Are the stories about Skagos just a ruse?

[Aredhel]

Why does everyone think they aren't cannibals? There's plenty of examples in RL of primitive tribes that held that custom. They're an isolated people that could've easly developed strange customs.

:agree: For example, the tribes of maori in New Zealand had a tradition to eat their enemies.

[Collis]

It could also be along the lines of when someone dies they eat their body. Apart from the brain, it really won't have too negative of an effect. If I remember correctly, there are other cultures in the world that have practiced that, and no, I don't feel like looking them up right now.

[Talking Hodor]

I think both are true. They're a little cannibalistic, like some wildlings, but they're fiercely loyal to the Starks like everybody in the North except for those damn Boltons.

Either that or they're traipsing around through Skagos, drinking piña coladas with little umbrellas and wearing short shirts that don't cover their midriffs, riding around on fabulous unicorns. Rickon's experience here is probably going to be the most confusing thing to happen to a boy since calculus.

[Free Northman Reborn]

They feed their captives to a Cannibal dragon that lairs on the island.

[Ser Arthur Hightower]

I'd say they are very similar to the northern mountain clans, except that their greater geographical distance from Winterfell and the south means they are less loyal to house Stark, more feared and more culturally first men than the otherwise andalised north.

[Balerion the one eared cat]

Much of it is probably rumours, the same way all wildlings are believed to be savages who rape their daughters and leave their sons out for the Others...

Interesting about the meaning of Skagos, however. Maybe they aren't cannibals, maybe there's just a big ass stone dragon munching on everyone's bones...

[Lord Damian]

The last time Skagos rebelled they took a huge toll on house Stark

[King of Winter-ish Stuff]

I agree that the stories are probably wildly exaggerated. I guess there was maybe one incident where they ate their dead in winter and so that story came to be.

I like the crackpot of the Stark grandmother being from there, but yeah, considering there is no evidence it's crackpot.

I think that the Stark grandmother theory was disproven. If I remember correctly, she was Rickard Stark's father's first cousin. But i do remember the theory that Rickard's wife was Skagosi because every several generations or so a Stark marries a Skagosi to keep them loyal. But I believe it's been proven wrong. But I definitely think that there is something on Skagos that made Maester Luwin send Osha and Rickon there. Maybe the Skagosi are a little bit more loyal than we are led to believe? Who knows. Only GRRM. That's who. :D

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

I imagine it's a rough place, but I think the cannibalism is either an inadvertent mistake or a deliberate ruse. If you're an isolationist society that wants everyone else to leave you alone, isn't spreading the rumor that you practice cannibalism a good way to do that? I also think that if it were really that bad there, no ships would go, and yet they obviously have some semblance of a trading system with ships. Hard to do that if they eat anyone who comes on the island.

They probably have more in common with wildlings or the mountain clans than with mainland northerners, but that doesn't make them murderous cannibals (and I draw some distinction between, say, eating the flesh of a dead relative in a funeral ritual and attacking, killing and eating someone who just happens to come to the island).

Also worth mentioning that if they do have social mores in common with the wildlings north of the Wall, then Rickon, as a warg, could end up being the object of great respect or even reverence.

ETA: Or the fantastic crackpot theory about the dragon Cannibal is true. Almost certainly not, but it's still great.

[Barrick Eddon]

I doubt that they are cannibals , i think the skagosi will have a big roll in TWOW or something big is happening there , there's a reason why GRRM didn't introduced us with them yet

[juanml82]

The old men from the Karhold and the Mountain Clans commit suicide during winter so the young have enough food. Now I wonder, do the Skagossi also let their grandparents meat go to waste in such a fashion?

Disclaimer : not condoning real world cannibalism