#Jon thinking Alys was going to be Arya is part of his personal arc and shows that Mel's visions are real but can be misinterpreted

[fromtheseventhhell]

Where do you think jon and arya will reunite in twow? Castle black or winterfell? I personally think arya is the girl in grey so they will reunite at Castle black or eastwatch by the sea.

Well! For starters, I am not entirely positive that Jon and Arya will reunite in TWOW. As much as I would like to see it there's a lot of plot to get through and we might not hit that point until ADOS. That being said, I think either Winterfell or Harrenhal are the likeliest options, since I do believe the Long Night will bleed into the riverland. The girl in grey isn't Arya though, Alys Karstark is and we've already seen that particular plot play out. How she ended up at the Wall won't have any impact on where/when Jon and Arya reunite.

[jackoshadows]

@currentlyconfused16

So I didn’t want to reblog this post:

https://currentlyconfused16.tumblr.com/post/618980963706355712/jackoshadows-reganx2

you commented on since it had other reblogs and comments and I thought I would make a separate post on this since I have received similar comments on other posts, namely that:

I actually do think and hope that Sansa will end up as the Lady of Winterfell in the books (maybe Queen of the North, idk) but she’ll be much more prepared, as her current arc in the books is about learning how to play the game of thrones and being in charge of her own destiny, surrounded by her family.  Which is why her show ending is so disappointing. Yes, she ends up on a throne in Winterfell, but she’s alone, with no family or true friends around her, surrounded by bannermen who hardly know her. The books have always put emphasis on the Starks being and working together in the end, and they all end up alone.

So let me address why I think that Sansa is not going to end up in charge of Winterfell at the end of the books. This is just my interpretation and speculation based on the books and the author’s thoughts and opinions.

I am coming at this from the perspective of a book reader. If you have not read the books, then just skip to the tl;dr version at the end 😁

First, note that the only ending on the show confirmed to be from the books/GRRM is Bran being King on the Iron Throne/7K. D&D have variously explained the badly written other endings of the show as being there to ‘subvert expectations’ and because ‘it would be different’ and ‘it would be unexpected’ and to ‘surprise the audience’ etc.

Second, playing the game ≠ ruling a kingdom. The show equated the two in order to push their Queen Sansa narrative. But that has never been a thing in the books.  GRRM has clearly shown this with the narratives of the actual rulers and entire books on what it actually takes to rule city states. What Littlefinger does in the books and what Dany, Stannis and Jon do are entirely different things. The one has no connection to another. Do you think that Littlefinger or Varys would be good rulers?

Sansa’s ending  has been particularly criticized because it makes no sense - it’s like fitting a round peg into a square hole. D&D knew the book endings from GRRM before they wrote season 3 - if Sansa is going to end up in charge of Winterfell, he would have have given them a path to queen Sansa and they could have figured out a way to do it on the show.

In contrast to Bran/Isaac Hempstead who sat out an entire season, was sidelined and basically given nothing much to do on the show other than exposition, D&D have admitted in interviews that they wanted MORE Sophie Turner on the show and therefore gave her the plot of another book character.

Their exact words:

“And it’s because of Turner’s strength, Benioff continued, that it made sense to give Sansa a dramatic storyline this season and to use Ramsay’s engagement for that very purpose. In fact, the showrunners first thought about putting Sansa and Ramsay together back when they were writing season 2. “We really wanted Sansa to play a major part this season,” Benioff said. “If we were going to stay absolutely faithful to the book, it was going to be very hard to do that. There was a subplot we loved from the books, but it used a character that’s not in the show.” 

https://ew.com/article/2015/04/26/game-thrones-sansa-ramsay-interview/

To re-iterate, Sansa will have nothing to do with the battle of the bastards or retaking Winterfell in the books. She is stuck in the Vale and will not be going North anytime soon. Ramsay Bolton is Theon Greyjoy and Jon Snow’s nemesis. They are going to be the ones taking him down along with Stannis Baratheon.

Out of all the Starks, Sansa has the least connection to the North in the books.  She grew up revering the south and learned from a Septa.  Every other Stark (Other than Rickon) knows more about the North and how it works than Sansa Stark. We can read it in their POV chapters.  Every other Stark has a living Direwolf - the symbol of house Stark. Sansa lost hers after siding against her family and with the Lannisters.

The show just put the Starks into boxes: Sansa - politician, Jon - warrior, Arya - fighter/Killer, Bran - warg. This is not true in the books. Arya and Jon are also strong wargs and connected to Rickon and Bran through warging via their direwolves. Something that Sansa cannot do because Lady is dead. 

Jon Snow is planning Stannis’ entire Northern campaign, advising him on the finer details of Northern politics and battle. He has learned the same as Robb from the same people. So has Bran. Bran Stark has actually ruled Winterfell as the prince of Winterfell. Arya Stark sat by her father Ned Stark and learned from him as he worked with the people of the North. She is currently  learning manipulation, reading emotion, languages and courtly manners from the Faceless Men.

There is no way that Sansa is going to be in charge of Winterfell over these other Starks who have actual experience and knowledge in how the North works as opposed to her. Does Sansa know how to attack Deepwood Motte? Does Sansa know how to approach the Mountain clans? These are things that Jon has learned from Ned Stark - the man that Sansa calls stupid on the show.

Then there is the fact that GRRM has put a couple of obstacles in the story to prevent Sansa from getting Winterfell as Ned’s eldest daughter.

She is still married to Tyrion in the books - a marriage that cannot be easily annulled. There has to be a friendly regime in KL before this marriage can be undone. Until then she is disinherited by Robb Stark’s will and no ruler friendly to the North will want to see a Lannister get Winterfell.The show ignored this marriage.

Jon Snow has been legitimized as Jon Stark by Robb Stark’s will. That makes him the eldest living Stark child and his age, experience and knowledge of the North makes him a strong contender to be Lord of Winterfell as opposed to LF’s protégé in the south. If he becomes KITN by Robb’s will in the books, he will also be the Lord of Winterfell. The show ignored all this to make Sansa Lady of Winterfell.

Robb’s will is binding. Meaning that once Jon is legitimized, there is no going back on this. Catelyn makes it a point to warn Robb about this  - which indicates that it will be important later on in the books.

Bran and Rickon are still alive and well in the North. GRRM reminded everyone on his blog that Rickon was still alive in the books after the show killed him off to make Sansa the Lady of Winterfell on the show. Bran randomly tells Sansa that he cannot be lord of anything, only to go on to become King on the show. Garbage writing to once again justify Sansa in charge of WF even if it makes no sense.

Now, one can make the argument that if Rickon dies in the books as he does on the show, Bran is king of the 7K at the end and Jon is exiled as in the show,  then Sansa can end up in charge of Winterfell. I disagree. Why? The answer is Arya.

Arya is arguably GRRM’s central female character in the books. She is the female character with the most POV chapters in the books after Jon and Tyrion. She was one of the first characters he created and other characters like Sansa were created around her. Sansa was created as a foil to Arya and because he wanted that one Stark family member who did not get along with the rest of them like for all the other houses.

Because of D&D’s open preference for Sansa over Arya - they have said as much in interviews - they gave over many of book Arya’s narrative themes, plot significance and relationships to show Sansa. The entire reason for why Sansa ended up in the North on the show is plot borrowed from the books for another character that is all about Arya’s importance to the North and several characters and houses fighting over Arya Stark to hold the North. The North is rising up for Arya in the books.  They basically erased Arya from her story to put Sansa in there. Thematic words like - ‘The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives’ belong in Arya’s story in the books, not Sansa’s.

So basically the show had to co-opt Arya’s story and hand it over to Sansa to give her a path to QITN/Lady of Winterfell on the show. It could not be any more clearer here which character is headed towards being Lady of Winterfell and possible Warden of the North in the books. Hint: It’s not Sansa.

Arya still has a strong connection to her Direwolf Nymeria described thus:

“She says there's this great pack, hundreds of them, mankillers. The one that leads them is a she-wolf, a bitch from the seventh hell."

"Some will tell you that they are demons. They say the pack is led by a monstrous she-wolf, a stalking shadow grim and grey and huge. They will tell you that she has been known to bring aurochs down all by herself, that no trap nor snare can hold her, that she fears neither steel nor fire, slays any wolf that tries to mount her, and devours no other flesh but man."

“Wolves. Hundreds of the bloody beggars." He'd lost two sentries to them. The wolves had come out of the dark to savage them. "Armed men in mail and boiled leather, and yet the beasts had no fear of them. Before he died, Jate said the pack was led by a she-wolf of monstrous size. A direwolf, to hear him tell it. The wolves got in amongst our horse lines too. The bloody bastards killed my favorite bay."

And as per GRRM, Nymeria and her pack of wolves will have a major role to play in the North where they are headed. We already know that direwolves are going to be taking on Ramsay’s dogs in the battle of the bastards from GRRM’s notes. Which direwolves? Ghost? Shaggydog? A Bitch from the seventh Hell with her pack of wolves? All of them?

Arya is symbolic of the North. The other daughters of the North - Lyanna Mormont, Wylla Manderly, Alys Karstark etc. - are all Arya types in terms of personality and looks. The Arya/Lyanna comparisons have been strongly made in the books for a reason.

And finally Arya is the only Stark to have the Stark look. The only one. Think about this for a second - who would GRRM have end up as the last Stark in charge of Winterfell if Bran, Rickon and Jon are out of contention for the position? The Stark with the traditional long face and grey eyes of House Stark or the Stark with the red hair and blue eyes of house Tully?

Who will be Lady of Winterfell? The Stark with the Direwolf or the Stark without one? The Stark who has learned how the North works from her father or the Stark who has not learned this? The Stark who is still following her father’s words - ‘The man who passes the sentence should wield the sword’ while far away in Braavos or the Stark who is complicit in her little cousin’s slow poisoning in the Vale?

And lastly Arya has a lot of foreshadowing/hints of becoming a leader in the books. She is one of the rare nobles in the books who is friendly with the small folk, sympathizes with them and actively helps them - hallmarks of GRRM’s leaders like Dany and Jon. Varys’ description of a perfect ruler fits Arya to a tee:

Aegon has been shaped for rule before he could walk. He has been trained in arms, as befits a knight to be, but that was not the end of his education. He reads and writes, he speaks several tongues, he has studied history and law and poetry. A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them. He has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands, swum in rivers and mended nets and learned to wash his own clothes at need. He can fish and cook and bind up a wound, he knows what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid. Tommen has been taught that kingship is his right. Aegon knows kingship is his duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them"

Of course Varys is describing Aegon here, but everything he says holds true for Arya as well and is basically GRRM laying the groundwork for leader Arya. Arya’s ability to connect with the common folk, to identify with them, to work with them, to know them personally, to sympathize with them, is all leading to a path towards her becoming a leader of all the people.

And finally why am I saying that this Queen Sansa is D&D giving Sophie Turner her desired ending? Because that’s very evident from all their interviews. Sophie has wanted Sansa to be Queen and has been pushing this narrative since season 6 - talking about how every other character was useless except for Sansa - something that Sophie seems to actually believe in.

D&D have openly stated in interviews that at a certain point they stopped adapting Sansa and Arya from the books and based these characters on what Sophie and Maisie wanted for them. And Maisie clearly takes her lead from Sophie. That’s why the show versions resemble a self insert Mary sue propped up at the expense of other characters.

Queen Sansa at the end makes absolutely no sense when her brother, a Stark, just became King of the 7K. You mentioned as much in your post. So why was it there?   In an interview they gave in Japan after the show ended D&D talked about being most interested in the Stark sisters and their endings because they had known them as child actors and seen them grow into adults from tiny children. (Isaac for some reason gets no such consideration from them even though he was an even younger child actor).

So it was not really about the characters at that point but more about the actors. It’s not that hard to put two and two together and come up with four here. It was a completely nonsensical ending for Sansa in a long list of other nonsensical endings on the show that they just put in there to make Sophie happy. That’s all. It’s clear they had just given up on making a well written show for the final season with shit like ‘Well Dany just forgot about the Iron fleet’ . So what’s one more garbage writing in there to make their child actress happy?

And to be clear, I am not blaming Sophie here. I am blaming the adults, the supposed expert writers of a big budget HBO TV show adapting a popular book series. Who, instead of adapting the book characters, decided to let a couple of teenagers dictate the writing for their characters on this show.

TL;DR: The show reduced and took away Jon, Arya, Bran and Rickon’s important roles in the North in the books and replaced it with Sansa from season 5 onwards in order to give Sophie Turner more to do on the show. They gave away book Arya’s narrative themes, plot significance and importance to show Sansa, then kicked Arya out and gave the North to the least deserving Stark on the show. The only logical conclusion that can be made from all this is that Sansa will not end up Lady of Winterfell/QITN in the books.

[fedonciadale]

Hi. I absolutely love your blog. I haven't read the books yet but is it true that it's hinting that Jon and Sansa will be the first Starks to reunite? Did Mel tell him she saw a vision of his sister wearing grey, on a horse and coming to him? He probably thinks it's Arya but it's Sansa. If they aren't gonna fall in love, why choose those two of all the Stark family to bring together?

Dear nonny,

thanks for the compliment! As for the books, I think it is very likely that Sansa is the Girl in Grey that Mel sees in the fire. There are many metas on this among other by @loveroflemons (here), @lostlittlesatellites (Sansa and the vale arc, part 1, part 2, part 3), and @rose-of-red-lake (here).

I’ll give you a quick summary of the reasons, why Sansa as Girl in Grey is likely.

1) Alys doesn’t add up. She doesn’t wear grey, she comes the wrong way and she is not Jon’s sister.

2) What the persons in the book think the prophecy is about, ususally is not what the prophecy is about. There is one identification that the person in the books does, there is one that is another solution that immediately comes to the reader’s mind and one person who actually does fulfill the prophecy... Look at Cersei and the Valonqar. Cersei thinks it’s Tyrion, the reader is reminded time and again that it might be Jaime (who is younger than Cersei), and then probably another younger sibling alltogether (maybe even the younger sibling of the Younger more beautiful queen, and that might be Bran or Arya). So, Jon thinks the prophecy is about Arya, but when Alys arrives, he thinks Mel was wrong, the reader thinks it is Jeyne Poole, the girl who was forced to marry Ramsay in the books, and the girl in grey actually is Sansa.

3) While Sansa took over Jeyne Poole’s (aka fArya’s) storyline D&D have told the audience that they decided to swap Sansa for Jeyne to reduce the vast amount of characters and because “Sansa wouldn’t stay much longer in the Vale anyway”. Despite this very strong hint by D&D, that Sansa actually will go North, Non Jonsas have somehow refused to take the hint and make up whole storylines of what will happen in the Vale, even predicting that Sansa won’t go North anytime soon. Try mentioning that Sansa is the “girl in grey” to some of these persistent people and witness being called a delulu Jonsa.... It will be completely different in the books..... It will be different but not that different and Sansa coming North is such a huge development, that it makes only sense for the show to do this, if Sansa indeed will arrive at Castle Black in TWOW.

In addition I’ll add 4), my own ideas why Sansa as the girl in grey makes perfect sense within the story, because Sansa has a key task in regard to Jon.

I do think that Sansa’s magic is about singing, and that her ability of empathy and singing will be the crucial factor that brings Jon back to life (in a metaphorical way). In the show they made it obvious that Sansa inspires Jon to try again and fight. In the books I think either Jon won’t be resurrected until Sansa arrives, or will be still in some state of aloofness and listlessness. She will probably sing “Florian and Jonquil” to him - mirroring Luthien and Arwen from Tolkien at the same time - compare my metas on “Singers singing songs” and “Beren and Luthien”. So there is a Tolkien parallel which adds up to an already plausible scenario.

And Jon, confused and distraught after his resurrection, set on the task of rescuing his sister - which was the last thing he thought of - will meet Sansa as if she was someone new and unknown - a scenario that willl make him falling in love easily believable.

Thanks for the ask!

[jonsameta]

Thoughts?

————————-

Answer: Thanks for the submission! Since your post also links bridge4’s video regarding the phrase “There must always be a Stark in Winterfell” and their prediction of the inheritance endgame, I think I’ll start with that before I get to your commentary underneath. I reference the books as well because the video does. I hope that’s okay and this isn’t that hard to follow.  

The Video

First of all, I noticed that the vlogger conveniently left out Jon’s line to Sansa in 7x02 “You’re the only Stark in Winterfell” since they put so much emphasis on the difference between “the Stark in Winterfell” and “Stark of Winterfell”, as they stated the former occurred much lesser (11 other times). So right off the bat leaving out this piece of information overlooks how the Stark girl actually is important even in the current timeline, not just Lyanna and the Rose of Winterfell were as the other abducted Stark girls. 

I don’t think bridge4 realises the importance of the phrase “key to the North” is what the “rose of Winterfell” represents. It is through these women that an enemy king or prince was able to merge their bloodline with the Starks. Sansa is the “key to the North” and she isn’t just a princess as Arya is, but the Lady of Winterfell. I’ve elaborated more on how Jon, Theon and Tyrion are foils of each other and share the themes of being intruders, wanting to claim Winterfell and relating Sansa to it in common here and here. 

Due to patrillineality post-parentage reveal, he would be considered a Targaryen first and he would go down to the bottom of the line of succession because he isn’t Ned’s son. Bran gave up his claim to Winterfell so that leaves Sansa as “the Stark in Winterfell” as Ned’s trueborn heir and she also has a political position and influence. Because of leaving out this piece of information, brideg4 came to the conclusion that Jon will be the one to carry on the line by marrying Dany and they use the prophecy angle of Azor Ahai theories to back this up. 

This has been a foregone conclusion for a lot of years amongst many fans that they’ve never stopped to reexamine the actual impact of R+L=J on the story and even more so on the Starks, Jon and Dany. The fact that they’ve unwittingly committed incest and that Dany may never carry a child to term due to her parallels with Cersei and because her infertility being solved by Targaryen sperm furthers its blood purity and supremacy agenda is never considered. 

The video shows season 7 clips, so I do find it curious that once again they left out the piece of information that Jon is a legitimate Targaryen according to the show, which makes him trump Dany’s claim. Also because of the North’s suspicion of Targaryens and Dany’s own controversial reputation, upon this reveal he will be seen as dragonspawn. He will be seen as a threat to and an intruder in Winterfell, as Dany will be and their possible union will be looked on as a bigger threat. If he wants to claim Winterfell and the North, he will need a Stark girl once again. 

Sansa also has the advantage of having the loyalty of the lords of the Vale and her Tully heritage from her mother would bring her Edmure and his bannermen from the Riverlands. No one has put these pieces together but there is set up for all this to fall in place. She also has a lot of indirect connections to characters across the board because of experiences in previous seasons with them or through characters associated with her. thelawyerthatwaspromised has elaborated on the dynamics for other kingdoms here and here, none of which are in Dany’s favour. Dany basically gained nothing in season 7 except hollow victories. Jon shot himself in the foot by giving up the North (although for the greater good) and sleeping with Dany, which is worsened by him being revealed as a Targaryen. He does have a bit better reputation amongst some of these people than Dany, though. Sansa isn’t just the key to the North but the key to a unified Westeros brought together peacefully. 

So bridge4 really overlooks Sansa’s importance in the story, as many do, and that skews his interpretation of the story. He also overlooks Catelyn’s fear that Jon’s sons would compete with her grandchildren over the line of succession. Moreover, Jon is Theon’s foil so he might agree to be KITN in war time but that doesn’t mean he will agree to pass the Stark line through himself, especially if he is revealed to be Targaryen. He passed over his right to be Lord of Winterfell and protected Sansa’s birthright in the books, which contrasted Theon’s invasion of Winterfell and usurping the trueborn Starks’ rights. 

The most probable way it is narratively feasible for Jon to inherit Winterfell and be recognised as a Stark is by marrying a Stark girl. I don’t say this because that’s how I want it to be but rather because that’s how it is set up and the show makes it easier to come to this conclusion because cuts through the extraneous layers. Considering their blindspots or deliberate avoidance of acknowledging Sansa’s importance, it’s not a surprise that bridge4 overlooks the fact that a Snow marries a f!Stark girl when Ramsay married Jeyne as f!Arya for her claim because Sansa goes missing. 

Considering Counter Arguments

People doubt Bran will give up his claim to Winterfell in the books, but I think the title “Prince of Winterfell” that he shares with Theon forebodes that he will remain a prince rather than become a king. When you consider he’s the youngest and is cut off from the political plot since Theon’s invasion it’s sensible. There are others who think Arya will be the heir to Winterfell, but that overlooks her lack of experience in political court and also bookwise, she’s referenced as “Princess of Winterfell”, but Sansa never is. This is mostly because she’s a hostage and is always surrounded by enemies. Neither is Jon ever called “Prince of Winterfell” as Bran is because he’s a bastard.

However, both Jon and Sansa are called “blood of Winterfell”, while none of the other Starks are, and they’re the only Starks that actively think of rebuilding Winterfell (x). They are also the only Starks consistently involved in political plots since the end of AGOT, where they both try to free Ned (x). Sansa is also called “the key to the North” and has several parallels with Lyanna and the Rose of Winterfell (x, x, x, x). These two characters never expected a chance to inherit Winterfell, but bookwise they’re currently both involved in political plots to take it back, and show wise they’re House Starks’ political heads. 

Showwise, it’s season 5 onwards that drives the point of them both being claimants to Winterfell and the North (x, x). Both having unlikely claims as Ned’s eldest trueborn daughter and Ned’s bastard son. Sansa’s political importance as “key to the North” happens earlier, but Jon’s desire to be a Stark is a constant cause of anguish in his arc. Many argue that Sansa “stole” “Arya”’s storyline because she was placed in the Ramsay plot. But it was never Arya’s plot, but Sansa’s bestfriend Jeyne’s disguised as her and it’s told from two POVs - Theon who knows the truth and Jon who believes the lie. Arya is in Braavos under multiple identities. The similarity between Jeyne’s, Alys and Sansa’s arcs has been talked about a lot already (x, x, x) so I won’t elaborate. Also despite all comparisons of Arya to Lyanna in terms of her wild nature, Sansa’s arc mimics the last part of Lyanna’s life and her more feminine/romantic interests more. 

Bookwise, Jon and Sansa are set up as Robb’s heirs (by enemy Houses and Robb) in the same book ASOS. But the foreshadowing for this starts from ACOK itself around the time where Ygritte tells Jon the tale of Bael the Bard and the Rose of Winterfell. This is followed immediately by Sansa’s “flowering” and by the end of the book, she is also under threat of Joffrey fathering bastards upon her (x). The bastard theme goes further in every book. Sansa is forcefully married to Tyrion, who says “all dwarves are bastards in their father’s eyes”. Even in the TWOW excerpt, Sweetrobin tells Alayne he would keep her as a mistress and father bastards upon her and Harry the Heir also has fathered bastards. This is not a dilemma Arya goes through, as she survives outside the nobility structure as a person of the smallfolk from the end of AGOT. 

People think Sansa’s connection to bastards starts in ASOS as Alayne Stone and that her bastard storyline doesn’t foreshadow much between Jon/Sansa beyond understanding. They argue about this using Arya/Gendry and the original outline, even though GRRM has said he was making up stuff to get a deal and the books have deviated in many ways. They forget that Sansa is betrothed to Joffrey, who is a bastard in reality, from the start. He is Jon’s foil too as a bastard disguised as a prince, while Jon is a prince disguised as a bastard. In ACOK, Gendry/Arya also exists as a foil to Joffrey/Sansa as they’re both Robert’s “sons” and both bastards but treat Stark girls very differently because of their personalities but also their status. 

Personally, I also think that Arya/Gendry is the author’s commentary on Todd Williams’  Memory, Sorrow, Thorn characters Simon/Miriamele as he grows up a kitchen boy (even if he’s a secret heir) and she is a princess and disguises herself as a boy named “Marya” (but she also dyes her hair darker like Alayne). GRRM has said before that lord’s daughters didn’t just run away with stable boys because there were fatal repercussions to such an action and that’s a beef he had with a lot of period dramas (x). Within the story Simon gets no political training either but ends up as king anyway at the end, which I’m sure he had a problem with considering his question “What was Aragorn’s tax policy?”. The same goes for Gendry and although he obviously looks like Robert’s son, he never claimed him and thus, never got a lord’s education. Thus, it would be very hard to assert his claim because he’s not part of the nobility structure already and there’s no will in place. 

Gendry is even lower than Jon, who is a privileged bastard, in his status. Being part of the smallfolk, he calls Arya “m’lady” and treats her with more reverence calling her than Jon would. Rather Jon calls her “little sister”, as Ned probably called Lyanna. Also, Arya was also the only Stark around whom he forgot his bastard status and he knew she didn’t like being called a lady. But he would call Sansa “my lady” because of their distance, her higher status, and because she fits the role and he knows she would like it. Gendry even feels hurt when Arya says he’s not her brother and brings in his status. That sounds more like Jon/Sansa to me more than Jon/Arya. 

Fact of the matter is that Sansa’s arc is intrinsically linked to her claim as a Stark, marriage alliances, her future children and bastards. People think Sansa will end the story not marrying and that would be “character growth”, but that overlooks her own desire for love, being Cersei’s foil and the impact of Ned’s last conversation with her about making her a worthy match. Sansa’s mistake wasn’t that she fell in love, but that she couldn’t see Joffrey for what he was. A more full circle end would be for her to recognise a decent man and make a politically advantageous match as a political figure of House Stark, that her father would approve of. Who better than someone her father raised? Those who expect her to end as Elizabeth I don’t consider that they’re in a very desperate situation because of the war torn Westeros. There has to be a Stark heir and like it or not, Sansa is more likely to enter a political match than Arya. The storyworld has its limitations, feudal conventions won’t suddenly end in a day. If it could, wouldn’t Dany’s invasion of Meereen solve everything immediately?  

And no, accepting her marriage to Tyrion is self-defeating in her arc that is so much about reclaiming her Stark identity and refusing to let her enemies claim her and take that away from her, even as they hold her hostage. The lack of consummation and the fact that people know also presents enough grounds for annulment in the books and the show it’s just invalid at this point as she remarried. Even if you consider the BATB theme, he’s a Beast foil. 

Jon’s arc is intrinsically linked to his desire to be a Stark, to be acknowledged as Ned’s son and his impossible dream to be Lord of Winterfell. In the books and on the show, Jon is also juxtaposed against Theon and Tyrion, who both try to claim Winterfell by betraying House Stark. So I agree there was set up for the line to pass on through Ned’s “children” Jon or Theon, the bastard and the hostage. Both part of the Starks and not Starks. GRRM even confirms they’re foils:

“Theon wants to be Jon Snow, but he can’t do it. He keeps making the wrong decisions. He keeps giving into to his own selfish, worst impulses. In some senses, Theon is struggling all the way through to be a hero. They both come out of the same situation: they’re both raised in Winterfell by Eddard Stark, but they’re not part of the real, core family. Theon is a ward, and Jon Snow is a bastard son. So they’re both a little outside, but Jon handles this successfully, and Theon fails to handle this. He is poisoned by his own envy and his sense of not belonging.” - GRRM

However, what’s important is that they both desire that acceptance to come from within. In terms of feudal terms post-parentage reveal, it would be more possible for Jon to become Ned’s son by marriage than be legitimised as his son, which he is not (x). The phrase “son-in-law” is never used in the text. 

So yes, that Sansa is the person to validate him twice in season 6 matters a lot. In terms of personal foreshadowing, the use of “to me” in Sansa’s answer “You are to me” when Jon says he’s not a Stark. All of this happens all while there’s trust issues involved because of their distant relationship before (x). The words have a different meaning because he didn’t get that kind of acceptance from her before, although he craved it from both her and Catelyn. In terms of political foreshadowing, it matters because of the cloaking ceremony at weddings. Thus, the legacy would pass on through them. 

Of course, one cannot rule out the possibility that Jon/Sansa will not happen. But they make too much sense politically than they should as they aren’t “obvious” and when you think about it, they provide the best narrative bookend for their arcs. It’s not whether people ship it or not, but rather that it logically makes sense in tying up a number of loose ends. 

That was long lol. Hope it wasn’t too annoying. 

- lostlittlesatellites