Why did Sansa refuse to leave with Sandor Clegane (the Hound) during the Battle of Blackwater?

Question

In Game of Thrones, during the battle of Blackwater, when a lot of fire was spreading from the wildfire and King Joffrey seemed to lose the battle, the Hound decided to leave the battle and the city. Before leaving King's landing, he went to Sansa and they have the following conversation:

Sandor: I can take you with me. Take you to Winterfell. I'll keep you safe. Do you want to go home?
Sansa: I'll be safe here. Stannis won't hurt me.
Sandor: Look at me. Stannis is a killer. The Lannisters are killers. Your father was a killer. Your brother is a killer. Your sons will be killers someday. The world is built by killers. So you'd better get used to looking at them.
Sansa: You won't hurt me.
Sandor: No, little bird, I won't hurt you.

Why doesn't Sansa leave with him?

Sandor has always behaved well with Sansa even in the presence of Joffrey. He even saved her being raped by a mob. He was not ordered by anyone to save her; he did it by himself.

And there was no motivation for Sansa to stay in King's Landing for both outcomes:

1. Joffrey wins: He and Cersei were torturing her anyways. Joffrey was a known sociopath by that time and he hated Sansa.
2. Stannis wins: Ilyn Payne would have killed her as Cersei has told him that Stannis cannot get them (Cersei and Sansa). And her brother Rob was enemy of Stannis too, as he declared himself 'King of the North' and was stealing part of Stannis' kingdom. And anyways, anyone from Stannis' army would not have raced to save her from Ilyn Payne.

Answer 1

Sandor after insulting the Kingsguard, the City and the King in the middle of the Blackwaterbay battle goes hiding in Sansa's room. He is drunk, dirty and covered in blood. In the books he grabs her and threatens her with his knife, forcing her to sing. All this is very scary for a teenage girl.

Also, the odds for the battle outside are in favor of Stannis, so she expects being safe soon. Now she's out of this keep where all the ladies were guarded by Ilyn Payne, she hopes he won't reach her when Stannis' men sack the City.

That's why she prefers staying in her room instead of fleeing with Sandor.

Answer 2

Probably because he was Joffrey's bodyguard, he killed the butchers boy who was playing in the fields with Arya, and he typically kills just for the fun of it. Simply just didn't trust him most likely?

Answer 3

It's worth noting that at this point in the books, (Ser) Dontos Hollard had already sworn to help her escape King's Landing and take her home. Presumably, Sansa felt that a drunk but (seemingly) noble ex-knight was a safer bet than the scary, threatening and half-mad Hound.

(And, since nothing ever goes well for the characters, Dontos was hired by Littlefinger to steal Sansa away for his own purposes while the Hound - based on his storyline with Arya - would likely have gotten her to her family.)

Answer 4

Sansa's story up until the Purple Wedding has been one of childish naiveté.

• She fell for the pretty prince and dreamt about being his princess. Remember how she begged Catelyn to talk to Ned so that she could be near Joffrey?
• It took her a long time to stop caring for Joffrey even after he started being cruel and mean to her.
• From the scene you mention, I interpreted her as never trusting the Hound. Tying that to her naiveté, I'd say the Hound's general demeanor and appearance drove her decision.
• When later offered to leave King's Landing by boat (was it Littlefinger who offered? I forget), she should have left for many reasons. Joffrey was already marrying Margaery, she had already been "discarded". Yet she chose to stay, presumably because of a naive idea that she could still turn everything around and things would work out.

Although Olenna was the first to attempt getting Sansa to mature, Littlefinger manages to shake her awake simply because she must assist him in pretending she's his niece.

Being married off to Ramsay Bolton was her trial by fire, she needed to not be weak Sansa anymore if she was to survive (emotionally). This awakens the "Catelyn" inside Sansa, where she learns to not be fragile or appear weak to the outside world.

From this, I gather that Sansa has always been naive while she was in King's Landing. She has a soft character and was easily emotionally perturbed by circumstances.

It stands to reason that such a person would refuse the help of a brash drunken disfigured man known for his combat prowess and who has little to no tact. The Hound was literally the worst person for "princess Sansa" to encounter, he was everything she disliked.