Game of Thrones Gossip #43 The Greyjoys

Welcome to my Game of Thrones Gossip, where us fanatics get the chance to discuss everything we love about this amazing TV series. I decided to do a whole series of these discussion posts that let us say everything we want and enjoy every second of it! Please feel free to comment fully and without restriction!

I have to warn you that it is important that you have seen all six seasons before reading any of these posts because these posts and blogger comments will be exploding spoilers all over the place. If you haven't watched the series and plan to, be warned that it's a bad idea to be here right now! I take no responsibility if you read on and things are spoiled for you.

Now I'm looking at the main characters introduced in season three, what our season two characters were doing and looking at all the bests bits. Enjoy the season three posts! This week it's The Greyjoys!

 
Balon Greyjoy is Lord of the Iron Islands, father of Yara and Theon Greyjoy. His rebellion against King Robert led to the death of his older sons Rodrik and Maron, and the removal of son Theon as a hostage to his loyalty in the future. Left with his daughter Yara, he groomed her to rule as a man would have done, raising her in the ways of the Iron Born. The return of Theon to Pyke is a difficult time for all of the Greyjoys.

In season two, Balon is disgusted to see Theon covered in bling and looking more like a Stark than a Greyjoy. He thinks that his son has become soft and forgotten what a Greyjoy is. He mocks Theon for being Robb's mouthpiece and wearing gold that he did not take from a dead foe, as is the Iron Way. He is unwilling to be kind to Theon in any way and seems to enjoy taking his boy apart. Balon also takes pleasure in singing Yara's praises to her brother to get him angry. He refuses to accept Robb's terms, indicating that he will never be given a crown but will take anything that he wants when he wants it. He decides to launch an attack on the North while Robb is busy with the Lannisters, declaring that Yara will lead the attack,while Theon has to prove himself on a lesser task. However there is one moment of emotion from Balon when Theon bitterly reminds him that he let Ned Stark take Theon away from his family.

In season three Balon receives a box from the Boltons with part of Theon in it and declares that Theon disobeyed his orders and must face his punishment, and that he now has no son, disgusting Yara. Ramsay tells him to withdraw all troops from the North or get more pieces of Theon posted to him. Balon ignores the threats.

Yara Greyjoy was the only child left to her father after his rebellion against King Robert killed two sons and saw another taken away. She had to be tougher than everyone else to earn her role as her father's heir, and command of her own ship. Yara decides to find out what Theon is like by concealing her identity from him when she meets him off the ship. She finds him to be vain, arrogant and more concerned about women than anything else. She allows him to grope her so he can be shamed when her true identity is revealed to Theon by their father. Yara is pleased to get the praise from her father which is used to belittle Theon, and is to be trusted by leading the attack on the North. She watches with her father as Theon is baptised again to dedicate himself to his father and the Drowned God.

Yara is to take her fleet of 30 ships and capture Deepwood Motte, home of House Glover while Theon is given a very minor role. She is amused by his manner and how his crew have no respect for him, unlike her men. The next time she sees Theon is when he has taken Winterfell and she mocks him again for killing the Stark children and disobeying his orders. However, she does soften and asks Theon to come back to Pyke with her while he still can, knowing that he can't hold Winterfell for long and will likely be taken by a furious Robb Stark.

When the Boltons take over the North, Yara is horrified to see what is in the box that they are sent and is furious that her father is just giving up on Theon in his hour of need. Getting nowhere with Balon, she declares that she will take her people to the Dreadfort and rescue her little brother herself.

Theon has been taken captive by Ramsay Bolton in the aftermath of his men betraying him at Winterfell. He is unaware that he is at the Dreadfort, thinking he is being held and tortured by Northmen loyal to Robb. He is helped to escape by a young man who appears to be a servant, and is helping Yara. After the escape the boy appears again to save him when the armed men catch up with him. An emotionally drained Theon starts to talk about his regret at betraying Robb as the Starks were the only family he had ever known. He confesses that he killed two orphans and passed them off as the Stark boys to fool his men. Moments later he realises he is back in his prison cell and the boy has betrayed him in some way.

The boy is now in charge of the torture and he asks Theon to play a game, guessing where he is and why they are being tortured. Theon believes he is in the North being held by the Umbers or Karstarks but he gets tortured again and loses the game. The next time they meet, Ramsay castrates him. Theon is broken and begs for death but is told that he is too valuable to kill. Ramsay decides to rename him Reek because he smells so bad. Theon is forced to agree to his new name and all hope is gone from him. He is probably well aware that taking Winterfell was a bad mistake as was not going home with Yara when he was able to.