CANON | history

[wont]

ABOUT A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE

The world of A Song of Ice and Fire relies heavily on the usual tropes and constructions of the high fantasy genre. Modeled after medieval societies pulled from our own histories, it is a world that still relies heavily on the delineations between high and low birth as well as the absolute rule of the king. Things like oaths, guest right, and sworn fealties still carry considerable weight and those who break such oaths are likely to wear that breech of trust indefinitely as a badge of shame (both on themselves and their name; for example, when Ned Stark is branded a traitor and beheaded, his traitorism was then believed to be in Sansa's blood as well, making her untrustworthy). Gender roles are very strictly enforced and things such as titles, property and inheritance pass through the male bloodline rather than the female. Added to these historical references of a world much like our own, there is also a healthy injection of magic and the fantastical: the Targaryens and their dragons, the tales of giants and White Walkers living beyond the Wall, the power of Melisandre's sorcery of light and shadow, Bran's ability to both warg (enter the body of an animal and control it with his mind) as well as greensee (control nature and foresee the future). These elements are not so ubiquitous as in other high fantasy novels and worlds, and more often than not they are considered exotic, dangerous and 'Other' - things that should be feared (or in some cases revered). For more information on the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, see here. KEY FIGURES TO ALAYNE'S STORY ARC | THE PLAYERS AND THE PIECES (BY NO MEANS EXHAUSTIVE) HOUSE STARK Eddard (Ned) Stark - Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North; Sansa's father, a man of honor Catelyn Stark (née Tully) - Lady of Winterfell, daughter to Hoster Tully, Lord Paramount of the Riverrlands; Sansa's mother, originally engaged to Eddard's older brother, Brandon Robb Stark - eldest son, Sansa's older brother, and heir of Winterfell; later, Lord of Winterfell; later still, self-proclaimed King in the North Arya Stark - Sansa's younger sister; tomboyish and antagonistic towards Sansa; separated from Sansa after Ned is imprisoned for treason Bran Stark - Sansa's younger brother; crippled after being pushed from a tower; later, the Stark in Winterfell following the departure of Ned, Catelyn and Robb; now thought dead Rickon Stark - Sansa's youngest brother, who goes 'feral' after the departure of their lord parents; now thought dead Jon Snow - Sansa's elder half-brother, bastard-born; sworn brother of the Night's Watch and therefore unable to participate in Robb's war HOUSE BARATHEON King Robert Baratheon - also known as the Usurper; who began a rebellion to overthrow Aerys II Targaryen, the Mad King Joffrey Bartheon - eldest son of Robert Baratheon, believed heir to the crown (in actuality: a child of Lannister incest, who has no claim to the throne); later, the King on the Iron Throne; Sansa's betrothed Renly Baratheon - youngest of the Baratheon brothers, who served on King Robert's council as Master of Laws; the best-loved but most frivolous of the three brothers; later, the self-declared King in Highgarden Stannis Baratheon - the elder of King Robert's younger brothers, who served on King Robert's council as Master of Ships; the least-loved and most often overlooked of the three brothers; later, the self-declared King in the Narrow Sea; the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne HOUSE LANNISTER Cersei Lannister - Queen, Queen Dowager and finally Queen Regent; wife of Robert Baratheon; the eldest of the Lannister children by mere moments Jamie Lannister - also known as the Kingslayer; Lord Commander of the Kingsguard under Joffrey Baratheon Tyrion Lannister - also known as the Imp; a dwarf of twisted features but cunning mind; later, Hand of the King and Sansa's husband HOUSE BAELISH Petyr Baelish - also known as Littlefinger, a childhood friend of both Catelyn and Lysa Tully (now, Stark and Arryn); fought a duel against Brandon Stark for Catelyn's hand in marriage but lost, barely escaping with his life; once the Master of Coin, then High Lord of Harrenhal, now Lord Protector of the Vale and widow to Lysa Arryn; "father" to Alayne Stone HOUSE ARRYN Lysa Arryn (Tully) - younger sister to Catelyn Stark, was married off to a much older Jon Arryn after being 'sullied' as a young woman; infatuated with her childhood love, Petyr Baelish; secretly jealous of her older sister and Petyr's enduring love for her Robert Arryn - also known as Sweetrobin, Sansa Stark's sickly and temperamental cousin; later, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie HOUSE TYRELL Margaery Tyrell - eldest daughter to Mace Tyrell, Lord of Highgarden and High Marshal of the Reach; intelligent, well-loved and beautiful, her family allies itself with Renly Baratheon's claim for the throne, only to realign themselves with the Lannisters in King's Landing following Renly's death; first widow to Renly Baratheon, then subsequent widow to Joffrey Baratheon; now wife of Tommen Baratheon Olenna Redwyne - also known as the Queen of Thorns; Margaery Tyrell's shrewd and cunning grandmother; secretly implicated by Petyr Baelish in the assassination of Joffrey Baratheon KNIGHTS, SERVANTS, ETC. Ser Ilyn (Payne) - also known as the King's Justice, executioner to the Iron Throne Sandor Clegane - also known as the Hound; once Prince Joffrey's personal bodyguard; then a member of King Joffrey's Kingsguard; the only member of the Kingsguard who was never ordered to be Sansa; despite his rough and ungainly manner, often moved to deflect or quell Joffrey's wrath towards her Ser Boros (Blount) - a member of King Joffrey's Kingsguard; considered by Sansa to be 'the worst' of the Kingsguard; is often responsible for beating Sansa at the King's request Ser Dontos (Hollard) - once a knight that served the court at King's Landing; later stripped of his knighthood but spared an execution ordered by Joffrey only through Sansa's pleading; later still, Sansa's "Florian" Marillion - Lady Lysa Arryn's personal singer and favorite minstrel; once tried to rape Sansa, but was thwarted by a sellsword ordered by Baelish to protect Sansa; was present when Lysa attempted to throw Sansa from the Moon Door; later blamed, persecuted and forced to falsely confess to the crime of murdering Lysa A GAME OF THRONES | IN LIFE THE MONSTERS WIN The second child and eldest daughter to Eddard Stark — Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell — Sansa is the picture of a young girl poised and ready to become a high-born lady. In love with fanciful tales of chivalry and heroism as told in the tales of old, Sansa yearns to travel from the North (known to be something of a backwater, whose men are still taken with the 'old ways) and go South to the capital King's Landing, which is considered far more metropolitan and modern. When Eddard (known as Ned) is called upon by his boyhood friend and long-standing ally King Robert Baratheon to replace his now-dead advisor (Jon Arryn, who served as Hand of the King), Sansa begs her father to accept Robert's offer. In order to secure the stability of the Baratheons' rule (Robert is known as the Usurper for leading the rebellion against the last king, Aerys the Mad), it has been decided that House Stark and House Baratheon be joined through wedded union. Sansa is to marry Robert's eldest son and heir, the "golden-haired lion" Joffrey Baratheon, and so pleads with her father to accept so that she may go with him to King's Landing to be a part of Joffrey's court. Ned, having no love for politics, is loathe to agree to Robert's request. However, during the King's visit to Winterfell, comes in the middle of the night from Lady Catelyn's sister, Lysa Arryn (widow to the former Hand of the King), warning Ned that her husband had been murdered and that King Robert is in grave danger. This creates the dire need for Ned to travel to King's Landing to protect his old friend. In the end, he accepts, taking both Sansa and her younger sister Arya with him to King's Landing — much to Sansa's personal elation and delight. However, Sansa's joy is short-lived, as there is an incident in transit upon the Kingsroad. When Prince Joffrey invites Sansa to go for a walk by the riverside, the two happen upon Arya and the butcher's boy, Mycah, playing with sticks as swords. When Joffrey tries to shame Mycah for wanting to be a knight by drawing his sword, Arya gets angry and both she and her direwolf, Nymeria, assault Joffrey. In the end, Joffrey is the one who is shamed, having been both maimed by Nymeria and disarmed by a little girl. The tables turned, Arya throws Joffrey's sword into the river and runs off into the forest with Nymeria; later, during a search for the guilty parties in the attack on Joffrey, Arya drives Nymeria away by throwing stones at her, aware that the direwolf will be gravely punished for defending her. Later, Sansa is called before both the King and Queen, as well as Joffrey and the rest of the traveling court, to testify as to which story is the truth: Arya's or Prince Joffrey's. Sansa attests to neither, instead claiming to be unable to remember: a choice which not only anger her fiance, but her little sister as well. Without the guilty direwolf to punish, the queen coerces King Robert to order the execution of Sansa's direwolf, Lady, instead. Instead of allowing Ser Ilyn to slaughter Lady mercilessly, Eddard demands she be given a honorable death by a Northern hand and so volunteers to kill Lady himself — an act which Sansa is loathe to forgive her father for, thus driving her further into the hands of the Queen and Joffrey, despite their ultimate responsibility for Lady's death. Joffrey, angered by his embarrassment in front of Sansa rebuffs her, only to be forced into apology by his mother, who tells her son to ploy Sansa with gifts. Honeyed by sweet words, Joffrey's 'heart-felt' apology and her own desperate desire to see her childhood dreams come true, Sansa continues to believe that the Lannisters are good, going so far as to tell the Queen of her father's eventual plans to send both her and her sister back home. This mistake in judgment and discrestion ultimately assists Queen Cersei maneveuring around Ned, who has learned of Joffrey's 'dubious' lineage (as it turns out, Joffrey is not the son of Robert Baratheon, but rather the son of both Cersei and Jaime Lannister's incestual relationship). When Eddard attempts to take the throne in order to hand it over to the rightful inheritor in the line of succession, Stannis Baratheon, he is thrown in jail for treason; Sansa pleads her case before the court and only when she swears to convince her father to confess his treason and declare Joffrey the rightful king, is he spared execution. However, on the day of reconciliation, after confessing on the steps of the Great Sept, Joffrey goes against his word and defies the council of his queen mother and chooses to execute Eddard anyway, much to Sansa's (and Cersei's) dismay. In the chaos that follows Lord Eddard's death, Sansa is placed into the 'care' of the Lannisters, given her continual betrothal to Joffrey. Joffrey, no longer needing to placate Sansa now that he is King, proves himself to be callus and cruel by not only ordering his Kingsguard to beat Sansa, but also showing her the heads of her father and dead septa upon the wall. In a fit of secret rage, Sansa considers pushing Joffrey off the wall so that they might both fall to their death below. She is stopped at the last moment by one of Joffrey's guard — Sandor Clegane — who pulls her aside to wipe the blood from her face. A CLASH OF KINGS | AS LOYAL AS A DEER SURROUNDED BY LIONS Following the death of Robert Baratheon and the subsequent execution of Lord Eddard Stark, a war breaks out across Westeros as five different lords — each claiming to be king — vy for influence, territory and justice against one another. King Joffrey Baratheon sits as the King on the Iron Throne in the South; Robert's two younger brothers Stannis, the King in the Narrow Sea, and Renly, the King in Highgarden, have each rallied various houses to themselves; Robb Stark, King in the North, looks to advance south in a press to free Sansa from the Red Keep, while Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, moves to overthrow the Stark's hold on Winterfell and establish himself as King of the Iron Islands and the North. During this time, Sansa — the lone Stark in the South — is now the full-fledged hostage of the Iron Throne following Jaime Lannister's capture in battle against Robb's forces. Although she remains betrothed to Joffrey, he grows increasingly cruel to her and oftentimes she is forced to lie and slander her brother as a traitor in order to spare herself his wrath. Of Joffrey's court only the Hound and Joffrey's uncle Tyrion show Sansa any shred of compassion and warmth. Her lies are clumsy and easily seen through by those around her, so she is frequently berated for being a dumb and stupid little girl; the queen in particular takes an interest in Sansa, both chastising and dismissing her for her silly notions, as well as readying her for the life to come as the wife of an unloving king. Despite decrying her brother as a traitor and swearing love for Joffrey and his rightful crown, Sansa secretly prays and wishes for Robb's ultimate success — even though each victory on her brother's part brings more punishment and retribution down onto Sansa's head. After one particular battle, Sansa is taken before court, beaten brutally and then stripped naked in front of everyone. Joffrey, who had confessed to wishing he could slaughter her with his crossbow only moments earlier, is delighted and is only forced to stop by the arrival of his uncle. Tyrion, now Hand of the King serving in his father's stead while he continues to lead the Lannister armies, not only publicly berates the king but takes Sansa away and tells her the truth behind her brother's victory. In private, he confesses that he will do what he can to prevent her marriage to Joffrey seeing that the breech between Stark and Lannister can never be mended now that Joffrey executed Lord Eddard. He swears that, though a lion, he will not harm Sansa in any way. During this time, Sansa is contacted in secret by an anonymous person who claims to wish to help her escape. Following the instructions of a note left beneath her pillow, she meets her supposed rescuer in the godswood one night, only to discover (much to her endless disappointment) that it is simply Ser Dontos — a knight who had shamed himself publicly with drunkness at one of Joffrey's tourneys and whom Sansa had saved from execution by pleading to stay Joffrey's hand. Although Dontos proves to be a drunken lout who is prone to kissing Sansa despite her protests, her fear of Joffrey and her desire to flee is too great to refuse his help. After the dissolution of Sansa's betrothal to King Joffrey (he sets her aside in order to marry Margaery Tyrell, Renly Baratheon's widow, instead), Dontos comes to Sansa and tells her that she should not be so quick to rejoice at her newfound freedom. Instead of giving Joffrey trueborn sons as his wife, the king will still insist to bed her and give her bastard sons instead. Distraught by this news, Dontos bids Sansa be patient. Joffrey and Margaery are to be wed to within a month's time; on the day of the wedding Dontos claims they are to make their escape. To placate Sansa, he gives her a gift: a silvered hairnet set with stones. He tells her: "It's magic, you see. It's justice you hold. It's vengeance for your father.... It's home." A STORM OF SWORDS | THEY MADE ME MARRY HIM Her hand no longer promised to King Joffrey, Sansa is given a hair's breadth of relief as his attention passes from her onto his new fiancée, Margaery Tyrell. Unlike Sansa, however, Margaery is not subjected to suffering and abuse; her brother, Loras Tyrell (known as the Knight of Flowers), is a sworn member of Joffrey's Kingsguard and is in a position to protect Margaery both from the King and the other guard members. This arrangement is all part and parcel of the agreement brokered between House Lannister and House Tyrell in an attempt to solidify their tenuous political bonds through both blood and marriage. In the time leading up to her wedding to King Joffrey, Margaery reaches out to and befriends Sansa. In confidence both Margaery and her grandmother (the wily Olenna Redwyne, known as the Queen of Thorns) ask Sansa to speak honestly about Joffrey, to know the true character to the man Margaery is about to marry. At first, Sansa recites the lines she has taught herself, telling both women that he is a good man and honest. Neither is convinced, of course, the Queen of Thorns least of all and ultimately Sansa relents, recounting the ways in which she has suffered under Joffrey's cruelty. Margaery, taking pity on Sansa, offers to bring her to Highgarden one day. In secret, the Tyrells arrange with the now unbetrothed Sansa to marry Margaery's eldest brother, the crippled but studious Willas Tyrell — heir of Highgarden. Foolishly, Sansa reveals this plan to her 'rescuer', Ser Dontos, who in turn secretly tells his master, Petyr Baelish, who then proceeds to tell the Lannisters. In an attempt to outmaneuver the Tyrells (since marrying Sansa into their family would then garner the support of the North), Cersei and her father Tywin wed Sansa to Tyrion instead, to the protest of all parties involved. On the night of their wedding, Sansa is both terrified of the act of deflowering as well as repulsed by her husband, the Imp. Tyrion, pitying Sansa and remembering his earlier vow, refuses to force himself upon her and leaves their marriage unconsummated; this leads to much ridicule on Tyrion's part. Anxiously, Sansa waits for Joffrey's wedding day, remembering what Ser Dontos had told her about their flight from King's landing. However, when the day in question arrives, the wedding feast is cut short by the poisoning and subsequent death of King Joffrey. Having been whisked aside in the tumult that shortly follows, Sansa quickly realizes that both she and Tyrion have been falsely implicated in the plot to assassinate Joffrey. The silver hairnet given to her by Dontos is now missing one of its black stones and though Sansa would like to believe it simply fell off in the chaos, part of her stomach churns at the thought that she has been used to help murder Joffrey (therefore welcoming the king's justice down upon her head). Sansa, who has only recently learned of the deaths of both her brother Robb and her mother Catelyn, has no choice but to flee with Dontos to parts unknown; it is revealed upon being brought to a ship upon the river that it is not Dontos who intends to help Sansa flee but Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish — the former Master of Coin and childhood friend of both her mother and Aunt Lysa Arryn. Once Sansa is given over, Dontos demands the gold promised him for delivering the girl; instead, Littlefinger orders Dontos killed, explaining to Sansa that the secret of her whereabouts can never be betrayed by a dead man. During their flight from King's Landing to the Fingers (the land of Petyr's birth and the home of his original, meager lordship), Littlefinger slowly reveals parts of his elaborate plans to Sansa. From this moment forward she is to travel with him incognito and cast aside any thoughts or mention of Sansa Stark. Instead, she is to be his 'natural daughter' (bastard-born), whom Petyr begat on the daughter of a merchant when he was still young. They name Sansa after Petyr's mother, Alayne, and she is given the second name 'Stone' — the name given to bastard-born children born in the Vale, who have no rights to either parent's name; she is also forced to dye her brilliant red hair a dark brown, so as to make her unrecognizable by those who may be pursuing Sansa Stark. Together, Alayne Stone and Petyr Baelish are met by Lysa Arryn. The younger sister to Sansa's mother, Catelyn, Lysa is the widow of Jon Arryn, former Hand of the King and Lord of the Vale; she is also the mother to the heir of the Vale, a sickly little boy and Sansa's cousin called Sweetrobin. Littlefinger reveals Alayne's true identity to Lysa who responds with distaste and disdain; Alayne's beauty and poise reminds Lysa of Catelyn, of whom she is still extremely jealous. This disapproval is quickly placated, however, by Petyr's promise to marry himself off to Lysa and Alayne to Sweetrobin upon returning with her to the Vale. Lysa insists they be married in the Fingers instead, unwilling to wait another moment to have him all to herself; he relents and the two are married and not until the day after the feast and bedding do all three return to the Eyrie together. There, Petyr has his work cut out of him, trying to assert himself as the new Lord of the Vale. Throughout the War of the Kings, the Vale has remained neutral and sealed-tight under Lady Lysa's express command; wary Baelish's undeniable influence over Lysa, the lords of the Vale are wary of ceding control to an outsider. During this time, Sansa tries to adopt herself to life as Alayne Stone. Secretly, she holds onto her true name and her memories of both her family (now all believed dead) and of home (having been razed to the ground by Theon Greyjoy in his failed bid for control over Winterfell). As winter begins to fall over the land, snow comes to the Vale; one day when Sansa is out building castles in the snow, she is joined by Baelish who offers to help her rebuild Winterfell. Petyr then comments on Sansa's beauty and how, impossibly, she is even more beautiful than her mother when she was Sansa's age; Littlefinger then proceeds to kiss Sansa despite her protests, only for them to be interrupted by Sweetrobin. Later, it is revealed that Lysa had witnessed this scene play out in the garden beneath her window; Sansa is brought before her aunt who quickly flies into a fitful rage of blind jealousy and then attempts to throw Sansa from the Moon Door as punishment for seducing Petyr and betraying the hospitality that she has been given despite being wanted by the king's court. Lysa bids her favorite minstrel, Marillion, to sing a song in order to conceal her hysteria and commemorate Sansa's 'execution' but in the end, Petyr comes to Sansa's aid, commanding Lysa to release her. Temporarily lulled by Petyr's promise that he has only ever loved one woman, Lysa does as she's told and Sansa scrambles to safety, only to witness Petyr recant, telling her "only Cat" before shoving Lysa through the Moon Door instead so that she falls to her death. It is revealed during Lysa's last ravings that it was Lysa herself who murdered Jon Arryn, but only at Littlefinger's request and with his assistance. Petyr then turns to Sansa, once Lysa has fell and tells her to hurry and fetch help: "Run let my guards in, then. Quick now, there's no time to lose. This singer's killed my lady wife." A FEAST FOR CROWS | LIES AND ARBOR GOLD When the narrative revisits Sansa in A Feast for Crows, she is no longer Sansa Stark incognito, but rather Alayne Stone realized. Even the names of the chapters no longer bear Sansa's name, but instead are entitled 'Alayne'; in the narrative she thinks of herself as Alayne too and Sansa Stark is often referred to as a separate person, or a ghost that Alayne pities. If Alayne and her 'father' Petyr Baelish had not been considered in collusion with one another until now, with the death of Lysa Arryn, there is no escaping it. Although both parties know that it was Petyr who murdered Lysa by throwing her through the Moon Door, they claim instead that it was Lysa's beloved minstrel Marillion who slew her out of jealousy. Marillion, having been arrested and tortured, confesses to this crime under duress and is imprisoned after having some of his fingers and his eyes made forfeit as punishment. Following Lysa's death, Alayne is left to act as the de facto mistress of the Eyrie, oftentimes being the only one in the whole keep who can wrangle some semblance of obedience from the fitful, spoiled and sickly Sweetrobin. Given how young, ill, and unfit to rule as Sweetrobin is, Littlefinger has declared himself the Lord Protector of the Vale — an act that has inspired both protest and derision in several of the lords of the Vale, who call themselves the Lords Declarant. They travel to the Eyrie in an attempt to demand Baelish to relinquish the hold he has both on the Eyrie and, more specifically, Sweetrobin, the true Lord of the Vale. Through more of Baelish's clever maneuvering, he is able to plant one of his men among the Lords Declaran who, upon being welcomed into Littlefinger's home, draws his sword in gross violation of guest-rite. In order to beg pardon of this egregious act, the Lords Declarant have no choice but to yield to Lord Baelish's demands — the first and foremost of which is the request for a single year to prove his loyalty to the Vale and his ability to rule properly in Sweetrobin's stead for the time being. During this time, Alayne grows more confident with her role in the household and also seems to fully embrace some of her 'father's more Machiavellian mentalities. Although she is never ambitious for personal gain, Alayne seems to have adopted a sense of us vs. them, necessary in ensuring both her own safety and Petyr's. It becomes clear that Alayne has begun to learn how to manipulate the people around her and now acts in ways complicit to her father's plans. On occasion, Baelish even sits Alayne down to explain to her what parts she is to play in his various plots and schemes and although Alayne is able to recognize the ways in which she is being manipulated, she also holds a secret hope that Baelish is acting out of genuine love for her and a sincere desire to protect her. Winter descends upon the Vale, and so the Eyrie must be deserted for the duration. The steep inclines of the mountain make for desperate and dangerous travel even in perfect weather and with the fall of snow the traffic of supplies and people both to and from the castle are near impossible. Following her descent from the mountain, during which she was tasked with the difficult responsibility of minding Sweetrobin and keeping him brave and without fits, Alayne is rejoined by her father at the foot of the Eyrie after a long absence of travel. It is then and there, during their reunion, that Baelish reveals the 'gift' that he has brought her from his travels: he intends to wed her to Harrold Hardyng, also known as Harry the Heir. Further exploration on Alayne's part reveals that Harry is the only trueblood Arryn heir left, besides Sweetrobin; and given Sweetrobin's poor health it is only a matter of time before he dies, leaving Harry lordship of the Vale. On the day of her wedding, Petyr then tells her, he plans to reveal her as Sansa Stark kept in hiding, convinced that doing so will win her the hearts of the lords present, swinging the heart of the Vale to her favor in the promise of winning back the North as the 'sole surviving' Stark. "So those are your gifts from me, my sweet Sansa," Petyr tells her. "...Harry, the Eyrie and Winterfell. That's worth another kiss now, don't you think?" Personality: There are two hearts that beat within Alayne Stone — that of her noble birth as Sansa Stark, daughter of Winterfell and that of Alayne Stone, Lord Petyr Baelish's lowborn bastard. Sansa's progression as a character throughout A Song of Ice and Fire marks how she transforms from a young girl with a head full of songs and a heart full of fairy-tale longing to Alayne, the cleverly concealed protegé of one of the game of thrones' greatest players. Frog-faced Lord Slynt sat at the end of the council table wearing a black velvet doublet and a shiny cloth-of-gold cape, nodding with approval every time the king pronounced a sentence. Sansa stared hard at his ugly face, remembering how he had thrown down her father for Ser Ilyn to behead, wishing she could hurt him, wishing that some hero would throw him down and cut off his head. But a voice inside her whispered, There are no heroes, and she remembered what Lord Petyr had said to her, here in this very hall. “Life is not a song, sweetling,” he’d told her. “You may learn that one day to your sorrow.” In life, the monsters win, she told herself, and now it was the Hound’s voice she heard, a cold rasp, metal on stone. “Save yourself some pain, girl, and give him what he wants.” ( A Game of Thrones ) Sansa Stark is a girl raised on stories of courtliness and romance who, at the end of the day, places more trust in them than she does in the realities of the world around her. Raised in the 'backwater' North (the Starks' ways are the old ways, and their existence is harder and more bare-boned than in other kingdoms of Westeros), Sansa dreams of a life in the more metropolitan south, married to a stately lord worthy of her high-birth. These fantasies eventually find a foothold in Joffrey Baratheon and his mother, the queen, Cersei Lannister; willfully, she projects all of her deepest-held desires onto them: a beautiful and strong young man to marry her, a stately and gracious queen to aspire to. Even when faced with the ugliness of Joffrey's true personality, Sansa goes to long and painful lengths to justify his actions, finding excuses and blaming others like her sister so that his veneer of princeliness can last for a little while longer. It is with an almost desperate delusionment that she chooses to trust the Lannisters throughout Game of Thrones, going so far as to entreat the queen when her father plans to return her and Arya to Winterfell (an act that ultimately facilitates his imprisonment). Unwilling to face the possibility that her dreams will not one day come true and that acts of heroism and knightly deeds no longer happen, Sansa clings to whatever spare hopes and falsities are offered to her and, as a result, becomes a pawn for other players to move mercilessly across the table. It is not until Joffrey issues his pronouncement and her father looses his head that Sansa realizes just how blind she has been and how foolish it was to trust the Lannisters, who now reveal themselves to her to be cruel and faithless lairs. Disillusioned and distrustful, Sansa now finds herself held captive by a court that executed her father as a traitor and, unwilling to meet a similar fate and convinced that is only a matter of time before her brother Robb rescues her, she has no choice but to learn how to maneuver herself in order to avoid a similar fate. This manifests mostly by lying, both through words and in action. Realizing that her betrothal to Joffrey is one of the few things keeping her from Ser Ilyn's sword, she swallows down her anger and bitterness to adopt the role of courtly fiancee, reciting the lines her septa taught her of lady-like politesse, quick to decry her brother as a traitor (while secretly praying for the day that Robb serves her Joffrey's head). However, given how unpracticed Sansa is in the art of lying beyond the parrotting of lines here or there, many around her are quick to see through her ungraceful deceptions. Some, such as Queen Cersei and her brother Tyrion Lannister and Joffrey's guard, the Hound, go as so far as to chastise her for them, though none of them find Sansa threatening enough to punish her beyond that. True punishment comes at the hands of Joffrey, who takes every opportunity to humiliate and abuse her, going so far as to one order his Kingsguard to strip her naked in front of court. This both hardens and embitters Sansa and feeds what she refers to as 'the madness' inside of her - fits of hot-bloodedness and anger that sieze her from time to time and inspire her to do impulsive things (the most notable of which occurs when Sansa is tempted to push Joffrey off a castle wall to avenge the death of her father). This is what Ned himself calls the Wolf's Blood - a temperament specific to the Starks that he claims both his older brother Brandon and his sister Lyanna had. It is a personality trait readily applied to Sansa's younger sister Arya and that is almost never attributed to Sansa, though flashes of her inner rage and almost maddening desire for revenge indicate otherwise. Unlike Arya, however, all of Sansa's training to be a high-born lady ultimately overrides her willingness to act on those wrathful tendencies. She is, in a way, emotionally compartmentalized to control her impulses and, as a result, secretly harbors rash and unlady-like thoughts that never see the light of day. He saved Alayne, his daughter, a voice within her whispered. But she was Sansa too...and sometimes it seemed to her the Lord Protector was two people as well. He was Petyr, her protector, warm and funny and gentle...but he was also Littlefinger, the lord she'd known at King's Landing, smiling slyly and stroking his beard as he whispered in the Queen's ear. And Littlefinger was no friend of hers. When Joff had her beaten, the Imp defended her, not Littlefinger. When the mob had sought to rape her, the Hound had carried her to safety, not Littlefinger. When the Lannisters wed her to Tyrion against her will, Ser Garlan the Gallant gave her comfort, not Littlefinger. Littlefinger never lifted so much as his little finger for her. Except to get me out. He did that for me. I thought it was Ser Dontos, my poor old drunken Florian, but it was Petyr all the while. Littlefinger was only a mask he had to wear. ( A Feast for Crows ) For all that Sansa Stark is an unpracticed liar, Alayne Stone is quickly becoming consumate. Having been placed in a desperate situation by the events surrounding Joffrey's assassination during his wedding, Sansa flees the capital only to find herself within the care of the once-Master of Coin, Petyr Baelish. Baelish, whose machinations run far and wide across all of the Seven Kingdoms with little birds across the Narrow Sea, devises a plan to hide Sansa in plain site. They die her hair and strip her of any evidence of her life as Sansa Stark and instead transform her into Alayne Stone — Petyr Baelish's natural daughter, bastard-born. This is a highly risky sleight of hand, given that Baelish plans to travel to the Eyrie and marry Sansa's aunt, Lysa Arryn. But under Baelish' tutelage Sansa slowly transforms from 'the worst liar in King's Landing' (something once attributed to her by the Hound) to a liar skilled enough to deceive men who have passingly known Sansa in the past. Through Baelish (whose house sigil is a mockingbird — a creature best known for its ability to mimic the songs of other birds), Alayne begins to learn the nuances to the game of thrones, taking to heart one of his greatest lessons: that a man can either move or be moved and in knowing what it takes to move another person, great power is gained. By making herself seem nonthreatening — a technique used by Baelish, being a lord in title but not wealth — Alayne finds herself often overlooked and is given the freedom to watch other people freely in order to learn their motivations. Alayne soon proves herself uncannily astute in her observations, most notably of Baelish himself; she begins to use these conclusions to manipulate the people around her, though Alayne goes to great pains to justify her actions to herself. Eventually Alayne's lies become so complete that she begins to fool even herself. The name 'Sansa' disappears from her narrative in the middle of A Feast for Crows, only to surface upon reflection as someone other than Alayne Stone. It's with a mix of hardened bitterness and sullen nostalgia that Alayne considers Sansa Stark; more often than not, she thinks of her as a silly, stupid little girl who had a head full of uselessness that served no one. The language surrounding Sansa is almost as if she were a girl deceased and several times in her chapters Alayne is found actively distancing herself from Sansa and denying herself ties to her former identity. Littlefinger becomes sometimes-Petyr — a naming device which Sansa uses to differentiate between the cold-hearted schemer and the gentle man who rescued her; Alayne gets rid of this distinction completely, instead opting to refer to him as simply 'father'. Unlike Sansa, who chose to model herself after her lady mother Catelyn Stark, Alayne looks to her 'father' (Baelish) instead, noting his boldness several times and motivating herself with thoughts of what he would want her — his daughter — to do. At first, Sansa goes about convincing herself that her lies are a necessity and kindly meant and — therefore — no harm. By the time Alayne emerges, her internal motivations are somewhat different and although she is far from the Machiavellian manipulator her father is, she can be found subscribing to the us vs. them survivor mentality that Baelish had once gone to great pains to impress upon Sansa. With the acceptance of Alayne's persona also come feelings of filial duty and obligation towards Petyr Baelish, her supposed father. Though his behavior towards her is less than fatherly in private (he coerces several kisses from her, often claiming more when her own kisses prove too daughterly or dutiful), Sansa's desperate dependency on Baelish has developed into something that closely resembles Stockholm Syndrome. She goes to great lengths to justify both of their actions and, by the end of A Feast for Crows, considers herself in alignment with her father rather than a hanger-on simply trailing in his wake. Although Alayne is in no way Baelish's peer, their conversations in private hold a certain air of complicity, as if all of his machinations are suddenly hers as well by inheritance. "With my wits and Cat's beauty, the world will be yours, sweetling," he tells her, though it is important to note that Alayne's personal desires never extend to chaos and conquering the way that her father's do. Instead, she simply looks to survive and to assist her father in whatever ways that she can. Near the end of the narrative, Alayne often notes the ways in which she realizes Baelish is manipulating her, but rather than fight it, she accepts it, giving him the benefit of the doubt in both her head and her heart.