There are still so many questions that Game Of Thrones has to answer before the end: Can Jon Snow defeat the White Walkers? Can Khaleesi take back the Iron Throne? Will Arya continue checking people off her kill list? But, for me, the most important questions have to do with Sansa, who was always cast as the victim on Game Of Thrones and has finally gotten a chance to fight back against those who had taken advantage of her. Last season, she seemed to find her place in the resistance, even if Jon Snow wasn't quite ready to admit it. After Sansa finally got a taste of sweet revenge, it will be exciting to see what she does next.
Of course, no one is going to give away what Sansa is up to in Season 7, but Sophie Turner, who plays the eldest Stark daughter, did hint at what we may expect. "At the end of the season, Sansa gets a taste of power — and it's the first time that she's had that ever, really," she told Vulture last year. But Sansa almost immediately had it take away, as Turner explained, "She was stripped of the respect that she really feels she deserves."
Clearly, Sansa is not going to stand for such disrespect and is going to want to get that feeling back. But how? Will it be through a truce with Jon Snow or by cozying up to Littlefinger? That's just one of the many questions that Season 7 needs to answer.
1Will Sansa Team Up With Littlefinger?
That Season 7 photo of Sansa and Petyr Baelish together should make us all a little nervous. We know that Littlefinger isn't happy about Jon Snow becoming King of the North, which means he may be willing to do anything to change that. Could Sansa help him?
In 2016, Turner told Variety that Sansa's "not getting the credit she feels she deserves, that Littlefinger would grant her with" for getting Winterfell back for her family in the Battle of the Bastards. "So," Turner said, "I think she’s seeing Littlefinger as a bit more trustworthy and more of an ally than she initially thought."
2Or Will Sansa Learn The Truth About Littlefinger?
Sansa's been wrapped around Littlefinger's, well, finger for a while now, but it feels like it's time that she gets control of her own life. She's turned down his marriage approval, a sign that she's not sure she can trust him. Not that you can blame her, considering that he's the one who encouraged her to marry Ramsay Bolton.
At this point, Sansa seems to know there's something not quite right about this guy, so will she get to the bottom of this? Petyr Baelish deserves some comeuppance for what he did to her dad, Ned Stark. Sansa-style.
3Will Sansa Help Jon Snow Rule?
Jon Snow may be the King, but this Stark could easily be the Queen — that is, if Jon Snow would take her advice. Of course, he may now be more inclined to listen after she basically saved him from being crushed by Ramsay Bolton's army. But, if he doesn't, Sansa could use her resentment against him, which could be incentive for her to stick around.
4Will Sansa Turn To The Dark Side?
Sophie Turner has teased that Season 7 will give us a much darker Sansa, but she hasn't been specific about what that means. There are a lot of different kinds of dark, and it's understandable that the eldest Stark daughter would maybe want to exact some revenge on those who have wronged her. If last season's scene of her letting rabid dogs take down Ramsay Bolton is any clue, she doesn't mind being savage.
In fact, Sansa could take a page from Cersei's playbook, which Turner hinted to Yahoo Singapore Lifestyle earlier this month. "I can totally see her becoming a Cersei and kind of driven mad by it, by the threats against her family," she said. "At the end of the day, that’s why [Cersei] does the things that she does, because she’s terrified of losing the people she loves. And so she’ll stop at nothing to protect them."
5How Will Jon Snow's Parentage Affect Sansa's Relationship With Him?
Sansa's relationship with her "brother" Jon Snow has been as cold as any winter in Winterfell. Chalk that up to her mother Catelyn Stark never being a fan of the boy she thought her husband had out of wedlock. With so few of her family members alive, Sansa seemed willing to forgive and forget her misgivings about her bastard half-brother to figure out how to save their family name. But when she finds out that Jon Snow isn't really her brother and is actually a cousin with Targaryen blood, will she turn on him?
Last year at San Diego Comic-Con, Turner teased that the smallest issue could lead to a major rift between the two. "I'm not sure Sansa believes Jon is capable of running Winterfell in the North," she said. "He doesn't have the intellect, the knowledge, the experience that she has. I concur." She later added, "But Jon and Sansa grew up together; they have that sibling rivalry."
6What Is Sansa's Endgame?
What Sansa wants has been unclear since she's never had much say in the direction of her own life. That is, until now. No longer is her biggest goal to get married. She's a survivor who's seen firsthand the politics of the seven kingdoms. Could she be the next woman to take the Iron Throne?
Turner made it clear in an interview with Vulture last year that Sansa has tasted power after taking down Bolton, and she may have a craving for more. "You wonder if it's just a smile because it's her first kill, because this man is out of her life, or whether she's going to get a taste for it," the actor said of that final shot of Sansa, all smiles, walking away as Bolton is destroyed by his own dogs. "Whether she enjoyed it. Whether it's a power trip. But she definitely is a lot more powerful, and it'll be very interesting to see how she handles that coming up this season." And maybe some of these questions will be answered as a result.
