This post contains spoilers for episode 3, season 8 of Game of Thrones.
Sansa (Sophie Turner), who you may know as the smartest person Arya knows or the North’s premier fashion designer, was once married to one Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage). They might still be married, although based on their dialogue in Season 8 episode 3, “The Long Night,” it seems like the marriage became void when Tyrion was sentenced to death.
Both Sansa and Tyrion went through a lot to stay alive all these years, dealing with Cersei (Lena Headey) and Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), and then escaping after Joffrey’s murder made them suspects in a regicide. I wouldn’t call their marriage a happy one, given that Sansa deeply resented the union (and was far too young), and Tyrion was trying to preserve his relationship with Shae. But both Sansa and Tyrion knew they had nothing to fear from each other, which is more than you can expect from most loveless marriages in Westeros.
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In the crypt below Winterfell, Sansa and Tyrion had an affectionate chat that had strong “Happily Divorced Coparents” energy. Both have changed a lot since they lived together in King’s Landing, and with plenty of distance from their past selves, plus a sense of impending doom, they were able to muster up a little nostalgia. After Sansa remarked that they were in the crypt because they were unable to help, and that the most heroic thing they could do was to look that truth in the face, Tyrion gave her a long, admiring look and said, “Maybe we should have stayed married.”
Sansa, who definitely would have preferred life with Tyrion over her horrifying marriage to Ramsay, responded, “You were the best of them,” before remarking that it wouldn’t work between them because of Tyrion’s allegiance to the Dragon Queen (Emilia Clarke). It’s moving to see Sansa take the idea of a marriage to Tyrion seriously — you can see her really consider what it would be like — because back when they were married, she always seemed a little disgusted by him. Obviously, that’s not her fault — she was a child! But to see real (albeit platonic) love between Tyrion and Sansa now, as they chat in the crypts as adults, is touching.
Later, when things in the crypts have gotten very scary, Sansa and Tyrion are hiding together. Sansa pulls out her dragonglass dagger, indicating that it’s time to fight, and Tyrion looks at her lovingly, draws his own dagger, takes her hand and kisses it, and sharply inhales before stepping out from their hiding place. It’s such a sweet moment, and Dinklage deserves an award (maybe another Emmy?) for his admiring glances. But these two are not, and will likely never be, in love. They’re just two smart people who were once forced into marriage, and are now sort of friends because of it (which still makes the duo completely stannable in a platonic way).
Sansa is a character who’s learned not to trust most people. But she’s fiercely loyal to those she does trust, like Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and her siblings. Although she knows Tyrion’s weak points (believing Cersei, trusting and serving Daenerys), she also knows that he operates in good faith, and that he cares about her. So cheers to Sansa and Tyrion, the happiest divorcées in the Seven Kingdoms.
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