Background

Ever since taking Winterfell in ACOK, Theon Greyjoy has not only been plagued by dreams (he is sleeping in Ned's bedchambers), but he also has begun to have numerous encounters with weirwood/heart trees as well as ravens. I thought it would be fun to look into these events and see what they could potentially foreshadow for the future.

Dreams

GRRM loves using dreams to foreshadow, but primarily prophetic dreams in the series have been limited to characters with valyrian blood and certain followers of the old gods. We have seen some exceptions (Jaime's weirwood stump dream, etc).

First Dreams

In ACOK, Theon IV, Theon is awoke to the silence and worries about a bad dream but doesn't remember dreaming. Later he thinks on dreams he has had (chronologically we don't hear details until after the second):

The bedchamber felt as cold as the dream forest had been.All his dreams had been cold of late, and each more hideous than the one before. -ACOK, Theon IV

• Dressing "Bran" & "Rickon"

The last Bran chapter we get is when Summer sees the "sea" come to Winterfell. So the reader is under the impression that Bran & Rickon could be dead here:

Last night he had dreamed himself back in the mill again, on his knees dressing the dead. Their limbs were already stiffening, so they seemed to resist sullenly as he fumbled at them with half-frozen fingers, tugging up breeches and knotting laces, yanking fur-trimmed boots over hard unbending feet, buckling a studded leather belt around a waist no bigger than the span of his hands. "This was never what I wanted," he told them as he worked. "They gave me no choice." The corpses made no answer, but only grew colder and heavier. -ACOK, Theon V

• The Miller's Wife

The night before, it had been the miller's wife. Theon had forgotten her name, but he remembered her body, soft pillowy breasts and stretch marks on her belly, the way she clawed his back when he fucked her. Last night in his dream he had been in bed with her once again, but this time she had teeth above and below, and she tore out his throat even as she was gnawing off his manhood. It was madness. He'd seen her die too. Gelmarr had cut her down with one blow of his axe as she cried to Theon for mercy. Leave me, woman. It was him who killed you, not me. And he's dead as well. At least Gelmarr did not haunt Theon's sleep. -ACOK, Theon V

Second Dreams

ACOK, Theon V opens with Theon in another dream, this dream seems to foreshadow a couple different things:

• Theon (and Kyra) fleeing from Ramsay and his "girls"

Roots grabbed at Theon's feet as he ran, and bare branches lashed his face, leaving thin stripes of blood across his cheeks. He crashed through heedless, breathless, icicles flying to pieces before him. Mercy, he sobbed. From behind came a shuddering howl that curdled his blood. Mercy, mercy. When he glanced back over his shoulder he saw them coming -ACOK, Theon V

and:

All night they ran through the darkling wood, but as the sun came up the sound of a distant horn came faintly through the trees, and they heard the baying of a pack of hounds. "We should split up," he told Kyra as the dogs drew closer. "They cannot track us both." The girl was crazed with fear, though, and refused to leave his side, even when he swore that he would raise a host of ironborn and come back for her if she should be the one they followed. -ADWD, Reek I

If interested: Namesakes: The Bastard's Girls

• Direwolves, Bran & Rickon, Weirwood (Bloodraven)

great wolves the size of horses with the heads of small children. Oh, mercy, mercy. Blood dripped from their mouths black as pitch, burning holes in the snow where it fell. Every stride brought them closer. Theon tried to run faster, but his legs would not obey. The trees all had faces, and they were laughing at him, laughing, and the howl came again. He could smell the hot breath of the beasts behind him, a stink of brimstone and corruption. They're dead, dead, I saw them killed, he tried to shout, I saw their heads dipped in tar, but when he opened his mouth only a moan emerged, and then something touched him and he whirled, shouting . . . -ACOK, Theon V

Third Dream

• Dining with the Dead from the Feast of Winterfell

That night he dreamed of the feast Ned Stark had thrown when King Robert came to Winterfell. The hall rang with music and laughter, though the cold winds were rising outside. At first it was all wine and roast meat, and Theon was making japes and eyeing the serving girls and having himself a fine time . . . until he noticed that the room was growing darker. The music did not seem so jolly then; he heard discords and strange silences, and notes that hung in the air bleeding. Suddenly the wine turned bitter in his mouth, and when he looked up from his cup he saw that he was dining with the dead. -ACOK, Theon V

• King Robert & Eddard Stark

King Robert sat with his guts spilling out on the table from the great gash in his belly, and Lord Eddard was headless beside him. -ACOK, Theon V

• Ned Stark's Attendees to King's Landing

Corpses lined the benches below, grey-brown flesh sloughing off their bones as they raised their cups to toast, worms crawling in and out of the holes that were their eyes. He knew them, every one; Jory Cassel and Fat Tom, Porther and Cayn and Hullen the master of horse, and all the others who had ridden south to King's Landing never to return. -ACOK, Theon V

• Characters killed by Theon

Note that Bran/Rickon aren't here and that he says "saved Bran's life":

Mikken and Chayle sat together, one dripping blood and the other water. Benfred Tallhart and his Wild Hares filled most of a table. The miller's wife was there as well, and Farlen, even the wildling Theon had killed in the wolfswood the day he had saved Bran's life. -ACOK, Theon V

• Lyanna, Brandon and Rickard

But there were others with faces he had never known in life, faces he had seen only in stone. The slim, sad girl who wore a crown of pale blue roses and a white gown spattered with gore could only be Lyanna. Her brother Brandon stood beside her, and their father Lord Rickard just behind. Along the walls figures half-seen moved through the shadows, pale shades with long grim faces. The sight of them sent fear shivering through Theon sharp as a knife. - ACOK, Theon V

• The Red Wedding

One of the numerous foreshadowing lines that show that Robb was not going to make it:

And then the tall doors opened with a crash, and a freezing gale blew down the hall, and **Robb came walking out of the night. Grey Wind stalked beside, eyes burning, and man and wolf alike bled from half a hundred savage wounds.**Theon woke with a scream, startling Wex so badly that the boy ran naked from the room. When his guards burst in with drawn swords, he ordered them to bring him the maester. By the time Luwin arrived rumpled and sleepy, a cup of wine had steadied Theon's hands, and he was feeling ashamed of his panic. "A dream," he muttered, "that was all it was. It meant nothing."-ACOK, Theon V

If interested: Obvious in Retrospect: Example - The Red Wedding

The Weirwood/Heart Tree

When Theon returns to Winterfell (as Reek), the weirwood/Bran plays a very big part in the storyline:

Theon stepped back, and Ramsay and his bride joined hands and knelt before the heart tree, bowing their heads in token of submission. The weirwood’s carved red eyes stared down at them, its great red mouth open as if to laugh. In the branches overhead a raven quorked. (ADWD, The Prince of Winterfell)

and keep in mind that Sam does a similar thing before slaying the Other:

Theon found himself wondering if he should say a prayer. Will the old gods hear me if I do? They were not his gods, had never been his gods. He was ironborn, a son of Pyke, his god was the Drowned God of the islands … but Winterfell was long leagues from the sea. It had been a lifetime since any god had heard him. He did not know who he was, or what he was, why he was still alive, why he had ever been born.

and the trees begin to speak to him:

“Theon,” a voice seemed to whisper. His head snapped up. “Who said that?” All he could see were the trees and the fog that covered them. The voice had been as faint as rustling leaves, as cold as hate. A god’s voice, or a ghost’s*.* (ADWD, The Prince of Winterfell)

resulting in Theon begging the Old Gods to save him and hearing sobbing in return:

Snow was falling on the godswood too, melting when it touched the ground. Beneath the white-cloaked trees the earth had turned to mud. Tendrils of mist hung in the air like ghostly ribbons. Why did I come here? These are not my gods. This is not my place. The heart tree stood before him, a pale giant with a carved face and leaves like bloody hands.

A thin film of ice covered the surface of the pool beneath the weir-wood. Theon sank to his knees beside it. “Please,” he murmured through his broken teeth, “I never meant ...” The words caught in his throat. “Save me,” he finally managed. “Give me ...” What? Strength? Courage? Mercy? Snow fell around him, pale and silent, keeping its own counsel. The only sound was a faint soft sobbing. Jeyne, he thought. It is her, sobbing in her bridal bed. Who else could it be? Gods do not weep. Or do they?

The sound was too painful to endure. Theon grabbed hold of a branch and pulled himself back to his feet, knocked the snow off his legs, and limped back toward the lights. There are ghosts in Winterfell, he thought, and I am one of them. (ADWD, The Turncloak)

the next time he visits the godswood he is spoken to for a second time:

In the godswood the snow was still dissolving as it touched the earth. Steam rose off the hot pools, fragrant with the smell of moss and mud and decay. A warm fog hung in the air, turning the trees into sentinels, tall soldiers shrouded in cloaks of gloom. During daylight hours, the steamy wood was often full of northmen come to pray to the old gods, but at this hour Theon Greyjoy found he had it all to himself.

And in the heart of the wood the weirwood waited with its knowing red eyes. Theon stopped by the edge of the pool and bowed his head before its carved red face. Even here he could hear the drumming, boom DOOM boom DOOM boom DOOM boom DOOM. Like distant thunder, the sound seemed to come from everywhere at once.

The night was windless, the snow drifting straight down out of a cold black sky, yet the leaves of the heart tree were rustling his name. “Theon,” they seemed to whisper, “Theon.”

The old gods, he thought. They know me. They know my name. I was Theon of House Greyjoy. I was a ward of Eddard Stark, a friend and brother to his children. “Please.” He fell to his knees. “A sword, that’s all I ask. Let me die as Theon, not as Reek.” Tears trickled down his cheeks, impossibly warm. “I was ironborn. A son ... a son of Pyke, of the islands.” (ADWD, A Ghost in Winterfell)

before the tree changes into Bran:

A leaf drifted down from above, brushed his brow, and landed in the pool. It floated on the water, red, five-fingered, like a bloody hand. “… Bran,” the tree murmured.

They know. The gods know. They saw what I did. And for one strange moment it seemed as if it were Bran’s face carved into the pale trunk of the weirwood, staring down at him with eyes red and wise and sad. Bran’s ghost, he thought, but that was madness. Why should Bran want to haunt him? He had been fond of the boy, had never done him any harm. It was not Bran we killed. It was not Rickon. They were only miller’s sons, from the mill by the Acorn Water. “I had to have two heads, else they would have mocked me ... laughed at me ... they ...” (ADWD, A Ghost in Winterfell)

The Escape

Reek (now Theon again) does this all because of the conversation in the godswood:

Reek might have done it. Would have done it, in hopes it might please Lord Ramsay. These whores meant to steal Ramsay's bride; Reek could not allow that. But the old gods had known him, had called him Theon. Ironborn, I was ironborn, Balon Greyjoy's son and rightful heir to Pyke. The stumps of his fingers itched and twitched, but he kept his dagger in its sheath.

and (at least Theon seems to believe) the old gods are protecting them:

Theon stopped so suddenly that Willow almost plowed into his back. The door to Ramsay's bedchamber was before him. And guarding it were two of the Bastard's Boys, Sour Alyn and Grunt.

The old gods must wish us well. Grunt had no tongue and Sour Alyn had no wits, Lord Ramsay liked to say. One was brutal, the other mean, but both had spent most of their lives in service at the Dreadfort. They did as they were told. -ADWD, Theon I

and:

Theon clapped one hand around Jeyne's mouth, grabbed her about the waist with the other, and pulled her past the dead and dying guards, through the gate, and over the frozen moat. And perhaps the old gods were still watching over them; the drawbridge had been left down, to allow Winterfell's defenders to cross to and from the outer battlements more quickly. From behind them came alarums and the sounds of running feet, then the blast of a trumpet from the ramparts of the inner wall. -ADWD, Theon I

and:

“I saved her.” The outer wall of Winterfell was eighty feet high, but beneath the spot where he had jumped the snows had piled up to a depth of more than forty. A cold white pillow. The girl had taken the worst of it. Jeyne, her name is Jeyne, but she will never tell them. Theon had landed on top of her, and broken some of her ribs. “I saved the girl,” he said. “We flew.”

Stannis snorted. “You fell. Umber saved her. If Mors Crowfood and his men had not been outside the castle, Bolton would have had the both of you back in moments.” -TWOW, Theon I

If interested: Accessible Weirwood/Heart Trees & Bran/Bloodraven Interfering in Different Plotlines

The Ravens

So if you are still following me, Theon not only started receiving dreams but in ADWD the heart tree actually starts to speak to him. In TWoW, the connection gets even stronger as the ravens really seem to want Stannis to sacrifice Theon to the heart tree in the Crofter's Village:

"Then do the deed yourself, Your Grace." The chill in Asha's voice made Theon shiver in his chains. "Take him out across the lake to the islet where the weirwood grows, and strike his head off with that sorcerous sword you bear. That is how Eddard Stark would have done it. Theon slew Lord Eddard's sons. Give him to Lord Eddard's gods. The old gods of the north. Give him to the tree."And suddenly there came a wild thumping, as the maester's ravens hopped and flapped inside their cages, their black feathers flying as they beat against the bars with loud and raucous caws. "The tree," one squawked, "the tree, the tree," whilst the second screamed only, "Theon, Theon, Theon." -TWOW, Theon I

If interested: Names Said by Ravens in the Series & Animals Screaming During "Magical" Events

Final Thoughts/Theory

He never wanted to do any harm to Bran or Rickon. Reek made him kill those boys, not him Reek but the other one. "I am no kinslayer," he insisted. He told her how he bedded down with Ramsay's bitches, warned her that Winterfell was full of ghosts. "The swords were gone. Four, I think, or five. I don't recall. The stone kings are angry." He was shaking by then, trembling like an autumn leaf. "The heart tree knew my name. The old gods. Theon, I heard them whisper. There was no wind but the leaves were moving. Theon, they said. My name is Theon." It was good to say the name. The more he said it, the less like he was to forget. "You have to know your name," he'd told his sister. "You... you told me you were Esgred, but that was a lie. Your name is Asha. -TWOW, Theon I"

Why is this all so important? Because as I mentioned before the Battle of Ice, Stannis' men are expecting a sacrifice (men want to know their god is with them before a battle). Stannis' problem is that not all of his men serve the same god. And if we look at the end of Theon's first TWOW chapter, Stannis is "recommended" to give Theon to the Old Gods/Tree (Bran/Bloodraven):

The Sacrifice

Theon is fully ready to die, look at what he thinks in the godswood:

I could scream, Theon thought. Someone will hear. The castle is full of armed men. He would be dead before help reached him, to be sure, his blood soaking into the ground to feed the heart tree. And what would be so wrong with that? "-ADWD, A Ghost in Winterfell

but I believe that Bran/GRRM have bigger plans for him so after taking Theon out to the "tree" something has to happen that is powerful enough not just for Stannis to save Theon, but also for the northern lords to go along with it.

If interested: Stannis/Theon & The Weirwood Tree in the Crofters' Village &

How to get into Winterfell

I think most readers believe Stannis wins the Battle of Ice (beginning portion of the Nightlamp Theory) using the terrain/lake to his advantage (since we know he survives at least to burn Shireen). The question marks usually begin around how does he indeed take Winterfell? As we see from Theon's discussion with Lady Dusten and Bran's chapters both have detailed knowledge of the castle:

• Bran's Knowledge

It taught him Winterfell's secrets too. The builders had not even leveled the earth; there were hills and valleys behind the walls of Winterfell. There was a covered bridge that went from the fourth floor of the bell tower across to the second floor of the rookery. Bran knew about that. And he knew you could get inside the inner wall by the south gate, climb three floors and run all the way around Winterfell through a narrow tunnel in the stone, and then come out on ground level at the north gate, with a hundred feet of wall looming over you. Even Maester Luwin didn't know that, Bran was convinced. (AGOT, Bran II)

• Theon's Knowledge

Theon took Winterfell with 20 men, shows Barbrey the crypts and shows Abel and co how to get out:

Winterfell’s inner wall was the older and taller of the two, its ancient grey crenellations rising one hundred feet high, with square towers at every corner. The outer wall, raised many centuries later, was twenty feet lower, but thicker and in better repair, boasting octagonal towers in place of square ones. (ADWD, The Turncloak)

• Map/Terrain/Etc.

Not only do Theon/Bran have a great understanding of the Winterfell layout, but it should be noted that Stannis has ravens he can use to his advantage as well:

"The map is not the land, my father often said. -ADWD, Jon IV

and:

What was in the message you sent to Winterfell?”

The maester quivered. “A m-map, Your Grace.”

The king leaned back in his chair. “Get him out of here,” he commanded. “Leave the ravens.” A vein was throbbing in his neck. “Confine this grey wretch to one of the huts until I decide what is to be done with him.” -TWoW, Theon I

and:

"Lord Stannis is lost in the storm," said Lady Dustin. "He's leagues away, dead or dying. Let winter do its worst. A few more days and the snows will bury him and his army both."

And us as well, thought Theon, marveling at her folly. Lady Barbrey was of the north and should have known better. The old gods might be listening. -ADWD, A Ghost in Winterfell

If interested: Something I've never noticed... Stannis' March Through the Snow

TLDR: After Theon's constant communication with the weirwood (first after receiving dreams, then hearing the trees/ravens speak) it seems he has formed some type of connection/given some apology/been granted forgiveness in some manner. They protect him (at least according to him) during his escape (all the way to Stannis). In return for his life, the Weirwood (Bran/Bloodraven) and Theon give Stannis all the information he needs to finish off the Battle of Ice and take Winterfell. After using the terrain to his advantage (Nightlamp) Stannis will fake his death and take Winterfell using Bran/Theon's intricate knowledge of Winterfell (walls, crypts, etc.) to take the castle.