Or he deliberately worded the oath that way with the intent of eventually doing this.

I can find sympathy in that he thinks he's geninely doing what is right, but then, the zealots, the ones who truly believe they are doing God's work on Earth, are often the most dangerous of all, because they can always rationalize the ends as justifying the means.

"Dickens / XMas Carol thing with Bran"? Huh?

Apropos of nothing, you might have my new favorite user name.

I did find the linked theory pretty interesting. I didn't know or remember a lot of stuff in it, and particularly the resemblance of Beric to Bloodraven is really interesting. What I'm curious to know is how much evidence there is to one theory or another as to his motivations. GRRM deliberately invites a lot of…

Roose seemed to inexplicably think that kind of behavior would keep Ramsay in line, not drive him to murder his family.

I think he will be— didn't Beric Dondarrion talk about feeling a little less like himself after each resurrection? I just wonder what form that will take with Jon.

You should read the comments on his reviews of The Shield and The Knick sometime.

Given that his apparent next intention is to order an attack on the Night's Watch, with no idea that Jon Snow has so many Wildlings willing to fight for him, I imagine Ramsay is going to be his own undoing pretty quickly.

How cool would it be for GRRM to have built up an implied mythology around Jon Snow, only to pull the rug out from under the whole thing?

I was more offended by the misuse of "over/under."

it's the Iron Islands, you have to risk paying the Iron Price every time you walk to and from any tower, or you're not fit to be king.

Alternate-series scene:

That's probably true. But to that end, I suspect other houses won't care if Ramsay did it or not. Basically, if a house was inclined to support Ramsay, then Roose was poisoned by his enemies; if a house thinks the Boltons are traitors and Ramsay is a lunatic, then Ramsay killed Roose and needs to be put down. This…

What do you mean by "theories about the fact that the Three Eyed Crow is most likely not a good guy"? Is that a fact, or a theory?

I don't think it is a revenge tale. Arya is going to have to lose her identity to become a Faceless Man, which also means parting with her desire for revenge.

OLLY: Jon! Jon, I'm sorry!
*JON eats Olly's head in one bite*

5.5.

I don't think Westerosi forensic science is super duper up to speed. Particularly the part where Ramsay lets anyone else examine the body.

Was it just a theory? I'd been under the impression that everyone (or at least Roose) knew that was what had happened, but that there wasn't much he could do about it— "Well, my bastard son killed my heir, so I can kill him and have no heir at all" isn't a great option.