For rather plot-important reasons, Sansa sports a new gown in the Game of Thrones finale, and it’s rife with symbolism that it’s time to explore.
Sansa Stark is the Queen in the North, and it’s only right and proper that Game of Thrones showed her coronation. From betrothed of Joffrey Baratheon to queen in her own right, Sansa’s journey deserves all the analysis it can get.
So does her gown in the coronation scene.
That includes the back, so we’re going to start there:
Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark. Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO
That is some painstaking embroidery. Although it’s not shown in any official photos, the insides of Sansa’s sleeves have red leaves embroidered on them, so the entire effect is that she’s a living weirwood tree. Why would that matter? Well, the Seven never took much hold in the North, and Winterfell’s godswood has become a key location for the Stark family.
Not only is the North an independent kingdom once again, but it’s also returning to its old ways of the old gods.
Additionally, although this may not have been in mind, Bran is also tied to the weirwood trees as the Three-Eyed Raven, and they’re connected by that as well as their status as rulers of Westeros.
Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark. Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO
In close-up, we can see that the tree/vine motif is carried to the front of her dress. Sansa’s still retaining her armor-like fashions from earlier in the season, but the dress underneath is exposed. Taken with the white embroidery on the back of her dress, her color palette is gray, white, and black: the colors on the Stark banner.
The style of the gown also owes a little something to some of the fashions of Cersei Lannister, particularly in the sleeves and collar, although it mixes earlier seasons of Cersei with later ones. Sure, Sansa might not want to emulate Cersei’s style of rule, but the Lioness of Lannister did know how to project an image of beauty or one of strength. Sansa’s effectively blending the two here. (There’s even a little bit of Cersei in Sansa’s crown.)
Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark. Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO
Now that we pull out, we can see the throne in a bit better detail, and it and her crown are both conveying the same message. There is power concentrated here, but not ornate or showy power — just inexorable, unyielding power. The Queen in the North doesn’t need a throne made of blades to let you know that she’s the queen; she only needs direwolves flanking her and crowning her head.
What an image to end her story on.