Rickon's Role

[Curled Finger]

Although I can't fully envision Rickon's coming role, it's difficult to marginalize him. What is Rickon's super power? Nymeria is fierce and I'm certain she will come into play with this wild Shaggy Dog. Sansa is clearly being set up to be the Queen of at least 3 out of 7 of the kingdoms and is receiving fine training for the care and feeding of young boys with Robert Arryn. Now young Robert, should he be permitted to live, has also had an unusual childhood. The Alayne chapter shows him beginning to mature a bit and putting adult concepts together. There is no reason to believe Rickon would be any different. The point is, Lady Stoneheart has Robb's crown. Certainly another could be made, but I think THAT is the crown of the King In The North, so crowning anyone is out until it is reacquired. The show leads me to believe Sansa will make her way home well-trained to serve as Rickon's regent and protector. I believe Sansa will fully comprehend Robb's motives in writing the will and would refuse any glory because of it. She's being set up as Lady of the Vale, too, and those Stark kids could very well be the last of the Tullys unless Black Fish changes his tune about marriage and children. The North, The Vale and The Riverlands--a nice trifecta of power for a small group of disenfranchised kids. Jon and Bran and perhaps Arya, have some very important business north of the Wall. That business will prevent them from participating in the intrigues that will ensue upon Rickon's return. Sansa is the only sibling really qualified to serve Rickon. Because of the singular training she has received, Rickon will grow to be a good Stark--regardless the title bestowed upon him. I see Rickon as a peacemaker, sort of in the vein Jon has offered peace to both Stannis and the Wildings. Rickon and Sansa can unite all these territories. Can't wait to see what the Skagosi bring to the party.

[GeorgeIAF]

He'll definitely play an important role in one way or another. I'm interested to see what sort of impact Davos will have on him if he finds him. We know that Rickon has often been seen as a bit wild due to all he's been through at such a young age, but Davos could potentially have a positive influence since he's generally a good, moral person who cares for others and does his duty like Ned was.

He'll also play an important role in the Game of Thrones, as his re-emergence would signal the comeback of the Starks, and provided they aren't mindless cannibals like others think they are in Westeros, he could be able to draw the support of Skagos for the north.

Davos also lost some sons and those who are alive are away, maybe Rickon will remind him of his childs, and also Rickon will see him as a father figure, something he lacked so far.

[Razha]

I see Rickon as eventual "Stark in Winterfell". He might not necessarily take active role in the events but his supporters would put hime in Winterfell after all is said and done.

I could also expect that his "wildness" would result in much less friendly/peaceful personality than his parents and siblings. As a neet twist if eventiually he will turn out to be almost as ruthless and cruel as Joffrey/Ramsey, but as he is a Stark we will have to overlook/justify his actions. (for example in the epilogue it could be mentioned that he eliminated all the houses he thought did wrong his family)....

This could be part of GRRM's "bittersweet ending" - justice is served, Stark is back in WF, but somehow it will leave with bitter taste....

[Brother Seamus]

Exactly. My money's on the Stark lineage continuing through Rickon. That's literally his entire purpose in ASOIAF.

His older brothers and sisters become legends:

Robb, the Young Wolf

Sansa, the Lady of the Vale/Winterfell (or wherever she ends up)

Arya, Faceless (Wo)Man and a She-Wolf of Winterfell

Bran, the Greenseer

Jon, the Bastard of Winterfell, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, etc.

Rickon's great-great-(infinity)-grandchildren will tell stories about the Stark children we've been following and are so invested in. But the Starks continue on in and through him.

sounds right to me

[nategator]

Here's where we are at with Rickon:

1. We've been given no real hints on his reception by the Skagos

2. The Skagos are rebellious cannibals whose reaction can probably range from "Rickon seems like our type of Lord/King of the North as his warged direwolf likes to eat people!" to "Look, a kid with a direwolf, let's just ignore him" to "Rickon looks tasty"

3. Rickon is having not only a POV character visit him, but probably the best war time smuggler in Westeros, so something interesting is definitely going to happen in WoW and Rickon's odds of making it to the North with some kind of agency are good.

4. Rickon is THE political football for the North. Whomever ends up with Rickon probably wins. (Boltans, Stannis, Manderly, etc.) The Bolton vs. Stannis battle could end up being merely a sideshow. Or to use a fantasy analogy, for Northern politics Rickon is the One Ring and Bolton vs. Stannis is essentially the same type of distraction as the big battles in the Return of the King.

Other than that, we got nothing.

[Old Rusty Coin]

If Jamie or Sandor don't do it first, Rickon will be the Volanqar, by way of yet another extremely devious but feasible turn of the tale.

[Mayor of Winterfell]

At first there is nothing special to the Skagosi about Rickon. So they give him refuge, he is a Stark after all.

Then they realize that he speaks to the Hearttree. And the tree answers him. Because he knows things now,

that a kid never would know. That could only mean he speaks to the old gods. Reason enough to worship him.

[shadows and dust]

Liz Stark-Targaryen, on 21 Apr 2015 - 6:16 PM, said:

Exactly. My money's on the Stark lineage continuing through Rickon. That's literally his entire purpose in ASOIAF.

His older brothers and sisters become legends:

Robb, the Young Wolf

Sansa, the Lady of the Vale/Winterfell (or wherever she ends up)

Arya, Faceless (Wo)Man and a She-Wolf of Winterfell

Bran, the Greenseer

Jon, the Bastard of Winterfell, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, etc.

Rickon's great-great-(infinity)-grandchildren will tell stories about the Stark children we've been following and are so invested in. But the Starks continue on in and through him.

Do we think then, that Rickon is the only Start child to have children to tell those tales to, or just the only to have children with a Stark last name?

We could assume pretty comfortably no Starks will be born, besides from Rickon. No real need to get into why.

If Rickon is the one to settle down and pass the tales, do we assume Sansa is childless? Arya? Or do we just figure since they'll lose their surnames in the process, the Stark part of Rickon's children is the symbolic point?

Sansa seems very aware that a lot of her power resides in the who and how of her progeny. I would assume, if she isn't killed beforehand, she will wed/bed/homestead with someone by book's end.

A lot of people like to write off Arya ever being married/having kids... But she's like 11, maybe 12. There are a lot of tomboys of that age that sing a different tune as they mature. She might never be a demure housewife, but it doesn't mean should couldn't find an equal.

So, genuine question. Do you think Rickon is the only Stark child to have children?

[Tigger]

I can't even begin to guess what GRRM is gonna do with Rickon (he fakes me out of my socks every time) and who knows how D&D will butcher his possible arc on the show. I can say it and Skagos are really really important in TWOW. There are many rumors about the Skagosi but little true knowledge. They were the last to bend the knee to the Starks but are said to be fiercely loyal to the Stark line, so Rickon is going to be safe and honored there. Because of his age, they will not let him go anywhere off that island with anyone. But, that is just a guess.

Here is why I forsee Skagos as being vital to TWOW: the Skagosi aren't fleeing South like the Free Folk. Most of the island is further North than the Wall and those fine young cannibals are staying put.

Most every one is predicting an invasion and war with the Others. I'm in the tin foil hat society that believes an ancient pact has been broken and the Others are gathering steam to avenge it. The Skagosi have kept their end of the deal, that's why they're chill.

Just my opinion, for whatever its worth.

[WhitewolfStark]

Liz Stark-Targaryen, on 21 Apr 2015 - 6:16 PM, said:

Do we think then, that Rickon is the only Start child to have children to tell those tales to, or just the only to have children with a Stark last name?

We could assume pretty comfortably no Starks will be born, besides from Rickon. No real need to get into why.

If Rickon is the one to settle down and pass the tales, do we assume Sansa is childless? Arya? Or do we just figure since they'll lose their surnames in the process, the Stark part of Rickon's children is the symbolic point?

Sansa seems very aware that a lot of her power resides in the who and how of her progeny. I would assume, if she isn't killed beforehand, she will wed/bed/homestead with someone by book's end.

A lot of people like to write off Arya ever being married/having kids... But she's like 11, maybe 12. There are a lot of tomboys of that age that sing a different tune as they mature. She might never be a demure housewife, but it doesn't mean should couldn't find an equal.

So, genuine question. Do you think Rickon is the only Stark child to have children?

Well, given his 1993 letter, Sansa is implied as a POV that doesn't make it alive to the last book, the five POVs that Martin listed as living to the beginning of the last book did not include her. Instead we got: Jon, Arya, Dany, Bran, and Tyrion.

But that was back when Sansa was married to Joffrey (who had died) and had his infant son in hand by the end of the first book, and Martin thought the end of the first book ended about where ASOS ends now.

[TreeFaces]

Sansa in dealing with Sweet Robin is being set up/prepared to mentor or take care of a difficult younger individual in power. I can see Sansa taking on a similar role with Rickon when he does return to soften his presumably rough or wild edges. I also see Rickon being used politically without Sansa or a Stark team around him.

[aryagonnakill#2]

Tigger, the Boltons were the last to bend the knee to the Starks, and there is nothing telling us that the Skagosi are fiercely loyal to the Starks, the only info we have in that regard was that they rebelled 100 years ago killing the Stark lord at the time and since then have not been allowed to build ships which has kept them in isolation.

[Rickon Stark The Aulë]

Sansa in dealing with Sweet Robin is being set up/prepared to mentor or take care of a difficult younger individual in power. I can see Sansa taking on a similar role with Rickon when he does return to soften his presumably rough or wild edges. I also see Rickon being used politically without Sansa or a Stark team around him.

I hope fucking not...

Sansa's a fucking idiot who babies sweet robin. Rickon lived in the crypts in winterfell Rickon is a fucking badass who put up with the fucking Walder's. Rickon has been beaten up by them and fucking takes it like a badass. he doesn't need someone to fucking take care of him. He's been doing that since he was 4 !!!.

Rickon doesn't need a fucking skewered sense of honor from sansa haven't you learned from Ned,Robb,Jon

That skewered sense of honor is the death of duty if Rickon ignores that, he will end up with a much longer lifespan. 

[Butterfreak]

I think he'll be used as a rallying point for the North before Sansa returns, and eventually leave to live with the wildlings after the war against the Others.

[Magnar of Skagos]

Rickon will end up the heir of the Stark family. I really think that is his purpose in the story. Every other Stark is off doing their own thing.

[Samson]

Wait, wait wait, haven't you guys heard??!  I mean, DUH....

 

Rickon = Azor Ahai confirmed.

[Scorpion92]

Unlike others here, I think Rickon is destined to be the last Stark to die.

His wildness and growing up in Skagos is not a good thing. If you remember, Ned told Arya in AGOT about "wolf blood" and how it got his siblings Brandon and Lyanna killed.

I think the same is bound to happen to Rickon. He will get dragged in the northern civil war and get anti-Bolton northerners rally around him as Stannis' Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell, but it will not be GRRM style if everything goes smooth and Stark is put back in Winterfell. He will give us what we want as readers which is Bolton defeat, but at heavy cost. Rickon's "wildness" might play a big role in his demise.

I would actually gladly read scenario where Stannis and Davos rally North around Rickon, battle and defeat Boltons, but unfortunately Rickon dies in the process, meanwhile the Wall collapses, Night's Watch gets extinguished and White Walkers and undead army march south onto Winterfell.

Northerners follow Stannis for a time being as a leader since there is no Stark left untill he loses and gets exposed as false Azor Ahai. And this is where resurrected Jon will enter and rally northerners as Robb's legitimized Stark heir (Robb's will) and become King in thr North and defeat White Walkers.

Bran will help Jon a lot who as a powerful greenseer will take over control of White Walkers' undead army using blood magic and turn them into what we saw with Coldhands and Telltale's Game of Thrones' last episode strange wights. It will allow Jon to defeat and make White Walkers bend the knee. After that Jon Stark will become not King in the North, but King of Winter. He will march south to deal with Dany, her dragons, South and fire magic in general.

And I don't think Winterfell will survive the coming books. I think House Stark will move south to Harrenhal and become the new royal dynasty of Westeros come Dawn. Jon,Sansa and Arya all have connections to Harrenhal one way or another and parallel Aegon, Visenya and Rhaenys but hopefully without incest thing, while Bran,a Stark greenseer, will move nearby and watch over the realm on God's Eye (I mean, come on!! The name is so telling) on the Isle of Faces, tended by group of greenmen.

[Hippocras]

^I agree the wolf blood wildness thing will likely be a factor in the story and an important one. It remains to be seen if it will apply to Rickon or Arya or both.

Skagos may surprise us. We really need to be reintroduced to Rickon at this point because he has been growing up, and we haven't seen him for years. Probably his personality has not completely tamed, but really we know nothing.

I don't know what you mean though about him being the"last" Stark to die. Do you say that because after him you don't think any more Starks will die, or do you think they will ALL die with him being last?

I also doubt your scenario. I do think Stannis will live longer in the books than the show, maybe even long enough to confront Aegon or Euron. I very very much doubt though that any Stark, including Rickon, will simply declare for Stannis. I do not think Stannis is going to do any rallying of the North...at most there will be a dance of tepid and temporary support from the Northerners. Part of me even suspects that Manderly may be connected to the Essos-Dorne sub-plot, and that this was the point of mentioning the Tyroshi style hair of his daughter and the trade links between White Harbour and Essos. If so, Rickon may end up being the Stark that sides with Aegon, and who meets his end that way.

I do think Rickon will die. I am not sure he will be the last. There are hints Arya may die, at least in body. Her destiny in the story may be as the Queen of the wolf army, living inside Nymeria.

 

[Rickon Stark The Aulë]

Unlike others here, I think Rickon is destined to be the last Stark to die.

His wildness and growing up in Skagos is not a good thing. If you remember, Ned told Arya in AGOT about "wolf blood" and how it got his siblings Brandon and Lyanna killed.

I think the same is bound to happen to Rickon. He will get dragged in the northern civil war and get anti-Bolton northerners rally around him as Stannis' Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell, but it will not be GRRM style if everything goes smooth and Stark is put back in Winterfell. He will give us what we want as readers which is Bolton defeat, but at heavy cost. Rickon's "wildness" might play a big role in his demise.

I would actually gladly read scenario where Stannis and Davos rally North around Rickon, battle and defeat Boltons, but unfortunately Rickon dies in the process, meanwhile the Wall collapses, Night's Watch gets extinguished and White Walkers and undead army march south onto Winterfell.

Northerners follow Stannis for a time being as a leader since there is no Stark left untill he loses and gets exposed as false Azor Ahai. And this is where resurrected Jon will enter and rally northerners as Robb's legitimized Stark heir (Robb's will) and become King in thr North and defeat White Walkers.

Bran will help Jon a lot who as a powerful greenseer will take over control of White Walkers' undead army using blood magic and turn them into what we saw with Coldhands and Telltale's Game of Thrones' last episode strange wights. It will allow Jon to defeat and make White Walkers bend the knee. After that Jon Stark will become not King in the North, but King of Winter. He will march south to deal with Dany, her dragons, South and fire magic in general.

And I don't think Winterfell will survive the coming books. I think House Stark will move south to Harrenhal and become the new royal dynasty of Westeros come Dawn. Jon,Sansa and Arya all have connections to Harrenhal one way or another and parallel Aegon, Visenya and Rhaenys but hopefully without incest thing, while Bran,a Stark greenseer, will move nearby and watch over the realm on God's Eye (I mean, come on!! The name is so telling) on the Isle of Faces, tended by group of greenmen.

Ohhhhhh so your one of "THOSE" people.......

[Scorpion92]

Ohhhhhh so your one of "THOSE" people.......

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.