I totally admire the way Game of Thrones directed Sansa Stark's character arc (& honestly it came out of the blue)

The only Game of Thrones character that, according to me, had an unbelievable transformation is Sansa Stark (portrayed by Sophie Turner) of House Stark, and, to be honest, when I first started watching the HBO classic, I never expected things to turn out the way they eventually did. Hailing from Winterfell, a kingdom to the north of Westeros, Sansa is the eldest daughter of Lord Eddard (Ned) and Lady Catelyn Stark.

While her younger sister Arya Stark is portrayed as the warrior-type with no interest in political affairs, Sansa is totally a polar opposite. Her dream of becoming the perfect, beautiful queen to the most handsome king and having the fairy-tale life has always driven her since her teenage days. So, when she gets betrothed to King Robert Baratheon's elder son Prince Joffrey Baratheon, Sansa hopes she gets a chance to live her fantasy.

But it only reveals to her the deadly side of politics, and eventually, she suffers from a lot of personal loss—not to mention her trauma. But what I admire the most is her will to survive and adapt and the way she evolved beyond the childish ideals, thereby transforming herself into a strong key character—the Queen in the North carrying the Stark sigil!

I believe Sansa Stark's transformation in Game of Thrones is just out of the world

Despite being initially misunderstood as a character who craves a fairytale-like courtly life and desires power, I feel no character arc in Game of Thrones has achieved an evolution even close to Sansa Stark's massive evolution. All her life, she has lived in this bubble wrap, protected from worldly violence and harshness.

So, when she finally arrives at King's Landing, Sansa gets an idea of what politics actually is. Initially, her obsession with getting married to Prince Joffrey and leading the perfect Westerosi life is something that honestly made me dislike her a bit.

But once her father, Ned Stark, is executed and she is forced to marry Tyrion Lannister (a consequence of all the dirty politics), Sansa starts to see things clearly. She realizes that she has been trapped and needs to find her way out—there is no fairy tale coming to save her, not anytime soon!

Sansa escapes King's Landing amidst a sudden tumultuous development (King Joffrey's murder), and the way she survives and finds a way out totally blows my mind.

I feel her time in Westeros was not at all easy, and initially, she was continuously abused by several different members of the Lannister family. In my opinion, her situation demanded resilience and patience (to learn the worldly politics), and she managed to exhibit the same.

However, Margaery Tyrell's compassion and kindness to Sansa (while she was surrounded by ruthless enemies on all sides) helped her survive—not to mention the way Tyrion always treated her with respect despite an uncomfortable nuptial. Sansa also learns how courtly affairs work and the way people are always plotting (sometimes even for their personal gain). Cersei Lannister is a character who indirectly teaches her to survive and deal with such politics.

But I firmly believe that it was her zeal to live and bounce back that kept her going—not to mention the way she also survives a dangerous character like Ramsay Bolton later in Game of Thrones Season 5. And also, how can I forget the way she arrived at the right time with the Knights of Vale to save Jon Snow (her brother and his army in the infamous 'Battle of Bastards')—a perfect portrayal of war strategy and intelligence?

It shows how her character arc progressed from a naive young girl (with a perfect marriage and a perfect life as her only wish) to a bold, independent, and wise queen—a person who eventually goes from jolly to stone cold. Her outer delicate appearance always hid a strong person who, I believe, needed the right push to emerge.

Even though Sansa never comes out on the battlefield to fight, she has always fought her own wars to grow and also learns how to adapt to any kind of situation. I am pretty sure no character would have ever survived what she went through, let alone evolve and turn out to be someone who can govern a province as big as the North.

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Also Read: My top 5 Game of Thrones characters will not have Jon Snow (& one of the many reasons is the unnecessary plot armor)

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