Wow. What a chapter. By the way, in case it somehow isn't obvious, or if you're somehow reading this by mistake before you know what happens to Bran and Rickon, stop reading now! I'm going to SPOIL the chapter!
So it was finally confirmed. Theon is having nightmares about wolves with children's heads because of the terrible things he did at the mill. Mostly I just feel bad because of what a terrible place Westeros is, and those poor innocent children getting beheaded. Everyone hates Theon, and they should, because Bran and Rickon's heads are on spikes. It's all just too depressing.
Asha turns up and lays out exactly why Theon is such a dick, and such a moron. He's done all this damage, murdered children and a bunch of other people, everyone hates him, he's completely surrounded by enemies, he didn't think about how he's going to hold on to the place and it's not even strategically useful to the Ironmen since it's nowhere near the sea. Asha even mocks his crown.
Still, Theon has the last laugh because those children's heads belong to the miller's kids. Wait, what?
So, rewind a little. At the end of the last Theon chapter, he finds he has Bran's wolf brooch in a bag. And the idea he gets (edit: no; on a re-read I see that it's Reek who gives him the idea) isn't where Bran might be, but that now he has what he needs to fool people into thinking that he found and killed the children! Genius plan! Everyone will now hate him, but at least his sister Asha won't think that he's a complete idiot. Except she thinks that anyway. So what has he achieved?
I'm pretty relieved though. I was feeling really bad about poor Bran and little Rickon. I mean, I suppose I should feel bad about the similarly aged miller's boys; things haven't turned out well for them. But I don't know them, so it doesn't feel so bad.
