Sansa Stark fanart because why not, she’s one of my fav characters…uhh… watch GRRM kill off her character after this TT_TT But OMG srsly winter is here guys!

Ser Loras Tyrell presents a rose to Sansa Stark, by Jonathan Burton, for The Folio Society’s illustrated collector’s edition of A Game of Thrones

George R.R. Martin’s A Clash of Kings (Vol.2) #1

Honestly the Starks are so s o f t in the first book I just want to die.

Arya picking flowers for Ned? Soft.

Jon missing Arya and twirling Tyrion in the air when he hears Bran has woken up? Soft.

Sansa believing in fairy tales and getting excited over tourneys? Soft.

Robb tucking Bran into bed and telling him they’ll go on an adventure to surprise Jon at the Wall? Soft.

Ned and Catelyn embracing and kissing so passionately Littlefinger offers them a room? Soft.

Baby Rickon running around yelling “Home, Shaggy, home”? S O F T.

Dany

The House with the Red Door by WaterSorcerer

In other news, The Lord of The Rings is still the best high fantasy series and franchise of all time and Peter Jackson is still the best high fantasy screenwriter & director of this generation and I hope D&D die mad about it.

Men sansan shippers

We are hundreds of female sansan shippers out here, it is known. But speaking to @azraelgfg made me wonder. How many sansan men shippers do we have in our fandom? Is @azraelgfg the only one? If you are a man and ship sansan, please rebog and leave a comment telling us why you love sansan. Anyone else – meaning women – please just reblog without comment so that the post spreads. I’d be very curious to know how many men are into this ship and why.

well here i am^^.

so why do i ship Sansan?

I love Sansa. she is my favorite character in the whole universe of ASOIAF/GoT. i had so many of her charcter traits when i was at her age, so i can understand why she acted like she acted.

Sandor is my second favorite i would say. i started to like him, bc he doesnt give a fuck about trying to pretend to be something he isnt. he doesnt open up easily to people(similar to me), but still tries to do the right thing.

i ship them together, bc i guess they way sandor started to care about sansa is similar to me. i guess he felt the inner urge to protect her at all cost and i feel the same, every time i think about her. 

i like them together, bc he is probably the only man in Sansas surroundings that doesnt intent to use her for her name and the claim that comes with it, but for her as person and i dont think he could and would ever hurt her( i think he was disgusted by the way he behaved during the unkiss scene and thas why he was caught by the bwob, bc he tried to drown this regret of his behavior in sour red)

i love Sansa and i love them together.

AND i proudly yell. I SHIP SANSAN!

I ship Sansan both on my own and because of the really great fan community.

For me Sansan comes from the position of Sansa. She is a character that I really enjoy because she is like me someone faced abuse during their formative years and had to hide herself and construct her own world view in the thick of it.

When everything you are told is wrong and you can tell it’s mean to disenfranchise you you find your own guidance. Sandor is a figure of harsh honesty over gilded lies. He lies to himself and acts harsher than me really is but he presents realities as he knows them and universal truths. He is a tender soul that has been sand papered until rough trying save another tender soul. A victim trying to lessen the harm to another victim.

That did not have to be romantic to be poignant and relevant but what I realized as I read the blackwater scene is that this relationship is romantic as an entreaty. Sandor had no other way to reach out to Sansa and admire her for he she was and what she meant. He was reaching to have a galvanized connection and as a way of acknowledging meaning and emotional attachment. This was a question and the romance came from her ability to say no. Sansa does not have that option at any other point. So in all these unemotional relationships where no connection is made despite in some cases there being the potential she has to say yes and there is nothing there. Having an attachment, a connection, a kinship across many levels and the time of there relationship and facing a drunk bloody giant man Sansa had every reason to convince herself to go and every reason not to say no yet she had the freedom to. That freedom makes a real relationship.

The Unkiss is to me is the choice not to be together remember as an expression of love. That the physical affection that wasn’t forced is still felt and even contextualized as the correct version of events. By correct version I don’t mean that Sandor should have kissed Sansa but that a reverse time paradox of emotion happened where by not forcing the relationship it became acceptable for the relationship to have been subject to force. Saying no allowed her the power in the relationship to have if she’d had the knowledge and perhaps in the future say yes.

Tyrion, Littlefinger, and Harry could all share in aspects of identity of the girl they are seeing before them, they all have had at certain points been her exactly, but only Sandor looks past the girl and what she means and identifies with who she actually is.

Guy here. The lad above couldn’t have worded it any better.

Thanks!

Personally I think that Sansan resonants across the aisle but that it can be hard to openly ship when some people treat it as a violent underage assault relationship that we approve of because we condone rape. I feel like less and less lately but still you get people who don’t understand the relationship and even so assume that you’re into the wrong portions of it exclusively and without considering the other parts to it.

I go into any discussion like that knowing that I’m prejudged and likely to get shouted down or treated like a harasser for defending my view or self. It must certainly turn some people off being open about liking the relationship or possible make them swear off it to avoid the flack.

Honestly, people who get angry about Sansan probably need to just not read ASOIAF at all.  It’s clearly not the book for them.  I have read tons of character analysis essays dealing with Sandor and Sansa by people who would never in a million years call themselves “shippers.”  They are strict literary analysis nerds.  All of the ones I have ever read acknowledged that George has not only set of a relationship between Sandor and Sansa, it is different and special than any other that she has in the book.  They fully acknowledge the foreshadowing, symbolism, personality dynamics, problematic elements, as well very carefully crafted traditional romantic elements that actually avoid the issue going too far too fast.  Most of the time I see are people trying to justify their non-canon ship as “better” or they just plain don’t like age gaps even when they’re adult ones.  Okay, that’s cool, ship what you want.  I’m never going to harass anyone about their ships.  But if Sansan bothers someone to the point they need to harass another person and call them a pedophile apologist or rape apologist, again…  maybe George’s work isn’t for you.  Sansan is 100% canon, so their issue is really with the author if they’re that bent out of shape.  The vast majority of fans ship Sansan in the future when she’s older and has more agency.      

Let’s keep in mind too this is also a world where it’s completely acceptable for adults to teach children at a young age to use lethal violence.  Totally normal part of a 7 year old’s education is to watch their father (one of our beloved good guys) behead someone.  Not just acceptable, it’s praiseworthy and the right way to raise a boy.  If I call Ned Stark a good father, am I a child-abuse apologist?  Because by real world standards, making your 7 year old watch you cut someone’s head off would be beyond fucked up and traumatic.  If I can accept that this is a different world with different standards of what is “right” for boys without completely rejecting the book, I’m can accept it’s also somewhat normal in this world for girls to be marriagable in early puberty.  I can totally criticize the problematic elements of both, but also understanding it’s fictional and art is exactly the safest place to explore all kinds of themes without actual harm being done to real people.    

I totally support our male Sansan shippers.  You guys are awesome.  Keep that awesome canon shit up!  The females in the community got your back!   

I’m a guy and SanSan is one of my favorite ships period.

First off, the context. Sansa wasn’t my favorite character in A Game of Thrones. At all. I thought she was whiny, prissy, had her head shoved way too far in the clouds and why couldn’t she see what an awful person Joffrey was (I regret a good chunk of my 15-year old self’s reading opinions.) That being said, I can tell you the exact moment my opinion on Sansa changed for the better:

A character I presumed would look down or try to dismiss this incident because all knights are true so it must be Sandor’s fault… actually comforted this burn victim. Validated his pain and told him that his abuser was wrong. You will not believe how many points she earned with me for her good heart here and Sandor was connected to that, who became very interesting with his backstory.

So these two were super-charged connected in my mind from an existential standpoint from that confession scene (though I love them independently, it’s like having two cakes with them together). Why do I ship it though?

Well, first off, because it is a bit freaky. It’s Beauty and the Beast, but it’s a rather messed-up dynamic, more frightening because the Beast does do some legitimately beastly things like threaten to kill the Beauty if she tells anyone of his confession (which I maintain was an empty threat because Sandor is not stupid, but I understand the concerns in protective Sansa fans with Sandor.)

He also does stuff like snap at her, snarl his cardboard nihilism at her to get her to “grow up” and hold a knife to her while trying to take a song from her. Sandor’s behavior can be downright ugly at times, I admit. In terms of characterization, I expect nothing less from a boy-in-a-man whose emotions were charred shut by a monster of a brother. I understand it, if not condone it.

That being said, the ugliness is part-and-parcel of the relationship and it does make the legitimately sweet and touching moments, the parts where damaged humanity, (rough) inner beauty, and vulnerable empathy rise to the surface, shine all the more. It stops the relationship from being too cloying for me and it doesn’t hurt that Sandor’s worst critic about his behavior to Sansa is himself.

After that, there’s also all the times Sandor gives her space to speak freely. In A Clash of Kings, as much as he can talk nihilistic and cynical to her, he has moments where he empowers her. That time where he backs up Sansa’s lie meant to protect Dontos and that time where he diverts attention away from Sansa when Boros questions her. Oh, Sandor, you’re not even trying to hide it.

And then there are the times where Sansa directly tries to engage him. Sincerely. Given how guarded Sansa has to be during A Clash of Kings, the candor and dialogue with Sandor is telling. Sansa gets to ask him some personal questions like how he doesn’t mind being called dog and why he’s so hateful without any repercussions beyond Sandor giving his opinion back.

Again, this is a marked difference in the context of A Clash of Kings where she guards her words and thoughts for the most part (she’s not totally perfect because, you know, she’s just a child) because she’s afraid that anything she says will set off Joffrey. That Sansa feels comfortable enough to debate honor, knighthood, gods and stories and even reproach his more nihilistic mindset with Sandor is… well, that didn’t make shipping them harder.

But what wounds me about this relationship is that this isn’t exactly a relationship between an idealist and a cynic. It’s a relationship between two disillusioned idealists. Sandor’s idealism was seared with fire by Gregor and Sansa’s idealism was battered by Ned’s execution and the reality of being a political hostage under Joffrey. Life has damaged them and hurt them deeply.

The difference between them is more from the reaction and choices they made to cope with their new realities. Sandor decided to armor himself in cynicism, declaring the institution of knighthood morally bankrupt, and shallow nihilism, that the weak should just get out of the way of the strong. Sansa decided to try and hold onto hope that there will be true knights somewhere else. 

Both the Beauty and the Beast had and have to grow up from their period of disillusionment and they’re doing it together. They’re changing, Sansa wising up more and Sandor slowly realizing his mindset is reprehensible, because of each other and their interactions. Their dialogue in A Clash of Kings is the construction of a thesis of knighthood and stories. 

Does an corrupt institution itself ruin the earnest values that led to it? Does the world having so much dishonor and injustice mean we should pick up and perpetuate those atrocities? Or should we strive to commit to justice and virtue, despite the world not rewarding it? Does the stories being lies make the values drawn from them lies?

Deep down, though, it’s about two hurt children trying to figure out how to move forward without losing themselves to the abyss and salvage what’s left of their idealism so the darkness won’t take them.

Lastly, I ship them partly because Sansa ships it (guys, Sansa was the first SanSan shipper, get in line!) and love and agency are crucial to Sansa’s future arc. Sansa wants to love and be loved by a man:

And it hurts. It legitimately hurts to see her further disillusionment with the institution of marriage from that bright-eyed girl in A Game of Thrones:

But there is someone who cares, albeit unrefined and rough around the edges:

And someone who believes himself fundamentally unlovable:

And so, my heart convulses because Sandor… she’s there. She’s been waiting for you.

Damn.

I want to do this!!! It would take me a lifetime to complete but I want to learn to actual weave a tapestry!

It's so lovely it hurts, so pathetic, tender and beautiful at the same time that it's touched many of us very deeply. It's unique and subtle and I think that's why we love it.

I read Sandor's words just like you because he is the only one who listens to Sansa and talks to her whereas the others call her stupid. He's become her confident and her secret "friend".

It's Sandor who likes her because she is a real lady, and he also likes the way she smells and is attracted to her despite himself. He likes her beauty but also her personality.

He is the kind of guy who would refer to his beloved as his "lady love". Sandor, deep down, is that kind of man and for this reason he'll hesitate before accepting the post as a KG when Joffrey offers him the chance, because the feared Hound does want a woman and a home. He longs for love and a familiy, just like Sansa, the girl who wants to be loved for herself and not her claim.

When Sandor tells Sansa what "Joffrey" wants, he pauses when he catches himself going too far in his courtly romance fantasy, then there's a pause that the ellipses indicates when reality comes back. She must fear Joffrey, and perhaps Sandor himself.

Some other fans suggested Sandor also wants to be feared when we discussed this. I tend to think he doesn't want Sansa to fear him, that's why he insists she look at him and see him for the man he is beyond the scars, the anger and the Hound persona.

Before the ellipses he says what Sandor wants, after the suspension points he says what Joffrey wants and there's a huge difference.

When Sandor carried Sansa in his arms I was too blind to realise how "romantic" that was. That kind of scene is a very romantic trope common in movies and stories but it happened in such horrible circunstances, he was such an unlikely romantic character and Sansa was so young I didn't realise at first, but it was a romantic reference, more so because of what you said, because of his extreme delicacy trying to help her and even calling her child, as you point out. Great catch. I hadn't realised those words could be his way to make her feel less self-conscious.

Again, he is that kind of man, a man who woud avert his eyes from her state of undress to preserve her modesty, a man who would call her child to show that she is safe, at least with him she is.

George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords (via whatdogsdotowolves)

Tourney of the Hand comic by zweihand

Part One - Part Two - Part Three

Sandor, Sansa and the Serpentine Steps.

I have written a post talking about Freudian Symbology in The Last Jedi movie and while I was reading Freud’s texts I found this.

I couldn’t help thinking of Sansa bumping into Sandor and nearly falling down the Serpentine stairs.

She nearly fell over but he grabbed her with his strong hands.

The scene is full of innuendo but the Hound’s suggestive words fly over Sansa’s head. it’s the only time he says anything innapropriate to her and quicky stops himself, reminding himself she is a child and that looking at her with desire and flirting with her is wrong. He’s not very good at flirting either.

Many things have been said about this scene I’m not going to repeat here, like how he ends up saying wine is all a man needs, or a woman. It may be ambiguous but I think he means he is a man and all he needs is a woman. She is no woman but he can’t help wanting her. He does nothing about it but oh man he wants her.

Now I know there’s even more, the Serpentine. Falling down the Serpentine together would kill them both, but this is not about really falling down. Well, it is, but there’s more to it. He even says there is “a long roll down the Serpentine” and asks her if she wants to kill them both. He ends up saying “maybe you do”, which reminds me of Kylo’s words to Rey in TLJ in another scene full of UST: “ Ahhh, you do.”

Now I see it, the Serpentine, the long fall, the long roll (a reference to rolling in the hay perhaps?). Falling together down the stairs would kill them, of course it would if it symbolizes fobidden sex and I think it does. She is the king’s betrothed and he is the king’s dog, so rolling down those stairs would cost them their lives.

Now this scene seems even more suggestive than before, now Martín’s intention is clearer for me. I’m sure he knew very well what he was doing when he wrote this.

Don’t forget that red is the colour of passion and blood and red wine has a powerful symbolism:

It’s the right drink for Sandor, who nearly bled to death by the Trident offering his blood to the gods below a sacred tree. He is all strenght and passion and is very close to his horse. Horses in literature are sometimes a metaphor for a man’s sexual drive, an energy Stranger didn’t want to be deprived of on the QI. Like his horse, Sandor won’t be emasculated or trapped for long. He’s full of passion and all of it will belong to Sansa in due time, in the future.

Very nice! @maidenoftheforestlight and I had a conversation recently coming very close to the same conclusions of the symbolism of the serpentine stairs. I like your addition of the wine into it. Wine is also one of those things that has to age and mature to be enjoyed. Like you said, it’s too soon. I think this twisting, winding path symbolism also carries over into Sansa’s dress with the gold ivy embroidery on her bodice, which mirrors the acorn dress Arya wore. Arya’s oaktree and acorn symbolism is more straightforward in her story. This vine metaphor now makes even more sense for Sansa. She also wore the autumn yellow ribbon with this dress. Sandor’s preference for sour red feels like sour represents blunt, naked truth. As they say, in vino vertitas. “In wine there is truth.”

I love this, I really do. A long time ago I wrote a post aboout Sansa’s dress, the one she chose to wear at the Eyrie and how its colours represented the earth and the patters of vines it had made me think of Sandor. She chose a simple dress instead of the ones made of richer fabrics, similarly Sandor’s white cloak was made of wool and not silk.

She chose the colours of the earth and she is in love with a man whose sigil has the colour of autumn grass. Everything has to do with nature here. I think her dress was brown, correct me if I’m wrong but that colour makes me think of autumn and Sandor’s sigil is the colour of autumn too (yellow grass).

It’s also very telling that she had jewellery available but chose to wear a simple ribbon which was yellow. It was yellow and this is important, because she chose to wear her non-knight’s colours. No way her choices could be a casuality. Martin is very careful with details and attaches meaning to them.

I saw other significant signs in Sandor, like the fact that he drinks red wine and ends up under a tree bleeding to death in some sort of sacrifice to the earth that reminds me of Dionysus, the God of harvest and wine.

He was the God of the Vine, and turned water into wine.He was killed and eaten in an eucharistic ritual for fecundity and purification.The god travelled into the underworld to rescue his loved one, arising from the land of the dead. 

I think Sansan is about love, sensuality and fertility, about rebirth after the long bleak winter. When Sandor won the Tourney of the Hand (symbolically winning Sansa’s hand in marriage from her lord father) he was wearing a green cloak and Sansa wore a green dress. They both wore the colours of nature but in this case they wore the colours of spring. When separated they were parental figures for Sweetrobin and Arya respectively. Sansa sang a religious song about the Mother for Sandor.

These are references to marriage and future children. Sansan is canon, endgame and the signal of the end of the terrible winter. Life instead of death.

I remember that many people saw this references to the vines on her dress as overreaching on my part, so it makes me very happy that your read them in the same way as me. There must be some truth to it, I truly believe there is.

I also think that Sandor is like the sentinel tree Will climbed to hide from the White Walkers in the Prologue, it was the tallest tree and full of sap and life. I wrote a post about why this could be a deliberate reference (again to Sandor and fertility), so I’ll leve the link here in case anyone wants to have a look a it:

http://eyesofmist.tumblr.com/post/110058568394/the-beautiful-redhead-and-her-dark-haired