Viewers Are Quitting 'Game Of Thrones' After That Controversial Scene

[Prism]

124. People missed the entire point of the scene/arc

You have two story threads here: Theon's redemption/reclamation of identity, and Sansa's new found agency.

The original Ramsey bridal night was kept because it was the trigger in the books that led to Reek becoming Theon again. It was the horror too far. That sticks pretty close to the books, so that brings us to . . .

Sansa's arc. I feel like the people who are outraged missed the scene preceding the wedding. Miranda threatens Sansa with Ramsey's cruelty. Miranda tells Sansa what she is in for. What is Sansa's response? "This is Winterfell. This is my home. You cannot scare me." Sansa knows she's in for a rough time, but she goes ahead willingly. She and Littlefinger discuss this in previous episodes. This is going to be horrible. These are terrible people. But will you do what it takes to avenge your family? Sansa says she is.

That doesn't make what happened any less horrible. Sansa is suffering. But she subjected herself to this man and this situation in the pursuit of a larger goal. Therein (I hope) lays her strength. She's enduring him now in order to bring him and his father down later.

The only way the writers will ruin this, IMO, is if they make Sansa a damsel in distress, looking to an outside force to rescue her. If she, instead, rallies the North Remembers brigade, turns Theon, and engineers the downfall of the Boltons, this all works.

If this results in Brienne or anyone else having to swoop in and rescue her, then I will join everyone else in being utterly pissed off and disgusted, and I will question the point of the rape as others are doing now.