Warning: Contains Spoilers
While it may not have had the cinematic action of The Long Night, the latest episode of Game of Thrones – The Last of the Starks – was no less intense.
We saw celebrations in Winterfell, the end of at least two romantic storylines we hoped would continue, Daenerys’ disregard for Sansa’s advice and her depleted army’s journey to King’s Landing.
Then (spoiler alert!) we saw that ambush, and Cersei’s brutal response to Dany’s impatient advance upon King’s Landing.
While these two women tried to psych each other out in a long-distance staring match, another key player in the game of thrones – Sansa Stark – remained at Winterfell, safe in the knowledge that the next time she saw Daenerys (if they meet again, that is), she’d be able to deliver a crushing ‘I told you so’.
If The Long Night was all action, The Last of the Starks was (almost) all dialogue, which means plenty of plotting, plenty of string-pulling, and plenty of manipulation.
It wasn’t long after being sworn to secrecy that Sansa revealed Jon’s true parentage to Tyrion, which he in turned revealed to Varys. And while this was an obvious and deliberate attempt to play the game by Sansa, some viewers are thinking she’s behind even more than what we’ve seen so far.
As one Redditor suggested:
The only way what happened this episode can make any sense is if Sansa was behind it all.
We can see Sansa’s look of fear when she realizes that Dany started to play the game (Gendry’s scene)
After Bran reveals Jon’s identity She tries to convince Jon to take the iron throne but he wouldn’t listen. What would she do next?
1 – First turn Dany’s people against her. By planting a seed of doubt in Tyrion’s head, it will either make him question her legitimacy or at least talk about it to Varys. This could start a domino effect that will turn Dany into a full tyrant further illegitimatizing her claim to the iron throne.
They continue:
2 – Second send a raven to Cersei that Dany is on her way to Dragonstone.
a – Dany’s fleet has no northerns [sic] on it.
b – Neither of them will grant the North its independence if they win, so to Sansa they’re both the same except one of them has two dragons.
c – If Cersei defeats Dany in the black water bay then the Northern army are all intact, Sansa can’t afford anymore losses in her armies.
3 – Third thing she does is to send her Assassin sister down to kings landing to kill Cersei. I don’t think Arya would wait for Sansa to tell her to go kill Cersei but i also don’t think she would leave without saying goodbye and i bet Sansa gave Arya a lot of ideas as to how to kill Cersei because she knows Cersei better than her.
They conclude:
So in conclusion Sansa’s objective is to sabotage Dany, helping Cersei to win and end the war very quickly so the North doesn’t suffer any more losses and then assassinate Cersei.
Jon will have no option but to step up and be the king of the seven kingdoms.
Sansa learned a lot from Littlefinger, she’s playing all the possibilities in her head and she expects the worst from anyone who’s not a Stark or a half Stark!
She also learned a lot from Cersei! If you think about it, both their plans are very similar,
Cersei (AOTD vs Dany + The North)
Sansa (Cersei vs Dany)
It’s a convincing fan theory, and one that seems plausible to say the least. With only two episodes to go, and if this is Sansa’s intention, the pieces do seem to be falling into place for her…
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.