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Jack

Sansa: "Tell me why Bran and Rickon should be gone while you still breathe the air! Tell me to my face, Theon! Tell me that they weren't your brothers!"
Theon: "They weren't Bran and Rickon! I couldn't find them. It was two farm boys. I killed them and burned them so no one would know."
— Theon Greyjoy confesses to Sansa Stark.[src]

Jack was a Northern boy orphaned during the War of the Five Kings, and fostered by a shepherd near Winterfell.

Biography

Game of Thrones: Season 2

A shepherd reports Bran that he cannot tend to his flock with his three sons fighting in the south; Bran assigns him two orphan boys from the Winterstown named Billy and Jack.[1] Winterfell is later seized by Theon, but Bran and Rickon escape along with Osha, Hodor, Summer, and Shaggydog. They pass close by to the shepherd's farm. Theon tracks them there and brutally questions the shepherd who denies having seen them, but Dagmer finds some walnut shells, which confirms their suspicions that they were there. Theon later returns to Winterfell with the charred corpses of two boys, claiming them to be the Stark boys.[2]

A few days later, however, Luwin spots Osha sneaking into the catacombs. Having accompanied Theon and his fellow Ironborn occupiers up to the point when they reached the shepherd's farm, Luwin quickly deduces that the corpses, which are still kept on display, must in fact be Jack and Billy.[3]

Game of Thrones: Season 3

Following the Sack of Winterfell, Theon is held prisoner at the Dreadfort and brutally tortured by a group of men led by Ramsay Snow, who initially presents himself to his prisoner as an Ironborn emissary sent by his sister. Theon confesses to his "savior" of having Dagmer kill two orphans and passing them off as Bran and Rickon.[4]

Game of Thrones: Season 4

Theon confesses this yet again to Roose Bolton.[5]

Game of Thrones: Season 5

When Sansa returns to Winterfell to be wed to Ramsay, Ramsay initially forces Theon to keep up the charade and apologize to Sansa for murdering her brothers.[6] Eventually, however, Theon finally confesses to her that the corpses he presented at Winterfell were not in fact Bran and Rickon, but "two farm boys."[7]

Game of Thrones: Season 6

After escaping Ramsay, Theon decides to part ways with Sansa as she travels north to be reunited with Jon at Castle Black. Though Sansa offers to vouch for him, Theon cites his murder of Jack and Billy as one of the many reasons why he fears Jon will still most likely have him executed.[8]

Quotes

Spoken about Jack

Bran Stark: "Wait, I know that farm. I sent those two Winterfell orphans there."
Rickon Stark: "Jack and Billy! They'll give us some food."
Bran Stark: "We can't risk it. If Theon tracks us here, he'll torture them until he finds out where we are."
Rickon Stark: "Billy climbs a tree better than anyone."
— A Man Without Honor
Osha: "Who was that out there...hung from the gates?"
Luwin: "Must have been the farmer's boys."
Osha: "He killed them and burned them....and passed them off as the little lords?"
Luwin: "Shh, shh, shh. They mustn't know. Bran would blame himself."
Osha: "They'll never hear it from me. The little lads have suffered enough."
— Osha and Luwin discuss the fate of Jack and Billy.[src]
Theon Greyjoy: "I paid the iron price for Winterfell. I murdered those boys."
Ramsay Snow: "The Stark boys?"
Theon Greyjoy: "Never found them. Just some poor orphans living with a farmer. I let Dagmer slit their throats and I let him burn the bodies... so I could keep Winterfell... and make my father proud."
— Theon Greyjoy confesses his crime to Ramsay Snow.[src]
Ramsay Snow: "Reek, did you murder the Stark boys?"
Theon Greyjoy: "No, my lord, just two farm boys."
Ramsay Snow: "And crisped them so no one would know."
Theon Greyjoy: "Yes, my lord."
— Theon reveals the truth to Ramsay's father, Roose Bolton.[src]

In the books

In A Song of Ice and Fire, Bran and Rickon do not go to the farm, they only go to the woods, then backtrack to the castle. The wolves go on to lead a false trail for the dogs. Theon's hunt leads him nowhere, but a freed Winterfell prisoner named Reek (who is actually Ramsay Snow in disguise) takes them to a mill, where he remembers there are two boys. They are not orphans but the miller's sons.[9] Both boys are killed with their mother. Later the boys' bodies are treated as in the TV series to cover the Stark boys' escape.[10] It is unknown where the miller was at that time, and how he reacted when he found his wife dead and his sons missing.

Theon does not feel any regret or remorse about killing the boys and their mother (in fact, he does not have regrets about any of the innocent people who were harmed by him, either personally or at his command). He nonchalantly dismisses that vile deed with "(t)hey were only miller's sons".[11][12] According to the sample chapter of the sixth novel, Theon has convinced himself that "Reek made him kill those boys, not him Reek but the other one".[13] This is a total lie, because at that point of the story - Ramsay was not in a position to force Theon to do anything; he suggested that, but Theon was the one in charge, and he made the decision, thus the blood of the boys (and their mother's) is on his hands, not Ramsay's.

Appearances

References

  1. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 2, Episode 5: "The Ghost of Harrenhal" (2012).
  2. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 2, Episode 7: "A Man Without Honor" (2012).
  3. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 2, Episode 8: "The Prince of Winterfell" (2012).
  4. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 4: "And Now His Watch Is Ended" (2013).
  5. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 4, Episode 2: "The Lion and the Rose" (2014).
  6. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 5: "Kill the Boy" (2015).
  7. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 8: "Hardhome" (2015).
  8. ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 2: "Home" (2016).
  9. ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 50, Theon IV (1998).
  10. ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 56, Theon V (1998).
  11. ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 46, A Ghost in Winterfell (2011).
  12. ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 51, Theon (2011).
  13. ↑ The Winds of Winter, Theon I (TBA).

Notes

  1. ↑ In "Winter Is Coming," which takes place in 298 AC, Sansa Stark tells Cersei Lannister that she is 13 years old and Bran Stark tells Jaime Lannister that he is 10 years old. Arya Stark was born between Sansa and Bran, making her either 11 or 12 in Season 1. The rest of the Stark children have been aged up by 2 years from their book ages, so it can be assumed that she is 11 in Season 1. Arya is 18 in Season 8 according to HBO, which means at least 7 years occur in the span of the series; therefore, each season of Game of Thrones must roughly correspond to a year in-universe, placing the events of Season 2 in 299 AC.


v • d • e
Head
 Sansa Stark
Heir
 Arya Stark
House Stark
Seat
 Winterfell
Region
 North
Titles
 King in the North · Lord of Winterfell · Warden of the North (under the Iron Throne)
Ancestors
 Brandon the Builder · Brandon the Breaker · Dorren Stark · Jon Stark · Rickard Stark · Rodrik Stark · Karlon Stark · Theon Stark · Osric Stark · Torrhen Stark · Brandon Snow · Rickon Stark · Cregan Stark · Joren Stark
Members
 Bran I, the Broken · Jon Snow
Deceased
 Rickard Stark · Brandon Stark · Lyanna Stark · Eddard Stark · Robb Stark · Talisa Stark · Catelyn Stark · Rickon Stark · Benjen Stark
Household
 {Maester Luwin} · {Ser Rodrik Cassel} · {Jory Cassel} · {Vayon Poole} · Jeyne Poole · {Septa Mordane} · {Old Nan} · {Hodor} · Farlen · Mikken · {Osha} · {Jojen Reed} · Maester Wolkan