Theon Greyjoy: There And Back Again, An Ironborn's Tale

[PeteMartell]

Theon, Theon, Theon.

 

I thought he deserved his own thread because we rarely see Balon or Yara.

 

I think Theon is one of the most fascinating characters on the show, and has gone through one of the most complete character transformations on the show. I'm not surprised he doesn't get more of a response beyond fan hate for his past horrible decisions, but I wish Alfie Allen got more notice for what has been a consistently superb performance - perhaps the strongest consistent performance of anyone on the show.

 

Theon is a cautionary tale on revenge culture. Revenge culture dominates Game of Thrones, as so many fans want to see the Starks make the Lannisters pay, or want to see Tyrion get payback.

 

Through Theon, we get what should be the ultimate revenge - a complete psychological and physical torture of the man who killed devoted Stark soldiers, took Winterfell under false pretenses, betrayed a man who was essentially his brother, and killed two children (and likely the only reason he didn't kill Rickon and Bran is that that he didn't know where they were).

 

Yet it's not satisfying. It's ugly, it's horrific, it's unseemly. To many viewers, it's not the right kind of revenge, which leads to questions like what is the right kind of revenge?

 

The story is extremely difficult to watch, but it's also one that has made sense narratively and never gone through the jarring changes some other long-running stories have had. Even now, with Reek, we continue to see Theon's past haunt his present, meaning he can't escape even into the cruel, false life Ramsay Bolton has created for him.

 

For me Ramsay is the weakest part of this storyline, but Alfie and Iwen do have chemistry together.

 

I'll never forget the scene of Theon being baptized into the Drowned God religion when he returned to the Iron Islands. The scene was both beautiful and highly disturbing.

 

Theon's relationship with Yara also fascinates me. I wish we saw more of it. 

[FozzyBear]

I always feel like Theon is also a good example of how you can't put a happy face on a violent fucked-up culture. He spent his childhood as a hostage . His whole reason for existing was so the Starks could kill him if his family rebelled against the king . And I have no doubt Ned would have done it. He wouldn't have liked it and he would have tried to do it as painlessly as possible, but he would have done it. And sure he was treated well, but all the talk about how he should have been grateful to the Starks for not killing him or beating him or tormenting him? He's supposed to be grateful for this? That's a mind fuck right there. He's supposed to be grateful that the people keeping him around so they can kill him if need be were nice? It's like talking about how some slave owners were better than others. Lord, of course he's fucked up!

[CletusMusashi]

I don't think Ned would have killed a ward for something the father did. Locked up and kept under guard maybe, if another war broke out, but he never even did that.

Balon Greyjoy, on the other hand, couldn't go five minutes without becoming physically abusive.

I think a big reason that, ultimately, Theon didn't support the Starks was that he wasn't terrified of them. Although he understood that Robb was a good fighter, respect does not automaticaly translate into fear. The reason he didn't fear Robb is that Robb was not in the habit of suddenly beating the crap out of him. 

Balon used fear, beatings, insults and initmidation to controlTheon, and eventually Ramsay took it even farther.

Plus, even if he had been afraid of Robb, as long as he was heir to Pyke there might be hope of escape. Ramsay, by eliminating his usefulness as Balon's heir, has destroyed any desire to escape back home.

[Lady S.]

I always feel like Theon is also a good example of how you can't put a happy face on a violent fucked-up culture. He spent his childhood as a hostage . His whole reason for existing was so the Starks could kill him if his family rebelled against the king . And I have no doubt Ned would have done it. He wouldn't have liked it and he would have tried to do it as painlessly as possible, but he would have done it. And sure he was treated well, but all the talk about how he should have been grateful to the Starks for not killing him or beating him or tormenting him? He's supposed to be grateful for this? That's a mind fuck right there. He's supposed to be grateful that the people keeping him around so they can kill him if need be were nice? It's like talking about how some slave owners were better than others. Lord, of course he's fucked up!

Yeah, by this logic, any of the Stark kids should have been happy to be a hostage as long their captors were humane. Seeing Jaime's hand cut off and Sansa beaten by Joffrey doesn't mean that that treatment should be taken as some kind of standard, or that an innocent child should consider himself lucky not to be treated this way. It doesn't even matter if Ned hypothetically would have killed Theon, what matters is that Theon had good reason to think he would because he was told that this was the point of the arrangement, and Ned never assured him otherwise, Ned always did his duty. The other thing to consider is that he was Ned's responsibility, but this wouldn't only be Ned's decision, the deal was between Balon and Robert. I do agree that there's an irony that the Starks likely would have had more of Theon's loyalty if they were more brutal.

 

(and likely the only reason he didn't kill Rickon and Bran is that that he didn't know where they were).

Not to be too much of a Theon-apologist, but I doubt he would have killed Bran and Rickon if he'd caught them, if only because that would have been even stupider than the decisions he did make. There was no reason to kill them instead of keeping them as hostages, and no hint during the search for them that his men even expected him to kill them, but the other boys could only killed because they couldn't possibly be passed off alive as Bran and Rickon.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Lady S.

[Pete Martell]

The abysmal and incredibly damaging treatment of Theon’s narrative in season 5, throwing out very rich material to essentially pit rape and abuse survivors against each other for shock value, made me quit watching this show, with absolutely no regret.

The only reason I kept up with Theon’s tale to the level that I did was because of how incredible Alfie Allen was in the role, and how much Theon meant to me as a person, in a way that bad writing could never erase. He was such a layered, exquisite character, and for me was - in spite of and because of his many flaws - one of the key heartbeats of this franchise. 

I’m glad that he at least died at peace, in the way he would have wanted. No one - not his father, not the Boltons, not the Starks - took that away from him. As a man who lived his entire life based on what other people made him be, he died on his own terms.

I’ll miss him, much more than I’ll miss this show, but he will always live on in my heart, and in the world of fiction. And of course in GRRM’s books, which for many Theon fans will always tell the true tale.

I can’t thank Alfie enough for his talent, his respect for the role, and his refusal to give in to the cheap jokes that made up year after year after year of this turgid fandom (and likely still will, even as Theon died for what was right). I hope he has a wonderful career ahead of him, which he more than deserves. He brought so much to this role, whether with words, body, or even just his eyes - more than I ever could have imagined. And he should be very proud. 

[Lady S.]

[Snowball II]

God, Alfie Allen was so good in this role.  They really knew what they were doing by casting him.  He really brought Theon Greyjoy to life, and he played the character convincingly, through all the different stages of his life: young, proud, but desperate for acceptance Theon, tortured, broken Reek, and humbled, redeemed, and ultimately heroic Theon.  He pulled all of that off, and nailed it, week after week.  Great job, Alfie.  🙂

Edited May 1, 2019 by Fiver

[MadameKillerB]

I can't wait to see what he does next. He really kicked it out of the park. Always.

[Pete Martell]

I’ve tried so hard to avoid anything related to Game of Thrones lately that I just saw Alfie Allen got a nomination. He earned that all the way back in season 2. A phenomenal actor who was the heart of the show for me. I’d love to see him win but even this is more than I expected.

[Umbelina]

On 7/16/2019 at 2:59 PM, Pete Martell said:

I’ve tried so hard to avoid anything related to Game of Thrones lately that I just saw Alfie Allen got a nomination. He earned that all the way back in season 2. A phenomenal actor who was the heart of the show for me. I’d love to see him win but even this is more than I expected.

Yeah, but he had to nominate himself, the show had other "chosen ones."

[Pete Martell]

6 minutes ago, Umbelina said:

Yeah, but he had to nominate himself, the show had other "chosen ones."

That's all the more fitting for Theon's story, really. I wish that got as much coverage as people being "shocked" Alfie is Lily Allen's brother. I didn't even know until I read your post. 

[rmontro]

Wards were used as technical hostages, but they weren't generally treated badly.  They were usually given places of honor (cupbearer or whatnot).  Of course if the lord you are serving is a jackass, then that's what you're going to get.

It's interesting that despite everything that Theon went through, in the end he was loyal to the Starks.  I thought he had one of the best deaths in the series, very honorable, and Bran even gave him some kind words to absolve him before the end.

[CletusMusashi]

I think Theon is one of the few characters who got a good ending to their story arc.

I'd hate to be one of the extra Iron Island red shirts, though. 

"Lord Bran, I am so sorry for how I have treated you that my men and I are going to stand next to you and get murdered by the Night King as a very, very temporary distraction, in case like Arya or somebody has turned into a super ninja."

"Um, boss? Could you maybe have asked us about this first?"

Edited August 4, 2019 by CletusMusashi

[shang yiet]

Theon's death was so unnecessary. He died thinking he failed Bran. How did the Night King' s sword manage to pierce his front and back armour?

[rmontro]

On 8/14/2019 at 3:43 PM, shang yiet said:

How did the Night King' s sword manage to pierce his front and back armour?

'Cause it's the Night King's sword, man!

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

On 7/31/2019 at 12:18 PM, CletusMusashi said:

I think Theon is one of the few characters who got a good ending to their story arc.

Agree. I think he's the only character who got redemption in a way that makes sense and whose character's ending for the show made logical sense.  We fully experienced Theon's whole arc and the changes/decisions his character made were logical given what we were shown in his story line over the seasons (unlike some other characters whose endgames were not as logical).  

It also helped that Alfie Allen knocked a very difficult role out of the park. Theon/Reek could have been truly awful - even bordering on comical - with a less talented actor.  But I believed Alfie's portrayal/responses 100%.  At least the writers rewarded Alfie's amazing & consistent performance of Theon with a sensical redemption arc and endgame (again, he was luckier than many actors who also deserved the same for the characters they'd done so much to breathe life into).  

I'm sad he didn't win the Emmy last night. 

Edited September 23, 2019 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[tabularasa]

I'm very sad he didn't win. He is underrated.