Asha as "the Sacrifice"

Awhile back I posted about some thoughts I had on the "Asha Fragment" and what it could mean for TWoW. The gist of that post is that Asha (since she is POV) likely survives the "showdown at the tree" between Stannis. That said I wanted to look at it from another angle because it does seem like there is some potential foreshadowing that she could be sacrificed in place of Theon. The goal of this post is to look at that foreshadowing.

Background

For anyone unaware, TWOW, Theon I seems to strongly imply that a showdown at the weirwood tree in the crofter's village will occur.

Aye," said Big Bucket Wull. "Red Rahloo means nothing here. You will only make the old gods angry. They are watching from their island."

The crofter's village stood between two lakes, the larger dotted with small wooded islands that punched up through the ice like the frozen fists of some drowned giant. From one such island rose a weirwood gnarled and ancient, its bole and branches white as the surrounding snows. Eight days ago Asha had walked out with Aly Mormont to have a closer look at its slitted red eyes and bloody mouth. It is only sap, she'd told herself, the red sap that flows inside these weirwoods. But her eyes were unconvinced; seeing was believing, and what they saw was frozen blood.

"You northmen brought these snows upon us," insisted Corliss Penny. "You and your demon trees. R'hllor will save us." -ADWD, The Sacrifice

Not only does Stannis seem set on sacrificing Theon (to R'hllor), but we get this very obvious exchange here:

"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

And since Bran/Bloodraven have access to all of the the weirwoods/godswoods (at a minimum) the thought is that they will intervene in some way (like they are likely doing here). Their goals and what they offer to Stannis return are better discussed in other places. The point is that in ASOIAF things aren't free. If Stannis wants the support of a "second god", he still has to give something in return and if Theon is off the table,

Foreshadowing for Asha

That was the night that Asha first heard the queen's men muttering about a sacrifice—an offering to their red god, so he might end the storm. "The gods of the north have unleashed this storm on us," Ser Corliss Penny said.

"False gods," insisted Ser Godry, the Giantslayer.

During the long march from Deepwood Motte to Winterfell, some men resort to cannibalism and are executed for it, one of them avoids being burned alive by goading them into killing him immediately. Asha reflects on that:

"The serjeant was the clever one," Asha said to Aly Mormont. "He goaded Suggs into killing him." She wondered if the same trick might work twice, should her own turn come.

Later on Aly Mormont and Ser Clayton Suggs have this conversation about Asha:

"My lady asked you to let her go," said Aly Mormont. "You would do well to listen, ser. Lady Asha is not for burning."

"She will be," Suggs insisted. "We have harbored this demon worshiper amongst us too long." He released his grip on Asha's arm all the same. One did not provoke the She-Bear needlessly.

Her value as a hostage isn't that great:

More fool him. Bringing down a woman was not like to awe any northmen, if she knew the breed, and her worth as a hostage was less than naught. Her uncle ruled the Iron Islands now, and the Crow's Eye would not care if she lived or died. It might matter some to the wretched ruin of a husband that Euron had inflicted upon her, but Eric Ironmaker did not have coin enough to ransom her. But there was no explaining such things to Stannis Baratheon. Her very womanhood seemed to offend him. Men from the green lands liked their women soft and sweet in silk, she knew, not clad in mail and leather with a throwing axe in each hand. But her short acquaintance with the king at Deepwood Motte convinced her that he would have been no more fond of her in a gown. Even with Galbart Glover's wife, the pious Lady Sybelle, he had been correct and courteous but plainly uncomfortable. This southron king seemed to be one of those men to whom women are another race, as strange and unfathomable as giants and grumkins and the children of the forest. The She-Bear made him grind his teeth as well.

Possibly worth noting the shivers:

Asha Greyjoy could taste the bile in the back of her throat. On the Iron Islands, she had seen priests of her own people slit the throats of thralls and give their bodies to the sea to honor the Drowned God. Brutal as that was, this was worse.

Close your eyes, she told herself. Close your ears. Turn away. You do not need to see this. The queen's men were singing some paean of praise for red R'hllor, but she could not hear the words above the shrieks. The heat of the flames beat against her face, but even so she shivered. The air grew thick with smoke and the stink of burnt flesh, and one of the bodies still twitched against the red-hot chains that bound him to the stake.

Ser Clayton Suggs is the worst:

Suggs pressed his face so close to hers that she could count the blackheads on his nose and said, “The crowd will be even bigger when it’s you squirming on a stake.”

He was not wrong. The wolves did not love her; she was ironborn and must answer for the crimes of her people, for Moat Cailin and Deepwood Motte and Torrhen’s Square, for centuries of reaving along the stony shore, for all Theon did at Winterfell.

and:

That was the moment Justin Massey chose to appear. “The king has other plans for his prize captive,” he said, with his easy smile. His cheeks were red from the cold.

“The king? Or you?” Suggs snorted his contempt. “Scheme all you like, Massey. She’ll still be for the fire, her and her king’s blood. There’s power in king’s blood, the red woman used to say. Power to please our lord.”

“Let R’hllor be content with the four we just sent him.”

“Four baseborn churls. A beggar’s offering. Scum like that will never stop the snow. She might.”

The She-Bear spoke. “And if you burn her and the snows still fall, what then? Who will you burn next? Me?”

Asha could hold her tongue no longer. “Why not Ser Clayton? Perhaps R’hllor would like one of his own. A faithful man who will sing his praises as the flames lick at his cock.”

Ser Justin laughed. Suggs was less amused. “Enjoy your giggle, Massey. If the snow keeps falling, we will see who is laughing then.” He glanced at the dead men on their stakes, smiled, and went off to join Ser Godry and the other queen’s men.

and:

“Take a good long gander, cunt,” the deep voice of Clayton Suggs said, behind her. “You’ll look just as pretty once you’re roasted. Tell me, can squids scream?”

God of my fathers, if you can hear me in your watery halls beneath the waves, grant me just one small throwing axe. The Drowned God did not answer. He seldom did. That was the trouble with gods.

I love how complex this all is (two different gods (or "sources of magic"):

The pinewood stakes still stood, charred and scorched but not burned through. The chains about the dead had cooled by now, she saw, but still held the corpses fast in their iron embrace. A raven was perched atop one, pulling at the tatters of burned flesh that clung to its blackened skull. The blowing snow had covered the ashes at the base of the pyre and crept up the dead man’s leg as far as his ankle. The old gods mean to bury him, Asha thought. This was no work of theirs.

We also have two POVs in one area (Theon/Asha) which we know can sometimes lead to the death of a POV. If interested: Death of a POV: There is always another POV Character Around

I think the last thing we should note (or maybe it should have been the first) is the alternate POV title that GRRM uses for Asha (he has claimed there is a method to his madness). Her very last chapter in ADWD is indeed titled: The Sacrifice.

Counterevidence

As I mentioned earlier, if Asha is a/the POV for the Battle of Ice (as we at least glimpse in the Asha Fragment) then that means that she couldn't have been sacrificed before the battle obviously.

With that in mind it could mean that the showdown (and/or) sacrifice doesn't happen until after the Battle of Ice, or that the showdown occurred and didn't result in Asha's death.

Another thought to mention is Justin Massey, who has gone to Braavos:

Stannis pressed his lips together. “Serve me well in this matter of the sellswords, and you may have what you desire. Until such time, the woman must needs remain my captive.”

Ser Justin bowed his head. “I understand.”

Sacrifice Timing

It should also be noted that I doubt this showdown/sacrifice will be delayed due to what is currently going on around them:

If it please Your Grace, though, the men are growing anxious. There are hundreds of them gathered around the tower, wondering what’s happened. Talk of treason is on every lip. No one knows who to trust, or who might be arrested next. The northmen especially—”

“I need to talk with them. Is Wull still waiting?”

TLDR: While I think there is some strong counterevidence, there is some potential foreshadowing to Asha being sacrificed by Stannis.