In Jon Snow's final chapter of A Dance with Dragons he received a letter which the hardcore
fan community has dubbed "The Pink Letter" - a nod to its pink sealing wax.
When Jon and Tormund first discussed it, Tormund wondered if it were all a skin o' lies, and
Jon countered that there was truth in there. Nonetheless, George R.R. Martin had Tormund
question the letter, and many fans have as well. Not everything in The Pink Letter is
necessarily true. And it may not have even been written by Ramsay.
Although this topic has been debated for years, there is one very important thing about the
letter that has not been talked about until today. So let's do this.
The author of the letter referred to the Brothers of the Night's Watch as black crows. The term
black crow has been used 11 times so far in the story up until the Pink Letter. 10 of
those times, the term "black crow" was used by someone of free folk. And the one other
time was Jon Snow speaking to Mance using Mance's own verbiage. So basically, the term
black crow has only ever been used by free folk, which is one reason why some fans believe
Mance Rayder wrote the Pink Letter. On top of that, the letter ended with a threat.
The author of the letter said he would cut out Jon's bastard's heart and eat it.
And it just so happens, that Mance Rayder once threatened to cut out Jon's heart.
But these first two reasons are flawed. A lot of people in the story talk about cutting
off body parts and making people eat them. Especially the heart. Davos thought about
cutting out Melisandre's heart. Cotter Pyke threatened to rip out Jon's liver and eat
it. And there was a rumor that Robb Stark had cut out Stafford Lannister's heart and
fed it to Grey Wind. So cutting out hearts and eating them is just part of the world's
lingo. Similarly, "black" is a word that is often
used to add insult and darkness. People talk about black deeds, black sorcery, and black
arts. Eyes as black as sin. Black humors, Black hearts, and black rage, just to name
a few. Some characters in the story even have the word black in their nickname for the same
reason. The Blackfish and Black Walder Frey. So yes, the only people who have used the
term black crow so far in the story were free folk. But it s not some secret free folk term.
Black Crow is just an insult. An insult that was used by free folk and an insult that was
used by the author of the Pink Letter. And there are also several reasons why we
can eliminate Mance from our list of suspects. First off, what would be his purpose? To get
Jon to come down and free him? Jon wouldn't even leave castle black to free his sister
Arya, so Mance would not expect Jon to come down and free him, especially since the letter
stated that Arya had already escaped Ramsay. On top of that, Mance spent almost two decades
risking his life to unify the free folk so as to mobilize them south and escape the white
walkers. Some of the free folk are still north of the wall and some of the free folk are
at castle black. Mance knows that if Jon were to leave Castle Black, no other free folk
would be allowed south of the wall. And the free folk already south of the wall at Castle
Black might be killed by the Night's Watch who hates them. That includes Mance's own
sister-in-law, Val. So Mance Rayder did not write the Pink Letter.
But that does not mean that Ramsay did. There are other signs that it may not have been
Ramsay. Over the years, some fans have argued that
the letter was not written by Ramsay since Ramsay likes to flay people, but the letter
mentions heads on the walls of Winterfell. But keep in mind that, Roose has already hung
people at Winterfell instead of flaying them. And even Ramsay has already beheaded characters
in this story. So it's not beyond reason to think that Ramsay would display peoples' heads
on the walls of Winterfell. But there are four other oddities to go over.
First is the Ink. Ramsay's letter to the Ironborn at Moat Cailin
was never opened since the Ironborn could not read. But Ramsay's letter to Asha and
Ramsay's letter to the Wall earlier in the story were both written in brown ink. The
brown ink was a sign that they were written with blood. And Ramsay even stated as much
in his letter to Asha. But George R.R. Martin did not mention the color of the ink of the
Pink Letter. So there's that. Similarly, Ramsay's two prior letters were
both written in a huge, spiky hand. But nothing was said of the Pink Letter's penmanship.
Fans have also taken issue with the Bolton Seal. Ramsay's letter of safe conduct at Moat
Cailin was sealed with Pink Wax. Ramsay's letter to Asha at Deepwood Motte was sealed
with hard pink wax. And Ramsay's first letter to the Wall was sealed with a button of hard
pink wax. But The Pink Letter was sealed with a smear of hard pink wax. That was the first
time that George R.R. Martin used the term "a smear," so it could be a subtle clue that
someone else wrote the letter, without using the official Bolton stamp.
And here's one more indication that The Pink Letter may have been written by someone other
than Ramsay. Body Parts. Ramsay's letter to the Ironborn at Moat Cailin was never opened.
And his first letter to the wall earlier in the story didn't have any body parts within
it, but that letter was not a threat. Ramsay's letter to Asha, on the other hand, was a threat,
and so, it included a scrap of leather, presumably, human tissue. A piece of Theon. Since the
Pink Letter was also a threat, it begs the question, why didn't The Pink Letter have
any body parts in it? So George R.R. Martin didn't mention that
the color of the pink letter's ink was brown. George R.R. Martin didn't point out Ramsay's
typical, huge, spikey handwriting. The pink letter didn't have any flayed body parts,
and the seal was referred to as a smear, for the first time. None of those are proof that
Ramsay didn't write it, but they are enough to warrant a look at two other people: Stannis
and Melisandre. Over the course of book 5, Melisandre warned
Jon about the danger around him and daggers in the dark over and over. Melisandre also
did not want Jon to go on the ranging to Hardhome. Since Melisandre told Jon to look to the skies
right before the letter arrived, in theory, Melisandre may have written the Pink Letter
herself as a final Hail Mary attempt to get Jon away from the dangers at Castle Black.
Maybe. I used to believe as much. But we have to consider Stannis as well. In
the preleased Theon chapter of The Winds of Winter, Theon told Stannis that Ramsay wants
his bride back. He wants his Reek. And in the Pink Letter, the author wrote the lines
"I want my bride back" and "I want my Reek." Why is the Pink Letter wording so similar
to the words that Theon said to Stannis? Did Theon and Asha write the letter? Or did Stannis
write the Pink Letter after Theon said that to him? Possibly. But there's another way
to explain why Theon's words so closely paralleled those of the Pink Letter. Because Theon was
scared during that part of the conversation. Theon's fear caused him to revert back to
his identity of Reek. Reek knows Ramsay. And Reek's limited vocabulary is a reflection
of Ramsay. Speaking of Ramsay, should we just skip him?
Or should we take a look at Ramsay before casting our final vote? Yeah, let's take a
look at Ramsay. Are there any signs that Ramsay wrote the
Pink Letter? Yes. There was only one word written outside the scroll. Bastard. No Lord
Snow or Jon Snow or Lord Commander. Simply Bastard. And the letter itself called Jon
a Bastard four more times. Ramsay Snow hated that he was a bastard. And now he was Ramsay
Bolton, Trueborn Lord of Winterfell. So he may have wrote the Pink Letter as a way of
rubbing it in Jon's face that he was no longer a bastard. And that he was now Lord of Jon's
childhood home. Lord of Winterfell. But remember, Tormund questioned whether the
letter was a lie. And Jon retorted that there was truth in there. So that is what we are
trying to figure out. What is the hidden lie within the letter?
Possibly, the final words of the letter. Trueborn Lord of Winterfell. Let me explain.
Jon Snow's final chapter in "A Dance with Dragons" takes place further down the timeline
than some of the early "The Winds of Winter" chapters. So a lot may have already happened
inside Winterfell by the time that Jon Snow received the Pink Letter. And because Theon
has escaped Winterfell, a lot of what has happened there has happened off page. There's
no longer a POV character there. Fans have spent years dissecting the details
of the letter and trying to figure out who wrote the Pink Letter. But is that even the
right question? The question we should be asking ourselves
is whether or not Ramsay has already killed Roose Bolton, and thus, the lie of the letter
is that Ramsay is not just Lord of Winterfell. At the time of the Pink Letter, Ramsay may
already be Warden of the North. Or more likely, at the time of the Pink Letter, Ramsay may
have already declared himself King of the North. And although he is a black crow, Ramsay
may fear that Jon Snow has a claim to his throne. Thus, Ramsay wrote the Pink Letter
to lure Jon down to battle. The Battle of the Bastards. Warg vs Warg. Ghost vs Ramsay's
Hounds. And when Jon Snow wins, he will be raised King of the North.