[Theon Greyjoy — Characters]
Of the Stark children, Jon was very close friends with Robb - given that they were roughly the same age, being regular companions in training and riding. He was also close with both Bran and Rickon , and was friendly rival to Lord Eddard's ward , Theon Greyjoy . However, Jon's closest relationship was with Arya , who, as an adventurous tomboy prone to un-ladylike pursuits, also felt like a social outsider. In contrast, Jon's early relationship with Sansa was unpleasant; very much her mother's daughter, she was aloof and cold to him as well.
Later, Daenerys and Tyrion meet with the Ironborn Yara and Theon Greyjoy . Yara offers to provide one hundred ships to Daenerys if, in return, she helps them defeat their uncle Euron Greyjoy and recognizes the independence of the Iron Islands . Daenerys accepts Yara's offer of an alliance and observes that both of their fathers left the world worse than they found it, but Daenerys and Yara are going to leave it better than they found it. She demands that Yara recognize her claim to queenship of the Seven Kingdoms and tells her, "No more reaving, roving, raiding, or raping." Yara protests this is the Ironborn's way of life, but Daenerys is firm. Yara reluctantly agrees to her terms, and the two Queens make a pact.
After the battle, Tyrion is present at the Great Pyramid while Dany holds an audience with Yara and Theon Greyjoy , who have just arrived in Meereen with most of the Iron Fleet . Knowing Theon, Tyrion chides him for mocking his height back at Winterfell and for the alleged murders of Bran and Rickon Stark . A penitent Theon reiterates that he has paid for his crimes though Tyrion is incredulous given that Theon is standing there. Yara offers to provide Daenerys with a hundred ships if she helps them to defeat her uncle Euron Greyjoy and recognizes the independence of the Iron Islands . Tyrion protests that if the Iron Islands gain independence, then the rest of the Kingdoms will likely make that demand as well; Dany states that they are welcome to try, and agrees to Yara's terms, provided that the Ironborn end all reaving and piracy of the mainland. When Yara begrudgingly accepts, Tyrion indicates his approval of the alliance, as Daenerys has negotiated a strong position for herself.
Over the next few days, Ramsay continues to rape Sansa every night, leaving bruises on her arms and body. She effectively becomes a prisoner of the Boltons, who keep her locked in her bedchamber. Reek brings her breakfast, and when she realizes he is there, she tries to talk to him and get him to help her. However, Reek reminds Sansa that she is Ramsay's wife now and merely tells her to do what he says or else he will hurt her. Sansa protests that Ramsay hurts her every night and finds it hard to believe that it could possibly get any worse but Reek warns her that it can. Sansa asks Reek what Ramsay did to break him to such an extent but when he tries to flee, Sansa grabs him by the wrist and angrily reminds him that he betrayed her family, making him apologize profusely. She tells Reek that he can still redeem himself by lighting a candle in the broken tower in order to signal the Starks' allies she was told about. Though Sansa addresses him as Theon throughout this conversation, Reek keeps repeating his name is Reek, forcing Sansa to grab him by the face and look him directly in the eye. She insists that his name is Theon Greyjoy, the only surviving son of Balon Greyjoy , and this initially seems to get through to Theon for a time.
Ser Rodrik Cassel berates Theon Greyjoy for his betrayal when Theon takes Winterfell, reminding him that Ned raised him among his family. Theon responds, "Among them, but not one of them." Ser Rodrik laments what if Ned were alive to see this but Theon tells Rodrik that Ned is dead. As Bran and Rickon plead for Rodrik's life and the Ironborn urge Theon to execute Rodrik, Rodrik assures Bran and Rickon that he’s off to see their father.
In the beginning of A Storm of Swords , Robb still intends to continue fighting against the Lannisters, but Catelyn tells him bluntly "So long as Theon Greyjoy sits in your father's seat with your brothers' blood on his hands, these other foes must wait. Your first duty is to defend your own people, win back Winterfell, and hang Theon in a crow's cage to die slowly. Or else put off that crown for good, Robb, for men will know that you are no true king at all." For a change, Robb listens to his mother and finally decides to return home and fight off the ironborn invaders; unfortunately, at that point it is too late.
After he is told that Lysa will not send him any reinforcements, or at least open the Bloody Gate for the Stark troops, Robb is filled with despair. He curses "The Others can take her, then. Bloody Rickard Karstark as well. And Theon Greyjoy, Walder Frey, Tywin Lannister, and all the rest of them. Gods be good, why would any man ever want to be king? When everyone was shouting King in the North, King in the North, I told myself... swore to myself... that I would be a good king, as honorable as Father, strong, just, loyal to my friends and brave when I faced my enemies... now I can't even tell one from the other. How did it all get so confused? Lord Rickard's fought at my side in half a dozen battles. His sons died for me in the Whispering Wood. Tion Frey and Willem Lannister were my enemies. Yet now I have to kill my dead friends' father for their sakes. Will the Lannisters thank me for Lord Rickard's head? Will the Freys? ."
In the novel A Feast for Crows , Jon sends Sam alongside Gilly, Mance Rayder's baby son and Maester Aemon to Oldtown via Braavos, fearing that Melisandre may sacrifice either Aemon or the baby for their "king's blood". During the voyage to Oldtown aboard the Cinnamon Wind , Aemon dies. Following the funeral, Gilly and Sam grow intimate and have sex for the first time. Afterwards Sam is filled with guilt, not only for breaking his vows: he loves Gilly but is forbidden of marrying her; he believes she deserves a better man, not a big fat coward like him; and cannot bear the thought of hurting her feelings by taking advantage of her and later leaving her (in sharp contrast to Theon Greyjoy, who used a captain's daughter for sex and then dumped her without second thought). The captain's daughter, however, poses him an ultimatum: either he goes to bed with Gilly, or will be thrown overboard. Defeated, Sam goes to Gilly and tells her he would like to marry her, would prefer her for any princess or highborn lady, but is bound by his vows. Gilly wipes his tears and tells him "The trees watch over us. In the forest, they see all. but there are no trees here. Only water, Sam. Only water."
He renames him "Reek" (because he smells bad) and demands that Theon say that his name is Reek. With an angry look, Theon says his name is Theon Greyjoy, prompting Ramsay to punch him and ask again, and again, smirking slightly, he says his name is Theon Greyjoy. Ramsay hits him harder, grabs his head and screams the same question. This time, Theon gives in and says his that name is Reek. As Ramsay returns to his table satisfied, Theon weeps silently over his lost pride.
Yara, along with a group of Ironborn, infiltrates the Dreadfort to rescue her brother, only to find him in one of the kennels. Believing that this may be another one of Ramsay's tricks, Reek desperately refuses to abandon his master, refusing to be Theon Greyjoy and screaming to be left alone, insisting that he is Reek. Soon Ramsay arrives with a group of Northmen. As the two sides fight each other, Reek keeps resisting to be taken and bites Yara's hand to return to his cage. Yara escapes after being rejected and Ramsay unleashing his hounds at her. As a reward for his demonstration of loyalty, Ramsay offers Reek a bath, though Reek is hesitant to remove his clothing, due to the many scars of his torture and his earlier castration. After Reek gets into the tub, Ramsay cleans his servant himself and demands a demonstration of Reek's love: his help to get a castle back. Reek's task is to masquerade as Theon Greyjoy.
Outside of Moat Cailin , Ramsay goes over Reek's mission with him one last time: he is to enter Moat Cailin under the guise of Theon Greyjoy, prince of the Iron Islands, and attempt to negotiate with the Ironborn garrison holding it in an attempt to convince them to surrender the fortress to the Boltons. Reek rides up to the fortress gate, and almost blows his cover when asked to identify himself, yet manages to regain his composure and convince the Ironborn to let him to enter.
On the night of the wedding, Reek, once again assuming his previous identity as Theon Greyjoy, arrives to escort Sansa to Ramsay, though Sansa, still angry with him, refuses to allow Theon to hold her arm, even when Theon claims Ramsay will punish him. Theon walks Sansa through the Godswood to the Heart tree and gives the bride away. After the wedding, Theon leads Sansa and Ramsay to their new chambers, but Ramsay orders Theon to remain with them to watch what is to come.
A few days later, Reek brings Sansa her breakfast, closing the window when he notices her shivering in bed. When Sansa realizes Reek is there, she tries to talk to him and get him to help her. Reek continues to deny that he is Theon, until Sansa accuses him of betraying her family, and reminds him that he is Theon Greyjoy, son and heir of Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, and that he can redeem himself by lighting a candle in the broken tower in order to signal Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne to come and rescue her. Though Reek takes the candle, he reluctantly informs Ramsay of Sansa's plan in order to spare her further pain should it fail, but it is implied during his conversation with Sansa that his original personality of Theon Greyjoy is slowly beginning to resurface.
When Reek next brings Sansa breakfast, she confronts him about why he revealed her plan to Ramsay, and he responds that it was to protect her, since he has found out there is no escape from Ramsay: as Theon Greyjoy, he tried numerous times, but Ramsay always found him and took away pieces of him until there was nothing left of Theon anymore, only Reek. Sansa coldly expresses approval, adding that if she could do what Ramsay did to him all over again, she would.
Theon and Yara take the Iron Fleet to Volantis to hide and rest. While sheltering in Volantis, Theon and his sister visit a bar where the Ironborn are entertained by prostitutes. Theon is still traumatized by his ordeal with Ramsay and is also troubled by his guilt over his role in the deaths of the orphan boys. He also has little interest in the prostitutes and ale. Yara urges her brother to regain his self-confidence since she needs his help to travel to Slaver's Bay and secure an alliance with Daenerys. Yara plans to return to the Iron Islands and seek revenge against Euron, but tells Theon that if he's irreparably broken, he should kill himself and be done with it - but if he wishes to journey with her to Meereen, she needs the real Theon Greyjoy. At that moment, Theon fiercely locks eyes with Yara, a gaze reminiscent of his former, Ironborn self. Pleased that Theon's old personality is resurfacing, she kisses him on the forehead and proceeds to go bed the prostitute she was fondling earlier.
After being tortured by Ramsay Snow in the dungeons of the Dreadfort for over a year, Theon's original personality has been seemingly obliterated, and he is little more than a broken and half-insane prisoner. Among various tortures, Ramsay cut off several of his fingers and toes, flayed off sections of his skin, and even had Myranda and Violet arouse Theon in order to castrate him. Ramsay even mockingly renamed him "Reek", physically and psychologically coercing Theon into denying his identity as "Theon Greyjoy" and accepting "Reek" as his new name and identity. Ramsay also psychologically tortured him with fake escape attempts or promises of rescue, before recapturing him. As a result, Reek thinks any possibility of escape or fighting back against Ramsay is simply another ruse. He lives in great fear of Ramsay, desperate to avoid angering him and is in such a state of traumatic shock that he is very withdrawn and submissive.
In the novels, "Reek" was actually the name of Ramsay Snow's servant. Ramsay's mother demanded that Roose provide her help bringing up his unruly bastard, and Roose sent the original Reek. Roose claims he'd meant it to be a cruel joke, but Ramsay and Reek grew inseparable to the point Roose cannot be sure which of the pair was the more negative influence on the other. His real name might have been "Heke", but he was called "Reek" because he stank like rotting fish, apparently from some kind of medical condition, as the smell lingered no matter how much he bathed; according to Roose, Reek also wore flowers in his hair and was twice caught stealing perfume from his wife's bedchamber; the first time, Roose had him whipped for theft, remarking that even Reek's blood smelled wrong; the second time Reek drank the stolen bottle of perfume and nearly died as a result. When Ser Rodrik attempted to arrest Ramsay, he quickly switched clothes with his servant, so Rodrik ended up killing the servant while Ramsay passed himself off as Reek, and went back with them to Winterfell just before Theon's ironborn captured it. Ramsay later mockingly tortured Theon physically and psychologically until he was brainwashed into thinking he actually was Reek, and denying he was ever Theon. Or rather, Theon constantly reminds himself in his inner POV that "I am Reek", because when he showed any hint during his torture that he still considered himself "Theon" Ramsay would flay him again (Ramsay didn't just want him to say the words "I am Reek", but wanted him to even stop consciously thinking of himself as "Theon Greyjoy"). This subplot was cut from the TV series for screentime, and instead has Ramsay simply come up with the name "Reek" on a whim to demean and dehumanize Theon, noting that he stinks from being in the dungeons for so long, but Theon comes to insist that his name is Reek partly out of regret for the atrocities he committed against the Starks as Theon Greyjoy.
When the Ironborn under the command of Theon Greyjoy attack Torrhen’s Square to lure the remaining Stark forces away from Winterfell , Ser Rodrik Cassel assumes that it could be a raiding party led by the Mountain or sellswords paid by Tywin.
However, Daenerys rejects their demands and uses her three dragons to burn the slavers' fleet. Tyrion then orders Grey Worm to execute Razdal and Belicho, after they try to save their own skins by offering Yezzan to be killed. Tyrion then tells Yezzan to bring back tidings of Daenerys's power to the slaving cities. Meanwhile, Dothraki horsemen under Daario mop up the Sons of the Harpy. Following the defeat of the slavers' fleet, the Ironborn Yara and Theon Greyjoy arrive with a hundred ships. Meeting with Daenerys and Tyrion, they offer the services of their fleet if she helps them to defeat their uncle Euron Greyjoy and recognizes the independence of the Iron Islands . Daenerys accepts their offer on the condition that the Ironborn end their practice of reaving and terrorizing the mainland.