Watching Game of Thrones is an interesting undertaking if you’re a woman who likes women. One the one hand: hey, a fantasy series with lots of distinct female characters who are, on the whole, about as developed as you’re likely to get in a mainstream franchise set in a world that draws a significant amount of inspiration from ye olde chattel days. On the other hand: seven hells, does a lot of woman-hating happen on this show. You can argue about whether it’s a misogynistic series or just a series set in a misogynistic world (or both), but the fact is that the majority of the female characters’ storylines involve dealing with the worst dudes you can imagine. Like, would-literally-be-twirling-their-mustaches-if-both-hands-weren’t-busy-committing-all-this-sexualized-violence dudes.
So how to give these fabulous women the storylines they deserve? The answer is, as always, for them to give it to each other.
A disclaimer: these may be George R.R. Martin’s characters, but we don’t play by his rules. All characters who are minors in the storyline as it stands should be understood to be shipped only once they have reached an appropriate age, because just because GRRM thinks it’s chill for people to get married at thirteen doesn’t mean it is. Moving on.
The beauty of having so many female characters in the series is that the possibilities truly are endless. You want some femme powerplays? Can I interest you in some Sansa/Margaery?
Are you imagining me opening a trenchcoat to reveal innumerable pockets full of tiny women making out? I hope so.
You like femme powerplays just fine, but you prefer them with more fire and murder? Allow me to introduce you to Daenerys/Melisandre.
Think of your own “hot” pun, I’m not going to do everything for you.
You’re down with murder, but prefer more of a scruffy boi-ish vibe? Yara/Ygritte is here to fulfill your every desire.
These two already have the “lesbian merge” thing going on. Meant for each other!
We’ve got something for almost every taste (assuming your taste runs to white women, because this series remains a bastion of white patriarchy and weird, racial crowd-surfing). Try to stump me. You can’t. You’re in the market for blonde monarchs with arranged marriages, dead husbands, and incestuous histories who want each other dead? That’s pretty niche, but Game of Thrones gives you Daenerys/Cersei and doesn’t even judge you for it.
Their accessories are all pointy, so it’ll be convenient for them to try to stab each other post-coitally.
Have most of these women met in canon yet? Nope, because Game of Thrones has a thousand storylines and also because patriarchy. Is that important to my fantasy life? Not in the slightest. You could spend your time arguing with me, or you could spend it thinking about Ygritte and Yara having filthy sex by a fire they built after slaughtering a thousand dudes. Your priorities are up to you.
I’ll be honest with you, though, friends: I come here with an agenda. I want to show you the light of Game of Thrones femslash, yes…but I also have a particular pairing in mind. A beautiful pairing. A pairing that deserves its own series of seven thousand-page books. I speak to you of the power and the glory of Sansa/Brienne.
Nothing matters to me but this.
If the epic butch/femme vista you see before you is not enough to convince you in and of itself, don’t worry. I went to a liberal arts college, y’all, and I’m about to unpack some goddamn text.
Sansa
Sansa Stark is the character most hated by dudebro fans, which is how you know she’s actually the best. She starts the series as an idealistic believer in fairy tales (“All she wanted was for things to be nice and pretty, the way they were in the songs.” – an actual quote from the first book). The eldest daughter of a noble family, she idolizes knights and queens and life at court. Until, you know, all the murder. And manipulation. And being forced to stay engaged to this walking, talking frowny face:
This is Joffrey. You know that creeping sense of dread you get when you see a group of leering, shouting teenage boys out in public? Joffrey is the embodiment of that, only much worse.
Nothing good ever happens in Game of Thrones, especially not to Sansa or anyone in her family, and the other characters make sure to remind her of it.
“Sansa had no choice but to explain about heroes and monsters. The king’s councilor smiled…’Life is not a song, sweetling. You may learn that one day to your sorrow.’” — A Game of Thrones
That councilor ends up being a sexual predator who’s obsessed with her because she reminds him of her mom, so, you know, he’s not wrong.
WHO HURT YOU? Just kidding, I already know, it’s everyone.
Sansa watches her family members executed, is forced to remain engaged to an abusive blonde wig, narrowly avoids sexual assault, loses even more family members, and finds herself with absolutely no one she can trust. Her body, marriage, and life are used as poker chips by more powerful people, and she isn’t even allowed to sit at the card table. By the second book, her disillusionment is complete, displaying a lack of faith in the men around her that many of us may be familiar with:
“Knights are sworn to defend the weak, protect women, and fight for the right, but none of them did a thing… the Hound hated knights … I hate them too, Sansa thought. They are no true knights, not one of them.” — A Clash of Kings
“They are children, Sansa thought … They’ve never seen a battle, they’ve never seen a man die, they know nothing. Their dreams were full of songs and stories, the way hers had been before Joffrey cut her father’s head off. Sansa pitied them. Sansa envied them.” — A Storm of Swords
That “Hound” she mentions is a warrior who hates knights so much that he refuses to be knighted himself. He is violent and cruel, but he still earns a small amount of sympathy from Sansa, because Sansa is the best and also too traumatized to know better. You can see him lurking ominously in the background three pictures up. They have conversations like this:
“True knights protect the weak.”
[The Hound] snorted. “There are no true knights, no more than there are gods. If you can’t protect yourself, die and get out of the way of those who can. Sharp steel and strong arms rule this world, don’t ever believe any different.”
Sansa backed away from him. “You’re awful.”
“I’m honest. It’s the world that’s awful.” — A Clash of Kings
Some (generally male) fans like to deride Sansa as “boring” and “stupid,” because they have terrible opinions and also (as previously discussed) because of the patriarchy. Many of them compare her negatively with her little sister Arya, a tomboy who solves her problems using edged weapons.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I too worship at the alter of Arya, because nothing warms me to a person like watching them dress in drag and go about stabbing haters. But Sansa’s struggle to stay alive matters just as much, at least to me. Trapped in a court where intrigue has killed off people older and wiser than her, Sansa can’t afford to pull out a knife when her life is in danger. Her resistance has to be more covert. Her survival is all the resistance she can afford, and the quiet, tightrope tension of it makes it no less heroic.
Cersei, the mother of Sansa’s pulsating boil of a fiancé and his partner in ruining Sansa’s life, gives the series its title: “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” Sansa’s not dead, so she must be winning. God knows I’ll raise a glass to that, and wait patiently for the courteous and well-dressed hellfire she will eventually rain down upon all those who have wronged her.
If this doesn’t wind up endgame I will buy a house, gift the deed to GRRM, and then burn it to the ground.
Brienne
Here’s Brienne being better than a dude. This happens a lot.
Brienne of Tarth, who first appears in the second book of the series, is a female knight, frequently called “freakish.”
“A lady, is it? Armed and armored? Illy, gods be good, the size of her.”
“I took her for a knight as well,” the older knight said, turning the trout.
Had Brienne been a man, she would have been called big; for a woman, she was huge.
Freakish was the word she had heard all her life. She was broad in the shoulder and broader in the hips. Her legs were long, her arms thick. Her chest was more muscle than bosom. Her hands were big, her feet enormous. And she was ugly besides, with a freckled, horsey face and teeth that seemed almost too big for her mouth. She did not need to be reminded of any of that. — A Feast for Crows
GRRM says “ugly,” I say “masculine-of-center dreamboat of my heart.”
If we dated she would totally kill all the spiders for me.
Throughout the series, Brienne shows herself to be more than capable of beating the realm’s most powerful and famous knights, despite being only eighteen in the books. She first appears in the series having won a 180-person tournament held in honor of Renly Baratheon, a would-be king to whom she is absurdly loyal. The prize she requests for her victory? The chance to pledge her life to him as a member of his Kingsguard. Renly’s knight (and lover) Loras Tyrell, one of the many Brienne beat that day, says as much: “[Renly] said that all his other knights wanted things of him, castles or honors or riches, but all that Brienne wanted was to die for him.”
That’s right: Brienne doesn’t just kick ass. She’s also a better person than ninety percent of the other characters in the books, despite dealing with bullshit like this at every turn:
“’I came to fight,’ [Brienne] insisted. ‘To be a knight.’
‘The gods made men to fight, and women to bear children,’ said Randyll Tarly. ‘A woman’s war is in the birthing bed.’” — A Feast for Crows
“’This was not chivalrously done,’ said Brienne when they were close enough to see it clearly. ‘No true knight would condone such wanton butchery.’
‘True knights see worse every time they ride to war, wench,’ said Jaime. ‘And do worse, yes.’
Brienne turned the rudder toward the shore. ‘I’ll leave no innocents to be food for crows.’” — A Storm of Swords
You know those women who out-gentleman every man you’ve ever met in your life? The ones who take the weird toxic masculinity of our society and refine it into an art form that involves less misogyny and more pocket squares? Brienne is that woman. Brienne will insist on holding the door open for you when you leave the gay bar together and then will lay her jacket down over the puddle outside. Is it overkill? Yes. Is it gentle and endearing? Absolutely.
Unfortunately, the other characters are less easily won over than I am. Brienne receives little in the way of decent treatment from those around her. At best, she’s laughed at; at worst, she’s regularly forced to defend herself against attempts at sexual assault. Through all of it, she remains committed to the ideals of chivalry, despite the fact that none of her fellow knights seem interested in them, least of all Jaime Lannister, with whom she travels for a significant portion of the series. “Old or young, a true knight is sworn to protect those who are weaker than himself, or die in the attempt,” she reminds herself at one point. Hmm. Who does that sound like?
Brienne’s focus on chivalry is admirable, but it also comes from a place of insecurity. In a rare moment of vulnerability, she tells a holy man that she is her father’s only living child, her brother and sisters all dead.
“Galladon drowned when I was four and he was eight, though, and Alysanne and Arianne died still in the cradle. I am the only child the gods let [my father] keep. The freakish one, not fit to be a son or daughter.” – A Feast for Crows
And therein lies the crux of why my heart belongs to Brienne; she may be seen as a freak, but if she’s all her family’s got left, then she’s going to be the best damn freak this world has ever seen. She may not always be happy about it, but she’s sure as hell not going to do anything by halves.
Her story is also one of finding new kinds of family. When she falls in with Catelyn Stark, Sansa’s mother, she recognizes her integrity and courage and swears allegiance to her.
I’m not saying this show would be better if you removed all the dudes but that’s exactly what I’m saying.
Catelyn, who has been separated from her daughters since the first book, commands Brienne to go in search of Sansa. Brienne faces a truly ludicrous number of obstacles along the way, including one incident involving a bear, but still finds time to think dreamy thoughts like this one:
“She wondered whether Sansa Stark was cold as well, wherever she might be. Lady Catelyn had said that Sansa was a gentle soul who loved lemon cakes, silken gowns, and songs of chivalry, yet the girl had seen her father’s head lopped off and been forced to marry one of his killers afterward.” — A Feast for Crows
Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be able to warm her up just fine if you ever find her.
Sansa/Brienne
First off, Brienne looks like half the women I’ve ever crushed on, and Sansa looks like the other half, so this pairing has the aesthetics on lock. How often do we actually get to see butch/femme relationships onscreen? They’re hardly the be-all-and-end-all of lady relationships, but I’ll be damned if they don’t hold a special place in my heart. Plus, the sexual dynamics would be fascinating. Do I prefer Brienne as a stone top or a power bottom? Would Sansa ask her to sometimes leave the armor on? I’m not sure, but I am absolutely certain that I’d like to see all of those options explored in depth.
This pairing isn’t just pretty, though. These two characters complete each other in ways that make me want to drink a bottle of wine and then refill the bottle with my queer-ass tears.
Brienne centers her entire identity around chivalry, because it’s her only chance to be taken seriously; Sansa is desperate for a protector who is uninterested in using her for his own ends. Sansa has shown herself able to see the value of non-normative “knights” like The Hound; Brienne longs for someone who recognizes her true worth as a warrior, no matter her gender. Sansa used to believe in the existence of true knights; all Brienne wants is a chance to prove herself to be one.
I’m a sucker for most femslash pairings, especially ones that could be cosplayed at a Renaissance Fair. But Sansa/Brienne has a special place in my heart because of their uncanny ability to shore up one another’s weakest spots. The girl with no allies gets the most loyal warrior the world has ever seen, but not one you’d ever hear about in the songs. The woman with only her moral code for company gets someone who will neither laugh at her ethics, nor think she’s unworthy of them. They both get a space to be the versions of themselves they would have been if the world hadn’t been so relentlessly shitty. Everybody wins, everybody cries, especially me.
It would seem, tragically, that I am among the minority in my undying loyalty to Sansa/Brienne. As of this writing, the fanfiction website Archive of Our Own boasts a grand total of seven works featuring Sansa/Brienne. Meanwhile, the relationships of Sansa/The Hound and Brienne/Jaime Lannister have several hundred each. You may remember those two gentlemen as being the ones quoted above as deriding Sansa and Brienne’s beliefs in the possibility of good existing in the world.
And you know what? I can see where that’s coming from. Good things don’t tend to happen in GRRM’s world, after all, especially not to women. A murderous shadow-demon slithered out of a sorceress’ vagina at one point. Maybe the best outcome for a lady one could reasonably fantasize about would be settling down with the murderer with whom she has had the highest number of civil conversations.
But I’m fairly certain you already know what I think of that, friends: it involves me sticking out my tongue and making a variety of rude and untranscribable noises. If I can suspend my disbelief enough to accept magic and dragons, then you are overestimating my restraint if you expect me not to smuggle happy ladies along with them. Fantasy breeds fantasy, and if we’re building worlds than I’m going to build myself into them. No caveats, either. No lesbian pulp novel tragedies. No Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. Just women making each other happy, with occasional breaks for swashbuckling and horseback rides. Cynicism and skepticism and an assumption of the worst-case scenario for people like myself is for every other waking moment of my life, thanks.
Sansa and Brienne will likely not wind up together in A Song of Ice and Fire, and I can accept that. Fire cannot kill a dragon, and lack of representation cannot kill a lady gay, only gradually chip away at her self-esteem. But just know that however this series really ends, in my heart of hearts it closes on a knight and her lady riding off into the sunset, blood behind them and safety ahead. Clap if you believe, children.
And write me more goddamn fanfiction.
Tags: books, butch/femme pairings, fan fiction, fandom, fantasy, femslash friday, game of thrones, girl-on-girl chivalry, lesbian merge, lesbians everywhere, recurring series about lesbians, this was like the st. crispin’s day speech of lesbian slash, TV
Loved this
“You can argue about whether it’s a misogynistic series or just a series set in a misogynistic world (or both), but the fact is that the majority of the female characters’ storylines involve dealing with the worst dudes you can imagine. ” Both. with plenty from column A. But I still watch it.
“Sansa’s not dead, so she must be winning. God knows I’ll raise a glass to that, and wait patiently for the courteous and well-dressed hellfire she will eventually rain down upon all those who have wronged her.” MEEE TOOO
[img src=”http://31.media.tumblr.com/1ffd7be658c1ae25ab4e71602bc96d6d/tumblr_ml7p9rSjQb1qjy5wpo1_500.png “]
YAY GUYS IT IS MY BIRTHDAY TODAY AND THERE ARE ALREADY TWO GAY POSTS ON THE TOAST! A SPECIAL GAY DAY FOR ME!
This was a fun read! I don’t know who I slash Brienne with. Mainly me. (See also: Aveline.)
HAPPY BDAY, have a rainbow kitty
I will pretty much read anything with Brienne and any other lady, but my OTP is Brienne/Catelyn. I am mental for it. I wrote a goddamn 28,000 word fic about them.
I refuse to entertain what that says about me.
THIS ESSAY WAS BEAUTIFUL, LET’S BE FRIENDS.
(I am in the Sansa/Margaery camp but you’ve convinced me. LET’S GO.)
YEAH I went into it like “but…Brienne/Jaime…” but now I’m completely on board. Brienne as a stone top, ugh, SPLOOSH.
Also:
Sansa Stark is the character most hated by dudebro fans, which is how you know she’s actually the best.
Did you mean: my entire life in fandom (except you could remove “dudebro” and it’d still be true)
The amount of drunk arguments I get into with people about Sansa…ladies and dudes alike 🙁
omfg, this. I think I’ve argued with more women than men about why Sansa is worth ten of ANYONE else on that show.
I AGREE WITH THIS COMMENT
If Sansa/Margaery vs Sansa/Brienne was the greatest ship war of our time, future historians could look back and know we were a culture of true worth.
Femslash Friday is rapidly becoming the highlight of my week. Maybe all the men in Westeros will die of dragon and/or snow (pours one out for…nope, absolutely no one, IDGAF) and your innumberable pockets of tiny women making out will become canon. Sexy, sexy canon.
Truly this is Mallory’s site.
“The Toast became a queer erotica site so gradually, I hardly noticed.”
MORE LIKE E.M. FREEBURG’S SITE
[finger guns of gratitude @ you]
“They both get a space to be the versions of themselves they would have been if the world hadn’t been so relentlessly shitty.”
HEY GUYS REMEMBER THAT TIME I GOT CHOKED UP WHILE READING GAME OF THRONES FEMSLASH (BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT 5 SECONDS AGO)
“Are you imagining me opening a trenchcoat to reveal innumerable pockets full of tiny women making out? I hope so.”
This. Is. Everything.
If the next Game of Thrones season took a “Y: The Last Man” turn and started with all the violent beard-dudes being strangled by Melisandre’s smoke babies, I’d have nothing left to wish for.
Also, Sansa and Margaery are a love for the ages. (http://jennyandthelibrarians.tumblr.com/post/60845039701/and-dany-stops-by-to-help-out-so-they-ask-her-to)
that comic is now how it ends in my mind so, you know, thanks for that
Oh my stars and garters, this pairing never even occurred to me, but I am 100% on board after reading this. It is brilliant, and you are brilliant, E.M. (Also, whoever posts the Sansa on the Iron Throne Matriarchy GIF in this thread will have my undying gratitude)
LMAO, I literally posted it just as you posted this comment, IT WAS PAINTED IN THE STARS, etc
MEANT TO BE *wraps Undying Gratitude in a box, gives it to you*
Oh, also:
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I actually do think this is how the books/show will end.
I would like it to be, except that then she will be even more miserable because I expect she’d take the job seriously.
Basically I want the Doctor to swoop in and carry Arya and Sansa away.
Slight improvement?
AAAAAAH
The final sentence of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE after seven books, thousands of pages, and millions of words.
“Sansa sat gingerly on the Iron Throne, then she spread her hands, closed her eyes, smiled, and calmly said: ‘MATRIARCHY.'”
“But Sansa’s struggle to stay alive matters just as much….Her survival is all the resistance she can afford, and the quiet, tightrope tension of it makes it no less heroic.”
AHHHH. YES. THIS. I mean, I love Arya too, but it is ridiculous how many people refuse to recognize the bravery and strength that Sansa exhibits just by continuing to exist.
And you can always tell that it’s because Arya “upgrades” by abandoning all those silly trappings of femininity, and riding off and living as a plucky boy with a dagger. Which, again, totally valid lifestyle choice, but Sansa needs some love and respect, too.
“You know those women who out-gentleman every man you’ve ever met in your life? The ones who take the weird toxic masculinity of our society and refine it into an art form that involves less misogyny and more pocket squares?”
Right? I TOTALLY condone such wanton butch-ery. (sorry not sorry)
Cannot articulate my love for Femslash Friday. I ship Margaery/Cersei.
Mmmm that just made me remember that Cersei does kind of have a lesbian lover in later books! Totally forgot that. The chick from somewhere out East. Someone’s wife. Help.
Yeah, but she is really not into it. It’s a scene I was reading on the train and I actually said, “UGH” out loud when she started talking about Robert’s “sticky princes.”
Taena Merrywether, I believe?
Yes. Taena and her “Myrish swamp.”*
*ACTUAL CERSEI THOUGHT
aaahhahaha I’m sure both those quotes slipped (ew) right by me, there are just so many WORDS in those books.
I am kind of into Sansa/Cersei tbh. No actually tbqh I am into Sansa/all the women.
“I’m not saying this show would be better if you removed all the dudes but that’s exactly what I’m saying.” Oh yes oh yes oh yes.
Is this the place to share my ETERNAL DISAPPOINTMENT that Dany burned that one witch who killed her husband rather than, I don’t know, FREEING HER and riding around the world raining fire and magical death upon, oh, pretty much everyone else in the show? It could have been a lady-buddy revenge tale for the ages. They could have made out, too! Missed opportunities, I tell you.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT THIS PIECE HAS GOT ME REAL WORKED UP
THAT WAS MY PLAN ALL ALONG
SANSA SANSA SANSA
Brienne is Sansa’s One True Knight!!! How did I not already recognize this?
I would also like to point out that Sophie Turner is a freakin’ amazing actress and apparently gets Sansa better than 98% of the dudebros in the world, including GRRM. That and whenever she cries in the show, I am overcome with the overwhelming desire to do whatever is necessary to prevent her from needing to cry in the future. (Aidan Gillen, watch yer step.)
In a similar vein, Mr. Pietra decided a while back that Gwendoline Christie is officially the hottest lady on the show. Reader, I married him.
So this is the first time I ever looked her up and I mean I know, Hollywood makeup blah blah blah but STILL!!
Sorry that is gigantic I fail at internet
That’s okay. Her gorgeousness should be appreciated at as large a pixel count as possible.
Gorgeous, but I would’ve gone with this photo:
ALSO an enormous photo but I refuse to apologize for it because LOOK AT HER.
I read the first two (I think? It was a long time ago) of the books from this series, and as good as they were (and they are excellently written, even if it really is a manifestation of GRRM’s hissy fit at always being told to “write fewer characters” for the projects he used to work on) I can’t watch the show. I know it’s well done, but I almost threw the book across the room when Lady was killed. I stopped reading the Wheel of Time series at the exact moment one of the wolves was killed. I just CAN’T watch this show. My best description of the book characters was always, “Don’t get attached.”
That said, “If we dated she would totally kill all the spiders for me.” made my morning.
I read the first two (I think? It was a long time ago) of the books from this series, and as good as they were (and they are excellently written, even if it really is a manifestation of GRRM’s hissy fit at always being told to “write fewer characters” for the projects he used to work on) I can’t watch the show. I know it’s well done, but I almost threw the book across the room when Lady was killed. I stopped reading the Wheel of Time series at the exact moment one of the wolves was killed. I just CAN’T watch this show. My best description of the book characters was always, “Don’t get attached.”
This might make you feel better: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movie…
It absolutely does! I love this!
I am incoherent with emotion at the thought of this. Yes. Please.
SAAAAAAAAAANSAAAAAAAAAAAA
I mean I think I may have coherent thoughts at some point, but mostly at the moment I am stuck on SAAAAAAAAAANSAAAAAAAAAAAA
*GROSS SOBBING*
YOU FIXED IT
YOU FIXED GAME OF THRONES
I tried, friend, I tried really really hard.
you could spend it thinking about Ygritte and Yara having filthy sex by a fire they built after slaughtering a thousand dudes.
I’m going to read the rest of it but I had to stop here and slaughter something as an offering to you, BELOVED.
Ugh but I’m still so confused when I hear ‘Yara’ I’m like WHO?
Funny story I originally wrote this piece calling her “Asha” but then I was like “shitballs people who just watch the show won’t know who that is” so I decided to accept the scorn of fellow book-first folks for the sake of broadest comprehension.
I get it, I appreciate where you’re coming from. Actually when I began reading and saw ‘Yara’ I was like huh? oh, groannn but then as I continued it was very obvious that you had read, so it was all okay.
I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD WHO SHIPPED YARA/YGRITTE! So, I know this is a super old post, but I’m just going to set this right here…
http://gotfemslash.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/yaray…
Sansa’s storyline triggers my PTSD unlike anyone else’s. Not just how cruel everyone is to her, but how they do it under the guise of “helping” her or being her protector. Her quiet survival while being totally at the mercy of horrible people pretending they love her resonates HARD with me.
Ughhh you too? <3
Tech suport post
“Sansa Stark is the character most hated by dudebro fans, which is how you know she’s actually the best.”
YES.
YES TO ALL OF THIS.
…. I’ll be in my bunk.
Oh. My. Gawwd. I swear my undying allegiance to E.M. Freeburg.
YES. My dream Game of Thrones ending is Sansa as an Ice Queen Queen-in-the-North with Brienne as her One True Night/Head of her Queensguard. If there is making out, all the better. C’mon GRRM, infuriate the fanboys by ending in a matriarchal utopia, you know you want to.
Sansa ruling Westeros with the Others/White Walkers as her personal army, Brienne as her chief Queensguard, and Arya as her Hand is the happiest ending I can imagine.
No but then they can’t cuddle.
“I’m not saying this show would be better if you removed all the dudes but that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Yes. Yes actually. Yes this.
Pretty much all the political bullshit would be negated and there would be nothing left for anyone to do except make out and sometimes kill White Walkers and snuggle with direwolves, who are all still alive in this dude-free world, so I don’t really see how it couldn’t be better.
Loved this
“You can argue about whether it’s a misogynistic series or just a series set in a misogynistic world (or both), but the fact is that the majority of the female characters’ storylines involve dealing with the worst dudes you can imagine. ” Both. With plenty from column A. But I still watch it. I think things improved a bit in the 2nd season. For me, the 1st is barely watchable.
“Sansa’s not dead, so she must be winning. God knows I’ll raise a glass to that, and wait patiently for the courteous and well-dressed hellfire she will eventually rain down upon all those who have wronged her.” MEEE TOOO
This pic just made my heart stop.
ok…
a) I am 150% in favour of all male characters on Game of Thrones being killed off, so the ladies can not only fix all the problems that I will not name because of spoilers but also take regular breaks to make out in various combinations.
b) SANSA STARK FOR QUEEN IN THE NORTH
c) I have this sudden urge to go read up on chivalry and grail romances and then go write Sansa/Brienne fic.
Do it now. Please.
ok…
a) 150% in favour of all the men on Game of Thrones being killed off, so the ladies can deal with [spoilery issue] while taking regular make-out breaks.
b) SANSA STARK FOR QUEEN IN THE NORTH
c) I have this urge to go research chivalric romance and grail romances and stuff and then go write Sansa/Brienne…
This post warms the cockles of my ASOIAF-loving heart. I am undecided about whether the series counts as feminist or misogynist (I’m inclined to go with neither), but it certainly lends itself to feminist analysis.
I wrote a series of long posts on the asoiaf subreddit analyzing Brienne and Jaime’s relationship with each other and other characters and this Sansa/Brienne slash and the reasoning behind it make perfect sense to me. I came to the same basic conclusions as you: Brienne is clearly the only ‘true knight’ in the books and most closely fits Sansa’s romantic ideal, except for her outer appearance. Her relationship with Renly was a classic example of chivalric love. She later makes a holy vow to go on a quest to rescue an innocent maiden. She protects the weak and promotes the good whenever possible. She’s such a paragon that she even triggers the Kingslayer’s redemption.
Even though Brienne is the knight in this scenario and Sansa the maid, they are more similar than not and have a similar character arc. They’re both young, sheltered noble girls who are forced by necessity to survive brutal circumstances using whatever weapons are at their disposal. The differences between them are superficial, in my opinion. Sansa’s beauty conforms to gender norms so she was given a normal, gendered upbringing. Brienne was deemed ugly according to those same norms, so she got a more unusual upbringing. Sansa’s weapons are silence and manners and empathy. Brienne’s are swords and axes and fists. But they are both essentially on the same journey from innocence to experience. And The Hound plays an interesting role in both of their stories.
I could go on and on, but I’ll spare ya’ll. Anyway, I’m looking forward to more Femslash Fridays–they are one of my favorite features on the site 🙂
I feel like I have seen quite a few “Brienne is Sansa’s One True Knight” gifsets on Tumblr!! Or maybe just one that I keep seeing a lot? Of course I can’t find it now, but it’s pretty great! (as is this post, Team Sansa forever!)
“WHO HURT YOU? Just kidding, I already know, it’s everyone.”
I lol’d. Sorry Sansa, I still love you!
I have to say, when I heard about this piece last night on Twitter, I wasn’t sure I was gonna be convinced, since you know, they literally never meet. BUT YOU HAVE CONVINCED ME MADAM AND I HOPE EITHER MARTIN OR THE GOT SHOWRUNNERS ARE READING THIS SO THAT IT WILL HAPPEN.
When I initially saw the title on this post I raged a bit, like WHAT THEY AREN’T EVEN IN THE SAME CITY EVER, but no I am totally convinced as well. *slow clap*
It’s the showrunners, right? Because Martin’s never going to write another book.
While I love the post…what’s up with the GRRM hate? The author is not a misogynist, the setting is in a misogynistic world. The women are arguably the most important and pivotal characters in the story. Are these opinions based just on the TV series? Please don’t conflate what HBO’s done to sell to patriarchal mainstream culture with the book’s author’s personal traits.
Some people feel like he’s boosted the misogyny and sexual violence above what is really required to show an “accurate” depiction of medieval-type culture, and that raises the question as to why he would feel that was a good idea or necessary. I don’t know enough about the period to really weigh in on it, but I’ve seen people with that concern.
Also, in terms of accurate-depiction-of-horrors-of-ages-past, he’s extremely focused on those horrors that might be visited on women. This is not an even-handed consideration of all the cruel abuses of power in a harsh world; if it were, how would it be possible that John Snow could enter a militaristic, quasi-penal, corrupt, all-male society on the bottom rung and not get raped himself? But victimized men are perhaps not so interesting to Martin as victimized women.
The question about Jon Snow is a valid one, but given his self-defence prowess and the fact that he shares his bed with a Direwolf, he would probably put off even the most determined potential rapist.
It does, however, make me wonder why Sam Tarly does not get assaulted sexually.
Sady Doyle wrote a [funny, hyperbolic, insightful] piece about this on Tiger Beatdown, but for me it comes down most simply to the fact that I don’t buy the argument of authenticity for the sheer volume of rape depicted, and even if I did, this is a universe with ten year winters and motherfucking dragons.
I’m not sure if you are referring to the books or the show, but either way, must respectfully disagree. Here is a better response than I could possibly articulate.
I understand that the books have a lot more going on than the show, but the reason I find GoT so difficult to watch is the fact that the sexualized and gendered violence is real to me in a way that the general war and mayhem and assassinations aren’t. Someone upthread mentioned that she finds Sansa’s storyline actually triggering. Socially, we’re used to seeing stylized depictions of explosions and gunfights and swordfights and stuff, and for the average viewer of an HBO series those things are very distant from everyday life. The threat of rape or domestic abuse isn’t.
Whatever GRRM’s personal politics are, being faced with an hour of “entertainment” that doesn’t flinch from some genuinely horrifying treatment of women can feel kind of hateful.
You make an excellent point, thank you for making me think more about this. I have triggering issues, as well, and hadn’t considered this as fully as I should have.
My top-four lady-team ups with the most femslash potential (based on who I think might actually have some canon interaction, based on the books published so far, so SPOILERS)
1) Asha Greyjoy/Alysanne Mormont
2) Mel/Val
3) Sansa/Mya Stone
4) Arya/Alleras
(http://notsosilentsister.tumblr.com/post/65063331614/a-song-of-femslash-potential – link to my blog, in case anyone is interested in more elaborate reasoning; hope that doesn’t count as spam; otherwise please delete.)
“thinking about Ygritte and Yara having filthy sex by a fire they built after slaughtering a thousand dudes. “
That line gave me a full-body shiver of delight. 😀
I honestly never considered the pairing of Sansa/Brienne until five minutes ago and now it is officially the only outcome that will satisfy me! I am seriously considering penning a long, sultry Sansa/Brienne fanfiction epic and posting it to the AO3 in tribute to this amazing post!
Yay, Femslash Fridays!
Oh, please do! Please, please do!
This was exactly what I had hoped to achieve. SUCCESS IS MINE.
PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE DOING THIS AS A GAYS OF THRONES SERIES, THO
I’m really excited to read this post and absolutely love it deep down to the bottom of my soul. I briefly considered running off and writing fanfic, something I don’t normally do (I write original fic, though) but stumbled to a halt when I realized that, for me, that means I’d have to re-read the series to really get into the characters’ heads again and I just… I can’t. Not after the last (poorly written, with justified rape) book.
I love Sansa in large part because of the social commentary she provides. She is everything a good woman should be in that world. She’s pretty, gentle, kind, clever (but not TOO clever), with no higher aspirations than what she has. She likes pretty things and songs and gentle knights and believes in Chivalry and Married Love and everything that women are supposed to believe in. She is exactly what she should be, what she was raised to be. And she suffers for it. She’s vulnerable because of it. She has no defenses against the cruelty of those around her. The people who are supposed to protect her don’t because they have no fiscal reason to. She was created to be something, and that creation failed her. And that sucks for her as a character, but as commentary on the chivalric system– something GRRM does a LOT throughout the series— it’s fantastic.
I love the idea of Sansa/Brienne! Brienne is honor-bound to protect her (and is a bastion of honor herself), while Sansa has probably had enough of awful men to last her a lifetime. Brienne is definitely the truest knight she’ll ever meet – if they do finally get to meet, that is. But, yeah, Sansa’s life is full of terrible ships, so please let her and Brienne have the happiest of endings. 😀
I actually find that the books are a lot more misogynistic world feminist narrative than the misogynistic show misogynistic narrative, which has some really bizarre changes. (For example in the books Asha– Yara on the show– says things like “Cunt again? It was odd how men like Suggs used that word to demean women when it was the only part of a woman they valued.” However on the show she’s like “cunt cunt cunt cunt you’re such a little girl cunt.” Also, the next time the showrunners have Brienne insult Jaimie by calling him a girl i’m going to scream.)
One of the biggest problems for me on the show is the nudity. Women are naked all over the place, but men, I think, have only been naked 3 times and it’s never supposed to be sexually appealing. I can count Theon in the first episode in the brothel scene (also cheerfully in that episode that lovely scene where all the Stark boys have no shirts on because, uh, hair cuts? Right guys?), that assassin whine merchant who was dragged behind the horse and Loras’ Tyrell’s one episode hook up who was spying on him (noticeably Loras is dressed, probably because he didn’t sign the nudity clause).
I literally went and created a commenting account on this site just so that I could tell you how much I love this article! I read it when it was first published and two weeks later I STILL keep thinking about it and smiling, so I figured I needed to stop being such a lurker and actually comment. Seriously, best article on Game of Thrones I’ve read. And you’ve completely won me over to Sansa/Brienne even though when I first saw the title I was all “No! Sansa/Margaery!” I think you raise a lot of ACCURATE and important criticisms of the show but wrap them up in a hilarious and engaging article with a big femslash bow on top. You win the internet, basically. Where can I sign up for your fanclub 🙂
Wonderful article, had me cackling with laughter throughout. And your Sansa/Brienne idea is really powerful and heartwarming and adorable 🙂
Wonderful article, had me cackling with laughter throughout. And your Sansa/Brienne idea is really powerful and heartwarming and adorable 🙂
I too man heavily invested in the Complicated Bromance, and I think an important addendum to the analysis above is that Brienne starts making Jaime believe in the Meaning of Christmas…er, Knighthood…again. Which, honestly, plays EVEN BETTER into a femslash endgame! You can have the Sansa/Brienne romance, with Brienne as the loyal knight she's always dreamed of, and Jaime Lannister as the cynical straight BFF who sees the romance a'bloomin' and pushes them together. Throw in Lady Stoneheart eviscerating Petyr Baelish's slimy gut and it would be the besest story ever.
“…don’t worry. I went to a liberal arts college, y’all, and I’m about to unpack some goddamn text.”
Fucking yes to all of this
Margaery/Brienne. That is all.
I was perfectly happy shipping Brienne with Pod and Sansa with ruthless-yet-glamorous vengeance against the Lannisters until this article shook up my worldview. Brava! And thank you.
I mean, “ruthless-yet-glamorous vengeance” is an excellent ship for all of the women on the show, and can happily be accepted as the beloved third part of every pairing.
Thank you. I now totally ship this. Agreed 100% with basically every word you said, too!
Wow. You’ve convinced me. I really want to read some (good, well-written) Brienne/Sansa fanfiction now.
If Brienne of Tarth were your girlfriend, she would walk on the outside of the sidewalk to protect you from vagabonds and mud puddles.
If Brienne of Tarth were your girlfriend, you’d sometimes be doing some completely mundane task (making dinner, planting tomatoes, soldering some broken jewelry), and then you’d look up and she’d just have that look in her eyes, that one she gets, and then you’d spend the next three days in bed.
If Brienne of Tarth were your girlfriend, guys would start to make rude observations about the two of you, and you’d just glare at them in unison, at which point they would slink away in fear and shame.
Thank you for some brightness after the horror of last night’s ending scene. I need to believe that the suffering of the women on this show will mean something, and not just as a motivation for a male character’s actions.
Arya/Ygritte forever.
Thank you for some brightness after the horror of last night's ending scene. I need to believe that the suffering of the women on this show will mean something, and not just as a motivation for a male character's actions.
Arya/Ygritte forever.
All hail Mallory the Prescient – or maybe the showrunners read The Toast – finally in Season 6 the show is bringing us one step closer to this One True Pairing, the ship of ships.
I returned to this thread to say this as well!! This is HAPPENING, y’all, sound the alarms
All I can say without spoiling the current season is “Season 6, Episode 1” and “Sansa’s father’s greatsword was melted down and reforged into a longsword for Jaime Lannister (there’s a phallic joke somewhere in here)… but he gave it to Brienne specifically to defend Sansa with, and Brienne chose to call it Oathkeeper.”
(spoilers for s6e1)
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who came here to commend this article’s prescience after watching s6e1. The “meat and mead at my table” scene was the best, and the way Sansa, the girl who dreamed of ladies and knights and was thoroughly disillusioned by them, forgets the text of her oath and then remembers it again, was a beautiful touch. Hopefully, this relationship will blossom into romance. Game of Thrones has tons of flaws, but never queering courtly love isn’t one of them.
*throws confetti*
It’s happeningggggggggg!!!!
“Would Sansa ask her to sometimes leave the armor on?”
Get out of my head.
Some weeks later, anyone want to weigh in on Daenerys and Yara?
*sloppy-drunkenly sings Heather Dale’s “As I Am” and “One Of Us,” tears running down my face*