Who Wrote the Pink Letter?

If you’re a Game of Thrones fan (book wise), then you without a doubt have come across the debate of the Pink letter. To recap it: Jon Snow was voted in as Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch after some trifling maneuvering from Samwell Tarley. He’s got Stannis wanting to legitimize him as a Stark so he’d join his crusade and make taking the North easier. He’s got the Wildlings in the gates with a majority of his “brothers” finding their inner prejudices hating it. He’s got a crazy red priestess trying to get her some king’s blood and a human roast going for R’hllor in Melisandre. He’s got his home, Winterfell, being controlled/occupied by the Boltons Basically he’s got 99 problems and b*tch ain’t one- mostly cause his dumb ass got Ygritte killed. RIP and moment of silence for Ygritte...sorry back from the tangent...Jon Snow is overwhelmed with everything in his current situation and along comes this letter to let him know “BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!”. So the letter itself reads:

“Your false king is dead, bastard. He and all his host were smashed in seven days of battle. I have his magic sword. Tell his red whore.

Your false king's friends are dead. Their heads upon the walls of Winterfell. Come see them, bastard. Your false king lied, and so did you. You told the world you burned the King-Beyond-the-Wall. Instead you sent him to Winterfell to steal my bride from me.

I will have my bride back. If you want Mance Rayder back, come and get him. I have him in a cage for all the north to see, proof of your lies. The cage is cold, but I have made him a warm cloak from the skins of the six whores who came with him to Winterfell.

I want my bride back. I want the false king's queen. I want his daughter and his red witch. I want this wildling princess. I want his little prince, the wildling babe. And I want my Reek. Send them to me, bastard, and I will not trouble you or your black crows. Keep them from me, and I will cut out your bastard's heart and eat it.

Ramsay Bolton,

Trueborn Lord of Winterfell.”  - A Dance with Dragons , Jon XIII

So to add to the “legitimacy” of the letter, it was sealed with a pink wax which is a calling card for the Boltons. I’m not sure how copyright laws work in Westeros and don’t know why the Boltons chose the color but pretty clear to anyone pink = Boltons. Not exactly sure if it was the sum of letter that got or if a particular idea that triggered Jon Snow. Maybe he’s like Marty McFly and being called chicken, or in his instance “bastard”,  and Jon Snow finally decides he’s got to go take care of business...and gets shanked by his “brothers” of the Night’s Watch for his troubles.

So who wrote the pink letter? The general consensus has the infamous writer narrowed down to the following (in no particular order):

• Ramsay Bolton

• Stannis Baratheon

• Mance Rayder

• Wyman Manderly

• Melisandre

It’s a good list and I believe the author is within it. Without further ado, let’s go through the letter and how it pertains to members of the list.

“Your false king is dead” Clearly is speaking of Stannis and his march to Winterfell. All the members on that list should be well aware of Stannis and his battle plans so that’s no secret. And if Stannis’s people are stationed at the Wall, they all would know that his failure would be alarming to Jon Snow who’s in charge and by all perceptions a Stannis ally. So +1 point for each/doesn’t eliminate anyone.

“You told the world you burned the King-Beyond-the-Wall. Instead you sent him to Winterfell to steal my bride from me.” This one obviously is in relation to Mance Rayder’s mission to Winterfell with his six spearwives to save “Arya”. Those privy to that plan are clearly Jon Snow, Mance Rayer, Melisandre, and possibly Stannis. WIth that in mind, we’re  going to eliminate Manderly as he is in no position to know Abel is Mance Rayder. Add to that everyone saw Mance Rayder “burn at the stake”. With glamouring and all, any spies that Manderly or Ramsay would have at the Wall wouldn’t be able to detect that. So It limits the potential to those who are in on the plan: Mance Rayder, Stannis Baratheon, and Melisandre. Stannis is a “maybe" based on Melisandre’s interest in Jon Snow and his importance. Would she let him in on all her thoughts, actions, and plans? For a man that cut off Davos’s fingers after he saved them, I find it hard to believe Stannis would be cool with Mance Rayder getting away with living. Ramsay has a 50/50 shot at knowing Abel is Mance Rayder. We have to assume that after Theon and Jeyne’s escape while being shot at, they had to have noticed the spearwives. One would assume if they were captured or killed, that fingers would point to Abel who then could have squealed on what the deal was. Personally I don’t think book Ramsay is that clever or would even care to find out who Abel really was- just who sent him. But with the chances pretty even, we’ll keep Ramsay in.

“I will have my bride back. If you want Mance Rayder back, come and get him. I have

him in a cage for all the north to see, proof of your lies.” Clearly is in regards to Jeyne Poole aka “Arya” and the Mance Rayder mission as well. They jumped the wall after being helped by the spearwives and found their way to Stannis’s camp. Not sure this eliminates anyone as they all would be aware that “Arya” is important to Jon Snow and that Mance Rayder being captured would ruin his spirits. Possibly can eliminate Melisandre as she’s up at the Wall and there’s a blizzard which makes communication tricky. That being said Melisandre can see into the flames even if she’s wrong alot. We’ll go ahead and keep her in the contest.

“I want my bride back. I want the false king's queen. I want his daughter and his red

witch. I want this wildling princess. I want his little prince, the wildling babe.” Straightforward this is about “Arya”, Selyse, Shereen, and Melisandre. Not really sure this eliminates anyone as this is fairly common knowledge Stannis’s forces are at the Wall. I think it puts pressure on Jon because if Stannis was defeated and Ramsay is all about vengeance then he more than likely would storm the Wall which would be bad. I think that’s common thinking so let’s keep everyone.

“And I want my Reek. Send them to me, bastard, and I will not trouble you or your black crows. Keep them from me, and I will cut out your bastard's heart and eat it.”  Reek, formerly known as Theon, is very important to Ramsay. Not quite sure anyone who was not around them would be aware of this. Also not sure who would be aware of that nickname/persona for Theon. Which means Melisandre should be cut from the list. Fire voodoo can only take her so far and we’ve seen she’s not always right. Plus I doubt she is familiar with Theon or his current day situation. Ramsay knows and loves Reek so can’t rule him out. Mance Rayder has been spying and doing his thing in Winterfell so he has first hand knowledge of the Ramsay/Reek relationship. In addition, he was in charge of the spearwives who spent a majority of their time convincing Theon he needed to take off with “Arya”. Mance Rayder is still in the game. And Stannis is the final destination for Theon and “Arya” and has gotten all the information he can about Winterfell and the Bolton forces.

“Send them to me, bastard, and I will not trouble you or your black crows. Keep them

from me, and I will cut out your bastard's heart and eat it.” I think this might be the final telltale sign of who wrote the Pink letter…(insert drum roll here)... Mance Rayder. Of the people who could benefit from Jon Snow getting involved, none of them speak of the Night’s Watch as being black crows other than Mance Rayder.  Black Crows is commonly used by the free folk North of the Wall. If you look at Ramsay, he’s a big proponent of getting to someone’s feelings. Would he use the term bastard over and over again? Yes. Would he say “your black crows”? Not really no. He would make the threat more substantial and personal. “I will not trouble you or your black brothers. Keep them from me, and I will kill them like they were your Stark brothers.” Also not really sure his physical threat matches for someone who loves to inflict pain would get all campy with “cut out your heart and eat it” versus flaying him piece by etc. The other aspect is Theon wasn’t the first Reek and more than likely wouldn’t be the last. 

While Melisandre and Stannis would be getting a guide or familiar face to Winterfell from Jon, it wouldn’t be much more than that. Boltons are widely despised as we can see from the Northern Conspiracy. Bringing Jon to call banners would really be pointless as they would gladly see the Boltons overthrown. You get a trusted ward of the North I suppose but really how well would that hold up? Manderly is aware that Bran and Rickon are alive and legit sons of Ned. Then there’s Sansa who I would think once Winterfell is free of the Boltons would be able to stake a claim as well. Jon going to Winterfell on behalf of Stannis would be a short term help and as we saw not that important since Stannis moved on. The other issue is this isn’t in Stannis style at all. He’s all about integrity, honor, rule of law, etc. Would he resort to trickery just to get Jon Snow and the little amount of men he could gather to head to Winterfell? For what? He’s got Tycho Nestoris visiting about the debt of Westeros which signals the Iron Bank would help fund him. He doesn’t need Jon Snow.

Melisandre herself has the doubts of Stannis being Azor Ahai due to her fire visions. She herself does not want to leave the Wall as it's a great source of power for her magic. Add to this her interest in Jon Snow- whether it’s her addiction to king’s blood or wanting to birth some shadow babies. At current time Stannis isn’t in deep trouble and she hasn’t had any fortune reading signs to act on his behalf. I think logically it makes no sense or Melisandre to force Jon Snow’s hand to go into battle. 

Mance Rayder of the choices on the list actually knows Jon Snow the best having spent the most time with him and left an impression. Luring Jon Snow to Winterfell is more advantageous to Mance Rayder than anyone else on the list. Mance Rayder more than anything wanted the free folk south of the Wall. He got them there but he knew it wasn’t going to be tolerated very much due to biases. Jon Snow allowed them to stay at the Wall and integrate- for example marrying Karstark to . He was making moves that he could with the power he had in the Night’s Watch. If Jon Snow, a “son” of Ned Stark, goes into battle at Winterfell behind Stannis he no doubt would be declared Warden of the North. With him controlling the whole North, who is set to gain more power and land? Mance Rayder and the free folk. Which means they would have a strong foothold to integrate into the Westeros society. 

All in all Mance Rayder has all the battle plans of Stannis, can read Jon Snow easily, and is a great strategist to the point that he united the free folk. The Pink Letter fits his M.O. to a tee and puts the pieces in place for the outcome he wants. He survived Stannis and Melisandre’s barbeque. He’s navigated over the Wall multiple times and knows the lay of the land. He can read people and situations excellently. More importantly, based on the other key players, he has the most to gain from Jon Snow rejoining the political game in Westeros. So the author of the Pink Letter is Mance Rayder.