I think Mance wrote the letter…
Q: I also wasn’t sure whether Ramsay was telling the truth in his letter when he said the battle had already been fought and won, whether we were supposed to take that as gospel.
GRRM: My readers should know better than to take anything as gospel, unless they see it for themselves, and even then I do sometimes use “unreliable narrator.” No. They should not take that as the truth. What about Mance Rayder, did you think he was really dead?
Q: Yes. And I liked the reveal that he’s the bard in Ramsay’s court at Winterfell, but I was so dense I didn’t realize it was him until I read Ramsay’s letter near the end.
GRRM: Aside from the fact Mance goes south and says he’s going to take six spearwives, there’s a legend that Jon hears from Ygritte about Bale the Bard who was a King of the North who posed as a bard and infiltrated Winterfell. Mance is calling himself “Abel” which is “Bael” with the letters moved around. It’s amazing what people pick up on and what they don’t. The whole controversy over Renly and Loras, [viewers saying] “HBO made these characters gay!”
http://www.ew.com/article/2011/07/21/dance-with-dragons-shocking-twist-g
(TWOW spoilers)
I don’t take the content of the letter as gospel, or at least not all of it–I think GRRM’s doing exactly what he said there, using an unreliable narrator. Ramsay got fooled by Stannis. Look at Theon’s released TWOW chapter: Stannis is planning on faking his death. I think he did so with the Karstark soldiers’ help, and Ramsay bought it.
The big questions regarding Mance as a potential author of the Pink Letter are why and how. What outcome was he hoping for, why was he hoping the Pink Letter would bring about that outcome, and how was he in the position to send it? (“Chaos” is not an acceptable answer to any of these questions.) Remember, the spearwives were seen helping Theon and Jeyne escape, and Mance was left surrounded by enemies in the Great Hall.
This isn’t that hard if one pays attention to context:
I know this isn’t fun to contemplate, but I think Ramsay wants Val and the babe so he can torture them in front of Mance.
Q: I also wasn’t sure whether Ramsay was telling the truth in his letter when he said the battle had already been fought and won, whether we were supposed to take that as gospel.
GRRM: My readers should know better than to take anything as gospel, unless they see it for themselves, and even then I do sometimes use “unreliable narrator.” No. They should not take that as the truth.
The “that” which should not be taken as gospel truth is whether “the battle had already been fought and won.” Not whether Ramsay is the one who wrote the letter.
RFTIT Tumblr Backup 