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There's a great little moment In the Big Finish audio story with Nine & the Brig reuniting where the latter notices the former's hair & jokingly says how they'll make soldier out him yet. Nine's immediate (almost hostile) response of "Don't." is one Ecclestone really puts his heart into.

It's a lot about Nyssa's luck that she goes through all that and yet later (in the Big Finish audios) still manages to encounter an even worse version of the Master.

"Hurt people" hurt people sums up a lot of the sibling drama. Asha is many ways just as insecure and defensive about her status as Theon is and much of the series is a very long illustration on how the shared Greyjoy bravado ends up destroying their plans by bringing them to the point of ruin. Her finally getting real empathy like Theon did for Jeyne would be the culmination of finally getting past the mask of faux Iron Born strength she's put up ever since Balon's failed rebellion.

What works about the Lumiat is that she’s clearly someone that wants to do good, but she has a lack of deeper understanding of what that entails that she essentially does an imitation of it. She’s entirely genuine while still subtly sounding like she’s hoping for affirmation from the Doctor and/or the universe that she’s doing the right thing. Its a quiet distinction that still differentiates her from simply being exactly like the Doctor.

The audio work he’s gone for the Big Finish War Master series managed to make him even more chilling: “Genocide is easy. That’s the push of a button, the blink of an eye, the flick of a switch, and – poof! – everybody’s gone. But keeping one alive - the last of their kind - making sure they must live out the last of their days clinging onto existence with a view that never lets them forget. That takes planning… patience… power… and I have that power. This war won’t take that away from me. I won’t let it.”

Within the context of the show, it points to the fundamental tragedy of Theon’s place; his status as Robb’s brother and seeming member of the Starks is something only really asserted by the Ironborn out of disdain for him or by the North after his betrayal. There’s something bitterly ironic in the fact that the timeline where Theon stayed loyal is probably one where Sansa never says Rickon and Bran are his brothers nor Jon Snow admitting that Ned was his father. Only when he’s apparently a kinslayer does Theon have kin.

While its part of a broader issue of various character arcs/plot lines being collapsed into others, the specific issue is that it makes Theon’s story ultimately revolve around the Starks when it shouldn’t. As problematic as his story could get in seasons 6 & 7, it was at its heart largely about his recovery and small steps towards reclaiming who he was in various ways. To those that only view/care about Theon in regards to how he betrayed his “family”, was punished, and tries to make up for it, his fate works because its the conclusion to what they view as a redemption arc. Tragic perhaps because he died, but not bleak because they see his story as a fundamentally done once he’s made penance to Bran and company. Its just that to those that followed Theon’s because he’s so engaging as a character, his fate ultimately feels like a waste. Not just because there’s so much interesting ground that could be covered by him surviving, but because we see him as having fundamental value outside the relationship with the Starks. His demons, insecurities, triumphs, struggles; they resonate far beyond his history with Robb, Sansa, or Bran, and deserved to be explored and concluded on their own terms. In essence he’s a character whose thematic worth is much more than just being a Greyjoy and a Stark. Its just a pity the show didn’t seem to realize that in the end.

Theon’s dream become Stark is so sad(for me). I think that he just wanted have family. He was so far from his real family.Yes, Rodrik and Maron bulled Theon and Balon was bad father.(I think this is one of reason why Robb and Eddard were something like brother and father for Theon) But he also have mother(who stillwait for him and love him), Asha and Dagmer(who as unkle for Theon). For me Theon always is Harlaw and Greyjoy.

This is why I like the idea of Theon having an unconventional group that he eventually settles with; Jeyne, Asha, Dagmer, maybe even Tristifer too. Not quite Greyjoys, not really Starks, but in its own way... a family. 

And it adds to the warped irony of Theon’s existence at this point. He has been too much of a Kraken among the Wolves and too much of a Wolf among the Krakens. It is only when he has seemingly had his identity flayed out of him, his very mind almost entirely reshaped that he has found the pack that is accepting unconditionally. The family that called him a ward didn’t trust him, and the family that he was born from didn’t respect him, but those believed to be monstrous but actually fundamentally decent that have embraced him because on some level they ultimately see him as one of them.   Something strangely fitting about that. 

this is also such a cliche and i think people maybe got tired of it a bit and therefore revert to theon being unpleasant and snarky and not entirely unlike he once was post-ramsay but i also 100000% like that trope where someone who knew and was upset about theon meets theon again and theon is so…. gutted and silent and weird and not biting back at all or only in the most cryptic and barely intelligible ways and any attempt to engage him like ‘before’ (trading insults, trading laughter, etc) fall flat and it seems impossible to discuss real grievances of the past with this theon and it’s so weird and uncomfortable so so so uncomfortable and upsetting and uncomfortable and what will you do with this nasty ball of feelings now, faced with this? love it !!!!!

There’s a lot of post Ramsay fics with a Theon/Arya reunion that are inherently fascinating when they go this route. 

And there’s an additional disturbing element in that in essence this is the second time a variation of this has happened to him. No the Starks didn’t torture or punish him, but his status as “ward” was very public knowledge as a hostage to a powerful family. His existence was in essence a demonstration of very specific regional values; see the Ironborn boy whom is treated kindly and decently by the Warden of the North but will be executed if honor demands it.  It explains his actions when he returned to the Iron Islands even more as an attempt to be the prominent figure by his own volition and acclaim rather than the tamed boy in the Stark’s cage like he was to so many at Winterfell. It makes his forced transformation into a beaten dog by another Northern lord all the more tragic. 

Part of the issue is that in the last three seasons the series can’t seemingly decide what Theon’s biggest internal struggle actually is. The recovery from Ramsay and regaining of agency is seemingly the focus at first, but the show then veers into the Greyjoy vs. Stark question near the end and it does have a sense feeling a bit small in comparison to the more intense mental journey he’s been going on.  It feels like a consequence of the show not really giving Theon that much screen time in the final seasons which is a blessing and a curse. On one hand Alfie Allen could do so much with so little and given the quality of the writing elsewhere one can’t help but think his story benefited a bit from not being ruined from the kind of dubious directions that happened with other characters. On the other hand there was so much more that could have done that it still feels like a missed opportunity. 

While I’ve seen the sentiment by other fans or fics of “Theon paid for his crimes”, to me his development in season 5 and after is the realization that what Ramsay did to him was not justice and that it really is just the acts of an evil man. I think that understanding (that such suffering is not his righteous place by fate) is what gets that aforementioned quest really going. And the events in the last three seasons are much more interesting with that continued goal in mind. Its easy to look at all of it as just restitution for what he’s done, but a lot of is Theon willfully going into volatile situations not because he seeks pain or is suicidal but because he’s gradually giving himself control again. There’s a risk of harm, however its one that he has chosen to take rather than being forced do via a captor. Its the critical step away from mental condition of belonging to only Ramsay to gradually becoming his own person again despite the internal and external difficulties.  Even if one is more drawn in by the redemption story, I’d still say that him eventually regaining his agency simply makes that narrative all the more powerful. Him continually doing what he can for others (Yara, Sansa, Bran) because he’s deciding to do so himself for his reasons, not simply due to what he owes, has much more emotional resonance. For all the talk of him as a Greyjoy/Stark/Prisoner/Turncloak etc his ultimate triumph is truly being Theon and making his own destiny. That’s what gives the eventual selfless courage true meaning, because in the end, it was his. 

The interesting thing with Yara is that while the insensitivity towards his trauma is unfortunate, her real mistake with him is in that doesn’t realize how much her brother isn’t just Theon anymore. In a lot of ways she views what he’d become under Ramsay as a challenge for him to overcome and disassociate himself from. It is helping him from her perspective and within the culture of the Ironborn. The thing is her imploring him to be the real Theon again in a lot of contexts would be admirable, but it doesn’t recognize that for a variety of reasons he can’t be just that person again. She sees him as a real man which is supportive... without fully understanding the full picture of who he is. While this may be an unpopular opinion, Theon’s breakdown in the battle against Euron ultimately shows the failure of her approach. In that most critical moment he can’t wholly separate himself from either his trauma nor the instinct of Reek to save Theon from harm. While him jumping from the ship was the smartest thing he could have done, it underscores the limitations of the healing he’s gotten by her side.  In that sense I don’t think its a coincidence that his breakthroughs after ultimately come from accepting in some small way, all the parts of his identity within him. His conversation with Jon about being a Greyjoy and Stark in many ways better applies to reconciling the shared nature of both Theon and Reek, and his victory over the Ironborn on the beach amounts to taking a deformity largely associated with the latter and using it as a strength.  Yara was a critical part of Theon reclaiming himself and her viewing him as a true man and brother did invaluable help to getting him past the sense of self loathing and despair he had. But just as importantly it was him seeing the lowly creature she was disgusted by and ultimately concluding that that fragment of him was not something to reject and bury. And how fitting that its that dual person who ultimately does save Yara when it counts. 

I don’t think Ramsay every really understood the psychological makeup of how the being he made actually served to shield Theon from harm and that the bastard didn’t really destroy Greyjoy as much as he forced him to hide so deeply behind Reek that Bolton could not find him again.  Its why Sansa could eventually be saved because while Reek may not have have the will to outright defy his master he had enough to let Theon re-emerge, and do what was necessary. It was a personal triumph for both, with personal and moral courage coming forth when it was most needed. In that sense it helps explain how Greyjoy could emerge into becoming a selfless and more courageous man after his time in capture because there is a Reek who’s primary purpose is to lessen Theon’s pain by whatever means he has. Which is understandable because that’s he’s always done.  Theon rises and its Reek who catches him if he ever comes back down. 

Alfie Allen’s a decent looking guy so I have to assume there was a deliberate attempt to make Theon look rough in the first two season because I can’t look at him without thinking of a Simpsons scene: Ned: *sees Cat* Oh Catelyn, my loyal wife. *sees Sansa* And Sansa, my little princess. *sees Theon* And who can forget dear Rat Boy. Theon: Rat boy?! I resent that. *bites wall* Maester Luwin: For the last time Lord Greyjoy, stop gnawing on the castle.