Game Of Thrones Theory: 10 Hints Jon Snow Will Become King In The North

6. Rickon Stark

Another spanner in the works is the fact that Bran and Rickon are not actually dead, although that information isn't widely known. However, one person who does know it is Lord Manderly, and he's a pretty key figure in all of this. He knows where Rickon is, and makes an agreement with Davos Seaworth for the smuggler to bring him back, in exchange of loyalty to Stannis. Backing up a little bit though, before this pact is made, he first kills Davos. Or at least pretends to. Lord Manderly pretends to simply be a fat oaf, who swears loyalty to King's Landing and has accepted the explanation for the Red Wedding. He orders Davos to be killed, but instead has someone else murdered, and makes it look as though it was Davos. Manderly and Robert Glover - younger brother of Galbart, who signed Robb's will - tell Davos of their discovery that Rickon is alive and at Skagos, and send Davos to retrieve him. However, there's some pretty choice wording on the part of the Lord Too-Fat-To-Sit-A-Horse, who is much cleverer than he likes to let on. He tells Davos to bring back his "liege lord", something than can be interpreted in a variety of ways - and indeed has as part of this theory. Is he using liege lord in the same way that he would king? Or is he using liege lord because he knows there is someone else who would be king? There's also the question of whether Manderly knows that Bran is alive, as he would come before Rickon in succession. However, whatever Manderly's true meaning, he'll at least have Rickon there as an insurance policy if Jon cannot be made King in the North, as he would still have a greater claim than fake Arya or Sansa. Another key point is that Lord Manderly's words to Davos are clearly personal. He uses 'I', rather than 'we' or 'House Manderly'. This is likely very intentional as a get-out clause of swearing fealty to Stannis and instead raising a Stark - whichever one, but still most probably Jon - to be King in the North. As I'll get onto, his actions are not those of a man who intends or expects to come back from Winterfell alive, and if he dies his son and heir, Wylis, will not be sworn to Stannis.