Since 2011, "Game of Thrones" has become a television phenomenon. With hour or more long episodes and an incredible cast, the show has become one of the most profitable and watched shows of all time. It enchants audiences with its epic battles, dynamic characters, and spectacular special effects. A beautiful cast that brings the characters to life and a wonderful crew that develops the whole world. "Game of Thrones" has become one of the greatest television shows to ever exist.
One of the most underrated women on "Game of Thrones" is Sansa Stark. Everyone quickly looks over her because she doesn’t wield a fire-breathing dragon or a sword paired with a dead pool. I’ve had many people tell me that Sansa is weak and doesn’t stand for much. People think she’s just been thrown around from place to place because she’s too idiotic or naïve to stand up for herself or try to get herself out of the situations she lands in. However, I believe, Sansa Stark happens to be one of the strongest female characters on the show and one of the smartest.
Put yourself in her extremely tight dress for one moment. Sansa was only doing what she was raised to do from the start. Her father raised her to be honorable, and her mother raised her to be a lady. In the world of "Game of Thrones," ladies do not wield swords, nor not do what they are told. But Sansa doesn’t need a sword.
Sansa Stark is a quiet competitor in the world of Westeros. While I personally do not believe she will win the Iron Throne, I think she will definitely survive. She’s a survivor, it’s what she does. Sansa’s way of seeing the way to her own survival was through silently watching her enemies and planning a way to attack. As she points out in Season 7 when talking about Queen Cersei, she learned a great deal from her, even if she is a terrible woman.
From Season 1, after her father’s beheading, Sansa manages to survive her remaining time in Kings Landing by abiding by what Cersei and Joffery ask of her, even if it means going against what her family stood for. Many people use this as a way to say she was weak, but when you look at it all, Sansa was only somewhere between the ages of 11 and 14, what more were you asking from her? She had just watched her father’s head get chopped off, she didn’t want to see that happen to the rest of her family either. She played along with the Lannister’s in order to protect not only her, but her family.
As her time in Kings Landing closed, Sansa had grown a great deal and had learned many ways of deceiving and how to stay alive in life-threatening situations. She took off with Littlefinger, trusting in him only enough to get away from Kings Landing and to her Aunt in the Erie. While many people believed Sansa was being played by Littlefinger the whole time, I believe she only was deceived by him once: where he married her off to Ramsey. After that terrifying experience, Sansa learned not to trust anyone anymore and began to plot her own revenge.
Sansa never fought back to the people she faced because she was smart enough to know she wouldn’t win. In situations like Arya, she had a sword and knew how to use it, and Arya had the aggressiveness that Sansa didn’t have. Sansa knew she wasn’t strong enough to win, knew she didn’t know how to fight and knew that there were other ways of getting around the people who terrorized her. And while there were little mishaps along the way, who’s to say Arya didn’t have mishaps in becoming the assassin she is now or that Daenerys didn’t have mistaken in making all her decisions as Queen. Sansa grew and became powerful in her own way.
When Sansa arrived back in Winterfell when it officially was owned by the Starks again, every move she made was to deceive Littlefinger. She became so good at the game that she was able to deceive the one who really had his hands in it since the beginning. She was able to trick him into believing he had tricked her, and through that she was able to trap him in his own lies. Sansa learned to play the game and won.
Sansa is a different kind of warrior. She didn’t need a sword like Brienne of Tarth or her very sister Arya. Sansa learned from the people around her on how to get what she wants, and also what not to do. She became strong in herself and her femininity. Sansa is very different in this manner. She doesn’t use force or brute to get things she wants, but her wit and strength/confidence. She doesn’t get the recognition as warrior or hero that other women in the show do because of her reluctance to wield a sword. She’s strong in other ways. That doesn’t mean she should be looked at as weak.
Women can be strong and awesome without having to use a weapon.
It’s important we remember this because too often are very strong women in movies and television looked over because they simply don’t want to “fit in with the boys” or fight back and kill people. A strong woman isn’t just being able to fight, but having the brains and the logic to survive and help others. Sansa Stark does just that, and I can’t wait to watch her succeed in the final season of "Game of Thrones."