As "Game of Thrones" season 6 nears its conclusion, it has become abundantly clear that the poor and tragic Sansa is not a little bird anymore. And she's not in Kansas either. She has now taken the north and restored the Stark's rule in Winterfell.
None of the other Stark children managed to do what this formerly naïve little girl did. Even the half-Stark show favorite, Jon Snow, could not do what she's done. He basically lost the Battle of the Bastards to Ramsay Bolton, while Sansa won the war for the north.
She has been learning and implementing the lessons she has been taught through season 1 to 5. She can't trust the men around her, even her family, and she needs to get power in order to protect herself.
This trajectory will end with her as the queen of Westeros. Called it.
For more details on why Sansa Stark will end up as queen, watch GoT Academy's video
And if we take history as a guide and spice it up with good old-fashioned "Game of Thrones" prophecies -- she is the most logical future winner of the game of thrones.
She started the story as a foolish character who dreams of gallant knights and wonderful princes only to wake into a nightmare of murderers, liars and sociopaths.
Cercei played her, Joffrey abused her, the Hound teased her and Littlefinger has been using her. Of course, Ramsay tortured her and raped her. Where are they now? And where is she?
It will be a wonderful journey for her to start this epic fantasy story as the stupid little girl who wants to be a king's wife and bear him beautiful little princes -- and end up as being a ruling "virgin" queen, propelled to greatness thanks to her mentor's tutoring. There will come a day when Sansa the student will surpass Littlefinger the master, and that day is very near. It could even come in the season 6 finale.
In episode 9 Sansa was cold as ice. She used Jon and the Wildlings as tools in her grand scheme, hiding from them that she had the Vale army waiting in the wings so they would lure the Bolton army out from Winterfell in order for her army to swoop in and win the war. As Ramsay said right before he became dog food, she has a little of him in her now -- in a good way. She has the necessary cruelty that is required of every ruler, especially in a harsh place like medieval Westeros.
It has been widely publicized that the story draws some inspiration from the War of the Roses in England way back in the late Middle Ages. It was a civil war between rival houses that disseminated the kingdom's noble class, and the eventual real winner (after a few successions) was the unlikeliest of candidates: a girl who grew up in constant peril in a hostile court because she had a parent who was beheaded for treason. We're talking about Elizabeth I, but that sounds exactly like Sansa Stark.
Like Sansa, no one took Queen Elizabeth seriously, but when she had her chance -- she took it and later became one of the most respected leaders in European history, who is credited with ushering a new era of British dominance and Renaissance and pushing forward the scientific revolution. Her rule is now called The Elizabethan Era.
For Elizabeth to take power, rival houses had to crash and burn. In Westeros, the Lannisters, Baratheon, Tyrels, Freys and Martells are all reeling, while she is gaining power and momentum.
Sansa has always dreamt of a perfect marriage, but it seems that she will follow Queen Elizabeth and remain unmarried and childless.
People dubbed Elizabeth as "the virgin queen," even though she was probably not a virgin. And as we saw last season, Sansa is not a virgin anymore, but her traumatic sexual experience could lead her to choose to forgo sex altogether, and marriage as well. It will also be a wise political decision, as she is now reluctant to have any man lord over her, and remaining unmarried would make sure her suiters behave, in the faint hope that she will choose them.
Oh, and Queen Elizabeth and soon-to-queen Sansa are both red haired.
And let's not forget Maggy the Frog's prophecy to Cersei Lannister, that a younger more beautiful queen will take all she holds dear. Cersei is convinced this beautiful rival to be Margery Tyrell, the fans are looking to Danearys, but since 'Game of Thrones' never goes through the obvious routes and seems to prefer unexpected twists and turns -- seeing the whining and beaten Sansa become the most powerful person in the land rings of "Game of Thrones"-style justice and payoff. That would be an incredible resolution and a truly epic story arc. She will soon be the Lady of the North, and then head south to take it all, uniting houses instead of dividing them, in anticipation of the wars against the White Walkers and Daenerys and her dragons -- so the time to jump on the Queen Sansa bandwagon is now.
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