It’s been almost two months since Season 7 ended and fans of Game of Thrones have found themselves searching through GoT memes in order to fill their Westerosi void. While most of the memes ranging from incestuous jokes to the Night King Olympics have A+ content, there is one certain meme that has been bugging me. Especially since it seems to be so popular.
The meme shows the evolution of the remaining Stark children from Season 1 to Season 7. It shows Jon transforming from the bastard son of Ned Stark to the King in the North in all his man-bun glory; Arya going from wandering tomboy to magical assassin, who can literally change her face I might add; Bran’s dramatic growth from the neighborhood cripple to the all-knowing Three-Eyed Raven; and Sansa, who went from annoying girl to slightly less annoying woman.
Um, no.
We get it, Sansa doesn’t have any cool magical powers that help her defeat death and she doesn’t go on any dangerous adventures over the Wall, but Sansa is arguably the strongest of the Stark children. She adapts, she learns, and she survives. Let’s quickly recap everything Sansa has been through:
In Season 1, yes, she was the annoying little girl that nobody liked, but that’s exactly what she was: a little girl. When Game of Thrones starts, Sansa is a 12-year-old girl who romanticizes her future. How many girls do you think there are that aren’t snooty brats at that age? Not many. And her “weak” image is only enhanced next to Arya, one of the only tomboys in the series. But, all this changes after her father is beheaded. Throughout the next few seasons, Sansa is emotionally and physically abused while abandoned in a city full of strangers. She is beaten by Joffrey’s minions, humiliated as a traitor in court, forced to stare at her father’s decapitated head, and manipulated by experienced players in the game of thrones. Sansa is in an environment in which she has zero control and is surrounded by people who have no true desire to help her. And yet through all this, she manages to hold her own. She learns the basic rules of court and waits for an opportunity to get rescued.
When Littlefinger takes on the role of knight in shining armor, he may seem like her deliverer from the hands of the lions, but she is trapped with the most dangerous man in Westeros. By this time, she has learned enough to know not to trust him—and for a good reason. While hiding his ambitions with love, Littlefinger uses Sansa as a bargaining chip to sell to his highest bidder. Without blinking an eye, he hands her over to the most sadistic character in the series, whom she is forced to marry. Her time with the Boltons consists of physical abuse and rape. Again, she doesn’t give into the dire situation she is in, but rather faces the horrors head on and tries to escape. This time she doesn’t wait for someone to save her. Instead, she uses her own wit and steel to free herself from the torture.
All of these events build up to who she becomes in season 7: the Lady of Winterfell. After her reunion with Jon, she takes control of her life. In the Battle of the Bastards, she saves Jon from his foolhardy plan by using clever diplomacy instead of force. She takes revenge against the Boltons by killing her abusive husband. She helps Jon create alliances with other Northernmen as he seems to have no idea how to do so himself. She efficiently runs Winterfell when Jon leaves to meet with Daenerys. And she uses the skills she learned in King’s Landing to out-manipulate Littlefinger in his attempt to destroy the Stark sisters.
While this by no means diminishes the achievement of the other siblings, their rise to prominence was not nearly as hard-won. True, both Arya and Jon were stabbed in the process and Bran lost his personality, but Sansa suffered through repeated traumatic experiences and used those experiences for her own power.
I say let’s stop Sansa-shaming and bow down to the Lady of Winterfell.