What are the consequences if/when Davos successfully brings Rickon back to the North?

[King Crow]

Does anyone else think Davos will be suspicious of Wyman's plans and take Rickon straight to Stannis? That seems like the wiser course, there is always a danger of Rickon being crowned king.

I would be incredibly disappointed in Manderly if he gave Davos enough room to do so. Most likely Davos is running the show, but Wyman has sent people to keep an eye on Davos.

Am I the only person who thinks Manderly was telling the truth? That the North is willing to support the IT if there is a good king on it? That Davos would have noticed if Manderly was talking out of his ass when he promised to declare for Stannis? Davos is not Ned Stark, he is quite intelligent and good at reading people.

ETA: And to answer the OP, I think Rickon and Davos are at Winterfell already. And Rickon returning means the North will trash the Boltons and Freys, and rally their troops, which could be important if the Others come south of the Wall soon.

I think Manderly's main concern is remaining loyal to the Starks and that he is intelligent enough to realize that the wishes of Stannis may, at some point, contradict the wishes of the Starks. Also, I agree that Davos is intelligent, but his judgment isn't infallible. He notices that his gaolers were being suspiciously accommodating but, he never takes that observance any further. He needs it spelled out for him before he realizes that he will not be executed.

ETA: I believe RIckon is going to be like the Torso of the Megazord. He is the central piece that all the other Stark related plans are going to adjust and attach themselves to (Jon may be the Green ranger in this analogy).

[Dead Wolf]

I think it's unlikely. The Northmen's forces must have been devasted by the war of the five kings, so I'm not sure that they'd be ready for another war of independence. What's more, Stannis could give them the heads of The Boltons and the Lannisters, which would probably satisfy the Northerners. You've got to remember that the Starks and Baratheons were good friends, and the Northerners would probably be willing to bow down to the brother of King Robert.

Didn't GRRM say the North is far from finished militarily? And Stannis has little to offer the northmen. He has 1500 soldiers of his own at most, no castles or loyalists south of the Neck, no ships, and what men he has rallied to his side in the North are starving to death in a blizzard. The northmen will likely either take Bolton's head for themselves, or live under Lannister rule.

[Siddard Stark]

Well all the die hard Stannis fans think he will survive this conflict, Stannis had 1500 men when he fought the Wildlings of which he lost 300 men mostly against the Giants. he left the injured and some other swords at the wall i guess around 200 men in total. So when he went to rally the Mountain Tribes he had 1000 loyalist with him. Stannis has to fight 2 battles against the Boltons and the Freys. He will definitely loose more of his loyalist men!!!!! So what do you expect from Northern Lords when the Bolton threat is all over will they really support Stannis????? They have faced huge losses in TWO5K, and in the current conflict they will loose more men. Then Winter is here and there is a big threat of The Others now so why would any sane Northern Lords go South and Play the Game of Thrones!!!!! They can simply say Thank You Lord Stannis we have our rightful Liege back Prince Rickon, Lord Stannis we will give you safe passage South to take your remaining host and the sellswords you get from Brovos. You are more than welcome to fight the Lannisters and Tyrells we will be glad to watch your Rear.

[unitron]

Davos has all ready returned. I think in the essays that i have read. It has been calculated that 6-8 months from Davos last chapter to Theons Sample chapter.

Some have pointed out that all of the questions that Umber asked FArya are questions associated with Osha.

Like Osha banging the cook. Osha making off with Mikkens sword. Its kinda of a stretch but then you add it to the bigger picture of the situation in the north it adds up.

Im pretty much convinced that Manderly / Umber are planning on overthrowing Bolton with out any influence from Stannis. And him being in the picture is just a bonus for them. There is really strong evidence to support this. The biggest one being Umber. Who swore featly to Stannis yet doesn't tell Stannis anything at all. About his plans his strength etc.. Stannis finds what Umber is doing via Theon. About the digging the pits outside the gates and the size / quality of the force he is in command of. Seems kinda of odd of there lack of communication no? Also you have another really odd conversation in the sample chapter. Stannis does not seem aware of any battles that Ramsey has fought in let alone won. He has no idea ramsey is won the battle at winterfel and sacked it. Even tho he writes Jon that his ranked have swelled from a surge of recruits. And he adds in that surviors from the battle of winterfel are joining his ranks. People who would know first hand about Ramsey. Yet no one felt the need to tell Stannis.

He wants his bride back. He wants his Reek." Theon's laugh was half a titter, half a whimper. "Lord Ramsay is the one Your Grace should fear."

Stannis bristled at that. "I defeated your uncle Victarion and his Iron Fleet off Fair Isle, the first time your father crowned himself. I held Storm's End against the power of the Reach for a year, and took Dragonstone from the Targaryens. I smashed Mance Rayder at the Wall, though he had twenty times my numbers. Tell me, turncloak, what battles has the Bastard of Bolton ever won that I should fear him?"

The general idea is Manderly has a huge force of men hiding out in the wolfs wood. And that he has the support of the Umbers inside and outside of Winterfel. That The Umbers inside of Winterfel will revolt and open the gate from the inside to allow the Manderly force to take the castle and kill Bolton. I.E no Umber shall fight Umber. By Camping an Umber force right outside the walls will mean Bolton would not send the Umbers inside to fight. Because Umbers wont fight Umbers. Thus securing a force loyal to Manderly / Rickon guaranteed to be in WF at all times. That the hooded man is Robert Glover. Also that Mance is working loosely with the Manderly faction to rise tensions in Winterfel.

Some have pointed out that all of the questions that Umber asked FArya are questions associated with Osha.

He could have even been talking to the real Arya and the answer would have been "Osha who?", because Arya rode south to King's Landing long before Osha shows up near Winterfell

[Eat My Steel]

Got a link for that? I'm at the Citadel right now and I'm not seeing it.

I'm so sorry it wasn't on the Citadel as I thought it was. This was speculation from You Tube and I mis-remembered that I had read it there. However, the person who did the video makes a good case for the letter being written by Mance and here is a link for it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwcuRwod0Xg

[Pod The Impaler]

Jeyne Poole is kinda doomed since Rickon will easily recognize her and blow her cover up. Northmen aren't going to appreciate that one.

Maybe. Maybe not. He was 3 the last time he saw any family member but Bran and Robb.

[Trickrs]

Well all the die hard Stannis fans think he will survive this conflict, Stannis had 1500 men when he fought the Wildlings of which he lost 300 men mostly against the Giants. he left the injured and some other swords at the wall i guess around 200 men in total. So when he went to rally the Mountain Tribes he had 1000 loyalist with him. Stannis has to fight 2 battles against the Boltons and the Freys. He will definitely loose more of his loyalist men!!!!! So what do you expect from Northern Lords when the Bolton threat is all over will they really support Stannis????? They have faced huge losses in TWO5K, and in the current conflict they will loose more men. Then Winter is here and there is a big threat of The Others now so why would any sane Northern Lords go South and Play the Game of Thrones!!!!! They can simply say Thank You Lord Stannis we have our rightful Liege back Prince Rickon, Lord Stannis we will give you safe passage South to take your remaining host and the sellswords you get from Brovos. You are more than welcome to fight the Lannisters and Tyrells we will be glad to watch your Rear.

I though Stannis' plan was to defeat the Boltons and move to the Wall, not south.

[Eat My Steel]

Well all the die hard Stannis fans think he will survive this conflict, Stannis had 1500 men when he fought the Wildlings of which he lost 300 men mostly against the Giants. he left the injured and some other swords at the wall i guess around 200 men in total. So when he went to rally the Mountain Tribes he had 1000 loyalist with him. Stannis has to fight 2 battles against the Boltons and the Freys. He will definitely loose more of his loyalist men!!!!! So what do you expect from Northern Lords when the Bolton threat is all over will they really support Stannis????? They have faced huge losses in TWO5K, and in the current conflict they will loose more men. Then Winter is here and there is a big threat of The Others now so why would any sane Northern Lords go South and Play the Game of Thrones!!!!! They can simply say Thank You Lord Stannis we have our rightful Liege back Prince Rickon, Lord Stannis we will give you safe passage South to take your remaining host and the sellswords you get from Brovos. You are more than welcome to fight the Lannisters and Tyrells we will be glad to watch your Rear.

I am an ardent Stannis supporter, however I do not feel he will survive the books. I think he will win the North, and if Rickon comes back the North will not be satisfied to rest on their laurels and sit back. The North remembers. They will want security of some degree and will want vengence on the Lannisters for the Red Wedding as well, not just the Boltons and the Freys; afterall Jaime Lannister sent his regards! I think Stannis will win back the throne with the North's help (possibly by holding Rickon as collateral), albeit temporarily, and will subsequently be cooked by a dragon (my theory = Drogon/Dany [usurper's brother]). The visions he has seen looking into Mel's fire point to him being cooked at some point.

[Eat My Steel]

I would be incredibly disappointed in Manderly if he gave Davos enough room to do so. Most likely Davos is running the show, but Wyman has sent people to keep an eye on Davos.

I think Manderly's main concern is remaining loyal to the Starks and that he is intelligent enough to realize that the wishes of Stannis may, at some point, contradict the wishes of the Starks. Also, I agree that Davos is intelligent, but his judgment isn't infallible. He notices that his gaolers were being suspiciously accommodating but, he never takes that observance any further. He needs it spelled out for him before he realizes that he will not be executed.

ETA: I believe RIckon is going to be like the Torso of the Megazord. He is the central piece that all the other Stark related plans are going to adjust and attach themselves to (Jon may be the Green ranger in this analogy).

Let's not forget that Eddard Stark fully supported Stannis as King before Joffrey had his head snicked off. I always thought that the North + Stannis = Cersei dead, and that is still my prediction. Robb Stark erred greatly by declaring himself King of the North instead of joining forces with Stannis and bending the knee to him.

[Makrell]

What if Robb warged into Rickon?

I hope you have never made a post about any other topic :P Glorious.

Also i think rickon has arrived, but i dont know when.

Jeyne vs rickon will depend on theon, as rickon was so young when he left (6 i think) that he barely remembers. Jeyne knows though, and if she has been destroyed like reek she might believe the lie herself.

[Ice Queen]

Let's not forget that Eddard Stark fully supported Stannis as King before Joffrey had his head snicked off. I always thought that the North + Stannis = Cersei dead, and that is still my prediction. Robb Stark erred greatly by declaring himself King of the North instead of joining forces with Stannis and bending the knee to him.

And Robb would have had to bend the knee. Stannis was in no way going to accept an alliance with the King of an independent North--with him, it's all or nothing.

[Ice Queen]

I hope you have never made a post about any other topic :P Glorious.

Also i think rickon has arrived, but i dont know when.

Jeyne vs rickon will depend on theon, as rickon was so young when he left (6 i think) that he barely remembers. Jeyne knows though, and if she has been destroyed like reek she might believe the lie herself.

I think the whole North probably knows that Jeyne isn't really Arya, but there's not a lot they could do at the time. On the other hand, getting Roose back in the North under whatever pretext plays well if they really want to kill him. (And they do.)

There will be no doubt as to who Rickon is thanks to Shaggy, although Davos suspects it won't really matter. "He suspected the North would rise for either." If they'll rise for the Ned's daughter, they'll certainly rise for his son, who is now their liege lord.

[Ice Queen]

I'm so sorry it wasn't on the Citadel as I thought it was. This was speculation from You Tube and I mis-remembered that I had read it there. However, the person who did the video makes a good case for the letter being written by Mance and here is a link for it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwcuRwod0Xg

I've heard that theory several times and I'm not sure I buy it, although I won't say "no, it couldn't possibly be Mance". :) We're just going to have to wait and see!

[Eat My Steel]

And Robb would have had to bend the knee. Stannis was in no way going to accept an alliance with the King of an independent North--with him, it's all or nothing.

Stannis is the rightful king and heir to Robert Baratheon - Robb should have bent the knee to him, another of Robb's downfalls. To argue Stannis was not the rightful heir one would have to argue that Robert was not the rightful king. This is a valid argument, but where does that leave Ned Stark and his family?

[Ice Queen]

Stannis is the rightful king and heir to Robert Baratheon - Robb should have bent the knee to him, another of Robb's downfalls. To argue Stannis was not the rightful heir one would have to argue that Robert was not the rightful king. This is a valid argument, but where does that leave Ned Stark and his family?

Robb should have bent the knee, I agree, and I think he would have had he still just been the Lord of Winterfell. Stannis was the rightful king, but not a lot of people at the time actually believed that. To them, Joffrey was the rightful heir and they were ALL traitors--Ned, Renly, Stannis, Robb, the whole North.

The North was at this time a declared independent kingdom, which would kind of make negotiations a little hairy :D

[Mithras]

Manderly will keep his word and declare for Stannis.

Sansa will be quite uncontrollable for LF. Her claim will be trampled by Rickon's in every case.

The power balance at the Vale will be disturbed.

Stannis' cause might gather some followers in the South.

Freys will feel like the next target.

[Dolorous22]

It will give Stannis a much needed boost by securing White Harbor to his cause, and the true Northmen will rally around Rickon, and possibly Stannis by association, as it was his Hand that retrieved him for them.

I would love Shaggydog to rip Ramsay to shreds, too, unless Theon or Asha can somehow kill him instead.

THIS is what I want to happen.

[Mithras]

And storywise, the fleet of Manderly should do something and they cannot be used against the Others. Which means they will be used in the Game of Thrones and Stannis is the most likely person to have them.

[Hand to King Davos]

Manderly will keep his word and declare for Stannis.

Sansa will be quite uncontrollable for LF. Her claim will be trampled by Rickon's in every case.

The power balance at the Vale will be disturbed.

Stannis' cause might gather some followers in the South.

Freys will feel like the next target.

Basically all of this. Although I am not sure which of the Southron lords will turn to Stannis.

[Dolorous22]

What about throwing some more names in?

LS anyone? She's returned for revenge and the existence of her true born son may make her even more genocidal trying to get to him. She's going to want a piece of Frey pie with a side order of Bolton fries.
She may be rabid enough to turn on anyone who even goes near him. Oh and she probably hates Stannis for not allying his cause with hers.

As for Rickon returning I think it'll benefit anyone who isn't allied with Bolton.

Up until now, Rickon has been a 'loose end'. I find it difficult to believe that Varys and his little birds haven't already discovered him. There's definitely something 'fishy' going on.

Davos and Rickon are useful. Stannis is an annoyance to too many people in Westeros. My bet is that Stannis will never get to see his Onion Knight or Rickon ever again.