“May be the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it is about un-becoming everything thar isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”
I read this quote by Paulo Coelho on someone’s WhatsApp status (Yes, I can draw inspiration from those at times as well, and yes, I am that useless) and the first person that crossed my mind was Sansa Stark. Yes, our Sansa Stark, Lady of Winterfell, now known as the Queen of the North.
You’d laugh at me and say why would you even think of her, well I did, and maybe, just maybe you’d understand.
When I first began watching Game of Thrones, her too ladylike etiquette and touch me not attitude of Sansa, made me instantly dislike her. How she always wanted to be so poised and could not wait to grab the first chance to become a princess by marrying Robert Baratheon (Technically Jaime Lannister) and Cersei Lannister’s son, Joffrey Baratheon.
She was bowled over as to how Cersei was and wanted to be exactly like her, the dream of becoming a w. She was so swept away by the entire idea of being a Lannister queen one day that everything else seemed dull and lifeless, even her own family.
But all wasn’t roses and bells, and once Ned Stark was killed, life became hell for Sansa. The once promised place for Sansa beside Joffrey was in a split second given to Margerey Tyrrell. Love wasn’t Sansa’s cup of tea as even the could have been a wedding to Loras also couldn’t take place, and she was forced to marry the imp, Tyrion Lannister (needless to say, he was the best of the Lannister she got).
Her woes didn’t end here as the Red Wedding incident killed her elder brother Rob Stark and her beloved mum, Catelyn Stark. While all this went on, Sansa only grew stronger. It did seem like the transition from being Tyrion’s wife to Ramsay Bolton’s victim would break her completely, and we would see the end of her.
However, she rose from the ashes like a Phoenix, and after she could escape with the help of Theon Greyjoy, and be at peace in Winterfell again, what didn’t kill her made her stronger. You could see that all through the series, Sansa had learned the art of politics from the Lannisters very well and used it to her advantage for her survival.
The U-turn that Sansa’s personality took was one of the highlights of the show for me. Not only did she survive against all the odds and wolves (we’re talking about the people who were always ready to pounce at her here and not the innocent and extremely adorable stark wolves), but she rose up to become not only the Lady of the Winterfell but also the Queen of the North at the end. (how cool is that)
She stood her ground, took decisions for Winterfell, fought Daenerys in her own way, and ensured that she upheld the legacy of Winterfell.
Despite all the lemons that life threw at her, Sansa had become an expert in making lemonades, and that too, the strongest ones, the ones with an aftertaste which hinted of a happy ending, the ending she deserved.
