#just think of how crazy im gonna be when this actually goes down in twow

[gendrie]

idk what it is about watching people deny and downplay sansa’s role in sweetsleepgate but it drives me up the wall. it probably has to do with the fact i have to constantly watch everyone argue she’s the smartest player in the game! until it comes down to this in which case she’s conveniently and totally ignorant. they honestly ignore every bit of sansa’s arc and characterization and common sense and its so frustrating to behold. because the writing itself is not that ambiguous. it’s very clear whats happening here. 

"Black amethysts," he swore. "There was magic in them." "There was murder in them!" (ASOS)

this whole thing actually starts in a clash of kings. petyr uses dontos to befriend sansa. we can assume he even tells dontos what to say; praising sansa’s courage and grace, using her love of knight and songs, and her desire to return home in order to manipulate her. thats allll littlefinger. after joffrey’s murder sansa is whisked from the city. she watches littlefinger kill dontos and then they’re off. 

sansa knows that littlefinger poisoned joffrey. they have a whole conversation about it. she knows that he put the murder weapon in her hair and had someone else deliver it to joffrey framing tyrion in the process. before lysa dies she spills even more tea that petyr probably wouldve preferred she kept to herself. so sansa also retains the knowledge that petyr had lysa put poison into jon arryns cup and that they framed the lannisters. littlefinger pushes her aunt out of the moon door and frames marillon - which sansa helps him do. now they’re doing the same thing to sweetrobin. they are giving him potentially fatal doses of sweetsleep because their entire plan revolves around him dying. 

Her eyes widened. "He is not Lady Waynwood's heir. He's Robert's heir. If Robert were to die . . ." Petyr arched an eyebrow. "When Robert dies. Our poor brave Sweetrobin is such a sickly boy, it is only a matter of time. When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie.” (AFFC)

grrm intentionally does not show sansa’s reaction to this in affc. he wants to build suspense. we’re left hanging on a thread wondering: will she go along with this knowing the cost? and the answer we get in twow is yes. sansa is going full steam ahead with the plan. she’s already watched littlefinger murder and frame multiple people. this is not idle talk. she even thinks in twow: “petyr baelish did not leave such things to chance” she knows he is not going to cross his fingers and wait for nature to maybe take sweetrobin. littlefinger will kill this child when the time comes. somehow. someway. it doesnt actually matter if its sweetsleep or a dagger. thats not important. and sansa is going ahead as if he will die anyway. she is seducing harry the heir and theres no point in doing that if she expected sweetrobin to live, is there? even sweetrobin understands that people want him dead and that harry would directly benefit from this. if an extremely sheltered 8 year old is able to put these pieces together i don’t want to hear that sansa is too naive. she is almost fourteen, has a great deal of insight into littlefinger’s schemes (like he literally told her they’re gonna kill the kid so), and this ain’t her first rodeo. 

sansa does have a habit of repressing and recreating memories that are too scary for her. thats true. and she’s doing plenty of that here. but that doesnt mean she doesnt know the truth. and this is where i think the problem comes in. because readers are accepting sansa’s willful ignorance at face value. despite the fact that she’s right there. its like the trident again. sansa saw what happened (it was her pov) but when called forward she denied seeing anything. she is the most unreliable narrator in this series and cannot be trusted. just as sansa thinking something happened does not mean it actually happened like the un!kiss, perhaps, or marillon killing lysa, the opposite also applies. just because sansa doesn’t acknowledge something doesn’t mean she’s truly ignorant. 

Sansa had wondered what had happened to Septa Mordane, although she supposed she had known all along. (AGOT)

this it what she does. but even sansa is able to recognize in the end that she was lying to herself. sansa knows that littlefinger plans on killing sweetrobin but she’s too scared to look the truth in the face. so she looks away. she ignores it. but in doing that she has doomed sweetrobin. 

her fear is understandable. she’s wanted by the crown for regicide. she does not want to risk revealing her identity. she’s traumatized from her experiences in kings landing. she’s still so young. she is in a tight spot, no doubt. but sansa is also going to gain a great deal from sweetrobin’s death which makes this very messy. its a classic tempted by the devil situation. littlefinger is once again using her desires to move her. he promises to gift sansa everything she’s ever wanted a handsome lord, knights to champion her cause, and winterfell. sansa desperately wants this. but theres a price. and it is an innocent child’s life. sansa acquiescing to this while she has so much to gain is not a good look tbh. 

Littlefinger put a finger to her lips. "I know what I know, and so do you. Some things are best left unsaid, sweetling." (AFFC)

[Sansa] put a finger to his lips. "I know what you want, but it cannot be. I am no fit wife for you. I am bastard born." (TWOW)

as sansa moves from player to pawn and starts to play the game of thrones she begins to become a darker character. she’s not evil. but she is human just like every other pov and they all make shady choices. and they have to live with them. sansa is not exempt from this. she is using and manipulating sweetrobin like others did to her. her feelings for him are complicated. i don’t think she hates him but she doesn’t care about him enough to risk herself or sacrifice everything she would gain from his death. sansa’s relationship with him is not unlike her’s with petyr. she tells him kind lies and makes hollow promises. theres a pseudo family dynamic involved since she becomes his mother figure like petyr is alayne’s father. she even calls him sweetling. sweetrobin is her pawn like she is littlefinger’s. thats the point. 

the situation is grey in typical asoiaf fashion. it really brings up numerous questions in morality and culpability. is sansa obligated to risk her own life to save this child? will sansa be guilty in his murder? how guilty? this is something every reader has to decide for themselves. but to just write the entire thing off as sansa not understanding is a cop out. and it does both her character and the story a huge disservice. i know this fandom. so i know when this goes down most people will either think she’s an evil monster or they’ll continue to believe she’s an angel who never did any wrong. thats the problem with this fandom. regardless of character or plot they see everything in black and white. when the truth is so much more complicated. these characters aren’t monsters or angels. they’re flawed humans. thats what makes this series so great. but hardly anyone truly appreciates that. asoiaf is wasted on this entire fandom.