Long after Game of Thrones fades into obscurity, the story of Sansa Stark will remain behind — as both moral and message. She goes through some of the most horrific endeavors of anyone on the show, considering that at different points her life lays in the hands of violent, tyrannical men.
Sansa, however, is smart and skilled enough to mold her experiences into strategy and tact, although her decisions might not necessarily be made in favor of the North. Though she begins as a naive child with a loving family, her personality undergoes several unwanted changes in the course of the series. These are the ways in which Sansa progressively got worse.
Caring About Joffrey
Young Sansa wants nothing more than to make a good impression in the eyes of her prospective in-laws, even rejecting the truth in order to save her relationship. After Arya’s Direwolf, Nymeria, attacks Joffrey (and for good reason), she claims that she cannot recall the event so as to avoid angering her fiancé.
Circumstances lead to Sansa’s own direwolf Lady being executed, but she still chooses to go to King’s Landing with the Baratheons. This nasty state of affairs continues for a while before she obtains some respite.
Insulting Tyrion
In order to seize control of the North, Tywin forces Sansa to wed Tyrion, whose dwarfism he considers a blot on the Lannister name. The marriage is never consummated, because the young bride is rather expressive about her lack of attraction to Tyrion.
After most of the story is complete, Sansa and Tyrion meet again in Winterfell, where she basically calls him a traitor for being Hand to the wrong Queen.
Rejecting Brienne of Tarth
After a long search, Brienne finds Sansa, revealing that she had pledged her services to the Stark children (via Catelyn), and offers to become her guardian. However, Littlefinger’s vile machinations were already worming their way through Sansa’s brain, and she tells Brienne that she isn’t interested in her allegiance.
It is not impossible to imagine that her being brainwashed has a lot to do with her decision, but to actually pick one of the most selfish people on the continent rather than one of the most loyal is like a punch in the gut. Luckily, when sides begin to flip in the later seasons, Brienne and Sansa become great friends.
Almost Destroying The North
Jon Snow frets about his meager forces, who are to take on the massive Bolton army the next day. He goes ahead with the battle anyway, because there isn’t much else he can do to resolve the situation of Winterfell. However, unbeknownst to Jon, Sansa has already requested Littlefinger to deliver the armies of the Vale as a back-up, should her brother fail.
This is exactly what happens, and Jon is pulled from the jaws of death at the last minute. The problem is that Sansa never tells him her plan, which may have possibly negated the unnecessary loss of life endured by their side (including the youngest Stark, Rickon).
Protecting Littlefinger
It was a satisfying sight, at least to those who love poetic justice, when Littlefinger tosses his freshly minted bride out of the Moon Door. Still, the act was one of extreme cruelty, and more importantly, Lysa Arryn happened to be Sansa’s own flesh and blood.
However, when Yohn Royce and Anya Waynwood ask her to testify as to the true story, she tells them that Lysa killed herself because of her supposed mental instability. Sansa sells the lie really well, even faking tears to convince the Lords and Ladies of her honesty (while secretly smirking at Littlefinger).
Mistrusting Arya
This is one feature of Sansa that has changed little through the seasons. She seemingly doesn’t trust in Arya, after Arya’s long and mysterious absence from Westeros.
Although Arya proves her allegiance to the North by decimating House Frey, Sansa believes that she is ruthless enough to come after her own position as the Lady of Winterfell. This rivalry, thankfully, dissipates in the penultimate season.
Blindly Hating Daenerys
Sansa seems to be only Stark willing to maintain the tradition of House Winterfell, that is, to be the Wardens of the North. Nevertheless, she takes an extreme dislike to Daenerys when she arrives in Winterfell, visibly challenging her status as the Queen (like questioning her ability to maintain her armies).
Sansa makes demands for the North without considering the danger that is about to burst forth from beyond the Wall. She may have grown up to be a strong, independent woman, but for some reason she cannot see that Daenerys has experienced almost the exact same kind of suffering.
Betraying Her Brother
Jon and Sansa are the closest Stark siblings towards the end of the series (partially because two of them are dead, and the other two are on their own mystical journeys). She obviously wants him to be King of the North, but her hatred for Daenerys overcomes all semblance of honor and dignity.
Although her brother explicitly tells her not to reveal the truth about his Targaryen privilege, she goes and spills her guts to Tyrion the first chance she gets. Sansa is fully aware of the power held by this information; her deed is carefully calculated to cause the most possible harm to Daenerys.
Accepting The Inevitability Of Blood
In the beginning, Sansa never wanted to be anything more than a genteel noblewomen (she calls her pet Lady as a testament to her desires). Unfortunately, destiny has a completely different idea for her, taking her through the abusive disasters that are Joffrey, Ramsay Bolton, and Petyr Baelish.
When she finally breaks free, her sensitive nature is replaced by a fairly ruthless leader. The gruesome fate that Sansa reserves for Ramsay is evidence for this metamorphosis.
Becoming Littlefinger
It is clear that Littlefinger grooms Sansa to be a pawn, intending to utilize her for his own nefarious purposes. As a result, he never sees it coming when she learns how to see through his indoctrination. Sansa successfully fools Littlefinger into entering his own trial, and has Arya carry out the capital punishment.
Further, she manages to make the North an independent kingdom, asking that Bran allow her to become an independent Queen — thereby obtaining the regal quality she so desperately sought in her youth, as well as an enormous amount of power.
