#topic: speculation

Two entries are notes for Sansa POV chapters:

A)

SANSA DIVIDE CHAPTER – LF: CERSEI HAS OVERREACHED SHE'LL SOON BE DONE

LF of course stands for Littlefinger.

B)

SANSA ?OLD - RESOLVE TO BE SS & TAKE NORTH 1 - TOURNEY OF WINGED KNIGHT 2 - SWEETROBIN [WOOS? WEDS? unclear] 3 - NEWS FROM W.H. KILL THE MOUSE ④

SS very likely stands for Sansa Stark, and W.H. for White Harbor. The mouse of course refers to Ser Shadrich.

The people at r/asoiaf who transcribed GRRM's handwriting favor the reading 2 - Sweetrobin *woos, but *weds is also possible, as well as *wees although less likely.

The circled 4 seems to indicate the then total count of Sansa POV chapters that GRRM had already written drafts of (3) plus one he was planning on writing (already partially written).

As for what can be inferred from all this... The first note almost certainly became AFFC Alayne II. The second one seems to concern an unpublished chapter or chapters that GRRM moved to TWOW. Given it's been twenty years since he wrote this outline, this raises the question: does he still intend to follow this note? Assuming he does, there are some things we can extrapolate and speculate on:

Sansa will not lose herself into the Alayne persona, and is soon heading North to reclaim her identity and Winterfell/the region for House Stark.

The tourney of winged knights is mentioned in the TWOW Alayne I preview from 2015, so this indicates GRRM had the idea for it for at least a decade prior.

Interpretation of the line regarding Robert Arryn is dependant on the reading. If it's *woos it might refer to Robert's infatuation with Alayne, which we've seen in Sansa's last published chapter, AFFC Alayne II, and in the TWOW Alayne I preview from 2015. If it's *weds... the most straightforward reading would be that Robert marries someone, even potentially Alayne/Sansa. Considering Petyr's plans for rulership of the Vale which he reveals in AFFC Alayne II, both scenarios seem surprising.

News from White Harbor most likely refers to news of Ramsay's wedding to Arya Stark. There's no telling whether that includes the crucial detail that the bride is truthfully Jeyne Poole. Another option could be news of the mutiny at Castle Black and some kind of update on Jon, whether that's his death, his speculated resurrection or confusing reports about both and whether he was ever dead at all. Of course, the news could be a mix and match of all of this, too. Any of these options could be the catalyst for Sansa going North.

The strikethrough could indicate these ideas were either moved elsewhere or dropped entirely. Or perhaps GRRM returned to this page a second time and was denotting progress by crossing out passsages he'd since written/included in drafts?

Finally, kill the mouse either indicates that Sansa herself will kill Ser Shadrich or that his death will be featured in a Sansa POV chapter.

The following indented paragraphs are all quoted from a post by @bidonica from 2011 (I'm reposting the bulk of it with permission).

I think we shouldn't underestimate the angle of both Sandor and Petyr not only playing a role in her disillusionment in knights and honor in general, but also triggering Sansa's sexual awakening in sort of an oblique way ("oblique" especially when comparing it to Dany's - I think that by now Sansa is of the same age as Daenerys in AGoT?). The scene where she overhears Lysa and Petyr having sex and then she has a nightmare about her wedding night where she substitutes Tyrion with Sandor really stuck with me in this sense. So idk, while I think that Petyr's impact on Sansa's arc is the one now on the forefront - and also the one that makes for the biggest ripercussions on the bigger story - I'm not sure Sandor is entirely out of her life either? Mostly because I think he and Petyr kind of act as each other's foil where Sansa is concerned, one is all about the importance of lies while the other is all about telling it like it is, down to the physicality like Sandor being huge and rough where Petyr is short and refined. I'm also pretty sure that Sandor is projecting on Sansa just as much as Petyr is projecting his dream!Cat on her

Bold emphasis is mine because I thought it was a really interesting observation. (And if anyone has written about this or has thoughts to share, please do!)

(though it bugs the hell out of me that GRRM uses "little bird" both as Sandor's nickname for Sansa and for Varys' child spies. Which from an in-story perspective is probably just a coincidence because it's a common phrase or something? But is it? #secondguessingEVERYTHING)

Sandor calls Sansa a little bird because he's calling her out on repeating back things she's been taught, like a parrot would. Varys' little birds act similarly in the sense that it's in their job description as spies to repeat everything they hear back to Varys. Of course, unlike Varys, Sansa doesn't exactly have some grand hidden political agenda.

But there's definitely food for thought there in terms of how it can relate back to Petyr who like Varys has his own spy network, but unlike Varys brings the bird motif directly onto himself (his personal arms bear mockingbirds… singing birds), and later onto Sansa through her posing as his bastard daughter Alayne (he even gifts her a mockingbird brooch as we learn in AFFC Alayne II) and teaching her how to play the game of thrones. Add in Bran who is being taught to use the weirwoods to see through time and space (and eventually influence events) by Bloodraven, and who has his own bird motif going on… I guess GRRM really wants us to know birds go hand in hand with scheming in ASOIAF. And scheming definitely deals with questions of honesty and falsehoods, a recurring theme in Sansa's storyline.

We see Sansa become a more convincing liar throughout the books, but also become more comfortable with lies under Petyr's influence (see AFFC Sansa I) as he starts teaching/manipulating/grooming her all at the same time. Sandor called out Sansa on her so-called lies which was really about enacting "courtesy is a lady's armor" – and he wasn't the only one, Cersei and Tyrion call out Sansa too, in their thoughts or to her face. Depending on the scene, Sansa was just trying to be polite or her responses were the placating strategy of an abuse victim protecting herself from more potential abuse. It's worth mentioning Arya too, both a foil and parallel to her sister, who vocally chafed against Sansa's actual lies, and has been resorting to vigilantism lately. All this on top of an overarching thematic preoccupation with justice/honor/ideals found in almost every POV.

@/queen--of--thorns' post in favor of Littlefinger being the savage giant Sansa is prophecized to slay: x

@/queen--of--thorns answers an ask on why they don't believe Tyrion is the savage giant: x

@/queen--of--thorns expands on why they support the Littlefinger theory: x

@donewithwoodenteeth replies to the above post, explaining why they disagree and believe Sweetrobin is the savage giant instead: x

@donewithwoodenteeth answers an ask, expanding on their interpretation of the prophecy: x

FFR and more on the subject of the GOHH's prophecy, these are the tags of interest you can browse on the blog:

scene: slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow

tbc: Sweetrobin is the savage giant