa Marriage

I’ve seen countless posts talking about a Jonsa marriage. I’m not opposed to it, I think it makes sense especially after the Parental Reveal and the fact the Northern Lords do NOT trust Targs.

I’m more concerned by how it happens and specifically who suggests it. Sansa has been through hell, growing up in KL where she had no agency. She was told she was to marry Tyrion and that was that, her consent was inconsequential. Her betrothal to Ramsay was even worse, and once again, she had no real say in the matter. I want the Jonsa marriage to be her idea. I need it to be something she wants.

I’ve seen posts speculating that it could be Tyrion or even Varys who suggests the marriage between Jon and Sansa, and while both of those candidates are more than capable of coming up with the suggestion, it doesn’t make it any different from her earlier betrothals, with a bunch of men making decisions about her life, still treating less as a human being and more like a pawn.

I don’t hold Tyrion in high regard and I think he’s going more grey and morally ambiguous in the final season (more so than what we’ve seen in the past) Varys may be smart but he’s not familiar with the North, Sansa or Jon, he doesn’t know this particular political landscape.

Sansa is finally in a position of power, she’s home, she’s with her people, and for the first time, she has agency, over her life, her body and I’ll be damned if it’s yet another guy who thinks he knows best about what she should do next. Sansa is the Lady of Winterfell, and while she may not be the Queen in the North (debatable) she most certainly holds some amount of power. The Northern Lords are already teetering where support to Jon is concerned and I’m guessing that the knowledge that he bent the knee to D will come as an additional blow. The parental reveal will likely be the last straw. Sansa is an astute political player and she knows that the lords are fickle with their display of loyalty. The only way to hold power and keep the armies loyal to the North is to proclaim Jon a Stark and the only way of doing that is by marriage.

Also, once Jon learns that he’s a Targ, it will put throw a wrench in his carefully executed plans. He knows that D is paranoid and convinced that she’s the only surviving Targ and realising that she has competition for the IT will not endear Jon to her. However, it will cause even more turmoil for him internally, everything he thought he was will turn out to be a lie. He will share this knowledge with Sansa and Arya.

It would also kind of mirror Ned and Cat where they got married first then slowly fell in love, for Jon and Sansa, it will be inverted, they’re already in love, the parental reveal finally let’s them acknowledge their feelings and gives them the freedom to get married.

Now, I did wonder if it could be Jon who suggests a marriage but I immediately rejected that notion. Jon would never suggest it even he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Sansa was in love with him for precisely the reasons I outlined earlier in the post, he’d be the last person to suggest such a thing. He would also reject similar ideas from Davos and pretty much anyone else. The only person who could convince him is Sansa, with certainty that she suggests it not because she feels bullied or coerced but because she genuinely wants to marry him.

Things I/m Looking Forward To Seeing in GoT Season 8

1.  Tyrion and Sansa reunion – this one is rife with so many opportunities. I don’t ship them romantically but they did start to get along and I think they would have eventually found their way to friendship if not for the Red Wedding and the rest of Tyrions’s family.

2. Varys and Sansa –  They’ve interacted very briefly and I don’t think they’ve ever done that on camera. After her wedding and Tyrion is already drunk, Sansa excuses herself and can be seen talking to Varys. Varys may not have cared about her as much in the beginning except that she was and remains the key to the North, but that might begin to change once he sees the way she’s readied her people for the wars to come. I think in Sansa, he’ll see someone who has a sharp mind and has stopped hiding it. Remember, she’s learnt the game from someone that Varys respected, so I’m looking forward to seeing them interact.

3. Jamie and Brienne – We saw them briefly interact in season 7 at the Dragonpit but at that point they were on opposing sides and hardly got to speak to each other. Season 8 may give us more screen time with these 2.

4. Jamie and Sansa – Jamie only knows of Sansa from what he remembers seeing when she was a young and naïve girl and knows a little from what Brienne has told him so far. He’s seen a bit of Dany when she burned him men to cinders so I’m curious what his reaction will be when he sees Sansa who is quite different from the other queens.

5. Jon and Arya – Jon hasn’t seen Arya since they both left for their respective destinations. Since then, they have both gone through traumatic situations that have vastly changed them from the people they used to be. It’ll be interesting to see them navigate their way to each other while, at the same time, realizing that neither is who they used to be.

6. Jon and Bran – A lot of what’s true for Jon and Arya is also true for Jon and Bran. They are vastly different people from who they were when they were younger. Jon died and came back while Bran is now the 3-Eyed Raven. Their meeting will have even more significance considering the news that Bran has for him. The news that has the power to change a lot of things.

7. Dany and Sansa – Dany and Sansa have had a pretty similar arc, both were underestimated and sold, used and abused by others. They both also managed to survive and got rid of their abusers along the way. But the one thing that Dany had that Sansa never did were allies. Even when Dany was a nobody, she was married to a Khal who loved her and she had Jorah who served and protected her. Sansa, on the other hand, lived in the vipers’ pit, surrounded by enemies on all sides and no allies, she judged a person’s decency based on how hard they hit her and that is a truly sorry state of affairs. They have come out on top and both have something that they didn’t earlier, agency. They finally have control over their lives. Sansa has Winterfell and her family, Dany finally has the forces to take back the IT (whether or not she deserves it or would be a good ruler is not the point right now) Seeing these two women facing each other should make for interesting television, provided the writers handle it well. They are vastly different women and their approach to ruling reflects that. Add to that, Jon will probably come with the news that he did a lot more than merely bend the knee. This should make for an interesting dynamic between the ladies. Ideally, I don’t want them to have fights or disagreements because of Jon, that would  be a disservice to both characters. So here’s hoping.

8. Sansa and Jon – Now, this would be truly interesting to watch. We know that Jon and Sansa have a very different methods of ruling. When he comes back, having bent the knee and with Dany in tow, his already position will be made even more so. He’s going to come back to a Winterfell that is in a far better condition than he left it in. It’s going to feel more like the Winterfell that he grew up in, when he was truly happy. He’s going to realise that while the Northern Lords did swear loyalty to him, they give more weight to words from Sansa. Sansa who can address their concerns while also not undermining Jon’s crown. The Sansa that he will meet upon his return will again be different from the one he left, more confident, self-assured. Sansa was never going to just sit back and let him make decisions that affects all of them. She was far from happy when he bent the knee without consulting her. He’s going to have an even tougher time making snap decisions like that while in Winterfell, especially once he finds out that the Northern Lords feel more loyal to her than they do to him.

Sansa Stark vs Cersie Lannister – Part 2

I’ve already written one meta about Cersie and Sansa which you can read here.

Having seen all of Season 7, I have to say I am even more convinced that the final showdown must be between Sansa and Cersie for a number of reasons.

First off, there are parallels, both Sansa and Cersie are usually overlooked and underestimated by those around them. Dany doesn’t suffer from this because of her dragons, but neither of these two women have that luxury. They are both ordinary (and I use that term very loosely) women who have nothing but their wits to keep them alive. They have had to become smart in order to survive. Cersie had to do it because she was stuck in a love-less marriage with Robert, a man who never really had any ambition to be king and was therefore not as careful as one might have been had they cared about the position. Cersie also knew what had happened to Rhaegar’s wife and children and would not let that happen to herself or her children. In the earlier seasons, her entire focus is on the survival of her family and all her actions lead to that. Sansa, on the other hand, had to learn because her very survival depended on it. She had no alternatives, no protectors, no one to speak up for her.

There was something else that struck me as I was starting this meta, in a way, Cersie was a surrogate mother to Sansa. It makes sense, Sansa was twelve when she went to KL and her mother did not accompany the two young girls, which in itself if quite strange. And before Ned lost his head, Cersie made herself into a mother figure for Sansa. Sansa looked up to her and admired her, wanted to be like her. After Ned’s death, Sansa’s life became a living nightmare but, in a weird way, she still had Cersie who would occasionally advise her, in a way a mother would (albeit it was otten harshly delivered, but that did not lessen the importance of the advice itself). It was Cersie who told Sansa that she could try to love Joffrey, implying that he was already a monster and even Cersie could not always control him. In her most formative years, it wasn’t Ned or Catelyn who were with Sansa, it was Cersie. I’ve also stated that, in those early years, she did care for Sansa, in her own twisted way. This gives Sansa an insight into the kind of women she really is which is why there is a part of Sansa that does admire her, because she’s survived where other, more able players have not.

Game of Thrones has been setting up Tyrion as a master strategist and this season just served to illustrate that that reputation may have been premature. He pledged to serve Dany and help her become queen of the Seven Kingdoms and was outmaneuvered time and again by Cersie. In the beginning when Dany’s war council were going over plans of taking KL, it seemed like a great plan, using Westerosi forces to take KL and the Unsullied to take Casterly Rock but while he was feeling smug, he forgot that he was dealing with Cersie. Cersie who learned from her father who was indeed a great strategist. Even at the end, she played both her brothers, especially Tyrion. That entire conversation is a very finely staged performance on Cersie’s part. Every action and word was carefully chosen. When she placed her hand on her stomach, it felt so out-of-character for her. This is Tyrion, she doesn’t trust him, she doesn’t even like him but she does have him figured out. She knew that he did genuinely love Tommen and Myrcella and he does regret that they died. Here’s another thing to consider, Tyrion does have a blindspot where his family is concerned. He hates his sister but she is his sister, there will always be a part of him that sees her through the lenses of a younger brother. Cersie has no such concerns, she would burn the world down and happily watch it burn.

Which brings us to Sansa. We spent the entire season worried sick over whether Sansa would indeed betray her family. Of course, the makers never gave any proof to set up that betrayal but that’s besides the point. If Tyrion was Cersie adversary, LF was Sansa’s. As we found out at the end, Sansa’s problems from the beginning were the handiwork of LF, if not for him Robert would not have come North and would not have betrothed Sansa and Joffrey. The Starks would have stayed home, healthy and whole. But LF’s hunger for power got the entire plot going. He then betrayed Ned and then used and abused Sansa. Sansa suffered some of the worst abuse at the hand of the Boltons and that match was arranged by none other than LF. Like Tyrion (and mind you I love him) LF also has too high an opinion of himself, he’s started believing his own publicity. Throughout this season, he tried to sow the seeds to dissent, first between Jon and Sansa and then between Sansa and Arya. And it would have worked except all season, LF was telling Sansa to think about the bigger picture, to view everyone with suspicion and always play out scenarios in her head so that nothing ever surprises her. This was great advice, except LF thought that for some reason, he was exempt from all these scenarios. Killing him would have been easy but to do so without losing the support of the Knights of the Vale, that was going to be exceedingly tricky. That scene where LF finally meets his end, that too is very carefully constructed, it’s the Knights of Vale who line the Great Hall with Lord Royce present, who already didn’t like him very much but couldn’t openly oppose him for fear of Sweet Robin. She sets him up perfectly, so much so that he never sees it coming.

So Season 7 saw both Cersie and Sansa outplay men who thought themselves to be smarter than the women they were trying to manipulate..

It also set them up in contrast to each other. In Season 6, Cersie burned down the Sept with all those people inside, not to mention all the collateral damage. Whereas Sansa was more worried whether they had enough food to make sure that everyone would be fed and they could take in refugees when the fight against the WW really came. She takes a personal interest when she really doesn’t need to and her people see this. This is evident when Arya comes to Winterfell and the two sentries don’t want to bother Lady Sansa, not because they’re scared but because, in a strange way, they’re protective of her.

Season 7 has so far established 3 main groups, Dany and her quest for the IT, Cersie and her quest for who-knows-what and the North that just wants its own independence and also survive both the WW and Cersie. I’ve stated multiple times that I don’t see Jon retain his crown in Season 8 which makes Sansa the QitN. Jaime recently left Cersie and rode North to fight against the WW and while there he will join Sansa and not Dany. Dany burned his men alive, he doesn’t like her and he doesn’t trust her. Jaime redemption arc started when he was paired with Brienne and tasked with getting the Stark girls safely delivered to their family. Plus he knows Sansa, he knew her father and mother and while he may not have liked them very much, I believe he does respect them. I personally can’t wait for him to meet Sansa and see the capable woman that she’s grown into. Jaime is often blinded by his love for Cersie but he’s starting to see that most of it may have been one-sided. When it is time to make a final choice as to who he will support, I believe he will pick Sansa, simply because she’s the better candidate. The fight against the WW will end with the elimination of one of the groups and I don’t believe it will be the Starks. They’re the protagonists of the series. I believe that Cersie will make it out alive as well with Dany sacrificing herself in the fight against the WW.

In the Starks vs Cersie battle, there will be one key difference from the BotB, Jon will seek out and heed Sansa’s counsel when it comes to how best deal with Cersie.

Anyway, that’s what I think and this post got way longer than I thought it would, but I hope it makes sense.

Varys and Sansa in Season 8

So, I was doing rewatch for Season 7 and in the episode where Dany and Varys have that very tense exchange, he says something very interesting, he says to Dany, “I choose you because I know the people have no better chance than you” This is a very telling line, he doesn’t support her because he believes that its hers to inherit, or that he buys her vision for the kingdom (which let’s face it, is vague af), it’s none of those things. He literally says that he supports her because she’s the only viable option they have currently. We’ve already seen that he’s very worried about her temper tantrums, especially when they result in burning men alive. She’s more than capable of falling in the same trap as her father, the Mad King, the seeds are already there, the shades of tyranny, the very thing she claims to be fighting against. He even tells Tyrion that he must find a way to make her listen.

But who’s the one person that he knows close to nothing about, Sansa Stark. As of now, Jon is KitN and Sansa is ruling in his stead. I don’t see him holding on to his powers for too long though. For one, Jon is an elected king and as such cannot take decisions unilaterally, not when the decision affects all the other Northern territories. And I am not even talking about Lord Royce and the Lord Glover but Lyanna Mormont, I can’t imagine her being too happy that yet again they must bow to another Southern Ruler and one who has no ties to the North or even the continent.

Add to that, we also know that next season will definitely spill the beans about Jon’s real parentage. He was chosen, in a big part, due to fact that, at the end of the day, he is Ned Stark’s son. But when they find out that he’s not, well, it’s going to fall apart soon.

When LF said that Jon was named the KitN and he can unnamed just as easily. That wasn’t just word-babble on LF’s part, also, we know that Sansa does not covet Jon’s power and position. So what purpose did that line serve? It was to remind the audience that Jon’s position is that of an elected leader and when the leader does not fulfill the duties or the people who elected him are unhappy with his decision, are well within their rights to elect someone else.

If you think about it, Jon hasn’t actually done since he became KitN. He upped and left to go South. It was Sansa who was left saddled with having to make sure that Winterfell and the North were gearing up for Winter, that they have enough food to make sure that the refugees are fed and making sure that the army has armor which would also keep them warm. As KitN, Jon did nothing. His people asked him to stay in the North and he ignored that.

And her strategy to take down LF without losing the Knights of the Vale was a masterstroke. She genuinely cares about her people, they love her and she’s politically savvy, she can play the game, something that both Jon and Dany lack. I think it’s plausible that Varys would switch sides to her. Remember that he doesn’t side with any king or queen but with the ordinary people. Who then is better suited? Someone who burned soldiers alive and their food stores or the queen who’s making sure that her people will be fed during the Winter. Dany has to be constantly held back, first by Tyrion and then by Jon when she’s about to make an impulsive decision and that decision is almost always a very unwise one. That’s not a balanced ruler. Either way, I don’t see Varys sticking with Dany for too long. What are your thoughts, feel free to add or disagree..