Theon Greyjoy: Hero, great human being, and my favorite character.

[The Imp]

Theon is very complicated. Kinda like Gollum and Svidrigailov (who is my favourite creepy/unpredictable character ever).

Also wonderfully written. The kind of role that can win an award for a good actor.

Welcome to the forum Alayne, if no one has said it.

Gollum is a very good comparison, but sadly, I've never read Crime and Punishment

 

[DNAP51]

I like Theon for a bunch of reasons.

1. He is one of the only characters that I like that are still alive lol

2. He said a quote in the episode 'A man without honor' that i really liked. He said "It is better to be cruel than weak."

3. He was taken by the Starks when he was very little, and torn away from his family. So in my eyes, he has been f*cked by the world, and now hes f*cking it back. Yes he has made some very hasty decisions, but he is young and new to this 'lord' stuff.

4. His family was not very welcoming of him when he returned to pyke, and now he wants to do whatever it takes to prove to his family and soldiers that he is a good lord.

5. He's pretty bad ass.

 

[Eversummer]

Theon is just a poor boy who is eager to prove his worth to the Starks (as he was staying with them) and to his own father who did not welcome him. As an outsider in Winterfell, a young boy taken as a political hostage, he was empty and he felt unimportant, unwelcome. He was an alien. But the notion of coming home to Pyke, the dream of being wanted, that his family yearned for their reunion,--is very intoxicating. Years under the Starks' roof made him forget what and how it was in the Iron Islands. He just couldn't understand why his own family was alienating him.
I pity him. I understand where he's coming from. I think all of us do, that's why we hate and love his character. He's got a pitiful character and Yog-Sothoth and Alayne were right in saying that Theon shared Gollum's broken shadow.

 

[Syphon of Oor-Tael]

Then, a question to Eversummer, Alayne and Yog-Sothoth: do you guys foresee a sort of redemption for Theon? I mean, one of the most important aspects of Gollum was not his fall from grace, but his gradual rehabilitation and total lapse into evil that ultimately destroys him?

That said, I can see what you three are saying, but I don't agree. Theon could have chosen to talk to his father, heard him say no and gone back to Winterfell. He could have chosen to ignore the rest. There was no place for him on Pyke or anywhere on the Iron Islands. He didn't understand it.

He didn't get treated like a Stark per sé, but at least he was accepted and liked. But he threw that away when he went nutso in Winterfell.

I say that Theon is not a tragic character. He's just a douchebag. Mind you, I liked him as a rogueish scoundrel but as a traitor, he's despicable. Maybe saying that he deserves what was coming to him is a bit too much since Ramsay in his Reek guise was responsible for the exacerbation of the situation, but still...

 

[Tywin]

I say that Theon is not a tragic character. He's just a douchebag.

I love it.

Also, I think that GRRM wanted him to be a complete douchebag so that when he redeems him we will be all the more impressed. I think the Jaime Lannister redemption after tossing a kid out the window was too easy, so he wants a harder target.

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

Okay, so here is MY crack pot theory on the future of Theon Grayjoy

As we already know (or at least those of us who read the Teaser Chapter for the next book, WoW) Asha wants Stannis to spare her brother. I think she will offer herself to help Stannis in some specific way. Maybe she will try to infiltrate Winterfell once Ramsey's host marches out to meet Stannis. She will sneak in with some of her Iron Born and lead some attack behind enemy lines and help Stannis to win Winterfel. Soemthing along those lines anyway.

Stannis, being an honourable man, will let Theon live, BUT, his crimes won't go unpunnished. Stannis is nothing if not fair, and 1 good deed does not wash out the bad, nor a bad deed the good. He can't really take his fingers, because Theon has precious few of those. Instead, he will be sent to live the rest of his "life" at the wall.

once at the wall, Melisandra will sacrifice him, since he is the son of King Balon (now deceased) and nephew of King Euron. So he will be burned and Jon (who is not dead... and more and more I am agreeing with Needle's theory that the jon who was attacked and killed(?) was not really Jon) will get a dragon who is raised from either the Wall, or from Beneath Winterfel.

Then Jon, with his Dragon, Dragon steel sword and Dragon Glass Armour (why not) will fly north and battle the White Walkers. (ghost will probably die somehow cause all those dogs seem to be dropping dead)

So that's my theory. As for my personal feelings toward Theon, I never really liked him, but I never really hated him either. He always seemed kind of spineless to me. He killed those 2 kids cause Ramsey (as Reek 2.0) told him to do it. He attacked the north cause his dad told him to. He kind of just does as he is told all the time. He definately didn't deserve what ramsey did to him though.

 

[Eversummer]

Then, a question to Eversummer, Alayne and Yog-Sothoth: do you guys foresee a sort of redemption for Theon? I mean, one of the most important aspects of Gollum was not his fall from grace, but his gradual rehabilitation and total lapse into evil that ultimately destroys him?

That said, I can see what you three are saying, but I don't agree. Theon could have chosen to talk to his father, heard him say no and gone back to Winterfell. He could have chosen to ignore the rest. There was no place for him on Pyke or anywhere on the Iron Islands. He didn't understand it.

I do wish he'll find redemption.

Theon became what he was because of what his father had done several years earlier--pitiful and yeah, a douchebag. A boy of nine or ten more or less tends to become one. A boy taken from his mother as hostage (though the Starks were civil to him) would think he was abandoned, unloved, unwanted.... The Iron Islanders were crueler than the wildlings, I'd dare say.

 

[juleska]

Okay, so here is MY crack pot theory on the future of Theon Grayjoy

As we already know (or at least those of us who read the Teaser Chapter for the next book, WoW) Asha wants Stannis to spare her brother. I think she will offer herself to help Stannis in some specific way. Maybe she will try to infiltrate Winterfell once Ramsey's host marches out to meet Stannis. She will sneak in with some of her Iron Born and lead some attack behind enemy lines and help Stannis to win Winterfel. Soemthing along those lines anyway.

Stannis, being an honourable man, will let Theon live, BUT, his crimes won't go unpunnished. Stannis is nothing if not fair, and 1 good deed does not wash out the bad, nor a bad deed the good. He can't really take his fingers, because Theon has precious few of those. Instead, he will be sent to live the rest of his "life" at the wall.

once at the wall, Melisandra will sacrifice him, since he is the son of King Balon (now deceased) and nephew of King Euron. So he will be burned and Jon (who is not dead... and more and more I am agreeing with Needle's theory that the jon who was attacked and killed(?) was not really Jon) will get a dragon who is raised from either the Wall, or from Beneath Winterfel.

Then Jon, with his Dragon, Dragon steel sword and Dragon Glass Armour (why not) will fly north and battle the White Walkers. (ghost will probably die somehow cause all those dogs seem to be dropping dead)

So that's my theory. As for my personal feelings toward Theon, I never really liked him, but I never really hated him either. He always seemed kind of spineless to me. He killed those 2 kids cause Ramsey (as Reek 2.0) told him to do it. He attacked the north cause his dad told him to. He kind of just does as he is told all the time. He definately didn't deserve what ramsey did to him though.

You had me up until the bolded part. I'm rooting for the wolves and can't stand to think of the Starks losing another. I still believe Arya will be reunited with Nymeria.

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

I don't want to see the wolves go either, and I guess only 2 of the six bit the dust so far. hopefully the rest will survive, but who knows. Who ever just attacked Jon might have it in for Ghost too.

As for theon, I really think he is going to be making the trip north. Whether that means being burned alive (which is probable IMO) and whether that subsequent burning results in a new Dragon, that is debateable.

We shall see (or rather, read) I guess.

The next book cannot come out soon enough for me.

 

[Young stormlord]

I don't want to see the wolves go either, and I guess only 2 of the six bit the dust so far. hopefully the rest will survive, but who knows. Who ever just attacked Jon might have it in for Ghost too.

As for theon, I really think he is going to be making the trip north. Whether that means being burned alive (which is probable IMO) and whether that subsequent burning results in a new Dragon, that is debateable.

We shall see (or rather, read) I guess.

The next book cannot come out soon enough for me.

Jayne, Theon and Asha will survive, if we can trust Ramsey's letter.

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

I wouldnt trust Ramsey with a pail of water if HE was on fire.

I think the letter was a complete lie.

 

[mtzGr]

I wouldnt trust Ramsey with a pail of water if HE was on fire.

I think the letter was a complete lie.

I think it's safe to assume that the letter was at least partially true, because there was truth in it.

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

good point. but we still don't know how much of it is true. as far as I can tell, only the fact that he had lost Theon and "arya" is true.

 

[mtzGr]

good point. but we still don't know how much of it is true. as far as I can tell, only the fact that he had lost Theon and "arya" is true.

It's safe to assume that he has captured Mance. The only part that is speculative is whether or not Stannis is dead (but I wouldn't be surprised if this is true as well).

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/59094-adwd-spoilers-howland-reeds-true-purpose/

This is an interesting theory about that letter. I was originally going to start a Howland Reed thread to discuss this theory, but I don't think theres nearly enough information about him to start a full discussion.

I also want to point out that I don't necessarily believe this theory, but I had been considering the possibility that someone besides Ramsey wrote the letter. I was originally thinking maybe it was Mance himself, but then what purpose would that serve?

anyway, it is an interesting read. I don't remember any mention of the hooded man in aDwD but it was a while ago that I read it.

 

[D.A. Madigan]

Theon has definitely had an arc to go through. Martin has been at pains to constantly point out how deformed and hideous Theon has become, and usually, that would mean that Theon can only hope, at best, to die somewhat heroically... but Martin has already filled his book with ugly, deformed characters who obviously have heroic destinies, so maybe Theon will end up as the King of the North or something. You never know.

 

[juleska]

I don't think Theon will be king of anything....not the North and not the Iron Islands. I think his spirit is too far broken for that. But I do think he will do something heroic and become redeemed in our eyes.

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

You're probably right Juleska, but I still think he is going to get put out of his misery and sacrificed to the Red God. I can't see Jon trying to protect theon from this fate after what he did to his brothers.

 

[Eulalia]

I think maybe Asha will kill Ramsey to avenge Theon.

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

I think maybe Asha will kill Ramsey to avenge Theon.

and thus earning Theons life, which Stannis will send to the wall. (a good deed does not wash out the bad, nor a bad the good)