Episode 130: A CLASH OF KINGS, THEON IV: "The Most Dangerous Game" SHOW NOTES! (Patreon)

Hello and welcome to the Not A Cast … podcast: the one true chapter-by-chapter podcast going through A Song of Ice and Fire one chapter a week. I’m one of your hosts Jeff better known as BryndenBFish.

And I’m your other host Emmett, better known as PoorQuentyn.

Welcome to the one hundred and thirtieth episode of the Not A Cast, titled: “The Most Dangerous Game: An Analysis of ACOK, Theon IV,” in which Theon decides to make up for all his bad decisions by making some even worse decisions.

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Question

Lord Micah, the Quilled Lion, Warden of the West, Herald of the Golden Tooth, Master of the Banefort and the Kraken’s Bane, asks:

We know from GRRM’s original outline that Arya was supposed to reunite with Cat and get north to the Wall. Of course, that changed and Clash saw the start of her being pushed toward Braavos first. I wonder, what could have been the original way George wanted Arya to get back with Cat and go north again? Would Yoren have gotten her to Winterfell? Could she have originally been able to get to Cerwyn or Glover in time? What are the thoughts of the Amen Brothers?

So, thank you Lord Micah for the question. If you’d like to ask us questions we’ll answer here on the NotACast pod-cast, you are welcome to become a Sworn Sword or higher level patron over at patreon.com/NotACastASOIAF where you can get show notes, 32 bonus ASOIAF/Pop culture episodes, access to the NotASlack, shout-outs and merch!

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But enough about patreon. When we last checked in with Theon Greyjoy, he had heroically? Conquered? Winterfell? Really, how did that asshole do that? Let’s find out how Theon Greyjoy’s glorious reign commences in this synopsis of ACOK, Theon IV!

Synopsis

One moment he was asleep; the next, awake.

Kyra nestled against him, one arm draped lightly over his, her breasts brushing his back. He could hear her breathing, soft and steady. The sheet was tangled about them. It was the black of night. The bedchamber was dark and still.

What is it? Did I hear something? Someone?

You heard nothing, Theon. Go back to sleep. It’s fine, truly. No need to bestir your ass.

Wind blows against the shutters outside of his room, and he hears a cat yowling. Theon starts to take my advice that it’s nothing, truly. He reminds himself that he has guards at the gates, on the armory and outside of his room. It was just a bad dream, but um, he wasn’t dreaming?

Kyra had worn him out. Until Theon had sent for her, she had lived all of her eighteen years in the winter town without ever setting foot inside the walls of the castle. She came to him wet and eager and lithe as a weasel, and there had been a certain undeniable spice to fucking a common tavern wench in Lord Eddard Stark's own bed.

This is classic hero’s journey shit here. Joseph Campbell is smiling down from heaven at Theon Greyjoy. I’m sorry, he’s actually rolling his eyes as his body does somersaults in the grave.

Anyhow, Kyra talks a little in her sleep, and Theon unwraps himself from her arms. He sees the fireplace down to a few embers while Wex sleeps on the ground. So you mean to tell me that Theon’s squire was on the ground while Theon was sexing Kyra? Very cool. Theon crosses the room, opens the shutters and listens to the dark night and hears only the silence.

All's well, Greyjoy. Hear the quiet? You ought to be drunk with joy. You took Winterfell with fewer than thirty men, a feat to sing of. Theon started back to bed. He'd roll Kyra on her back and fuck her again, that ought to banish these phantoms. Her gasps and giggles would make a welcome respite from this silence.

He stopped. He had grown so used to the howling of the direwolves that he scarcely heard it anymore . . . but some part of him, some hunter's instinct, heard its absence.

Theon “Literal Nimrod” Greyjoy observes that the wolves are quiet to the man outside his door and tells this guy with the unfortunate name of Urzen to go check it out. The hero Theon then kicks Wex to wake him and orders his squire to go check to make sure that Bran and Rickon were in their beds. He keeps listening to the wolves, reflecting that he has too few men. And if his sister showed up, and the kids were gone …

Wex returns, shaking his head. Theon then curses and grabs his clothes where he left them in a pile on the floor and rolls out his wild hair flowing behind him. But then Urzen (really, Ironborn moms and dads, I just want to talk) returns and informs Theon that the wolves are gone too.

Theon told himself he must be as cold and deliberate as Lord Eddard. "Rouse the castle," he said. "Herd them out into the yard, everyone, we'll see who's missing. And have Lorren make a round of the gates. Wex, with me."

Theon wonders if his man Stygg (Wtf kinda name is Stygg?) has arrived at Deepwood Motte. If Asha was coming after Theon lost the Starks, that would be real bad to Theon’s sense of machismo and hollow masculinity.

Theon and the boys find Bran and Rickon’s bedchamber empty. He curses himself, knowing he should have put a guard on the Stark kids, but then how was he supposed to man the walls and gates? He hears crying from outside as the Winterfell smallfolk are herded into the yard and promises he’s going to really give them a reason to sob.

I've used them gently, and this is how they repay me. He'd even had two of his own men whipped bloody for raping that kennel girl, to show them he meant to be just. They still blame me for the rape, though. And the rest. He deemed that unfair. Mikken had killed himself with his mouth, just as Benfred had. As for Chayle, he had to give someone to the Drowned God, his men expected it. "I bear you no ill will," he'd told the septon before they threw him down the well, "but you and your gods have no place here now." You'd think the others might be grateful he hadn't chosen one of them, but no. He wondered how many of them were part of this plot against him.

Lots of subtle signals from George that Theon is the HERO and GOOD.

Urzen returns to tell Theon that they need to go to the Hunter’s Gate. So, Theon follows Urzen to the Hunter’s gate: the gate that leads out to the fields and forests. When they get there, he asks who was guarding this gate, and he’s told it’s Drennana and Squint. Fuck it. I give up. Next Ironborn guy is going to be named like AssShitButtStuff, I swear.

Anyways, Drennan was one of the men who raped Palla, and Theon threatens to do more than take the skin off their backs with a little whipping. But Black Lorren. FINALLY, finally, one of these jabronis has a mother and father who loved him enough to give him a real name. Anyways, Black Lorren tells Theon that they don’t need to whip those guys. Squint was lying face down in a moat with his intestines hanging out behind him while Drennan was slumped over a table by a piece of cheese and cheese knife and an empty flagon and two cups.

Detective Theon picks up the wine cup to smell the dregs, asking if Squint was on the wallwalk. Lorren says yes. So, Theon very dramatically throws the cup into the hearth for reasons only clear to Theon. He says it was the woman in the gatehouse with the cheese knife. Case closed. But it wasn’t. Not really.

They pull Squint out from the moat, finding him all torn up and smelling bad. Theon, an extremely hard boiled detective, thumbs his chin and declares that the direwolves did it. Anyways, Theon is pissed about the whole state of things. He realizes that he didn’t have enough men and couldn’t guard both walls, especially if there was an uprising from within the castle. So, he only ordered the inner wall guarded.

Theon returns to detective mode, realizing that there had to be more than two involved in this scheme to get Bran and Rickon out of Winterfell. He moves up the wallwalk, sees some blood there, thinks the woman killed Drennan then lowered the drawbridge, and that’s where Squint got got. Urzen thinks that maybe someone else saw since there are torches in the nearby watch turret? No, moron. Theon is doing that for decoration. He doesn’t have enough men to man all the turrets.

"Four guards at the main gate," said Black Lorren, "and five walking the walls beside Squint."

Urzen said, "If he had sounded his horn-"

I am served by fools. "Try and imagine it was you up here, Urzen. It's dark and cold. You have been walking sentry for hours, looking forward to the end of your watch. Then you hear a noise and move toward the gate, and suddenly you see eyes at the top of the stair, glowing green and gold in the torchlight. Two shadows come rushing toward you faster than you can believe. You catch a glimpse of teeth, start to level your spear, and they slam into you and open your belly, tearing through leather as if it were cheesecloth." He gave Urzen a hard shove. "And now you're down on your back, your guts are spilling out, and one of them has his teeth around your neck." Theon grabbed the man's scrawny throat, tightened his fingers, and smiled. "Tell me, at what moment during all of this do you stop to blow your fucking horn?" He shoved Urzen away roughly, sending him stumbling back against a merlon. The man rubbed his throat. I should have had those beasts put down the day we took the castle, he thought angrily. I'd seen them kill, I knew how dangerous they were.

Black Lorren says they should head after the boys, but Theon’s like, dude, no. We’re not doing that in the dark. They’ll go at break of day. But anyways, we have some smallfolk to terrorize, I mean, INTERROGATE. Let’s go do that.

Down in the yard, an uneasy crowd of men, women, and children had been pushed up against the wall. Many had not been given time to dress; they covered themselves with woolen blankets, or huddled naked under cloaks or bedrobes. A dozen ironmen hemmed them in, torches in one hand and weapons in the other. The wind was gusting, and the flickering orange light reflected dully off steel helms, thick beards, and unsmiling eyes.

Theon is rather upset that he, in fact, has not been greeted as the liberator of Winterfell. He asks how many were missing, and wouldn’t you know it, but Reek steps up and says there’s six gone. Reek, now smelling of soap, states that the Starks, the Reeds, Hodor and Osha are all gone.

Osha. He had suspected her from the moment he saw that second cup. I should have known better than to trust that one. She's as unnatural as Asha. Even their names sound alike.

This is intense intellectual work on Theon’s part to connect that Osha and Asha sound alike.

Theon asks if any horses are gone, and none are. Theon, using that big brain of his, deduces that they’re on foot. So, they’d probably be slow as Bran and Rickon would have to be carried. He knows he’ll have them soon enough. He directs his attention to the crowd of liberated Winterfellers. He tells them that Bran and Rickon are gone, and would anyone be so helpful as to tell Theon where they went? No one stirs. So, Theon tries another trick: saying he’s very, very concerned about Bran and Rickon out in the wild all by themselves with no food or weapons. Theon thinks that the weapons had all been hidden away, but he figures there are some weapons missing. Anyways, he’s going to go out hunting for them. They’ll skin the wolves, and people who help can have a wolf pelt! Gage, you in? No? Oh okay. How about you, Old Nan? No? Oh okay. Theon decides he has one more rhetorical trick up his sleeve: threaten to murder all of them.

"I might have killed every man of you and given your women to my soldiers for their pleasure, but instead I protected you. Is this the thanks you offer?" Joseth who'd groomed his horses, Farlen who'd taught him all he knew of hounds, Barth the brewer's wife who'd been his first-not one of them would meet his eyes. They hate me, he realized.

Reek stepped close. "Strip off their skins," he urged, his thick lips glistening. "Lord Bolton, he used to say a naked man has few secrets, but a flayed man's got none."

So helpful Ramsay, oops, Reek. Theon remembers the sigil of House Bolton and how long ago, the Boltons had flayed their enemies, especially the Starks. That stopped when the Bolton were finally subdued. But the old ways might be continuing. Who’s to know of such things. But Theon bravely declares that there will be no flayings as long as he’s ruling Winterfell. He’s the last defense against such barbaric practices, and he wants to shout as much to the people. But he couldn’t be so blatant. They’ll get the hint.

The sky turns gray, and Theon knows that dawn is near. He orders Joseth to saddle his horse Smiler and one for himself. He then commands Murch, Gariss and Poxy Tym to come too. He’s bringing four of his own guys too. He also wants Farlen the Kennelmaster to accompany them:

The grizzled kennelmaster crossed his arms. "And why would I care to hunt down my own trueborn lords, and babes at that?"

Theon moved close. "I am your trueborn lord now, and the man who keeps Palla safe."

He saw the defiance die in Farlen's eyes. "Aye, m'lord."

I can’t even muster a sarcastic comeback to Theon here, because this is just, wow. The fucking audacity.

Theon looks around and sees Maester Luwin and tells the maester that he’s coming too. Luwin says nah. But Theon wants Luwin with him on the hunt. He doesn’t trust Luwin back at the castle. Finally one of the Walder Freys pipes up that he wants to come and get a wolfskin cloak. He’s also an expert hunter. His cousin mocks him by saying that he’s never actually hunted anything. Just accompanied his dad. (Little note: the hunter here is probably Little Walder.) Theon says, uh, okay, but he’s not going to help the kid if he can’t keep up. Theon then gives command of the castle to Black Lorren, and then they get ready to hunt.

They assembled by the Hunter's Gate as the first pale rays of the sun brushed the top of the Bell Tower, their breath frosting in the cold morning air. Gelmarr had equipped himself with a longaxe whose reach would allow him to strike before the wolves were on him . The blade was heavy enough to kill with a single blow. Aggar wore steel greaves. Reek arrived carrying a boar spear and an overstuffed washerwoman's sack bulging with god knows what. Theon had his bow; he needed nothing else. Once he had saved Bran's life with an arrow. He hoped he would not need to take it with another, but if it came to that, he would.

Eleven men, two boys and twelve dogs cross the moat and begin following the tracks of wolves, Hodor and the Reeds. Farlen’s dog catches the scene, and the hounds sniff and bark and begin racing after the trail. The trail doesn’t lead to the south where Theon might have suspected Osha to make for (towards Rodrik Cassel down in Torrhen’s Square). Instead, the trail moves into the wolfswood.

Theon did not like that one bit. It would be a bitter irony if the Starks made for Deepwood Motte and delivered themselves right into Asha's hands. I'd sooner have them dead, he thought bitterly. It is better to be seen as cruel than foolish.

Ain’t that the Theon Greyjoy motto.

The hunters move through thick woods and uneven ground, and Theon counsels himself to be patient, because they’ll so totally have everyone in captivity by the end of the day. But then Maester Luwin rolls up and ribs Theon that hunting seems no different than riding. Theon says okay, sure, but at the end of a hunt, there’s blood. Luwin asks if that must be the way, but maybe Theon can be merciful to his foster brothers? Theon says Robb was the only brotherly one to him, but he needs Bran and Rickon alive. How about the Reeds, Luwin asks. You’d probably need them alive given that Howland Reed can be trouble to Nuncle Victarion at Moat Cailin. You’ll find this very odd, but Theon hadn’t thought about the Reeds, save for wondering if he can bang Meera. He says he’ll spare the Reeds if he can. How about Hodor? Okay, fine, Theon will spare Hodor too. But there’s no fucking way that he’s sparing Osha.

The maester inclined his head. "I make no apologies for oathbreakers. Do what you must. I thank you for your mercy."

Mercy, thought Theon as Luwin dropped back. There's a bloody trap. Too much and they call you weak, too little and you're monstrous. Yet the maester had given him good counsel, he knew. His father thought only in terms of conquest, but what good was it to take a kingdom if you could not hold it? Force and fear could carry you only so far. A pity Ned Stark had taken his daughters south; elsewise Theon could have tightened his grip on Winterfell by marrying one of them. Sansa was a pretty little thing too, and by now likely even ripe for bedding. But she was a thousand leagues away, in the clutches of the Lannisters. A shame.

Theon is just incredible here in so many ways, MY GOD.

But now they’re in the dense forest, moving through gullies, cuts, stony hills, a crofter’s cottage, moving through waters. The dogs start to bark, but it turns out only to be an elk — one that had been killed recently by wolves. The odd thing is that Osha would have cut some of the elk’s muscle for meat. But it was only wolves who ate it. That didn’t make much sense. He asks Farlen if they’re on the right trail, and Farlen says his dogs know Summer and Shaggy. Theon hopes so. For Farlen’s sake.

Less than an hour later, the trail led down a slope toward a muddy brook swollen by the recent rains. It was there the dogs lost the scent. Farlen and Wex waded across with the hounds and came back shaking their heads while the animals ranged up and down the far bank, sniffing. "They went in here, m'lord, but I can't see where they come out," the kennelmaster said.

Theon dismounts and checks the water, feeling how cold it is. He knows they wouldn’t have stayed in the river for long, but then Wex claps his hands to get Theon’s attention and points to the ground. Theon looks and only sees pawprints. So, Wex pounds the mud with his boot to drive home the point, and finally someone understands.

Joseth understood. "A man the size of Hodor ought to have left a deep print in this mud," he said. "More so with the weight of a boy on his back. Yet the only boot prints here are our own. See for yourself."

Appalled, Theon saw it was true. The wolves had gone into the turgid brown water alone. "Osha must have turned aside back of us. Before the elk, most likely. She sent the wolves on by themselves, hoping we'd chase after them." He rounded on his huntsmen. "If you two have played me false-"

"There's been only the one trail, my lord, I swear it," said Gariss defensively. "And the direwolves would never have parted from them boys. Not for long."

Theon realizes that this is true, but the direwolves would return to Bran and Rickon. He orders two of his men to head back while he, Wex, Little Walder Frey and Farlen chase the direwolves. They’re to blow their horns when they pick up the trail.

They move upstream, searching for tracks and only finding deer, elk and badger tracks. They find rabbits and a vixen but no direwolves still.

A little farther, Theon told himself. Past that oak, over that rise, past the next bend of the stream, we'll find something there. He pressed on long after he knew he should turn back, a growing sense of anxiety gnawing at his belly. It was midday when he wrenched Smiler's head round in disgust and gave up.

Somehow Osha and the wretched boys were eluding him. It should not have been possible, not on foot, burdened with a cripple and a young child. Every passing hour increased the likelihood that they would make good their escape. If they reach a village . . . The people of the north would never deny Ned Stark's sons, Robb's brothers. They'd have mounts to speed them on their way, food. Men would fight for the honor of protecting them. The whole bloody north would rally around them.

Theon thinks the direwolves went downstream, but when they catch up with Farlen’s group, they’ve had no joy either. Theon curses the dogs, but Farlen defends the honor of the dogs, stating that the water doesn’t have a scent. Theon demands to know where the direwolves went, and Farlen says they went up or downstream, but which way should they go? Reek puts in that wolves don’t run up streambeds for miles. A man might, sure, but a wolf? No way.

Yet Theon wondered. These beasts were not as other wolves. I should have skinned the cursed things.

Finally, Theon gets one thing right. No, not about the skinning. I’m not a total monster.

Things turn out no better when he rejoins the three Ironborn bros who were retracing steps. They hadn’t found a trail back to Winterfell. Theon refuses to admit defeat, and he declares that they’ll search the stream again, going farther and longer than before.

"We won't find them," the Frey boy said suddenly. "Not so long as the frogeaters are with them. Mudmen are sneaks, they won't fight like decent folks, they skulk and use poison arrows, You never see them, but they see you. Those who go into the bogs after them get lost and never come out. Their houses move, even the castles like Greywater Watch." He glanced nervously at greenery that encircled them on all sides. "They might be out there right now, listening to everything we say."

Farlen laughs Frey off, but Little Walder says that crannogmen smell like the … crannog. Just before Theon can tell Walder Frey where to shove his fairytale, Maester Luwin pipes in to say that the crannogmen were like the children of the forest and brought down the hammer of the waters on the Neck. They might have secret knowledge!

Suddenly the wood seemed a deal darker than it had a moment before, as if a cloud had passed before the sun. It was one thing to have some fool boy spouting folly, but maesters were supposed to be wise. "The only children that concern me are Bran and Rickon," Theon said. "Back to the stream. Now."

For a moment he did not think they were going to obey, but in the end old habit asserted itself. They followed sullenly, but they followed.

Theon places men on both sides of the river, and they follow the current. They go for miles and miles, moving through rough terrain. Theon grumbles that the direwolves have become swimming wolves, and he’ll give them to the Drowned God as reward.

When the woods began to darken, Theon Greyjoy knew he was beaten. Either the crannogmen did know the magic of the children of the forest, or else Osha had deceived them with some wildling trick. He made them press on through the dusk, but when the last light faded Joseth finally worked up the courage to say, "This is fruitless, my lord. We will lame a horse, break a leg."

"Joseth has the right of it," said Maester Luwin. "Groping through the woods by torchlight will avail us nothing."

Theon could taste bile at the back of his throat, and his stomach was a nest of snakes twining and snapping at each other. If he crept back to Winterfell empty-handed, he might as well dress in motley henceforth and wear a pointed hat; the whole north would know him for a fool. And when my father hears, and Asha . . .

But then Reek rides up next to Theon. He tells Theon that maybe the Starks never came this way. Perhaps they went northeast towards the Umbers. But the Umber land was far away. They’d have to shelter somewhere. And Ramsay, Reek might know where they sheltered.

Theon looked at him suspiciously. "Tell me."

"You know that old mill, sitting lonely on the Acorn Water? We stopped there when I was being dragged to Winterfell a captive. The miller's wife sold us hay for our horses while that old knight clucked over her brats. Might be the Starks are hiding there."

Theon is aware of that mill as he’d played hide the kraken with the miller’s wife. He wonders why they’d go there when there’s villages and holdfasts they can run to. Reek doesn’t know why they’d go there; he just has a feeling. He says this looking amused which should unsettle Theon and cause him to wonder at this guy. But Theon is just sick of this guy being sly. He orders the man with lips that look like two worms fucking when they move to tell him if he knows where they went.

Ramsay, Reek tells Theon to get off his horse. He has something to show Theon. When Theon gets down, Reek gives him a brown satchel and tells Theon to have a look.

It was growing hard to see. Theon thrust his hand into the sack impatiently, groping amongst soft fur and rough scratchy wool. A sharp point pricked his skin, and his fingers closed around something cold and hard. He drew out a wolf's-head brooch, silver and jet. Understanding came suddenly. His hand closed into a fist. "Gelmarr," he said, wondering whom he could trust. None of them. "Aggar. Rednose. With us. The rest of you may return to Winterfell with the hounds. I'll have no further need of them. I know where Bran and Rickon are hiding now."

"Prince Theon," Maester Luwin entreated, "you will remember your promise? Mercy, you said."

"Mercy was for this morning," said Theon. It is better to be feared than laughed at. "Before they made me angry."

And that is ACOK, Theon IV! Last week, George gave us a bit of a breather with Tyrion after all those fast-paced, plot-heavy chapters, but now, my heart is racing again. What did you think of this chapter, ser?

Depth

As great as Theon’s first three chapters in this book are, his story takes a huge leap forward in quality when he returns to Winterfell. All the psychological groundwork George did in those earlier chapters is now weaponized. It fuels a ruthless story structure that cuts Theon off from every opportunity of escape, in part due to his own terrible decisions, but also due to events out of his control. Few chapters in ASOIAF are more agonizing to read than this one, not so much for the events being depicted as for the slow build of tension and dread, the thought of what might be about to happen. The agony has a clear purpose: we are trapped within the mindset of a man contemplating breaking even more bad than he already has in the face of all that tension and dread. It’s uniquely, devastatingly effective, a master class in literary suspense.

And that suspense is made further suspenseful and dramatic in this chapter by Theon’s attempt to be both Ned and Balon at the same time. Stark and Greyjoy. He fails at both. SPECTACULARLY! Is this because Theon is just dumb? Partly, sure. There are plenty of boneheaded thoughts and actions that Theon thinks or commits in this chapter. But to bring it forward from our discussion on Theon I-III and Bran VI, Theon hasn’t really been taught how to be a man; how to be moral and decent. Neither of his fathers loved him enough to raise him correctly. Balon was a mess of resentment and idiocy, and Theon was ripped away at the age of ten from his biological father. Then as a hostage/ward in Winterfell, Ned probably was cold to Theon, because he knew that if Balon ever rose in rebellion again, that he would have to bring Ice to bear on the boy.

That’s to take nothing away from him descending into further moral depravity in this chapter and beyond. It’s also not rationalizing his behavior. It’s merely to say that Theon bears culpability for the sins he commits even as his fathers bear some of the blame too. And ain’t that a theme of shitty fathers visiting their sins upon their sons and daughters. Tywin to Tyrion is just the most prominent example in the story so far. But there’s a more proximate darker parallel story occurring just beneath the surface and explored more fully in ADWD. Theon’s “servant” Reek had a father who also didn’t love him enough or raise him correctly. That George weaves the final piece of the downfall for Theon through Reek is perfect parallel plotting and structure by George.

• Waking to silence
  • Theon IV is, above all else, about the translation of information. What does it mean to observe something and then to know something?
  • From Theon examining the evidence Osha left behind to the manhunt itself to the half-hidden reveal at the end of the chapter, both the POV and the reader are given limited information and must fill in the gaps
  • It’s a more grounded and realistic examination of the themes that animated HOTU: how the brain makes sense of sensory information
  • George forces us to engage with details, and focuses that engagement through the highly unpleasant narrative camera of Theon Greyjoy
  • It’s an uncomfortable intimacy that becomes an outright horrorshow as Theon’s story continues through the end of this book and into ADWD
  • Theon is doomed before the chapter even begins, and we are doomed to share his fate. After seeing the fall of Winterfell via Bran, we’re locked back into Theon’s perspective from the very beginning of this chapter:
    • One moment he was asleep; the next, awake.
  • Theon wakes from his dreams, his fantasies of who he wants to be, back into the life he actually lives, which is now falling apart around him
  • What woke him? Nothing seems to have changed in his perfect world. He has Ned Stark’s castle and Ned Stark’s bed, a willing woman next to him. This is all Theon ever wanted, bringing to mind Tyrion’s famous joke:
    • “How would you like to die, Tyrion son of Tywin?"
      
      "In my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a maiden's mouth around my cock, at the age of eighty," he replied.
  • The resolution of Theon’s identity struggle takes the form of frat-boy wish fulfillment: plunder and pussy, the twin temptations of the Old Way
  • It’s oddly childish in the way so many stereotypically masculine he-man fantasies are. What Theon desires isn’t even Kyra herself--it’s the way her body distracts him from the gnawing sense inside that he’s incomplete
  • Basically, Theon is a stunted adolescent. His all-consuming lust is filtered through the way his sense of self broke down in childhood, leading to the bluntly Oedipal desire to get his dick wet in his surrogate father’s bed
  • He has fulfilled that fantasy, as well as doing a deed worthy of song in taking Winterfell with only a handful of men. He has self-actualized…
  • ...so why is he denied the blissful comfort of dreamless sleep? What woke him up? Silence. Nothing. It feels at first like it was his own inadequacy that woke him, as if he can’t believe his good fortune. Theon tells himself he’s achieved his dreams, but his anxiety remains, lurking in every corner
  • I think George is also paralleling Theon to Ned in him post-coitus. Let’s take a look back at AGOT, Catelyn II.
  • There, the chapter opens with Ned and Catelyn also post-coitus, and then what does Ned do:
    • Ned rolled off and climbed from her bed, as he had a thousand times before. He crossed the room, pulled back the heavy tapestries, and threw open the high narrow windows one by one, letting the night air into the chamber.
  • Theon does the very same thing in this chapter, throwing off the covers and standing naked in front of the window.
  • But the context is very, very different. Ned had made love to the wife he loves and was wrestling with the right thing to do: become Hand of the King or stay in Winterfell.
  • Meanwhile, Theon is getting off on being so transgressive in taking a tavern wench to bed in Ned’s own bed. And something is wrong.
  • For Ned, the quiet of the godswood, of staring out into the cold air of his window gave him peace, helped him think.
  • For Theon, the quiet means that something is subconsciously wrong
  • George is digging deep into Theon’s psychology in this chapter, so it only makes sense that he invokes Pavlov here. Part of his experiments on dogs involved “the idea of the opposite” within the cortex. At a certain point into the conditioning, the dogs would undergo a “transmarginal” surrender in which cause and effect regarding a given stimulus reversed
  • Earlier in the process, the dogs were conditioned to respond to the presence of a stimulus by drooling and whining for food. But the conditioning eventually reshaped the dogs’ reactions to the point that the lack of stimulus caused a response: the “ultraparadoxical” phase
  • George pulls the same trick in this chapter. It is the lack of a stimulus, the wolf-howls to which Theon has become accustomed, that throws him off
  • It’s his hunter’s instincts at work, he says, which will be put to the test very soon...and they will fail him, just as his political instincts have
  • The fact that Theon has become accustomed to the wolf-howls suggests they’ve been here a while. It’s not made clear how long, but it’s long enough for Stygg to have reached Deepwood Motte, so: weeks?
  • Weeks, and what has Theon done? Gotten laid in Ned Stark’s bed. That’s about it. Oh, he threw Septon Chayle down the well! Smart leadership!
  • As Asha will tell Theon in his next chapter, the smartest move would’ve been razing the castle and sailing back home with Bran and Rickon
  • With Winterfell gone and Robb’s heirs as hostages, the Ironborn would stand a better chance of actually carving a new kingdom out of the North
  • But Theon hasn’t done that, because even though he’s doing all this to make Balon love him, he was also raised here. He’s more familiar with Winterfell than the Iron Islands, so this feels more like a victory to him
  • He doesn’t want to just take Winterfell, he wants to keep it. He doesn’t want to burn Ned Stark’s castle, he wants to fuck in Ned Stark’s castle
  • That mindset has sabotaged him, screwing him out of his triumph. He deemed it more important to guard the castle than Bran and Rickon, because the castle is what he cares about. But as he realizes in this chapter, it was much more important to hold onto the Starks
  • Theon’s motivations only partially line up with the overall Ironborn cause. If Theon wants to stay here, he should find a way to make it line up all the way. How can you cement your hold on the castle, further the war effort?
  • But Theon hasn’t done anything about that either, other than telling Asha to do it for him. Even as he resents how she’s usurped his position, he keeps inadvertently proving why she’s a better candidate to take over
  • So he’s in the worst of both worlds. He’s done just enough to put a target on his back for the Northerners, but not enough to actually help the Ironborn defeat those Northerners. He’s an outcast in both tribes now
  • And we have to recall Balon Greyjoy’s order to Theon back in Theon II:
    • "You are to harry the Stony Shore, raiding the fishing villages and sinking any ships you chance to meet. It may be that you will draw some of the northern lords out from behind their stone walls.”
  • Debate exists and will always exist about whether Edmure Tully superseded Robb Stark’s order to “hold Riverrun”, but no such debate exists for Theon.
  • Balon’s invasion plan revolved around an incremental conquest of the North: with castles and lords falling one by one over the course of a year with Winterfell falling at the end of it.
  • This, of course, is a horseshit plan full of holes like we talked about in Theon II (Really, what was Balon’s plan for the Manderlys, MY GOD), but I would highlight one positive (for the plan at least) aspect of it: the Greyjoys would piss the northerners off, but it may have not resulted in everyone wanting to see every last Greyjoy dead.
  • Not to worry, though, Theon will helpfully supply this raison d’etre to the northmen by the next chapter as Asha will tell Theon that Rodrik and the rest of the North will have a man’s need for revenge given what Theon does to Bran and Rickon.
  • The northmen already had plenty of passion to defeat the ironborn already and Theon especially as he had betrayed his oath to Robb Stark, and their homes were under attack.
  • Theon put a bow on it all by the end of this chapter, and by the time we’re in ADWD, Roose Bolton and Stannis Baratheon will target the Greyjoys in order to curry favor with the northmen
  • But you really tied it off in a bow why he’s doing this: this is his home, the place he knew better than Pyke, the people he had grown up around and he wants to stay here.
  • His hubris leads him to think that he can be just like Ned Stark, cold and just, and he can have his own wards/hostages too. But wait? Which way did they go, George?
• CSI Winterfell
  • Theon IV takes place in the shadow of a hypothetical Bran chapter George chose not to include, in which he and Rickon escape
  • Theon has to follow in the footsteps of actions taken by Team Bran; he’s a detective, and so too is the reader, trying to puzzle out what happened
  • Theon’s men guarding the Hunter’s Gate have been found dead. Squint was ripped apart and dumped in the moat; Drennan’s throat was slit
  • Theon proves himself quite clever, using the observational skills he presumably picked up from hunting to determine what probably went down
  • He can tell it was the direwolves that killed Squint, so this must be a full-fledged conspiracy--someone freed the wolves while another person kept Drennan distracted. Hence the second wine cup near his corpse
  • Theon uses his torch to find evidence, a metaphor for sight and art uncovering truth. He finds some blood that was partially mopped up
  • So Theon’s problem is not that he is ignorant, nor incompetent. His problem is he allows his insecurity to dominate his thoughts and actions
  • He overcompensates in order to appear tough, and treats every setback like a personal insult to him, lashing out at any available target
  • Urzen tries to help Theon investigate, noting the nearby torches and wondering if Squint had sounded his horn. He’s not exactly contributing a great deal, but there is no reason for Theon to react as he does
  • First, he speaks “testily” to Urzen as though Urzen is responsible for Theon’s lack of manpower. Maybe Theon should’ve thought of that!
  • Then, he grabs Urzen and shoves him around while telling him how stupid he is for thinking Squint might have had a chance to blow the horn
  • What is Theon accomplishing here? He hasn’t unearthed any valuable insight. He’s talking about a hypothetical that doesn’t really matter
  • He should engage with Urzen more positively--or even ignore him, that would be better than this! All Theon is doing is making his men hate him
  • And in a spot where Theon has no allies within Winterfell, he needs the loyalty of his men.
  • Unfortunately, Theon continues his good work started back in Theon III when he accidentally arrowed one of his men when he meant to whiz an arrow past his ear.
  • There’s a few things at work with how Theon acts around his men
    • He sees them as shitty, evil people. We’ll talk about this more in a few minutes, but Theon looks at these guys and sees murderers and rapists — completely unlike Theon? Again, the self-deception is real.
    • Theon looks at them and sees the same people who bowed their heads to Esgred/Asha and refused to pay him any homage
      • Theon was rejected by all of the Ironborn he met on Pyke when he arrived. Meanwhile, Esgred knew all the people and was a natural leader
      • Where Asha’s claims that half her men want to fuck her and half wanted to fight for her, they all would die for her.
      • Theon has never had to be a leader. He’s always played second fiddle. He was Brynden Tully’s picked scout, not the chief scout. He was Robb Stark’s right-hand man.
      • The undercurrent for Theon is that he’s never had to lead men in the way that Asha, Robb or others have. He’s never been trained for that either. Ned is not going to teach Theon how to be a leader. He might lead ironmen against the Starks one day.
  • Finally, this is all related to Theon’s snobbery and class consciousness. Theon is a better man than those he commands. He can fight better, fuck better, think better, lead better.
  • Theon is delusional here, and that delusion is a really bad one, because of its shallowness.
  • When Theon has the chance to assert his dominance, he does, because he’s thin-skinned and always trying to prove himself.
  • It’s also revealing that Theon is indulging in these scary fantasies about the direwolves. He’s afraid of them--they stand in for House Stark and the North that now despises him. They will hunt him through his dreams
  • Theon also threatens to take more than a little skin from his men if they let the boys escape. So much for no flaying in the North if he’s in charge!
  • Even before Theon takes direct action to try and solve this problem, George is showing us the myriad ways in which he’s already failed
• Speaking to the people
  • Theon’s relationship to himself is bad, his relationship to his men is worse, and his relationship to the people he has conquered is the worst of all
  • He hears the residents of Winterfell sobbing as his men force them from their beds and drive them to the great hall, on Theon’s own orders
  • Does he feel any sympathy for their wretched plight? Any sense of responsibility for the suffering he is inflicting on these powerless people?
  • Nope! As per usual, Theon treats self-awareness like a hot stove, jerking his hand back from it immediately after touching it, and running his hand under the cool soothing water of delusion and arrogance
  • In order to do better, Theon would have to face himself as he actually is. But he can’t bear to do that, so he continues to get worse, blaming everyone else. I’ll give them reason to sob, he tells himself
  • As far as Theon is concerned, he has treated the people gently; they repaid him with betrayal. This is just the most ludicrous thought process
  • Theon thinks that he had two of his men whipped for raping Palla. See, I mean to be just! But Palla never would have been in danger if Theon hadn’t conquered Winterfell in the first place. He refuses to face that
  • Theon also thinks that Mikken got himself killed, and that he had to give Septon Chayle to the Drowned God. Theon is trying to absolve himself of all responsibility because he knows deep down how awful all of this is
  • Same dynamic took place back on the Stony Shore in Theon III. Theon realized how appalling the Old Way actually is in execution, but he can’t conceive of abandoning it; that would leave him once more without an identity. So he tries to play a role he doesn’t even believe in
  • Theon is ostensibly in charge, but in truth, he’s ruled by the perception of others. He lacks a stable image of himself in his mind’s eye; he can only create a personality out of the shards of others, the eyes of the beholders
  • Of course, this identity crisis only gets worse as Theon’s story continues. Ramsay breaks his identity down and gives him a new one: that of Reek
  • As it stands, he’s still trying to live up to the projected shadow-self of the Old Way, which he only knows about from stories, not lived experience
  • That’s what led him to murder Chayle, a gentle man who hadn’t even defied Theon like Mikken. Theon kills him to mark a cultural change he doesn’t believe in nor understand, in tribute to a god he doesn’t pray to
  • He did so by throwing Chayle down a well--presumably to symbolize the triumph of their water god over the Faith, but what it actually does is spoil a vital source of water in a castle that might soon be under siege
  • The Old Way is not only fanatically cruel, it’s delusional. To follow its edicts is to reject the evidence of your own senses, declaring your political and metaphysical triumph by denying yourself water, the stuff of life itself
  • What about the other influence on Theon, the Starks? Theon tells himself he must be as cold and deliberate as Lord Eddard, because that’s the only model of leadership he knows and because he is aware that the people of Winterfell were very fond of Ned. But he doesn’t get why they loved him
  • All Theon can do is ape the effect, the image of Ned, the surface without the substance, as he can only imitate stories he’s heard of the Old Way
  • Ned was cold and deliberate, yes, but as Catelyn says, there was still a warm loving heart under there, and he let almost everyone know it...
  • ...almost. Theon is the one resident of Winterfell unable to see Ned as a source of love as well as strength, because Theon always saw Ned as the figure of doom who broke his home and might kill him one day
  • So Theon demands the same respect Ned got while doing none of the things Ned did to earn it. Ned cared about Mikken. He would never have had him killed for an insult. Nor would he ever lay a finger on Septon Chayle, despite believing in the old gods himself. That wasn’t his way
  • Ned had an ethos. It was flawed, it didn’t save him, but it’s why his family and his people remember him. Theon has nothing, nothing at all inside
  • Ned looked at people and saw individuals worth plucking out of the crowd and listening to; Theon sees only a swarm, they all look guilty to him
  • It’s fascinating that Theon zeroes in on his own conception of Ned as a cold, distant man, willing to execute Theon as the way that he apes him.
  • Theon takes Ned Stark at face value, in the surface way, but it’s in that face value/surface way that Theon saw.
  • You’re right that Ned cared about Mikken, Chayle and the smallfolk of Winterfell, and he would probably not execute them for insulting him.
  • But I presuppose that Ned would never face such a moral quandary, because no one would defy Ned the way they’re showing defiance towards Theon.
  • Part of that is that Ned is a lord, and a high lord at that. He also has a Stark name behind him.
  • That’s the only part that Theon sees: the lordship and surname.
  • What he doesn’t see is that Ned has cared for his people, welcomed them to table, knew his people by name, brought the mountain clansmen to table, visited his lords.
  • In addition to all of the horrendous actions that Theon has committed and will continue to commit, he hasn’t put any work to emulate Ned in any way but the only way that he ever saw Ned as.
  • There are six faces missing, none of which exactly come as surprises to the reader: Bran and Rickon, Jojen and Meera, Hodor and Osha
  • Theon was a fool to take Osha’s pledge of loyalty at face value, and now he reaps the consequences. Yet all he can do is link her in his mind to Asha, another woman who confounds his precious masculine ego
  • Theon does again demonstrate that his problem is not incompetence. Like Tyrion, he knows how to zero in on the most important piece of information
  • In this case, the most important piece of information is that Bran and Rickon are on foot. As rereaders, we know why--they’re not actually leaving the castle! But Theon sees the opportunity in the moment
  • It means he can catch up to them. So far, so good. Where Theon exposes his weaknesses is how he engages with the people of Winterfell
  • First, he demands the names of those who helped the boys escape. He offers neither carrots nor sticks; he just demands it. Nothing happens
  • Failing that, Theon means to use them as huntsmen. And the way he puts that into action is by asking who wants a new wolfskin for the winter
  • Hard to imagine a worse way of phrasing that! You’re asking Stark loyalists to help you butcher the family symbol, guardians of the princes
  • Naturally, no one responds to that either. So Theon then appeals to their love for the boys, saying they’ll be alone, frightened, in danger out there
  • First of all, this is BS because they’re not alone. They have Osha, Hodor, and the Reeds. Secondly, no one is going to believe that Theon sincerely cares about the boys’ well-being given his status as conqueror. Thirdly, he just threatened to kill the wolves who keep those same Stark boys safe
  • So finally Theon pivots to naked threats fueled by bitterness and resentment. I could’ve killed and raped you all, and I didn’t!
  • This demonstrates how the race to the bottom in the civil war has led to a universal degradation of values. Theon is only able to tell himself that he’s a good guy because the bar has fallen so low. Sure, he’s technically less bad than Rorge and Biter. But that Theon demands praise and support from his victims for clearing that low bar makes his restraint conditional
  • Same applies to his new ally Reek aka Ramsay, who recommends flaying the people of Winterfell, his lips glistening at the thought. Euuugggh
  • Theon thinks of himself as the only protection the people have from an outright sadist like that...but who was it who let “Reek” out of his cell? Once again, Theon refuses to internalize his own responsibility
  • He cannot get outside his own head because he doesn’t recognize his own face in the mirror, and so realizes they all hate him without understanding why. These are the people I know, the only people I really know. They were there for my first hunt, my first sexual experience
  • And now they look at me like I’m a stranger. Or worse, an enemy. It’s a reflection of how Balon treated Theon upon his arrival on the Iron Islands
  • Like Tyrion, Theon is sympathetic in terms of the situation he has been put in, the sins of the father rebounding and leaving him no safe harbor in life
  • But also like Tyrion, Theon remains responsible for everything he does in order to fill that hole inside, especially his using and abusing of people who have nothing to do with his daddy issues and just want to survive
  • Wherever he turns, Theon finds himself alone, on the outside, a clouded mirror that won’t tell him who he is, who he’s supposed to be
  • So he’s constantly auditioning, playing a role that keeps changing, lacking even a hint of authenticity. The people can tell, and respond accordingly
  • He can’t even be a focused, committed tyrant. He keeps vacillating throughout this speech, from honey to vinegar, carrots to sticks, with no structure to it. Even if the people didn’t hate him, he hasn’t given them a consistent set of incentives they can act upon. He is politically incoherent
  • It’s a total failure of leadership rooted firmly in Theon’s identity crisis. He doesn’t know who he is, so he can’t possibly convey a cohesive shadow on a wall as the new master of Winterfell. Underneath that shell-game of selfhood, all Theon has to work with is cruelty. After all that talk about how he did justice by whipping Palla’s rapists, he threatens to expose her to them once more unless Farlen helps him hunt down Bran and Rickon
  • Because Theon is ruling only through fear, and a pathetic incoherent version of that, he knows he can’t leave Luwin behind. That’s how fragile his rule of Winterfell is, because of how he’s handled it so far
  • He also takes Reek, thinking of him as one of his own men, because he learned nothing from Osha. Little Walder Frey comes along just to hunt wolves. Such is Theon’s Last Hero hunting party: bullies, sadists, and people he has to threaten into helping him. He’s reaping what he sowed
  • In Arya X, Roose Bolton tells Qyburn that he intends to hunt the wolves around Harrenhal, and Little Walder Frey joining in the hunt falls along similar thematic and symbolic importance.
  • As soon as Bran/Robb lose or start to look like they might lose, the Freys/Boltons turn from allies with helpful armies to life or death enemies.
  • And again, we see the dynamic we explored back in Bran III with Little Walder Frey as he jumps at the opportunity to be a cruel, evil little shit.
  • Meanwhile, Big Walder Frey, our supervillain in waiting, decides on a less dangerous course. He’s staying behind.
  • Big Walder is hedging his bets, making jokes about his cousin, but not going out to do the dangerous work.
  • But he’s also not making himself much of a threat to Bran either. Big Walder must sense the mood of the castle and maybe has an inkling of the strategic situation, knowing that if he jumps full-throated against Bran, he might end up dead at the hands of vengeful northmen.
  • He leaves Winterfell in the hands of Black Lorren, one of his most violent followers, and says he can do whatever he wants with the castle if Theon doesn’t make it back. Again, this completely undercuts Theon’s pretense that he hasn’t been all that bad as the new Lord of Winterfell
  • He threatens the people with mayhem in order to get them praying for his success. He makes himself the lesser evil, even though he’s the one who just empowered the greater evil, as with empowering Reek aka Ramsay
  • It is precisely by telling himself that he’s not so bad that Theon allows himself to get worse and worse. By believing he could not possibly be the villain, he ignores all the signs that this is exactly what he has become
  • Ramsay letting Reek out of his cage feels symbolically important as it represents what the ruling elite have done to Westeros by bringing war to the forefront.
  • The Reeks, Biters, Rorges, Shagwells, Gregors, Ticklers and because I’m fresh off listening to GGC’s analysis of “The Sacrifice”: the Clayton Suggs have all been unleashed on Westeros by the needs of war.
  • None of these men were good before the start of the War of the Five Kings, but war empowers them to expand their death blossom.
  • Theon doesn’t have enough of his own men to hold Winterfell. He only came with twenty. Tywin hires the Bloody Mummers to prosecute his war crime on the riverlands. And Robb Stark needs Roose Bolton on the field of battle, despite how he scares him.
  • It’s a numbers game. It’s how leaders rationalize the evil conduct of their subordinates. The greater good must be served. Winterfell must be held.
  • And now Reek is joining Theon in hunting children for the greater good.
  • Again, this feels like another spot where GRRM is hammering home the theme that war endangers innocents and especially children.
  • Bran is continuously endangered by adults playing their adult games. Jaime pushed Bran from the window when he discovered Jaime and Cersei at their play.
  • And now Bran’s flight from Winterfell endangers Theon’s game of thrones at Winterfell, his tenuous hold on power and most importantly: his ego
• On the hunt
  • They assemble by the Hunter’s Gate, appropriately enough. The natural imagery throughout the chapter is lovely: the dawn light, the frosty air
  • But George immediately contrasts this beauty with violence by listing all the weapons everyone has brought along. Theon has his bow; he thinks back to saving Bran’s life with an arrow, and tells himself he’ll be willing to take Bran’s life with another arrow if it comes to it. Would he? Who knows
  • George swerves on us there as he does with Stannis and Edric Storm by diverting Theon in a different direction, set up by Reek’s bulging sack
  • The point is less whether Theon would’ve actually killed his foster brothers and more that he feels the need to play the role of a man who would
  • The atmosphere surrounding the hunt evokes Bran’s opening chapter from AGOT:
    • The morning had dawned clear and cold, with a crispness that hinted at the end of summer. They set forth at daybreak to see a man beheaded, twenty in all, and Bran rode among them, nervous with excitement.
  • Theon is operating their Ned Stark role, and we even have Aggar with a massive ax that subs for Ned’s greatsword Ice.
  • Theon’s hunting party is searching for the wolves too, and Bran I has the boys finding the wolves.
  • And what is it that Theon said back then after Hullen said that the wolves would be dead soon enough?:
    • “The sooner the better,” Theon Greyjoy agreed. He drew his sword. “Give the beast here, Bran.”
  • AGOT, Bran I also features Theon out with Bran for the execution, and Theon acting like an ass in kicking Gared’s head.
  • Theon follows up on his prior asshattery in this chapter, arrogantly thinking he can find the boys easily enough and that he’ll be skinning wolves soon enough.
  • Again, George is hammering home the theme of this chapter that this Theon is transgressive Ned Stark, perverting the prior peace and harmony that existed when the Starks were in charge.
  • As he follows the trail, it leads not south to Ser Rodrik as expected, but northwest through the wolfswood, toward Asha at Deepwood Motte
  • Theon cannot bear the thought of another humiliation, the stripping down of his masculine ego that he has suffered in all his chapters so far
  • In particular, he’s still smarting about how Asha manipulated him and how effortlessly she plays the role of Ironborn heir that he can’t seem to pull off
  • If Asha captures the Stark heirs he let escape, he would lose any chance of leveraging his conquest of Winterfell into his father’s love and crown
  • So he prepares to kill them instead, because he thinks it is better to be seen as cruel than foolish. This is a dynamic George comes back to a lot
  • It animates Stannis as well--I must rule through fear because men do not love me as they did my brothers. This is the core of Tywin’s philosophy: I must rule through fire and blood to wipe out my father’s weaknesses
  • And this mindset tempts Dany throughout her story in Slaver’s Bay, even as she tries with all her might to resist, knowing the dreadful implications
  • Once you have power, you want to hold onto it. What do you do when faced with the choice of losing your power or losing your humanity?
  • This struggle doesn’t only take place within Theon’s head, though. Maester Luwin is here to force him to talk about it! This is probably my favorite part of the chapter; the dialogue is so precise and well-paced
  • As we will see in Theon’s final chapter in this book, Luwin has conflicted feelings of his own regarding the new master of Winterfell
  • Luwin hates what Theon has done and is doing, yet he still owes Theon service...and more to the point, he can’t bring himself to hate Theon
  • Luwin just knows Theon too well. More than Balon ever did, probably more than Ned ever did either. He knows why Theon’s doing all this
  • He sees the opportunity to mitigate the damage, scraping his way past the outer shell of Theon’s Ironborn identity to get to the man he knows
  • Luwin starts by comparing hunting to a mere ride through the woods, the kind they would all take in better days. Does this have to end in blood?
  • Luwin grants that Bran and Rickon escaping was “great folly.” Now ofc, there’s no way he believes that. He’s just trying to placate Theon
  • The boys remain Theon’s foster brothers. Luwin (and George) is reminding the reader that Theon is contemplating a form of kinslaying
  • Theon snaps back that only Robb ever treated him like a brother. As he will tell Ser Rodrik, the way he was treated at Winterfell chafes
  • He didn’t suffer physical harm, but the threat of it hung over him and impacted how everyone treated him. He was a dead man walking
  • He wasn’t truly at home here, but it turns out he’s not at home back on the Iron Islands either. His blood brothers, if anything, treated him worse
  • Theon knows, intellectually, that Bran and Rickon have more value alive. But emotionally, he needs to fill that hole inside, by violence if necessary
  • Luwin has done his duty to the Stark boys left in his care by their mother, but what makes me love him is he doesn’t stop there. He risks Theon’s anger by trying to save as many lives as possible. Luwin can’t defend people with a sword like Brienne; this is how he does the right thing
  • Luwin is fulfilling his “knight of the mind” role that maesters fulfill, using his mind as a weapon against Theon here.
  • I’m reminded of how Tyrion framed it back in book 1:
    • My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind …
  • He outwits Theon and uses his voice and intellect to win, because he knows that’s the more potent weapon in this scenario.
  • Like you, this is my favorite part of the chapter too. The dialogue is precise, the writing is good. And it’s emotionally poignant.
  • Luwin is endangering himself, knowing that Theon’s ego is an eggshell, it can crack easily which could lead to Luwin dying. Septon Chayle had already been murdered by Theon for less.
  • Maester Luwin endangers himself; so, he can “save the children”. To me, this feels of equal emotionally powerful as Ellaria Sand advocating for the children in ADWD.
  • He risks his own life to save others. Would that we all do similarly.
  • He advises Theon to spare Jojen and Meera, because they could be useful hostages against their father Howland Reed, who is presently gearing up a guerilla campaign against Victarion at Moat Cailin
  • Again, Luwin isn’t a quisling. He isn’t actually trying to help out the Ironborn. But by pretending to, he can save the Reed children
  • Luwin then moves on to Hodor. Here, he has no political axe to grind. Hodor is not important in the game of thrones. The only appeal Luwin can make is personal: you know Hodor. You know he had no choice in this, that he does what he is told. How many times has he helped you out?
  • It’s a subtle reminder that Theon knows these people better than the Ironborn. They haven’t been around to scour his mail; Hodor has
  • Theon thinks of Hodor as being nothing to him. Not good, not bad, pure neutral. Not even a person, as sadly many think of the mentally disabled
  • So as long as Hodor doesn’t fight, they’ll spare him. Luwin hasn’t changed Theon’s worldview, his corrupted thought process, but within that framework, he has managed to save as many lives as possible
  • Osha is where Theon draws the line. She swore an oath directly to Theon and betrayed it; she’s gonna die for that. Luwin seems to realize he’s pushed Theon as far as he can go, and does not make an attempt to save Osha’s life. I can’t blame him; he’s doing his best in his position
  • Luwin does, however, work in one more subtle jab at Theon before falling back. He says he makes no apologies for oathbreakers. Hmm...hmm...who could he be referring to beyond Osha...hmmmmm
  • Luwin then thanks Theon for his mercy. The theme of mercy will become increasingly important in Theon’s story; he denies it at the end of this chapter, but when his next chapter opens, he’s begging for mercy
  • He receives the opposite of mercy at Ramsay’s hands, and one of the meta-questions of Theon’s story in ADWD is what mercy for him would really look like. Would death be kinder, or a painful transformation?
  • In this moment, mercy works to encapsulate Theon’s inner conflict. He doesn’t reject it entirely (not yet), but nor does he embrace it
  • Instead, he regards it as a trap, impossible to reconcile, just as Jaime will say about oaths in a few chapters. The politics of mercy cut both ways. Either you show too much, and are considered weak, or you show too little, and are considered monstrous. Where’s the sweet spot?
  • The problem is not the nature of mercy itself, for mercy is God’s grace given form, as the Bard tells us. The problem is the political context
  • Tytos Lannister’s mercy was widely seen as a sign of weakness, so his son Tywin ran in the opposite direction, abandoning mercy altogether
  • It is very difficult to choose your values over your context. Even the most well-intentioned people have trouble with this, and Theon is not that
  • That’s why a man like Septon Meribald, who has devoted himself to his values at expense of political context, is so rare. It’s a demanding life
  • Theon knows that Luwin has given him good advice. He knows that for the Ironborn to establish a lasting kingdom in the North, they have to find that sweet spot between mercy and justice, as Ned Stark did
  • He knows this because he has not wholly been consumed by the Old Way like his father and uncles. Yet ultimately, his instincts still line up with theirs
  • For all Theon tells himself that he has a firmer grasp on Northern politics than the other Greyjoys, he still admits that he hadn’t considered the political implications of the Reeds’ presence at Winterfell. The only thought he gave them was idly considering dragging Meera off to bed
  • Theon knows, as he says, that force and fear can only carry you so far. But when push comes to shove, he can’t imagine any other way to be
  • He thinks wistfully about marrying Sansa to cement his claim. But she’s not here, and at chapter’s end, Theon will commit himself to staking his reputation on dead Starks, not live ones. He will abandon mercy
  • Come ASOS/ADWD, the Boltons will follow up on Theon’s unstated advice to secure their hold on the North by marrying Ramsay to Arya.
  • The Boltons, as we find out, don’t utilize mercy at all. They are all fear.
  • And though that is presented initially as the winning strategy to hold the North, it only works for the short-term. Even Theon in this chapter says that force and fear can only carry you along so far.
  • Ramsay’s mistreatment of Jeyne Poole coupled with Roose’s participation and planning of the Red Wedding will bring the Boltons down nearly as fast as Theon.
  • The problem is that Theon thinks he’s threading the needle of offering a middle course of mercy and fear when he’s not.
  • The reality is that Theon is vacillating between poles so that ironborn and northmen alike are unsure where Theon will land on this particular day in this particular Theon mood.
  • Notice that Theon starts by saying he might have to kill Bran and Rickon so as not to be laughed at, then Luwin convinces him not to kill them, then at chapter’s end, it’s back to killing Theon.
  • It’s all based on Theon’s mood, not out of a sound policy. Theon took Winterfell because he needed his dad to look at him like a son, he holds it, because he knows nothing else and is emotionally tied to the place, and his rule is emotional.
• It all goes wrong
  • So far, as I’ve been saying, Theon has been reasonably competent in terms of his hunter’s eye for details, even while failing at everything else
  • But as the hunt proceeds, even that skill abandons him. As the trees grow wilder and the road more treacherous, symbolizing Theon stepping into uncharted moral territory, they come upon the corpse of an elk
  • Theon is smart enough to notice that only the direwolves have been at the elk. Osha would certainly think to take some meat, but she didn’t
  • Theon, however, is not smart enough to reach the correct conclusion: Osha didn’t come this far, and the direwolves are leading him on their own
  • Theon doesn’t even notice the next clue. When the trail leads them to a stream, it is Wex who notices that there are only paw prints in the mud
  • Again, it’s all about communication and translation of information. The paw prints communicate something to Wex, and Wex has to communicate it to Theon despite being mute. It isn’t even Theon who understands, but Joseth; this reinforces how Theon has failed to internalize his observations
  • Theon’s hunting skills snap back into focus as he splits up the team to pursue their prey in multiple directions: up and downstream, with a few sent back to re-check the route prior to the elk corpse. Smart moves
  • But just as the political strength of House Stark is beyond Theon’s grasp, so too is their magical power, and as always in ACOK, the two go together
  • Farlen says the wolves would never leave the boys for long. Ramsay says it doesn’t make sense for animals to keep running along a streambed
  • By the secular rules of the material world, they’re both right. But the wolves don’t follow those rules. They’re cunning enough to play out their roles as if they were human, because they are bonded with their Starks
  • We also see this with Ghost in ASOS, who seems to follow Jon’s orders even though it means parting from him and experiencing danger
  • Theon can only process this setback in political terms, thinking to himself that the whole north would rally around Bran and Rickon if they escape
  • He’s not wrong! But it’s the hidden sorcerous side of things that is allowing Bran and Rickon to make good on their politically powerful escape
  • We see that combination in action when Little Walder speaks up, saying they’ll never find the boys because the Reeds have crannog magic
  • For Little Walder, this makes the crannogmen sneaks who don’t fight fair. But the Freys sneak and don’t fight fair all the time! See the Red Wedding
  • The crannogmen probably do have magic, but what Little Walder is actually reacting to are the grounded guerilla tactics they use
  • And the Freys hate these tactics because the crannogmen have used them to resist the economic and political power of House Frey
  • Magical and political power are not separate; they intertwine, transforming each other like mixing paints together. Luwin also engages in this process
  • He tells Theon that the histories speak of the crannogmen getting in good with the children of the forest. Maybe they do have secret powers
  • I love this because Luwin is encouraging precisely the kind of magical mindset he was working so hard to discourage in Bran
  • In this case, however, that mindset helps him out by spooking Theon and lowering morale in his hunting party. Magical and political power make use of each other whenever they need to, depending on the situation
  • George does a really good job of setting up this scene, because nature seems to be fighting against Theon too!
  • Dark trees, treacherous gullies and cuts, the wild woods of the deep wolfswood.
  • There’s a feeling that, much as Stannis finds in ADWD, the North/nature itself is fighting against Theon’s entry into their territory.
  • It reinforces his own perception as an outsider in an unnatural nature setting
  • By thwarting Theon, nature rejects Theon’s dominion over it.
  • So, when Little Walder Frey and Maester Luwin tell Theon that the crannogmen have secret powers, it adds fear into Theon’s mindset.
    • Suddenly the wood seemed a deal darker than it had a moment before, as if a cloud had passed before the sun.
  • GRRM might be taking inspiration from Tolkien’s ents and the rise of the forest from The Two Towers to overthrow Sauruman, but it’s not quite so overt in GRRM’s world as in Tolkien’s
  • GRRM has compared the religion of the North to celtic animism, and the religion of the Old Gods is sourced to trees: heart trees, weirwoods, etc.
  • That religion, in turn, is sourced to the Children of the Forest and the old magics.
  • The connection between nature and man in the North is religion, and Theon, the outsider-insider, is not welcome, and the mix of nature and magic will thwart Theon here. Or so Theon starts to believe.
  • As darkness falls, it becomes clear that Theon has failed. As objectionable and ludicrous as his thought process has been, George has done such a good job of immersing us in it that we feel the bile rising in his throat
  • The walls have closed in. Theon fears humiliation more than anything else, and he has now guaranteed his own humiliation on a mass scale
  • For once, his swaggering cannot cover up material reality. There is no way to spin this. The Starks were the key to everything, and he let them go
  • All his arbitrary posturing before the people of Winterfell looks even sillier than it did in the moment. Imagine their faces when he comes crawling back. How can he credibly rule as a fearsome conqueror after this?
  • And that’s to say nothing of what his father and sister will think, as Theon quickly realizes. All their contempt is now justified. He will never be deemed one of them, worthy of the Seastone Chair. He has no home now
  • It is in this moment that Theon becomes most vulnerable to temptation, and so it is in this moment that Ramsay steps forward to claim his soul
  • Over the course of ACOK, Ramsay slowly approaches the narrative camera. He swims closer into our view every time he appears, until he fully unveils himself to us at the end of the book. This is a big step forward
  • He’s been easy to ignore so far. “Reek” has been in the background, an unpleasant avatar of a subplot that appears to have gone nowhere
  • But now he’s steering the plot. He’s already proven himself capable of taking advantage of any angle open to him--hence disguising himself as Reek and swearing his service to Theon. The next move is to earn Theon’s trust enough to afford Ramsay the opportunity to escape
  • How do you earn someone’s trust? By coming through for them when they’re in desperate need....especially if they have to keep it a secret
  • Theon needs the Starks. He doesn’t have them. How do you solve this? The same way Ramsay survived this long: disguise and deception
  • Ramsay ensured Reek’s death and then used “Reek” as an identity to hide the truth. He is now tempting Theon to do the same thing with the Starks: kill two other boys and drape the Stark identities over their bodies
  • It is a chilling proposition, not only for the violence involved but for the worldview it expresses. In Ramsay’s worldview, the peasants are so subhuman that their lives should literally be substituted for his own
  • That is also the worldview of all of the nobles if you break it down! But most don’t consciously think that way. Ramsay does, and glories in it
  • By tempting Theon down this path, he not only makes himself valuable to Theon, but he also ensures he holds a secret that Theon doesn’t want out
  • This binds them to the point that Theon feels he can only turn to “Reek” for assistance, letting him go recruit Dreadfort men in his next chapter
  • Theon thus tied to his future tormentor both logistically and morally. In order to claim his prize, he follows the Bastard of Bolton down to hell
  • Of course, the first time reader doesn’t know any of this. Not only are we ignorant of “Reek’s” true identity, we don’t know what his plan is yet
  • As George writes it, Theon understands what Ramsay is implying, but the author holds back on clarifying the plan to the reader. We get some clues, enough for it all to hold together when we do learn the truth, but we are being deliberately kept in the dark about the payoff at chapter’s end
  • This cliffhanger ending was a smart strategy in retrospect, and it has several effects. First, it leaves us desperate to find out, and so when we are told Bran and Rickon are dead, it’s all the more of a blow because the agony has been extended across multiple chapters and POV characters
  • Second, it fits the overall pattern of Theon IV in which everyone is playing with information and trying to translate it into a legible form. Just as Theon “reads” the lack of wolf howls, just as Wex “reads” the paw prints on the muddy riverbank, so we have to read the limited information we’re given
  • Finally, by not revealing what Theon is actually deciding to do, George keeps the focus on Theon’s mindset, his self-image around the decision
  • Luwin reminds him of mercy, the tether to humanity he promised to hold onto, and Theon rejects it. He says it’s because the boys have made him angry, but because Theon is a POV, we know the truth in his thoughts
  • He’s doing this because he believes it is better to be feared than laughed at. He would rather be a monster than be thought of as weak
  • If anything, this is worse. Theon isn’t committing child murder out of blind rage. It’s a calculated choice about the kind of person he wants to be
  • It backfires, of course. No one fears him for this, because as Asha tells him, it doesn’t take a badass to murder children, one of whom is disabled
  • Instead, they despise him, and Machiavelli would tell Theon that he has screwed up his incentives royally. He will never rule Winterfell now
  • All that’s ahead of him, and us. In the moment, though the first time reader doesn’t know what Theon is about to do, we feel an icy plunge in our chest as we realize who he’s about to be. That much is clear right away.
  • Murder begets more murder, atrocity more atrocity, Theon more Theon.
  • Ramsay’s aim with Theon here is to transform him into a mini version of himself. Theon is already a murderer with Mikken and Chayle. So, he can become a child murderer too.
  • Ramsay is making Theon his Reek long before Theon is down in the Dreadfort dungeons losing fingers, toes, flesh and penis. The transformation happens internally and then gets reflected by the external torments Ramsay inflicts on Theon.
  • Theon declares to the Winterfell crowd that he won’t flay people while he’s lord of Winterfell, but in between this chapter at the next, he flays the bodies of the children at the mill.
  • Theon descends into his depravity, but it’s not gleefully as chaotically evil Ramsay does, not in some sort of cold Tywin or Randyll-esque lawful evil.
  • His feeling here at chapter’s end is relief. He can just do these three more murders and two flayings, and it can be over.
  • He can be Ned Stark again. He can gain the love of the people of Winterfell and the love of his father.
  • But Theon V opens with Theon’s subconscious ripping away any relief that Theon feels at chapter’s end.
  • He knows he’s done horrific wrong here, and his soul is thinning.
  • It’ll grow thinner still which makes George’s work with Theon in ADWD among his finest writing in all of ASOIAF. Setup and payoff.

Foreshadowing/Groundwork

Theon says that he locked away every sword and axe in Winterfell, yet he suspects some are hidden from him. And he’s right: Team Bran takes swords from the crypts

Theon thinks about how the Boltons used to flay their enemies, but that practice ended when they bent the knee to the Starks. But maybe the practice continues still. Oh Theon. You’ll learn that old ways do indeed die hard with the Boltons.

Theon describes Sansa as ripe for bedding, and she will have her first period a couple chapters from now

Theon is right that the north will rally around Robb’s brothers--see Wyman RE Rickon

Theory/Discussion

George has said he’s decided to come up with more material for Osha. Any idea what that might be?

• Multiple times in the years since ADWD’s publication, GRRM has said that Osha would return, be influenced by Natalia Tena’s portrayal of Osha from the Thrones Show and “we'll be seeing a lot more of Osha in The Winds of Winter.”
• Meanwhile, as revealed in James Hibberd’s book Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, George told D&D that they should not cut Rickon Stark from the show as he has big plans for him come The Winds of Winter.
• Meanwhile, GRRM has stated that we’ll be seeing unicorns in The Winds of Winter, and apparently that there will be sex near The Winds of Winter. Great. Can’t wait.
• Anyways, these are all tied together as we learn from Wex in Davos’ final ADWD chapter that Rickon, Osha and Shaggydog headed out for the island of Skagos.
• So, what new material might GRRM have in store for Osha in TWOW?
• First, it seems readily apparent that whatever GRRM has in store for Rickon and Osha, it wasn’t something that was duplicated in Game of Thrones.
• D&D had no material really for Osha (and Rickon) in Season 6. The reason why is that where GRRM entangles and complicates his plots further and further, the showrunners go for the streamlining route.
• So, instead of getting a Rickon v Sansa v Jon conflicts in Winds or Dream, we got Jon v Sansa with Arya in the mix.
• The version of #Starkbowl we got in Season 7 was a half-baked at best conflict that was easily resolved in Season 7 with the Starks joining together and executing Littlefinger.
• But I think GRRM has a longer, complicated conflict in mind in a post-Bolton/post-Stannis North.
• Sansa will show up with the Vale Knights. Jon will have the wildlings and maybe the surviving Karstarks in tow. If Rickon appears, he may end up having the support of the Manderlys and their vassals. He’ll also have Osha.
• If Rickon and Osha show back up in the main northern plot, I imagine that Osha will be quite protective of Rickon and his interests. And this will be a fascinating parallel to Jon whose backing will come primarily through Tormund and his wildlings.
• Intriguingly, back in AGOT, Bran V, Osha said this:
  • "The boy's worth nothing dead, but alive … gods be damned, think what Mance would give to have Benjen Stark's own blood to hostage!"
• That Osha seems to know Mance or know of him might mean that she maybe knows and definitely knows of Tormund Giantsbane.
• Could Osha be part of the solution to Starkbowl 2021? Could she leverage her relationship with Mance Rayder and Tormund Giantsbane for this purpose? Possibly!
• But I may be getting over my skis here, because this begs the question: does Osha ever leave Skagos at all with Rickon?

Conclusion

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