Game of Thrones: Why Sansa Stark is a Different Kind of Heroine

Game of Thrones has long been renowned for being a show where the women are more than pretty faces.

Sure, there’s a lot of gratuitous nudity and even instances of unfounded gender violence, but you can rightfully argue that the women of this show have been forces of nature since the beginning.

This year, though, they took it a step farther. This year, the women of Game of Thrones really came into their own.

Who rules Westeros? The ladies do.

Among the many physically imposing and/or gifted in skilled in more “manly” endeavors, however, Sansa Stark looks more like an anomaly than part of the growing trend.

She’s not bigger, taller, and a better fighter, like Brienne. She’s not faster and more determined, like Arya. She doesn’t have dragons, and she isn’t impervious to fire, like Daenerys.

She’s not even ruthless, like Cersei.

Instead, she is smarter – and utterly unwilling to continue being a victim.

Most characters on Game of Thrones have had a shitty past six years – if not longer. Happiness is not a common thing in Westeros, you could argue, and yet, though must characters have suffered, it’s hard to say that anyone has had it as bad as Sansa Stark.

First, she was a hostage of the family who murdered her father. Then she had to run for her life, only to become a pawn in someone else’s game for power. Finally, she was a victim.

But Sansa Stark never let her misfortunes define her.

This might sound like revisionist story to some. After all, Sansa has played the role of the defenseless victim for so long that it’s hard to see her as an actual player in the Game of Thrones . But she hasn’t’ been a victim for a while.

Instead, she’s a survivor.

And that’s just as important as being a warrior.

Stereotypes are a dangerous thing. Brienne, and in a way, even Arya, defy those stereotypes, and so we revere them. We celebrate them.

And we should. They’re groundbreaking characters that offer a wider range of role models to young girls. What we shouldn’t do is make their way the only way of being strong.

We shouldn’t use their example as a way to bring other characters down.

Sansa’s way should count too. She shouldn’t have be held against impossible standards. She should be enough.

Women, after all, have had to survive without battle skills and/or strength for centuries, and we don’t think any less of them for it. No, in fact, we see them as heroes. We recognize that sometimes, surviving is a skill.

Except in fictional characters, that is.

We tend to judge our fictional ladies much more harshly than we do our real ones. Yes, the real ones only need to survive, but the fake ones? Those need to brandish a sword, kick literal ass, and rule the seven kingdoms to even come close to BAMF status.

Talk about unfair.

Sansa has gone from the naïve little girl of the first season, the one who took things at face value, to the only Stark capable of putting common sense above honor, and she’s done so because, above all things, she recognizes who the opponent is.

She has, after all lived, among enemies for a while.

First there was Cersei, and Joffrey. Then there was Littlefinger. Finally, there was Ramsay Bolton.

Sansa has been the prey for so long – she’s been weak, she’s been fearful, she’s been beaten and raped. She’ll carry the scars forever.

But she hasn’t let it define her. She hasn’t let it break her spirit. Sansa Stark is who she is, not who the bullies in villains in her life want her to become.

And who she is a proud Stark, a sister, a daughter, a woman who might not wield a sword but is not afraid to make the tough choices.

She hasn’t always been so. She’s had to scratch and claw and find her way. She’s had to become stronger.

In a way, though, that’s what makes her relatable. We’re not all strong like Brienne, or determined like Arya. Some of us take our time.

Some of us have to find our way.

And, if Sansa Stark could, then there’s hope for the rest of us. For the normal people, the ones who start out with starry-eyed hope.

The ones who need to get knocked down again and again to find out what we can really do.

Arya Stark, Brienne of Tarth, Daenerys Targaryen, there are many strong women in Game of Thrones . One doesn’t take away from the other. And the fact that she’s a different kind of heroine doesn’t take away from Sansa Stark’s story.

If anything, it adds to it.

Game of Thrones returns next year to HBO.

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