touche!

They talked so pointedly about Oldtown and maesters and how Sam always wanted to be one that I began to suspect (for the first time ever) that Oldtown shenanigans might actually have a point in the bigger plot and Sam will be there to witness it. The journey will be cut of course.

The situation has just changed radically when Maergery became the queen that has Tommen wrapped around her finger while Cercei herself is a has-been everyone wants to get rid of as soon as possible including her uncle and her son.

If they're both dead then Stannis is the only option isn't he?
Unless Margery is pregnant already?

Honestly I can't picture Sansa as a master of the game because she's just not really smart. She can learn the moves and the tricks but to conceive an evil master plan is beyond her abilities imho.

Cersei is preoccupied with not loosing her power to Maergery and soon will be so busy with it that Sansa and North as a whole wouldn't be high on her list of priorities.

There's a shot in the promo of Aemon on the pyre so I suspect this whole plot line doesn't exist on the show. Or at least Sam isn't going anywhere.

And how the situation has changed?
She's a fugitive, her family is all dead, the only thing she's good at is courtesies and needlework. LF is the only friend she has however dubious and pervert his motives. So she either does what he says or dies one way or another.

Why? What can she do, run away into wilderness like Arya? Or try to bang Littlefinger so that he changes his mind? She still has no power whatsoever, wearing black doesn't magically change her very hopeless situation.

She doesn't need to blend, she can just show up and say Jamie Lannister send me to serve Lady Sansa which is basically what really happened too :)

I think her "insanity" was in a large part a product of her being drunk all the time. She was much better at playing the game when Robert was still alive just because she was sober. And the prophecy only got to her when she became a drunk.

I imagine she might want LF to testify against Margery or her beloved brother.

Cersei isn't respected or loved by anyone including her own son, the king. And Tommen is a boy that could be easily manipulated.

True, but that Arya was fake, and many suspected, nobody could be completely sure. It was more of a name claim than with show!Sansa who is very real and is immediately recognized by everyone.

Because she was fake Arya, many suspected and nobody could be really sure she's the real thing. Here everyone KNOWS it's real Sansa, she is recognizable.

One boy is too risky with their medicine and all. The heir and a spare memo is there for a reason.

that's what I meant.

They can't torture her. The whole point of marrying her is to unite the north to give those who remember a Stark in Winterfell. Boltons need Sansa alive and well at least for a few years till they have a heir and a spare and have established themselves as new rulers.

Marriage with Tyrion wasn't consummated so it isn't legal.
Regicide charges are a problem but any sensible ruler would see that it's better for the realm to have Sansa Stark married in the North than executed in KL. Cersei isn;t sensible but most people seem to be betting on her not lasting long.

They can't torture or kill her, people would know and riot against them
They need her alive and well and bearing healthy heirs