Musings on Ages - Sansa and Arya
I’ll be putting this behind a cut because there could be some triggerish discussion in there. Herein follows some musings on just why GRRM chose to make these two heroines so young and why I’m glad that he did.
As ASOIAF fans, shippers, fanfic writers and readers, we often bemoan the fact that two of our favourite heroines are so young. There’s
intriguing pairings available for them, ones with a great deal of potential that we’d love to see explored, and yet these two really are
young girls. Although at this point in the books, Sansa is now the Westerosi equivalent of a grown woman having already flowered, Arya is
still a young girl.
I’ve wondered why GRRM chose to make them so young at the beginning of the books and I’ve come up with a very simple answer.
He did it to protect them.
These are two girls who go through very traumatic experiences, and it is only their ages that save them from worse outcomes. Had Sansa
already had her first flowering at the beginning of the books, or even any earlier in the series, then she would have been married off to
Joffrey and I think we can all guess exactly how much pain that would have entailed. Instead she becomes a ‘woman’ ready for marriage at a
time when there’s no opportunity for a wedding and then Margaery comes along. When she’s married off to Tyrion, her age is one of the reasons why he doesn’t consummate the marriage - he realises exactly how young she at the bedding. Similarly, her marriage to Tyrion protects her from Littlefinger (who I doubt has any problem with age) since in order to obtain an annulment and fulfill his plans she must have her maidenhead intact.
In Arya’s case it’s a lucky thing that she is much younger than Sansa and can pass for a boy. Had she not been that young then she would have been, without a doubt, raped by Gregor Clegane and his men as they did to the other women from the village they were captured in - or later at Harrenhall. She also would not have been able to travel across the Riverlands as she did or across to Braavos without being accosted.
(If I want to bring Brienne into it then she too is in a way protected, by her size and her strength and in some ways by being an atypical female).
nd so the more I think about it, the more I have faith that GRRM will see these girls safely through to the end. I certainly hope that he
will.
As ASOIAF fans, shippers, fanfic writers and readers, we often bemoan the fact that two of our favourite heroines are so young. There’s
intriguing pairings available for them, ones with a great deal of potential that we’d love to see explored, and yet these two really are
young girls. Although at this point in the books, Sansa is now the Westerosi equivalent of a grown woman having already flowered, Arya is
still a young girl.
I’ve wondered why GRRM chose to make them so young at the beginning of the books and I’ve come up with a very simple answer.
He did it to protect them.
These are two girls who go through very traumatic experiences, and it is only their ages that save them from worse outcomes. Had Sansa
already had her first flowering at the beginning of the books, or even any earlier in the series, then she would have been married off to
Joffrey and I think we can all guess exactly how much pain that would have entailed. Instead she becomes a ‘woman’ ready for marriage at a
time when there’s no opportunity for a wedding and then Margaery comes along. When she’s married off to Tyrion, her age is one of the reasons why he doesn’t consummate the marriage - he realises exactly how young she at the bedding. Similarly, her marriage to Tyrion protects her from Littlefinger (who I doubt has any problem with age) since in order to obtain an annulment and fulfill his plans she must have her maidenhead intact.
In Arya’s case it’s a lucky thing that she is much younger than Sansa and can pass for a boy. Had she not been that young then she would have been, without a doubt, raped by Gregor Clegane and his men as they did to the other women from the village they were captured in - or later at Harrenhall. She also would not have been able to travel across the Riverlands as she did or across to Braavos without being accosted.
(If I want to bring Brienne into it then she too is in a way protected, by her size and her strength and in some ways by being an atypical female).
nd so the more I think about it, the more I have faith that GRRM will see these girls safely through to the end. I certainly hope that he
will.