Look you guys, I got REALLY excited when Theon Greyjoy and Jon Snow were face-to-face, something that hadn’t happened since the very first season of Game of Thrones. (It’s possible the only scenes they’d shared were in episode 1?)
I got so excited, that even though I wasn’t really planning on keeping up with my usual blogging schedule, I wrote something up about their reunion for the Watchers on the Wall website.
If you are so inclined, you can read my article there:
The White Wolf and the Crippled Kraken
I used the reunion between these two characters to discuss their similarities and differences. I consider Jon Snow the Bizarro twin of Theon, and vice versa.
I have this gut feeling that their fates will ultimately be intertwined.
Am I crazy? Maybe. Feel free to tell me so.
(Comments are always welcome. Super welcome! But if you want to talk spoilery Game of Thrones talk with me (also welcome) I’d invite you to visit my Safe Spoilers page on my backup blog. That way my non-book-reading friends won’t be shocked with foreknowledge.)
Image from Game of Thrones, obviously.
If you liked this article, thank you! I have all of my Game of Thrones related articles on my handy-dandy Game of Thrones page should you want to read more but don’t want to navigate around my site.
© Patrick Sponaugle 2017 Some Rights Reserved
I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time 
It’s an interesting parallel- but part of the difference between them also originates in their vaguely similar upbringing in Winterfell.Jon was brought up to believe that Ned Stark was his father. Theon was brought up knowing that the Starks were in some way responsible for killing his family… So in some ways it is logical that Jon would feel he was almost a Stark, whereas Theon would end up betraying the Starks and then feeling guilty for it.
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Great comment! People give Theon a lot of heat for siding with Balon over Robb, but honestly, Theon owed Balon his filial duty, that’s part of the upbringing and values Ned would have instilled.
Ned wouldn’t have been happy with Theon’s actions, of course, but he’d recognize an obligation.
Thank you for reading my feature on Theon and Jon, and for sharing your thoughts. 😃
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Loved loved loved the article Pat. You brought up so many fantastic points and parallels. Although I’ve always considered Theon and Jon brothers, due to their shared upbringing, I’d never sat to down analyze it quite the way you did.
Theon is more multi-layered as you say, compared to Jon. I also believe he was always a weaker man than Jon, more easily influenced.
Both start out with a massive chip on their soldiers. Jon always knew that he was half Stark. A big advantage over Theon. Jon, like Theon, needed to prove himself. But he took on lessons and advice the Right Way.
In my mind, Jon is a leader. Theon is a follower. Who followed the wrong path on multiple occasions. If you noticed, he frequently vied for Ned’s attention and love, sometimes obsequiously (killing the pups the second Ned spoke, holding Ned’s great sword at the Deserter of the Night’s watch beheading).
Theon is like the episode’s title: The Spoils of War. That’s what he is, literally.
Did he owe fealty to Balon? Yes, but up to a point. So did Jaimie to the Mad King. But when madness dictated he abandon all principle, slaughter not only his father, but the entire population of King’s Landing, he rejected fealty.
Like you, I don’t blame Theon for jumping ship. What else could he do? No way could he beat Euron in a fight. Or reach Yara in time before Euron happily slit Yara’s throat – out of spite.
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OMG! You calling Theon spoils of war is so accurate! I love that.
Thank you also for the leader/follower dynamic in regards to Ned’s adopted lads. I think that’s spot on.
😃👍🏻
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heh, I do have moments of inspiration .. occasionally 🙂
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I think you’ve hit something here, and their respective destinies also seem to suggest the idea of sacrificing and suffering in the beginning to real a reward at the end. Jon did that. Jon in fact gave the ultimate sacrifice and is now king (my Jesus parallel STILL holds up!) albeit a reluctant one who only wants to help his people, followers (disciples? Let me have this!) whereas Theon went for glory from the get go. He fell to temptation and was brutally punished for it, but it’s hard for me to completely blame him. He was trying to impress his father so that Balon would respect him as much as Asha/Yara. That’s a huge spit in the face to a man in a heavily patriarchal society. Jon again would’ve had no problem given Sansa rule of Winterfell or even having her be Queen in the North. The two sides of the coin analogy is very apt!
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Thanks for this comment, I am glad you agree with the two sides of the coin.
You’re right about Jon and Sansa, in regards to Theon and Yara. (I almost typed ‘Arya’ – not correct at all.
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!!! I just realized that Yara and Arya are anagrams of each other :O
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They claim the reason they changed her name from Asha (in the books) to Yara was to disambiguate from Osha the wildling. They should have called her something distinctive to prevent Yara/ Arya confusion.
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I actually JUST thought of it in that moment, but I did hear about the Asha/Osha issue (ha!). They probably could have picked a name from the books, since there are over a thousand characters. I guess though her and Arya are pretty similar in quite a few ways though 🙂
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Interesting perspective. I’m hoping Theon survived this long for a reason!
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Very cool! I had never really thought about the parallels between Jon and Theon before, though now it seems so obvious….
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Thank you! Back when people used to find Jon whiny, I would pitch him as a comparison character to Theon, so I was ready to carry this forward.
I’m glad you’re enjoying my posts on Watchers on the Wall. 😃
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Hi Patrick! I just watched the finale, so let me put in a spoiler warning:
I loved the scene between Jon and Theon was great and emphasized the similarities mentioned in this post. I think it was made especially plain in the shot where Theon was punching the Iron Islander and how it resembled the shot of Jon punching Ramsay. I just thought that was a neat little connection I wanted to point out. Hope you enjoyed the finale!
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I did, and I am glad you wanted to tell me your thoughts on the Jon/Theon interaction.
I agree on what you’re saying. The beach fight with Theon on top bashing the guy could be a deliberate nod to Jon and Ramsay
Thumbs up!
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