An interesting little thing I wanted to talk about… it’s widely accepted as canon that Catelyn both dislikes and distrusts Theon. Now, we can maybe make the argument that she doesn’t particularly like him – at least she seems to find him kind of obnoxious with all his smug smiles she doesn’t understand and grandiose posturing. But does she really distrust him?
I think this assumption comes from three passages, primarily. First of all, Theon’s own POV in Clash:
Lord Eddard had tried to play the father from time to time, but to Theon he had always remained the man who’d brought blood and fire to Pyke and taken him from his home. As a boy, he had lived in fear of Stark’s stern face and great dark sword. His wife was, if anything, even more distant and suspicious.
—ACOK, Theon I
Theon here is being a little bitter about all the Starks, save Robb, and while the overall trajectory of his feelings about them is likely genuine, Theon does tend to dramatize a bit. Cat, anyway, is generally a somewhat suspicious and distant person, especially to someone who she’s not particularly fond of. But also, we do have someone to compare Theon with here. Is there a person we know Cat sincerely dislikes and distrust? Yup. Jon. And I don’t think its controversial to say that she treats Jon a lot worse than we ever see her treat Theon.
Here’s the second passage that gets quoted in connection to this is from Cat’s own POV:
She studied Theon Greyjoy’s sly smile, wondering what it meant. That young man had a way of looking as though he knew some secret jest that only he was privy to; Catelyn had never liked it.
—ACOK, Catelyn I
She doesn’t like his smiling and she reads them as sly. Of course, Cat isn’t the only person to regard Theon’s joking and smiling as weird, unsettling, inappropriate or confusing. Does the fact that she reads them as sly or like he knows something secret indicate her being suspicious of him? In the absence of any other context, maybe.
But Cat never actually displays real distrust toward Theon. She has no objection to him being on Robb’s war councils. She has no objection to him being a messenger between Robb’s camp and the Blackfish’s outriders, nor the fact that he’s one of those outriders. She never seeks to exclude him from Robb’s inner circle. In fact, she does the exact opposite.
These are the members of her super-secret meeting about her suspicions regarding Bran’s attempted murder:
“Robb arrived before her food. Rodrik Cassel came with him, and her husband’s ward Theon Greyjoy, and lastly Hallis Mollen, a muscular guardsman with a square brown beard. He was the new captain of the guard, Robb said.”
—AGOT, Catelyn III
Maester Lewin will join them in a moment as well. So, her son, the maester, the captain of the guard, the master-at-arms/castellan…and Theon. Like if anyone is superfluous here, it’s Theon, but she has no objection to including him whatsoever, nor does her POV indicate for a moment that maybe he should be there.
Later, when Cat is telling Robb off for not giving the command of the host that’s going to war to free her husband, she offers the following possible candidates for command:
"No one?” she said. “Pray, who were those men I saw here a moment ago? Roose Bolton, Rickard Karstark, Galbart and Robett Glover, the Greatjon, Helman Tallhart … you might have given the command to any of them. Gods be good, you might even have sent Theon, though he would not be my choice.”
—AGOT, Catelyn VIII
Theon’s not her first or even third choice, sure, but that’s clearly about experience and not trust, given that Theon is a nineteen year old lad whose never fought in a battle, not to mention led men into one, unlike all of these other seasoned lords.
But what about Pyke? That’s the third major passage that tends to be quote, Cat’s opposition to sending Theon to Pyke. You know, this one:
Catelyn ignored that. “I’ll say again, I would sooner you sent someone else to Pyke, and kept Theon close to you.”
“Who better to treat with Balon Greyjoy than his son?”
“Jason Mallister,” offered Catelyn. “Tytos Blackwood. Stevron Frey. Anyone… but not Theon.”
—ACOK, Catelyn I
That’s the part that’s usually quoted, but here’s the rest of that conversation:
Her son squatted beside Grey Wind, ruffling the wolf’s fur and incidentally avoiding her eyes. “Theon’s fought bravely for us. I told you how he saved Bran from those wildlings in the wolfswood. If the Lannisters won’t make peace, I’ll have need of Lord Greyjoy’s longships.”
“You’ll have them sooner if you keep his son as hostage.”
“He’s been a hostage half his life.”
“For good reason,” Catelyn said. “Balon Greyjoy is not a man to be trusted. He wore a crown himself, remember, if only for a season. He may aspire to wear one again.”
—ACOK, Catelyn I
The person Cat doesn’t trust, first and foremost, is Balon. Cat doesn’t think Theon’s a good choice to treat with Balon not because she’s expecting Theon to turn on them, but because she thinks he has more utility as a hostage. It may be that Cat senses the immense conflict of interest possibly looming here as well. She’s older and wiser than Robb, after all (even if he rarely deigns to actually listen to her). But she’s throwing out her best arguments and she never quite brings this up explicitly, and to the extent she does, it’s Balon and his political ambitions that she’s concerned about. Cat’s thought process is basically: Balon can’t be trusted to not have some crazy political aspirations and do god knows what > the best way to keep Balon in line is to have something hanging over him like the life of his son > any competent lord could negotiate a treaty > thus Theon is best kept close to keep him away from Balon’s possible plotting and as a bargaining chip to boot. Any distrust Cat has here is just a healthy understanding of how someone (any person, really, this isn’t Theon-specific) might be tempted to…you know…align with their own family in their plans. But that’s more subtextual, a “sense of discomfort” type of thing. The actual distrust is aimed at Balon. The argument isn’t “Theon isn’t trustworthy” it’s “Theon is more useful here.”
And, really, in a way, Cat here is just following Ned’s advice from back in AGOT:
When the door had closed behind him, Ned turned back to his wife. “Once you are home, send word to Helman Tallhart and Galbart Glover under my seal. They are to raise a hundred bowmen each and fortify Moat Cailin. Two hundred determined archers can hold the Neck against an army. Instruct Lord Manderly that he is to strengthen and repair all his defenses at White Harbor, and see that they are well manned. And from this day on, I want a careful watch kept over Theon Greyjoy. If there is war, we shall have sore need of his father’s fleet.”
—AGOT, Eddard IV
Cat never shows any elevated distrust or suspicion toward Theon than she does toward anyone else who she’s not specifically close to, really. Even on the opposite, she displays a significant amount more trust than you’d expect of someone to have toward their hostage. Even after she gets news that Theon has “killed” Bran and Rickon, her reaction isn’t “I knew it!” it’s this:
“Bran and Rickon tried to escape, but were taken at a mill on the Acorn Water. Theon Greyjoy has mounted their heads on the walls of Winterfell. Theon Greyjoy, who ate at my table since he was a boy of ten.” I have said it, gods forgive me. I have said it and made it true.
—ACOK, Catelyn VII
It’s surprise, bewilderment, outrage of a sort, but it’s not vindication. She didn’t see this coming. The why is an expansive enough topic that it would properly deserve a post of its own. I’m not going to prove up this thesis in this post, but I’ll say that Cat is just another example of the shocking amount of entitlement that the Starks specifically and Northerners generally feel in regards to having Theon’s loyalty. And it’s probably why Theon doesn’t feel entirely trusted by them – it’s not real trust, born out of respect and/or affection, the notion to distrust him just doesn’t seem to fully enter their minds even when it’s a reasonable question to ask, because they feel so secure in the idea that Theon must be loyal to them, that they deserve that loyalty. But again, that’s a post for another day, I’ll just say that Cat is really not an exception.
I’ll close this with a little observation that’s a bit tangential but related. When Cat argues with Robb about legitimizing Jon, while it’s easy to side with Robb against her emotionally because her treatment and distrust of Jon are so unfair, she’s not actually wrong in what she says. And she’s asking Robb to not make the same mistake they all made – to put trust into loyalty that has been assumed for no good reason, ignoring all conflicts of interest for the sake of righteousness:
“Precedent,” she said bitterly. “Yes, Aegon the Fourth legitimized all his bastards on his deathbed. And how much pain, grief, war, and murder grew from that? I know you trust Jon. But can you trust his sons? Or their sons? … Should he wed and breed, any sons you may have by Jeyne will never be safe.”
“Jon would never harm a son of mine.”
“No more than Theon Greyjoy would harm Bran or Rickon?”
Grey Wind leapt up atop King Tristifer’s crypt, his teeth bared. Robb’s own face was cold. “That is as cruel as it is unfair. Jon is no Theon.”
“So you pray… .”
—ASOS, Catelyn V
Robb is, as usual, not listening. Cat isn’t even talking about Jon to begin with. She’s talking about his sons. Who know one knows what they’d be like, and it would be insane to put blind trust in them and their theoretical goodness and family attachment. It’s Robb who starts talking about Jon. And Cat has a point here too, though Robb doesn’t want to hear it: you think Jon is not like Theon, but you also never thought Theon would do what he did. How blinded are you, Robb? By love? By righteousness? By how you believe things are supposed to be? No one thought Theon would turn. Not even Cat, who didn’t like his smiles and thought he made a better hostage than negotiator.
She’s always been unfair to Jon, of course. But can we blame her for being paranoid now, when she’s learned the hard way that assuming loyalty for theoretical, self-righteous reasons is folly?
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