Nightflyer

Fascinating stuff. Ramsey is not as devious a plotter as Roose, and to a considerable extent has been lucky. I think he is going to roll the dice again, using Reek/Theon. If those northern lords who are with him can be convinced that Ramsay is marrying the real Arya Stark, they will throw their support behind Ramsay willingly. Especially against a southerner like Stannis. So Theon must be seen to be uncoerced, and given a chance to recognize the "real" Arya Stark. To that end Ramsay will have Theon cleaned up and rehabilitated as much as possible. (Uncoerced is a relative term of course, since Theon's mind is broken.) When Theon and Arya/Jeyne Poole meet, the northern lords will be watching closely. Ramsay knows that the results of torture are uncertain, but he likes a good gamble. And Theon certainly has shown that he's willing to do anything (anything!) to survive, so its not that bad a bet. So can we actually expect one last spark of nobility from Theon, and the actual truth, before he dies?

I've mentioned these elsewhere, but there are 2 major homages to Frank Herberts Dune series. The warlocks Daenarys deals with bear a strong resemblance to the Mentats in the Dune books. They drink a strange potion which helps them predict the future, and they have blue stained lips. Using face-changing for assasinations is also from the Dune books. The Tlielaxu face dancers.