Rickon's Role

[Hippocras]

Don't get me wrong, I love all Stark siblings and would LOVE to be wrong about Rickon's future, but the way story unfolds, I do not see any point in him in the story other than being Lord of Winterfell. And I do not believe Winterfell will be standing by the end. He will play a crucial part in rallying North behind him and making Stannis defeat Boltons and integrate Skagosi into the North, but he will not survive till the Wall's collapse and arrival of White Walkers. The North has a chance to defeat the ice creatures only if it is united, and I mean Night's Watch, wildlings and northerners all together. And there is only one character in this story who was Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and potential candidate to become leader of wildlings and Lord of Winterfell, and that is Jon Snow.

Stannis will not defeat the Boltons. A stalemate at most.

[Scorpion92]

Stannis will not defeat the Boltons. A stalemate at most.

Well, I might be wrong of course, but Stannis' whole storyarc is about revealing him as someone who is not Azor Ahai or Chosen One. That cannot happen if Stannis does not defeat Boltons, they are just a temporary issue on his path of uniting the North under his banners (under Rickon's banners I mean).

Even if Stannis is at stalemate with Boltons, it means that the flayed men were successful in getting rid of Rickon, otherwise with the youngest Stark among his ranks the North will overwhelm the Boltons.

[Hippocras]

Well, I might be wrong of course, but Stannis' whole storyarc is about revealing him as someone who is not Azor Ahai or Chosen One. That cannot happen if Stannis does not defeat Boltons, they are just a temporary issue on his path of uniting the North under his banners (under Rickon's banners I mean).

Even if Stannis is at stalemate with Boltons, it means that the flayed men were successful in getting rid of Rickon, otherwise with the youngest Stark among his ranks the North will overwhelm the Boltons.

I don't interpret it this way or see it playing out this way.

Stannis isn't so much about AA or any prophesy. In the end GRRM is always exploring human themes with his characters and any prophesies are just tools, they are not ends themselves. What Stannis is actually about is rigidity, brittleness, blind ambition. His story more than any other explores the falacy of the notion of a "rightful" leader.

But leadership is not a right.

This is why Stannis is never going to unite the North: people do not WANT to follow him. There is no question that he is Robert's heir but noone cares because they have no desire for Stannis to become their King. Because noone wants to follow him, Stannis goes to ever more extreme measures to try to make it happen anyway instead of recognizing that he cannot be King of unwilling subjects.

So how does Rickon fit in? Probably a pawn in the game for control of the North. The main question is who will control/protect Rickon: does Jon revive soon enough to fight for him with a wildling army? Does LF get hold of him and back him via the Vale? Does Manderly use him to gain influence for his own family in the North? These are the questions that will determine Rickon's fate, not Stannis.