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[ADWD SPOILERS] A Ghost In Winterfell


Xray the Enforcer

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I didn't get the anagram but I got that Abel was Mance. I also suspected that he and the spearwives were the ones doing the killings. Love the infighting it causes!

I thoroughly enjoy the Theon chapters because of the complexity of his character and how this echoes Arya's thinking she was the ghost in Harrenhal. Having said that I still haven't forgiven him for what he did to the Starks. He's not like Jaime who did awful things to protect those he loved. Jaime never said he was the Stark's friend before he tried to kill Bran. Theon, by contrast, betrayed Robb and Winterfell for the most selfish and petty reasons - because Theon always wanted to be a Stark but they never completed treated him like one. He turned his cloak on Robb, who was a true friend to him, for that reason. What a schmuck.

And as for him being gelded, it's a sad thing to happen to anyone. However, considering how he treated that girl who was his mistress on the ship to Pike, he was never God's gift to women anyway. It's almost like by losing certain body parts he lost that selfish and petty part of himself. But that still doesn't excuse him to me. I pity him but I don't forgive him. The north remembers.

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Once again a brilliant Theon chapter. I love his story-arc, he's becoming my favorite character. Brans interaction with Theon through the weirtree is wonderful and very interesting, can't wait to see where Bran his story is going.

Only one questions crossed my mind during this chapter: who is the hooded man, any theories about this?

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Only one questions crossed my mind during this chapter: who is the hooded man, any theories about this?

The theory I subscribe to is that the "Hooded Man" is none other than Theon's reflection in the glass of the glass gardens. He is walking toward the glass gardens. Thus, his reflection is also "walking" toward him. He is simultaneously having a sort of conversation in his mind between, for lack of a better description, the man he used to be/wants to be again and the man he has become - Reek (sort of compartmentalized parts of his personality). I think Theon is sort of thinking about what that man he used to be or would like to be again would think of him now. That's why there are all the accusations and name calling about the things Theon regrets and is ashamed of. I think the "Ghost in Winterfell" and the "Hooded Man" are Theon himself.

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The theory I subscribe to is that the "Hooded Man" is none other than Theon's reflection in the glass of the glass gardens. He is walking toward the glass gardens. Thus, his reflection is also "walking" toward him. He is simultaneously having a sort of conversation in his mind between, for lack of a better description, the man he used to be/wants to be again and the man he has become - Reek (sort of compartmentalized parts of his personality). I think Theon is sort of thinking about what that man he used to be or would like to be again would think of him now. That's why there are all the accusations and name calling about the things Theon regrets and is ashamed of. I think the "Ghost in Winterfell" and the "Hooded Man" are Theon himself.

Wow, brilliant theory, seems acceptable and it is an excellent piece of writing.

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Wow, brilliant theory, seems acceptable and it is an excellent piece of writing.

Why, thank you, thank you! (buffs nails) :smug:

Oh! You meant Martin! :P I wholeheartedly agree! Theon's is yet another interesting character arc in which I suspect I'm not the only one who went from thinking he was ok to thinking he was a douchebag to hating him with the intensity of a thousand white-hot suns to fervently hoping he sticks a dagger or, better yet, a gray goose-feathered arrow right through Ramsay Bolton's left eye as soon as possible!

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I said it in another thread, but I'll say it again because it really works and applies to these chapters. What Theon is going through/went through with Ramsay is absolutely horrible, and no one deserves that kind of torture. But only through that kind of torture can the reader feel ANY sort of sympathy for him. It's only because of that torture that Theon gains fans back to his side. (well done, GRRM) I personally am not a huge Theon fan because of his betrayal to the Starks.

GRRM does a beautiful job writing Theon's chapters... They really are some of the best written chapters in the entire series. The fact that I actually, physically cringe when I read some of the things in his chapters speaks for itself.

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I was just wondering: the "Hooded Man" called Theon "Kinslayer," but I don't remember Theon killing anyone of his own blood. Does that mean Theon regards the Starks (Bran and Rickon), well, close as kin? Or am I forgetting something..?

Yes, kind of. Because he lived with them for so long, people started associating him with the Starks. He was in a sort of "brother from another mother" type situation. Theon states a few times though that "I didn't kill any of my kin." Which he didn't... but everyone else is of the opinion that the Stark boys were as good as kin to Theon.

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But the trees have no concept of time, that could have been Bran talking to all those people in the past, even himself.

Exactly. Knowing that Martin was a fan of LOST, I'm very sure that the concept of "time travel" (if you want to call it that way) is that "whatever happened, happened", i.e. the past cannot be changed because it already happened. This is also very much confirmed by the fact that we see Bran talking in this chapter (he also whispers to Theon 2 chapters before at the godswood). If Bran would be able to change something, he would be in a different timeline and thus throughout the ASOIAF-books we would never see his actions from another POV as there would be 2 parallel timelines. But we saw him contact Theon which means this happened in our timeline. Maybe even years or centuries from now - hence Theon saying that the tree's eyes look "red and wise and sad", this could very well be a hint that this is a much different Bran, older (red eyes?) and wiser.

I know this sounds complicated but it's really simple actually. I'm 99,99% sure that this chapter confirms that Bran can't change the past. He will affect people in a time which will be the past from where we stand (for him it will be the present). But whatever he will do in the past - for us (and the other POVs) it already happened.

This opens up a lot of possibilities. E.g. he could be the reason for a lot of historical events - of course limited by his warging power. The trees are a "window to the past" (they remember). But also do animals, which he can control. So there's active and passive warging and considering how much organic life is in Westeros he can become very powerful. I mean if he can warg into trees I don't consider it a big stretch to let him warg into hills (into the soil, grass, trees at once) etc. with enough training.

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I loved the repetition of "Theon Greyjoy" really hitting it home that Theon is regaining his identity. I think that this is perhaps because he is back at winterfell, that he's able to do this. It's healing for him because it forces him to confront what he did, which confronts his identity.

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Theon states a few times though that "I didn't kill any of my kin." Which he didn't... but everyone else is of the opinion that the Stark boys were as good as kin to Theon.

He also didn't kill any Starks so he could still consider them kin too. Later in the chapter when he sees Bran's face on the weirwood he talks about how fond of him he always was and breaks down about how he never hurt him or Rickon.

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I just read this chapter a few hours ago. I thought something big was going to happen in this chapter but nothing really happened. For some reason I thought either Stannis's army was going to storm Winterfell, or the Manderlys were going to turn on the Boltons or Freys.

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