Robb_Warged Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 As their impending clash nears closer in the winds of winter, is there enough room in the story for the north to see another upsetting loss? If the Bolton's defeat Stannis' army, I'm not sure what's left for Stannis after two crushing defeats (the Battle of Blackwater Bay and then the fight in the North with the Boltons) and I'm not sure who could possibly rescue the North from the Bolton's rule with Stannis out of the picture So my question is, is Stannis guaranteed to win this fight due to a need to keep Stannis looking like a force to be reckoned with and due to nobody else really existing who could see the North's plight for help and lend a hand up there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight of the Amused Tree Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Interesting question. My feeling has been that Stannis will win the Battle of the Ice and the Battle for Winterfell but it will be, in the end, a Pyrrhic victory. He will become a king with an even smaller army. Whether he will get his sell sword army from Bravvos before the "end game" begins would be the next question to ponder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunflashJT Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 And don't forget they have to wait out the snow before they can move south. Once the Bolton's are gone there is no more norther opposition, unless the northern lords don't accept Stannis or they are just using him as some theories would suggest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alienarea Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Bolton may win by waiting. Stannis is prepared to trap the Freys, but if the Manderly don't turn immediately, then they might start fighting Stannis. And he doesn't have much resources to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makk Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Yes, there is always room for more chaos in Game of Thrones. I think Stannis will win, but when I think something is obvious, something else generally happens. In some ways the story around the characters could work well if Stannis loses. Theon might get loose and on the run from Bolton and have to recapture some of his personality. A recovered Jon will have an immediate goal. Arya will still have someone to assassinate. Stannis will become even more desperate losing the last of his free will to Melisandre. And it's about time for the Others to turn up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountFJM Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 The story twist that is still one of my all-time favorites was Stannis showing up at the wall -- just so awesome and unexpected. On the other hand, the WORST was the twin depravities of 1) Theon taking Winterfell, 2) Ramsay coming out of nowhere to raze the castle. So I think there's still a (probably tragic and depressing) twist to come. I don't think Stannis will lose the battle of ice, he has 1) foreknowledge of Karstark's betrayal, 2) (correct) knowledge of Bolton's forces and probable ETA. But what happens at Winterfell is anyone's guess. What was Manderly planning with all his forces who didn't make the wedding trip? Only 100 knights and no hostages from the man who was raising levies, building warships, and boasted to Davos of the heavy horse/lords and landed knights still available to him. Where is Robett Glover, who had his lands returned by Stannis and whose whereabouts are almost certainly unkown by the Boltons/Freys? What happens with the thousands of wildlings who are amped up to ravage over all of the north? The NW is certainly in no position to control them w/out Jon (makes the Bowen Marsh/Brutus comp look pretty apt...the conspirers are fucked). I think Winter makes it impossible for any kind of unexpected southern invervention (the highly hypothetical Sansa/LF/Harry the Heir Vale army or Stannis's Braavosi merceneries) but there are enough unknowns between the Northern conspirators, the Wildlings, and whatever the H happens with Jon to change the stakes regardless of Stannis's victory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApKing06 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I have always felt Stannis will sit on the Iron Throne, but wont sit on it for long. A loss at Winterfell would be his death. Where could he go if he was on the run? I think its win or die for Stannis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hos the Hostage Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 As their impending clash nears closer in the winds of winter, is there enough room in the story for the north to see another upsetting loss? If the Bolton's defeat Stannis' army, I'm not sure what's left for Stannis after two crushing defeats (the Battle of Blackwater Bay and then the fight in the North with the Boltons) and I'm not sure who could possibly rescue the North from the Bolton's rule with Stannis out of the picture So my question is, is Stannis guaranteed to win this fight due to a need to keep Stannis looking like a force to be reckoned with and due to nobody else really existing who could see the North's plight for help and lend a hand up there? There are sample chapters from WoW about both the big battles, Battle of Meereen and Battle of Winterfell. It appeards Barristan and Vic (Hammer and Anvil 2.0) are going to win the Meereen battle, and it seems Stannis has some plan of defeating the Boltons. So, in both battles, the sides that the readers want to win are going to win, or so it seems. (Sorry, Bolton fans) But because it seems so obvious, I feel there will be some twist when the actual book is published, and at least one side would lose unexpectedly. If we had the first couple of chapters about the battle against the wildlings from Storm of Swords, who would have thought the Nights Watch will win? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Ayras Lord Commander Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I actually think Stannis will lose, and both he and Ramsay will die. Roose will hold the North for a bit, the Wall will come down, the Walkers will walk, Jon is revived and released from his NW vows (no Wall, no Watch), Dany and Jon meet, the song of Ice (Jon) and Fire (Dany) whoop down some walking walkers, and one of the two will die an odd and unforeseen death (please be Dany). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Bastard Snow Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 And don't forget they have to wait out the snow before they can move south. Once the Bolton's are gone there is no more norther opposition, unless the northern lords don't accept Stannis or they are just using him as some theories would suggest. I sorta have a bad feeling about the Northern Lords.The fact that they are keeping Bran/Rickon being alive a secret and the fact that they vastly outnumber Stannis's force makes me think that Stannis will win but then the Northern Lords will simply have Rickon show up take full control over the North and the Riverlands and tell Stannis good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freedman49 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I think (pray) Stannis's forces will defeat the Boltons. I think he may take a mortal wound in the process but live long enough to see Shireen married to Rickon bringing the North in behind his claim to the throne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talking Hodor Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Unless both armies stop their petty bickering and return to the wall to bolster the Night's Watch, the Others are going to roll over every living human north of the Neck. That isn't going to happen, so I predict defeat for both armies, plus the NW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Beyond the Firewall Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Stannis will defeat the Bolton's, it looks likely I think. But as others have said it may be a pyrrhic victory. The North will unite behind Rickon and even if they don't, Stannis is still left at Winterfell in a blizzard that may last a while.One thing I am looking forward to: I think the Frey forces under Hosteen will march out and across one of those frozen lake by the crofter's village, unseen under all the snow. And then, crack, sploosh; frozen, drowned Freys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonSnowed Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I believe Stannis will win because in my view he will play a role in the battle against the others, if the Boltons win I just don't see them playing the same role and its therefore hard to see where their end arc is within the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aFeastForDragons Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Stannis will defeat the Boltons. There is no way he is dead. All that time having him described in so many POVs with constant references to his "blue eyes" tell me he is going to play a big part in the last two books. Wether he's the hero or the villain at the end I don't think he will sit the Iron Throne but he will fight the Others(or end up as one of them) and Dany(if she gets here!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonBranRickon Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Stannis has to win and I believe he will but somehow one of the Boltons will live until the very end or be an Other with some kind of role to play in that battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacopo Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Twist: Stannis will win, Roose will bend his knee and be confermed as Protector of the North... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunflashJT Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Twist: Stannis will win, Roose will bend his knee and be confermed as Protector of the North... With Tywin gone this will be a possibility, however Stannis is Iron and will kill Roose for his betrayal at the Red Wedding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio Corrado Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Stannis will win the battle for the north against the Boltons but while celebrating his victory at Winterfell he gets word from the south that Rheagar's first born son Aegon is still alive and making a claim on the Iron Throne. In the mean time the loyalty of the North is in question when from the Night Watch, Wildings and othe Northern families prepare for war against the Others and not heading south with Stannis for KL and the Iron Throne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogus Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 As their impending clash nears closer in the winds of winter, is there enough room in the story for the north to see another upsetting loss? If the Bolton's defeat Stannis' army, I'm not sure what's left for Stannis after two crushing defeats (the Battle of Blackwater Bay and then the fight in the North with the Boltons) and I'm not sure who could possibly rescue the North from the Bolton's rule with Stannis out of the picture So my question is, is Stannis guaranteed to win this fight due to a need to keep Stannis looking like a force to be reckoned with and due to nobody else really existing who could see the North's plight for help and lend a hand up there? I believe Stannis will win altough I think all ods are against him. He suffered a lot with cold attrition, has no cavalary, his army is outnumbered, unsupplied, disorganized (after it was snow burried) and, most of all, his army is mostly made of southerns (with a few northmen allied) who cant deal with the cold winter. The Bolton army is mostly composed of Northmen, is well sheltered and well supllied (they even throwed a party). It looks for me that Stannis is playing Hitler or Napoleon against Russia and, if history has teached us something, is that u dont start a land war in Russia (or the north, in Westeros). The only advantage Stannis got is himself, a proven and skilled warcomander while the north has no one with his abilities. That being said, I dont like to think Stannis will win because the book does nto have room for another Stannis defeat. One thing that I like about ASOIF, is that big shit happens and life goes on.... Maybe Stannis is defeated and retreats to the wall The Boltons get a pyrric victory, Ramsay kills Roose trying to estabilsh himself as Lord paramount. He captures "Arya", makes she crie, her tears angry the other northerns lords and since his troops are depleeted he gets murdered. Then, the north turns to Stannis if he agrees to installs Rickon at Winterfell I can see that happen.... Dont think its going to, just invented that.... My point is that everything can happen, even a Stannis defeat.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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