This is part 5 in a multi-part series about our favorite direwolves. Previously released posts in the series are here:
Part 1: Lady and Sansa, Part 2: Grey Wind and Robb, Part 3: Nymeria and Arya, Part 4: Summer and Bran, Part 5: Shaggydog and Rickon, Part 6: Ghost and Jon
In this Episode, we’ll investigate the warg / telepathic bond between Shaggydog and Rickon. Given that we don’t have Rickon’s POV we’ll have to look at this through Bran’s chapters and try to extrapolate. In part 3, I introduced a hypothesis that the color of direwolves’ eyes might correspond to them having stronger telepathic genes. The red-eyed and green-eyed CotF are much more powerful than their yellow-eyed brethren; I am investigating whether the same holds true for direwolves. If that is the case, I have a concern that Rickon’s personality could be overwhelmed by Shaggydog’s, especially considering how little chance he’s had to grow to be part of human society and how he has no mentor like Bran does. We’ll concentrate on this theme along with our wolf bond themes introduced in other volumes.
A Game of Thrones – Shaggydog and Baby Rickon
In this volume, we’ll see a lot of contrast between Shaggydog and Rickon’s behavior vs. what we saw of Bran and Summer. While Bran and Summer are thoughtful and careful, Shaggy and Rickon are aggressive. They act out violently, owing mainly to Rickon’s growing anger and sadness over being abandoned by his parents and the rest of his family. It heightens to such an extent that wildness becomes a theme in Shaggydog and Rickon’s relationship. Over and over, baby Rickon, not even a fully formed human, is ignored by Catelyn, Robb, Luwin, Rodrik, and even Bran. Under this backdrop, we’ll investigate the development of Shaggydog’s and Rickon’s warg bond. The themes from our prior volumes continue here, as well, including:
- Personality and mood mirroring
- Obedience vs. Independence
- Shadowing / protecting / fear of the wolves
- Related: the wolves’ innate ability to sense threats
- Belonging to the pack / the instinct to hunt
- Being affectionate when they’re together
- Bad things happening when they’re separated
A Game of Thrones – Bran II
The first mention of Shaggydog in this volume is his name. You can’t learn much about their bond from this, but certainly it is a childish name, indicative of Rickon’s age and maturity, as Bran points out.
He was still trying to decide on a name. Robb was calling his Grey Wind, because he ran so fast. Sansa had named hers Lady, and Arya named hers after some old witch queen in the songs, and little Rickon called his Shaggydog, which Bran thought was a pretty stupid name for a direwolf.
– A Game of Thrones – Bran II
A Game of Thrones – Catelyn III
The second mention of Shaggydog is when he is howling in the yard with his brothers, pack behavior. It is again without Rickon, so we don’t get much indication of their bond. However, we learn from Robb in the same chapter that Rickon follows him around all the time crying (and Robb is quite sick of it, wanting Catelyn’s to step up). From that it’s not hard to guess that Shaggy would be spending a lot of time around Grey Wind. That said, from the passage below, it appears the Shaggy is the “second wolf” to howl (after Summer), the wolf further away. Shaggy is also the one belonging to Rickon who is isolated from his family at this time due to his mother’s negligence. This is a potential instance of mirroring, Rickon and Shaggy feel the forlorn Summer’s pain and Shaggy joins him readily. Grey Wind, closer, joins last, which means Shaggy is not being led by Grey Wind in this scene. It makes sense that he’s closer, since he would be awaiting Robb’s coming out of the tower.
A Game of Thrones – Catelyn III
“Rickon needs you,” Robb said sharply. “He’s only three, he doesn’t understand what’s happening. He thinks everyone has deserted him, so he follows me around all day, clutching my leg and crying. I don’t know what to do with him.” He paused a moment, chewing on his lower lip the way he’d done when he was little. “Mother, I need you too. I’m trying but I can’t … I can’t do it all by myself.” His voice broke with sudden emotion, and Catelyn remembered that he was only fourteen. She wanted to get up and go to him, but Bran was still holding her hand and she could not move.
[…]
Outside the tower, a wolf began to howl. Catelyn trembled, just for a second.
“Don’t,” she told him. “Bran needs to stay warm.”
“He needs to hear them sing,” Robb said. Somewhere out in Winterfell, a second wolf began to howl in chorus with the first. Then a third, closer. “Shaggydog and Grey Wind,” Robb said as their voices rose and fell together. “You can tell them apart if you listen close.”
– A Game of Thrones – Catelyn III
A Game of Thrones – Bran IV
In Bran’s first chapter after waking from the coma, we finally get our first instance of Shaggy and Rickon together. Rickon appears to be playing with Shaggy, Grey Wind, and Summer. Shaggy is clearly taking the role of Rickon’s protector in the game, shadowing the boy. On Rickon, we see him being a boy, happy for the attention of the wolves. Clearly he is very comfortable around them, indicating that his bond with Shaggy dog is already strong. Still, no people, especially adults, are giving the boy attention. He is isolated from Bran, his mother is gone, and Robb is uninterested, acting the lord.
Bran watched from his window seat. Wherever the boy went, Grey Wind was there first, loping ahead to cut him off, until Rickon saw him, screamed in delight, and went pelting off in another direction. Shaggydog ran at his heels, spinning and snapping if the other wolves came too close. His fur had darkened until he was all black, and his eyes were green fire. Bran’s Summer came last. He was silver and smoke, with eyes of yellow gold that saw all there was to see. Smaller than Grey Wind, and more wary. Bran thought he was the smartest of the litter. He could hear his brother’s breathless laughter as Rickon dashed across the hard-packed earth on little baby legs.
Later that chapter, the wolves attack Tyrion. It starts when Rickon lets them into the audience hall. Why did he do this? Did he see Summer wanting to get in the hall, as I had guessed in part 4, opening the door out of curiosity for why? Or, was he upset that he had again been neglected, left alone out in the yard with the wolves while the maester and his brothers were in the hall? Either way, it’s clear that this theme of Rickon being left alone, to fend for himself continues.
Shaggy’s pack behavior in the attack is a bit noteworthy in that he sneaks up behind Tyrion. Is this an indication that he is smarter or has better instincts than his brothers? Perhaps. Later, he is the last wolf to break off the attack and Rickon is the last to call him off. This is likely indicative of mirroring. Rickon’s growing anger at his abandonment is reflected in his wolf. His eyes are burning; the wolf is angry. It ends when Rickon calls him off, but the wolf doesn’t obey immediately, similar to Summer and unlike Grey Wind. Rickon is not dominating the wolf, and they both probably have an independent streak like Summer and Bran. They do have affection for each other, though, given how Rickon warmly hugs Shaggy, probably his only friend at this point.
The door to the yard flew open. Sunlight came streaming across the hall as Rickon burst in, breathless. The direwolves were with him. The boy stopped by the door, wide-eyed, but the wolves came on. Their eyes found Lannister, or perhaps they caught his scent. Summer began to growl first. Grey Wind picked it up. They padded toward the little man, one from the right and one from the left.
“Perhaps it’s time I took my leave,” Tyrion said. He took a step backward … and Shaggydog came out of the shadows behind him, snarling. Lannister recoiled, and Summer lunged at him from the other side. He reeled away, unsteady on his feet, and Grey Wind snapped at his arm, teeth ripping at his sleeve and tearing loose a scrap of cloth.
“No!” Bran shouted from the high seat as Lannister’s men reached for their steel. “Summer, here. Summer, to me!”
The direwolf heard the voice, glanced at Bran, and again at Lannister. He crept backward, away from the little man, and settled down below Bran’s dangling feet.
Robb had been holding his breath. He let it out with a sigh and called, “Grey Wind.” His direwolf moved to him, swift and silent. Now there was only Shaggydog, rumbling at the small man, his eyes burning like green fire.
“Rickon, call him,” Bran shouted to his baby brother, and Rickon remembered himself and screamed, “Home, Shaggy, home now.” The black wolf gave Lannister one final snarl and bounded off to Rickon, who hugged him tightly around the neck.
We get one more scene to close the chapter in the dining hall later that night. Grey Wind and Shaggy are fighting over a bone. Again, this is a possible indication of lingering anger in Rickon mirrored in Shaggy. Note that Rickon is not even mentioned. Either he’s not there or he’s being ignored even by Bran.
Hodor washed the sweat from him with a warm, damp cloth and dressed him with deft and gentle hands. When it was time, he carried him down to the Great Hall, where a long trestle table had been set up near the fire. The lord’s seat at the head of the table had been left empty, but Robb sat to the right of it, with Bran across from him. They ate suckling pig that night, and pigeon pie, and turnips soaking in butter, and afterward the cook had promised honeycombs. Summer snatched table scraps from Bran’s hand, while Grey Wind and Shaggydog fought over a bone in the corner. Winterfell’s dogs would not come near the hall now. Bran had found that strange at first, but he was growing used to it.
– A Game of Thrones – Bran IV
A Game of Thrones – Bran VI
Two chapters later, the anger that I was suggesting explodes onto the page, predicated by the news that Robb is marching south. This is a clear example of protecting, mirroring, the savagery of the wolf, and a new theme, the wildness of both Shaggy and Rickon. One must recall that direwolves are wild beasts, not normally domesticated, save by wargs. So this wildness is innate to Shaggy. And our warg in this case is a four-year-old boy who probably doesn’t even understand the meaning of the word “control.” In this context, it is no surprise what happened.
At this point we must also recall our hypothesis (that Shaggy is exceptional in comparison to the golden-eyed wolves, here Summer and Grey Wind). Add to this the worry Jojen had in ASOS of Bran living all his days as Summer. In the coincidental wolf dreams, Bran’s thoughts are overwhelmed frequently by Summer’s wolfish thoughts. Similarly, in our current scene, Rickon is acting wildly once he is found in the crypts. I’d suggest that Rickon’s wild behavior is an example of him mirroring Shaggy’s wildness, even as Shaggy is mirroring Rickon’s anger. In other words, Rickon’s anger is being felt closely by Shaggy, while Shaggy’s wild, wolfish thoughts are rubbing off on, dare I say dominating, Rickon. As their bond develops into a full warging experience, I worry about Shaggy’s potential to further dominate of the young, under-developed Rickon.
One other thing I notice is how Robb and Grey Wind were able to dominate Shaggy to bring him to heal. Unfortunately, Robb, the leader and source of control (dare I say training), is going to be missing from Rickon and Shaggy’s story hereafter.
The passage culminates with the cruelty of isolating the wolf from the boy, denying them the ability for affection, which can only compound their anger, loneliness, and feelings of abandonment. The fact that the adults think this is a good idea is just another indication of the reality of Rickon’s abandonment.
His baby brother had been wild as a winter storm since he learned Robb was riding off to war, weeping and angry by turns. He’d refused to eat, cried and screamed for most of a night, even punched Old Nan when she tried to sing him to sleep, and the next day he’d vanished. Robb had set half the castle searching for him, and when at last they’d found him down in the crypts, Rickon had slashed at them with a rusted iron sword he’d snatched from a dead king’s hand, and Shaggydog had come slavering out of the darkness like a green-eyed demon. The wolf was near as wild as Rickon; he’d bitten Gage on the arm and torn a chunk of flesh from Mikken’s thigh. It had taken Robb himself and Grey Wind to bring him to bay. Farlen had the black wolf chained up in the kennels now, and Rickon cried all the more for being without him.
The following passage is another example of pack behavior and one of our first clues about the magic of the wolves. They sensed somehow that their sister was coming! Shaggy in this case is framed as following his brothers.
Bran felt all cold inside. “She lost her wolf,” he said, weakly, remembering the day when four of his father’s guardsmen had returned from the south with Lady’s bones. Summer and Grey Wind and Shaggydog had begun to howl before they crossed the drawbridge, in voices drawn and desolate. Beneath the shadow of the First Keep was an ancient lichyard, its headstones spotted with pale lichen, where the old Kings of Winter had laid their faithful servants. It was there they buried Lady, while her brothers stalked between the graves like restless shadows. She had gone south, and only her bones had returned.
– A Game of Thrones – Bran VI
A Game of Thrones – Bran VII
The final chapter of Shaggy’s story in AGoT again takes Rickon and him to the crypts. This time they’re hiding there because of the dream Bran and Rickon shared about Ned’s death. This chapter is where we realize that Rickon may share the same type of power as Bran. First though, we see how Rickon’s anger is continuing unabated. Shaggy again attacks unwitting men, this time Luwin. The attack is violent and swift, using the element of surprise. This element may be an indication of Shaggy’s intelligence. Notice how he selected Luwin, the man who ought to be doing a much better job of caring for Rickon. Does Shaggy know this? In any case, Rickon directs harsh words at Luwin, as well. With Grey Wind gone south, it takes Summer, to force Shaggy to let go of Luwin, but it takes Rickon to call Shaggy off and end the wolves’ ensuing fight. Fortunately, the boy calls him off quickly and he readily obeys.
The darkness sprang at him, snarling.
Bran saw eyes like green fire, a flash of teeth, fur as black as the pit around them. Maester Luwin yelled and threw up his hands. The torch went flying from his fingers, caromed off the stone face of Brandon Stark, and tumbled to the statue’s feet, the flames licking up his legs. In the drunken shifting torchlight, they saw Luwin struggling with the direwolf, beating at his muzzle with one hand while the jaws closed on the other.
“Summer!” Bran screamed.
And Summer came, shooting from the dimness behind them, a leaping shadow. He slammed into Shaggydog and knocked him back, and the two direwolves rolled over and over in a tangle of grey and black fur, snapping and biting at each other, while Maester Luwin struggled to his knees, his arm torn and bloody. Osha propped Bran up against Lord Rickard’s stone wolf as she hurried to assist the maester. In the light of the guttering torch, shadow wolves twenty feet tall fought on the wall and roof.
“Shaggy,” a small voice called. When Bran looked up, his little brother was standing in the mouth of Father’s tomb. With one final snap at Summer’s face, Shaggydog broke off and bounded to Rickon’s side. “You let my father be,” Rickon warned Luwin. “You let him be.”
The injured Luwin immediately complains that Shaggy should be tied up in the kennels. Luwin’s resistance to understanding the magic of the wolves caused friction in Bran’s development as a warg. Now we see it injuring Rickon’s ability to heal from his abandonment issues. This is in the face of clear evidence of the supernatural in the boys right here in the dream in this chapter. That said, he definitely recognizes the wildness of Shaggy. How can he not? He is bleeding badly, and so are Summer and Shaggy.
Yet, it is sad that while Luwin ponders euthanizing his closest companion, Rickon is again forgotten amid the concerns about violence. If only Luwin could shrug off his maester training to ignore the supernatural and instead approach these wolves and their bonds to the wargs with an open mind! If that had happened, many bad things could have been averted. Recall our theme of bad things happening when the children are separated from their wolves. Unfortunately, this whole incident is partly a result of Shaggy being tied up after the last incident. The boy needed his wolf and he needed attention, to be cared-for. The last small mention of Shaggy in the passage illustrates it perfectly. Rickon, given normal attention from his brother, is perfectly fine doing what he’s told, as long as Shaggy can come along!
Bran had never seen Maester Luwin look so uncertain before. Blood dripped down his arm where Shaggydog had shredded the wool of his sleeve and the flesh beneath. “Osha, the torch,” he said, biting through his pain, and she snatched it up before it went out. Soot stains blackened both legs of his uncle’s likeness. “That … that beast,” Luwin went on, “is supposed to be chained up in the kennels.”
Rickon patted Shaggydog’s muzzle, damp with blood. “I let him loose. He doesn’t like chains.” He licked at his fingers.
[…]
“You can wait with me,” Bran said. “We’ll wait together, you and me and our wolves.” Both of the direwolves were licking wounds now, and would bear close watching.
“Bran,” the maester said firmly, “I know you mean well, but Shaggydog is too wild to run loose. I’m the third man he’s savaged. Give him the freedom of the castle and it’s only a question of time before he kills someone. The truth is hard, but the wolf has to be chained, or …” He hesitated.
… or killed, Bran thought, but what he said was, “He was not made for chains. We will wait in your tower, all of us.”
[…]
“Will you come, Rickon?”
His brother nodded. “If Shaggy comes too,” he said, running after Osha and Bran, and there was nothing Maester Luwin could do but follow, keeping a wary eye on the wolves.
It’s so heartbreaking that the boy’s only demand is to be allowed to remain in the presence of his wolf, and it’s too bad that Luwin couldn’t recognize that the behavior was mirroring of Rickon’s state of mind.
At the tail end of the chapter, while Luwin is bandaging himself, we see one more indication on the direwolves’ telepathic abilities and connection to each other. The raven with the news of Ned’s death arrives, but before it comes in the window and lands Summer and Shaggy start howling, obviously knowing that what is coming is the news we expected the entire chapter. Checking it against our hypothesis that Shaggy is more powerful magically because of his green eyes, there is nothing to see here. Summer howls first. That said, there are any number or reasons that Summer howled first that are related to Bran and Summer, so we won’t abandon the hypothesis yet.
Summer began to howl.
Maester Luwin broke off, startled. When Shaggydog bounded to his feet and added his voice to his brother’s, dread clutched at Bran’s heart. “It’s coming,” he whispered, with the certainty of despair. He had known it since last night, he realized, since the crow had led him down into the crypts to say farewell. He had known it, but he had not believed. He had wanted Maester Luwin to be right. The crow, he thought, the three-eyed crow …
The howling stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Summer padded across the tower floor to Shaggydog, and began to lick at a mat of bloody fur on the back of his brother’s neck. From the window came a flutter of wings.
A raven landed on the grey stone sill, opened its beak, and gave a harsh, raucous rattle of distress.
– A Game of Thrones – Bran VII
Two more points, the pack behavior – Shaggy is actually mirroring Summer.
We’ve seen in this volume how Rickon’s anger over being abandoned combines with Shaggy’s innate wildness to form the basis for their bond. Like with their siblings, the other six main wolf bond themes are also in evidence with Shaggy and Rickon. We now look for how all these themes continue in the next volume.
A Clash of Kings – Angry Shaggydog and Wild Rickon
All our direwolf bond themes continue in this volume. Of particular note will be how the forced separation affects each of them. Rickon goes through a phase where he latches onto the Frey boys. His liking them is probably a reflection of his propensity for misbehavior. It is also clearly because they actually give him attention, something nobody else does, much. Meanwhile Shaggy will continue to be angry, and he will also be very skittish around people, save when he chooses to be aggressive and attacks them. We also see in their story how Rickon’s confinement and sensory deprivation in the Crypts seems to lead to a closer warging bond, as happened with Bran and Summer.
A Clash of Kings – Bran I
The first mention of Shaggydog in this volume is a discussion of how even his howling is savage. Clearly the theme of others fearing the wolves is larger in Shaggydog, in reflection of his anger. This is also a continued example of mirroring and pack behavior.
Summer’s howls were long and sad, full of grief and longing. Shaggydog’s were more savage. Their voices echoed through the yards and halls until the castle rang and it seemed as though some great pack of direwolves haunted Winterfell, instead of only two . . . two where there had once been six. Do they miss their brothers and sisters too? Bran wondered. Are they calling to Grey Wind and Ghost, to Nymeria and Lady’s Shade? Do they want them to come home and be a pack together?
We find at the next mention of Shaggy that the most likely reason for the continued mournful and angry howling is their confinement in the Godswood. The separation from the boys is really not working, but Ser Rodrik and Maester Luwin are not capable of understanding that. We are also reminded of the theme of bad things happening when the children and wolves are separated. Bran wishes he can be with them; we can only imagine what Rickon is thinking. I believe that the problem of Shaggy’s behavior could have been solved by giving Rickon more attention and bringing structure and love into his world. Bran, as Robb’s heir, is given this, but Rickon is largely ignored, to the detriment of all who encounter Shaggydog.
Bran also makes an interesting observation, that the acoustics Winterfell sometimes made it sound like the wolves were much closer than the godswood. I do wonder if he partially hearing the sounds through Summer’s ears. Could the same be true for Rickon and Shaggy? Two things we found that developed Bran’s warging ability were the sensory deprivation and the forced separation from Summer. At this point Rickon actually has spent significant time in the crypts at 2 separate times and is now separated from Shaggy. It’s not out of the question to think that his bond to Shaggy might even be more developed than Bran and Summer’s at this point, especially if Shaggy is a more powerful, telepathically, than Summer.
And still the direwolves howled. The guards on the walls muttered curses, hounds in the kennels barked furiously, horses kicked at their stalls, the Walders shivered by their fire, and even Maester Luwin complained of sleepless nights. Only Bran did not mind. Ser Rodrik had confined the wolves to the godswood after Shaggydog bit Little Walder, but the stones of Winterfell played queer tricks with sound, and sometimes it sounded as if they were in the yard right below Bran’s window. Other times he would have sworn they were up on the curtain walls, loping round like sentries. He wished that he could see them.
Bran, not realizing the reason for the grief, continues to wonder why the wolves won’t stop howling. I think the reason is clear, that the wolves are mourning their ability to be close to the boys. Rickon must feel the same. Our author takes the opportunity to showcase this grief by having Bran remind us of the grief triggered the prior bouts of continual howling, Bran’s fall, Lady’s bones returning and Ned’s death. It also begins the foreshadowing of Bran and Rickon’s fake deaths and Robb and Catelyn’s coming death.
Summer had howled the day Bran had fallen, and for long after as he lay broken in his bed; Robb had told him so before he went away to war. Summer had mourned for him, and Shaggydog and Grey Wind had joined in his grief. And the night the bloody raven had brought word of their father’s death, the wolves had known that too. Bran had been in the maester’s turret with Rickon talking of the children of the forest when Summer and Shaggydog had drowned out Luwin with their howls.
Who are they mourning now? Had some enemy slain the King in the North, who used to be his brother Robb? Had his bastard brother Jon Snow fallen from the Wall? Had his mother died, or one of his sisters? Or was this something else, as maester and septon and Old Nan seemed to think?
Bran, never having figured out the reason for the howling, decides to join the wolves in solidarity. Summer and Shaggy hear him and respond in kind. It’s humorous and touching. But their response is also emblematic of the reason they are howling. It’s mirroring. They all wish to be together. One does wonder if Rickon was also joining in.
“Oooo,” Bran cried tentatively. He cupped his hands around his mouth and lifted his head to the comet. “Ooooooooooooooooooo, ahooooooooooooooo,” he howled. It sounded stupid, high and hollow and quavering, a little boy’s howl, not a wolf’s. Yet Summer gave answer, his deep voice drowning out Bran’s thin one, and Shaggydog made it a chorus. Bran haroooed again. They howled together, last of their pack.
The last mention of Shaggy in this chapter reminds us of his wildness and ferocity, even frightening Bran. Luwin, of all people, would know Shaggy is a dangerous beast; however, he is much more, but Luwin will not be able to see that until the end.
“The Frey boy did not ask to be attacked,” the maester said, “no more than I did.”
“That was Shaggydog.” Rickon’s big black wolf was so wild he even frightened Bran at times. “Summer never bit anyone.”
“Summer ripped out a man’s throat in this very chamber, or have you forgotten? The truth is, those sweet pups you and your brothers found in the snow have grown into dangerous beasts. The Frey boys are wise to be wary of them.”
Finally, we get an actual account of the attack on the Freys. Let’s preface this discussion with Bran’s description of the game; in effect, it was mostly an excuse to be a bully, which Little Walder definitely was in the incident. Nonetheless, it starts with Rickon commanding Shaggy to wait aside, which he tacitly obeys. However, recall our theme of the wolves as protectors. Shaggy certainly took up the task, watching with Bran. The obvious ensues. Shaggy attacks in the blink of an eye when Little Walder attacks Rickon with the stick. Little Walder, the bully, got what was coming to him. Rickon thinks it’s hilarious, and I largely agree with him. Anyone who’s seen a bully cut down to size knows this scene. Recall our theme that the direwolves can sense danger and put that together with our later knowledge that Little Walder has malice. Shaggydog did his job and got locked up for it.
Finally Rickon came running into the godswood, Shaggydog at his heels. He watched Turnip and Little Walder struggle for the stick until Turnip lost his footing and went in with a huge splash, arms waving. Rickon yelled, “Me! Me now! I want to play!” Little Walder beckoned him on, and Shaggydog started to follow. “No, Shaggy,” his brother commanded. “Wolves can’t play. You stay with Bran.” And he did . . .
. . . until Little Walder had smacked Rickon with the stick, square across his belly. Before Bran could blink, the black wolf was flying over the plank, there was blood in the water, the Walders were shrieking red murder, Rickon sat in the mud laughing, and Hodor came lumbering in shouting “Hodor! Hodor! Hodor!”
– A Clash of Kings – Bran I
All I can say to Luwin and Rodrik is: You punished the wrong person. What? You say “Shaggydog is not a person?” Well, yes. That is strictly true, but Rickon, Shaggy’s warg, is the person who was punished. In this case, Little Walder’s injury was the logical consequence. Nothing needed to be done further by the adults, but, again, they got it wrong. Rickon, we’ll see later, had won the bully’s respect, similar to how Robb had won Great Jon Umber’s respect earlier in the saga.
A Clash of Kings – Bran II
In the next chapter, after a while of isolation, it seems Shaggydog is skittish about spending time with Rickon (and people in general. I am a bit confused about this. I would have expected a moment of affection at their reunion. Could the angst of the separation have angered the wolf so much that he doesn’t even want to be around Rickon? That’s harsh, so we’ll keep an eye out for more clues on this mystery.
Notice also how Shaggy is very good at hiding and blending in. This is a hunting instinct we should associate with him. On that note, recall also that he was the one who snuck up behind Tyrion in AGoT.
No sooner had Hodor entered the godswood than Summer emerged from under an oak, almost as if he had known they were coming. Bran glimpsed a lean black shape watching from the undergrowth as well. “Shaggy,” he called. “Here, Shaggydog. To me.” But Rickon’s wolf vanished as swiftly as he’d appeared.
– A Clash of Kings – Bran II
A Clash of Kings – Bran III
In the next chapter, we get a glimpse at another angle about Shaggy’s peculiar behavior last chapter. Rickon seems to have accepted the punishment in his own way. Could the punishment be a good thing, getting Rickon to grow up a bit, and behave? Is this also why Shaggy has been skittish, because he knows Rickon thinks he was bad? Perhaps I was a bit hasty at my reaction to the punishment last time because of my views on bullying, because it was true that Rickon and Shaggy were out of control. We’ll keep an eye on this going forward.
After that, Bran mentions that Summer can control Shaggy. This rings true, especially given what happened at the end of AGoT. Shaggy seems to be a follower.
The boy, Jojen, looked about the hall curiously as he took his seat. “Where are the direwolves?“
“In the godswood,” Rickon answered. “Shaggy was bad.“
[…]
“They won’t bite if I’m there.” Bran was pleased that they wanted to see the wolves. “Summer won’t anyway, and he’ll keep Shaggydog away.” He was curious about these mudmen. He could not recall ever seeing one before. His father had sent letters to the Lord of Greywater over the years, but none of the crannogmen had ever called at Winterfell. He would have liked to talk to them more, but the Great Hall was so noisy that it was hard to hear anyone who wasn’t right beside you.
Later that chapter, we first see Shaggy from Summer’s perspective. As Bran suggested earlier, Shaggy is acting as a follower to Summer. They act together in responding to the disturbance of the Reed’s entering the godswood. Shaggy growls reflexively, while Summer ponders the intruders. This is typical of the anger in Shaggy, which Jojen easily discerns. “Fear and rage” is a perfect summation of his mood at this point.
He went to sleep with his head full of knights in gleaming armor, fighting with swords that shone like starfire, but when the dream came he was in the godswood again. The smells from the kitchen and the Great Hall were so strong that it was almost as if he had never left the feast. He prowled beneath the trees, his brother close behind him. This night was wildly alive, full of the howling of the man-pack at their play. The sounds made him restless. He wanted to run, to hunt, he wanted to—
The rattle of iron made his ears prick up. His brother heard it too. They raced through the undergrowth toward the sound. Bounding across the still water at the foot of the old white one, he caught the scent of a stranger, the man-smell well mixed with leather and earth and iron.
The intruders had pushed a few yards into the wood when he came upon them; a female and a young male, with no taint of fear to them, even when he showed them the white of his teeth. His brother growled low in his throat, yet still they did not run.
“Here they come,” the female said. Meera, some part of him whispered, some wisp of the sleeping boy lost in the wolf dream. “Did you know they would be so big?”
“They will be bigger still before they are grown,” the young male said, watching them with eyes large, green, and unafraid. “The black one is full of fear and rage, but the grey is strong . . . stronger than he knows . . . can you feel him, sister?”
– A Clash of Kings – Bran III
So, this is confirmation from the author of what we’ve seen written between the lines about Shaggy and Rickon. Jojen is talking about the boys not the wolves, but the wolves are mirroring the boys through the bond.
A Clash of Kings – Bran IV
In the next chapter, we see pack behavior as Shaggydog joins Summer in threatening the Reeds. Notice how they fan out to surround the children, something they did against Tyrion as well. Bran was telling the truth when he said he can’t call them off. Even if Summer might have broken off, Shaggy did not stop. His anger and hunting instinct took over, and he could only be stopped by Hodor. Hodor is loved by Rickon as we learn later, so this could be considered mirroring. Rickon could have also called Shaggy off, but he is still AWOL. Is Shaggy also mad because Rickon is ignoring him, spending time with the Walders? Is this making him even more angry and wild?
The direwolf lunged again, and again Meera’s spear darted out. Summer dodged, circled back. The bushes rustled, and a lean black shape came padding from behind the weirwood, teeth bared. The scent was strong; his brother had smelled his rage. Bran felt hairs rise on the back of his neck. Meera stood beside her brother, with wolves to either side. “Bran, call them off.”
“I can’t!”
“Jojen, up the tree.”
“There’s no need. Today is not the day I die.”
“Do it!” she screamed, and her brother scrambled up the trunk of the weirwood, using the face for his handholds. The direwolves closed. Meera abandoned spear and net, jumped up, and grabbed the branch above her head. Shaggy’s jaws snapped shut beneath her ankle as she swung up and over the limb. Summer sat back on his haunches and howled, while Shaggydog worried the net, shaking it in his teeth.
Only then did Bran remember that they were not alone. He cupped hands around his mouth. “Hodor!” he shouted. “Hodor! Hodor!” He was badly frightened and somehow ashamed. “They won’t hurt Hodor,” he assured his treed friends.
A few moments passed before they heard a tuneless humming. Hodor arrived half-dressed and mud-spattered from his visit to the hot pools, but Bran had never been so glad to see him. “Hodor, help me. Chase off the wolves. Chase them off.”
Hodor went to it gleefully, waving his arms and stamping his huge feet, shouting “Hodor, Hodor,” running first at one wolf and then the other. Shaggydog was the first to flee, slinking back into the foliage with a final snarl. When Summer had enough, he came back to Bran and lay down beside him.
– A Clash of Kings – Bran IV
But for pack moments like this with Summer. Shaggydog is all alone, separated from the boy that is clearly part of him. With that, we’ll end this episode. Please join us next time when we conclude Shaggy and Rickon’s story in ACoK. Thanks for watching!
ACoK II: Isolated Shaggydog and Forlorn Rickon
Hello and Welcome to the Bard’s Truth, with your host the Green Bard. This is episode 5.3, Isolated Shaggydog and Forlorn Rickon. where we’ll conclude our analysis of their warg bond in A Clash of Kings.
A Clash of Kings – Bran VI
It is not until the Ironborn arrive in this chapter that Rickon seems to miss Shaggydog, but first we see Shaggy through Summer’s eyes during the attack. Our direwolf themes abound, starting with the refrain that bad things happen when the children are separated from their wolves. The ironborn attack might have bee averted if thy were free to roam the castle, also reminiscent of their protective instinct. They may have warned the guards in time! We see more pack behavior, Shaggy is again stealthy and following Summer’s lead. We also get Summer’s reminiscing about how they’d worked to try to dig their way out of the godswood, and how Shaggy tried, in typical angry mirroring fashion, to tear the gate open with only his jaws.
The evening’s rain had woken a hundred sleeping smells and made them ripe and strong again. Grass and thorns, blackberries broken on the ground, mud, worms, rotting leaves, a rat creeping through the bush. He caught the shaggy black scent of his brother’s coat and the sharp coppery tang of blood from the squirrel he’d killed. Other squirrels moved through the branches above, smelling of wet fur, and fear, their little claws scratching at the bark. The noise had sounded something like that.
[…]
His brother came sliding through the trees, moving almost as quiet as another brother he remembered dimly from long ago, the white one with the eyes of blood. This brother’s eyes were pools of shadow, but the fur on the back of his neck was bristling. He had heard the sounds as well, and known they meant danger.
[…]
He ran toward the sound, his brother racing beside him. The stone dens rose before them, walls slick and wet. He bared his teeth, but the man-rock took no notice. A gate loomed up, a black iron snake coiled tight about bar and post. When he crashed against it, the gate shuddered and the snake clanked and slithered and held. Through the bars he could look down the long stone burrow that ran between the walls to the stony field beyond, but there was no way through. He could force his muzzle between the bars, but no more. Many a time his brother had tried to crack the black bones of the gate between his teeth, but they would not break. They had tried to dig under, but there were great flat stones beneath, half-covered by earth and blown leaves.
At the end of the chapter, the theme of affection returns; we are saddened by Rickon’s wish for his mother and wolf, neither of which will be granted by Theon. Upon first read, I had wondered, like Catelyn, if the wolves would soon be killed by Theon. Fortunately, that was not the case.
The ironman who came for them was a squat thick-bodied man with a coal-black beard that covered half his chest. He bore the boy easily enough, though he looked none too happy with the task. Rickon’s bedchamber was a half turn down the steps. The four-year-old was cranky at being woken. “I want Mother,” he said. “I want her. And Shaggydog too.”
Finally, we see a bit of pack behavior and more protest form the wolves about their separation
One of the ironmen went before them carrying a torch, but the rain had started again and soon drowned it out. As they hurried across the yard they could hear the direwolves howling in the godswood. I hope Summer wasn’t hurt falling from the tree.
– A Clash of Kings – Bran VI
A Clash of Kings – Theon IV
We next get a mention of the wolves through Theon’s chapter, while the boys are hiding in Winterfell’s crypts (again). Shaggydog and Summer seem to have hunted together and fed (pack behavior), and then led Theon and Farlen on a merry chase. Clearly, Farlen’s hounds picked up their scent, but there was no way to catch the faster wolves. Theon even sees the clues that he is chasing only the direwolves, but fails to understand how the boys had tricked him. Knowing how close the boys are to the wolves, he can’t fathom the long-term separation that they are in-for. Fortunately, Shaggy has been established as a follower, so the wolves stayed together during this long separation from the boys. Clearly there is also some warging going on to make this chase happen. We know that;s the case with Bran, but we can be less sure as to whether Rickon is warging Shaggy at this time.
He dismounted for a closer look. The kill was still fresh, and plainly the work of wolves. The dogs sniffed round it eagerly, and one of the mastiffs buried his teeth in a haunch until Farlen shouted him off. No part of this animal has been butchered, Theon realized. The wolves ate, but not the men. Even if Osha did not want to risk a fire, she ought to have cut them a few steaks. It made no sense to leave so much good meat to rot. “Farlen, are you certain we’re on the right trail?” he demanded. “Could your dogs be chasing the wrong wolves?”
“My bitch knows the smell of Summer and Shaggy well enough.”
[…]
“There’s been only the one trail, my lord, I swear it,” said Gariss defensively. “And the direwolves would never have parted from them boys. Not for long.”
That’s so, Theon thought. Summer and Shaggydog might have gone off to hunt, but soon or late they would return to Bran and Rickon. “Gariss, Murch, take four dogs and double back, find where we lost them. Aggar, you watch them, I’ll have no trickery. Farlen and I will follow the direwolves. Give a blast on the horn when you pick up the trail. Two blasts if you catch sight of the beasts themselves. Once we find where they went, they’ll lead us back to their masters.“
– A Clash of Kings – Theon IV
A Clash of Kings – Jon VIII
During the time where we the reader think Bran and Rickon are dead, Jon thinks of all the living direwolves as he ponders his own mortality. He wonders if Shaggy will howl for him when he’s dead. One must wonder how Jon would even know to think this. Did Jon feel Shaggy doing this, maybe in his dreams at some point? Or was this Ghost’s thought? I imagine he felt it when they howled for Lady. It wasn’t on the page for us to see, though, so this is speculation.
It will be good to feel warm again, if only for a little while, he told himself while he hacked bare branches from the trunk of a dead tree. Ghost sat on his haunches watching, silent as ever. Will he howl for me when I’m dead, as Bran’s wolf howled when he fell? Jon wondered. Will Shaggydog howl, far off in Winterfell, and Grey Wind and Nymeria, wherever they might be?
– A Clash of Kings – Jon VIII
A Clash of Kings – Bran VII
In Bran’s final chapter of ACoK, as in prior chapters, we first see Shaggydog through Summer’s thoughts. They are hunting; dogs are afraid of them, recalling our theme of others fearing them. Shaggy is viscous in how he kills the horse. Still, Summer dominates him when they fight.
The first scene, though, has a hint of Shaggy mirroring what would be Rickon’s response to the carnage before them. He growls at every sound. I’ve never thought of Shaggy as a coward, but being spooked at everything would be appropriate if Rickon were sharing Shaggy’s emotions at that time.
[…] He pricked up his ears and listened, and his brother growled at every sound. They prowled under the trees as a piney wind blew ashes and embers through the sky. In time the flames began to dwindle, and then they were gone. The sun rose grey and smoky that morning.
Only then did he leave the trees, stalking slow across the fields. His brother ran with him, drawn to the smell of blood and death. They padded silent through the dens the men had built of wood and grass and mud. Many and more were burned and many and more were collapsed; others stood as they had before. Yet nowhere did they see or scent a living man. Crows blanketed the bodies and leapt into the air screeching when his brother and he came near. The wild dogs slunk away before them.
Beneath the great grey cliffs a horse was dying noisily, struggling to rise on a broken leg and screaming when he fell. His brother circled round him, then tore out his throat while the horse kicked feebly and rolled his eyes. When he approached the carcass his brother snapped at him and laid back his ears, and he cuffed him with a forepaw and bit his leg. They fought amidst the grass and dirt and falling ashes beside the dead horse, until his brother rolled on his back in submission, tail tucked low. One more bite at his upturned throat; then he fed, and let his brother feed, and licked the blood off his black fur.
Bran goes on to not want to leave the wolf’s skin, a possible example of the wolfish thoughts of Summer beginning to overwhelm Bran after he spent too long inside his wolf. This phenomenon is the basis for my hypothesis that Rickon could be similarly overwhelmed by Shaggydog while they are telepathically connected.
Now is a good time to consider what Rickon was doing in the crypts while Bran was warging Summer. After the dream in the prior passage, there was a long scene in the crypts after Bran wakes up, but Rickon isn’t mentioned until they finally decide to go to the surface. It must have been hard for the boy to be so ignored, even with company so close around him. It’s probable that his bond to Shaggy increased a lot during this time as well. However, we don’t have any information showing that he learned to control the wolf.
We can, however, infer quite a bit from the next passage. In the scene below, he asks if they are going where Shaggydog is. To me, the phrasing suggests that he definitely knows where Shaggydog is, and that he just desperately wants to go there, too. I wonder if he knows because he has tracked Shaggy and Summer’s adventure through Shaggy’s eyes with their minds mingled as a warg and his mount. I think it likely.
“Are we going home?” Rickon asked excitedly. “I want my horse. And I want applecakes and butter and honey, and Shaggy. Are we going where Shaggydog is?”
“Yes,” Bran promised, “but you have to be quiet.”
Once they return to the surface, the direwolves are there immediately. Perhaps, the wolves sensed what the boys were doing and came to that exact spot, without being called, or was it the scent that guided them? Or mayhaps it was the noise of Hodor clearing the entrance. Finally we get the affectionate reunion between Shaggy and Rickon that we were denied earlier this volume. We almost feel like Rickon the group have a chance to be happy and safe together. Unfortunately, we immediately come to earth with the realization from Jojen and Luwin that the group has to leave and split up. Notice how Shaggy growls when Rickon realizes that Luwin will die. This is an extreme example of mirroring. The bond is so tight that they are sharing thoughts and emotions in real time. The bond is now much stronger than before; it has certainly grown a lot during the sojourn in the crypts.
Two lean dark shapes emerged from behind the broken tower, padding slowly through the rubble. Rickon gave a happy shout of “Shaggy!” and the black direwolf came bounding toward him. Summer advanced more slowly, rubbed his head up against Bran’s arm, and licked his face.
“We should go,” said Jojen. “So much death will bring other wolves besides Summer and Shaggydog, and not all on four feet.”
[…]
“No use,” said Luwin. “I’m dying, woman.”
“You can’t,” said Rickon angrily. “No you can’t.” Beside him, Shaggydog bared his teeth and growled.
[…]
“Listen,” Luwin said to Osha, “the princes . . . Robb’s heirs. Not . . . not together . . . do you hear?”
The wildling woman leaned on her spear. “Aye. Safer apart. But where to take them? I’d thought, might be these Cerwyns . . .”
In the last scene where Rickon and Shaggy are together with Bran and Summer, we see how sad the parting makes Rickon (note the love for Hodor that we referenced earlier). We can only imagine that this further abandonment will mean repeated fear, sadness, and anger for the young boy, leading to a possible repeat of his behaviors from AgoT. The obvious difference is that his bond to Shaggy is much stronger now. As a warging pair, they could be unpredictable and extremely dangerous to anyone they encounter. They are left with Osha, who will care for the boy well enough, but cannot be mistaken for one who will give him a lot of comfort and affection; her “smack” with the spear is proof enough of this. I find Rickon’s capacity for explosions of rage will not be tempered by this pairing. Still, he has a loyal protector in Shaggy, who takes up the post as they leave Bran’s sight.
They stopped at the kitchens first. Osha found some loaves of burned bread that were still edible, and even a cold roast fowl that she ripped in half. Meera unearthed a crock of honey and a big sack of apples. Outside, they made their farewells. Rickon sobbed and clung to Hodor’s leg until Osha gave him a smack with the butt end of her spear. Then he followed her quick enough. Shaggydog stalked after them. The last Bran saw of them was the direwolf’s tail as it vanished behind the broken tower.
– A Clash of Kings – Bran VII
So That’s it for Shaggydog and Rickon in A Clash of Kings. We’ll have one more video on their bond, discussing mentions of them in A Storm of Swords and A Dance with Dragons.
Lone Wolves – Shaggydog and Rickon Into the Wild
After A Clash of Kings, Shaggydog is mentioned in five later chapters, but all are secondhand through the direwolves’ telepathic bond or from hearsay from the Ironborn Squire, Wex. Our insight into these mentions tell us that the direwolf bond themes of pack, mirroring, and obedience / disobedience are paramount to their relationship. We learn from Wex that the pair have gone to Skagos. This is an ill omen… not because of the cannibalism rumors (though they are concerning), but because going to a place that is not known for hospitality will invariably lead to further isolation for a boy who needs human attention to retain his humanity. This only strengthens my concern that the boy will become very wolfish. Shaggydog’s angry and wild personality could progress to the point where he is dominating Rickon’s own humanity.
One mitigating factor might be that Shaggydog seems to be a follower. Perhaps this gives us some hope that Rickon’s humanity will win out, dominating the beta wolf. However, if Shaggy’s propensity to follow is a reflection of the same trait with Rickon, that might turn out a forlorn hope. There is little evidence for his leadership capability, save when Rickon was hanging with the Walders. I get the feeling he was following them around. He did lead them to the crypts the one time, but it might have been at their behest. All in all, I am concerned that Rickon is not prone to leadership and that Shaggy might have a stronger personality than the boy, and come to dominate him.
A Storm of Swords – Bran I
The first passage is from Summer, who is remembering all of his pack. Summer can feel Shaggy more closely than the other wolves. Recall our hypothesis that Shaggy is stronger in telepathic power than Summer, Nymeria, Lady, and Grey Wind. It may be that Summer senses Shaggy more strongly than the others because Shaggy is closer, but the strength of Shaggy’s telepathic powers might also be a reason for this. Certainly, Summer’s connection to the others is not extremely strong, as he is only feeling them “sometimes.”
He had a pack as well, once. Five they had been, and a sixth who stood aside. Somewhere down inside him were the sounds the men had given them to tell one from the other, but it was not by their sounds he knew them. He remembered their scents, his brothers and his sisters. They all had smelled alike, had smelled of pack, but each was different too.
His angry brother with the hot green eyes was near, the prince felt, though he had not seen him for many hunts. Yet with every sun that set he grew more distant, and he had been the last. The others were far scattered, like leaves blown by the wild wind.
Sometimes he could sense them, though, as if they were still with him, only hidden from his sight by a boulder or a stand of trees. He could not smell them, nor hear their howls by night, yet he felt their presence at his back . . . all but the sister they had lost. His tail drooped when he remembered her. Four now, not five. Four and one more, the white who has no voice.
– A Storm of Swords – Bran I
A Storm of Swords – Bran II
The next mention of Shaggy is from Bran. He thinks wrongly that Rickon and Shaggy might be with the Manderlys or the Umbers, although this is clever foreshadowing by GRRM. While Rickon didn’t go to either of these houses, later evidence suggests that those two houses have learned of Rickon’s whereabouts, from Wex and Osha, respectively. He probably would have been protected well by these families, among the most loyal to the Starks. One wonders how he ended up in Skagos. Mayhaps, Osha wanted to go where the “Others” could not? Bran’s wishful thinking about how they could be in safety is mayhaps a contrast to their real location.
When they lost their way, as happened once or twice, they need only wait for a clear cold night when the clouds did not intrude, and look up in the sky for the Ice Dragon. The blue star in the dragon’s eye pointed the way north, as Osha told him once. Thinking of Osha made Bran wonder where she was. He pictured her safe in White Harbor with Rickon and Shaggydog, eating eels and fish and hot crab pie with fat Lord Manderly. Or maybe they were warming themselves at the Last Hearth before the Greatjon’s fires. But Bran’s life had turned into endless chilly days on Hodor’s back, riding his basket up and down the slopes of mountains.
– A Storm of Swords – Bran II
A Dance with Dragons – Jon I
The next mention of Shaggy is from Ghost and Jon. Ghost’s image of what Shaggy is doing is much more vivid than Summer’s had been. Still, this might be only an indication that Ghost has stronger telepathy, it may not be a reflection on Shaggy. Ghost seems to have a pretty clear picture of Nymeria’s comings and goings as well. Still the image we get of Shaggy is more vivid.
Shaggy is also injured in this scene, by a UNICORN! I do worry if this could be a serious, or even mortal wound for the beast. What would happen to Rickon in this case? Will the boy, deprived of his protector and best friend, descend into madness? Or, would the pain of the death hurt him as Varamyr was hurt when the eagle burned? Will he be physically vulnerable? Is he with people, with adequate shelter and enough to eat? My questions about this injury are endless, though I admit it may amount to nothing.
There is another possibility, too, and it has to do with Shaggy’s second life. If Shaggy’s telepathic abilities are special, does he have the capability to enter the mind of another as well? If he were already dominating his bond with Rickon, and the wolf’s flesh were to die, could he end up living his second life inside the boy? This would be a calamity. I hope it is not the case, but I must at least consider the idea. It also could be an important idea in relation to Jon’s fate which we’ll consider in the next volume.
Far off, he could hear his packmates calling to him, like to like. They were hunting too. A wild rain lashed down upon his black brother as he tore at the flesh of an enormous goat, washing the blood from his side where the goat’s long horn had raked him. In another place, his little sister lifted her head to sing to the moon, and a hundred small grey cousins broke off their hunt to sing with her. The hills were warmer where they were, and full of food. Many a night his sister’s pack gorged on the flesh of sheep and cows and horses, the prey of men, and sometimes even on the flesh of man himself.
After the wolf dream, Jon remembers what happened. He still thinks to boys are dead and he ponders them living their second lives in the wolves. Ironically, this is the opposite of my prior worry about Shaggy. Again, let’s hope Shaggy turns out to be safe.
Bran and Rickon had been murdered too, beheaded at the behest of Theon Greyjoy, who had once been their lord father’s ward … but if dreams did not lie, their direwolves had escaped. At Queenscrown, one had come out of the darkness to save Jon’s life. Summer, it had to be. His fur was grey, and Shaggydog is black. He wondered if some part of his dead brothers lived on inside their wolves.
– A Dance with Dragons – Jon I
A Dance with Dragons – Bran I
We return to Summer’s mind, mingled with Bran’s, for the next mention of Shaggy. It is a bit dark. Summer, beyond the magical barrier of the wall, is deprived of the feeling of his pack. It’s been so long that he seems to have forgotten Shaggy and is thinking of Varamyr’s pack as his own; Bran has to remind him of his real pack. We can take heart that Rickon and Shaggy, at this time of isolation, still feel the comfort of Ghost and Nymeria, giving them solace.
When he was done with that one, he moved to the next, and devoured the choicest bits of that man too. Ravens watched him from the trees, squatting dark-eyed and silent on the branches as snow drifted down around them. The other wolves made do with his leavings; the old male fed first, then the female, then the tail. They were his now. They were pack.
No, the boy whispered, we have another pack. Lady’s dead and maybe Grey Wind too, but somewhere there’s still Shaggydog and Nymeria and Ghost. Remember Ghost?
– A Dance with Dragons – Bran I
A Dance with Dragons – Davos VI
The last mention of our pair is through Wex, in Davos’s POV in White Harbor. No matter how the boy came to be with the Manderlys, he seems to have told them that Rickon is indeed on Skagos. Somehow, he followed them by from Winterfell, always staying downwind. I find this a bit far-fetched, given what we know of the wolf. I would think Shaggy could sense him, although it’s possible that Rickon and Shaggy just decided the boy was no threat and allowed him to follow them. Manderly’s plan for Davos getting the wolf and the boy may also be ill-fated if something happened to Shaggy. Again, let’s hope Shaggy is OK. Either way, it will be interesting to find out what happens next in their story.
“Six of them,” asked Davos. “There were six.”
“Two of them Ned Stark’s murdered sons.”
“With chalk. He drew two boys … and two wolves.”
“The lad is ironborn, so he thought it best not to show himself,” said Glover. “He listened. The six did not linger long amongst the ruins of Winterfell. Four went one way, two another. Wex stole after the two, a woman and a boy. He must have stayed downwind, so the wolf would not catch his scent.”
“He knows where they went,” Lord Wyman said.
Davos understood. “You want the boy.”
“Roose Bolton has Lord Eddard’s daughter. To thwart him White Harbor must have Ned’s son … and the direwolf. The wolf will prove the boy is who we say he is, should the Dreadfort attempt to deny him. That is my price, Lord Davos. Smuggle me back my liege lord, and I will take Stannis Baratheon as my king.”
[…]
“Where is the boy?” Somehow Davos knew he would not like the answer. “Where is it you want me to go, my lord?”
[…]
For half a heartbeat Davos considered asking Wyman Manderly to send him back to the Wolf’s Den, to Ser Bartimus with his tales and Garth with his lethal ladies. In the Den even prisoners ate porridge in the morning. But there were other places in this world where men were known to break their fast on human flesh.
– A Dance with Dragons – Davos VI
To Summarize, while there is very little evidence of Shaggy and Rickon’s bond in the text compared to their siblings, we have been able to learn quite a few things by studying it here. Our direwolf themes from the other wolves hold here. Added for Shaggy is that he is fearful and angry, a reflection of Rickon, who has been neglected since Ned left Winterfell. It makes the wolf alternately skittish and aggressive. He is also feared most of all by the people of Winterfell because of the resulting savage attacks. In addition, Shaggy is dominated by first Grey Wind and also Summer. I find this also to be a reflection of Rickon’s place as the youngest; he and his wolf are not leaders (not alphas, to use the unscientific wolf pack term).
We’ve not found much evidence at all for our hypothesis that the color of direwolves’ eyes might correspond to them having stronger telepathic genes. If this were to hold true, Shaggy, with green eyes should be more special, telepathically, than Summer, Nymeria, Grey Wind, and Lady. Still given the limited information on Shaggydog, we’ll not discard the hypothesis yet. We have a lot more evidence for Ghost, so we’ll study him against this hypothesis in part 6.
We also studied the concern that Rickon’s personality could be overwhelmed by Shaggydog’s, give how little chance he’s had to grow to be part of society. This concern stems from what nearly happened to Bran at the beginning of ASoS and the exposition of Haggon’s lessons to Varamyr in the ADwD prologue. It is clear that the boy is wild and more wolfish than his siblings, and that is reflected in and a reflection of Shaggydog. I remain quite concerned that the boy Davos finds will be feral, having lived in Shaggy’s mind far too long. He may even have gone mad, losing hold of his humanity. This effect could be magnified if Shaggy has been injured or killed in a hunting incident; we can hope that I am reading too much into these issues.
Again, we’ll look forward to one more essay on our direwolves, when we tackle Ghost and Jon’s story. This promises to be the longest part the series. It will also be the culmination of this work; thanks to all of you who are still with me on this journey!
Shout-out and attribution as always goes to those who’ve gone before me with some of the theories that I am probably subconsciously utilizing / mentioning / building upon here, including:
u/RockyRockington who posted: https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/aivijc/spoilers_extended_a_theory_about_ghost_and/
u/PrestonJacobs and all his videos related to this topic
I have a lot of original thought here, but I am certainly synthesizing a lot of their ideas, as well.
Also, Thanks GRRM!
TL;DR Whatddya want it’s 11,000 words? I can’t summarize this for you in a paragraph. Get to it or don’t. It’s worth it; I promise. (seriously, there is a summary a few paragraphs up).
The Green Bard 