Game of Thrones writer reveals why Sansa did not kill Ramsay Bolton

*This article contains Game of Thrones season 5 spoilers

Game of Thrones writer-producer Bryan Cogman penned the controversial season 5 episode Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken, featuring the rape of Sansa Stark. The scene sparked an outrage among fans which made the showrunners eventually take notice and "change things" as a result.

On the upcoming season 5 DVD, Cogman gives a detailed breakdown of the scene, explaining the logic behind it (via Entertainment Weekly). "Basically, when we decided to combine Sansa's storyline with another character in the books [Jeyne Pool], it was done with the idea that it would be hugely dramatically satisfying to have Sansa back in her occupied childhood home and navigate this Gothic horror story she's found herself in and, of course, to be reunited with Theon – setting her on the path to reclaiming her family home and becoming a major player in the big overall story."

"That said, when we decided we were going to do that we were faced with the question: If she's marrying Ramsay, what would happen on her wedding night? And we made the decision to not shy away from what would realistically happen on that wedding night with these two characters, and the reality of the situation, and the reality of this particular world."

Several fans believed this violation should have led to a major (and long-awaited) transformation for Sansa's character resulting in her killing Ramsay in the scene. While Cogman agrees that it would have been "hugely satisfying" for Sansa to gut Ramsay, he also explains how it would have seemed a bit out-of-character for her at that moment.

"We can't all be Arya (Maisie Williams) and, in fact, most people aren't Arya. Most people in that situation, they have to play a longer game. She goes [into the marriage] without the right information about Ramsay, she gets the sense that he's dangerous, and when he turns out to be even worse than she thought, she's not broken by the attack, she immediately sets to getting the hell out of there and planning her next move."