[Book Spoiler] The Reeds

[Francis Buck]

Also as I said before, the Reeds don't really clutter things the way other characters might (Brave Companions, Tullys, etc.). Literally every single Reed scene would also be a Bran scene. They never interact with anyone else in the series. So it's not like they're going to need to cut back and forth to them all the time.

And cutting Coldhands is just plain silly, much for the same reason.

[catstory]

This might sound crazy...but it's my first post so hear me out. Did anyone think that in the last camera shot in the scene where Bran sent two orphan boys off with the farmer the camera spent a slightly suspicious amount of time on a hooded figure at the back of the hall? Meera Reed or Ramsay Snow... or my imagination/hope as I was expecting the Reeds to appear?

Right, so those would be the boys perhaps that get killed in place of Bran and Rickon? Or were the boys too old? I can't remember. That would make sense so they are not totally new when they are introduced, and also that Reek would know about them. The killing of the farmer boys has to happen for Kat and Rob and everyone else to believe that all the heirs are dead.

[House Snow]

All I saw was what looked to me like a guard wearing a helmet. There did seem like there may be someone in the center back of the room but I couldn't really make it out.

[Ser Giant]

I dunno, seems weird that reek would be allowed to gross people out in the Winterfell accepting hall(or whatever it's called), but I hope it is anyways!

[_Oberyn_]

Will anyone stop watching so you can get the full ending of the series in the books?

That goes without saying, learning the ending from the show would be the equivalent of chosing to f**k p the page 3 of the newspaper over the real girl :lol:

I hate when people say so and so isn't important or so and so has nothing to do with the overall storyline (like theon in dance for example).

Martin himself has said there is no main character nor is there a main storyline. The song of ice and fire is all of these people woven together... The reeds are important not just because of the info they give him on the past... But they have a Reason to be brans companions and the are closer to being his contemporaries... And of course Howland Reed is going to show up. In Portugal last week GRRM said he hadn't decided if Howland will appear in book 6 or 7 but he will definitely appear

It's like the people who say reek isn't important... All he did was fake bran and rickons death, burn winterfell, capture theon, kill ser Roderick and Cerwyn, kill Maester luwin... But yea he's not important and they should give his role to someone else... It completely changes the dynamic of the story to have some random iron born do all of those things

I understand that not everything can fit into the show... But they shouldn't be dismissed as unimportant. I can understand the reeds being cut- I'm not really a big fan of theirs- but cutting ramsay from this season really pisses me off tbh

Just ignore it mate, during the weeks the show is on you get a lot of people who glanced at the books after season 1 giving their opinion over things they dont realy understand. Dont take it too seriously for the moment.

[Reposado]

don't mind losing the reeds for the show. as long as they've given osha jojen's knowledge of greenseer stuff. the problem is what happens to rickon as osha kinda needs to stick with bran now

[ckongo]

I was thinking maybe Osha, Hodor, Bran, and Rickon would head north. Osha is asking all the pesky questions Jojen was so she will probably be going with Bran.

Bran's story this season has been terrible. No Walder Freys, no feast at Winterfell, no Lady Hornwood and the bastard of Bolton, and no Reeds (worst of all).

[Ingólfr]

I’m cautiously optimistic that they’ll show up in S3, mostly because as others have mentioned, Jojen’s prophetic dreams would allow the Reeds to intercept Bran literally anywhere in the world if they wanted to. And Reek/Ramsey can easily be thrown in later with a slight rewrite as well.

My optimism stems from thinking about budget management: this season is ridiculously expensive what with blackwater and other massively SFX heavy scenes, plus the introduction of a ton of new characters to an already large cast right from the start.

However, as we all know, that cast is going to be getting smaller. I feel like in the case of Bran’s PoV, as characters are removed, they will leave open spots for the Reeds and Reek/Ramsey to fill. As the next season will also be less SFX heavy (IIRC) they’ll also have more money to spend on the extra actors/other stuff.

My theory is that they plan to rotate the characters somewhat, and they’re just postponing the introductions of certain characters until a spot if vacated. Since people are ALWAYS dying and leaving open spots, I’m still holding out hope for them to arrive at some point. It’s conceivable if not almost guaranteed that they’ll wrap up the winterfell thing this season, and if they follow the book, that’s a fair amount of actors leaving the show at once.

(Also, made an account just to post this, so, Hi!)

[Terminated]

I see absolutely no point in casting the Reeds:

- Osha knows about the three eyed crow, and will be Bran's mentor for all mystical weirdness

- She can bring Bran and Rickon together up to the wall, meet Coldhands, leave Bran with him and resume Rickon's line for ADWD

I will not miss the Reed I found Jojen one of the less believable characters in the book.

As for potentially breaking the link with an hypothetical Howland R+L=J revelator, there are so many ways around it for both the upcoming novels or the TV show (Rhllor visions, Dany's visions, Bran's visions, Benjen still alive and knowing about it, Jon somehow learning he has Targ blood and making the connection, any person knowing about Lyanna's story and realizing Jon has the perfect age to match it, any combination of these, and I'm sure can find more if needed...) that it's not an issue to me.

[Ser Loudmouth]

- Osha knows about the three eyed crow, and will be Bran's mentor for all mystical weirdness

- She can bring Bran and Rickon together up to the wall, meet Coldhands, leave Bran with him and resume Rickon's line for ADWD

Well in the book she doesn't know, and more important, she deos not have any "powers". My impression is that the wildlings do not know about greensight and that there aren't any trained greenseers north of the wall outside of the Children of the Fores. We certainly don't see any in Mance's camp. In contrast, house Reed does have trained greenseers, since they keep contact with the CotF (see Howland's visit to the island of Faces) so Jojen is no exception.

Allso, Osha is very afraid of going back north of the wall, whereas Jojen isn't.

[madman2711]

come on jojen and meera are bran's companions they must be in

we can addapt it and maybe just put one reed that is a mix af both of them but no reed is plain awful

cut some of the LF whores for some Reeds or at least put some newsflash like the reeds are on the way to winterfell

did peter jackson cut samwell and sent pippin to mordor with frodo? i think not

[Tomer]

I've started to accept that the Reeds will be cut prolly, even though I'd miss Jojen- but Ramsay simply cannot be cut. Also, Cillian Murphy is the PERFECT actor for him!

[Ser Desmond Wine's Bane]

Hi all - been lurking for a while and just started posting.

I like Meera and Jojen purely for the fact that I am invested in Bran's story arc. I think most fans can remember 'that' point in the book where they became hooked, and for me it was in the middle Brans POV chapter talking about his climbing all over the castle. I was deeply hooked long before he fell. As a result I really wanted to see Meera and Jojen appear... BUT ... I fully recognise the arguments above about the relevance of those characters. Its perfectly apparent that the role of Bran's guide can be carried out by one person in the TV series and I can even accept that Osha be that person (as long as Rickon's journey is handled suitably).

The thing is, I have wondered for some months whether the Reeds would be left out entirely, rather than be pushed out to S3.

The thing the pointed me this way is the map included with the Blue-ray of Season 1. Greywater Watch is completely absent.

Another possible hint is in S2E15 where Renly says to Catelyn "Robb may hold title to all lands north of Moat Cailin." Surely if the Reeds were to be in some way important, then he would have recognised Robb's Lordship over The Neck and therefore Greywater Watch.

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I hope Meera and Jojen, or a combined character, appear in S3, but I fear it won't happen.

[Lord of Brewtown]

Yes, there's no reason the Reeds can't be waiting for Bran after the fall of Winterfell, since Jojen has prophectic powers.

That being said, I hope they don't because Jojen Reed is one of my top-three least favorite characters in the entire series.

Then you are probably not going to like how the series ends: when Bran thwarts Dany's invasion, and rewards Jojen for his loyalty/service by giving him Dany to serve in his harem

[Ingólfr]

Another possible hint is in S2E15 where Renly says to Catelyn "Robb may hold title to all lands north of Moat Cailin." Surely if the Reeds were to be in some way important, then he would have recognised Robb's Lordship over The Neck and therefore Greywater Watch.

I wouldn’t read too much into that, as that just screams of minor error. The Iron Islands are south-west of Moat Cailin, but they’re still part of the North last I checked. ^{(Narrative Explanation: Would anyone be shocked if Renley was bad at Geography?)}

As far as not being on the Map, that could mean everything or nothing¹. We could analyze every minute detail to death and back, reading volumes into prop placement if we tried hard enough; I’m sure someone could probably find a reason why Renly‘s facial hair proves the Reeds will or will not appear.

For the moment, we just don’t know what will happen. There is certainly every possibility the Reeds will show up in S3, and there’s every chance they won’t. Personally I really hope they will pop up, as I was growing quite fond of Meera, but at this point, there’s really no telling what the writers have planned for us.

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¹ Isn't Greywater Watch supposed to move? It’d be rather hard to pinpoint that on a map...

[Ser Desmond Wine's Bane]

¹ Isn't Greywater Watch supposed to move? It’d be rather hard to pinpoint that on a map...

I'll take that point on board and live in hope.

[jugdesh258]

The rumor that I've seen on the internet so far is that they are replacing the Reeds with Osha because the actress has a large fan base. Personally I don't see what the big deal is with Natalia Teena. To me she looks like a poor man's Helena Bonham Carter (and I didn't particularly liked that one either)

Me, I liked the Reeds, and the two little Frey children too, they spiced up Bran's storyline, and I'm sad that they have been cut.

While I think the writers might be invested in the character and would rather not have her dissappear for a number of episodes, I surely hope that they could care less about focus group and fan base. Hard to believe that GRRM would involve himself in anything like spagetti storyline line Lost. With his books you can't just suddenly decide everyone is a cylon!!

My feeling would be that serires will definately be cancelled before the book story can unfold in that messy scenario

[jugdesh258]

It's obvious that Rickon Stark is going to become an important figurehead in TWoW and ADoS. Bran is not going to become important on the political field. He is on his way to become a tree.

we discussed briefly in the similar thread from last week. I think this is why the Meera Character is important. Bran dreams of a life with Meera eating frogs but has to deal with sacrifice to live on in agony forever merged with the Tree to save all of humanity.. Kind of like the God Emperor

[Jennelyn]

I really can't see anyone but Osha taking Rickon to Skaagos. (Why on earth would Maester Luwin?) Since we don't know how important Rickon going to Skaagos is, we can't really speculate on whether or not he'll go there in the show. We also don't really know how important it is for the boys to be separated since that plot line hasn't been reconciled in the books yet. I could see Rickon being hidden at White Harbor, so maybe that's what will happen. Or perhaps Osha takes Bran to the 3 eyed crow, leaves him there, and proceeds on with Rickon to Skaagos. Since the writers are able to speak with GRRM about major future plot points, I'm sure they'll figure something out that makes sense. I'm not convinced that the Reeds won't appear in the next season, but if they don't, I'm sure something will be done that won't compromise the end of the story. I doubt they are just planning to end it with ASOS. Of course they have no guarantees of being able to finish the series to completion, but they've got to stay optimistic, I'm sure.

[Hyper]

I think the Reeds will appear in some form next season. Why? Because otherwise there is virtually NO story material for the Bran plot-line to work with for the next two years. (Bran's Journey in ASOS is basically a forest trek from Winterfell to the Wall)

They could easily have Bran & Co run into the Reeds next year, hide out with them while Bran is educated more, and then continue towards the wall in season 4.

Another option would be to simply accelerate Bran's journey in the show. He really does not interact with any other characters (other than a short meeting with Sam), so he could reach his 'tree state' earlier in the show, which would allow them to cut back on Bran appearances. (Just make the occasional guest appearance as needed)