Iconic Duets: Cersei Lannister and Sansa Stark.

 

                                                                                        

George R.R. Martin, in his magnum opus, ‘A game of thrones’ created a whole different universe where each and every character has its reason for existing and there’s a great amount of detail. The series essentially brought cliffhangers to a new level and astounded the fans and audiences with the story. At the heart of the series, however are four different ideologies and it essentially tells the viewers that when a particular person wins the Game, it is in fact the ideology that wins it, and when an ideology wins, the other ideologies automatically lose.

 

One of the iconic opposing duets in the series is that of Cersei Lannister and Sansa Stark. Let’s take a look at the overlaps in their backgrounds. Both, extremely beautiful, belonging from aristocratic families in their respective environments, elegant in social interactions and replete with qualities that could make them good queens. However, the antagonism between the two of them was on account of differences no amount of beauty could make up for.

 

Cersei was not loved by her father, lost her mother at a young age, rejected by her husband who loved someone else, the angst of which she projected on her youngest brother, the one from whose advice she could have greatly benefitted, Tyrion Lannister. She went to the extent of blaming him for murdering her son, Joffrey (the viewers all over the world rejoiced on the day of the Purple Wedding). Sansa, on the other hand was loved and cared for by her father, The Honorable Lord Eddard Stark. She was accepted for who she was. Her likes and dislikes were given priority, and the family love was unconditional, like any normal family.

 

The love one has for their family, explained as ‘Storge’ in the Greek philosophy, is the driving element of a person’s personality. A person who loves and is loved by their family generally is trusting in nature, but not simplistic. A person not loved/accepted by their family is likely to be conniving, mean, insensitive and selfish. The key differentiator between how these two women viewed the world was driven by ‘storge’ and its absence, respectively.

 

When Sansa first arrived at King’s Landing with her father, she was young, trusting and believed that people are good, because she was always surrounded by good people who had her best interests at heart, and same for her. When Cersei was young, she was far from accepted and losing her mother exposed the realities of her world to her. When a person constantly has to digest uncomfortable truths and ugly realities, there is little room to be a good person and trust others. The difference in Cersei’s and Sansa’s respective outlooks in their interactions with each other and other characters throughout the series makes treats the viewers to interesting conversations and opens their eyes to different perspectives.

 

Let’s take a look at their houses and their Sigils. House Lannister sigil bears a Lion on a Golden field. It indicates royalty, ferocity and exorbitant riches. Cersei grew up valuing people who had power, status and money and people who made social climbing possible for her. Her urge to gain acceptance from her father is stifled by him, time and again. This drove her to love her children in a way that spoils them rotten, to the extent of even them overlooking her opinions and disrespecting her. Growing up witnessing power, money and depravity, Cersei never trusted others and could never adapt to the times because of her perspective that money could buy everything. The Stark sigil bears a Lone Wolf in a grey field. This in keeping with the wolf's attributes of leadership and looking out for their packs. Sansa's loyalty to her family is unmatched, which is why she looks out for everyone who stands her in good stead, and most importantly: TRUSTS them. 

 

This again, is one key difference between Cersei and Sansa. The former was rigid, but the latter was underestimated by everyone she met as someone who just had beauty, and wasn’t particularly interesting. While Cersei was overestimated as the wealthy lady in the Realm, she under-delivered in every regard and disappointed everyone, including Jaime. Sansa, however is the underdog who accepted people’s underestimation of herself and surprised everyone at the end. Sansa survived everyone she interacted with. It says something. It says that Sansa was flexible, malleable and smarter than everyone gave her credit for.

 

‘Game of Thrones’ was also largely about symbolism. From transitioning as Cersei’s daughter-in-law to her sister-in-law (the twist no one saw coming), Cersei played on and enjoyed Sansa’s gullibility, but Sansa was resilient. She did the most important thing: she bore the willpower to survive situations. Sansa may not have done the most heroic things (apart from helping Jon in ‘The Battle of the Bastards’), or murdering people by blowing things up, Sansa just had optimism. She kept enduring, learning and emerging stronger than ever.

 

It is as if Martin is telling us that the person with good intentions and who is most open to change, can survive anything they set their minds to. Cersei was the Queen for a time, but Sansa ended up being the Queen in the North. Her destiny is an example that even when there is no talent, but there is willingness to learn, a zeal to evolve and loyalty in a person’s heart, great outcomes are certain. 

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Author: Ms. Radhika Sunil Vaidya. 

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