Seyon and Jeyne escape Winterfell.

Theon Greyjoy and Jeyne Poole, the woman forced to pose as Arya Stark, fled Winterfell in the midst of a howling blizzard, aided by a band of spearwives disguised as washerwomen. Their escape was a desperate gamble, born from the knowledge that Ramsay Bolton's cruelty would only deepen once the wedding was consummated and his interest in his new bride waned. The event marks a decisive break from Theon's long subjugation as Reek, a moment where the ghost of the man he once was stirred enough to act, even if the action seemed doomed to fail.

The Plan and the Players

The plot was orchestrated by Abel, a singer who had come to Winterfell with six women he called his washerwomen. These women—Rowan, Holly, Squirrel, Willow Witch-Eye, Frenya, and Myrtle—were in truth spearwives, warriors in disguise. They had been sent, it later emerged, by Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, who had been secretly spared from execution by Melisandre's glamor and tasked by Jon Snow with rescuing "Arya Stark." The spearwives had already been responsible for a series of mysterious murders within Winterfell, killing Ramsay's men to sow discord and fear. Their plan was audacious: they would dress Jeyne Poole as one of their own, Squirrel, while Squirrel would remain behind in Jeyne's bed to buy them time. Theon, still known to the guards as Reek, was their key to navigating the castle and fetching the hot water that would give them a pretext to enter Jeyne's chambers.

The Escape and the Bloodshed

The escape began in the kitchens, where Theon demanded hot water for Lady Arya's bath, a routine request that aroused no suspicion. The six spearwives, hooded and silent, followed him with their pails. At the door to Ramsay's bedchamber, the guards, Sour Alyn and Grunt, let them pass without question. Inside, they found Jeyne huddled in a corner, terrified and broken, convinced the rescue was another of Ramsay's cruel tests. Theon had to remind her of her true name and promise to take her away before she would cooperate. As Jeyne dressed in Squirrel's clothes, Squirrel herself slipped into the bed to impersonate her. The party then descended the stairs, past the same guards, and out into the blinding snowstorm. The first blood was shed at the Battlements Gate, where Holly killed one guard with a kiss and a knife, and Frenya drove a spear through the belly of another. Jeyne's scream at the sight of the killing alerted the castle.

The Final Leap

The alarm was raised. Trumpets blared from the inner wall. Frenya stayed behind to hold the drawbridge, buying time for the others to climb the steps to the outer battlements. But the rope they needed to descend the outer wall was with Frenya. Trapped on the wallwalk, with crossbowmen taking aim from the inner wall, Holly was struck by two quarrels and fell dead into the snow. Men were closing in from both sides. With no other path, Theon grabbed Jeyne Poole about the waist and jumped from the battlements into the deep snowdrifts below. The fall, while perilous, was their only chance to escape the castle and reach the army of Stannis Baratheon, which was rumored to be somewhere in the storm outside the walls.