Game of Thrones doesn't tend to reward good behavior with fair fortune, and one of the characters who has been most frequently beaten down is poor Sansa Stark, whose worst crime at the beginning of the series was being a bit bratty and wanting to marry a handsome prince. Played by Sophie Turner, who was recently cast as a young Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse, Sansa finally escaped the trappings on King's Landing in season 4 and reluctantly teamed up with the scheming Lord Petyr Baelish (AKA Littlefinger).

Sansa and Littlefinger have a bit of an odd relationship, since one is a teenage girl and the other is a middle-aged man who has already met (and lost) his one true love... and seems to regard Sansa as being either the daughter he might've had or his lost love reborn, depending on the moment. On that note: the two of them kissed towards the end of season 4, but their alliance is more political than romantic in nature for now.

Between the age difference, the fact that Sansa is the third woman in her family to be pursued by Littlefinger (for one reason or another) and the murders that both of them are complicit in, Sansa and Petyr don't have the healthiest of partnerships. When asked by Huffington Post whether or not she was "creeped out" by the characters' storyline, however, Turner explained that it's actually a bit of a step up for Sansa.

"I kind of love the storyline. I mean, for some viewers, it's very creepy, but that's kind of what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be this very messed up, twisted relationship in which Sansa knows she can manipulate Little Finger to get what she wants, and he can do the same with her. And together they create this amazing kind of tag team... To outsiders, it's very messed up and strange, but to her it's the only way she can get what she wants, and finally she has that power, so she's gonna use it."

Game of Thrones - Lysa and Sansa fight
Not everyone is a fan of Petyr and Sansa's relationship

Both of the Stark sisters are moving towards a change in season 5, as Arya heads to Braavos in order to learn the skills needed to avenge her family, and Sansa adopts a fiercer and more mature look as she embraces her role as Petyr's partner in crime. Turner explains that this change of wardrobe signifies the start of a new chapter in her character's life.

"Changing the dark hair and changing the structure and the color of the dress was a very conscious decision for her to kind of get away from her mother's Tully roots and really... form something of a House of her own... So it's just like a massive transformation. There's no Sansa left behind, and I think not just in the way that she appears but in the way that she's thinking now. How she’s become this, like, massive manipulator in a way."

It sounds like Sansa might finally be able to come out on top in Game of Thrones season 5, though Turner warns that she has a pretty traumatic scene coming up as well ("I give it a solid '6' [on the trauma scale]... It's a pretty intense scene.") At least Sansa has plenty of experience handling trauma by this point.

Game of Thrones premieres April 12th, 2015 on HBO.

Source: Huffington Post