A hostage raised almost as a son who spent his whole life trying to prove himself a Greyjoy, then his father's approval on a betrayal that cost him everything, including for a long while his own name.
A Hostage Raised as a Son, Almost
After Greyjoy's Rebellion collapsed in 289 AC, Balon Greyjoy's two elder sons were dead and his only surviving heir, ten-year-old Theon, was taken by Eddard Stark to Winterfell as ward and hostage against his father's future loyalty. He grew up alongside Robb Stark as something close to a brother, and was treated with more warmth at Winterfell than he had ever known at Pyke — a fact he spent years refusing to admit even to himself, since admitting it meant admitting he might belong more to House Stark than to his own blood.
Turncloak and Reek
Sent home to Pyke to broker an alliance for Robb's war, Theon instead seized his chance to prove himself to a father who barely acknowledged him: he took Winterfell in a bloodless coup, and when the true Stark children Bran and Rickon escaped him, murdered two miller's boys and burned their bodies in the boys' place rather than admit the failure. He held the castle only briefly before Ramsay Snow of the Dreadfort took it — and him — by treachery.
What followed at the Dreadfort was methodical torture and psychological unmaking so thorough that by the time Theon reappears on the page, he answers only to the name Ramsay gave him: Reek. Fragments of the man he was have only begun resurfacing as the published chronicle currently stands, at the cost of fingers, toes, and rather more than that.
Key events
c. 278 ACBorn, youngest son of Lord Balon Greyjoy of Pyke.
289 ACTaken as ward and hostage to Winterfell after Greyjoy's Rebellion.
298 ACSeizes Winterfell and murders two miller's boys to fake the deaths of Bran and Rickon Stark.
299 ACCaptured and tortured by Ramsay Snow at the Dreadfort, reduced to 'Reek.'
300 ACBegins reclaiming fragments of his own identity at Winterfell.
The arc of Theon Greyjoy
This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.
His exact birth year is approximate, given as either 278 or 279 AC across the reference material.
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
Legacy
Theon's story is the chronicle's most sustained argument that identity itself can be taken from a person piece by piece — and its most unfinished question is how much of it, if any, can be given back.
SourcesAGOTACOKASOSADWD
Who is Theon Greyjoy?
A hostage raised almost as a son who spent his whole life trying to prove himself a Greyjoy, then his father's approval on a betrayal that cost him everything, including for a long while his own name.
Is Theon Greyjoy from the books or the show?
Book canon. This profile follows George R. R. Martin’s novels and histories, and notes where the television series diverges rather than following it.