Question for Game of Thrones fans re: Theon Greyjoy

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Is the Theon Greyjoy character intended just be some sort of a big joke by Martin and/or the writers?

Seriously, I think the writers just seem to get some sort of perverse thrill messing with his character. Accidentially flirts with his sister, pushed around by the Starks, no one accepts him as conqueror of Winterfell even when he pretends to kill the youngest Stark, his men don't care about his speeches, he's taken prisoner and tortured, then rescued, and then tortured by his rescuer, then seduced by two women just to torture him even more.

I mean, if Game of Thrones were The Naked Gun, he'd be Officer Nordberg.

Plus his name. It's Theon Greyjoy. That in and of itself sounds like a joke.

(I haven't read the books, so no spoilers, please...)

[siligut]

1. Yes, his existence is a cruel joke

Maybe he is intended to be the contrast for Jon Snow, whom he dislikes.

He is weak and pitiful but I still don't like seeing him tortured.

Martin wrote him this way, maybe as revenge for a person he knows IRL, because it really is over the top.

[Solly Mack]

2. I don't want him tortured. He does deserve (Stark) justice though.

Nothing about Ramsay or Roose says justice. May the Others take them both.

I can't really go into my thinking about the character without giving things away (spoilers) though.

Read the books.

He has a purpose to one of the themes. Sorta.

[Yavin4]

3. Theon does have a purpose. His entire storyline is complex.

The torture scenes on the show are not in the book.