Spoiler alert: Sansa out of the frying pan, straight into inferno

Ramsay Bolton died and the world sighed a breath of relief, but could there be more to his story?

We thought we had seen the worst that Game of Thrones has to offer with King Joffery Baratheon, but then we were introduced to Ramsay Bolton who made the former look like a harmless insect. For many, the ongoing season’s penultimate episode, Battle of the Bastards was an absolute treat because Bolton finally met his end, but when has George R R Martin ever been entirely gracious? When has there been a sunny day in the story without the impending silence of a catastrophic storm? It was good riddance indeed, but how does one push away the nagging feeling of something horrible about to happen, especially when Ramsay hinted it himself right before he died?

Hollywood Reporter recently reviewed the episode and compared Bolton with another hateful character from the yesteryears, Hannibal Lecter. They both seem to have a penchant for torturing their victims in unfathomable ways, enjoying the every bit of the torment they inflict. Both are notoriously intelligent, with their minds working in the most twisted manner one can imagine. The way Bolton whispered “Hello, Sansa” when the eldest Stark daughter walked into his cell following the battle, was indeed chilling enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand. What’s more, it instantly reminded one of the way Lecter uttered his famous words, “Hello, Clarice” which pretty much had the same impact on viewers.



Sansa Stark put the last nail in Bolton’s coffin by feeding him to the hounds while he was still alive, but his final words continued to linger in the silence, and in our minds. When Stark visits the injured villain in his cell after the epic battle, he seems to be talking to himself, but then he delivers the lines that we wish we hadn’t heard. “Is this where I’ll be staying now? No. Our time together is about to come to an end. That’s alright. You can’t kill me; I’m part of you now.” Even though Stark’s mercy does not allow him to live long enough to speak another word, he may have already said more than enough. “I am a part of you now,” seems to imply that Bolton will continue to exist within her. This can have two potential explanations – he was either trying to say that the physical and mental torture that he put Sansa through will alter her life permanently, or, he may be referring to the existence of a bloodline – Sansa may be pregnant with Bolton’s child.

One is taken back to an earlier episode, The Door, when Sansa confronts Littlefinger to explain how she can still feel everything that Ramsay did to her body, all the time, and how she holds him responsible for it. If Sansa is indeed pregnant, the horror has only just begun. Ramsay, just as he had promised, will continue to exist as a part of her for the rest of her life. While fans hope this is not the case, only time and the season finale will tell for sure. Till then, we can only marvel at Martin’s ability to string together a series of nightmares together so beautifully, that one cannot help but watch the horror unfold episode after episode.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2016.

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