And then there’s Sansa. Sansa Stark who named her deadly, killer direwolf Lady. And she trained her to be gentle, and quiet, and sweet and loving. And then what happens? The Baratheons have her killed. So now Sansa is so alone, having lost her family, her home and her Lady. But she is the exact opposite of what her father said would happen to wolves who end up alone. Ned Stark said that the only way they could survive was to stick together, and that was never an option. Robb had their mother. Rickon and Bran had Winterfell and then each other. Jon is on the wall, with his brothers, and then across it with Ygritte, then back to the wall. Arya had Gendry, and is still linked to Nymeria. But Sansa has absolutely no one who is her family. So she takes the strength and poise of a lady, and turns it into something as deadly and defensive as a direwolf’s fangs and claws. She knows that she is alone, and that no one is coming for her, so she adapts. She plays the game, she keeps her mouth shut, she stays alive.

Because the best way to hide a wolf, to keep people feeling safe, is to make them think it’s just a well trained dog.