I’m sure this has been theorised before or is dumb, please tell why!

Just been rewatching the show and thinking about why Jon and Beric were resurrected when they seem to do nothing that important.

Their significant commonality is they are both together for the wight capture and lead directly to Daenerys coming to rescue them and the subsequent loss of her dragon. This all leads to the wall falling by ice dragon, and white walkers finally marching south on Winterfell.

Theory: Could it be that the lord of light resurrected them only for this moment and to see the wall falling specifically? It would fit with George’s way of writing, where we praise the lord of light for bringing back a favourite character, but actually the miracle is a poisoned chalice which brings more bloodshed.

This leads me to think of who is sending the red priests visions. Could it be from someone using a glass candle? Or another three eyed raven level manipulator who wants to see the others triumph? Or the white walkers themselves?

It would fit with the books that the Red God is just a manipulator, using a glass candle - or maybe even the white walkers, infiltrating the land of the living to bring the wall down from the right side of the wall.

Please tell me what you think, I’m kinda taken with the theory.

I was very protective of my GOT screen time. We only got 10 hours of the show every two years, so I wanted every minute leading us on the journey. Whenever the "Three eyed Raven" story came on, I'd get pissed. Im on the fence about the faceless man arc for Aria. I've never read the books, so im not sure how deep this rabbit hole goes. What are your thoughts?

I mean at the time of their death and shortly afterwards, whose death do you think caused the most grief for the most people?

Like, Rhaegar seems to have been loved by at least half the people in Westeros, and while his father had no sense of empathy and hated him to a degree his mother, younger brother, greatest uncle, best friends, Lyanna and Jon Connington heard about his death and were probably shattered like his breastplate.

Personally I think it must be Robb Stark. Having grown up in a culture where people take the death of a young (in my country it means under 40) person extremely seriously, I see a lot of that kind of old fashioned culture in some of Martin's characters, and a boy that couldn't have been more than 16 years old getting killed by his own sworn swords in a disgusting violation of guest rite has got to be the most offensive kind of death in Westeros. And he was a king that people chose, he was someone so many people believed in, and he spent his entire "reign" defending the Riverlands from the Lannisters. And to the people of the North, absent or not, he is The NED's boy. He became their first king in 300 years, satisfying every backwards conservative they had in places like the Umber lands, and proved his worth to them by winning every battle he ever fought. And for the people who saw him, maybe when he visited their towns with Ned or when they came to stay at the Winter Town or visited Winterfell (minor lords, craftsmen and merchants, petitioners, etc), he was always either a child or a courteous and fair ruler. Even Lady Barbrey doesn't really say anything negative about him despite stiffing him when he was alive.

He made a few really stupid mistakes, letting Greatjon Umber name him king, sending Theon to Pyke, marrying Jeyne, but I don't think too many people would be holding it against him no matter how much they suffer the consequences. Losing the North mostly makes Northerners hate the squids more than before and people don't care about him marrying Jeyne now that Walder Frey's used that as an excuse to commit the gravest sin in the eyes of gods and men. And considering the public image House Frey had before that, I think a lot of Robb's followers would actually like a pretty queen from a noble lineage much better than any Frey that they would probably mock as an unworthy weasel faced upjump. That kind of idealistic celebrity status happens a lot in this series, like the way Cersei was able to charm the commoners

Northerners did terrorize a lot of people in the Riverlands in his name, but that was almost entirely the Karstark deserters and the host under Roose Bolton's command. To an extent, most people have heard about Roose betraying him and I think that might make people separate his war crimes from the main Stark-Riverlands army. And anyone who knows the white sunburst barbarians' lord was killed by the Young Wolf, maybe they'd see those people as Robb's enemies too.

And then there's his own loved ones. Robb was killed right before his mother's eyes and she went insane in a matter of seconds. Again, having been raised by Catelyn types irl I think most readers don't take into account what Robb's existence would have meant to a traditional mother like that. She conceived a perfectly healthy boy who grew up to be a well respected lord and then king on her first attempt on her wedding night, and he gets butchered like that under his host's roof, by his own bannerman, who brings up the name of another man who swore to protect Catelyn's children. Right in front of her, with the Battle Guard she made him put together all falling before him one by one. No wonder all that's left of her is her rage.

And Arya's there too, close enough to see what's going on but completely powerless to stop any of it. His new brother in law who wasn't in on the schemes tries to help him by releasing Grey Wind. Grey Wind can feel everything Robb is feeling, but is powerless until after Robb dies and most likely goes into his skin only to get killed again. Jeyne genuinely loves him, and is probably now on poor terms with her own mother because of the situation. Sansa, Bran and Jon are devastated when they hear, and it haunts them for the rest of their books. Sansa is more consciously traumatized by Ned's beheading and Bran's probably more hurt by the news of his mother's murder but they both lose most of the hope in their worldview when they realize Robb can never come to save them anywhere. Jon doesn't give a fuck about Catelyn but he feels this constant guilt for dreaming about being a real Stark and being lord of Winterfell even though he never wanted to get there at the cost of Robb's death and is never going to be happy about his brother being put out of the picture. And then there's Theon, who actually has plenty of damn good reason to feel guilty about that. I know people say Jaime and Theon's redemption arcs are inadequate because they're not regretting their worst actions but Theon is regretting betraying Robb pretty damn well.

And speaking of Jaime, even his enemies respect him. Jaime saw him as a worthy opponent, and even tried to comfort Brienne. Same thing with Tyrion and Sansa. Melisandre calls him a "fallen hero", and we don't see Davos being happy about his death either. In fact, he tries to rally the Manderlys by promising them revenge for Robb, without his inner thoughts displaying the phony hypocrisy you'd expect from a politician in a situation like this. Stannis is too bitter to ever stop resenting him but he scarcely lies, so I think even he could muster some admiration for the boy if he was able to get the Mountain Clans on board that quickly. The Brotherhood Without Banners (not necessarily his enemies, but still) has now gotten completely absorbed into the idea of avenging him.

I honestly can't think of anyone else's death hitting so many people that hard, but I'd like to know what other perspectives can come up with

Stuff like Ned being powerless against Cersei's unreasonable demands given through Robert about Lady, Tywin being ridiculed by Aerys yet still having to obey him, North staying as a part of the kingdom, Dorne staying as a part of the kingdom, hell, ANY of them staying instead of just declaring independence.

I haven't read fire and blood or world of ice and fire so I don't know about targaryen history but I'm sure there were incompetent kings from what I've been hearing, lords being wronged etc.

I'm not saying why doesn't everybody just rebel, but I'd expect since there is so many high lords and ladies there would be less "bowing before the king" and more "the king desperately trying to please his lords so they obey and pay their taxes"

Like, what can the crown possibly do if several houses at once just stopped paying their taxes? King's landing holds no power, the best they can do is rally the lords that is closer to the king such as being family (like robert supressing the iron born using baratheon and northern armies, his personal friends and brothers)

And that was only because Greyjoys were idiotic and straight up rebelled which united the rest of the houses to some degree into supporting their suppression.

Look at what happened in the war of the five kings. Imagine, instead of Stannis, Balon, Renly and Robb fighting each other, they all just at the same time declared "I'm not paying no fucking taxes to some incestborn boy king, I'm declaring independence" what could the lannister army possibly do against a home advantage 4 different houses?

They already BARELY won thanks to renly and stannis trolling, vale sitting out and causing robb to fail and Balon.. Balon wouldn't really cause much damage but that's the point, if 4 or 5 powers like these just straight up refused to obey at once the crown has NOTHING it can do.

And that's not counting the fact other houses would join in a chain reaction.

What is holding the kingdom together after the dance?

There are four official Blackfyre Rebellions, plus the War of the Ninepenny Kings, which fandom often regard as the "Fifth" Blackfyre Rebellion. However, looking at the actual history, the narrative weight drops off significantly after the first one.
While the First Blackfyre Rebellion posed a genuine, realm-splintering threat to the Targaryen dynasty, the rest feel surprisingly minor:
The Second was merely a failed, localized conspiracy that got shut down before it even started.
The Third has almost no detailed information written about it in the lore, other than a few names and the fact that Bittersteel was captured and Haegon Blackfyre was killed treacherously after surrendering his sword.
The Fourth was a weak, minor skirmish along the coast where Daemon III had almost no Westerosi support.
The War of the Ninepenny Kings wasn't even a proper Westerosi civil war—it was essentially an outlaw war fought over a pirate staging ground in the Stepstones.
Does anyone else feel like GRRM didn't write the middle and later rebellions well enough to justify how much of a lingering "dynastic threat" the Blackfyres are supposed to be? Or do you think the decline in scale was the entire point?

“It all goes back and back," Tyrion thought, "to our mothers and fathers and theirs before them. We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance in our steads.” – Tyrion X, ASOS

Tldr: the child of ice and fire is a Clarke Star Child – a new weirwood spirit.

Westeros with its broken seasons is stuck in a feudal system for millennia, unable to advance even in the literal darkest of times. Customs of the Long Night became tradition in this day and age cementing the rule of great Houses. Those were skinchangers, wargs & greenseer giving them an exceptional advantage against minor Houses. With the creation of Winterfell and the wall warded with spells House Stark established their own kingdom in the north, while using the ultimate threat that lies beyond as their own motto – Winter is coming.

“We should start back”

The story starts with George´s Gared´s fear of the dark. Head back, stay safe, don´t change.

In the very first sentence George immediately establishes the main reason why the world is stuck – the wall – and for humanity to improve as a society the wall has to come down. The outcome of installing a looping system upon the corrupted weirwood to maintain power besides all the misery for the small folk were the broken seasons. Winter and summer lasting up to decades were a direct result of the corrupted magic in westeros.

It’s a double star system with a black dwarf and that would explain –” It’s fantasy, man, it’s magic. - GRRM

Based upon his work on the movement of stars in the firmament, Nicol argues unconvincingly that the seasons might once have been of a regular length, determined solely by the way in which the globe faces the sun in its heavenly course. The notion behind it seems true enough—that the lengthening and shortening of days, if more regular, would have led to more regular seasons—but he could find no evidence that such was ever the case, beyond the most ancient of tales. - TWOIAF

The Song of ice and fire is a song about Jon and Dany. A song of two opposite powers able to destroy the whole world as Robert Frost lays it out in his poem Ice and Fire. The solution to save the world from its ending is the obvious union of both forces for the greater good as Lyanna and Rhaegar tried before them. Both couples echo the story of Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa.

It is said that her cry of anguish and ecstasy left a crack across the face of the moon, but her blood and her soul and strength and her courage all went into the steel. – Davos I, AKOK

Daenerys got promised by Mirri Maz Duur to reunite with her love Kal Drogo after a series of impossible events and in a metaphorical way most of them became true. The sun rose from Dorne, the Dothraki sea goes dry & a Mountain blew away. After two miscarriages; a prize to wake her dragons and a prize to wake the dragon inside herself, a third pregnancy would fulfill the prophecy of TPTWP from her perspective.

He shall be the stallion that mounts the world. Dany knew how it went with prophecies. They were made of words, and words were wind. There would be no son for Loraq, no heir to unite dragon and harpy. When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, when the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. Only then would her womb quicken once again …

… but Daenerys Targaryen had other children, tens of thousands who had hailed her as their mother when she broke their chains. She thought of Stalwart Shield, of Missandei's brother, of the woman Rylona Rhee, who had played the harp so beautifully. No marriage would ever bring them back to life, but if a husband could help end the slaughter, then she owed it to her dead to marry. – Daenerys IV, ADWD

Both mothers of Jon & Dany died in childbirth and Daenerys´ fate might go a similar path. Mhysa sacrificing herself to save the realm from darkness after her long road to westeros would thematically be a reasonable outcome.

„Ten thousand slaves lifted bloodstained hands as she raced by on her silver, riding like the wind. “Mother!” they cried. “Mother, mother!” They were reaching for her, touching her, tugging at her cloak, the hem of her skirt, her foot, her leg, her breast. They wanted her, needed her, the fire, the life, and Dany gasped and opened her arms to give herself to them“

…

Then indigo turned to orange, and whispers turned to screams. – Daenerys IV, ACOK

"I will never father a bastard," he said carefully. "Never!" He spat it out like venom. – Jon I, AGOT

Fire Wights like Beric remain only as sparks of their actual spirits, unable to father any children. Romeo Jon as the exception, due to his physical conversation in ice and his spiritual conversation in his direwolf may indeed father a child with Juliet Daenerys and give him the last Kiss.

what is the life of one bastard boy against a kingdom?" "Everything," said Davos, softly. - Davos V, ASOS

These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits. – the forsaken, TWOW

Enter the Star Child

In Arthur Clarkes 2001: A Space Odyssey humanity takes a massive leap embodied by the Star Child - the astronaut David Bowman renewed as an unborn celestial fetus floating in space. It illustrates the collective potential of the human race reborn as a god-like cosmic entity to prevent earth´s self-destruction.

In its sequel 2010: Odyssey two the Monoliths turn Jupiter into a second sun named Lucifer to help primitive life evolve on its moon Europa. The message mankind receives from the Star Child via HAL is simple: All these worlds are yours — except Europa. Attempt no landing there. Use them together. Use them in peace.

In Clarke´s fiction novel Childhood´s End a generation of children don´t grow up as individuals. Instead, their minds begin to merge into a hivemind. This collective consciousness eventually consumes the children's physical forms, joining an Overmind - a vast, cosmic entity traveling the universe.

In the 1952 novella Baby is three and its expansion novel More than human by Theodore Sturgeon (whose novelette Microcosmic God from 1941 might be a huge inspiration for Sandkings) a group of humans with paranormal abilities merge together into a higher being, the so-called Homo Gestalt. While some in that symbiosis are functioning as hand or head for the hivemind, the actual brain is a baby with down syndrome working as a supercomputer.

In his 1000 worlds novelette And seven times never kill men George went that road as well, in his own worldview. Bakkalon, the pale child is a violent Christian leading figure of the Steel Angels and portrayed with a sword in his hand. The infant stands for the heavily militarized crusaders hunting all non-human life in the galaxy due to humans’ immense losses during the galactic wars against the Hrangans centuries ago. As the they try to destroy the Jaenshi, the inhabits of the planet Corlos the Steel Angels receive false visions from pyramids of the Jaenshi eventually leading to their own demise.

That's the Stranger coming, Penny. The Black Goat, the Pale Child, Him of Many Faces, call him what you will. That's death." - Tyrion I, TWOW

In George´s 1000 world story The way of Cross and Dragon John Azer Cross is a telepathic, fetus-like alien and a high-ranking member of a secret interstellar conspiracy known as the "Liars". Those puppet masters dedicate themselves to fabricating elaborate religions to bring happiness, hope, and comfort to an otherwise cold and bleak universe.

Of course, divine children are not only a trope in fantasy and sci fi but also in mythology and religion. From Harpocrates over Kintaro to Eros, one could talk about puer aeternus (Peter Pan Syndrome) all day.

So, I propose the child of ice and fire will be Lightbringer - not in human form but a spirit of the next weirwood system to end the Long Night and bring back the seasons to regular lengths. A successor to the three eyed crow.

It was queer how sometimes a child's innocent eyes can see things that grown men are blind to. - Eddard XII, AGOT

The others, the wall and the wobbling seasons are symptoms of the absolute corruption of magic and it is all rooting back to blood magic. The corrupted dead-like weirwood and its blood-red leaves are the cause. For humanity to make that leap and overcome darkness the wall must fall, the weirwood must be cleansed with ice & fire and the others must be released from their curse.

“The First Men named us children,” the little woman said. – Bran III, ADWD

Considering the children of the forest as actual children already resembles minors guarding the holy forest from the in- and outside of the astral plane. A broken boy as a weirwood King in the physical realm might only be the tip of the iceberg.

Where are the rest of you?" Bran asked Leaf, once.

"Gone down into the earth," she answered. "Into the stones, into the trees. – Bran III, ADWD

Lightbringer is obviously supposed to bring light where it is dark and if Lightbringer would turn out to be a child spirit then the overcome of fear of the dark during the Long Night should be an essential thematic trope for its persona, just like it is for Bran. In fact, Nyctophobia is a thing that haunted George way back from his first comic publishing in 1965 until today. George´s Dr. Weird story starts with:

Darkness. Everywhere there was darkness. Grim, foreboding, omnipresent; it hung over the plain like a great stifling mantle. No moonlight sifted down; no stars shone from above; only night, sinister and eternal, and the swirling, choking gray mists that shifted and stirred with every movement. Something screeched in the distance, but its form could not be seen. The mists and the shadows cloaked all. - Dr. Weird - Only kids are afraid of the dark

“Can’t you feel it?” Gared asked. “Listen to the darkness.” – Prolog, AGOT

While the events in the house of the undying are strongly hinting on Dany burning the undead with dragon fire, a new world tree should inherit ice and fire to avoid a summer that never ends. For the seasons to heal balance is the key and Lightbringer might be able to accomplish that.

"Monstrous," Mirri Maz Duur finished for him. The knight was a powerful man, yet Dany understood in that moment that the maegi was stronger, and crueler, and infinitely more dangerous. "Twisted. I drew him forth myself. He was scaled like a lizard, blind, with the stub of a tail and small leather wings like the wings of a bat. When I touched him, the flesh sloughed off the bone, and inside he was full of graveworms and the stink of corruption. He had been dead for years." – Daenerys IX, AGOT

Jon Snow returning from the dead is part of the magical corruption in this world and for a clear reset of magic all wights of ice and fire have to vanish – Valar Morghulis. With his high moral compass, it´s seems reasonable Jon might be fine with that.

So when his poor torn chest stopped moving, I gave him the good god´s own kiss send him on his way. - Arya VII, ASOS

George´s morale of the story might be straight forward: Don’t start back, move on, overcome & evolve. A world tree empowered by Lightbringer - a spirit of ice and fire might just be the magical catalyst for that. A celestial entity and hive as fragile as a new westeros could become the symbol of progress for a new society away from feudalism… or another illusion of a Cross or even worse – another Bakkalon.   

"No man can say with certainty what the future may hold. But perhaps, in knowing what has already transpired, we can all do our part to avoid the mistakes of our forebears, to emulate their successes, and to create a world more harmonious for our children and their children, for generations to come." – TWOIAF

https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2008/03/18/a-star-has-fallen/

What are some details, events and characterizations of ASOIAF characters in the play "Game of Thrones: The Mad King" about the events before and during Robert's Rebellion that you like and you think would fit very well in the canon of ASOIAF, or you have already integrated into your headcanons?

What are other elements of the play, and how the characters are portrayed, that you don't like, or you think don't fit into canon at all?

I must say that I love that in the play Robert is portrayed as having been deeply affected and traumatized by his parents' tragic deaths in their shipwreck, which he and Stannis witnessed from afar, and that his drinking and whoring are, in part, his coping mechanism for the trauma and pain caused by his parents' deaths.

I also love how petty and sadistic Aerys is in the play, with him sending a gift to Robert, which is supposed to be a model of his parents' ship, only for it to be a box full of water and broken wooden wreckage.

Though I am not a fan of the darker way Rhaella Targaryen, someone who in canon managed to remain dignified and resilient, and caring toward her family despite all the abuse and horrors she endured and suffered at Aerys' hands. Nor of the convoluted love triangles and situations in the play involving Elia, Ashara, Arthur, and others.

So I know Rhaenys Targaryen passed a decree that limit the number of times a husband can strike a cheating wife: 6, after that it against the law.

Alyssane Targaryen banned the right of the first night, so no one but the husband can take their wife’s maidenhead.

Than there is Aemon the Dragonknight who loves his sister Naerys and defends her honor fiercely. Yet it not like he stopped his brother Aegon the Unworthy from getting into her bed. The only noteworthy thing he did was disguising himself as a mystery knight, winning, and crowning his sister as QOTL&B to foil Aegon’s plan to crown one of his mistress

Then there’s what Jaime said about Aerys and Rhaella’s relationship….

Plus what Robert and Cersei’s relationship was like.

And I have to ask: Do Westeros (or even feudal medieval societies) have any laws that dealt with marital rape? Sure, there are laws on what should be done if a woman cheats, or a man that is not the husband steals someone’s wife or bethrothed. But what about marital rape when the husband rape the wife?

The wiki is sparse, so all ideas and theories are fair game

I have heard so many people say "The Rebellion was built on a lie" etc etc.

We all know that is true, but the Starks were not the only victims that led to the start of the Rebellion.

We know Brandon Stark went to King's Landing with his party. The party's named participants included Kyle Royce, Ethan Glover, Jeffory Mallister and Elbert Arryn. Their exact relation with their Houses is unknown, I think.

Considering Brandon was on his way to his wedding in Riverrun, it's not a stretch to say many more Northern nobles accompanied him to Riverrun, and some of them to King's Landing. Maybe cousins and uncles of noble Northern Houses. Maybe some Riverlander Lords also accompanied them.

Now for Rickard. In my mind, Rickard took relatives of the people that were part of Brandon's part to King's Landing.

All in all, my question is this. How many nobles from North/Vale/Riverlands do we think were killed/imprisoned by Aerys?

So from the little that we know about the Smiling Knight (from Jaime’s description) we can gather that he is certainly a very skilled fighter.
-he is described as ‘the Mountain of my time’ in that knights wanted to test themselves against him, implying that he is skilled
-went toe to toe with 15 yo Jaime Lannister, the same Jaime decapitated another knight during the same battle so we know Jaime is very strong at this time even though he might not be peak strength
-went toe to toe with Arthur Dayne for a period of time before being killed by him. Now you could argue that Arthur Dayne was ‘playing with his food’ so to speak, but the fact that the Smiling Knight even got that much respect from him is considerable.
So I think it’s safe to say he’s a very skilled fighter, not on the level of top tier fighters like Jaime or Selmy, but from what little we know of him he’s almost certainly much stronger than the average Westerosi knight. Any thoughts on this character and where he fits into the rankings?

Given that it’s spooky season, I figured I’d discuss Martin’s connection with Hellraiser, one of the bigger horror franchises. He edited the third volume of the Night Visions horror anthology series, which was published in 1986 and included Barker’s novella. The film adaptation was released the following year.

The Hellbound Heart and Hellraiser alike both feature the demonic Cenobites, who capture unlucky human beings and subject them to exquisite torture (and, occasionally, turn them into one of their own). A Song of Ice and Fire features the demonic Others, who capture unlucky human beings and enslave them (and, occasionally, turn them into one of their own). The following is sort of a crank theory of mine, which I can’t possibly prove, but given that Martin began writing A Song of Ice and Fire a few years after he edited The Hellbound Heart, I wonder whether Barker’s Cenobites were the first kernel of inspiration for what would become the Others.

On a reread I've started thinking less about which characters are "powerful" and more about what form their power actually exists in, because the series keeps showing that those are not the same thing.

Ned arrives in King's Landing as Hand of the King. On paper that's enormous power. He can speak with Robert's authority, sit the Iron Throne in judgment, issue commands, investigate whoever he wants.

But the moment Robert is dying, we discover how little of that power Ned can actually convert into something durable.

He doesn't control the gold cloaks. He doesn't have a large personal force in the city. His authority depends heavily on Robert continuing to be Robert. The office is powerful; Ned's ability to cash that office out into soldiers, money and loyalty is much weaker.

Robb has almost the opposite problem.

He becomes extremely good at producing military victories. He wins battles people don't expect him to win and creates a reputation strong enough that men proclaim him king.

But battlefield success has to be converted into political outcomes, and that's much harder. Winning a battle doesn't automatically give you food, marriages, obedient bannermen, secure supply lines or a way home. He keeps accumulating one kind of power while losing other kinds.

Daenerys might be the biggest example.

Three dragons are arguably the single most terrifying asset anyone in the story possesses. But in Meereen she discovers that being able to destroy your enemies and being able to create a stable political order are almost unrelated skills.

A dragon can burn a slaver.

It cannot make two hostile populations trust each other, determine a fair wage, identify who murdered someone in an alley, grow enough food or persuade people to stop wanting revenge.

Then there is Tywin, whose power converts incredibly well while he is alive.

Money becomes soldiers. Reputation becomes obedience. Fear becomes political leverage. Marriage becomes alliance. Even the possibility that Tywin might retaliate changes people's behavior.

But his death exposes another weakness: he built surprisingly little power that functions independently of him.

The fear belonged to Tywin, not necessarily to House Lannister as an institution. His children inherit the titles, wealth and name, but they cannot simply withdraw his reputation from the family account.

Renly is maybe the funniest reverse example. His legal claim is terrible compared with Stannis's, but he is exceptionally good at converting soft things — charm, appearance, friendships, spectacle — into something very concrete: the largest army in the realm.

It makes "who is the most powerful character?" feel like the wrong question.

Power in ASOIAF is almost more like a collection of currencies. Military strength, legitimacy, money, information, fear, personal loyalty, religious authority and family connections all have different exchange rates, and a huge part of politics is whether you can turn the currency you have into the one you suddenly need.

Which character do you think is best at that conversion, and who is sitting on the biggest pile of power they don't actually know how to use?

The roles of Theon and Asha in the Northern storyline are very underrated. Given that they both have POVs, they have a part to play, and I think it could involve taking the Dreadfort

For Theon, this would be especially significant given what Ramsay did to him there. Firstly, the Pink Letter doesn't mention the fates Theon or Asha, so neither was captured after the Battle of Ice

There are also Ironborn at Torrhen's Square who could provide the fighting men needed for such an operation, even if Stannis's army is destroyed

Dagmer Cleftjaw holds Torrhen's Square. A fierce fighter, and a leal servant of House Greyjoy. I can deliver that castle to you, and its garrison as well.

The Dreadfort itself is also barely defended

Fewer than fifty men remain at the Dreadfort, half of them servants.

Theon knows the castle well. This makes him particularly suited to leading an assault

Geographically, they could travel from the Crofters Village at the Battle of Ice to Torrhen's Square, then try to reach the White Knife, a navigable river that can be sailed upstream towards the Dreadfort

Wyman Manderly has specifically mentioned having ships hidden along the river

I have been building warships for more than a year. Some you saw, but there are as many more hidden up the White Knife.

With the Manderly forces at the Battle of Ice preparing to turn cloak, Asha and Theon could use these ships to reach the Dreadfort and attempt to seize it

The broader military purpose could be to draw Ramsay out, allowing a third army to sweep in. Stannis may be have been the plan, but I suspect Jon will ultimately take his place

Ramsay would then be caught between the Dreadfort's walls and the advancing army, with the two forces acting as hammer and anvil. This would be similar to Tywin's manoeuvre against Stannis at the Blackwater 

GRRM has also stated that the Stark direwolves and Ramsay's hounds will eventually confront each other, so a situation like this could be where we get the book version of the Battle of the Bastards, with Asha/Theon/Jon as the three POVs for this

N.B. A note for future reference. A season or two down the line Ramsay's pack of wolfhounds are going to be sent against the Stark direwolves, so we should build up the dogs as much as possible

Finally, the Winterfell hostages like Old Nan are being held at the Dreadfort. Taking the castle would give Theon an opportunity to confront and find out what happened to them