Ganurath
Well-known member
No, that's fostering. Wards like Theon are hostages, to be killed if their family act up.And part of the point of wardship is to build friendships and ties or even in this case marriages.
My position is that Quellon was misrepresented by what was written by the Maesters, and that an undignified motive behind his actions provides nuance to Balon's canonical clinging to the Old Way: He was trying to be the Tywin to the Tytos of Quellon by sharply contrasting his apparent flaw. Quellon's nadir wasn't the embrace of the New Way, though. It was suffering the consequences of the Old Way. So, where Balon sought to emulate Tywin's success, he wound up doubling down on his father's failings, to catastrophic results. Savvy!Balon made a more accurate assessment, and strove to avoid consequences rather than double down on his father's mistakes.