Reek

[YOVMO]

8 hours ago, Eden-Mackenzie said:

Qyburn first met Roose at Harrenhal, he had been with the Bloody Mummers since his expulsion from the Citadel,

I would love to read an account on a recently unchained Qyburn meeting up with and joining the Bloody Mummers and some of his early "adventures" with them.

[Ser Joe of Generic Hall]

On 6/21/2016 at 8:20 AM, Eden-Mackenzie said:

The rest of the Boltons meaning Roose and Ramsay?

All Boltons, since their foundation. The sigil of House Bolton is a flayed man. Isn't it a Westerosi historical fact that Boltons once flayed their enemies and were vehemently opposed to Starks? By all accounts, the Boltons keep a secret chamber akin to the Stark crypts that displays the flayed skins of their enemies. Domeric's persona sounds more like Lyanna Stark, even almost like Rhaegar, than a true Bolton. Reek almost rhymes with Domeric (close, but no cigar). Certainly if a bully is degrading somebody he would strive to make it work. 

I rechecked information about Qyburn and admit I made a post hoc fallacy. However, I don't think it is coincidence that Roose takes him under his employ. Boltons are notorious for their practice in dark arts.  And Reek was often said to sleep with corpses. While this in itself doesn't make him undead, it is an indicator that he's different. Is there any reason why GRRM felt it necessary for us to know that Reek was a necrophiliac? If Reek bathes three times daily and still smells abhorrent, why bother telling us that he bathes at all? This information would otherwise be superfluous and irrelevant unless it is meant to indicate something sinister.

Domeric himself seems largely superfluous to the story other than making the reader understand the inheritance situation of Ramsay as the "Bastard of Bolton." However, GRRM could just as easily have said that Roose simply had no trueborn heir. Why even bother writing Domeric into the story? This is all theory, but I believe it is plausible. 

[gregg22]

On 6/21/2016 at 8:20 AM, Eden-Mackenzie said:

Reek, reek it rhymes with ... Domeric? No. But Ramsay as Reek tells Theon his given name is Heke, which does rhyme with Reek. Theon never showed a propensity for rhyming prior to his becoming Reek, but rather "the Reek, reek it rhymes with sneak/weak/meek" sounds like childhood taunting, which easily could have started as "Heke, Heke it rhymes with reek." As delightful an adult Ramsay is, I can only imagine he was just super considerate and compassionate as a boy.

So where is this reference to Heke? I have searched pretty thoroughly and can't find it mentioned in the text.

I saw it is on the wiki though

[Eden-Mackenzie]

1 hour ago, gregg22 said:

So where is this reference to Heke? I have searched pretty thoroughly and can't find it mentioned in the text.

I saw it is on the wiki though

When Theon takes Winterfell, the Ironmen collect everyone in the Great Hall, including the prisoner Reek, who we now know to be Ramsay in disguise. 

"...He says they call him Reek."

"Can't think why," Theon said, smiling. "Do you always smell so bad, or did you just finish fucking a pig?"

"Haven't fucked no one since they took me, m'lord. Heke's me true name..."

ACOK 46, Bran

So we do have to take Ramsay's word for it, but it's there. 

1 hour ago, Ser Joe of Generic Hall said:

All Boltons, since their foundation. The sigil of House Bolton is a flayed man. Isn't it a Westerosi historical fact that Boltons once flayed their enemies and were vehemently opposed to Starks? By all accounts, the Boltons keep a secret chamber akin to the Stark crypts that displays the flayed skins of their enemies. Domeric's persona sounds more like Lyanna Stark, even almost like Rhaegar, than a true Bolton. Reek almost rhymes with Domeric (close, but no cigar). Certainly if a bully is degrading somebody he would strive to make it work. 

I rechecked information about Qyburn and admit I made a post hoc fallacy. However, I don't think it is coincidence that Roose takes him under his employ. Boltons are notorious for their practice in dark arts.  And Reek was often said to sleep with corpses. While this in itself doesn't make him undead, it is an indicator that he's different. Is there any reason why GRRM felt it necessary for us to know that Reek was a necrophiliac? If Reek bathes three times daily and still smells abhorrent, why bother telling us that he bathes at all? This information would otherwise be superfluous and irrelevant unless it is meant to indicate something sinister.

Domeric himself seems largely superfluous to the story other than making the reader understand the inheritance situation of Ramsay as the "Bastard of Bolton." However, GRRM could just as easily have said that Roose simply had no trueborn heir. Why even bother writing Domeric into the story? This is all theory, but I believe it is plausible. 

You're right, it's no coincidence at all. The maester of Harrenhal was executed for trying to send ravens when the Northmen took the castle. Roose likes to be leeched, believing it to extend his life by removing the bad blood. Maesters do the leeching, but the maester is dead. Oh look, conveniently there is a failed maester here. 

In short, it is called world building. Roose tells Theon he is not entirely sure if Ramsay corrupted Reek, or Reek Ramsay. The necrophilia supports his claim. The persistent odor even after bathing, the attempts to remove the odor by drinking perfume are also world building. If we were not told Reek's smell was permanent and unchangeable, we would all be wondering "but why does Reek smell, what does it mean?"  Reek and Ramsay like sinister things, Reek and Ramsay do sinister things, because Reek and Ramsay are sinister things. Human things, but things all the same. 

Domeric serves several purposes. He once again illustrates just what a sick, twisted fuck Ramsay is. He explains why Roose has no legitimate heir, because there is no reason why a man of Roose's age, who has been lord as long as he has, would not be married and having babies every year if he had no heir. By having only recently lost his heir, Roose is available to marry a Frey, which he did of his own accord, before Ramsay was legitimized, a marriage which served him well later on, and much better than a marriage to some random Northern woman would have, had he always been heirless. Domeric's death gives Barbrey Dustin a reason to hate Ramsay, which gives Roose a reason to be distrustful of Barbrey. Domeric also shows yet again that not all members of a family have to embody all traditional characteristics of a family. 

 

[Ser Joe of Generic Hall]

20 minutes ago, Eden-Mackenzie said:

You're right, it's no coincidence at all. The maester of Harrenhal was executed for trying to send ravens when the Northmen took the castle. Roose likes to be leeched, believing it to extend his life by removing the bad blood. Maesters do the leeching, but the maester is dead. Oh look, conveniently there is a failed maester here. 

In short, it is called world building. Roose tells Theon he is not entirely sure if Ramsay corrupted Reek, or Reek Ramsay. The necrophilia supports his claim. The persistent odor even after bathing, the attempts to remove the odor by drinking perfume are also world building. If we were not told Reek's smell was permanent and unchangeable, we would all be wondering "but why does Reek smell, what does it mean?"  Reek and Ramsay like sinister things, Reek and Ramsay do sinister things, because Reek and Ramsay are sinister things. Human things, but things all the same. 

Domeric serves several purposes. He once again illustrates just what a sick, twisted fuck Ramsay is. He explains why Roose has no legitimate heir, because there is no reason why a man of Roose's age, who has been lord as long as he has, would not be married and having babies every year if he had no heir. By having only recently lost his heir, Roose is available to marry a Frey, which he did of his own accord, before Ramsay was legitimized, a marriage which served him well later on, and much better than a marriage to some random Northern woman would have, had he always been heirless. Domeric's death gives Barbrey Dustin a reason to hate Ramsay, which gives Roose a reason to be distrustful of Barbrey. Domeric also shows yet again that not all members of a family have to embody all traditional characteristics of a family. 

A failed maester who practices necromancy. Whoa, that's right up House Bolton's alley!

Wouldn't drinking perfume kill you? It would certainly make you very ill ... or even cause a "sickness of the bowels?"

If Ramsay is sick enough to kill his only brother, then is Ramsay sick enough to keep him "alive" as a zombie and torture him after he is already dead? 

 

[Ser Joe of Generic Hall]

On 6/21/2016 at 4:03 AM, GoWesteros said:

However if Domeric was one of Qyburn's experiments and was 'dead' therefor smelling, then wouldn't we get that with Ser Robert Strong?

I was thinking the same thing.  I don't believe there is any mention of this. Not too many people have seen or commented on Gregor's new guise, so we will have to wait and see smell.

[Eden-Mackenzie]

2 hours ago, Ser Joe of Generic Hall said:

A failed maester who practices necromancy. Whoa, that's right up House Bolton's alley!

Wouldn't drinking perfume kill you? It would certainly make you very ill ... or even cause a "sickness of the bowels?"

If Ramsay is sick enough to kill his only brother, then is Ramsay sick enough to keep him "alive" as a zombie and torture him after he is already dead? 

 

And yet, rather than stay with the Boltons and necromance his way around the North, Qyburn heads for King's Landing, without visiting the Dreadfort or its chamber of horrors and without meeting Ramsay. 

Roose tells us it made Reek sick, it almost killed him. 

Ramsay delights in causing fear and pain. He hunts, rapes, flays, and murders his victims, not always in that order. Those he flays alive are forced to beg him to end their suffering. Reanimated bodies feel no physical pain and have nothing to fear. There would be no fun in it for Ramsay, and he does not seem to have an inquiring and scientific mind that would compel him to try it to see what would happen.