[DwD Spoilers]Who will be the Lord of Winterfell?

[Lord Damian]

IF and I do mean "if", Jeyne Westerling is pregnant and somehow escapes or has already escaped, then her child by right whether it is a boy or a girl is the rightful heir to Winterfell. This followed by Bran, Rickon then Sansa and Arya. Stannis had no legit right to offer Jon anything with Winterfel. Also, on the subject of Jon, if he is Rheagar's son by Lyanna or whoever else and it was in proper ceremony, then he has the best proven claim to the Iron Throne, even over Dany. Aegon, if he is real (I doubt it) is the true heir but it appears to many that he is the "mummer's dragon", an imposter.

[Dragons Dancing]

The Children built him another weirwood throne. Bran's role as a moving guy are done. He might overtake a few people out there an live their lives, possibly beginning with the ranger Coldhands guy and Hodor, but I very much doubt he is ever going to leave that cave again. Winter has come, after all, and he would die long before he even reached the Wall.

He has a weirwood throne so that he can use the weirwood to "see" and likely to improve communication with Bloodraven. I agree that he will likely not leave the cave in the near future, but I do not believe that he will never leave the cave. I think that in the end he will have choices and one will be to return to Winterfell in his own body.

IMO there would not be as much discussion about whether he can leave or not if it wasn't for his legs.

[inkasrain]

IF and I do mean "if", Jeyne Westerling is pregnant and somehow escapes or has already escaped, then her child by right whether it is a boy or a girl is the rightful heir to Winterfell.

Were the Boltons formally given Winterfell by the Iron Throne? Because if not, Ramsay would only be lord of Winterfell via his marriage to "Arya", and as Arya is Jeyne, a child of theirs wouldn't be heirs to anything. If Ramsay is formally lord in his own right, then the kid kind of does have a real claim, and the situation gets... even more complicated than it currently is.

I really do hope Jeyne isn't pregnant. Let the poor girl put this behind her, for pete's sake.

ETA: Because one Jeyne is not another Jeyne...

[KingK]

Were the Boltons formally given Winterfell by the Iron Throne? Because if not, Ramsay would only be lord of Winterfell via his marriage to "Arya", and as Arya is Jeyne, a child of theirs wouldn't be heirs to anything. If Ramsay is formally lord in his own right, then the kid kind of does have a real claim, and the situation gets... even more complicated than it currently is.

I really do hope Jeyne isn't pregnant. Let the poor girl put this behind her, for pete's sake.

I think you're confusing Jeyne Westerling (Robb's wife) with Jeyne Poole (steward's daughter and fake Arya). He's saying that if Jeyne Westerling were pregnant with Robb's child, that child would be heir.

[Mark Antony]

Rickon imo its why he is even in the story

[inkasrain]

I think you're confusing Jeyne Westerling (Robb's wife) with Jeyne Poole (steward's daughter and fake Arya). He's saying that if Jeyne Westerling were pregnant with Robb's child, that child would be heir.

Oh yes. I am. Never mind, then! :blush:

[The Human Abstract]

The next Lord Pro Tem of Winterfell would have been Mance Raydar, but for some unforseen events.

You see, he and Jon made a secret pact when the two parted ways. After Mance safely extracted "Arya", he would serve up a letter of sorts that Jon would then use to rile up Mance's old host, travel South, and crush Winterfell, while the Boltons were somewhat ... er.. "distracted".

He would then bequeath Winterfell to him for the time being.. while other plans were hatched.

Oh, have I said too much?

[LordManderBlee]

well there are five stark kids (Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, Rickon) plus jon, right? Robb is dead and his wife was given contraceptives daily by her mother so we can probably safely assume he's out of the picture. Bran's next, but I think he's probably going to stay beyond the wall, and if not then there's no debate because he will be lord, so let's stick with the bran is a tree theory and give him 10, 20 percent or so. Rickon's next, I'd give him a 50 or 60 percent shot at it. He's the heir, he will have some northern support, you can't deny his claim (cause of Shaggydog), and he's had pretty solid survival luck so far. Sansa's next in line, her only real shot is if Rickon is totally nuts because of his crazy upbringing or if he gets murdered or if he becomes king, all of which are plausible. She might have trouble proving her claim, her backer is Littlefinger after all and she doesn't have a wolf any more, but she would (maybe) have the Vale behind her. Let's give her a 20 percent shot at Winterfell. That leaves Arya, highly unlikely as she is in Essos, has become an assassin, doesn't really want it, would have to kill or outlive every sibling, reunite with wolf, and find an army. Let's lump her together with UnRobb and his nonexistent baby with a 5 shot. All that leaves is Jon and he's unlikely because a) he might not even be one of Ned's kids, B) he's either a bastard, or he's been legitimized in which case he is the king, not the lord of winterfell, c) dead, or d) he's still part of the night's watch. Let's give him 5 percent just to be nice. That's everybody isn't it? The boltons have no real claim, because jeyne poole is not arya, and nobody else even pretends to have one. It could all get burned down though, you never know

Note: for some reason my attempt to say option b turned into a smiley face wearing sunglasses, ah well

[Ser_Not_Appearing_In_This_Book]

Hmm .. who was it in ADWD that said Ned knocked someone else up ..? Maybe another bastard pops up

[Sansouci]

Theon may still be around to confirm that Bran and Rickon were not murdered.

I think Rickon Also. Sansa possibly, but im not sold. Rickon is gone this entire time, and will return as the lost Son. However, I am unsure how this will be proven.

[Mnemonicer]

Let's do this in proper order, yah?

1. Robb is dead. I find it extraordinarily unlikely that his queen is pregnant and, if she is, that's another child that will be killed by someone to prevent his/her claim to the North.

2. Bran is a tree. Or becoming a tree. Either way, he's not coming back, in my opinion.

3. Rickon is the likeliest candidate at this point. Put it this way: If not to become Lord of Winterfell, then what is his purpose in the story? Why do Ned and Cat have 5 kids (3 boys) and not 4 (2)? Yes, he's currently wild at this point, but the future of the North is going to be as a commingled land of wildlings and kneelers. His experience with Osha may in fact be beneficial towards ruling. Also, GRRM has had an unbroken line of Starks for how many years? Rickon's presence as the heir's spare's spare ensures the continuance of the dynasty.

4. Sansa is female and her claim makes her no better than fourth (possibly fifth if you honor Jon Snow's legitimization). I would not be surprised if she did marry Harry the Heir and bring the Vale into events finally. It's been a relative bystander so far and GRRM has continually acted to bring each separate realm further into events as the series goes on (Ex. A-Dorne).

5. Arya is a Faceless Man. She's also been missing for quite some time and everyone who knows her, for the most part, is deader than a doornail. Also, she'd have to marry and bear heirs. Not completely out of the question, but this is ARYA. Highly unlikely.

Jon Snow is either 4 on this list (trueborn sons trumping natural) or a nonstarter. There's three options, in my mind for him (each assuming he is not, in fact, dead):

A. Revival and LC of Nights Watch for rest of his (second) life.

B. Revival so that he can become a great big sacrifice in the War against the Others (or whatever the singers will call it). I've been convinced for quite some time, that both Dany and Jon are sacrificial lambs whose sole purpose as plot devices is not to rule, but to be saviors and martyrs. GRRM has said he is fond of the bittersweet ending. Also, neither Jon nor Dany seem to be very good at actually ruling when they did finally ascend to power. I wonder if that's an indicator that they are not actually intended to inherit.

C. Revival and the Night's Watch is training wheels for a bigger sandbox to lord over (i.e. All Hail King Jon, first of his name, yadda yadda yadda, you add all the titles). To a certain extent, I see the same thing for Dany and Meereen. And that's both characters are being thrown into situations of power in locales that may not, ultimately be their final seats. And they're learnign painful lessons of leadership in places that aren't necessarily going to matter long run (I think the current incarnation of the NW is completely over, but that's another debate for another thread). Therefore, any mistakes they make aren't ones that are going to break the true "prize": The Seven Kingdoms. IF JS is intended for a bigger sandbox, then he cannot rule Winterfell and it falls to Rickon/Sansa/Arya.

[King_In_The_North]

No love for UnRobb?

[fassreiter]

Silly theory, I know, but as I am busy looking for ways to get Mance Rayder back into the story (without him being personally absent for 11 years of book writing, being someone else or being constantly threatened by death/torture/torturous death/death by torture):

Did anyone noticed the bearded queen uttering the notion Mance Rayder had a brother of the Night's Watch for a father? I had never heard of that before. Might be, all that Rose of Winterfell-talk from Ygritte and Mance himself was more important, symbolically or as foreshadowing? Mance could be a Snow himself in truth, weren't there some more Starks on the Wall in older times?

So Mance's son could end up as Lord of Winterfell and unite the North and the Free Folk. Otherwise that whole wildling babe story would be going nowhere, and this could also be the reason why Mance was reluctant to kill Jon the traitor in his camp. As I would have. And why should the spearwives be that angry about Theon's supposed kinslaying?

Yeah, I know it's BS, I think it will be Rickon or Sansa, but it would be great, right?

[littlebird_]

Rickon most probably, if not why even create the character

[A Maidens Fantasy]

Rickon also gets my vote. Bran is destined to become a tree. I know it is not as sexy as becoming a dragon rider, but IMO GRRM has prepared us for it by making him paralyzed. And I don't want him to warg into Hodor or any other people and live his life like that (even though I must admit I chuckled at the fight scene with the wights ;-), because warging into people is evil. Even varamyr knew that!

[Amae Koromo]

Rickon, I think.

Bran is a tree.

Sansa will end up either Queen (if Aegon marries her and wins, something unlikely) or Lady of some other place (be it the Eyre - Sweetrobin/Harry, Casterly Rock - Tyrion or Highgarden - Willas).

I think it is unlikely that Arya will be the next Lady of Winterfell as well. But she may rise up if she marries that bastard of Robert and he is able to inherit something.

Jon will be too busy being a zombie.

[Kaitscralt]

No love for UnRobb?

I have love for Robbwind but after ADWD passed with no Stoneheart action I fear his body may be too decomposed to stand up even if she found him.

[border9v]

Did anyone noticed the bearded queen uttering the notion Mance Rayder had a brother of the Night's Watch for a father? I had never heard of that before. Might be, all that Rose of Winterfell-talk from Ygritte and Mance himself was more important, symbolically or as foreshadowing? Mance could be a Snow himself in truth, weren't there some more Starks on the Wall in older times?

So Mance's son could end up as Lord of Winterfell and unite the North and the Free Folk. Otherwise that whole wildling babe story would be going nowhere, and this could also be the reason why Mance was reluctant to kill Jon the traitor in his camp. As I would have. And why should the spearwives be that angry about Theon's supposed kinslaying?

Yeah, I know it's BS, I think it will be Rickon or Sansa, but it would be great, right?

[ceeLAH REX]

I think Bran will end up being lord of winterfell for a time .. He will rebuild the castle with bricks and magic (like Brandon Builder) and he will rebuild the stark family ..then after many years of rule he will relinquish his title to who ever is next in line and leave. He'll probably go live in the Weirwood tree in the godswood at winterfell(in the same manner as bloodraven) .. He'll protect winterfell while waiting to train the next great greenseer .. Rickon might end up being the next mance rayder lol .. Hope I didn't sound too much like an idiot

[joannalannister]

I think it's Arya. I think it's been foreshadowed since the first book. Assuming Jon is Lyanna's son, Arya is the only living child of ned's who really looks like a Stark, and knows what it means to be a Stark.

Rickon last saw his father when he was, what, three? He doesn't know what it means to be a Stark. He wasn't trained in lordship. All he has is bloodthirsty rage. He's going to be killed.

Bran's a tree, he's not coming back.

I don't think Sansa is getting Winterfell. She's not really been a Stark since she lost her wolf. In GoT, when Ned is in Catelyn's bedchamber, he throws the windows open and embraces the cold. In contrast, on Sansa's wedding night, there's a cool breeze and she shivered, meaning she's not a Stark. I've always felt that the Starks have a resistance to cold the way Dany has a resistance to fire.

So, I think it's Arya, or the Stark line is done.