Warning: Contains Spoilers
While everyone else let their eyes adjust to the harsh light of day after the intense, and literal, darkness of The Long Night, Daenerys Targaryen had hers set on King’s Landing.
Warning: spoilers below…
All eight seasons of Game of Thrones have, so far, been leading us to believe Daenerys will eventually sit on the Iron Throne. After all, she walked into a fire with three stones and came out with three dragons. It is, she believes, her destiny to rid the world of tyrants – something she can only do by usurping Cersei from the Iron Throne.
However, Dany isn’t the only woman in the series to have gone through a hell of character arc and come out stronger on the other side (shout out to Brienne and Missandei). And while Arya stole the show in the previous episode, in the recent The Last of the Starks, she made it clear (especially to Gendry), that she has no desire to be the head of any household.
Episode four also gave us the first hint that Dany may be losing her grip on things. This could either be a reference to her father – the ‘Mad King’ Aerys Targaryen, who succumbed to madness due to his incestuous lineage. Or, after such heavy losses, both to her personally and to her armies, coupled with her new knowledge of Jon’s rightful claim to the throne, Dany is losing control and making mistakes – resulting in two significant deaths in the latest episode.
Because of this, and because of her level-headedness, many viewers are turning to Sansa to win the game of thrones, especially as The Last of the Starks may as well have ended with her turning to Dany and saying: ‘I told you so.’
It’s certainly a compelling thought – Cersei has to go (we hope), Jon doesn’t want the throne, while Dany wants it so much she could lose everything in the process. Which pretty much leaves Sansa.
And though it may be a bit of a dick move to tell Tyrion about Jon’s true parentage, right after Jon swore her to secrecy, it’s not really surprising, is it. Sansa definitely picked up a certain manipulative ruthlessness from her time with Cersei and Littlefinger, and she’ll be very aware that telling Tyrion means Varys will find out and the two of them will start plotting.
On the other hand, some people have made their reservations about Sansa in the latest episode clear – particularly because of her conversation with Sandor ‘The Hound’ Clegane.
While talking with Sansa after the battle, Clegane says ‘You’ve changed, Little Bird’, using Cersei’s old nickname for her. He adds: ‘None of it would’ve happened if you’d left King’s Landing with me. No Littlefinger. No Ramsay. None of it.’
Sansa replies: ‘Without Littlefinger and Ramsay and the rest, I would’ve stayed a little bird all my life.’
Some viewers, however, have called it ‘sick’ and ‘disappointing’ that the GoT writers gave Sansa the line, which implies that if she hadn’t suffered years of abuse at the hands of Joffrey, Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton, she wouldn’t have grown into the powerful character she is today.
While others, however, thought Sansa’s comment was understandable:
With only two episodes to go, it seems Sansa may have just taken the lead in the race to the Iron Throne.
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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.