[Book Spoilers]Why is show Theon a Stark lacky?

[Mr Bean]

Okay we are seven episodes in at this point and I have a serious question...

Why does Theon care about the Starks? He's their prisoner and ward and in the books we get his life being described as traumatic being torn from his mother but he grew up in a far more loving and caring household where he had dozens of friends in the Stark household and trained together with Rob and the two were good friends. His life was much better by contrast than Jon Snows. Yet our show version of Theon Greyjoy while retaining several book qualities lacks the friendship and connections that make his actions towards Rob make sense.

From the first Episode were we meet Theon he's being treated like shit by Lannisters, by Starks,by whores. Everyone spends their day crapping on him. The scene just before Brandon goes missing and Theon retorts it's not his houses issue. Why? Why care now when every line we seen has been everyone dissing the poor guy left and right and it does not look like he as a friend in the entire world.

So what's going on with this?

[Pink Walder Frey]

I think they made this setup to characterize Theon more clearly and his to make his later developement more believeable.

He wasn't aware of his staus as hostage all the time, too much, I think, because he was about 10 years when he came to Winterfell, and Lord Eddard was a polite man, and his children, too.

But Theon never felt near to anyone, but Robb, because Robb was his age and he thought only Robb treated him kind of equal or what he thought himself worth.

Later in the books he on the one side gets a better understanding about what him being a hostage really ment (holding his father from a new rebellion), but on the other side he got grim about this and he took as a justification for a hatred to all the residents of Winterfell and also for his own actions.

The whole thing you describe is a setup for Theon's later developement and for his actions and thought, that maybe could not be probperly shown later, due to the necessities of the TV adaption.

[j52y]

They've spent a lot of time looking at the distance between Theon and others, but you can see the friendship is still there.

When Robb said he would go to Kings Landing to see his father, Theon stepped up and said, "I'm you man, Robb."

You saw Theon, Robb, and Jon joking around in Winter is Coming.

In A Golden Crown, you saw Robb take counsel from Theon, even if Robb eventually acted defenive about the advice Theon gave.

Jory called Theon a "good lad."

I agree that they need to do more to show Theon and Robb's friendship, but I anticipate that they will in the next couple of episodes, with the calling of the bannermen and the Battle of Whispering Woods.

[Ser Warpechowski]

Ned and Robert were wards to John Arryn so I dont think Theon´s position was really of a prisoner. Usually they did that to create bonds between the kingdoms meaning its harder to go against someone youve spent half your life with.

Theons intentions werent to take Winterfell but help Robb with his plan. But as THeon got to the iron islands he saw he barely had any power and that meant he had to play the game of the others.

[StormbornBee]

Ned and Robert were wards to John Arryn so I dont think Theon´s position was really of a prisoner. Usually they did that to create bonds between the kingdoms meaning its harder to go against someone youve spent half your life with.

Theons intentions werent to take Winterfell but help Robb with his plan. But as THeon got to the iron islands he saw he barely had any power and that meant he had to play the game of the others.

Yes... and also no. Theon WAS a ward, not a prisoner as you said, but the purpose was to keep Theon's father from rebelling, not to keep Theon from rebelling later.

Also, if Theon was really trying to help Robb and his cause, then when his father tells him he doesn't agree to the plan Theon should have just gone back to the Starks. I feel like he makes it very clear in the few POV chapters we have from him that he wants to be king of the iron islands. A friend is borrowing my books right now, but I believe he says something along the lines of "If my father is the king of the iron islands, then I'll be king after him." He takes Winterfell to prove to his father that he would be just as good an heir as Asha, because even though he is the oldest surviving son and older than Asha, SHE is the number one candidate for heir. Because of his motives, I believe he told Robb that he was doing one thing but was using it as an excuse to get back home and seize power for himself. He makes very strong statements about how the Starks treated him, with the exception being Robb.

[Mr Bean]

Yes... and also no. Theon WAS a ward, not a prisoner as you said, but the purpose was to keep Theon's father from rebelling, not to keep Theon from rebelling later.

Also, if Theon was really trying to help Robb and his cause, then when his father tells him he doesn't agree to the plan Theon should have just gone back to the Starks. I feel like he makes it very clear in the few POV chapters we have from him that he wants to be king of the iron islands. A friend is borrowing my books right now, but I believe he says something along the lines of "If my father is the king of the iron islands, then I'll be king after him." He takes Winterfell to prove to his father that he would be just as good an heir as Asha, because even though he is the oldest surviving son and older than Asha, SHE is the number one candidate for heir. Because of his motives, I believe he told Robb that he was doing one thing but was using it as an excuse to get back home and seize power for himself. He makes very strong statements about how the Starks treated him, with the exception being Robb.

See I disagree with this, we don't get any hints of Theon wanting to go home until he's sent home. He does not come to Robb asking to be the envoy, it's Rob's idea.... and when he goes home it's not to set up a power base for his bid for the throne but as a bid to win his Father's ships so they can attack Lannisport. He intended to take his family's Navy and help Rob fight the Lannisters. He wanted rich rewards from his father for thus enriching the Iron islands but remember how much the boy he played during those negotiations and what he spent in his off time before going home. Drinking, telling stories of fighting and getting into trouble, not the behavior of a man who believes he's got a Throne to inherent.

It's there in the back of his head to be sure, but Theon lives day to day and is eager to win fame and glory under the Stark's banners, not his houses.

[ingsve]

We haven't really seen the older Starks and retainers be that rude towards Theon. It's mainly been Robb and a few others. I could imagine that Ned treated him pretty well and that's where his loyalty to the Starks lie the strongest. When they find the pups he says that he only takes orders from Ned and not Robb but when Ned leaves for King's Landing Theon is put in an awkward position where he now has to follow Robbs orders but Robb is not as keen to listen to what Theon thinks.

[Miyamoto]

Theon was not a POV character till Clash of Kings, so we can't know what he was thinking in the first book . . . but, I think the writers are trying to show by the Lannisters and how they perceive Theon and what his actual position as a ward is. And if you remember the Greyjoys in the second book look down upon Theon and consider him just that, a hostage and tainted by his time spending with the Starks.

[Xenophon]

In the first episode, Theon and Robb seem to be on good terms. Also, even in the "it's not my house's problem" scene, it seems like we see them start quarreling IMO, not that they're always at each others' throats.

[j52y]

Theon's grin when we found out that Robb had to marry a Frey was pretty good, too. I mean, they've pretty clearly shown them as friends, imo.