Goth Sansa

Yep. In the books, it was done (and continues to be done) out of complete necessity, not because she was just, like, experimenting with her look or whatever. And what's even more ridiculous is, on the show, she didn't do it until AFTER she had already outed herself to the Lords Declarant! She was only really "Alayne Stone" while she was still a redhead!

So, yes, indeed, the whole "makeover" thing was completely pointless. I'm surprised that, when Roose and Ramsay first met her, one of them didn't say, "Wait... weren't you supposed to have red hair?"

Part of me thinks that D&D just aren't planning ahead at all. Like they're just making it up as they go along. They'll introduce something one week then completely abandon it the next. Maybe they really did intend to explore the Alayne thing further, but somewhere between seasons 4 and 5 they thought it would be better(?) to abandon it in favor of this hack Winterfell plotline. That could explain the discrepancies in Sophie's interviews from last summer teasing this New Improved Badass Sansa™ we were supposedly going to see in Season 5... And then she gets the script later on and... Oops, nevermind! Apparently, she's still trying to spin it. And not very successfully, I might add.

As happy as I am to be getting Ginger Sansa back, it was NOT under THESE circumstances. I always imagined her shedding of the Alayne Stone persona would be more... poignant. And empowering.