History Characters / GameOfThronesSansaStark

* AdaptationalDumbass: In the books, Sansa can spout historical and literary trivia and identify Renly and Barristan purely by SherlockScan, but in the show, she literally thinks "shift" is a vulgar word for dung. She also remains oblivious to subtle character clues like Loras's chivalrous disinterest and Littlefinger's Stepford Smile instead of sensing them after a single conversation, and she trusts her mysterious new maid "even though she tells me not to" rather than assuming she's a spy (which is true of her maids in the novels).

** While she's still annoying in Season 1, she is softer than her book counterpart, who was a bit of an AlphaBitch and a bully to Arya. Her [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry sibling rivalry with Arya]] is toned down to typical levels of bickering, whereas in the books, Sansa was much more mean-spirited.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: Towards sasons 6, 7 and 8 Sansa becomes a much more shrewd political operator than her book herself was up to this point.

[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], '''Sansa Stark''', [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesTywinLannister Tywin Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesTheonGreyjoy Theon Greyjoy]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesPetyrBaelish Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]

* AccidentalTruth: After hearing her father's order to send her and Arya back to Winterfell, Sansa claims that she absolutely must stay in King's Landing so she can marry Joffrey, lamenting that he'll be the greatest king there ever was and a ''golden lion'' -- referencing the sigil of House Lannister. Arya quickly corrects her and points out that he would be a stag, the sigil of House Baratheon and his "father", which Sansa dismisses by saying that he's nothing like Robert anyway. As we know though, in truth, [[BrotherSisterIncest Joffrey's incestuous heritage actually makes him one-hundred percent Lannister]] and Sansa was technically correct. [[note]] Although, even more technically, the fact that Jaime would obviously refuse to legally acknowledge Joffrey as his child would ''really'' make him a bastard with no right to ''any'' surname. [[/note]] Sansa's seemingly meaningless slip of the tongue inspires Ned to start looking into Joffrey's Baratheon "heritage", which for better or worse, [[DisasterDominoes sets a lot of the events of the series into motion]].

* BadBoss: A milder example than most but she is rather rude to Septa Mordane.

* DeadpanSnarker: Has to measure her words given the hostile environment she's in, but the tendency is there.

** Sansa was likewise quite cold to Tyrion after their wedding, for understandable reasons, but in the show, she puts in some effort to make the marriage work.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: While she's still annoying in Season 1, she is softer than her book counterpart, who was a bit of an AlphaBitch and a bully to Arya. Her [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry sibling rivalry with Arya]] is toned down to typical levels of bickering, whereas in the books, Sansa was much more mean-spirited.

* IncompatibleOrientation: She's a bit infatuated with Loras Tyrell.

** Inverted in the development of her storyline in the books. In the original outline for the novels, Sansa was going to have a child by Joffrey who would eventually be murdered in infancy. This doesn't happen in the published novels.

* {{Foil}}: In the novels, George R. R. Martin designed Sansa to be Arya's foil. This is present in the adaptation as well. They are both Starks of Winterfell who spend a great deal of time with Sandor "The Hound" Clegane who takes them both captive at one time or another and ends up showing them his softer side. But it's also part of their development and their very different BreakTheCutie arc. Sansa becomes ensnared in the politics of King's Landing and sees, first hand, the ruthlessness and backstabbing of a DeadlyDecadentCourt while Arya travels across Westeros and falls under the view and guidance of characters of varying moral fibre. Arya slowly becomes a methodical ChildSoldier who falls in with an amoral killing cult that believes in death for everyone while Sansa has become NumberTwo to [[ManipulativeBastard Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]], using her father's honorable reputation to defend a murderer from facing the consequences of his actions and becoming a willing accomplice. In both cases, the sisters are forced to discard their whole identities in order to pursue vengeance and survival.

Elder daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark and their second child. Raised as a lady, Sansa is the most naive of the Stark children at the start of the series, becoming a pawn in the machinations of the other characters. However, as the story progresses, the realities and myriad tragedies of [[CrapsackWorld Westeros]] harden her heart as time wears on and circumstances force her to become savvier and more cunning -- a real player in the Game of Thrones.

Elder daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark and their second child. Though sheltered and petulantly naive at the start of the series, the realities and myriad tragedies of [[CrapsackWorld Westeros]] harden her heart as time wears on and circumstances force her to become savvier and more cunning -- a real player in the Game of Thrones.

* IncompatibleOrientation: She's a bit infatuated with [[BadassGay Loras Tyrell]].

* JerkassRealization: She realizes much belatedly that she messed up in trusting Joffrey over her own sister, and that Arya was right to call her a liar for indirectly getting Mycah and Lady killed. You can see it on her face when Joffrey forces her to look at Ned's severed head, and it's enough for her to [[spoiler:warn Margaery that Joffrey is a "monster". Much later, when talking with Jon, she admits that she was a jerk to him growing up and he didn't deserve it]].

* LovingAShadow: With Joffrey, a DracoInLeatherPants in-universe. She's entirely willing to overlook Joffrey's [[{{Jerkass}} many]], [[RoyalBrat many]] [[TheCaligula flaws]] even when she sees them firsthand, all in the name of her fairy-tale romance. She finally snaps out of it at the end of "Baelor", but it took her beau ordering her father's execution. Ned also points out to Arya that because she's going to be Joffrey's wife, she needs to show at least the pretense of UndyingLoyalty to him, regardless of whether he deserves it. And, well, Ned was right about this.

** [[spoiler: A politically savvy royal who is ultimately crowned Queen after an unlikely series of events lead to her being the one with the strongest claim. Furthermore she is crowned with her red hair flowing free and unrestrained. It is easy to see her as echoing Queen Elizabeth I]].

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: She is deliriously happy to be engaged to the heir to the kingdoms... until he has her father beheaded right in front of her, and she becomes a hostage to his family in the ensuing civil war. Happens again at the end of Season 2, when she finally gets out of her engagement to Joffrey. Unfortunately, as Petyr Baelish points out, she's actually worse off, since she's not allowed to return home, Joffrey is still free to beat and rape her without reprisal, and she doesn't have the minor consolation of being queen when it happens. In Season 4, she's finally free of the Lannisters, Joffrey and King's Landing by being forced to go on the lam after the King's assassination, being a prime suspect with a large bounty on her head. The only person keeping her safe at this time is the real culprit, Petyr Littlefinger Baelish, and her place of refuge is the castle of her mad aunt Lysa Arryn.

** She is then forcibly married to the unattractive Tyrion instead of the dreamy Loras, but her new husband is completely respectful and kind to her, and he disobeys his father's orders to rape and impregnate her. They even start to get along rather well... and then she learns of the Lannister-planned Red Wedding, which resulted in the horrific murders of her brother, mother, and the Northern army. She has thus lost her last sliver of hope of rescue from King's Landing. It gets worse when she returns to Winterfell, where she is married to Ramsay Bolton, who is the North's very own homegrown version of Joffrey.

* CharacterDevelopment: Sansa starts out wanting to visit the Capital and be less like her family. Joffrey and Cersei's true nature and the death and separation from the Starks makes her long for nothing more than Winterfell and her home, she takes to building a miniature version of her home castle in the Vale.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Daenerys feels Sansa is as much responsible for Varys's death as she is, because Sansa broke her word to Jon about never telling his secret and told Tyrion. This is one of the contributing factors that pushes Dany to the stage where she decides to destroy all of King's Landing. The showrunners in Inside the Episode explain that Varys's schemes and Jon telling Sansa -- who, in spite of her promise to Jon, tells Tyrion who tells Varys -- played a part in her breaking out.]]

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* HelloNurse: Second only to [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Daenerys]] in this regard. Her sexual attractiveness is the source of some significant drama in her life, both from the men who want her and the women who look upon her with jealousy. Ramsay's blunt response to his mistress asking if he finds Sansa pretty sums it up pretty well: "Of course I do. I'm not blind."

** Averted. Sansa wanted the psychotic Joffrey -- but only when she thought he was the stereotypical heroic prince from her stories. Her feelings change to hatred upon seeing how terrible Jofffrey truly is.
** Averted with Ramsey: repudiated psychopath, from a family of psychopaths, leading an army of psychopaths; and their sigil is a mutilated corpse. She knew it was a bad idea, and pretty much everyone else did as well.

* PoliticallyActivePrincess: By Season 6, Sansa officially holds the title of princess since her brother is crowned King in the North. After many years surviving and learning how to play the game of thrones in the south, she offers advice Jon on his decisions. Sansa also comes to see through Littlefinger's manipulations and ultimately has him executed after learning he was stirring up conflict between her and Arya.

%% In the traditions of Westeros, women will only take their husbands name if the husband is of a more powerful House, or if they consciously choose to do so. Since no-one in-series ever refers to Sansa as "Sansa Lannister", there is no reason for her to be named as such on TV Tropes.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: While she's still annoying in Season 1, she is softer than her book counterpart, who was a bit of an AlphaBitch and a bully to Arya. Her [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry sibling rivalry with Arya]] is toned down to typical levels of bickering, whereas in the books Sansa was much more mean-spirited.

** As a result of her Book 4 plot being entirely removed and changed to that of Jeyne Poole, Sansa's CharacterDevelopment in that section, her friendship with smallfolk and outsiders like Mya Stone and blossoming into the role of hostess and NumberTwo to Littlefinger is removed.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Averted. Sansa wanted the psychotic Joffrey, but only when she thought he was the stereotypical heroic prince from her stories. Sansa wants a hero, not a villain.
** Triple averted with Ramsey: repudiated psychopath, from a family of psychopaths, leading an army of psychopaths; and their sigil is a mutilated corpse. She knew it was a bad idea, and pretty much everyone else did as well.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: In Season 8's premiere, she poses one to Jon, asking him if [[spoiler: he bent the knee to Daenerys "to save the North, or because [he] love[s] her"]]? Jon doesn't answer.
* ArrangedMarriage: This happens so often that she's basically pimped out to unconsummated marriages:

* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Once. Sansa's since grown up much too fast. And to be fair, the Septa kind of started it. She apologises to Jon for being cold to him as a girl.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: May be a family trait; "I trust her, even though she tells me not to" could almost be the words of House Stark. She completely fails to see the parts of people she doesn't want to see, especially with regard to Joffrey. While life at court makes her a bit warier, it remains to be seen if her trust in Shae, and Tyrion by extension, is a good call. This trait has pretty much vanished by Season 5 -- such as the way she interacts with Myranda, not fooled for a second by the latter's BitchInSheepsClothing act. Although she, and Littlefinger apparently, ''seriously'' misjudge how crazy Ramsay is and Sansa only sees his MaskOfSanity crack just before the wedding. [[spoiler: By Season 8, she seems to be growing out of this, as she correctly deduces that Cersei will go back on her alliance with the Starks and Targaryens despite the dire circumstances, which even Tyrion doesn't fully suspect, believing Cersei would agree for the sake of her unborn child. She also rightly suspects that Jon has pledged himself to Daenerys out of love for her.]]

* PoliticallyActivePrincess: By Season 6, Sansa officially holds the title of princess since her brother is crowned King in the North. After many years surviving and learning how to play the game of thrones in the south, she actively assists Jon in navigating the new political arena that they find themselves in, even going toe-to-toe with Littlefinger when he attempts to manipulate and undermine their rule.

* RapeAsDrama: In Season 5, after taking over Jeyne Poole's story, via Ramsay Bolton. After learning about this in a letter, it's one the main reasons why [[BigBrotherInstinct big brother Jon]] is willing to march on Winterfell.

* PromotionToParent: Arya asks Sansa after she reunites if she should call her "Lady Stark" now, to which Sansa says yes, more or less legally becoming Bran and Arya's guardian, and their Lady liege.
* ProperLady: She initially aspires to be this, being polite and courteous, partaking in activities like embroidery and happily going along with her ArrangedMarriage (especially compared to [[{{Tomboy}} her sister]]). However, she lacks the poise and wisdom usually associated with this. She moves closer to this trope in later seasons, [[DownplayedTrope but with an]] [[SilkHidingSteel underlying steeliness and ruthless edge.]]