There aren't already enough reasons?
You're assuming Rhaegar and Lyanna weren't married in secret. It's possible he didn't kidnap her they fled in love with each other...
There aren't already enough reasons?
Yeah, the eventual showdown over Winterfell has been building forever now. WTF difference does inserting Rickon into it make? I personally hope that the Greatjon gets hungry one night and eats the whiny little shit, he's never had anything to add to the story and using him now would be lazy. Either write him off entirely or at least have the courtesy ease him back into things and then give him something important to do later on.
Yeah, the eventual showdown over Winterfell has been building forever now. WTF difference does inserting Rickon into it make? I personally hope that the Greatjon gets hungry one night and eats the whiny little shit, he's never had anything to add to the story and using him now would be lazy. Either write him off entirely or at least have the courtesy ease him back into things and then give him something important to do later on.
Because you're looking at it from the perspective of someone who knows he's alive. As far as the North is concerned, Theon killed both Bran and Rickon. In Westeros, not every noble born is known throughout the lands, sure they know they exist but they don't know what they look like. The Umbers, being Stark loyalists would know Rickon, as they probably would have visited Winterfell a time or two during his youth. They can prove that he is in fact Rickon Stark, and the last remaining (so everyone would believe) heir to Winterfell. The Starks have ruled the north for thousands of years as well.Yeah, the eventual showdown over Winterfell has been building forever now. WTF difference does inserting Rickon into it make? I personally hope that the Greatjon gets hungry one night and eats the whiny little shit, he's never had anything to add to the story and using him now would be lazy. Either write him off entirely or at least have the courtesy ease him back into things and then give him something important to do later on.
If so, that will be a great/cool development. Still a ridiculous re-insertion of Rickon, but it's a good storyline device for sure.
Because you're looking at it from the perspective of someone who knows he's alive. As far as the North is concerned, Theon killed both Bran and Rickon. In Westeros, not every noble born is known throughout the lands, sure they know they exist but they don't know what they look like. The Umbers, being Stark loyalists would know Rickon, as they probably would have visited Winterfell a time or two during his youth. They can prove that he is in fact Rickon Stark, and the last remaining (so everyone would believe) heir to Winterfell. The Starks have ruled the north for thousands of years as well.
That's why he's important.
I get why he's supposedly important. But he's not important to taking Winterfell. The Boltons are the enemies of everyone in the north, Sansa is alive and can rally the banners and Jon will be coming south now that his oath with the Nights Watch is ended. The shit going down at Winterfell is going down whether Rickon is there or not. Tossing him into the mix now makes fuck-all difference.
Hopefully it's Chris Elliot or some fudgy old bastard playing the suddenly-aged and completely forgotten Rickon.
That would be awesome
He's important to Winterfell because the Northern houses that hate the Boltons (which is pretty much all of them) have a Stark to rally behind. Sansa being alive doesn't matter, with everyone believing the Stark men dead, all she's good for is giving Ramsay Winterfell, she can't rule it on her own now that she is married. Jon is still a Snow, he can't be heir to Winterfell, as much as we would like that, it's how they do things and it's why Roose had to legitimize Ramsay, so at the least he could inherit the Dreadfort. It is also unclear how Jon wants to go forward, whether he believes his vow to the Watch is over is for him to decide, even when Stannis said he'd make Jon a Stark (something he always wanted), he still turned it down, viewing his vow to the Watch as more important.
Yes, shit is about to get real at Winterfel, but Rickon being alive is important for the remainder of the North to crush the Boltons.
Aye, they all hate them and would gladly be rid of the Boltons, but with the current knowledge that all male heirs are dead, there is no unifying cause. Thus, you end up with bitter northerners going to war, but then fighting amongst themselves and after to decide who gets Winterfell. With a male Stark appearing, you now have a unified front against the Boltons in order to restore the Starks.
It's currently like Syria--a bunch of factions that all hate the same entity, but neither trust each other nor have a plan for the endgame. Rickon, or any male Stark changes things greatly--and Roose understood this.
Don't forget that the previous Hand o' King was murdered on Cersei/Tywin's orders because he had first learned about Gendrey (Ned was following up). ...it's basically the central KL/Stark vs Lannister plot of the first season.
MehI don't foresee a shit-ton more Ironborn appearing. They set up the inevitable power struggle last week for the Kingsmoot between Yara and Euron - they don't need to add all the other characters from the book IMO
I'm guessing the "gift" presented to Ramsay (shown in the "coming next week" after ep. 2) is Rickon. That will provide the reason for the assault on Winterfell.
I hope to hell this isn't true. It would make the entire thing no better than a sitcom story. Everything could have been avoided by Lyanna just saying "Im not kidnapped, I love him." Ugg...
Common theory but it's going to be really disappointing to see the deeply loyal Umbers betray the Starks like that. Unless Rickon isn't actually under Umber guardianship right now. Or "gift" means the revelation that they have him and are going to be rallying the North under him.
Not really. While her "kidnapping" may have been the catalyst what really kicked off Robert's Rebellion was when Ned Stark's father and brother were killed by the king after they asked for Lyanna back. Nothing Lyanna said would have undone what he did.
Kingsmoot might include Theon too, although in his state I doubt he'll want to rule.
They demand Lyanna back because she was kidnapped by Rhaegar. She says she isn't kidnapped then none of this happens.
LOL no doubt. Just totally and summarily ignored. Poor Gendry -- 1st born of Robert Baratheon. What makes him so odd is that his story is fairly "important" early on. Ned Stark was hot on the trail...
Well, they show Lyanna in episode 2. After bringing her up in the first season then reinforcing her importance in season 5 and finally showing her in a flashback it seems like she's the character equivalent of Chekov's gun.
Looks like the Ned Flashback shown in the season 6 trailers will be shown soon.
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He returns in the second half of season 7 and all of season 8 as the Aragorn character with a magic sword and influence over a host of undead ghosts of kings and knights from ages past, he fights fire with fire and saves the world... oops maybe I should have used spoiler tags...
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Common theory but it's going to be really disappointing to see the deeply loyal Umbers betray the Starks like that. Unless Rickon isn't actually under Umber guardianship right now. Or "gift" means the revelation that they have him and are going to be rallying the North under him.
And what would they get in exchange if they did have him?