The Forresters Are Doomed By Canon?
As if House Forrester already didn't suffer enough by Episode 5...
We know that the Forresters are mentioned briefly in A Dance with Dragons under the following quote:
The army covered twenty-two miles the first day, by the reckoning of the guides Lady Sybelle had given them, trackers and hunters sworn to Deepwood with clan names like Forrester and Woods, Branch and Bole.
This of course refers to Stannis's army, for whom the Forresters along with other minor houses of the Wolfswood who supplied him with scouts for his march through the wolfswood from Deepwood Motte to Winterfell. Telltale's adaptation is canon to the HBO TV series, where by Season 5 logic Stannis has miserably failed to seize Winterfell. We also know from the show that several minor Houses did in fact pledge allegiance to Stannis, so its not a stretch to presume that House Forrester was among those minor houses.
Would House Forrester actually support Stannis's claim? Well its obvious that they have nothing but contempt for the Boltons (thanks to Ramsay's plot armor that I will never get over) and considering that Stannis was actually in a pretty strong military position during his arrival to the North so supporting him would mean that the Forresters would have a chance to contribute to his assault on Winterfell which by then would be under Bolton control.
Theoretically therefore Stannis would have made a better replacement for ruling Winterfell instead of the Boltons since it would mean that the Forresters would finally be free of Ramsay.
Unfortunately Ramsay and his 20 Good Men launch a devastating counter sneak attack to Stannis's army which eventually forcing him to sacrifice his only child to blood magic in order to reach Winterfell and this act of horror causes most of Stannis's army to desert him - whether this included Forrester support is unknown although it does leave Stannish in no realistic position to seize Winterfell from the Boltons and quite realistically he fails and so by extension the Forrester's plans to be free of Bolton control also fails and they remain stuck with Ramsay still alive and well and Ethan's death left forever unavenged.
Season 1 of the Game will likely end by the show's Season 5 - therefore Season 2 of the Game would likely begin by the show's Season 5, where Stannis is destined to lose to the Boltons and thus the Forrerster gambit against the Boltons is destined to end in failure, just like their involvement in the Battle of the Five Kings ended in failure, which means their only going to be more punished.
What do you guys think? Are the Forresters destined to align with Stannis when he arrives to the North? And how will his inevitable defeat at Winterfell affect them? More importantly, will Season 2 actually address this?
Comments
I'm thinking that, since the game seems to follow show canon first and book canon second, the Forresters might be among the ones that defect from Stannis's army when he burns his daughter. The Forresters are pretty family-oriented and I think that is something they would do.
I still cannot get over the fact that Stannis lost. We had all this buildup to this epic battle, the ENTIRE season.... THROWN OUT OF THE WINDOW!
Where are your monologues now Stannis? All these little speeches, DA ONE TRU KING! For nothing. Absolutely nothing. His daughter and wife died for nothing.
fuck... at least Davos is allive. fucking Boltons
Yara Greyjoy is not from the North so sheshe mistaken those houses as mountain clans.
They will get defeated with canonballs?
Are you sure? I mean, I thought that Stannis' army mostly consisted of mercenaries and his remaining bannermen. I haven't seen him rallying and currying favors with the Northern lords like he did in the books. Nor did he recruit the mountain clans like Jon suggested to him in the books.
I have always assumed that Stannis only used his own personal army in Season 5 and by that, the Forrester's aren't bound to Stannis' fate.
House Forrester has little choice, since the Glovers did pledge allegiance to Stannis and the Forresters are sworn to the Glovers
I'm not a fan of following a madman to kill another madman, so I would rather not follow Stannis (I mean Show Stannis. I would follow Book Stannis to the seven hells and back).
I would gladly bend the knee to BookStannis. To ShowStannis I would refuse.
But we are following the Tv-show continuity right? I mean, I feel quite certain that Stannis doesn't have Northern warriors in his army in the show.
I don't watch the show. I thought he had the Glovers? Didn't he liberate Deepwood Motte from the Ironborn in the show?
My dislike for Show Stannis comes from what people say about him here.
A large group of Stannis's supporters desert after he, y'know, has his daughter burned at the stake. We don't know what happened to them, either, so there's potential that the game could explore their point of view.
I hope you don't mind spoiler then.
Stannis did try to win the favors and loyalties of the Northern houses, but none come to his aid. There are no Karstark and no liberating Deepwood Motte and Jon didn't suggest the mountain clans.
I doubt that he got any northern house to aid him.
Well one possible good thing about this. It leaves the possibility of the Forresters helping their liege liberating their seat and the Ironborns being the main enemy in season 2.