#❛ ss: my skin has turned to porcelain; to ivory; to steel !!

[slahtiz]

❛  “I will remember, your grace,” said sansa, though she had always heard that love was a surer route to the people’s loyalty than fear. “if I am ever a queen, I’ll make them love me.”   ❜

my portrayal of   SANSA STARK   is highly influenced by both books and personal headcanons, and only slightly influenced by the show  ( mainly plot-wise ).  the verses below will cover her storyline from the beginning of the books to the end of the show.

❛  𝓶𝔂 𝓼𝓴𝓲𝓷 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓹𝓸𝓻𝓬𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓷; 𝓽𝓸 𝓲𝓿𝓸𝓻𝔂; 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓵.                                                                                     ( all books so far; season 1 - 5ish )

sansa is the eldest daughter of ned and catelyn stark.

this verse begins with the story we all know, i won’t make much fuss about it. when sansa found out about her betrothal to joffrey baratheon, she was absolutely thrilled, and couldn't wait to marry the prince. she eagerly followed her father to king’s landing, excited to finally see something else than plain old winterfell. though on the road to the capitol, she had to suffer the loss of her direwolf, lady, because her little sister had stepped up against her betrothed; this put a notch into her relationship with arya, and caused her heart to shatter into a million pieces. in king’s landing, sansa soon found out that not all that glittered was gold   --  though she remained infatuated with joffrey, largely overlooking his violent mood swings, still dreaming about becoming his wife; and queen, now that robert baratheon had died and joffrey sat on the iron throne. it all changed when her father was announced a traitor, and imprisoned on behalf of the queen. she was forced to publicly call him a traitor, and plead mercy for his life in front of the throne. sansa attended the execution with hope in her heart, as the king had promised to allow ned to join the night’s watch instead. however, she had to helplessly watch as they killed him in front of a cheering crowd  --  death was joffrey’s way of showing mercy. sansa was forced to stay in king’s landing, more a hostage than a bride-to-be, even though she was still to marry the king. she was appalled by that thought, but she knew that she couldn’t do a thing without risking her own life. yet, when joffrey forced her to look up at her father’s head on a stick, she briefly considered pushing him to his death  --  she was stopped by his hound, sandor clegane, though.

while being a hostage in the red keep, to keep her family from attacking the lannisters, sansa armored herself in her lady’s courtesies. she was forced to denounce her entire family as traitors, and had to write several letters, pleading them to make peace. she didn’t mean a word of it, in fact, she hoped that her brother would come and rescue her, handing her the head of joffrey. she always did how she was bid, though, not wanting to put any more attention on her., especially because the king kept regularly abusing her, as a punishment for her family’s ‘crimes’, as well as for his own pleasures. after saving ser dantos from his certain death, the drunk knight promised to help her. sansa didn’t particularly trust him, but the prospect of getting out of king’s landing got her hopes up nevertheless. joffrey’s abuse stopped when his uncle, tyrion, arrived at the capitol to take his place next to the king, as his new hand. the dwarf swore to protect her against his horrid nephew, a fact sansa was utterly thankful for. another man she grew to be grateful for was sandor, who, even though he spoke in harsh words and had a hideous demeanor, always treated her kindly, protected her, and had always refused to beat her. it was also sandor who came to her rescue when sansa had been separated from the royal party after saying farewell to myrcella, and instead had been head-deep in a riot. she came out wounded, but alive and untouched, all thanks too sandor. after the battle of the blackwater, which she had spent in safety but also terribly close to cersei lannister, she returned to her chambers only to find him drunk, and waiting for her. he offered to take her with him, as he would be fleeing from the city and the lannisters now; yet sansa refused. after the victory, her betrothal to joffrey came to an end, as he was now promised to margaery tyrell. however, she was still forced to stay at king’s landing, and the king kept mentally abusing her. ser dontos, to whom she still had contact, gifted her a rather stunning hairnet for the king’s wedding, as a sign that he was still trying to help her.

over time, sansa started regretting that she hadn’t accepted sandor’s offer. she was sure she would’ve been safer at his side than she was now. however, she eventually started to develop a close relationship to joffrey’s new fiancée, margaery; eventually confessing that the king was a monster. the tyrell women raised the possibility of her marrying the heir of highgarden, willas, who was crippled but kind and intelligent. it was something sansa didn’t have to think long about, she agreed eagerly  --  all she wanted was to be freed of the lannisters. when she shared these new plans with dontos, he didn’t seem very pleased. furthermore, he shared the information with petyr baelish, who then informed tywin lannister  --  who promply married sansa to his own son, the dwarf, against the wishes of both parties. sansa remained courteous despite her disgust and unhappiness, remembering that tyrion had always been friendly to her. much to her relief, he didn’t require the consummation of their marriage either. shortly after, sansa got informed about the deaths of her mother and brother, leaving her a sobbing mess and utterly broken.

subverse:  sansa, who was still wary of dontos, didn’t share the tyrell’s plans with him; which is why tywin had no fear of losing his valuable hostage, and didn’t come up with a cruel plan to bind her to his family. when words of sansa supposedly marrying the heir of highgarden eventually reached his ears, it was all too late   --  sansa had already left king’s landing  in a cloak-and-dagger operation. she wed willas tyrell soon after she arrived at highgarden, as both parties feared that the lannisters would find a way to prevent it. this time, the marriage was consumated. time passed by; time in which the two got to know each other  --  and started to actually fall in love with the other one.

attending the king’s wedding at tyrion’s side, sansa was able to watch joffrey choking to death with shock, and a bit of satisfaction. she used the turmoil around the dead king to flee, following dontos to blackwater bay, where she was greeted by littlefinger, who revealed that he was the one who wanted to bring her to safety, and who had given her the hairnet  --  the very hairnet which had been used as poison, to kill joffrey. he then proceeded to kill dantos, so that no words of sansa’s destination would reach the lannisters. petyr took her with him to his tower at the fingers of the vale, where her aunt lysa was already awaiting them, and who promplty married petyr. her aunt assured her that she would help her, and protect her  --  as long as sansa would eventually marry her sickly son, robert. she hesitantly agreed, knowing fully well that she had no other choice. from then one, she was known as alayne stone, bastard daughter to petyr baelish. she even dyed her hair a darker color before starting to live at the eyrie, as to hide her most obvious tully feature. for a while, life at the eyrie was rather peaceful.  (  except for marillon, the bard, trying to rape her.  )  alayne was able to rest, and enjoy the fresh snow  --  yet she also had to take care of robert, comforting him rather often because of his shaking sickness. she was disgusted by it, but she was still very gentle with the boy. however, one day, alayne was surprisingly and against her will, kissed by petyr, which lysa saw. her aunt accused her of trying to seduce her husband, and threatened to push her out of the moon door  --  but instead, it was petyr who pushed her through.

when they were questioned about lysa’s death by the keeper of the gate, alayne lied, telling him that marillon had pushed her to her death. she put up such a convincing show, that everyone believed her without a single doubt. now, she was the de facto lady of the eyrie, comforting sweetrobin while being tutored by petyr in some of the finer points of courtly intrigue. alayne was soon able to look through most of petyr’s intrigues herself, but so far, she kept staying at his side, supporting his plans. when they left the eyrie to head to the gates of moon, because of the onset of winter, she learned his true intentions: he had made plans for her to marry the heir of the vale, so that she would eventually reveal her true identity and reclaim winterfell.

❛  𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓲𝓼 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰.    ( season 5ish - 8ish )

when alayne heard of jon snow’s plans to retake winterfell from ramsay bolton and to free their sister arya from his tyranny, she tried to convince petyr to send him their armies. after he denied her pleading, she decided to took it into her own hands; revealing her true identity to the lords of the vale. sansa also told them that it was petyr who had killed her aunt, that he had done it for greed as he had wanted to reign over the vale himself, and that he had forced her to lie for him, as well as call him father while staying quiet whenever he wanted to kiss her. with such a story, the lords had no other choice than to condone her lies; and to put petyr at trial. he had small chances, and in the end, he lost his head. after sansa was assured loyalty, she joined her forces with jon’s, thus helping him to retake winterfell.

subverse:  instead of going to the gates of the moon, petyr brings alayne to winterfell, wanting her to retake her actual name and marry ramsay bolton. sansa is appalled by this possibility, but she had no other choice than to agree. even though ramsay seemed courteous at first, sansa was soon able to see through his masquerade. while at winterfell, she met theon again, who had suffered at her betrothed’s hands more than anyone else  --  and she also met abel, a bard; however, after having spent some time with the man, she started to look through the facade. it was easy for her to see that he was no true bard, but she couldn’t figure out who he really was. soon, people started dying unexpectedly at winterfell, causing tension between house bolton and the other northeners at the castle. when little walder frey is found murdered the night before their wedding, the tension reached its high  -- sansa was taking her chance of trying to escape with the help of abel; and theon, as he and sansa both had grown up within these walls, and knew them better than anyone. after jumping into freedom, they were getting hunted by ramsay’s men  --  but brienne, a lady-knight sansa had met during her travels to winterfell, and her squire appeared just in time to save them. barely having escaped death, sansa seeked help at castle black, reuniting with her half-brother jon snow. after he listened to her experience, he was even more convinced that he had to go to war against the boltons. using petyr, sansa was able to join the forces of the vale with jon’s army, resulting in him winning back winterfell. the same day, she watched ramsay getting eaten alive by his own dog, smiling at the scene in front of her, satisfied that the man who had abused her was getting killed in such ways. later she, along with her returned sister arya, plotted to get petyr killed as well.

after successfully retaking winterfell  (  and freeing jeyne poole; it had turned out that it had not been the real arya, but sansa’s old childhood friend.  )  and thus reclaiming the north, the northerners unanimously proclaimed jon as their king  --  and oh, how happy sansa was for him! she knew of the love their people had for him, and she knew how capable of leading jon was; even if he mostly didn’t want to do it. she did fear for him though, as kings and queens seemed to die like flies; and if there was one thing sansa wouldn’t be able to handle, it would be jon’s death. sitting at his side as his advisor, making sure that he wouldn’t repeat past mistakes, sansa supported his reign the best she could, as he was a just and good ruler. at the rare occasions that she didn’t agree with his opinions, she questioned him in private, giving him a chance to explain his reasons. in return, jon always made sure to listen to her carefully  --  as she clearly had the most experience with families such as the lannisters.

when jon received a letter from tyrion lannister, hand of daenerys targaryen, sansa advised him to be careful, reminding him of the last targaryen who sat on the iron throne. having heard many varying stories about that new dragon queen, she was rather suspicious of her, and didn’t want her brother to walk into a trap. however, she supported his decision to meet daenerys, as they badly needed an alliance and the dragonglass for their fight against the wights  (  which she had known nothing about, until jon had told her. that alone showed the absolute need for a strong alliance.  )

jon had given her control of the north during his absence, and sansa made sure to use her powers to prepare for the winter and war to come, meaning she tried to stock up on food and invent a warmer kind of armor for their men. it was also during that time that her siblings, bran and arya, returned to winterfell. sansa immediately offered the north to bran, as he was the last remaining male stark, but he refused, explaining that he was the three-eyed raven now. still, she kept both of them close to her, only making decisions about their mutual future after advising with them before.

when jon returned to winterfell with daenerys by his side, she greeted the queen with a certain wary, but also with warmth. she knew that jon wouldn’t have allowed her in the north if he hadn’t put his faith in her, and so she was willing to make an effort for his sake. in the beginning, she was displeased that he had bent the knee and given up the crown, but after she had listened to his reasoning as well as found out about her saving him from his clear death, she later openly supported his decision when he announced it in the great hall. she also sent out letters to the house wanting to abandon jon, reminding them that a crown meant nothing when they were about to face death himself. wanting to make her own mind about the dragon queen, sansa made sure to talk to her followers, knowing that these people would be the only ones who could tell her the actual truth. it was safe to say that sansa was pleasantly surprised, and relieved that there were no signs of madness within this targaryen queen. she eventually developed a friendship with daenerys, helping her to find her way around winterfell, introducing her to the most important people at the castle, including her in little silly talks and dinners; simply making sure that wouldn’t feel alone in the north.

subverse:  instead of jon, the northerners chose sansa as their queen.  when tyrion wrote to her in the name of daenerys targaryen, she trusted his words in regards to their past. though she did send jon to meet the dragon queen instead of going herself, as she did not want to leave the north. he brought her back with him to winterfell, after having convinced her of the importance of fighting against the night king instead of fighting for the iron throne. they joined their forces, and sansa was happy for their alliance, but she would not give up her crown for it  --  she knew she’d lose most of the north if she did. however, daenerys allowed her to keep it; after seeing the wights with her own two eyes, she had come to the conclusion that reigning over six kingdoms would be better than reigning over corpses and ashes.  

given the fact that tyrion was hand of the queen, and technically still her husband, she eventually came to terms with him. after all, he had always been kind to her, and he did seem to be a special kind of lannister. though, she immediately looked through cersei’s ‘offer’, calling him out for believing that she would actually help him. she also met sandor again, who came to the castle shortly before the battle began. the years had changed both of them, she was not a little bird anymore, and he seemed less pleased by murdering people.

during the battle of winterfell, she hid in the crypts along with tyrion and everyone else who wasn’t able to fight. when the wights climbed out of her ancestors’ graves, sansa used the blade she had received from arya to defend the helpless. she survived the battle with only minor injuries.

❛  𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓯 𝓼𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰.    ( post battle of winterfell )

after the battle, sansa attended the war council in preparation for the war against cersei, and advised them to give their forces some time to rest, and grieve,  before sending them into yet another battle, to which daenerys agreed. in the time passing, they were treating the wounded, burned the fallen, rebuilt winterfell, and made sure their army would regain their strength. eventually, the remaining forces of daenerys and the north were stationed in front of king’s landing, with the greyjoy ships waiting on the blackwater. attending the exchange of words between tyrion and cersei, sansa soon realized that the latter had lost all common sense. she was also part of the last war council before the battle, advising daenerys that even though cersei would not back down, the population of king’s landing would give up their city  --  and reminding everyone of the common hatred against the lannister queen, who had blown up her own city with wildfire.

sansa remained on dragonstone during the battle, but every word she had spoken turned out to be true. after daenerys had destroyed the weapons made to kill her dragons, as well as burned the iron fleet  (  while yara was successfully killing her uncle  ),  the population screamed to ring the bells. the lannister armies, soon realizing that they couldn’t possibly survive the attack of such an army as well as two dragons, were happy to follow their demand. when the balls rang, daenerys accepted the surrender.  and when sansa stepped into the throne room again, after all these years, she found cersei’s corpse laying in front of it  --  killed by arya stark. she only smiled; sansa had known about her sister’s list, and also about her finding a way inside king’s landing to murder the queen.

with daenerys targaryen sitting on the iron throne, the realm was finally at peace. furthermore, the new queen allowed the iron islands to crown yara as their queen and thus becoming an own kingdom, for the support in her wars. she also granted the north their independence, knowing that none of them would be sitting here if it hadn’t been for the north defending the realm from the wights.though jon was tired of ruling, resulting in the northerners choosing sansa as their queen.

and so the three queens ruled, and the realm thrived.