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There are plenty of reasons to complain about the Game of Thrones finale, a controversial ending to a massively popular series that had everything from pacing problems to outright character assassination. Long-promised stories fizzled, characters died, seemingly impossible enemies were conquered with almost ridiculous ease, and some of the biggest twists felt unearned.
But the Thrones finale did get one thing right: The triumph of Sansa Stark. Over the course of the show’s eight seasons, Sansa endured everything from gaslighting and manipulation to sexual assault, physical abuse, and emotional torture. She’s held hostage for years by a revolving series of enemies who want to use her for their own ends, and watches her father die in front of her. Yet, her resilience ultimately pays off, and she ends the series as Queen in the North in her own right, vowing to do right by and care for her people rather than force them to kneel out of fear.
Sansa’s ending is both emotionally rich and narratively satisfying, returning a Stark to the family seat in Winterfell, giving the North back its independence, and finally giving one of the series’ most long-suffering characters her due. It’s the closest thing anyone on the show’s canvas gets to a real happy ending. It also apparently wasn’t author George R.R. Martin’s idea.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Martin finally shared some details about the way that the series’ ending differs from the one he’s planned for his books, if and when he ever finishes them.
According to the author, the conclusion of his “A Song of Ice and Fire” saga won’t align with the version we saw in the HBO show. “[The book’s ending is] going to be significantly different,” he said. “Some characters who are alive in my book are going to be dead in the show, and vice versa.”
And it sounds like Sansa was at least originally intended to be those book-only casualties. But Sophie Turner’s portrayal of the eldest Stark daughter onscreen was apparently so good that she may have bought her character a second chance at life on the page.
“I was going to kill more people,” Martin said. “Not the ones they killed [in the show]. They made it more of a happy ending. I don’t see a happy ending for Tyrion. His whole arc has been tragic from the first. I was going to have Sansa die, but she’s been so appealing in the show, maybe I’ll let her live…”
None of these vague comments will likely make anyone feel better about Martin’s progress on either The Winds of Winter or A Dream of Spring. (And your mileage may and almost certainly will vary on what on earth Martin himself actually considers a happy ending.) But what they do mean is that some of us (read: me) owe Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss at least a partial apology. Sure, they whiffed the whole Daenerys as the Mad Queen arc almost entirely. But, Sansa’s ending is pretty much perfect, and apparently, we (again: me) owe them some serious thanks for that.
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