In Season One, Sansa Stark showed me that there’s no shame in being naive, making easy mistakes or being innocent, and that all of these traits don’t mean that you will never be of worth in life. They just mean that you’re a child, and that you have a full life to pick yourself up and be the person you were destined to be.
In Season Two, Sansa Stark showed me that physical strength isn’t the only one of worth, as emotional and intellectual strength matters just as much. She quickly adapted to her new environment filled with the worst players in the game of thrones, yet she faked this facade, navigated the court like an expert and despite all of the abuse she was being given, kept her head high, kept believing that things could be better, and she was still full of love and empathy for others.
In Season Three and Four, Sansa Stark showed me that even the humblest of people, can learn and grow slowly, and better a force to be reckoned with on their own. Sansa was passed around like a political pawn all in order for other people to gain advantage, and everybody underestimated her importance and her worth, but she grew, and quite quickly at that, and ended up managing to manipulate grown men and women in power all to further her own goal.
In Season Five, Sansa Stark showed me that the key to surviving isn’t brute strength or pessimism, but rather, a gentle heart and soul. She found Theon, the same person who took her home from her brother’s hands whose action led to the suffering of many, and helped him embrace his true identity as Theon Greyjoy of House Stark. It was through love that she was able to get his allegiance, and that love pushed him to help Sansa escape Winterfell.
In Season Six, Sansa Stark showed me that strength doesn’t come from abuse, it’s there despite it. She went through trauma others wouldn’t even dare to imagine, and yet it was through the fire that was always in her that she was able to start a rebellion right after what she went through, convince her brother to embrace his identity as a hero, to help gather all of the northern houses, and to at the end of the day, win the war and kill her abuser, all for herself, for her family and for the people in the North. The little bird truly has always been a phoenix.
In Season Seven and Eight, Sansa Stark showed me that it isn’t fear or simply killing the enemy that will make you earn the respect of the people, it’s through love of who she is and what she represents and respect what she does. Sansa strategically handled the rations to make sure that all of her people would have access to food for the rest of the winter, she puts importance to what the lords and ladies of the North have to say, she listens to her advisers and ask for their input on matters she knows less about, she cares far more about the safety and health of her soldiers than she does about having revenge on her abuser, she kept the castle open for her people till the very last moment despite the contrary would be more convenient for her, and at the end of the day, her guards respect her, the lords respect her and the people respect her.
Thank you Sansa Stark for messing up and picking yourself up again with grace, dignity and strength, for being a source of light even when your life was as it darkest, for empowering yourself when everyone else dismissed you, for being strong because of your gentle soul that touched many in and out of the story, for having such a truly empowering journey not because but despite the abuse you suffered, and for being the best queen we could have ever asked for.
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