'Game Of Thrones' Season 5 Spoilers: Sansa Stark's Controversial Wedding Scene To End 'Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken'

Surprises are nothing new in "Game of Thrones" Season 5, considering how much series creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have diverged from George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of novels. Sansa Stark's storyline has changed quite dramatically and has seen her in a completely different place from that of "ASOIAF." In "Game of Thrones" Season 5, episode 6, "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken," Sansa got married and her wedding night concluded with a violent attack by her new husband, Ramsay Bolton, that has proved quite controversial.

Warning: "Game of Thrones" Season 5 spoilers and "A Song of Ice and Fire" discussion ahead.

What The Critics Are Saying

"Game of Thrones" spares viewers from watching the actual event. Instead, we see the look of horror on Theon/Reek's face and Sansa's agony as Ramsay rapes her. The camera doesn't linger. In many ways, the scene was handled well, which has critics divided about what happened.

In Season 4, Jaime raped Cersei in a scene that received plenty of criticism. Part of the problem was what happened after the scene: nothing. The rape did not affect their behavior or their relationship. Sansa's scene is different because it takes place on her wedding night. As A.V. Club explains, there's an understanding in "Game of Thrones" that a woman's virginity will be taken on the wedding night -- something that also happened to Daenerys in Season 1 -- but what happens next is incredibly important.

"Westeros is a world where women are often forced to have sex on their wedding nights without giving consent, which is what Sansa had been expecting when she was wed to Tyrion," A.V. Club critic Myles McNutt says in his review of "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken." What is problematic is the lack of development following the act, according to McNutt. He points out that three lead female characters have been raped, but the series has failed to incorporate this horrible action into the larger narrative arc of these characters.

Entertainment Weekly's James Hibberd notes that Sophie Turner was cast to play Sansa at the age of 13. "Now 'Thrones' has deeply hurt Sansa, and by extension, has deeply hurt us. We’re reeling from being struck, shocked, our hand against our reddening cheek. We didn’t expect 'Thrones' to hit us this hard," Hibberd says in his review.

Vulture's Nina Shen Rastogi is also concerned about how the show will follow up on Sansa's rape. "It also feels hateful on a narrative level. It’s cruel to strip Sansa of the agency she’s been accruing so painstakingly, but to do so by literally stripping her is so cheap, such an obvious choice, I felt offended as a fan," Rastogi says. Rastogi hopes future episodes use this as a way to make Sansa stronger as she doles out punishment.

HitFix's Donna Dickens thinks the show is setting up a vengeance arc for Sansa. She's much stronger in "Game of Thrones" Season 5, so what's to stop her from killing Ramsay? "It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Stannis rolled up to the gates of Winterfell looking for a fight and found the head of Ramsay rotting on a pike instead," Dickens says as Sansa becomes the Queen of the North.

What The Actors Are Saying

Turner and Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton) have weighed in on the scene for EW and Vulture, respectively. Turner says she loved shooting the scene. At first, she believed that Sansa's love interest would be an upstanding citizen. "Then I read that scene, I kinda loved it. I love the way Ramsay had Theon watching. It was all so messed up. It’s also so daunting for me to do it," Turner says. She highlights how the scene shows what a horrible person Ramsay is compared to Joffrey and other men. Rheon tells Vulture Turner was "amazing."

"It's a really horrible thing to talk about! All I'm going to say is I don't think he's a particularly generous or gentle lover. [Laughs]," Rheon says. The actor also talks about Ramsay's relationship with Myranda and how the character views his marriage with Sansa.

What The Producers And Creators Are Saying

"Game of Thrones" producer Bryan Cogman wrote the script for "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" and shared his thoughts on the episode with EW. "This is a hardened woman making a choice and she sees this as the way to get back her homeland," Cogman explains. The producer also explains how the show changed the wedding night to be less humilitating and sadistic than what appears in the novels. Another difference is that Ramsay's terrible nature is not common knowledge in the world of "Game of Thrones."

Prior to Sunday's episode, Weiss and Benioff discussed their decision to have Ramsay and Sansa wed with EW. The creators wanted Sansa to be an important character in "Game of Thrones" Season 5, which meant there needed to be changes from Martin's books. "Sansa is a character we care about almost more than any other, and the Stark sisters have from the very beginning been two characters who have fascinated us the most," Benioff said.

Martin took to his journal to discuss the Sansa Stark fallout. "How many children did Scarlett O'Hara have? Three, in the novel. One, in the movie. None, in real life: She was a fictional character, she never existed. The show is the show, the books are the books; two different tellings of the same story," Martin said. Benioff and Weiss did not comment on the scene during the "Inside the Episode #6" feature.

In "ASOIAF," Sansa is still at the Vale, tending to Lord Robyn under the guise of Alayne Stone -- Littlefinger's bastard daughter. No one knows Sansa's current location or that Littlefinger plans for her to marry Ser Harrold Hardyng, the heir to the Vale after Robyn. In the latest excerpt from Martin's forthcoming "The Winds of Winter," we see Alayne before a tournament that's being held at the Vale.