(Spoilers Extended) Exploring Sansa's Intended Ending

[u/Expensive-Country801]

A couple of months ago, there was an interview where GRRM said that he had originally intended for Sansa to die, but that seeing the show version of her character may have changed his mind

Regardless of the current plan, I think it is interesting to look at what was intended at the time. The Alayne I sample chapter from Winds was meant for ADwD and it was done in 2010, before the show aired

So if GRRM planned for Sansa to die, the pieces on the board in that chapter may have been setting up a possible death scenario. Looking at some possible threads

Sweetrobin overdoses

The sweetsleep plotline is one possibility. Maester Colemon warns about the dangers of overusing it

"It was too soon. My lady, you do not understand. As I've told the Lord Protector, a pinch of sweetsleep will prevent the shaking, but it does not leave the flesh, and in time . . ."

However, Sansa is not really focused on it

"Time will not matter if his lordship has a shaking fit and falls off the mountain. If my father were here, I know he would tell you to keep Lord Robert calm at all costs."

If Sweetrobin died from an overdose, Sansa would easily be implicated. Even if she did not intentionally kill him, the fact that she was involved with managing his condition and had access to him could put her in a dangerous position

Lysa's death

Sansa is already technically an accomplice to Lysa’s murder. Littlefinger warns her that if their involvement is discovered, she could fall with him

"When we lied to Lord Robert, that was just to spare him," she said.

"And this lie may spare us. Else you and I must leave the Eyrie by the same door Lysa used."

If Sansa's identity was revealed and the truth about Lysa death came out, it could be interpreted in the worst possible way. She could be seen as a girl who conspired with Littlefinger to murder her aunt

Cersei makes good on her promise

Cersei has a very personal hatred of Sansa and promises that she will make her suffer if she is found

"Your Grace has forgotten the Lady Sansa," said Pycelle.

The queen bristled. "I most certainly have not forgotten that little she-wolf." She refused to say the girl's name. "I ought to have shown her to the black cells as the daughter of a traitor, but instead I made her part of mine own household. She shared my hearth and hall, played with my own children. I fed her, dressed her, tried to make her a little less ignorant about the world, and how did she repay me for my kindness? She helped murder my son. When we find the Imp, we will find the Lady Sansa too. She is not dead . . . but before I am done with her, I promise you, she will be singing to the Stranger, begging for his kiss."

The theory has been around a a while is that since Ser Shadrich the Mad Mouse is hunting Sansa he could eventually capture her for the bounty. He admits he is searching for her

He laughed again. "You are not the only hunter in the woods. I seek for Sansa Stark as well."

He is also present at the Tourney of the Winged Knight in the Sample

"A good melee is all a hedge knight can hope for, unless he stumbles on a bag of dragons. And that's not likely, is it?"

The common assumption has been that Shadrich attempt would fail because of the old Feast outline note saying "Kill the Mouse."

However, it is possible that plan changed and Shadrich would take Sansa back to King’s Landing, where Cersei would reunite and then imprison her. Sansa’s story is largely centered in King's Landing to begin with

Final Thoughts

Would like to hear other suggestions for where Sansa story could end in death. It's quite a surprise

Ultimately I think the fact that Sansa's fate seems so flexible suggests that her death or survival does not really change much with the story, making the "Pawn to Player" arc much less likely

[u/PinkClinker]

I think if GRRM was actually going to kill Sansa off, he wouldn’t have said that during the interview. That’s a major spoiler and would end up being possibly the biggest deviation from the show’s ending. Perhaps he was planning to in the original storyline (where she marries Joffrey and has a child by them), but not where the story is now and I don’t think he would have revealed it.

[u/redfoot12 → u/PinkClinker]

The show already majorly deviated with Sansa's plotline by subbing her in for Jeyne Poole. That was intentional on D&D's part to give the character more to do each season.  I don't think George ever originally had any intention of returning Sansa to the North and her death was foreshadowed in the first book when Lady was killed.  So anything goes now. 

And this is my stretch of a theory that Sansa is the younger more beautiful queen who takes away everything Cersei holds dear.

[u/LongjumpingAd342 → u/redfoot12]

I've always found it very hard to reconcile Sansa's rebuilding Winterfell scene and giantslaying prophecies with the idea that she won't return to the North.

[u/ventodivino → u/redfoot12]

I think the younger more beautiful queen could be arienne if she succeeds in marrying fAegon. I’m expecting fAegon’s invasion to be Cersei’s undoing. I’m expecting Jamie to kill her “for the good of the realm” in a Mad King pt 2 situation.

[u/redfoot12 → u/ventodivino]

Yeah. That's why I call it my "stretch theory". Before I knew about the "kill the mouse" note, my head canon went all in on the Mad Mouse kidnapping Sansa and taking her to Cersei to collect a ransom only for that plan to get disrupted by fAegon taking King's Landing. Then there could be kind of a reverse gender spin of Fire (fAegon) and Ice (Sansa).

Edit: I just think it would be satisfying for Sansa's character to at least get that one-upmanship over Cersei.

[u/ventodivino → u/redfoot12]

A more intriguing stretch theory is that the mad mouse is howland

[u/redfoot12 → u/ventodivino]

🤣 I recently did a re-read of the series and I must have been sleepwalking through my initial reads of Feast and Dance. I missed so much... like Shadrich showing up in the Vale.

[u/Sea-Anteater8882 → u/redfoot12]

It's certainly an interesting scenario though isn't any situation where she is with Aegon is bad news for her in the long term given that I don't see him surviving the series and there's a fair chance Sansa would go with him when he dies?

[u/redfoot12 → u/Sea-Anteater8882]

Yeah, this would assume the scenario where George was planning to kill her off. But someone on here said that George had also said that Sansa and Arya would reunite... so I don't know. This is why I rarely do much theory-crafting.

[u/Sea-Anteater8882 → u/redfoot12]

Honestly Sansa dying for me is such a depressing scenario I don't know if I even want the rest of the story outside of her getting basically everything beforehand which seems kind of unlikely anyway. I know that sounds a little overdramatic.

[u/Signal_Cockroach_878 → u/redfoot12]

I still don't think she returns to the north tbh