Who will win the battle of Winterfell?

[AerionBrightflameII]

I think the Boltons will win this round.

[the tower of albion]

Stannis  wins but heroically falls in the process. A pathetic death in the tv show - a heroic one in the books. I would like to think the Norths forces loyal to the Starks find them selves augmented with the surprise appearance of the Vale.

[AngeL0L]

Stannis is the Night's King. He will win the battle of Winterfell. In the show Whitewalkers with the dead army of Stannis will later take Winterfell.

[sweetsunray]

Stannis wins the Battle of Ice (Freys are out, acquires baggage train), pretends to be dead, lures out Dustins to defend Barrowton from what seems to be an IB raid, lures out Boltons to recapture Dreadfort from IB/wildling, captures WF (more food), marches after Boltons with forced marches and smashes Boltons against the walls of the Dreadfort (most food). Game over for Boltons. However, Stannis will have to content with going South, with Others on his heels and Walder Frey as Lord of the Crossing. That was way too complicated for the show, would take too many episodes, so they cut into that plot extensively.

[redeagl]

Stannis will die.  :frown5:  :frown5:  :bawl:  :crying:  :frown5:  :bawl:  :crying:

[bemused]

Stannis wins his battle , only to find Winterfell already in the possession of the northern lords,led by Benjen Stark, holding it for the Stark heir (whoever the northmen believe that to be). Roose will escape to the Dreadfort..bloodied but not completely broken. lives to fight another day, until some Stark takes him down.

 

Stannis will be given succour, shelter and the offer of a continued alliance... (godswood off-limits to Queensmen).

 

Stannis will have cause to return to the wall (I fear for Shireen at the hands of Selyse and/or Mel). Ultimately, Stannis may take the black (books and show).

 

Theon will take the black. (but the Kingsmoot may still be challenged in his name and that of his son, born to the captain's daughter)

 

(Call it crackpot, tinfoil, whatever.. I have a sense that men representing all the old bloodlines are beginning to be drawn to the wall, to support whichever Stark serves as LC.. part of a new "12 companions")

 

Away from WF, never-was-dead Jon will exterminate Ramsay (good bastard vs evil bastard, so to speak).

[Minkowski]

Both, the cloth dragon (i.e. Aegon), and the blue-eyed king without a shadow (i.e. Stannis) appear to Dany along with 'Mother of Dragons, Slayer of Lies'. This strongly indicates that Dany will have to reveal both Aegon and Stannis as false saviors/Azor Ahais. Despite the fact that as of yet no one in Westeros sees Azor Ahai/the promised prince in Aegon, this make change soon. There might still be people left who knew about Rhaegar's interpretation of the prophecy.

Anyway, if Stannis were to die right now, much potential for future tension would be destroyed. I want to read about Stannis's reaction when he learns about Dany and her dragons. I want to see his reaction when he learns about Aegon. I want to see how he intends to deal with them. Neither Aegon nor Daenerys will be usurpers in the sense Renly, Robb, Joffrey, Tommen, Balon were. They have a better claim than he, and he knows it.

The very fact that Dany was never once discussed during five volumes of ASoIaF in Stannis's presence, strongly hints that GRRM keeps something back here. The same is true about Stannis's past, and House Baratheon in general. We never got that much insight into both Stannis's personality/feelings/past. Was Stannis at the Tourney of Harrenhal, for instance? What does he know?

Only aegon has better claim than stannis, not dany. Just clearing that up

[Samson]

Maybe Jon Snow really did get killed, -dead as a doornail- but becomes Zombified into a homey of The Night's King, but because Jon is actually GOOD, he picks up Longclaw and slays the Night's King in single cold-as-ice combat, raises both his hands up - Like A Boss - and up pops all the good guys from yesteryear like his father/uncle/whatever Ned, his brother Brandon Stark, Benjen Stark (who doesn't have to rise because he's already a White Walking Son-of-a-Stark, he just shows up to the party) Ned's Dad, all the good guy Starks from the past, all them guys rise up-

 

Then ZombieJon and his homeys go on a good-but-still-dead/zombies-but-still-good-guys rampage, killing everything and everyone involved .. Boltons, Freys, Lannisters ,Barbrey Dustin for good measure, everyone who messes with them, they kill them all..... and because Ned supported Stannis's cause (who the whole time has just been silent, dumbfounded, staring at ZombieJon and his merry band of White Walking Starks, including his one-time friend Ned, and seeing them wreck shop and housing everyone that Stannis thought he'd have to fight....so he's happy but pretty much speechless...) Ned tells White Walker Boss Jon Snow they have to help Stannis..... so, they march down the continent towards Kings Landing..... on the way, Ned summons his homey Howland - who plays his magic flute and  The Children Of The Forest show up, because they're actually old good friends with the Night's King & his peoples; cousins actually.... so now they're just one huge White Walking Stark & Co. posse of ice cold justice.

 

They then wreck shop in Kings Landing, Stannis takes the Iron Throne but he still is speechless (but manages to thank Ned, who is like, "Ahh don't mention it man, I've been waiting to get summoned for years now, itching for a good fight!'  Then the whole lot of them head back up North, throw a huge party in Winterfell that lasts like 3 days, and afterwards, everyone just goes back to their resting places, waiting to be summoned again should the need arise.

 

Meanwhile, Dany and her dragon had arrived overhead right when Jon was getting the party started, becoming a Night's King and doing his hand-raise thing, and she is flying around on the dragon (at a safe altitude mind you) watching this stuff like "I can't even believe this $h!# right here!" ... and she thinks, "Forget this $*@(, I'm out" and just bounces.  Books right out of there, flies back to Mereen, and decides to just stay there.  It's not ideal , but at least Harpy sons and mad Wise masters and that type of stuff is not Zombie Jon Snow and his White Walking Starks.

 

 

yeah, man..... it's gonna go down just like that, boy... ... just like that....

[NewJeffCT]

Stannis will die.  :frown5:  :frown5:  :bawl:  :crying:  :frown5:  :bawl:  :crying:

 

All men must die.

 

I think the show may be a summarized/cliff notes version of the Battle of Ice.   Some desert Stannis' already weakening forces and he loses to Ramsay.  Stannis dies a ignoble death.

 

Then, Sansa then shows up with an army from the Vale.  Manderly then turns cloak to Sans's side and it allows a slaughter of the Boltons, as Manderly's men allow the Vale knights easy access to Winterfell, Sansa marches in as the new Stark in Winterfell.

[Bob Sacamano]

Yea, well, according to GRRM, Stannis is alive.  I want to take this as confirmation that Ramsay lied.  Or it could just mean Stannis is alive at the beginning of TWOW.

 

http://grrm.livejournal.com/438596.html?thread=22329668#t22329668

[nickdt]

Yea, well, according to GRRM, Stannis is alive.  I want to take this as confirmation that Ramsay lied.  Or it could just mean Stannis is alive at the beginning of TWOW.

 

http://grrm.livejournal.com/438596.html?thread=22329668#t22329668

Yeah, that was not smart of him, but now we know the GNC is a thing. 

[NewJeffCT]

Yea, well, according to GRRM, Stannis is alive.  I want to take this as confirmation that Ramsay lied.  Or it could just mean Stannis is alive at the beginning of TWOW.

 

http://grrm.livejournal.com/438596.html?thread=22329668#t22329668

 

Umm, we already knew that from the Theon chapter.

[aryagonnakill#2]

^Lol.  What a waste of a question.  Could have asked him anything and asked for confirmation of something we already knew.

[Slaysman]

On 8/1/2015 at 9:15 AM, Bastetcat said:

 

I agree with you here. And if I would be Roose Bolton, I would send the Freys, the Manderlys, and in secret - someone else after them (Ramsey), to make sure, they are dead. This could turn out to be the end of Stannis's army. Stannis would defeat the Freys, with the help of the Manderlys, but get surprised by the Boltons. Who would expect them?
Or that is when we will meet the "TV show-s gave-me 20-good man" plan. Ramsay: to spy on the battle, and report the result back to Winterfell. So when the "Stannis is defeated by Manderlys" group returns, Bolton would know, it is fake.  

Edit: spelling

I think that it will be a modified "Battle of the Bastards".

Stannis and his forces get trapped on all sides by the Bolton Forces and as things look lost Jon and his wildling and giant horde steamroll the Bolton's saving Stannis' ass.

Ramsey gets killed by Stannis (saving Roose the trouble) and Jon executes Roose.

Stannis dies of his wounds, but passes the torch to Jon to carry on.

[Zulaica]

I do believe Stannis will capture WF. Roose Bolton most likely sent the Frey/Manderly coalition to trigger the Karstark treachery and hopes it will make Stannis less of a threat so he can wipe him out later or better yet kill him. Roose doesn't think the Manderly force will betray him since he is keeping Lord Manderly in WF but we know that this may not be a guarantee. Roose wouldn't risk a pitch battle against a viable military commander and will probably not leave WF. Tensions are mounting in WF due to all the troops stationed there and having to put up with the Boltons. Roose needs Stannis to be defeated so he can continue to consolidate his power and ease tensions. I'm willing to bet Roose would believe Stannis is dead if told so or given proof. I didn't think Stannis would use deception and misinformation to confuse his enemies and lower their guard but the only other option is a siege. And Stannis has received info from Theon about the tumultuous situation inside WF. And I'm betting that if the Manderly's kill off the Frey forces Stannis will learn of Manderly's attempt to find Rickon and desire for Bolton downfall. With all this info Stannis may act to create a deception that will make Lord Bolton think he's in the clear rather than straight up attack WF. I mean Stannis is in a great position to do this. Bolton doesn't know the Karstark treachery was discovered, if Manderly forces join Stannis Roose won't know that or suspect it. Hell Stannis has Karstark troops captured which he can use to help create this deception along with the Manderlys and maybe even throw in some men disguised as Frey soldiers. Stannis knows Roose is desperate for a easy win and that he is relying on treachery. He can use all this to gain entry into WF while Bolton's guard is down.

Many people speak of WF having secret passageways, is this true? Does Theon know? If he doesn't I still think he will know. My theory which others have mentioned is that Theon will have another interaction with the weirwood tree, at his execution, and maybe Bran communicates the locations of these passage ways to Theon which would be useful for Stannis thus keeping Theon alive. This may not happen at all but I just don't want Theon to die without him doing some good. I mean rescuing Jeyne is one thing but him helping Stannis defeat the Bolton's would be excellent. Bran may not even know how to fully communicate such specific info though, maybe through images.