Rickon Stark destined to die?

[Daemon I Blackfyre]

Hell no. I hope he gets to be one of the alive Starks at the end.

A vengeful, always angry and probably wildling trained little kid with a rabid direwolf as a pet, has a lot of potential if you ask me. In a decade, he could be exactly what House Stark will need after being near annihilated.

[JLE]

There is no necessity for Jon to be a King. If Rickon lives, Jon himself would refuse the inheritance and in fact would rally behind Rickon as ruler of the North (whether as a king, or as a lord paramount) - although elder, he would still be an adopted Stark, rather than a born Stark, and he himself knows it.

Also, even assuming R+L = J (which I think is pretty much a given at this point), I think it's more important that Jon is likely to end up as the realm's *hero*, or champion - not necessarily the king, but the one who fights for the realm and saves it from disaster, even if he himself is lost in the saving.

And Rhaegar may have seen that, or misunderstood what he saw.

In any case, Rhaegar appears to have thought that Aegon would be "the prince that was promised" and his song would be "the song of ice and fire" - and, having had one daughter Rhaenys, was trying for another one, a Visenya, to re-create the original Aegon / Visenya / Rhaenys triumvirate that conquered Westeros in the first place. He almost certainly had come to the conclusion that he needed another daughter: and, indeed, then the question of whether he and Lyanna were or were not "married", secretly, bigamously, illegally or otherwise, or indeed whether any children of Rhaegar and Lyanna were legitimized from what would be recognised as bastardy, becomes less important: because Westeros would have cared less about a daughter who made a second sister-wife to the undeniably legitimate Aegon.

However... Rhaegar died, not knowing that his third child was not a daughter but a son: and Aegon also died (I firmly believe the current claimant to be that name is a fake, even though Young Griff himself believes he is the genuine article, and has the looks to fool people - which goes in with the Blackfyre theory). Leaving a bastard son that he did not live to legitimize by adoption, born to the man who lost the war and a woman to whom no "marriage" would ever be recognised - precisely because if it existed, it was bigamous: and the side which lost the war was the side which allowed the king and royal family to break or ignore the laws of the realm, and the side which won was the side which began the rebellion to bring down a king who broke the laws of gods and men, and therefore the laws of gods and men stand established, and among them are "no incest" and "no bigamy". Therefore there is no lawful Rhaegar / Lyanna marriage, only a relationship that was adulterous on his part: and also therefore, Jon and Daenerys cannot be the marriage that ties up all loose ends because it would be incestuous, she being his aunt.

However, Jon may be equally important - not as the future king, nor an heir, but as the *hero* who saves the realm. Rhaegar may have seen or believed in the importance of his third child, while at the same time misunderstanding WHY said third child was important.

[Pellinore]

At the end it all comes down to this. Jon will take position out of necessity, not ambition.

Personally I believe that if Rickon returns, the Regency would fall toone of 3 people:

Manderly- He after all is the one who has organized the "rescue" of Rickon and would hold the Regency not for personal gain but to sate his almost unhealthy obsession with paying back the Starks for their ancient act of hospitality.

Jon- IMO he will never take lordship of Winterfell while he knows one of Ned's trueborn sons still lives. However, if he leaves/is kicked out of the Watch, I could definitely see him acting in Rickon's stead while training the boy in Lordship as he and Robb were trained by Ned.

Benjen- Dude has to return sometime, right? Why not come back and, after serving whatever important plot point he will be used for, serve as Regent as the only mature, adult Stark! One can dream...

I've always hated how, even if the Starks survive in the male line through Rickon, the boy has no real concept of the ideals and responsibilities his father stood for because he will have no one to teach him, and essentially the Starkness of the Starks will end.

If Rickon perishes, I will rip the book to pieces and burn it in wildfire.