<https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/155342-so-remind-me-why-independence-for-the-north-is-so-important/#comment-8412263>
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"Your questions assume the show was operating from a place of logic. Come on. You know better.  Like a lot of wtf events of the past season, northern independence was just a plot device to give characters stuff to do, set up hack conflicts and Mean Girls crap, and to make Dany go off the rails.\n \n\n\n\tAs for Sansa declaring independence when Bran was king, they were setting up a new system for establishing the ruler meaning this wasn't just about now, but about a new order for Westeros. It worked out right now that there's a Stark on the IT, but the North would be back in the same boat with Bran's successor who wouldn't be Stark because he can't have kids. And Bran's ruling as a raven, not a wolf. And he says he's not Bran anymore whatever that means thus his loyalties aren't the same. Show didn't explain that well. Yet another example of not taking the time to add a few lines for clarity which would make all the difference. Bran sees all kinds of stuff in the future but he looked blindsided by Sansa wanting independence when she's been harping about it all season. Whatever.\n \n\n\n\tBut we can take it more seriously if we think this'll factor into the books.\n \n\n\n\tWhy is Northern independence so important? So far it's not. It's really just not wanting to be under the Lannisters. There are rumors that Joff's full inbred Lannister, Stannis and Renly were both at war which underscore the not-Baratheonness of Cersei and her kids, and Cat worked out a weird deal with Renly that while Robb kept his title, he'd go back to being under Baratheon rule. The North is itching at having their culture get too Southernized, but that really doesn't seem to be a big deal in itself, just a perk of independence.\n \n\n\n\tIf Northern independence becomes a thing in the books, it looks more like it'll be about not wanting to be under Lannisters, Euron (yikes), or Dany's Dothraki/Unsullied fire &amp; blood army which it looks set up that NO ONE will like (hence Varys' and Illyrio's plan to follow up with Aegon as Viserys/Dany would be permanently damaged by that alliance).\n \n\n\n\tWill the North have the same laws? Some, but they're itching to go back to some of their older ways. The North seems least Southernized with the Mormonts who don't always marry, have women leaders and don't sweat bastards. They named Robb King of Winter. It's a big thing in the books that some of the old ways have been lost being under the IT. No Stark is going to allow the First Night thing to come back and that's not just a Northern thing, that's a Westerosi thing. Aerys tried to pull it.\n \n\n\n\tThe North has been supplying most of the Wall for a long time now.\n \n\n\n\tThe World of Ice and Fire - The Wall and Beyond: The Night’s Watch\n \n\n\n\tOnly the fact that the Northmen themselves greatly honor the Watch has kept it functioning, and a great part of the food that keeps the black brothers of Castle Black, the Shadow Tower, and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea from starving comes not from the Gift but from the yearly gifts these Northern lords deliver to the Wall in token of their support. \n \n\n\n\tAs others have said, Sansa can marry and the kids would take her name. The Bael's bastard story tells us it's happened with the Starks before and we've seen it in other families too. There's also the Mormont route which would be for Sansa to go really Northy and just have kids without marrying as the North isn't as bothered about bastards. Ramsey's a bastard who ruled the North then followed by bastard Jon. No one really cared much. There's some set up for this in the books. Sansa thinks she might not want to marry again, she's enjoying freedom as a bastard herself, and she was intrigued by Oberyn and Ellaria who were unmarried. As she's a new monarch under a new system, it wouldn't be a bad idea for her to set an alliance with a family to father her kids, but to not extend any real power to them with a marriage.\n \n\n\n\t \n \n\n\n\t \n "
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