Lady

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House Stark.svgLadyHouse Stark.svg
CarrieBest Sansa and Lady.jpg
Sansa Stark with Lady - by Carrie Best ©

Alias the sister they had lost[1]
Owner Sansa Stark
Species Direwolf
Born In 298 AC, the north
Died In 298 ACDarry
Buried In 298 AC, the lichyard, Winterfell[2]
Books

Played by Zunni[3]
TV series Game of Thrones: Season 1

Lady is a direwolf bonded to Sansa Stark. She is the litter-mate of Grey Wind, Nymeria, Summer, Shaggydog, and Ghost.

Appearance

Lady has grey fur and golden[4] yellow eyes. She is the smallest of the litter.[5] Lady likes to have her ears scratched, and when fed under the table, takes the food delicately. She is very protective of Sansa.[6]

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

Lady is discovered by Robb Stark and Jon Snow, along with the rest of her litter, after her mother was killed by a stag.[7] Lady bonds with Sansa Stark, and adopts her mistress's dainty manners and trusting nature.[6]

At the crossroads inn on the journey from Winterfell to King's Landing, Sansa is frightened when she meets Ser Ilyn Payne, the King's Justice, and Lady growls and moves to protect her. Prince Joffrey Baratheon, Sansa's betrothed, courts Sansa and asks her to ride with him, and she leaves Lady behind at the camp.[6] Near the ruby ford, Joffrey and Sansa come across Sansa's sister, Arya Stark, playing at swords with her friend Mycah. Joffrey draws his sword, Lion's Tooth, and threatens Mycah, but Arya fights with him; her direwolf Nymeria disarms and superficially wounds him.[6]

In a trial at Darry, King Robert Baratheon orders Nymeria killed, but she cannot be found, so the spiteful Queen Cersei Lannister orders Lady to be put down instead. Despite Sansa's protests, her father, Lord Eddard Stark, cannot get Robert to relent. Eddard chooses to perform the execution himself, as is his custom, and to spare Lady pain she might suffer if Ilyn Payne were to do the deed. The trusting Lady does not sense Eddard's intention, and is killed with a single blow of his greatsword, Ice. Eddard orders for four of his men to take Lady's body north to be buried at Winterfell.[5]

When Lady's bones arrive at Winterfell, her litter-mates Grey Wind, Shaggydog, and Summer all sense her death and howl mournfully. Lady is buried in the lichyard at Winterfell, where the Kings of Winter had laid their faithful servants.[2]

In King's Landing, when Eddard hears that Summer had saved Bran Stark's life, he wonders if the old gods had sent the direwolves, and what it might mean that he had killed Sansa's.[8]

Sansa weeps for days, but cannot hate Joffrey for Lady, and instead places the majority of the blame on her sister Arya for Lady's death. Sansa blames Queen Cersei as well, but softens to her nevertheless.[9] Sansa sometimes dreams of Lady, and feels as if the direwolf were there watching her.[4]

When Robb Stark receives the letter Queen Cersei had forced Sansa to write to Winterfell, calling Eddard Stark a traitor and summoning Robb to swear fealty to King Joffrey I Baratheon, he does not understand what could have caused Sansa to write such things. Their brother Bran believes it is due to Sansa having lost Lady.[2]

A Clash of Kings

At Winterfell, Bran Stark listens to Summer and Shaggydog howl, and wonders if they miss their brothers and sisters too, if they are calling to Grey Wind and Ghost and Nymeria and the ghost of Lady.[10]

Sansa visits the godswood in the Red Keep, and thinks Lady would have liked it there. When Ser Dontos Hollard offers to help her escape, Sansa is uncertain whether to trust him, and thinks of Lady and how she could smell lies.[11]

King Joffrey, when threatening Sansa with a crossbow, tells her he hasn't forgotten how her direwolf assaulted him. Sansa protests that Lady never hurt him, but he killed her anyway.[12]

Arya includes Queen Cersei and King Joffrey on her death list for many reasons, but also for Lady's death.[13] She is glad to hear that Castle Darry will be burned, because it was where Cersei had made Eddard Stark kill Lady.[14]

Sansa has a nightmare of the riot of King's Landing, and calls for Lady to help her.[15] During the Battle of the Blackwater, when Sansa fears that she will die, she wonders if she will meet Lady again when she's dead.[16]

A Storm of Swords

During a supper with Joffrey's new betrothed Margaery Tyrell, her grandmother Olenna questions Sansa about the king's nature. Olenna gets Sansa to speak the truth about Joffrey's cruelty, and Sansa confesses that he lied about the incident with Mycah and made her father kill Lady.[17]

Bran Stark skinchanges his direwolf Summer, who remembers his litter-mates, including Lady, "the sister they had lost."[1]

The night before Joffrey's wedding to Margaery, Sansa dreams that she is back at home in Winterfell, running through the godswood with Lady. When she wakes, and begins to prepare for the wedding and for her planned escape, she thinks that if Lady were with her, she would not be afraid.[18]

At the tower of Petyr Baelish in the Fingers, Sansa bonds with an old blind dog, and after waking from a dream, she tells him she wishes he was Lady.[19]

A Dance with Dragons

Summer forms a new pack with Varamyr's wolves, and Bran reminds him that his old one is still out there, even though Lady and Grey Wind are dead.[20]

Jon Snow recalls his siblings, including Sansa brushing out Lady's coat and singing to herself.[21]

Quotes

Septa Mordane: A noble lady does not feed dogs at her table.
Sansa: She's not a dog, she's a direwolf.[6]

A direwolf is a savage beast. Sooner or later it would have turned on your girl the same way the other did on my son. Get her a dog, she'll be happier for it.[5]

No, not Lady, Lady didn't bite anybody, she's good…[5]

The Lannister woman shall never have this skin.[5]

What was it that Jon had said? When they found the pups in the snow? "Your children were meant to have these pups, my lord." And he had killed Sansa's, and for what?[8]

—thoughts of Eddard Stark
Sansa with Lady. Illustrated by Smirtouille © Fantasy Flight Games

For a moment it was as if the direwolf was there in the room, looking at her with those golden eyes, sad and knowing. She had been dreaming, she realized. Lady was with her, and they were running together, and… and… trying to remember was like trying to catch the rain with her fingers. The dream faded, and Lady was dead again.[4]

—thoughts of Sansa Stark

She had gone south, and only her bones had returned.[2]

—thoughts of Bran Stark

She could smell out falsehood, she could, but she was dead, Father had killed her, on account of Arya.[11]

—thoughts of Sansa Stark

If Lady was here, I would not be afraid.[18]

—thoughts of Sansa Stark

Sometimes he could sense them, though, as if they were still with him, only hidden from his sight by a boulder or a stand of trees. He could not smell them, nor hear their howls by night, yet he felt their presence at his back... all but the sister they had lost. His tail drooped when he remembered her.[1]

—thoughts of Summer

Behind the Scenes

According to George R. R. Martin, the loss of her wolf has left Sansa a little adrift.[22]

References