How Can Sansa Win the Iron Throne on Game of Thrones?
Spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8, episode 4 spoilers ahead. The race for the Iron Throne is heating up, and if I'm being honest, the current candidate pool leaves much to be desired. Daenerys Targaryen is going head-to-head with the current incumbent, Cersei Lannister, but both queens are mad in their own right; Daenerys is literally the daughter of the Mad King (and will definitely be setting some people on fire very, very soon), and Cersei is a pathological liar in a turnip wig with zero qualms about killing innocent people.
Rumored but unconfirmed to officially be playing the Game of Thrones (so that's how this show got its name) is the former Warden of the North, Jon Snow/Aegon Targaryen. Jon is a strong leader with significant experience on the battlefield, and people really want him to be the next king of Westeros, but he truly does not want the job. And for good reason—there'd be too many people trying to kill him for the crown, and Jon would have to break off his already troubled relationship with Daenerys. All this man wants is to lay up with his auntie in peace. Why won't y'all leave him alone?
So, if not Daenerys, Cersei, or Jon, who else could rule the Seven Kingdoms?
Sansa.
Sansa Stark.
Does she have a rightful claim to the throne? No, not at all. As Targaryens, Jon and Daenerys have the strongest *technical* claims to the Iron Throne, and Cersei is just sitting there because who's really going to check her? Fortunately, Sansa doesn't need to be in line for the throne in order to take it because she's got something that so few people in Westeros have: sense.
One would think that common sense wouldn't be so difficult to find in the Seven Realms, but here we are! A combination of shockingly poor battle strategy and gross underestimation of the enemy brings us to our current situation in Game of Thrones. We saw the unnecessary deaths of Rhaegal and Missandei in the last episode (seriously, who just sails into enemy territory like that?) as well as the massive wipeout of basically the entire Dothraki and Unsullied armies during the Battle of Winterfell. #Jonaerys may have the necessary blood to rule, but they clearly don't have the sense, and that's where Sansa comes in.
I'm far from being a Sansa stan, but objectively speaking, she's got the smartest head on her shoulders, especially where Cersei is concerned. Neither Jon or Daenerys have spent any real time with Cersei and, as a result, have no idea of what she's capable of. Sansa, on the other hand, was (un)fortunate enough to have had a front row seat to Cersei's schemes. She's seen how Cersei manipulates those around her, and she's seen the depths of Cersei's cruelty—Sansa knows that the crooked queen is nothing to play with. If anyone knows how to usurp the throne, it's the Lady of the North.
In addition to having high-level reconnaissance on Cersei, Sansa is also a very practical person. Both Jon and Daenerys lack the crucial ability to be pragmatic; Jon thinks that the North will follow Daenerys even if his true identity is revealed, and Daenerys truly believes that she can take Cersei down with one dragon and a dozen Unsullied soldiers. The delusion jumped out!
Meanwhile, Sansa is able to pay attention to how the minor details affect the big picture. She's the only person in Winterfell concerned about the well-being of the soldiers, thinking about what they're going to eat or whether they're in the proper head space to immediately travel all the way to King's Landing after watching their comrades be slaughtered by the Night King's army. Does Daenerys care about the emotional and mental state of her employees? Oh? I didn't think so.
Sansa is likely to be one of the few big players in Westeros to actually survive the coming episodes. Have you been reading any of our wild Game of Thrones theories, folks? It's not looking good. Arya is currently headed straight for King's Landing to cross Cersei's name off her kill list, but Jaime might beat her to it if the valonqar theory holds any weight. There's also the Azor Ahai theory, which predicts that Jon will have to fatally wound Daenerys to fulfill his destiny. In all of the wild speculations we've made so far, Sansa has been one of the only names to not be in any imminent danger.
I think this little bird is going to make it all the way.
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