150 ASOS 7 Sansa I: Queen-to-be

When Olenna Tyrell invites Sansa to dinner to propose she wed her grandson, Willas and become the Lady of Highgarden, she pretends something very different is happening. The invitation appears to come from Margaery, to hide that Olenna has business with Sansa. Olenna pretends that business is to learn Joffrey's disposition, but it's really to leverage Sansa's fear of Joffrey to sell her on Willas. Olenna is revealed as an ambitious schemer and the true head of House Tyrell. Through her son, Mace, and granddaughter, Margaery, Olenna plans to rule the Seven Kingdoms from the Reach.

I Called For a Knight, But You're a Bear: Highgarden is a Trap

The arc around Sansa's rescue began with prayers for a knight. When Dontos presented himself as a godsend, Sansa doubted him, wondering why the gods would send her a homely, drunken fool. The phrasing of Dontos's comparison to the Hound suggests the Hound actually is a true knight and dedicated to Sansa's protection. Now, she worries she was wrong not to go with Sandor during the Blackwater and keeps his soiled cloak hidden at the bottom of a chest, a metaphor for having secret feelings for him.

Now, the Tyrells present themselves as would-be rescuers, offering a visit to Highgarden from which there may be no exit. Sansa's call for a knight is referenced by the song "The Bear and the Maiden Fair," which Olenna has performed loudly to cover their business talks at dinner. Olenna takes pains to appear not to have political motives, attributing the plan to wed Margaery to Renly to her son Mace as well as his new plan to wed her to Joffrey. Olenna appears to tut-tut at Mace's ambitions but to only b able to throw up her hands and roll her eyes as a mere woman.

The line "I CALLED FOR A KNIGHT, BUT YOU'RE A BEAR!"89 is sung during the part of the conversation where it's admitted Willas has a bad leg. The way Olenna responded to Sansa's nervous recommendation of Joffrey as comely suggests Willas is not. It's admitted he's much older. But, something about Olenna's demeanor is ominous and suggests there is something objectionable about Willas that Sansa might not guess.

Princess

When Loras escorts Sansa, she can hardly contain her crushing on him. It's revealed she has pinned hopes Loras has romantic feeling for her on the red rose he gave her at the Hand's Tourney. "She had been so certain it meant something, that it meant everything. A red rose, not a white."79 It confuses Sansa that Loras doesn't remember.

Though she has never thought of Loras in her chapters, Sansa's new eligible state has her open to suitors. When Olenna proposes Sansa might wed her grandson, Sansa all but collapses, promising to love Loras forever, though she'd realized during their earlier conversation that he'd never meant anything personal by the red rose. Really, she was given the red one because from a high house. Loras has been schooled to be that political. She should know, from his having joined the kingsguard, alone, that Loras cannot be who is meant.

Olenna is surprised at Sansa's error and asks "Didn't they teach you anything at Winterfell?" An important reveal in the chapter, slowly constructed, is that Sansa doesn't know she's a princess. Olenna lists the high houses, Stark being one, and notes that the Tyrells are not only much lower but of dubious claim. If Loras was trained to recognize Sansa and knew to give her a red rose, instead of the white roses he gave to lower born girls, why wasn't Sansa trained to recognize and court the most advantageous matches? It's that, as climbers, the Tyrells have to. Sansa would have been treated more like a token, her marriage arranged for her without her needing to do any wooing until she'd been told who by her father. Really, only Joffrey was above her in station and she knew he was to be fancied without requiring instruction. However, Sansa not having been trained to know the desirability of union with various houses makes her vulnerable, now. Sansa is so focused on her fantasies and so traumatized by Joffrey's various abuses she cannot see that Highgarden is a trap and Olenna not to be trusted.

Mnemonic device "Queen-to-be" refers to

1. Sansa's surprising resentment at having lost the position of queen-to-be when replaced by Margaery. She'd been so joyous at being set aside that it seemed she'd forgotten her earlier interest in being queen. Now, it has resurfaced. Sansa thinks Margaery must see her as a rival and is suspicious about her motives in inviting her to dinner. Margaery is only dutiful (as opposed to in the HBO show where she is the one who wants to be queen) and would wed Edmure Tully or Quentyn Martel if commanded, as readily as Renly or Joffrey. By contrast, Sansa is interested in her own position. It now seems Sansa's original love of Joffrey had less to do with his good looks than with his having been the crowned prince.

2. Olenna's power grab on the throne. She means to rule through Mace and Margaery, despite Tommen's crown, much as Tywin had been ruling through Cersei's pressuring of Robert, despite his crown.

Ironies

Sansa is right to want to meet Willas before agreeing to wed him, yet the visit to Highgarden will make her a Tyrell hostage, so she must either turn the Tyrells down entirely or deliver herself into their power, which is the same as agreeing to wed Willas before meeting him.

Sansa is so obviously traumatized by her continued physical and psychological abuse by Joffrey that her being unwilling to speak ill of him speaks worse of him.

Sansa dreams of romantic love but does not experience sympathy, even for her crush, Loras.

Sansa sees herself as reduced to a nobody by her family's becoming traitors and rebels, but the rest of Westeros still sees her as a Stark, which is to say as a princess. Sansa sees Margaery as highest ranking because queen-to-be, but Olenna at least claims to see the Tyrells as inherently lower than ancient houses.

Olenna means to be the power behind the throne, wanting credit and for her clout to be respected, yet knows it must be secret in order to work.