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At Least Sansa Stans Are Happy With the Game of Thrones Finale

All hail HER

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Amanda Bell

[Warning: This post contains spoilers about "The Iron Throne," the series finale of Game of Thrones.]

Game of Thrones fans might be split over the fates of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Jon Snow (Kit Harington), and the leadership of Westeros as a whole, but fans of Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) are largely cheering how things worked out for their fire-haired Lady of Winterfell -- make that Queen in the North.

After Daenerys had been forcibly removed from power, and Jon Snow was sent into exile, the business of who might lead Westeros was attended to by a council of the lords and ladies of Westeros, and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) pegged Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) for the least corruptible of the bunch. Sansa initially objected to the idea, noting that he could not father children and would thus be unable to provide an heir for the crown, but the council determined that when Bran/the Three-Eyed Raven was ready to pass the torch, they would simply appoint another ruler.

All the Ways Game of Thrones Foreshadowed Jon Snow's Fate

Unless one of the three planned spin-offs to Game of Thrones centers on what happens next, we'll just have to use our imagination to determine whether that actually works out for them or not. But Sansa refused to take the chance that another tyrant might sit in whatever throne replaces the Iron Throne; instead, she declared the eternal independence of the North, which she would preside over as the Queen in the North.

​Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) in Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 6: "The Iron Throne"

Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) in Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 6: "The Iron Throne"

HBO

Sansa's long been the most strident defender of Winterfell, even when it was a house of horrors for her beneath the sigil of House Bolton, and she's made no bones about the fact that she wanted the North to be omitted from the next monarch's rule over the seven six kingdoms. Seeing her achieve that end and satisfy her Season 1 desire to someday become a queen was exactly the kind of closure Sansa stans needed to see, and they've been very vocal about their pleasure on social media.

For many of those fans, Sansa's arc has felt very complete and fulfilling, which seems to be a rare perspective in this final stretch of the series.

It doesn't hurt, of course, that her coronation was divine, and we even saw her gown completed with weirwood tree leaves to signify her undying love for and sense of belonging in her home.

Beyond her new reign, too, there is a sense of satisfaction among the Sansa Stark fan community about how she maintained her streak of savage takedowns right 'til the end.

In other words, while fans of the other major characters on Game of Thrones might be left struggling to comprehend their faves' fates in the coming weeks, Sansa fans will probably be smirking without end after hearing her declared so boisterously the "Queen in the North" at long last.

Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO Go and HBO Now.

PHOTOS: Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 6: "The Iron Throne"

Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, and Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones​

Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, and Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones

HBO