‘Game of Thrones’ season 4 spoilers: Who could be the next Theon Greyjoy?
When you watch “Game of Thrones” after reading the George R.R. Martin books, it is admittedly rather hard to be surprised by anything. However, we were then met with some surprise to see Theon Greyjoy playing a part at a time during the books when he was absent.
So what was the purpose of this? Basically, seeing Theon’s transformation into Reek gave producers the opportunity to have the character be remembered as he disappears from the book series, and Alfie Allen is loved so much that they did not want to let him go. With the understanding that there are only so many episodes in a season, and also some time constraints that keep the show from going on forever, there are some story-lines that will be forgotten; with that in mind, why not use the characters that you already have? (Warning: Spoilers ahead from the books … but not necessarily major ones.)
This is where the mystery comes in of how the series will handle Rickon Stark’s journey moving forward. Is he the least-interesting member of the family? Sure, and there are times when he may as well be a figment of Bran’s imagination. But he is a Stark nonetheless, and in the right circumstances he could be important to the story. Unfortunately, he more or less disappears from the books from here.
So what will the show do about this character? This could be an example of the benefits of having a good relationship with Martin. If the author clues David Benioff and D.B. Weiss in that this could be an important character down the line, it’s possible that we see Rickon again once or twice this coming season. Otherwise, he could be a missing player unless needed for something down the road. The sad news that does come with this is that if we lose Rickon, we also lose Osha. These two do go hand in hand right now, and the Wilding has been an interesting part of the show.
What’s your take on the Rickon character: Do you want to see more of him, or is this Stark character really rather useless? If you want to read more speculation on the upcoming premiere date, you can do so over at the link here.
Photo: HBO