A PCM-based analysis of the personality types of main Game of Thrones characters (Part 2/6: Sansa Stark)

Hello dear reader and thank you for coming back to check out the second article of the series dedicated to analysing the personality types of the Game of Thrones main characters from the point of view of their base personality type, according to PCM.

In this post we look at Sansa Stark, the elder daughter and second child of Lord Eddard Stark and his wife Lady Catelyn Stark.

If you’ve missed the first article in the series, dedicated to Jon Snow, you can check it out HERE.

As you might remember, the base is the one that defines their perceptual frame of reference. It defines the “currency” they use in their communication, the most preferred communication channels, their character strengths and management style.

One can see what base personality someone has by simply noticing what words and expression that person uses most of the time. This is why, in PCM, we say “It’s not WHAT you say, but THE WAY you say it”.

Sansa – Persister base

Sansa was a “tough cookie” to break… of course, as mentioned before, not all fictional characters are 100% consistent with the traits of a “real” person, so the model will not be so easy to apply to them. However, they still do make good practice material, so here are my two cents.

I think Sansa, just like Jon in the previous article, fits the Persister personality type. The Persister experiences the world through the perception of opinions and prefers to take in and process information through their belief system. They are conscientious, dedicated and observant, and prefer a democratic communication style, using values as the currency in their conversations.

In the cinema world, persisters are seen in characters like Sherlock Holmes and Superman, while in history, the civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. is a good reference.

Sansa (just like any other person) is a mixture of all six personality types and in different moments and situations we see some of her other personality types being more active than that of the Persister, but, as said, for simplicity and ease of understanding purposes, I will focus on her base only.

Sansa’s features:

Sansa is one of the characters who had one of the most beautiful transformations through the series. She does start off as an annoying and naïve little girl, but the way she chooses to respond to the hardship and horrors that life presents her with, bring up her strong and smart character to life. She learns to be patient, hide from her enemies and play the long-term game.

She’s been through hell, but never let the hell break her; she always kept going forward, always surviving and not giving up – persisting against all hardship, finding her voice and going for what she believes in: a free and independent Winterfell and North. With no friends, dead family, a traitor’s name, and living in constant fear and abuse, Sansa chooses life and an independent future for her Winterfell.

Several behaviours of hers make me think she’s a persister:

Observant; evaluates people/situations through a belief system

• She plans and plays the long game – she has observed people and how they work for a long time, in silence, playing the subdued princess-wanna-be just to stay alive => observant
• Following the penultimate Season 6 episode, Bennett Madison of Vanity Fair wrote “When Sansa icily reminds her dopey brother that ‘No one can protect you’, it’s because she’s always been on her own. As far back as King’s Landing, Sansa’s between quietly protecting herself, working on her stitchery while taking cool measure of everything going on around her, learning how to game the system, and slithering through situations that would have gotten the best of the show’s more flashy or impulsive characters. In ‘Battle of the Bastards’, she got to show a little flash of her own; by being defiantly, gloriously correct in her convictions, by saving the day with her foresight and savvy, and by feeding Ramsay to the dogs.” (Source Article 1) => observant; strong convictions

Sense of duty, does “what is right”

• She says: “Winterfell is our home. It’s ours. And Arya’s, and Bran’s and Rickon’s, wherever they are. It belongs to our family. We have to fight for it! […] A monster has taken our home and our brother. We have to go back to Winterfell and save them both” – Sansa to Jon Snow => strong sense of duty towards her family, the Stark name and her North;

Strong opinions/beliefs/convictions

• While I cannot say I enjoyed Sansa’s character when she was a teenager 😉 (though, it did make her transformation all the more amazing), her strong convictions regarding her future, based on what a “proper lady” should do and act and how her “feminine virtues” would make her a perfect match can be perceived as strong convictions/beliefs… (or as total naivety… have your pick) => strong convictions/beliefs

Strong values; tradition is important

• She confronted horrible challenges and lost much of her family. She was isolated. Yet she managed to learn from very difficult, treacherous people and, at the same time, stay true to her values about protecting her family. […]She’s proven herself time and again: during her forced stay in the Red Keep, during her manipulation by Littlefinger and, finally, during her fateful encounter with the sadistic Ramsay Bolton. Sansa is a fighter at heart. (Source Article 2) => strong values; endurance; persistence;
• “I love you, little brother. I always will. You’ll be a good king. But tens of thousands of Northmen fell in the Great War defending all of Westeros, and those who survived have seen too much and fought too hard ever to kneel again. The North will remain an independent kingdom as it was for thousands of years.” (when Sansa secures Northern independence from her brother, the new King Bran) (Source Article 3) =>  strong convictions; sense of duty
• “Sansa, Thank you for teaching me resilience, bravery and what true strength really is. Thank you teaching me to be kind and patient and to lead with love.“ (Sophie Turner’s Instagram) => resilience/bravery (motivated/supported by strong beliefs, values, dedication to a purpose)
• “When the snows fall and the white wind blows, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives” – Sansa, remembering her father’s teachings => strong values (family)

This is Sansa Stark… the Queen of the North. Check in soon for the next character analysis!

Until then… remember: “It’s not WHAT you say, but THE WAY you say it!”

Magda.

Disclaimers:

1. One must be aware that not everything can be explained through PCM. As much as I love this training and I see its utility in everyday life, we humans are way too complex beings to be deciphered through a training that is taught in only three days. The way we were educated, the culture and the society we grew in, the events in our life (happy or traumatising) all leave marks on the way we think, react, talk, behave, on the stories we build about ourselves and the world around us. Here’s to us!
2. These thoughts and this analysis are my own and do not represent the view of Kahler Communications I wrote it in order to offer my readers and educational and fun analysis that might help them better understand PCM and its concepts, as it is based on widely known characters. I hope you will take it as such and enjoy it.
3. Also, please note that, as these are fictional characters, they most probably won’t act/think/feel/develop just as a “normal” person, in the real life, would. As such, sometimes, applying PCM to them might feel a little “forced”. .
4. None of the images of the Game of Thrones characters belong to me. They are property of the publishers/producers/HBO or the mentioned websites
5. I am open to feedback and suggestions regarding my interpretations of the PCM Personality Types of the Game of Thrones characters, so please feel free to leave a comment if you have a different opinion 🙂 .

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