Catelyn, Sansa and Arya Stark: a three-way analysis

I've been working for a while on a Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones essay which intended to consider the thematic and characterisation similarities and differences between Catelyn, Sansa and Arya, and examine the implications of these themes for Sansa and Arya's futures. However - not unsurprisingly - this essay became seriously long, and also sub-divided naturally into a number of mini-essays. Rather than swamping the blog with a massive post next Friday, I've decided to post these mini-essays throughout the week, and to link them all back to this post to provide a single resource:

1. 'Lady Catelyn always wanted her to be like Sansa': Catelyn and Arya's relationship

2. 'Sometimes prayers are answered': the similarities between Catelyn and Arya

3. 'I must not pity him': Ned, Sansa, honour and mercy

4. 'You don't deserve the gift of mercy': Arya, Catelyn, justice and vengeance

5. 'She is of the north': Catelyn, Arya, Sansa and northern identity

6. 'I'll make her be good': Sansa, Arya, Catelyn and the idea of 'the good girl'

This post also serves as a spoiler warning. These essays will go beyond the scope of the TV series and contain spoilers for all five books. Do not read if you want to remain unspoiled! However, some essays will only have spoilers for earlier books, and may be safe for up-to-date TV series viewers, so I will also mark them individually.