Game of Thrones: Theon Greyjoy’s redemption story comes to an end

On Game of Thrones, the ironborn believe that what is dead may never die. And Theon Greyjoy will live on forever in the hearts and minds of us all.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones‘ “The Long Night.”

Theon Greyjoy wasn’t the most likable character when the Game of Thrones series first started. As a ward of the Stark family, he was treated like a lord and was a little bit too cocky about being the heir to the Iron Islands. And if that wasn’t a turnoff, then it surely was how obnoxious he was about his female exploits. All the same, he seemed faithful to the Starks, or so we thought.

After proclaiming Robb Stark as his king, Theon headed to the Iron Islands to ask his father for fleets of ships to assist the Stark war against the Lannisters. But when he finds that he’s nothing to brag about in his hometown and that his father was going to take the north, Theon is quickly on board to prove his legitimacy as an ironborn heir. In his defense, it wasn’t his ego that took over but the cruel reality that he was a joke to his family.

That’s all it took for Theon to sack Winterfell and burn two farm boys to pretend he had killed Rickon and Bran who had escaped up north with Osha. After all those years that the Starks treated him well, he threw it all away to make his father proud. For awhile, Theon tried to force his way into gaining respect by ruining his allegiances. And still, his sister and father were never impressed. There was a moment when Theon realized that he had made some grave mistakes, but it was far too late. Karma came knocking on Theon’s door when Ramsey took over Winterfell.

Theon experienced an immense amount of torture at the hands of Ramsey and transformed into Reek. His male anatomy was mailed to Balon, and that’s when Theon  knew that his father was good for nothing because he didn’t even come to save him. Instead, Balon disowned Theon as his heir. I still don’t think fans rooting for Theon to get his just desserts ever wanted him to go through Ramsey’s torture. But the punishment evolved Theon into someone who cared little of titles, ego, money, women, or any other vanities.

Unfortunately, this also meant that Reek could not defend himself. After season 3, Theon could barely hold a fight against a feather. In a way, it seemed that he accepted his fate and willingly allowed pain due to what he had done to the Starks, especially after finding out about the Red Wedding through Ramsey. It wasn’t until Theon saw Sansa Stark back at Winterfell that the real Theon started to make progress deep inside of Reek.

Somehow he mustered the courage to save Sansa and run off with her even though he was never able to protect her from Ramsey’s advances before. Next came Theon’s selfless support of Yara’s claim to the Iron Throne. And although he failed to stop Euron Greyjoy from taking Yara as a prisoner, he courageously asked Jon Snow for Daenerys’ help to rescue Yara. This came as a shock since Jon could have killed Theon for his past betrayals.

With Yara now safe and headed to the Iron Islands, Theon could have followed, but he chose to join the Starks. It was a declaration of love for the family that he betrayed. He was willing to die for them. Theon returned to the north with the ironborn but this time it was to join the Starks at the Battle of Winterfell. Sansa was so happy to see Theon return because he was finally home for the first time in ages. And that’s because Winterfell has always been his home.

Out of all the possible volunteers to protect Bran who was the Night King’s target, Theon came forward. The irony is that he was stepping forward to defend the same boy he had bragged he killed. By this time, all signs of Reek had been shed and what was left was the real Theon. The Theon that realized that the Starks are as much family as his sister Yara.

Theon fought valiantly against the wights to protect Bran and was the last man standing in the end. But when the wights parted for the Night King, he knew that their gooses were cooked. Bran thanked Theon, and that was the last thing he needed to receive closure. Theon had made it up to the Starks and needed nothing else. He used the last of his strength to charge toward the Night King in one last-ditch effort and was killed.

RIP Theon! You will be sorely missed but never forgotten for the hero that you became. What is dead may never die.

Game of Thrones continues next Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

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