rickon stark: powers, talents, abilities?

[jon crow]

so, over the years we've had the chance to get to know all of the stark children fairly well -robb and jon are capable warriors and leaders, sansa is a beautiful young woman who is shaping into a political player, bran has the gift of the greenseers, and arya is rather talented at killing- except for rickon, who has not featured as a pov and has either been extremely young or away in hiding for most of the series, so we know very little about his personality and other character traits. rickon is fast approaching bran's age at the beginning of the series and it appears that he will be once again feature in the plot.

with that on the horizon, how do you think rickon will have developed as a character since we've last seen him and what do you think his role will be? does his significance lie solely in the name stark as an heir to winterfell and the north? rickon seems to have a strong bond with shaggydog and we haven't really seen any of the other children besides bran really utilize their potential as wargs. sure, jon and arya have had glimpses in their dreams but nowhere near conscious control or even full recognition of their abilities. since bran is sequestered away up north, could rickon become a fully fledged warg south of the wall?

note: if there is already some rickon masterthread, i haven't read it. search isn't working.

[Gingerchu]

I doubt it, I think he'll carry on having wolf dreams and always have Shaggydog at his side(like Robb did for the most part) and have a savage seeming army behind him (I don't think the Skagosi are cannibals but probably aren't totally against the rumours that they are), Have you seen the size of Skagos it could be a game changer in terms of troop amounts

[Northern Nomad]

The idea that most people believe which i could see happening, is that he will become more wild. Robb and Jon were more Eddard, and the idea is that his time on Skagos, will make him more Brandon.

[The Crow in a White Sea]

Rickon is probably hunting unicorns in Skagos.

[Ser Greg of House House]

I think Rickon will be the one to inherit Winterfell after all. The others will die, become trees etc.

[Baramos]

Hasn't GRRM confirmed sending Rickon off with Osha was basically trying to write him out of the plot altogether, and then he regretted it and came up with the Davos subplot of the going to find him? I don't think he's going to play anything more than a political role--he has the wolf dreams like the other Starks but that's it.

[Ice Turtle]

I think that he has green dreams like Jojen and that is why he was so upset when Robb went away.

[Lord Illidan Stormrage]

So far he has been a placeholder of a character - did nothing and showed nothing but might become relevant to the plot at some point and will not be completely out of the blue like Aegon.

[Direwolfsigil]

Rickon is the best Stark candidate for the future of Winterfell, If Davos can find him and he hasnt become a full-fledged wildling :D.

[stu1987]

I'm sure I heard GRRM say that he enjoyed Osha so much in the TV show that he has reconsidered her role in the novels, so hopefully we'll see more of what they're up to and an encounter with Davos. Quite excited for Davos vs. Osha.

[Koekfabriek]

Hasn't GRRM confirmed sending Rickon off with Osha was basically trying to write him out of the plot altogether, and then he regretted it and came up with the Davos subplot of the going to find him? I don't think he's going to play anything more than a political role--he has the wolf dreams like the other Starks but that's it.

That would be a shame, I want to see Rickon going berserk with his wolf. (maybe he is a little bit to young)

[Timothy Quentin Cray]

I had always thought that the direwolves tended to resemble their owners in terms of character, especially in GoT and CoK, given that Shaggydog appeared to be the wildest and most aggressive of the lot, and Rickon was quite wilful (admittedly as little more than a toddler) I think he might turn out to be a bit of a handful.

[Northbound]

Well, I think he will reappear very early in tWoW; after all, Manderly "support" for Stannis, hinges on if or when Davos finds him. As for how Rickkon will act or be, when he shows up....im going with wild, angry and quick tempered; with a physco-ass direwolf. However, my hopes for him are high. I want to see Davos become a father figure for him. I do not think Bran will ever come back from where he is, so Rickkon will be future Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.

[Fat Mac]

I think Rickon will be lord of WF at the end, with a regent of course (possibly Manderly or Robett Glover). If the North becomes it's own kingdom again Rickon will return it to the days of old where the kings were more harsh.

[analeigh]

Rickon is just full of potential as a character. Just based on the minimal characterization he had in the first two books, I thought there were clear signs that the youngest Stark boy was going to be quite the force to be reckoned with regardless of his age when he returned. He was willful and had a bit of a temper. And he's also a boy who thought nothing of taking a sword from one of the tombs to fight off anyone who approached him when he was hiding down in the crypts to protest Robb's march to war. Throw in Shaggydog as his trusted companion and you've got the makings for one badass male Stark, even if he's still just a boy.

Rickon is never going to be a player in the game, but I don't think he'll disappoint when he reappears in the North. He's a much better boy lord to rally behind than some of the others in Westeros: like Robert Arryn or even Tommen. And at the very least, I expect we'll see some kind of showdown between Ramsey's bitches and Shaggydog!

[juanml82]

I'm rereading AGOT and I've been thinking a bit about Rickon. The way I see it, we have this:

His family got separated when he was too young. He might not recognize Sansa, Arya or Jon, but will notice they are wargs (well, maybe not in Sansa's case, as her warg skills are stunted so far) just like him.

He got no education that we know of. He doesn't know how to read, he barely understands (or maybe not at all) how to behave in society. He will barely remember his parents, if he remembers them at all. His experiences since AGOT consist in different shades of fear.

Rickon is a greenseer as well as a warg. He knew about Ned's death, and he probably had prophetic dreams about half his family dying, which explains his behavior regarding Ned, the girls and later Robb leaving. If he has dreamed about them dying or suffering in the south, and they insist in going south, he'll be mad as hell.

He started warging Shaggydog via wolf dreams, as every other Stark.

He grew developing those abilities: the kid learnt to breath, then to walk and talk and then to warg. He will not have a memory of him without Shaggydog. His entire identity will be forged around being both human and wolf.

He can use Shaggydog to tear people apart, and he has already used him to hurt other people.

He's some seriously fucked up individual. 'Wild Wolf' isn't even enough to describe him.

I hope Martin develops him in the coming books! :D

[C0bR]

Powers - warging, general skinchanging, greenseer

Talents - swordsmanship - will become the best Stark swordsman since Cregan Stark

- talent for survival

Abilities - eating people, riding the unicorn

The new most interesting man (kid) in Westeros.

[Winds of Winter blow cold]

He cracks nuts with the best of them! ;)

[Fauch]

Complete wildcard. Like many others I see him ending up as Lord of Winterfell. He might even be there only to continue the tradition that "there must always be a stark at winterfell".

[Balerion06]

Hasn't GRRM confirmed sending Rickon off with Osha was basically trying to write him out of the plot altogether, and then he regretted it and came up with the Davos subplot of the going to find him? I don't think he's going to play anything more than a political role--he has the wolf dreams like the other Starks but that's it.

I thought this was only a rumour.