Davos' quest to retrieve Rickon: How is it going to go wrong?

[complexphoenix]

I posted a version of this in another thread, then decided that it ought to be its own topic.

We know that Davos is sailing for Skagos to retrieve Rickon, and if he finds him he will probably try to bring him to to Wyman Manderly or to Stannis. But GRRM never lets detailed plans go off without a hitch, so something is bound to go wrong. Some possibilities:

1) Davos gets blown off course on his way to Skagos and ends up in Braavos, where his story intersects with Arya and/or the Iron Bank and/or anybody else who's going to Braavos.

2) Davos gets taken by pirates, enslaved, and taken to Essos where he ends up entangled in Daenerys' storyline somehow.

3) Davos gets blown off course and/or taken by pirates while coming *back* from Skagos with Rickon, so that he and Rickon and Shaggy and maybe Osha *all* get tangled up with Arya or Daenerys or whoever else.

4) Davos makes it to Skagos but Rickon has over-warged and turned bestial, and Davos needs to kill Shaggydog in order to retrieve him, thus eliminating the proof that Rickon is really Rickon and mucking up Manderly's plan.

5) Davos gets eaten by Shaggydog.

6) Davos shipwrecks on the shores of Skagos and can't bring Rickon home.

7) Davos retrieves Rickon and brings him back to the North, but events have already progressed such that there are other claimants to Winterfell (either Sansa or Jon) or Stannis and Wyman Manderly have had a tragic misunderstanding that Rickon's return cannot help, or Stannis is dead.

8) Davos gets to Skagos but he can't find Rickon and his POVs in TWOW are a big long travelogue among the cannibals that will make everyone who hated AFFC scream in agony.

So, which are most likely? Any good possibilities that I missed?

[Vaxis]

It seems very likely Davos will shipwreck on Skagos, as the waters are stormy and treacherous and there are precious few safe berths, if any. The only thing I would rule out is Essos. Even Braavos is too far out of the way for Davos, and we already know that Justin Massey and Harys Swyft will be there.

[CrashBreaker501]

You forgot a crucial one: Rickon could be already dead.

[Lord Jennings]

it seems that most people on these threads fear the worst of any situation, I guess GRRM is to blame for that. But, I feel as if Davos reaches Skagos but will find it difficult to convince Rickon (more so Osha) to return with him.

[Kienn]

He'll bring back Rickon but lord manderly will say "I said my liege lord, not his little brother"

[YeackNbake]

I don't think Davos will get blown off course and end up with dany/arya, it just doesn't seem likely. Dany already has too many characters with her already and some heading her way.

Honestly I have no clue what will happen and I no longer put much thought into trying to guess what happens because nothing ever goes as planned in this series. With that being said if I HAD to guess I think Davos will meet up with Rickon and be on his way back to the Westeros mainland but for whatever reason something will get mucked up and Davos will not be able to meet up with Manderly while having Rickon as well.

[Sir Lee knot]

I think he'll get there and Rickon's Wildling nanny will beat his ass. Not really....

Davos will arrive but probably won't be able to convince Osha and Rickon to come back with him. Instead I think after hearing the state of affairs Rickon will lead a Skagosi army back to the mainland to reclaim his birthright.

[The Fresh PtwP]

If anything I think Davos will come back with a savage and the northern lords will wonder if they even wanted Rickon back.

[K-26dp]

I think everything will go exactly according to plan.

::nods sagely::

[AtomixIGN]

I think Davos will take Rickon to Eastwatch just as the whites take it.

[Ser Ash the Red]

Lord Manderly dies from his wounds. There will be no northern Lord strong enough to lead them to join Stanis against the Boltons. His son is broken and Robert Glover is just the younger brother of a master not a Lord.

[Aerys Ahai Reborn]

But GRRM never lets detailed plans go off without a hitch, so something is bound to go wrong.

Except it is not really a detailed plan. I'd say it is closer to Theon's plan to take Winterfell than any detailed plan we read about that fails.

Which is why I think nothing will go wrong, but we just won't read a direct account of it. Instead, I think we will get a Maester Theomore (Lannister at White Harbor) prologue of him being killed by Shaggydog, and then in the first Davos PoV chapter he will have a couple memories about the trip. (But hey, I'll admit this is wishful thinking because I think that has the potential to be a really good start to tWoW.)

[Sweetgirl205]

it seems that most people on these threads fear the worst of any situation, I guess GRRM is to blame for that. But, I feel as if Davos reaches Skagos but will find it difficult to convince Rickon (more so Osha) to return with him. :agree:

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Except it is not really a detailed plan. I'd say it is closer to Theon's plan to take Winterfell than any detailed plan we read about that fails.

Exactly what I was going to say. It's not a detailed plan. If Wyman had said, "Go to Skagos and retrieve Rickon Stark," then I'd see the side-eyeing. But we're never told exactly, explicitly who Davos is retrieving or where he's going; we just have to figure it out. And by extension, I don't think it can necessarily fall under the umbrella of "detailed plans" (unlike, say, Ned's plan with Baelish or Robb's plan to retake Moat Cailin).

I tend to think that the "twist" will actually be a net positive one: Davos goes to Skagos thinking it's Cannibal Island, when in fact it's actually organized but isolationist. I'm also someone who thinks that Rickon and Osha didn't go to Skagos so much as they were sent to Skagos, in which case Davos isn't in much danger, and nor will he have that much trouble bringing them back. So the "surprise" would be about Skagos itself. I also think that Davos is likely to find that bringing Rickon back does not yield the desired result of Manderly backing Stannis.

[Northernmonkey]

I think there's a real possibility that someone will see Rickon's direwolf on the way back and realise who he is, and try and kidnap him for their own ends. He could well end up in the hands of Varys or Littlefinger.

Maybe Davos and Rickon are boarded by pirates loyal to Aurane Waters. That would be a surprise.

[Dagon]

His mission seems so doomed that it's almost assured to succeed.

[Jairion Lannister]

He won't end up in Essos. There's obviously been a reason Skagos and Rickon's path have been hidden. We've got enough characters in Essos right now, so putting him there wouldn't add anything, whereas sending him to Skagos would.

The surprise will be that after a bad start and getting shipwrecked and having to live in wilderness for a while, things go much better than we expect for Davos; the Skagosi are simply least cultured and more tribal than Westeros, but we learn they're not really cannibals and that they're actually been protecting Rickon. That'd be much more interesting and a good curveball than them all being evil cannibals, although I imagine GRRM will play up on this at first from Davos' POV. He's great with his settings, so this is a perfect chance for him to show that off.

[Vegeta_Greyjoy]

In Davos' eyes, it will go wrong because his son will die at the wall, and that he wasn't there to protect him. He will, however, keep the future lord of Winterfell safe.

To the reader, it will go 'wrong' because Rickon will become feral and stone hearted, like the most ancient of the Stark ancestors. Davos always seems to be at the mercy of religious fervor, and I don't see Skagos being any different. He'll be at his wits end dealing with blood sacrifices and trying to keep Shaggy Dog from tearing his throat out. With Davos and Rickon we'll see sort of an inverse of the Hound-Arya relationship.

Ultimately Davos will be seen as 'the father', one of the seven central heroes in ASOIAF strongly foreshadowed by frequent mention of the 7 Andal gods. Rickon will be indoctrinated in the old ways of the First Men, and the first Starks.

[joluoto2]

My guess where things start to go terribly wrong is:

Wights on Skagos

"Dead things in the Water"

[Sullen]

I think it'll be completely inconsequential.

Rickon's wolf isn't called Shaggydog for nothing.