Everything’s coming up Starks right now (well, except for the whole “Rickon should have zig-zagged” thing). Arya crossed another name off her list when she killed Walder Frey, Bran is officially the Three-Eyed Raven, and Sansa is back in Winterfell. What about Jon Snow, though? He’s officially a Stark — he even has a badass nickname, the White Wolf, just like his “brother” Robb — but no one alive, save possibly Bran, knows his lineage. To everyone who matters, Jon’s a “motherless bastard, born in the South,” to quote Littlefinger.
Yet he was still dubbed the King of the North (the King of the North! The King of the North! The King of the… sorry, you gotta admit, it’s pretty catchy) by the various Northern lords, because, well, if you came back from the dead and defeated Ramsay Bolton, you’d probably deserve to be hailed as royalty, too. It’s a stirring, triumphant scene, even for Sansa, who was reminded by Littlefinger that she, a “trueborn daughter of Ned and Catelyn Stark, born in Winterfell,” should be “the future of House Stark.” Wait, why isn’t Lyanna Mormont calling Sansa the Queen of the North? That’s a good question, and one that Littlefinger appeared to be asking when he caught Sansa’s eye.
They look like a gloomier Mac and Charlie in that It’s Always Sunny episode.
In a post-finale video segment, Kit Harington admitted that Jon “hasn’t actually learnt his lesson… he’s asking [Sansa] to trust him, but he’s not listening and watching and observing her. I think that could be a real problem for him.” Sophie Turner agreed. “He’s named King in the North and she kind of gets no credit for it,” she said. “It’s not that she’s looking for praise or anything. She did it because she wants revenge and also because she wants her home back. Jon is so naive. So Sansa is just a little bit agitated is all.”
She has every right to be. Earlier in the episode, Jon told Sansa that she’s “the Lady of Winterfell. You deserve it. We’re standing here because of you.” Yet when the lords were declaring him the King of the North, he grew conspicuously quiet. No wonder Sansa didn’t tell him about the Knights of the Vale — there are hints that she doesn’t completely trust him.
Even Liam Cunningham, the voice of reason, hinted at tougher times to come. “[Jon’s] definitely entitled to be running Winterfell, although Sansa may have a problem with that I fear. Her relationship with Jon Snow I think is an indication of what’s going to come, and I’m not sure it’s going to be pretty.”
Everything that comes up must inevitably come down. Especially Starks.
