How did Theon change/did he realize his wrongdoings?

[Ruby]

For people who have finished ADWD.

[Will]

Lol wut

Did you read the book?

[Ruby]

Will wrote: "Lol wut

Did you read the book?"

Of course. I just want to start a discussion of HOW Theon changed. Sorry, I'll change the title. Haha

[[deleted user]]

Ummm, he was tortured into insanity, nearly forgot/denied who he was, was forced into self-examination, realized he hated himself, and decided the best thing for him was to die a man, not Ramsay's toy. Hence his final act of courage in rescuing Jeyne (who really should mean nothing to him), and jumping from the castle walls rather than risk capture.

In short: he loses his humanity, and then finds it again.

[Sue]

Theon went from the most reviled character in the book to one of the most sympathetic. I loved his path to redemption after he was so brutally tortured, not that he didn't deserve it. He did murder 2 children and betray the Stark family. I was so rooting for him when he was at the top of that wall, hoping he would jump off and run like hell. We'll see if he actually saves himself and Jeyne and l hope he kills Roose Bolton.

[Goran]

He lost a prick and found his humility eh.

[[deleted user]]

Sue wrote: "Theon went from the most reviled character in the book to one of the most sympathetic. I loved his path to redemption after he was so brutally tortured, not that he didn't deserve it. He did murder..."

The first chapter of WoW is up on GRRM's website and it's a Theon chapter. :) Although I'll admit, reading it made me wince, after all he's already gone through...Stannis is an extremely just person, and most of his supporters are old Stark allies. Stannis isn't sadistic like Ramsay Snow, but he's not exactly inclined to mercy either...

[Laura]

Ah, Theon Greyjoy...

Tough one to read. My personal feelings? I think, like many characters in this series, the author never gave us a flat "good vs. evil". He may show us someone as very evil from one POV, then he would show us why he did what he did from another POV and make us ponder that, maybe, that guy/woman is not that bad or, at least, it will make us understand their motivations a bit better.

Theon is one of the most extreme examples, worse than Jaime. We meet nice dude and smart-ass Theon, friends with the Starks, then we see him manipulated and humiliated by his horrible father and mocked by his sister, then we see him turn into respect-craving pathetic Theon, who betrays his foster home and family, allows "Reek" to murder those children and kills people who saw him grow up and treated him like one of the house.

Then you hear nothing from him again for ages and you don't miss him. In fact, you wish he's suffering big time. However, when I read all what Ramsay did to him (and I don't believe that he was castrated as the TV series showed, but that is another matter), I was filled with pity and compassion for that wretched creature that rhymes with meek. I think most readers went through a similar process.

That said, and to answer the question posted here, I'm not sure that Theon got to actually feel remorse for his actions. It is true, at some point he regrets not having been with Robb at the Red Wedding to die with him, but I'm not sure if that isn't merely a "dying would have been better than what I'm going through now", more than actual regrets for having betrayed Robb.

He lost his humanity and his identity, which now is starting to re-grasp, but I'm not sure that he's on his way to redemption (yet?). So far, the only thing on his favor is that he tried to save Jayne Poole. However, before this whole thing happened he also saved Bran. In fact, even in the middle of the sack of Winterfell, he seemed in an internal battle between what he felt he should do and what he though he had to do to get the respect that he wouldn't get from "his" men anyways. He lost that battle.

In any case, his story is still not over. We'll have to see if he actually gets to regret his actions and find redemption before he dies.