Suppose Robb had listened to his mother and kept Theon close by, but Balon writes his son off as collateral and attacks the North anyway. Do you think Robb could’ve brought himself to execute his foster brother, and if not, what other options does he have?

poorquentyn:

smilingalwayssmiling:

Except Robb’s refusal to outright murder the boy prisoners (Frey and Lannister squires, young teens) as a form of vengeance is why he has issues with the Karstarks, so I would think that’s much more up in the air. He kills Karstark for murdering the boys because they’re unarmed prisoners. I think he’d probably have similar issues, especially with someone he’s grown up closely with and who he could also see as someone who’s been a child prisoner for ten years. Robb takes after Ned, but that’s not to say he never makes his own calls on what’s “right”.

“The Kingslayer cut them down. These two were of his ilk. Only blood can pay for blood.”

“The blood of children?” Robb pointed at the corpses.

Sure, Theon’s not a child by the time these events roll around, but they’re similar circumstances. Robb’s not into the blood of the son pays for blood of the father bit.

The difference is that the squires Rickard killed were prisoners of war, not hostages taken for good behavior. Rickard killed them for pure vengeance, outside the acceptable confines, whereas Theon is only among the Stark’s *to* be killed if Balon rises again.

Robb ultimately decides to execute Rickard because politically, he has to, even though he recognizes Edmure’s arguments against doing so. Same deal here; if he doesn’t execute Theon, he’s broadcasting that it doesn’t mean anything when House Stark takes hostages, and that you can attack them without consequence, a bad message to send to both vassals and enemies. We can certainly argue that this logic isn’t a good thing overall, and Robb would of course face a great deal of pain as a result of following it, but it’s the logic he has to follow.

poorquentyn:

He wouldn’t have much of a choice. His vassals are watching.

Except Robb’s refusal to outright murder the boy prisoners (Frey and Lannister squires, young teens) as a form of vengeance is why he has issues with the Karstarks, so I would think that’s much more up in the air.

That’s not really why Robb has trouble with the prisoners, tho. It’s not like Rickard Karstark has made public appeals to have them executed and then gets rebuffed; rather, Karstark has been irreconcilably wrathful since the beginning of ACOK. 

In other words, it’s not a widely-shared attitude: the Northern lords mostly like Robb’s peace terms, although there’s a few who lean in Karstark’s direction. And there’s a few who are pissed off about Catelyn freeing Jaime, although none of them are as vehement as Karstark, but most aren’t.

But none of them side with the killing of the hostages, because it’s a huge breach of the norms of warfare – you don’t kill noble hostages, because they’re hugely valuable for ransoms and prisoner exchanges, and it risks reprisal killings of your own kinsmen.