First of all I wanted to thank you all for your support and your comments in this new adventure.

To most of you I have already replied in private.

To guests like Jade Martell, Lester, Pretty and Chris Amanatidis thank you very much. I'm not trying excuse characters from mistakes they may have made (I never considered these decision "mistakes") nor trying to show that these decisions made canon better. I'm taking decisions many fans criticise and take issue with and try to see why these characters did it and discuss what else they could have done. I'm not saying that fandom is wrong and that if characters had done as fans want them to do (Sansa telling the truth, Ned not warning Cersei, Catelyn not taking Tyrion, Sansa going with the Hound, etc) things woud have been worse. No. And I'm not trying to make things "better for the Starks" either. What I'm trying to do is show how they got to these decisions and to ponder what alternative they had. It's very easy to criticise in hindsight and with more knowledge, but at the time and taking into account their situation, I don't think they had much of a choice.

Thanks.

4) Sansa should have gone with the Hound when Stannis attacked.

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She had never felt so scared. Men everywhere. And not the men she knew. Soldiers, thugs. Horrible men!

She missed her father. But he was gone. She had seen his head roll. How she had hated Joffrey at that moment – he had promised.

She missed Arya. But she was gone. She had disappeared. Was she even still alive?

She missed her mother. She would know what to do. She would know where to go.

She missed her brothers. Robb leading a war – was he coming to save her? Bran confined to a bed. Rickon all alone at home. Jon surrounded by his new Brothers - would he forget about her and her family now?

She missed Septa Mordane and Jory. Both dead after this whole mess at the capital.

Father was going to be Hand of the King. She would marry a beautiful prince who would love her. She would be the Queen in the future. Arya would be a Lady. Her mother and her siblings would all come for her wedding and her coronation …. How could it all go so wrong?

And now? She felt trapped with Cersei in the room. She had to get out. But where could she go? To the only place she could hide: the safety of her room.

She kept the windows shut, the candles unlit and the door closed. Nobody would find her. She could be safe until Stannis and all his horrible men were gone. Or until Stannis won and made Joffrey and his horrible men disappear.

Safe. Hidden. Alone ….

-Pff – a hand covered her mouth.

"Quiet" was all the man said.

She couldn't see his face, but she knew the voice. Gruff, unfriendly, cold. Growling, almost like a dog. Joffrey's guard, the Hound.

"Wh- What are you doing here?" she asked hoping she could keep the fear out of her voice.

"Same as you. Hiding."

"Shouldn't you be out there defending your king?" she managed to find her courage.

"Shouldn't you be in the room together with all those defenceless crying women?"

"I felt safer here."

"So did I" he whispered. He drew close to her and she could smell his breath. He smelled of horseshit and smoke.

"Why my room? What do you want with me?" She was terribly scared. She had heard what happened to young girls when they were alone with soldiers.

"I knew I would be alone. I thought I would be alone" he corrected himself.

"Why do you want to be alone?"

"What's it to you?" was his gruff reply.

"Nothing. I was just asking. You're the one who's in my room?"

Boom! A wall had collapsed somewhere outside. The screams grew closer and more desperate.

"We need to get out" he said.

"Go. I'm not stopping you." Yes, please go! Leave me alone. Go! I don't want you here.

He looked at her and laughed. A cacophonous guffaw.

"You're scared, little bird"

"N-No-o"

"Ha! Of course not. You're not scared of me. You're not scared of Strannis and his men. You're not scared they will come into your room, take you together with all the other good little girls and one by one have their way with you. Slowly, painfully. Many times"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Shut up Pleeeeaaaasssseeeee. Her mind kept conjuring up images she didn't want.

"Come with me" he suddenly offered.

Sansa was confused. No! Her mind screamed. He's a killer. He killed Mycah. He looks mean. He looks cruel. He is cruel.

"No"

"Well, it's your choice. I can save you. Or you can wait here for all those men who will be looking forward to your tiny, warm, soft-"

"Shut up!" She cried. "You're a killer."

"Yes, that I am. I am killer. So was your father."

"My father was an honourable man"

"Yes, who built his honour on the corpses of those he killed. Or do you think he just asked his enemies to surrender? Your father was a killer. Your brother is a killer. Your beloved Joffrey is a killer. But you already knew that, eh?

"You're horrible"

"Yes, and that might be the quality that will keep you safe out there. Come" he extended his hand.

"No"

"Fine. Good luck."

The Hound turned around towards the door, so that now the burned side of his face was visible.

Hideous! He's a hideous man. He's cruel. He's a killer. A killer. He'll kill me. …

… He could have killed me if he had wanted. He could have had hurt me if he had wanted. But he didn't. He helped me when Joffrey killed father, when he forced me to look upon father's face and when he had me beat. Will he keep me safe? Will he take me to Robb and mother?

"Wait" a faint whisper left her lips. "Wait" she repeated.

The Hound turned around and extended his hand. He nodded and waited for her at the door.

"Will you keep me safe?"

"As much as I can."

"Will you take me to my brother and my mother?"

"I will get you out of here" was all he said.

Sansa looked around her dark room. She suddenly spotted the doll her father had given her when they first arrived. She had hated that doll. She had hated her father. She didn't play with dolls. Father had got Arya everything she wanted but didn't even pay attention to what she liked. She had hated father, she had hated Arya. Now she would give everything to be with them. … She grabbed the doll, clutched it to her heart and left the room with Sandor Clegane.

"Are you going to help the Queen? The King?"

"Fuck the King."

They slowly and quietly made their way through the corridors until they found themselves at the side gate leading to the yard. When a guard stopped them, Clegane quickly disposed of him. A killer.

There was fire all around. Bodies on the ground. Men fighting. Boys and women trying to protect themselves. A man jumped in front of her face and she stopped dead in her tracks. The Hound took care of it. A killer.

As they continued walking, two soldiers stood in front of them. They questioned Clegane about abandoning the king. Craven, coward, traitor, they called him and more. The Hound made them stop. A killer.

After what seemed like hours of walking under the cover of night wandering through the trees, they finally made it to a clearing.

"Let's stop here for the night. You should rest" he said and sat down, not waiting for her to agree.

Sleep was hard to find. She closed her eyes and kept seeing men. Men dying, men killing. Men hurting her. She hated men. Clegane was a man. He was a killer.

When they woke the following morning, they started chatting amiably as they made their way. Soon they found an Inn where they stopped to have breakfast. Lemon cakes, her favourite. They took some horses and galloped away. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was up and the birds were chirping. They followed a stream, which then turned into a river. Blue water running swiftly between two green forests. A kind man walked up to them and offered to take them by boat. He said he knew how to get to Riverrun. She momentarily wondered how he knew where they were going. The Hound must have told him and she didn't hear. The man rowed up the river and in a few hours she could see this formidable castle. "Riverrun" the man said and pointed. She had never been there, but somehow she recognized it. It was a beautiful castle, just like her mother had always said. The boat drew close to the stone quay and a young man was waiting for her. "Hello, dear niece, I'm Edmure, your uncle". She had never seen her mother's brother, but she recognized him nonetheless. Edmure quickly took her inside where her family was waiting. She could see her mother and her brother. But also Arya with Nymeria. They had somehow made it here before she did. She ran towards them and they were all hugging. They kept embracing her, stronger and stronger each time. They kept calling her name, Sansa, Sansa, Sansa, louder and louder each time.

"Sansa!" The Hound shook her one more time. "Wake up, it's time to go"

It was still dark when she opened her eyes. It was not a beautiful morning, but a gloomy mist surrounded them instead. The birds were not chirping, instead there was an eerie silence that covered the forest She was not in the castle. She was not with her mother and her siblings. She was with him.

"Where are we?"

"Out" was all he offered.

No food, no conversation, no companionship. No lemoncakes. No horses, no boat on a blue river. No mother, no Robb, no Arya. Just a muddy path under her shoes.

Will she find her family? Or will the King's men find them? Maybe bandits would find them, rob them and kill them. Maybe it is my family who finds me dead in a forgotten ditch in some forsaken town. Or maybe they never find me. … Should she have stayed in the Red Keep? Too late now ….

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I'll allow myself a hopeful flight of fancy. Sansa and the Hound found an Inn, they had delicious lemon cakes and they hired a man (yes, because the Hound had money on him) who took them on a boat to Riverrun. … Sansa went on to marry a handsome, gallant young man who loved her. And they all lived happily ever after. ...

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MY OPINION: Sansa was absolutely right when she refused to go with the Hound.

Many fans say she was stupid to stay in the Red Keep. If she had gone with the Hound, he would have taken her to her family. Would he? Maybe …

He's not a good guy. I mean, he would never attack her or anything. He's not that sort of guy. And if he had had to fight to protect her against other people, he probably would have. But if he had to choose between his safety or Sansa's, he would choose his – and there's nothing wrong with that.

The thing is that all Sansa knew about him was that he was a vicious killer and a thug. She had seen him kill Mycah and there was a reason he was Joffrey's guard and his name was The Hound (not kittycat).

In hindsight it's easy to say she would have been safer with the Hound, but for her, the choice was not that clear. In the Red Keep, at least she had people that cared about her. Cersei, for all her hatred, was at least somebody she knew. For better or worse, Cersei had become a mother figure for her. Cersei had been more of a parent than Ned after they arrived at the capital. In the castle she had her room, her safety, her things. She had known Stannis to be honourable, so she thought he wouldn't allow his men to harm her. Staying was a much safer option. With the Hound all she had was fear, uncertainty and a daunting adventure with an unclear ending ahead of her.

Plus, she had this fear of what would happen to her if men caught her. I don't think men would be raping all the girls and women they found, as they made it seem in the show. I mean, these men had sisters, wives, daughters, mothers. Raping would be something they would consider horrendous. Plus, from a pragmatic point of view, they are invading a city, they have other more pressing things to do ... But that was what she had heard men did and the fear that had been put into her head.

Do you think that if she had gone with The Hound she would have made it to Riverrun? In time for the Red Wedding? Maybe if she arrived early enough, Catelyn wouldn't have needed to trade Jaime for the girls (there would be no reasons as Sansa would be there and he would tell her they didn't have Arya either).

I would love to hear your thoughts.

I will ask again to please keep it civil. Please no insulting and bashing without arguments.

Thanks