Sansa Stark, later Alayne Stone, is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. Introduced in A Game of Thrones (1996), Sansa is the eldest daughter and second child of Lord Eddard Stark and his wife, Lady Catelyn Stark. She subsequently appeared in the following three novels: A Clash of Kings (1998), A Storm of Swords (2000), and A Feast for Crows (2005). While absent from the fifth novel, A Dance with Dragons, Sansa will return in the forthcoming book, The Winds of Winter.
In the television adaptation of Game of Thrones, she is portrayed by English actress Sophie Turner. Sansa's character development in the novels has received critical praise, though her television counterpart has been met with a more mixed reception, with some praising her development into a strong leader and others perceiving her as simply adopting her captors' and tormentors' traits while being protected by plot armor; her arc in the show's fifth season was the subject of controversy where she replaced the character of Jeyne Poole and became a stronger character in later seasons as a result of her repeated sexual abuse, with some viewing it as an attempt to replicate the MeToo movement and its slogan "Believe women". Martin himself has expressed displeasure with the showrunners' creative decisions regarding Sansa.
Turner and the rest of the cast were nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Turner also received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2019.
Character and appearances Sansa Stark is the second child and the elder of the two daughters born to Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Catelyn Stark, the ruling liege of the North. She was born and raised in Winterfell with an older brother Robb, a younger sister Arya, two younger brothers Bran and Rickon, and an older bastard half-brother Jon Snow. Through her mother, Sansa is also first cousin to Robert Arryn, the lord paramount of The Vale, and the niece of Edmure Tully, the lord paramount of the Riverlands. She was once betrothed to Crown Prince Joffrey Baratheon and is still legally married (though never consummated) to Tyrion Lannister by the end of A Dance with Dragons.
Raised as a noblewoman, Sansa embodies the traditional femininity stereotype expected by the Westerosi society and is widely praised as a courteous and lovable young maiden. Sansa has been described as tall, slim, womanly and classically beautiful, destined to be a lady or a queen. Inheriting from her mother, Sansa has the Tully features, blue eyes, high cheekbones, and thick auburn hair, but later has her hair dyed dark brown while hiding in the Vale under the guise of "Alayne Stone", the alleged bastard daughter of Petyr Baelish. Sansa's interests are music, poetry, and singing, and she excels in embroidery. She fantasizes about becoming like the damsels of romantic tales who will find a prince, knight, or gentleman to fall in love with. She once owned a direwolf cub named Lady, who was killed in place of Arya's direwolf Nymeria due to the latter having fled after attacking and wounding Crown Prince Joffrey.
Sansa is 11 years old at the beginning of A Game of Thrones and nearly 14 at the end of A Feast for Crows. The most naive of the Stark children at the start of the series, Sansa is smittened with her then-fiancé Joffrey and chooses to side with the treacherous Queen Cersei over her father, and is responsible for her father's political downfall and subsequent execution. She then finds herself abused by Joffrey and later is forced to marry Tyrion (who is also unwilling) as a pawn in the machinations of House Lannister's scheme to claim Winterfell. However, as the story progresses, she matures and becomes more of a strategic player in the political game.
Martin drew heavily from Elizabeth of York in the creation of Sansa’s character. Both Sansa and Elizabeth are noblewomen from the northern part of their realm and become the heir to their respective dynasties after the untimely death of their fathers and disappearance of their two younger brothers. This vaunted status makes them a key chess piece in the dynastic marriage game, although Elizabeth’s marriage grew to be a happy one unlike Sansa’s forced marriage to Tyrion Lannister. Physically, they resemble each other as well, being tall, red-headed and beautiful.
Storylines
Sansa is a prominent point-of-view character and had the sixth-most chapters by the end of the five published novels of the series. She is not present in the fifth book A Dance with Dragons, but a preview chapter of her narration has been released from the upcoming sixth book The Winds of Winter.
A Game of Thrones When King Robert Baratheon visits Winterfell to see Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark, Sansa is happily betrothed to Crown Prince Joffrey Baratheon, still believing Joffrey to be a gallant prince akin to those she had been told and read as a younger child. Sansa and her sister, Arya, then travel with their father to the capital, King's Landing, where Eddard will assume the role of Hand of the King. While Joffrey and Sansa walk through the woods before their journey, Joffrey notices Arya sparring with a local butcher's boy, Mycah, using wooden swords. He then begins to torment the boy with a real sword. A fight erupts, and Arya's direwolf, Nymeria, attacks Joffrey after he threatens to hurt Arya. Sansa lies to King Robert about what happened to protect Joffrey. Since Arya has driven off her wolf to save her, Sansa's wolf, Lady, is killed instead, causing a rift between the Stark sisters.
During the Tourney of the Hand held in King's Landing to honour her father, Lord Eddard, Sansa is enchanted by the knights performing in the event. At the request of his mother, Queen Cersei Lannister, Joffrey spends a portion of the tourney with Sansa; near the end of the tourney, he commands his guard, Sandor "the Hound" Clegane, to take her back to her quarters. Sandor explains that his older brother, Gregor, pushed his face into a brazier of hot coals for playing with one of Gregor's wooden toys when they were young, causing the disfiguring scars that cover half of his head.
After Eddard uncovers the truth about Joffrey's paternity—that the Baratheon children by Cersei were actually fathered by Cersei's twin brother, Jaime Lannister, via incest—he tells Sansa that he is sending her and Arya back to Winterfell. Sansa is devastated and wants to stay in King's Landing, so she runs to Queen Cersei to inform her of her father's plans, giving Cersei the information she needs to prevent her and Arya's departure. After Robert's death and Ned's arrest by Cersei's forces on charges of treason—based on Ned's argument that the Iron Throne should pass to Robert's elder surviving brother, Lord Stannis Baratheon, not Joffrey, based on the law of succession—Sansa begs Joffrey to show mercy to her father. Joffrey agrees to honour her request if Ned swears an oath of fealty to him. However, he still beheads Ned publicly, forcing Sansa to watch. Thereafter, Sansa essentially becomes a hostage in King's Landing and finally accepts Joffrey's true, sadistic nature when he makes her gaze at her father's tarred head.
A Clash of Kings Sansa remains a hostage in King's Landing and has learned to be outwardly loyal to King Joffrey to avoid severe physical abuse. At the celebration for Joffrey's name day (i.e., birthday), she ostensibly saves the life of Ser Dontos Hollard when he shows up late and inebriated, begging Joffrey to spare him, in turn winning Dontos's loyalty. Joffrey's guards routinely beat Sansa. After her brother wins a battle against Joffrey's maternal family, House Lannister, she is publicly beaten in the throne room and has her clothes torn. Tyrion Lannister, the black sheep of the family owing to his dwarfism, intervenes on her behalf, and Sandor Clegane gives her his cloak to cover herself. Later, Sandor Clegane saves Sansa from a riot in King's Landing.
During the Battle of Blackwater Bay, all of the highborn ladies in King's Landing seek refuge within a doubly secure, moated chamber within the Red Keep. There, Queen Cersei talks about her own life experiences with Sansa, then flees to the throne room with her other son, Tommen Baratheon, when the tide of the battle turns. This leaves Sansa to stay to give comfort to the ladies before retreating to her own quarters. There she finds Sandor Clegane, who offers to take her away from any imminent danger and the Lannisters themselves, which Sansa declines. When Sansa awakens, the battle is over. House Lannister has won, but her betrothal to Joffrey is soon ended so that he may marry Margaery Tyrell, whose family just helped turn the tide of battle, in a more beneficial political marriage. However, Joffrey informs Sansa that he will still have use for her when married, and to "expect a nightly visitor for a long while".
A Storm of Swords In the third book, Sansa is invited to dine with Margaery and her grandmother, Olenna Redwyne of the Arbor. The two women seek to learn the true nature of Joffrey Baratheon now that he and Margaery are betrothed. In turn, Olenna suggests that Sansa should marry her grandson, Willas Tyrell, who is disabled and significantly older than Sansa. Sansa reveals the marriage plan to Ser Dontos, who warns her about the Tyrells; however, Sansa develops a close friendship with Margaery and is excited to become part of her family. However, when Tywin Lannister, patriarch of House Lannister, learns of the marriage plot, he schemes to have Sansa's brother Robb Stark killed, knowing that would leave Sansa to inherit Winterfell and the North. He then commands his son Tyrion to marry Sansa. Tyrion initially opposes the marriage but is eventually persuaded by the idea of becoming Lord of Winterfell, so he agrees to marry her.
Sansa wakes one morning to the shock of being fitted for a wedding gown—she is to wed Tyrion that same day in a forced marriage. Joffrey taunts her and, having killed her father, Ned, takes on the ceremonial role of giving her away to the groom as another humiliating display of control. Sansa ignores Tyrion and refuses to bend as he attempts to put his cloak around her, a wedding ceremony custom in Westeros. In turn, Joffrey commands Ser Dontos to act as a stool so that Tyrion can cloak his bride despite his short stature. At the banquet, Sansa dances with many lords who offer words of comfort, while Joffrey merely threatens to rape her. Tyrion intervenes and states his desire to castrate Joffrey. After the wedding ceremony, Tyrion chooses not to consummate the marriage due to Sansa's lack of desire in him. It is not long before many in King's Landing come to know that the marriage was never consummated.
Not long after Sansa's marriage, Joffrey and Margaery are wed, and afterward there is a grand feast. At the wedding, Joffrey is poisoned. As Joffrey begins to choke to death, Cersei orders both Tyrion and Sansa arrested, but Sansa manages to flee in the chaos. Once in her room, she gathers her belongings and notices that one of the amethysts from her hairnet, a gift from Ser Dontos, is missing. Sansa immediately realizes that the prince had been poisoned and starts to doubt Ser Dontos's supposed rescue plan. Understanding that she will be implicated in the murder of Joffrey, she chooses to flee King's Landing with the knight anyway. Ser Dontos is later killed by Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, who reveals that he is the mastermind behind nearly all of the capital intrigue. He reveals that he was the one who sent Dontos to her and that Olenna took the amethyst from Sansa's hairnet.