14 Years Later, George R.R. Martin Pushes Pivotal Stark Story to The Winds of Winter
George RR Martin says the story itself snarled A Dance With Dragons—mirroring the long slog of The Winds of Winter—and revealed on his old LiveJournal that he had already finished major sections before tearing it all apart.
George R.R. Martin has been upfront that wrangling A Dance with Dragons nearly broke his brain. Like The Winds of Winter, it dragged on for all kinds of reasons — one big one being the story knot itself. And tucked inside that mess was a choice that sidelined Sansa Stark longer than fans expected.
The Sansa chapter that vanished (and where it went)
Back when he was posting updates on LiveJournal, Martin said he had a Sansa chapter finished for A Dance with Dragons. Then he and his editor decided to punt it to the next book. His words, not mine:
"That Sansa chapter I talked about finishing, for instance. It's still finished, but my editor and I decided it belongs in THE WINDS OF WINTER, not A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, so it's been moved into the next book. Sansa will not appear in DANCE."
That choice comes out of a bigger structural issue. Martin split the saga across A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons by point-of-view clusters — essentially geography and character groups — so he could actually dig into each perspective. It solved one problem and created another: some major players, Sansa included, got pushed to the margins for entire books.
Has Sansa been getting shortchanged?
Early on, Sansa had a healthy chunk of the narrative. By A Storm of Swords she was in the middle of a genuinely gripping arc. Then A Feast for Crows gave her just three POV chapters, and A Dance with Dragons cut her out entirely because of that shuffle. We will see her again in The Winds of Winter — the question is how much space she gets this time.
Where Sansa is when we pick back up
Martin has shared preview chapters from The Winds of Winter online, and Sansa's delayed chapter is among them. She is still operating as Alayne Stone in the Vale, playing the long game under Littlefinger's roof. It is a promising setup, and honestly, overdue.
What The Winds of Winter needs to do with her
If the last two books thinned out her presence, Winds needs to swing the pendulum back. Martin has said the new book is a monster in size, which should mean room for the heavy hitters, Sansa included. Whether he aligns with the show's endpoint or charts a different route, her story deserves a payoff worthy of the political gauntlet she has run. Ideally, she makes it out of Westeros's meat grinder with both her agency and her head.
A quick series timeline
- A Game of Thrones — 1996
- A Clash of Kings — 1998
- A Storm of Swords — 2000
- A Feast for Crows — 2005
- A Dance with Dragons — 2011
- The Winds of Winter — TBA
- A Dream of Spring — TBA
What are you expecting from Sansa in The Winds of Winter? Call your shot in the comments.