#25: Theon Greyjoy
Theon’s anger flared. He’d led men in war, hunted with a king, won honor in tourney melees, ridden with Brynden Blackfish and Greatjon Umber, fought in the Whispering Wood, bedded more girls than he could name, and yet this uncle was treating him as though he were still a child of ten.
A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin (Theon I, p95-6)
Theon, let's face it, is a pretty despicable character. He reminds me of Final Fantasy XIII; I spent the entire first disc wanting to like it. I really did. I got to the second disc and started to actively dislike it. By the third disc I just didn't care.
That said, Theon kind of gets totally fascinating by the fifth book. My fiancee - who had finished the series months before I did - kept telling me "Oh ho ho; Theon gets what's coming to him." I was all like, "Well good! I hope he got his head chopped off!"
Long story short - Theon takes over Winterfell; he fakes killing Bran and Tommen; Winterfell gets taken over by Stark Bannermen; Theon gets taken in by Ramsay Snow, a sick, sick bastard. I was all, "Man, screw Theon. That dude's the pits."
But no. Ohhhhhh no no no no. Theon gets completely. Broken. Down. To the point where he doesn't even remember who he used to be. He forces himself to un-remember his days as heir to the Seastone Chair. He comes up with clever (and ingenious, as far as the writing goes) ways to remind himself of the name that Ramsay gives him - "Reek". He's a shell of a man, completely removed from reality and only concerned with what his master requests or expects of him.
I love the dichotomy of the original Theon - an heir to a throne, cocky, expectant, entitled, used to luxury - to the "Reek" Theon - missing digits, pale, submissive, and used to living in dungeons. Theon is a really fascinating character who, even at the end of ADwD, is still kind of morally ambiguous. Sure, he's done some horrible things, but you're still not sure if you should root for him, pity him, or want him to die.
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