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rainwatersparkI took a crash course in the world of A Song of Fire and Ice after watching some of HBO's Game of Thrones.
I have to say...poor Theon Greyjoy.
(Spoilers for A Song of Fire and Ice through A Dance With Dragons)
I thought that Theon was one of the most interesting characters since he's caught between the Greyjoy and Stark families. Complicating the picture, of course, is that Theon is not really portrayed as a sympathetic character--even though he has good intentions (at least part of the time), he's kind of an arrogant jerk, and his actions have lead to quite a few deaths. Still, he beats the sadists that seem to make up most of ASoFaI's cast. And his betrayal of the Stark family is not motivated by greed or revenge, but rather by his desire for approval from his father, who has almost disowned him for having spent too much time on the mainland (which was completely his father's fault).
However, ASoFaI's wacked-up karma system comes back to bite Theon hard in ADwD.
Now that he's been tortured into insanity, it's even harder to loathe him for some of the things he did because he's so broken and pathetic. I didn't read about how he felt when he took Winterfell, but ADwD makes it clear that he's remorseful about having betrayed the Starks. (Although I guess it's easier to regret things if you're missing fingers, toes, and parts of your sanity as a result of what you did.)
Overall, though, I can't help but think that the poor guy never gets a break. He's hated by his blood family (for having "gone soft"), he never fit in with the Starks (as TV Tropes put it, he's "too Stark to be a Greyjoy and too Greyjoy to be a Stark"), everyone remaining at Winterfell hates his guts for having betrayed them all, and no one seems to care that he's been tortured so badly he's not a threat to anyone anymore. He's become the biggest Woobie out of the whole cast.
Of course, now that he's been through a Fate Worse Than Death, clearly GRRM is not going to kill him off. But I find it hard to speculate about what's going to happen to Theon. He's so broken by now, mentally and physically, it's hard to imagine he'll eventually become Lord of the Iron Islands, as he was supposed to, unless he gets some sort of psychic healing or something. But why turn an arrogant character into a mental and physical wreck if not for some sort of redemption arc? It's all quite confusing.
I have to say...poor Theon Greyjoy.
(Spoilers for A Song of Fire and Ice through A Dance With Dragons)
I thought that Theon was one of the most interesting characters since he's caught between the Greyjoy and Stark families. Complicating the picture, of course, is that Theon is not really portrayed as a sympathetic character--even though he has good intentions (at least part of the time), he's kind of an arrogant jerk, and his actions have lead to quite a few deaths. Still, he beats the sadists that seem to make up most of ASoFaI's cast. And his betrayal of the Stark family is not motivated by greed or revenge, but rather by his desire for approval from his father, who has almost disowned him for having spent too much time on the mainland (which was completely his father's fault).
However, ASoFaI's wacked-up karma system comes back to bite Theon hard in ADwD.
Now that he's been tortured into insanity, it's even harder to loathe him for some of the things he did because he's so broken and pathetic. I didn't read about how he felt when he took Winterfell, but ADwD makes it clear that he's remorseful about having betrayed the Starks. (Although I guess it's easier to regret things if you're missing fingers, toes, and parts of your sanity as a result of what you did.)
Overall, though, I can't help but think that the poor guy never gets a break. He's hated by his blood family (for having "gone soft"), he never fit in with the Starks (as TV Tropes put it, he's "too Stark to be a Greyjoy and too Greyjoy to be a Stark"), everyone remaining at Winterfell hates his guts for having betrayed them all, and no one seems to care that he's been tortured so badly he's not a threat to anyone anymore. He's become the biggest Woobie out of the whole cast.
Of course, now that he's been through a Fate Worse Than Death, clearly GRRM is not going to kill him off. But I find it hard to speculate about what's going to happen to Theon. He's so broken by now, mentally and physically, it's hard to imagine he'll eventually become Lord of the Iron Islands, as he was supposed to, unless he gets some sort of psychic healing or something. But why turn an arrogant character into a mental and physical wreck if not for some sort of redemption arc? It's all quite confusing.
