The Ghost of Winterfell is...

[Bruno Martell]

First of all guys: "A GHOST IN WINTERFELL" is Theon. Why? POV

Is he the guy killing? Probably not, but not because of his weakness. His weakness is a strength (weird right?). He could approach anybody, nobody fears him. Arya escaped Harrenhal by killing a guard easily enough. Even so, Reek is not so weak even in his Reek persona (considering there actually is a split personality case). He wrestles the bitches for food. Do you think it's easy to wrestle dogs? He's full of pain but he's full of instinct… killing mice and devouring them… wrestling dogs. I don't discard the personality split though. Have you guys forgotten Theon bossing around that ironborn sentry at Moat Cailin!? He was ALL Theon the Prince, head to toe. Killed the ironman who was supposed to be in command at Moat Cailing releasing a terrible smell. Our fragile Reek… our "broken reek".

Secondly: Who's doing the killings?

Why, everybody is doing the killings.

You have a bunch of "factions", so to speak, all incarcerated in a snow covered pile of shit (Winterfell is smelling like shit since the horses were brought in)… You got BOLTON, FREY, MANDERLY, GLOVER and many other unhappy NORTHMEN… you got the former WILDLING KING with SPEARWIVES, you got AN ARMY APPROACHING… you got a crazy DOG/IRONBORN probably with SPLIT PERSONALITY (and Bran keeps trying to reach him, maybe he can do a little more than reach him), you got LADY DUSTIN steaming with rage and vengeance, you got a FAKE ARYA weeping around (when she shows), you got RAMSEY BOLTON. And why do I have the sensation that I'm leaving a bunch out? Because I am. All these guys with less and less food, less and less comfort, less and less heat, less and less patience...

Hell… everybody is killing each other… isn't it clear enough!? Yeees, Spearwives just for being touched in a way they didn't like by a soldier. Yes Freys killing each other over succession and whatnot. Yes, Manderly serving pies of Frey and killing some more inside Winterfell that's reasonable no? Theon awakened by Bran through the tree, feeling remorse, hating his captors more than ever, I don't doubt… do you really? Abel (or Mance) slitting some northman throat… of course, they are his very nemesis. Yes, which northmen wouldn't want to kill some Boltons seeing their Liege's Daughter crying? Which northmen wouldn't want to kill some Frey after the Red Wedding?

Now please… who needs Blackfish, Howland Reed, Benjen or a Miller!? Not necessary...

And for those who seem to be sure the SPEARWIVES are doing all the killings, remember they have a MISSION… they will kill just enough to succeed and during eventual accidents (after all they are Wildlings). They are not there to punish the usurpers of the north. Do not trip too far.

MANDERLY men doing solely the killings. This seems so small doesn't it? I imagine he plans a greater vendetta then some sparse non-central killings. Why risk it all by increasingly (beyond safety) calling the attention to himself. Only to be almost murdered? One of the killings though might be his doing. Manderly for sure intended to inflict more damage to the degenerated Bastard of Bolton, who caused lady Hornwood to eat her own fingers and posed around with his liege lord fake daughter, by betraying him during battle against Stannis.

Tensions grow, soldiers start dying, one tends to point the most hated one as responsible for all… more tension, more killings.

[HouseHarrison]

Pretty obvious it's theon. There's even a quote where he clearly has missing time where he could commit the murders:

As the garrison broke it's fast on stale bread fried in bacon grease (the lords and knights ate the bacon), the talk along the benches was of >little but the corpse. "Stannis has friends inside the castle." Theon heard one serjeant mutter. He was an old Tallheart man, three trees sewn on his ragged surcoat. The watch had just changed. Men were coming in from the cold, stomping their feet to knock the snow off their boots and breeches as the midday meal was served-blood sausage, leeks, and brown bread still warm from the oven.

Breakfast then immediately lunch without skipping a beat. Theon is completely insane and an unreliable narrator, and GRRM has left plenty of hints to it.

[Bruno Martell]

Pretty obvious it's theon. There's even a quote where he clearly has missing time where he could commit the murders:

Breakfast then immediately lunch without skipping a beat. Theon is completely insane and an unreliable narrator, and GRRM has left plenty of hints to it.

I really think it's a solid theory. Interestingly you pointed out he's skipping time and used that paragraph as an example. Though that might be illustrating only the dull nature of living inside Winterfell at that particular time. If it's too cold outside, what else is there to do but waiting for your meals sitting in a corner?

What I don't like about most theories on who the ghost is, is that they are too "restrictive". Like EINSTEIN's and PLANCK's theories, some of them could be merged if cropped properly enough.

Surely some people felt they thought out of the box coming up with Theon having split personality (though for you it's obvious). Others feel they think out of the box by saying Stannis has a man inside… that the killing of Little Walder was a matter of succession or even Bolton's deed , and so it goes...

My question is: Why does it have to be ONE of these boxes?

[TheNinjaDC]

It was Old Man Manderly all along!

Just when you thought Lord to fat to sit a horse could not get more badass.

[Naturally Low Highborn]

The "hooded cloak" was flapping. The noun here is cloak, hooded is used to describe the cloak. The blue cloak would no more mean the blue was flapping anymore than the hood was flapping. It is a non issue. Adjectives cannot flap. A cloaked man passed Theon.

[Naturally Low Highborn]

Incorrect assumption about time gap. The men, those not on duty, were breaking their fast because they just woke up. The others were working the graveyard shift, and would not be breaking their fast, but would be eating more of a mid-day meal for them. Ask anyone who has worked graveyard, time is irrelevant for those working the night shift.

[Red Wedding Cake]

It was Old Man Manderly all along!

Pass the Frey Pie, please

[Naturally Low Highborn]

All POV chapters are named for their POV Character. Note the newest release. The name of the chapter is Mercy. This is of course Arya (Cat, No One, Mercy choose a name) in the persona of Mercy. If GRRM has followed his own literary standard, the Ghost of Winterfell is the POV Chapter name AND the character. This of course, would not be a "new" character, any more than Mercy is a new character. It is simply a different way to identify the contents of the chapter. Mercy is truly a play on words, as Arya gives the gift of mercy. Ghost of Winterfell is probably no more than a simple play on words: Theon in Winterfell is a Ghost, either a shadow of himself, an illusion to those who see him, any number of literary references to the persona of Theon during this chapter.

Being the Ghost of Winterfell/Reek/Theon, he meets the man in the hooded cloak. The theories abound, but basically nothing indicates that the ghost and the man in the hooded cloak are the same, even if we discuss Fight Club which we can't because of the first rule. There is nothing that indicates that GoW/R/T are murderers at this time, outside of the accounts we have of his actual misdeeds.

As a kinslayer, that is an unforgiveable murder, worse than a kingslayer. The word is strictly reserved for understood flesh and blood members of your family. If Tyrion is not Tywin's son, he would still be considered a kinslayer because it is the mainstream opinion that he is the son of Tywin Lannister. So, Theon would have been called a kinslayer by someone who knew HE was responsible for the death of his family member(s)....Ironmen or a bastard son of the Miller's wife if that was known, because if it is not well known, then the miller would be the assumed father of the miller's wife's son(s). So someone who knows or assumes Theon killed (or led to be killed) Ironmen holding Moat Cailin or the Ironmen at Winterfell after the sacking.

[Bruno Martell]

I don't think there's any catch to the "kinslaying" thing.

In the opinion of the hooded man, Theon was raised by the Stark and therefore, the supposed assassination of Bran and Rickon would be equivalent to killing his own family. Opinion that I would share if it was true he actually killed them.

[King of Winters]

Pretty obvious it's theon. There's even a quote where he clearly has missing time where he could commit the murders:

Breakfast then immediately lunch without skipping a beat. Theon is completely insane and an unreliable narrator, and GRRM has left plenty of hints to it.

Since I made this thread I think that it was the spear wives and Big Walder who did the killings. Big Walder killed Little Walder, as he is covered in blood. So that leaves the Spearwives who killed the rest and they were telling the truth about not killing Little Walder.

I think the Hooded Man is maybe Theon's personalities conflicting with each other. The Hooded Man laughs at Theon's cut off fingers, as Theon might have done before. We've seen how mocking he can be by kicking Gared's head in AGOT.

[Sweetgirl205]

My best crackpot theory is that Osha and Rikkon have doubled back and are the ghosts of Winterfell. Assumming there is enough food for them, the crypts are big enough to hide in. Also, there must always be a Stark in Winterfell.

[Bruno Martell]

Since I made this thread I think that it was the spear wives and Big Walder who did the killings. Big Walder killed Little Walder, as he is covered in blood. So that leaves the Spearwives who killed the rest and they were telling the truth about not killing Little Walder.

I think the Hooded Man is maybe Theon's personalities conflicting with each other. The Hooded Man laughs at Theon's cut off fingers, as Theon might have done before. We've seen how mocking he can be by kicking Gared's head in AGOT.

I'm no expert, but do people with this kind of disorder actually MEET their other "personalities"?

I've seen it in movies, shrink inducing a confrontation of personalities. But do they spontaneously meet their other personalities in reality?

Seeing people, isn't it Schizophrenia?

[Bruno Martell]

My best crackpot theory is that Osha and Rikkon have doubled back and are the ghosts of Winterfell. Assumming there is enough food for them, the crypts are big enough to hide in. Also, there must always be a Stark in Winterfell.

Ok, there would be a Stark there, and Osha knows Winterfell well enough to use it to her advantage. But there are some issues:

1. It seems WEX (Theon's former squire) has witnessed them shipping to SKAGOS. All because they were instructed to distance themselves from mainland north, they decided to go to a dangerous, stormy, cannibal ridden island. You'd be saying they got there, touched ashore and started back. Or stayed so shortly that it makes no difference. It would be possible but improbable considering how determined and stubborn Osha is. Maybe Skagos scares the Northmen but not a Wildling. I'd call this assumption reaching.

2. Where's Shaggy Dog? Is it dead? Is it at Winterfell? Why hasn't any of the man been savaged then? Where are they keeping it? In the crypts? It's just weird...

[Rhaegar Targaryen's Ghost]

To the OP, I think this is the best explanation of the theory so far. I have gone down the Benjen and Howland routes before, but never considered Theon. The name of the chapter was so obvious that I didn't even think of it as evidence. It seems to me that Theon is certainly the logical choice.

As for the time gaps others are talking about, i'm not sure what to make of that. I see many instances of the unreliability of Theon as narrator, but I'm not sure if that is a true time gap, or just a different way of reading that line.

[TeamMartell]

Well obviously it's Theon, lol. His POV had that name.

[Rhaegara]

Robett Glover is a lot more likely candidate; we know he was with Manderly right before Manderly left White Harbor, and Glover was present [and assisting] when Manderly sent someone else off on a secret infiltration mission. The Blackfish is another possible candidate, and I'm not willing to rule out Harwin or Benjen Stark either.

My thoughts as well.

[Northernmonkey]

My thoughts as well.

I'm ruling out Benjen because he's not a deserter. The Blackfish is unlikely because having escaped from Riverrun I don't see why he'd go somewhere where he'd be instantly killed if caught.

Harwin seems by far the most likely candidate.

[Rosavel Rusannn]

I think theon is the ghost in winterfell. For starters, the name of the chapter when theon meets the hooded man is "a ghost in winterfell", and the chapter is from Theons POV. Anytime a POV chapter title has diverged from a characters proper name it has been some other way of describing that character. Now you could argue that the person who is responsible for the killings in winterfell and the hooded man are two different people, but if we're speculating on specifically who is the "ghost of winterfell", the title of the pov is a dead giveaway IMO

[Buried Treasure]

Theon already described himself as a Ghost in Winterfell earlier in the chapter, so there is definitely no format breaking with the chapter headings. Doesn't necessarily follow that he is 'the' Ghost that folk are whispering is doing the killing. Theon's use of the indefinite article implies multiple ghosts.

Theon thinks it's the play he seen before. The parts are Reek, the Prince of Winterfell and the Ghost, that is the killer. Last time Ramsay pulled double duty but this time another Player has turned up, as Theon does not know who the killer is, hence him wondering if it was the man he encountered that was threateningly going for his knife.

[Light a wight tonight]

But who killed Little Walder?

Either Big Walder killed Little Walder or it was the other way 'round. The killer/survivor was plotting how to improve his chances of coming out on top in the succession to the Twins and the victim was above him in the order. The two young Walders had the whole succession order laid out and basically knew which moves would improve their chances. I'm assuming that the victim, being higher on the list saw no advantage in killing the other one, who was behind him, ignoring the fact that he could be a target himself.