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#acok theon vi
kingsmoot · 4 months
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"It is Arya of House Stark who chews on her lip whenever she is thinking. Are you Arya of House Stark?" - Cat of the Canals, AFFC
She bit her lip. "You may not recall, my lord, as I was littler then . . . but I had the honor to meet you at Winterfell when King Robert came to visit my father Lord Eddard." She lowered her big brown eyes and mumbled, "I'm Arya Stark." - Jaime IX, ASOS
"It won't be no beating, oh, no. I won't lay a finger on you. I'll just save you for the Qohorik, yes I will, I'll save you for the Crippler. Vargo Hoat his name is, and when he gets back he'll cut off your feet."  - Arya VIII, ACOK
"Tell him, you tell him. I'll do what he wants … whatever he wants … with him or … or with the dog or … please … he doesn't need to cut my feet off, I won't try to run away, not ever, I'll give him sons, I swear it, I swear it …" - Theon, ADWD
The direwolf was the sigil of the Starks, but Arya felt more a lamb, surrounded by a herd of other sheep. She hated the villagers for their sheepishness, almost as much as she hated herself. - Arya VI, ACOK
It was the girl who held them here, Lord Eddard's blood, but the girl was just a mummer's ploy, a lamb in a direwolf's skin.  - A Ghost in Winterfell, ADWD
'Why did you make your people lambs, when the world is full of wolves?' - Barristan I, TWOW
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ladystoneboobs · 2 months
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[Bran, to Theon:]“But you’re Father’s ward.” [Theon, to Bran:]“And now you and your brother are my wards. [...] You’ll tell them how you’ve yielded Winterfell to me, and command them to serve and obey their new lord as they did the old.” -Bran VI, aCoK “He[Ramsay] is a great hunter,” said Wyman Manderly, “and women are his favorite prey. He strips them naked and sets them loose in the woods. They have a half day’s start before he sets out after them with hounds and horns. From time to time some wench escapes and lives to tell the tale. Most are less fortunate. When Ramsay catches them he rapes them, flays them, feeds their corpses to his dogs, and brings their skins back to the Dreadfort as trophies. If they have given him good sport, he slits their throats before he skins them. Elsewise, t’other way around.” -Davos IV, aDwD [Roose, to Theon, about Ramsay's mother:]"[...]I was hunting a fox along the Weeping Water when I chanced upon a mill and saw a young woman washing clothes in the stream. The old miller had gotten himself a new young wife, a girl not half his age. She was a tall, willowy creature, very healthy-looking. Long legs and small firm breasts, like two ripe plums. Pretty, in a common sort of way. The moment that I set eyes on her I wanted her. Such was my due. [...] This miller’s marriage had been performed without my leave or knowledge. The man had cheated me. So I had him hanged, and claimed my rights beneath the tree where he was swaying. If truth be told, the wench was hardly worth the rope. The fox escaped as well, and on our way back to the Dreadfort my favorite courser came up lame, so all in all it was a dismal day." -Reek(/Theon) III, aDwD
something something the way theon tries to rectify his childhood trauma by taking his captor's place as lord of wf and taking ned's younger sons as his "wards"/hostages, while ramsay repeatedly reenacts different versions of his own conception by hunting and raping peasant women. except theon fails in his role reversal when (unlike him in his own captivity at wf) bran and rickon escape custody. and ramsay enhances roose's "dismal day" by killing all the women he catches to prevent any more bolton bastards and further punishing those of them who fail to give him "good sport" (which his mother apparently did not give roose) while those who do satisfy him are "honored" with a quick death (and a canine namesake). and then the consequences of theon's failure to replace his captor/cold noerthern father figure include losing wf to house bolton and becoming the new "reek"/another of ramsay's dogs. (meaning he made himself ramsay's prey but gave him "good sport" in the experience)
ramsay starts out as deceptive dark trickster figure/evil adviser/devil on theon's shoulder in clash but he's also a dark mirror of theon, and a more successful one at that, not just better suited to villainy but more able to get away with his crimes. neither will ever be truly accepted by their fathers but ramsay is made heir once he's the only son while theon is rejected as such despite his better birth. ramsay profits from the alleged kinslaying of his actual brother by blood, while theon is more openly condemned (and seen as still not punished enough) for (falsely) killing stark boys who were never his actual kin. it's almost as if ramsay is an evil force who came into being to find theon and was drawn to him upon his return to the north. we first learn of the bastard of bolton's existence after theon returns to pyke and learns of his father's invasion plans, then his last hunt with the original reek just shortly precedes the ironborn attacks, all so that he's captured and waiting in wf right in time for theon's real plan to go into action, and we don't actually meet (disguised) ramsay in-person through dialogue with rodrik cassell or any other northerner but only when theon arrives as the new lord to free him from the dungeon. as the first reek may have corrupted ramsay, ramsay-as-reek corrupts theon. reek belongs to ramsay and ramsay belongs to reek.
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thenorthsource · 2 months
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The Wildling and the Lost Boy (for anon)
AGOT – Catelyn III
"Rickon needs you […] He's only three, he doesn't understand what's happening. He thinks everyone has deserted him”
AGOT – Bran VI
"What are you doing here?" [...]
"They are my gods too," Osha said. "Beyond the Wall, they are the only gods."
[…] “The cold winds are rising, and men go out from their fires and never come back … or if they do, they're not men no more, but only wights, with blue eyes and cold black hands. Why do you think I run south with Stiv and Hali and the rest of them fools? Mance thinks he'll fight, […] but what does he know? […] He's never tasted winter. I was born up there, child, like my mother and her mother before her and her mother before her, born of the Free Folk. We remember." Osha stood, her chains rattling together. "I tried to tell your lordling brother. […] But he looked through me […]. So be it. I'll wear my irons and hold my tongue. A man who won't listen can't hear."
AGOT – Bran VII
"I lived my life beyond the Wall, a hole in the ground won't fret me none, m'lords," she said.
[…] Ser Rodrik had ordered Osha's chain struck off, since she had served faithfully and well since she had been at Winterfell. She still wore the heavy iron shackles around her ankles—a sign that she was not yet wholly trusted—but they did not hinder her sure strides down the steps.
[…]
Rickon patted Shaggydog's muzzle, damp with blood. "I let him loose. He doesn't like chains." He licked at his fingers.
ACOK – Bran V
"Osha," Bran asked as they crossed the yard. "Do you know the way north? To the Wall and . . . and even past?"
ACOK – Theon IV
Osha would need to carry Rickon; his little legs wouldn't take him far on their own.
[…]
Theon Greyjoy knew he was beaten […] Osha had deceived them with some wildling trick.
ACOK – Bran VII
Bran heard fingers fumbling at leather, followed by the sound of steel on flint. Then again. A spark flew, caught. Osha blew softly. A long pale flame awoke, […] Osha's face floated above it. She touched the flame with the head of a torch. Bran had to squint as the pitch began to burn, filling the world with orange glare. The light woke Rickon, who sat up yawning. […]
There stood Osha holding the torch, […] and the double row of tall granite pillars and long dead lords behind them stretching away into darkness . . . but there was Winterfell as well, grey with drifting smoke, the massive oak-and-iron gates charred and askew, the drawbridge down in a tangle of broken chains and missing planks.
[...] "Are we going home?" Rickon asked excitedly.
[…] Osha carried her long oaken spear in one hand and the torch in the other. A naked sword hung down her back, one of the last to bear Mikken's mark.
[…]
"Take me home!" Rickon demanded. "I want to be home!" […] They stood huddled together with ruin and death all around them.
"We made noise enough to wake a dragon," Osha said, "but there's no one come. The castle's dead and burned, just as Bran dreamed,” […]
"Hodor must stay with Bran, to be his legs," the wildling woman said briskly. "I will take Rickon with me."
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owlsinathens · 4 months
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Theon "Sherlock" Greyjoy...
There had to be two or more, he decided. While the woman was entertaining Drennan, the others freed the wolves. Theon called for a torch and led them up the steps to the wallwalk. He swept the flame low before him, looking for … there. On the inside of the rampart and in the wide crenel between two upthrust merlons. “Blood,” he announced, “clumsily mopped up. At a guess, the woman killed Drennan and lowered the drawbridge. Squint heard the clank of chains, came to have a look, and got this far. They pushed the corpse through the crenel into the moat so he wouldn’t be found by another sentry.”
ACOK, Theon VI
...and Theon Poirot
“A drunk,” Ryswell declared. “Pissing off the wall, I’ll wager. He slipped and fell.” No one disagreed. But Theon Greyjoy found himself wondering why any man would climb the snow-slick steps to the battlements in the black of night just to take a piss.
[...]
Then, before the day was done, a crossbowman sworn to the Flints turned up in the stables with a broken skull. Kicked by a horse, Lord Ramsay declared. A club, more like, Theon decided.
ADWD, A Ghost in Winterfell
Unlike the corpse/head kicking this doesn't feel performative to me, so I'm guessing it's a trait of Theon's to play private eye. He's clever in many ways (and utterly stupid in some), and his curious mind is never, ever repressed no matter what happens to him - is there anything equivalent to detectives or investigators in Westeros?
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agentrouka-blog · 8 months
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Hi! if jon really falls for sansa, what do you think his course of action is? I’m not a big fan of him trying to suppress those feelings, he may just want to ignore them or feign confusion. In sansa’s case, she probably thinks it’s something cersei did to her but yea idk
(Nah, they won't wallow in endless repression, and Sansa isn't the #1 Aemon and Naerys shipper for nothing. No need to blame Cersei there, she'll just suddenly feel genre-aware.)
Jon Snow dealing with his feelings, according to me, a 7-Step-Guide as illustrated by selected quotes:
Step 1: These hearteyes are Totally Normal!
They look as though they belong together. [...] Her breath was white as well … but her eyes were blue, her long braid the color of dark honey, her cheeks flushed red from the cold. It had been a long while since Jon Snow had seen a sight so lovely. (ADWD, Jon XI)
Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey's pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell's Great Hall. (AGOT, Jon I)
Step 2: Oh no.
Jon walked away as confused as he was angry. Sam's heart was as big as the rest of him, but for all his reading he could be as thick as Grenn at times. It was impossible, and dishonorable besides. So why do I feel so ashamed? (ACOK, Jon III)
He sat on the bench and buried his head in his hands. Why am I so angry? he asked himself, but it was a stupid question.  (ASOS, Jon XII)
He wanted it, Jon knew then. He wanted it as much as he had ever wanted anything. I have always wanted it, he thought, guiltily. May the gods forgive me. It was a hunger inside him, sharp as a dragonglass blade.  (ASOS, Jon XII)
Step 3: I am fortune's fool.
A deserter and a wildling could expect no welcome anywhere in the Seven Kingdoms. (ASOS, Jon IV)
Bastard children were born from lust and lies, men said; their nature was wanton and treacherous. Once Jon had meant to prove them wrong, to show his lord father that he could be as good and true a son as Robb. I made a botch of that. (ASOS, Jon X)
Step 4: Aemon and Naerys - Northern Edition
Tyrion Lannister had claimed that most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it, but Jon was done with denials. (AGOT, Jon IX)
 If this is so wrong, he wondered, why did the gods make it feel so good? (ASOS, Jon III)
Old Nan used to tell stories about knights and their ladies who would sleep in a single bed with a blade between them for honor's sake, but he thought this must be the first time where a direwolf took the place of the sword. (ASOS, Jon II)
"More than any of the others." When Taena frowned, a tiny crease appeared between her dark eyes. "Every morn and every night he visits, unless duty interferes. Her brother is devoted to her, they share everything with . . . oh . . ." For a moment, the Myrish woman looked almost shocked. Then a smile spread across her face. "I have had a most wicked thought, Your Grace." (AFFC, Cersei VI)
Step 5: A Miracle of Technicalities
Is she still my sister? he wondered. Was she ever? He had never truly been a Stark, only Lord Eddard's motherless bastard, with no more place at Winterfell than Theon Greyjoy. And even that he'd lost.  (ASOS, Jon III)
She punched him. "That's vile. Would you bed your sister?" "Longspear's not your brother." (ASOS, Jon III)
They had spoken their vows in Winterfell’s own godswood before a heart tree, and only then had she given herself to him, wrapped in furs amidst the snows as the old gods looked on. (Fire and Blood - The Dying Of The Dragons - A Son For A Son)
If I could show her Winterfell . . . give her a flower from the glass gardens, feast her in the Great Hall, and show her the stone kings on their thrones. We could bathe in the hot pools, and love beneath the heart tree while the old gods watched over us. ( ASOS, Jon V)
Wed to Ser Loras, oh . . . Sansa's breath caught in her throat. She remembered Ser Loras in his sparkling sapphire armor, tossing her a rose. Ser Loras in white silk, so pure, innocent, beautiful. The dimples at the corner of his mouth when he smiled. The sweetness of his laugh, the warmth of his hand. She could only imagine what it would be like to pull up his tunic and caress the smooth skin underneath, to stand on her toes and kiss him, to run her fingers through those thick brown curls and drown in his deep brown eyes. A flush crept up her neck. (ASOS, Sansa I)
"And the Dragonknight?" She flung the bedclothes aside and swung her legs to the floor. "The noblest knight who ever lived, you said, and he took his queen to bed and got her with child." (AFFC, The Soiled Knight)
Step 6: Trials and Tribulations In Apocalypse Times
His words were like an icy draft through her heart. "No," she said, suddenly afraid. Was this to be her punishment? Never to see his face again, nor to feel his arms around her? (AGOT, Catelyn II)
When he woke, there was nothing to do but think, and his waking thoughts were worse than nightmares. The thought of Cat was as painful as a bed of nettles. He wondered where she was, what she was doing. He wondered whether he would ever see her again. (AGOT, Eddard X)
Step 7: Due to Reasons of Convenience, These Cousins Must Totally Wed Now
His lord father had once talked about raising new lords and settling them in the abandoned holdfasts as a shield against wildlings. The plan would have required the Watch to yield back a large part of the Gift, but his uncle Benjen believed the Lord Commander could be won around, so long as the new lordlings paid taxes to Castle Black rather than Winterfell. "It is a dream for spring, though," Lord Eddard had said. "Even the promise of land will not lure men north with a winter coming on." If winter had come and gone more quickly and spring had followed in its turn, I might have been chosen to hold one of these towers in my father's name. (ASOS, Jon V)
"To be sure. It would not have been fitting for a daughter of Riverrun to marry one so far below her." Littlefinger spread his hands. "Now, though . . . a match between the Lady of the Eyrie and the Lord of Harrenhal is not so unthinkable, is it?" [...] Tyrion studied the slender man with the pointed beard and irreverent grey-green eyes. Lord of Harrenhal an empty honor? Bugger that, Father. Even if he never sets foot in the castle, the title makes this match possible, as he's known all along. (ASOS, Tyrion III)
And there was one woman, sitting almost at the foot of the third table on the left . . . the wife of one of the Fossoways, he thought, and heavy with his child. Her delicate beauty was in no way diminished by her belly, nor was her pleasure in the food and frolics. Tyrion watched as her husband fed her morsels off his plate. They drank from the same cup, and would kiss often and unpredictably. Whenever they did, his hand would gently rest upon her stomach, a tender and protective gesture. (ASOS, Tyrion VIII)
Commence lots of laundry and taxes and baby Starklings.
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iceywolf24 · 23 days
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Thinking about how a thousand eyes and one is used as a threat by Bloodraven to at least somewhat inspire some fear
A thousand eyes, a hundred skins, wisdom deep as the roots of ancient trees - Bran III ADWD
Bran also thinks of his powers as using a thousand eyes after Bloodraven tells him about it.
"If Robb has to go, watch over him," Bran entreated the old gods, as they watched him with the heart tree's red eyes, "and watch over his men, Hal and Quent and the rest, and Lord Umber and Lady Mormont and the other lords. And Theon too, I suppose. Watch them and keep them safe, if it please you, gods. Help them defeat the Lannisters and save Father and bring them home." - Bran VI AGOT
A leaf drifted down from above, brushed his brow, and landed in the pool. It floated on the water, red, five-fingered, like a bloody hand. "… Bran," the tree murmured. - A Ghost in Winterfell ADWD
It ends up being Bran watching over Theon and helps him remember he's not Reek but Theon Greyjoy.
"I dreamed of Bran," Sansa had whispered to him. "I saw him smiling." - Eddard V
There was something wild about a godswood; even here, in the heart of the castle at the heart of the city, you could feel the old gods watching with a thousand unseen eyes. Sansa had favored her mother's gods over her father's. She loved the statues, the pictures in leaded glass, the fragrance of burning incense, the septons with their robes and crystals, the magical play of the rainbows over altars inlaid with mother-of-pearl and onyx and lapis lazuli. Yet she could not deny that the godswood had a certain power too. Especially by night. Help me, she prayed, send me a friend, a true knight to champion me - Sansa II ACOK
Here's a moment of Sansa thinking of a thousand eyes and it does give her some comfort in the same godswood she dreamed of Bran.
In contrast to Brynden, Bran's thousand eyes inspires hope and bravery.
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Interpretations of the red comet:
Daenerys:
Jhogo spied it first." There" he said in a husted voice. Dany looked and saw it low in the east. The first star was a comet, burning red; the dragon's tail. She could not have asked for a stronger sign.
AGOT, DAENERYS X
It is the herald of my coming, she told herself as she gazed up the night sky with wonder in her heart. The gods have send it to show me the way.
ACOK, DAENERYS I
Maester Cressen:
An omen of blood,foretelling murder...yes
ACOK, PROLOGUE
Ser Arys Oakheart:
[Sansa]"What do you think it means?"she asked him.
"Glory to your bethrothed" Ser Arys answered at once. "See how it flames across the sky today on His Grace's name day, as if the Gods themselves have raised a banner in his honor[...]
ACOK, SANSA I
Smallfolk on Kings Landing:
[Ser Arys]" The smallfolk have named it King Joffrey's comet".
Doubtless that was what they told Joffrey; Sansa was not so sure. "I've heard servants calling it the Dragon's tail".
ACOK, SANSA I
Osha:
[...]The way she said it made him silver, and when he asked what he comet meant, she answered" Blood and fire, boy, and nothing sweet"
ACOK, BRAN I
Septon Chayle:
Bran asked Septon Chayle about the comet while they were sorting through some scrolls snatched from the library fire. "It is the sword that slays the season", he replied and soon after the white raven came from Oldtown, bringing word of autumn, so doubtless he was right.
ACOK, BRAN I
Old Nan:
Through Old Nan did not think so, and she'd lived longer than any of them. "Dragons" she said lifting her head and sniffing. She was near blind and could not see the comet, yet she claimed she could smell it."It be dragons, boy" she insisted. Bran got no princes from Nan, no more than he ever had.
ACOK, BRAN I
Greatjon Umber, Edmure Tully, Catelyn Stark and Brynden Tully:
[Catelyn]"The Greatjon told Robb that the old gods have unfurled a red flag of vengeance for Ned. Edmure thinks it's an omen for victory for Riverrun - he sees a fish with a long tail, in the tully colors, red against blue."She sighed . "I wish I had their faith. Crimson is a Lannister color".
"That thing's not crimson" Ser Brynden said.Nor Tully red, the mud red of the river. That's blood up there, child, smeared across the sky".
ACOK, CATELYN I
Theon Greyjoy:
It's my comet, Theon told himself, sliding a hand into his fur-lined coat to touch the oilskin pouch snug in its pocket.
ACOK, THEON I
Selyse Florent:
Queen Selyse was adamant" None of them was chosen by R'hllor. No red comet blazed across the heavens to herald their coming. None of them wielded the Lightbringer, the red sword of heroes.And none of the paid the price. Lady Melisandre will tell you, my lord.Only death can pay for life".
ASOS, DAVOS V
Melisandre:
[Melisandre]"You are he who must stand against the Other. The one whose coming was prophesied five thousand years ago. The red comet was your herald. You are the prince that was promised and if you fail, the world falls with you".
ASOS, DAVOS VI
Aeron Greyjoy:
The priest had dreamed the same dream, when he'd first seen the red comet in the sky. We shall sweep over the green lands with fire and sword, root out the seven gods from the septons and the white trees of the northmen...
AFFC, THE DROWNED MAN
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Young Griff: Not a King
So, theories about Young Griff, aka (F)Aegon VI, abound. After all, we as a fandom have had a lot of time to stew in our thoughts, and it can be fun engaging in conversations about said thoughts. However, these conditions lead misconceptions to run wild, especially about a character like YG and his future.
I've seen a lot of people talking about the Targaryen Restoration, the second conquerors, and the three heads of the dragon in the context of Dany, Jon, and YG. A lot of the time, at least from what I've seen, these people accept that YG is not the Son of Rhaegar and Elia. I, personally, agree with that, there is a lot of textual evidence pointing to that conclusion. BUT I don't agree with him being the third head of the dragon. Now there's a lot to be said about when he was introduced and his prevalence in the story, but I'm not going to focus on that. I'm going to talk about YG's character.
GRRM clearly has a lot of opinions about what makes a good leader: Dany, Jon, Arya, and Bran are all great examples of characters who embody these. Each of those four are of the key five, are similar to YG in some way, and are being set up for or are already in leadership roles. These things all make the differences between them and YG all the more striking. The four are all wise for their age, intelligent, compassionate, and are invested in the lives of their people. YG does not have any of these characteristics.
He wants to rule not for the good of the people or to help the oppressed but because he was taught it was his birthright. A very entitled reason he shares with characters like Stannis, Joffrey, and ACOK Theon, men who the audience isn't supposed to root for (this is excluding the "Stannis the Mannis" crowd, who are stupid). YG also is only interested in carrying on the status quo of Westeros, something GRRM repeatedly points out is BAD. The sexism, homophobia, racism, and feudalism are not things the audience should support. So why should we root for someone who is supporting these things and whose arc isn't setting up a radical change of heart?
Am I saying I hate YG? No, I think he's a tragic character who is a victim of the greed of the men around him. But, he is not going to be a good king and would not get along with Dany and Jon at all. Jon hated Joffrey when he came North, why would he like and support a boy who reminds Tyrion of the little shit? YG has no respect for Dany and even for women in general, that is not setting up a healthy working relationship. And YG is so obviously a subversion of the "exiled king" trope (not the only one), him being successfully crowned, even alongside Dany and Jon, is wayyy too easy, especially for GRRM.
All this to say: no, I don't think Young Griff is going to be king of Westeros precisely because he does not have any leadership or even personal qualities GRRM believes should be in a leader.
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istumpysk · 7 months
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OPERATION ICEBERG: THE TIER LIST
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THEORY:
The miller's boys were Theon's sons.
TIER:
People's Choice!
It wouldn't be as fun if I picked everything. I trust you to choose the right one.
Low Probability: While not impossible, these theories are unlikely based on the current evidence.
vs.
Long Shot: These theories are largely speculative, based more on wishful thinking or obscure hints than on solid evidence.
vs.
Debunked: These theories have been directly contradicted by the text, George R. R. Martin, or other authoritative sources.
[Tier list overview]
EVIDENCE:
Theon had been intimate with the wife of the miller.
Theon knew the mill. He had even tumbled the miller's wife a time or two. There was nothing special about it, or her. - Theon IV, ACOK
A hooded figure, thought to be a figment of Theon's imagination, calls Theon a kinslayer. Theon knows he didn't kill Bran and Rickon, so why would he call himself that?
Farther on, he came upon a man striding in the opposite direction, a hooded cloak flapping behind him. When they found themselves face-to-face their eyes met briefly. The man put a hand on his dagger. "Theon Turncloak. Theon Kinslayer." "I'm not. I never … I was ironborn." - A Ghost in Winterfell, ADWD
After a transition from a Theon chapter to a Jon chapter, Ygritte tells Jon a story about a Lord of Winterfell who unknowingly kills his father. Theon, who called himself the Prince of Winterfell, could have done the exact opposite.
"So the son slew the father instead," said Jon. "Aye," she said, "but the gods hate kinslayers, even when they kill unknowing. When Lord Stark returned from the battle and his mother saw Bael's head upon his spear, she threw herself from a tower in her grief. Her son did not long outlive her. One o' his lords peeled the skin off him and wore him for a cloak." - Jon VI, ACOK
In one of Theon's initial chapters, he rather famously fails to recognize his own sister.
"I like to be on top." Where has this wench been all my life? "My father's hall is dim and dank. It needs Esgred to make the fires blaze." - Theon II, ACOK
Roose Bolton tells Theon the story of how he impregnated a miller's wife.
"This miller's marriage had been performed without my leave or knowledge. The man had cheated me. So I had him hanged, and claimed my rights beneath the tree where he was swaying. If truth be told, the wench was hardly worth the rope. The fox escaped as well, and on our way back to the Dreadfort my favorite courser came up lame, so all in all it was a dismal day. "A year later this same wench had the impudence to turn up at the Dreadfort with a squalling, red-faced monster that she claimed was my own get. I should've had the mother whipped and thrown her child down a well … but the babe did have my eyes. [...]" - Reek III, ADWD
Some believe Theon is dodging confronting his thoughts and emotions about the miller's sons, and being a kinslayer.
Robb was murdered at the Twins, and Bran and Rickon … we dipped the heads in tar … His own head was pounding. He did not want to think about anything that had happened before he knew his name. There were things too hurtful to remember, thoughts almost as painful as Ramsay's flaying knife … - Reek III, ADWD
x
"I have done terrible things … betrayed my own, turned my cloak, ordered the death of men who trusted me … but I am no kinslayer." "Stark's boys were never brothers to you, aye. We know." That was true, but it was not what Theon had meant. They were not my blood, but even so, I never harmed them. The two we killed were just some miller's sons. Theon did not want to think about their mother. He had known the miller's wife for years, had even bedded her. Big heavy breasts with wide dark nipples, a sweet mouth, a merry laugh. Joys that I will never taste again. - Theon I, ADWD
x
"[...] Tell me, my lord … if the kinslayer is accursed, what is a father to do when one son slays another?" The question frightened him. Once he had heard Skinner say that the Bastard had killed his trueborn brother, but he had never dared to believe it. He could be wrong. Brothers die sometimes, it does not mean that they were killed. My brothers died, and I never killed them. - Reek III, ADWD
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COUNTER-EVIDENCE:
Someone call a steward, the math is not mathing. At the start of A Clash of Kings, Theon is 20 years old, Bran is 8, and Rickon is 4.
As Theon shrugged out of his wet cloak, the girl said, "You must be so happy to see your home again, milord. How many years have you been away?" "Ten, or close as makes no matter," he told her. "I was a boy of ten when I was taken to Winterfell as a ward of Eddard Stark." - Theon I, ACOK
x
"Bran, child, why do you torment yourself so? One day you may do some of these things, but now you are only a boy of eight." - Bran I, ACOK
x
When the Walders had arrived from the Twins, it had been Rickon who wanted them gone. A baby of four, he had screamed that he wanted Mother and Father and Robb, not these strangers. - Bran I, ACOK
The sons of the miller were of similar ages to Bran and Rickon.
For Theon to be the father, it would mean that the miller's wife had slept with him when he was a 12-year-old hostage/ward of the Lord of Winterfell, which is highly improbable.
It's somewhat more plausible that he slept with the miller's wife when he was 16, making only the second son his. But one has to wonder, what would be the point of one son being his and not the other?
The miller's boys had been of an age with Bran and Rickon, alike in size and coloring, and once Reek had flayed the skin from their faces and dipped their heads in tar, it was easy to see familiar features in those misshapen lumps of rotting flesh. - Theon V, ACOK
In A Dance of Dragons, Theon recalls his early years at Winterfell, where as a boy he would skip stones, hide treasures, and stalk squirrels. He notes that it was later when he first kissed a girl, and even later still when he lost his virginity to a girl in the godswood. All these things point to Theon becoming sexually active in his later teens.
Theon Greyjoy was no stranger to this godswood. He had played here as a boy, skipping stones across the cold black pool beneath the weirwood, hiding his treasures in the bole of an ancient oak, stalking squirrels with a bow he made himself. Later, older, he had soaked his bruises in the hot springs after many a session in the yard with Robb and Jory and Jon Snow. In amongst these chestnuts and elms and soldier pines he had found secret places where he could hide when he wanted to be alone. The first time he had ever kissed a girl had been here. Later, a different girl had made a man of him upon a ragged quilt in the shade of that tall grey-green sentinel. - The Prince of Winterfell, ADWD
Theon claims he slept with the miller's wife "a time or two" (what potent sperm, must be a secret Tully) and specifically recalls seeing stretch marks on her stomach, indicating their sexual encounters happened after she had children.
Theon knew the mill. He had even tumbled the miller's wife a time or two. There was nothing special about it, or her. - Theon IV, ACOK
x
The night before, it had been the miller's wife. Theon had forgotten her name, but he remembered her body, soft pillowy breasts and stretch marks on her belly, the way she clawed his back when he fucked her. - Theon V, ACOK
If Theon were the father of the miller's children, wouldn't there be some sign that the miller's wife begged him to not harm his own offspring?
The night before, it had been the miller's wife. Theon had forgotten her name, but he remembered her body, soft pillowy breasts and stretch marks on her belly, the way she clawed his back when he fucked her. Last night in his dream he had been in bed with her once again, but this time she had teeth above and below, and she tore out his throat even as she was gnawing off his manhood. It was madness. He'd seen her die too. Gelmarr had cut her down with one blow of his axe as she cried to Theon for mercy. Leave me, woman. It was him who killed you, not me. - Theon V, ACOK
It's not just the hooded man, Rowan the spearwife, and Mors Umber also call Theon a kinslayer, despite not knowing about his affair with the miller's wife. This suggests that the theme of kinslaying in Theon's story mainly stems from his internal conflict between his Stark and Greyjoy identities, as well as his guilt over contributing to Robb Stark's downfall, whom he views as a brother.
"Not us." Rowan grabbed him by the throat and shoved him back against the barracks wall, her face an inch from his. "Say it again and I will rip your lying tongue out, kinslayer." - Theon I, ADWD
x
"I am — " " — a turncloak and a kinslayer," Crowfood had finished. - Theon I, TWOW
x
"[...] Tell me, my lord … if the kinslayer is accursed, what is a father to do when one son slays another?" The question frightened him. Once he had heard Skinner say that the Bastard had killed his trueborn brother, but he had never dared to believe it. He could be wrong. Brothers die sometimes, it does not mean that they were killed. My brothers died, and I never killed them. - Reek III, ADWD
And finally, the story of Bael the Bard has virtually no parallels with Theon's takeover of Winterfell.
STUMPY'S THOUGHTS:
Weeaaakkk.
If you're looking for a credible theory about Theon having a secret child, wait until we cover the daughter of the captain of the Myraham.
VOTE:
NEXT THEORY:
Curtain of Light 🙂
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st-clements-steps · 1 year
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A Greysnow Meta
Let’s be clear this is not a ship theory, I find it very unlikely Jon and Theon will become romantically involved in canon. Someone much more interested in unravelling the textual clues of canon could surely make some interesting predictions about when and how Theon and Jon will meet again, and what state they might both be in at that point. And it would be up to each of us readers whether we wanted to read those clues as foreshadowing a romantic relationship or a platonic friendship or a strategic alliance.
Instead I am interested in the dynamic possibilities of Greysnow, what does Greysnow offer as a ship? And yes I do think a modern smut one shot can offer as much (or as little) interesting character exploration as a book quoting essay. Since shipping can be a very fun way to elaborate on any complex media, including asoiaf/GoT, the forces that would come into play in the ship can tell us a lot about Theon, Jon and our own fan responses.
(This mainly a book discussion but it does discuss the show a little)
Enemies to Lovers
My feelings on this trope are a subjective thing, I know that, but the twist from anger into passion can be a very compelling one and it works with Greysnow twice over. 
As adolescents growing up together we know they have a mutual dislike: 
Theon ignored him utterly, but there was nothing new in that. Jon I AGOT
The bastard was a sullen boy, quick to sense a slight, jealous of Theon's high birth Theon I ACOK
And here can’t we read how put out they each are but by what they perceive as the other’s disregard for them? They don’t like the other and yet there is an underlying sense they wanted to be noticed, or not to be treated with sullen disdain. This is Enemies to Lovers in the fun, frisson filled state that most fanfic (and romance readers) expect of it. The romantic and sexual tension offers a myriad of possibilities.
Of course there is also a much more violent Enemies to Lovers possibility with Greysnow, Theon sees it:
Jon would take his head off in a heartbeat. A Ghost in Winterfell (ADWD)
It's a possibility in which Theon immediately confronts the reader with the way Ramsay has been set up to mirror Jon:
Plucked from the clutches of one bastard to die at the hands of another, what a jape. A Ghost in Winterfell (ADWD)
And so the Enemies to Lovers trope can offer, the shippers, the writers, the hopers, something much more complex than frisson, if that’s the road they want to take. Canon offers it up to us, we can explore Theon’s abuse at the hands of one bastard by imagining the relationship he would form with the bastard central to the text. We can explore Jon’s relationship to his birth status by viewing him through the prism of someone who has experienced a man who lives up to the very worst of Westeros’ rhetoric against baseborn children.
Misunderstandings
Misunderstandings and their resolution make a story go round, they are a fundamental part of all the best stories. And Enemies to Lovers offers misunderstanding inherently as part of its dynamic, we can see that immediately in the quotes above. The hint they don’t want to be at odds, the narrow picture they have each assumed of the other. 
And yet there is also the opposite misunderstanding, Theon believes Jon would take his head, Jon thinks:
They [Bran and Rickon] can't be dead. Theon would never do that. Jon VI (ASOS)
Whether he still believes this, come The Winds of Winter, well who knows? That’s the possibility the writer can play with, the shipper can daydream about, because there are so many different misunderstanding paths to wander off down, Jon, awakened from the dead, may not remember his previous animosity towards Theon, or he might demand the right to execute Theon himself, they may need to unravel together the mysterious intervention of the weirwood tree, or the complexities of having your own name take from you?
In a world where everyone’s identity is a slippery thing, like a flipped coin, Theon and Jon unravelling the misunderstandings of canon, either at odds or in tandem could be so interesting.
An exploration of Jon’s canonical attraction to men
Jon thinks of male characters in ways that read like he finds them attractive. GRRM may never explore this, and maybe he does not intend it, with Jaime it could be a platonic admiration I suppose:
Jon found it hard to look away from him. This is what a king should look like, he thought to himself as the man passed. Jon I (AGOT)
Try and convince me that you can dismiss his description of Satin in the same way though:
He was pretty as a girl with his dark eyes, soft skin, and raven's ringlets. Jon VII (ASOS)
And yes you could explore this attraction through writing Jon x Satin, or any number of Jon x male character ships but….
An mlm ship that explores 2 POV characters
The asoiaf (and GoT) fandom is oddly heterosexual (we have to discount HOTD here, where everything gets much more queer). I say oddly because most other fandoms appear to be much more about mlm shipping than anything else.
The five biggest mlm ships in asoiaf/GoT are all ships which include at least one non-POV character. Of course most of them are tagged with both show and book so perhaps this doesn’t matter? But as a writer, writing a character is much easier if they have a voice you can explore first. Even with show-only fics it is undeniable that the POV characters who survived to season 8 have a lot more screen time. I love side characters, even a few who are only graced with a few lines, but as a reader I can’t deny that my conception of a non-POV character could be wildly different to someone else’s. Even when someone is a thoughtful, considered writer, who has clearly used canon to build their characters. 
If you’re writing considered fanfic the foundations of writing a POV character are so much stronger. And they offer so much more opportunity to reflect on the text, to comment on and discuss canon in a way that can be gentler and much less hostile than a lot of meta ends up being.
An exploration of Theon’s complex sexuality
Interestingly despite my above analysis on Jon’s sexuality it is Theon who features in the 2 most tagged mlm relationships in asoiaf/GoT. And yes here show dynamics clearly have some influence because actually Theon’s sexuality is strangely more elusive than Jon’s despite his greater apparent interest in actual sex. 
In my mind Theon never appears to express attraction unless the other person has already clearly shown an interest (or fucked him). What he seems to like is to be wanted. 
And so he flirts. It is Cat who tells us this time and again, describes his easy confidence and his cocky smile, his vault to lift her from the boat, tells us of him:
Enjoying a horn of ale and regaling her father's garrison with an account of the slaughter in the Whispering Wood. Catelyn XI (AGOT)
Theon plays down his attachment to everyone, Patrek is not too ill a fellow, and it is only when he gives the reader the tiniest hint of the liaison with a miller’s wife (so many miller’s wives, so little time) that we hear something softer:
Would that Patrek were with me now. Theon I (ACOK)
And yet despite Theon’s ambiguity, or perhaps because of it, people are drawn to ship him in mlm relationships. 
And of course Greysnow offers the possibility that a simple cocky smile does not always work, the possibility of exploring how Theon copes when he is not overtly wanted? When the other person is as good at concealing his emotions as Theon himself is in many ways.
No one is quite what they appear in asoiaf, literally, they have identities that are taken from them, they are concealed, to abuse them on occasion, to protect them in other instances. What is more, as we get under the skin of every POV character, we see the ways in which those around them are misreading their true feelings, the ways they are dissembling to meet society’s expectations. And Greysnow is a lovely ship for peeling back the tricksiness of identity, the secrets both Jon and Theon are keeping and exposing the truths of both their characters.
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kingsmoot · 7 months
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agot; bran i
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agot; tyrion i
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acok; catelyn i
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acok: theon vi
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asos; jaime iv
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ghastlywretch · 11 months
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re-reading ACOK Theon I and like…this guy is just so lost. Like, how did I not know from the jump that his entire arc would be about his identity and how he doesn’t truly know who he is, where he belongs, and what place to call home. You read it for the first time and you think, “oh, he wants power, he wants control. He wants to be king of the Iron Islands.” and like…yeah? On the surface, yes, that’s what’s motivating him, but even in this very first chapter the shiny exterior of this motivation has so many cracks and when you look through those cracks it’s just…a boy who has been lost his entire life, who doesn’t know what to do with himself, or who he is. This entire chapter is just building Theon up to break him down, which is basically what Theon’s arc in ACOK is, as a whole. When he comes to Pyke, everyone and everything is just laying into him, no punches pulled, whether it’s Aeron or Balon, everyone does their best to ensure Theon feels absolutely unwelcome by the end of the chapter.
His motivation to begin with is very flimsy but in an intentional way that opens up so many avenues for the exploration of his character. He starts the chapter personally ambitious, and then as it goes on you realize that his ambition stems from a need to prove a point, both to the northerners who see him as an outsider, and the Ironborn who see him as a traitor.
He says in the opening paragraph that he’s returning home, and yet, he kind of…hates home? He describes it as bleak, damp, dark and mundane.
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And this makes you think he hates the Islands and the Ironborn, and you go with that, until he starts waxing poetic about the Old Way, and about how fearsome and mighty the Ironborn of old used to be.
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He thinks about how Balon had told him that a hard place breeds hard men, so his romanticization of the Old Way comes from Balon, who is really intense about fulfilling that Ironborn masculine ideal (and I’m not even going to get into the whole thing with gender and daddy issues in just this chapter alone rn oh my GOD) and Making The Iron Islands Great Again, so much so that he starts a campaign to become king to restore the glory of the Islands.
And this is so indicative of not only Theon’s cognitive dissonance vis a vis his native land, but also of how much Theon’s views, especially about the Islands, are shaped by his father. (again, not getting into this here, maybe another time, because there's SO much there)
Theon, according to Maester Luwin, was never a good student, so it’s safe to assume whatever information he has regarding the Islands is from Balon’s correspondence, and that shapes his view of both the place and the people, of their lost glory and the need to restore it.
He probably thinks about the wondrous past of the Ironborn so much because the thought of his people being impressive warriors and reavers probably comforted him as a young boy in Winterfell surrounded by the legacy of the Starks. He probably latched onto that idea because it was something to be proud of, after his house lost to Ned and Robert.
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So, in terms of his dilemma with identity, Theon feels a huge disconnect from the Ironborn by virtue of having spent a decade away from them, and his most important years of development, at that. He can connect more to the legends of his people than he can to the actual people, and he doesn’t feel like a Stark, either, because he has been keenly aware of his status as hostage all these years, regardless of Ned trying to “play the father from time to time”, just because of the entire conceit of him being in Winterfell in the first place (which is, you know, as a hostage, because his father was defeated in a war that wreaked havoc upon his people and his own family)
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To makes matters of identity, self and belonging worse, he meets Aeron, who is nothing like the man he knew, which makes him feel uneasy and out of place. This feeling of unease is made even worse when he reaches Pyke and hardly recognizes anyone there, all the servants he had remembered having died. But back to Aeron, who is not only different, but religious now, reminding Theon of his lack of faith in his ancestral god.
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This is a great passage, because not only are you getting Aeron accusing Theon of becoming a Stark by saying he prays to the old gods and not the Drowned God of his people, but also another mention of Ned that elaborates on Theon’s complex relationship with him, and on a more general level, the Starks.
And what’s interesting here is that Theon is indifferent about the gods. He doesn’t care much either way, and then he plays up his abhorrence of the old gods because of their connection to ned just to get in Aeron's good books. Even when he takes part in the ritual of the Drowned God with Aeron, he doesn't really care, and does it more as a way to gain Aeron's goodwill than anything else.0
Then, we get:
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This really hits the nail on the head as far as his sense of alienness is concerned, as Aeron basically tells him that not only is he not considered trustworthy by himself and Balon, but his status as heir to Pyke is also under threat.
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Aeron literally calls him a Stark, to really drive the point that they don’t think of him as one of their own home. Balon does the same in their meeting.
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It’s so sad having to watch Theon attempt to assure his own father, again and again, that he is, in fact, not a traitor, that he is Ironborn. His blood. His heir. And then Balon hints at what Aeron had mentioned earlier, that Theon might not be Balon’s heir, so deep is the distrust of him in his own home.
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I love this quote because again, Balon is asserting that Theon is out of his depth, and in alien territory, but also because he says that he will pay the iron price for his crown, reminding Theon of his gold chain bought with the gold price. He also mentions Urron Redhand, the same person Theon had mentioned whilst boasting oh his homeland, and it feels like a slap on his face, almost as if Balon is telling him that the Ironborn legends are not his to boast of, because he is not one of them.
I love how his interactions with Aeron and especially Balon are so chock-full of posturing on his end, trying to prove himself to his own family, and how the intimidating image he had built of himself in the intial part of the chapter is completely shattered. Chef’s kiss. lovely. I love a pathetic loser failprodigalson.
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"Do not imagine that I need wait for Robb to fight his way up the Neck to deal with the likes of you. I have near two thousand men with me . . . and if the tales be true, you have no more than fifty." Seventeen, in truth. - Theon VI, ACOK
"Your ships are mine, or burnt. Your men … how many are left? Ten? Twelve?" Nine. Six, if you count only those strong enough to fight. - The King's Prize, ADWD
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esther-dot · 11 months
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Robert and Cersei ordered Lady death while Joffery ordered Ned's death. Ned and Sansa tried to reason Robert and Joffery listen but they refused. Sansa pleads both times and Ary@ was angry over their deaths and injustice. Cersei even saw Ned and Lady before her walk of shame as she was also somewhat responsible in their deaths. Lady bones are buried in WF crypts at Ned order. Sansa can order Ned bones to buried in WF(possible theory). Both were killed by Ice.
Oh no, anon! For poor Sansa to oversee Ned’s interment and have a statue built for him...that would be so heartbreaking to read. Now that you mention the possibility, I’m sure this is something a Stark kid will see to. I’m prepared to cry!
There is an interesting series of quotes about Ned’s return to Winterfell, but first, here’s the quote about Lady:
Bran felt all cold inside. "She lost her wolf," he said, weakly, remembering the day when four of his father's guardsmen had returned from the south with Lady's bones. Summer and Grey Wind and Shaggydog had begun to howl before they crossed the drawbridge, in voices drawn and desolate. Beneath the shadow of the First Keep was an ancient lichyard, its headstones spotted with pale lichen, where the old Kings of Winter had laid their faithful servants. It was there they buried Lady, while her brothers stalked between the graves like restless shadows. She had gone south, and only her bones had returned. (AGOT, Bran VI)
I think Lady’s death was a defining moment for Sansa, the deaths of pets is often used as a transition point from childhood innocence to handling adult responsibility in American Lit (talk about it here), but I suppose more accurately in this instance, Lady’s death was the beginning of that for Sansa, it was Ned dying that ended her childhood forever. Poor girl.  
And here, Cat’s wish to have Ned return home:
One day I will thank them all. "I am grateful for your service, sisters," Catelyn said, "but I must lay another task upon you. Lord Eddard was a Stark, and his bones must be laid to rest beneath Winterfell." They will make a statue of him, a stone likeness that will sit in the dark with a direwolf at his feet and a sword across his knees. "Make certain the sisters have fresh horses, and aught else they need for the journey," she told Utherydes Wayn. "Hal Mollen will escort them back to Winterfell, it is his place as captain of guards." She gazed down at the bones that were all that remained of her lord and love. "Now leave me, all of you. I would be alone with Ned tonight."                 
The women in grey bowed their heads. The silent sisters do not speak to the living, Catelyn remembered dully, but some say they can talk to the dead. And how she envied that . . . (ACOK, Catelyn V)
it’s brought up again in ASOS:
It made her wonder where Ned had come to rest. The silent sisters had taken his bones north, escorted by Hallis Mollen and a small honor guard. Had Ned ever reached Winterfell, to be interred beside his brother Brandon in the dark crypts beneath the castle? Or did the door slam shut at Moat Cailin before Hal and the sisters could pass? (ASOS, Catelyn V)
and then again in ADWD:
"Ned Stark returned the horse to me on his way back home to Winterfell. He told me that my lord had died an honorable death, that his body had been laid to rest beneath the red mountains of Dorne. He brought his sister's bones back north, though, and there she rests … but I promise you, Lord Eddard's bones will never rest beside hers. I mean to feed them to my dogs."         
Theon did not understand. "His … his bones …?"                 
Her lips twisted. It was an ugly smile, a smile that reminded him of Ramsay's. "Catelyn Tully dispatched Lord Eddard's bones north before the Red Wedding, but your iron uncle seized Moat Cailin and closed the way. I have been watching ever since. Should those bones ever emerge from the swamps, they will get no farther than Barrowton." She threw one last lingering look at the likeness of Eddard Stark. "We are done here." (ADWD, The Turncloak)
I’m not sure what Martin is doing here, where the bones are exactly, but I do wonder if this will be what brings Howland Reed North? I feel like he must make an appearance and confirm R+L=J, but you’d want a natural (ie embedded, not last minute) reason for him to have been coming North anyway, so that he can throw a wrench in the whole Robb’s Will/legitimizing Jon/Stark succession crisis, and if he got word of Ned’s bones being taken North...I wonder if that would be a reason for him to emerge? He was such a friend of Ned’s and there’s the idea that he simply doesn’t ever leave his home, so seeing Ned back to Winterfell, that might do it:
Finally all of the principal vassals of House Stark had been heard from save for Howland Reed the crannogman, who had not set foot outside his swamps for many a year... (ACOK, Bran II)
I have nothing to support that, just a thought!
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Giggling at how no one is safe from Jon's Arya comparisons.
He does it with Maester Aemon:
Maester Aemon had counted more than a hundred name days, Jon knew. Frail, shrunken, wizened, and blind, it was hard to imagine him as a little boy no older than Arya. (Jon I, ACoK)
With Sam:
He told them all of it, even the part where he'd set Ghost at Rast's throat. Maester Aemon listened silently, blind eyes fixed on the fire, but Chett's face darkened with each word. "Without us to keep him safe, Sam will have no chance," Jon finished. "He's hopeless with a sword. My sister Arya could tear him apart, and she's not yet ten. If Ser Alliser makes him fight, it's only a matter of time before he's hurt or killed." (Jon V, AGoT)
With Ygritte:
Jon could see fear and fire in her eyes. Blood ran down her white throat from where the point of his dirk had pricked her. One thrust and it's done, he told himself. He was so close he could smell onion on her breath. She is no older than I am. Something about her made him think of Arya, though they looked nothing at all alike. "Will you yield?" he asked, giving the dirk a half turn. And if she doesn't? (Jon VI, ACoK)
...
Ygritte watched and said nothing. She was older than he'd thought at first, Jon realized; maybe as old as twenty, but short for her age, bandy-legged, with a round face, small hands, and a pug nose. Her shaggy mop of red hair stuck out in all directions. She looked plump as she crouched there, but most of that was layers of fur and wool and leather. Underneath all that she could be as skinny as Arya. (Jon VI, ACoK)
...
Ygritte trotted beside Jon as he slowed his garron to a walk. She claimed to be three years older than him, though she stood half a foot shorter; however old she might be, the girl was a tough little thing. Stonesnake had called her a "spearwife" when they'd captured her in the Skirling Pass. She wasn't wed and her weapon of choice was a short curved bow of horn and weirwood, but "spearwife" fit her all the same. She reminded him a little of his sister Arya, though Arya was younger and probably skinnier. It was hard to tell how plump or thin Ygritte might be, with all the furs and skins she wore. (Jon II, ASoS)
...
"If you kill a man, and never mean t', he's just as dead," Ygritte said stubbornly. Jon had never met anyone so stubborn, except maybe for his little sister Arya. Is she still my sister? he wondered. Was she ever? He had never truly been a Stark, only Lord Eddard's motherless bastard, with no more place at Winterfell than Theon Greyjoy. And even that he'd lost. When a man of the Night's Watch said his words, he put aside his old family and joined a new one, but Jon Snow had lost those brothers too. (Jon III, ASoS)
With a wildling girl:
"I will take any boy above the age of twelve who knows how to hold a spear or string a bow. I will take your old men, your wounded, and your cripples, even those who can no longer fight. There are other tasks they may be able to perform. Fletching arrows, milking goats, gathering firewood, mucking out our stables…the work is endless. And yes, I will take your women too. I have no need of blushing maidens looking to be protected, but I will take as many spearwives as will come."
"And girls?" a girl asked. She looked as young as Arya had, the last time Jon had seen her. (Jon V, ADwD)
With Alys Karstark:
"My uncle declared for Stannis, in hopes it might provoke the Lannisters to take poor Harry's head. Should my brother die, Karhold should pass to me, but my uncles want my birthright for their own. Once Cregan gets a child by me they won't need me anymore. He's buried two wives already." She rubbed away a tear angrily, the way Arya might have done it. "Will you help me?" (Jon IX, ADwD)
...
The girl smiled in a way that reminded Jon so much of his little sister that it almost broke his heart. "Let him be scared of me." The snowflakes were melting on her cheeks, but her hair was wrapped in a swirl of lace that Satin had found somewhere, and the snow had begun to collect there, giving her a frosty crown. Her cheeks were flushed and red, and her eyes sparkled. (Jon X, ADwD)
With men playing in the snow:
The castle Jon returned to was far different from the one he'd left that morning. For as long as he had known it, Castle Black had been a place of silence and shadows, where a meagre company of men in black moved like ghosts amongst the ruins of a fortress that had once housed ten times their numbers. All that had changed. Lights now shone through windows where Jon Snow had never seen lights shine before. Strange voices echoed down the yards, and free folk were coming and going along icy paths that had only known the black boots of crows for years. Outside the old Flint Barracks, he came across a dozen men pelting one another with snow. Playing, Jon thought in astonishment, grown men playing like children, throwing snowballs the way Bran and Arya once did, and Robb and me before them. (Jon XII, ADwD)
And with a literal giant:
The screaming had stopped by the time they came to Hardin's Tower, but Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun was still roaring. The giant was dangling a bloody corpse by one leg, the same way Arya used to dangle her doll when she was small, swinging it like a morningstar when menaced by vegetables. Arya never tore her dolls to pieces, though. The dead man's sword arm was yards away, the snow beneath it turning red. (Jon XIII, ADwD)
Bran isn't much better.
Though he does it to a lesser extent.
But, he does it with Meera:
"He wouldn't hurt you. He knows I like you." All of the other lords and knights had departed within a day or two of the harvest feast, but the Reeds had stayed to become Bran's constant companions. Jojen was so solemn that Old Nan called him "little grandfather," but Meera reminded Bran of his sister Arya. She wasn't scared to get dirty, and she could run and fight and throw as good as a boy. She was older than Arya, though; almost sixteen, a woman grown. They were both older than Bran, even though his ninth name day had finally come and gone, but they never treated him like a child. (Bran IV, ACoK)
With Leaf:
The world moved dizzily around him. White trees, black sky, red flames, everything was whirling, shifting, spinning. He felt himself stumbling. He could hear Hodor screaming, "Hodor hodor hodor hodor. Hodor hodor hodor hodor. Hodor hodor hodor hodor hodor." A cloud of ravens was pouring from the cave, and he saw a little girl with a torch in hand, darting this way and that. For a moment Bran thought it was his sister Arya…madly, for he knew his little sister was a thousand leagues away, or dead. And yet there she was, whirling, a scrawny thing, ragged, wild, her hair atangle. Tears filled Hodor's eyes and froze there. (Bran II, ADwD)
...
The next he knew, he was lying on a bed of pine needles beneath a dark stone roof. The cave. I'm in the cave. His mouth still tasted of blood where he'd bitten his tongue, but a fire was burning to his right, the heat washing over his face, and he had never felt anything so good. Summer was there, sniffing round him, and Hodor, soaking wet. Meera cradled Jojen's head in her lap. And the Arya thing stood over them, clutching her torch. (Bran II, ADwD)
...
That was not Arya's voice, nor any child's. It was a woman's voice, high and sweet, with a strange music in it like none that he had ever heard and a sadness that he thought might break his heart. Bran squinted, to see her better. It was a girl, but smaller than Arya, her skin dappled like a doe's beneath a cloak of leaves. Her eyes were queer—large and liquid, gold and green, slitted like a cat's eyes. No one has eyes like that. Her hair was a tangle of brown and red and gold, autumn colors, with vines and twigs and withered flowers woven through it. (Bran II, ADwD)
And through his vision, with Lyanna:
Now two children danced across the godswood, hooting at one another as they dueled with broken branches. The girl was the older and taller of the two. Arya! Bran thought eagerly, as he watched her leap up onto a rock and cut at the boy. But that couldn't be right. If the girl was Arya, the boy was Bran himself, and he had never worn his hair so long. And Arya never beat me playing swords, the way that girl is beating him. She slashed the boy across his thigh, so hard that his leg went out from under him and he fell into the pool and began to splash and shout. "You be quiet, stupid," the girl said, tossing her own branch aside. "It's just water. Do you want Old Nan to hear and run tell Father?" She knelt and pulled her brother from the pool, but before she got him out again, the two of them were gone. (Bran III, ADwD)
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