By Judah Taylor

The other day I stumbled upon an interesting fan theory, relating specifically to the show, aptly named the Lannister Honeypot.

It basically boils down to this: Talisa — Robb Stark’s wife in the show — is a Lannister spy.

First off, Talisa claims to be from a Volantene noble family — the Maeygrs . That means she should look like Daenerys who is also a descendant of an ancient Volantene noble line, but she doesn’t.

She has olive colored skin and dark hair and eyes. Not the fair complexion and blonde braids that the mother of dragons rocks.  Sure, that could be an oversight by HBO directors since Talisa is a made up character, but that’s not the only thing about her that doesn’t add up.

The only mention of a Maegyr in the book series is that of Malaquo Maegyr, one of the leaders of Volantis who rules the free city as part of the aristocrat and militant Tiger party.

Both Syrio Forel, who was Arya’s “dance instructor” in the first season, and Shae, Tyrion’s personal… um… friend are from Essos and not Westeros. Both are depicted as having a foreign or strange accent, even so much so that Shae’s is the bunt of a joke from Tyrion when they first meet.

Talisa doesn’t have that accent though, or any accent for that matter. She sounds just like any noble woman from the Westernlands.

Speaking of the way Westerosi talk, in Season two Tywin explains to Arya that he knows that she is of a noble birth because in Westeros the way a person pronounces “my lord” is indicative of their birth. Someone who is low-born or from Essos would say “milord” while a high-born individual would fully pronounce both words — “my lord.” Care to guess how Talisa says it? “My Lord.”

Even if she somehow picked up that pronunciation and a Westerosi accent while being a battlefield nurse, she certainly wouldn’t hold the gods of Westeros or have intimate knowledge of Westerosi castles or customs. She even says as much to Robb. Yet, during her wedding to Robb, she flawlessly recites the vows of the Westerosi gods and later convinces Robb to give her materials by explaining how maesters and other Westerosi customs work. There’s no possible way that a Volantene noble would know any of this, much less speak to common tongue of Westeros as a noble would so easily. Wherever Talisa is from, it’s not Volantis.

Then where is she from? My guess is Lannisport, a Lannister held city on the west coast of Westeros.

In season two, Talisa has to amputate the leg of a Lion soldier following battle between Rob’s army and a Lannister army. She is mad at Robb that she had to do so, complaining that he was only a kid fighting in a “stupid war.”

“He’s a fisherman’s son who grew up around Lannisport,” she complains. “He probably never held a spear before they shoved one in his hands a few months ago.” How would a battlefield nurse from a foreign land have so much intimate knowledge of an enemy soldier after after spending a relatively short time with him during surgery, unless the two met previously?

So, if we can assume that she is from Lannister city and of noble birth… is she then a Lannister?

In one scene she asks Robb for more silk… something that she notes a maester at the Lannister held Crag would have. Did I mention that the expensive silk in Westeros is sold almost exclusively to the Lannisters from traders in Essos? Only a Lannister would know that the maester at the Crag has some. And only a Lannister would have any to run out of in the first place.

If she’s a Lannister, who are her parents?

Reginald Lannister, a cousin a Tywin Lannister in the show, is an inept lieutenant whose wife is apparently in Lannisport during the events of season two. He’s only featured in one Season two scene, as far as I know. But he is shown to be a terrible military commander and a fool in it.

There is a later scene where Talisa tells Robb about how inept her father is, and how foolish. A Volentene politician wouldn’t last long if he was a fool, but a cousin of Tywin might.

It would make sense that these two show only characters, from Lannisport, are related. If the show-only Reginald is in fact Talisa’s father, this explains her Westerosi accent, knowledge of Westerosi customs and why she ascribes to Westerosi religion.

So, what’s a Lion of Lannister doing in Robb’s wolves den, you ask?

Spying on him. In another Arya scene in season two, Arya finds a letter on Tywin’s table from a Spy in Robb’s camp detailing Robb’s troop movements and the morale of his camp. A couple scenes later we see Talisa writing a letter to an unknown recipient. She looks over her shoulder while writing, to make sure no one can see her. And she rolls it up when Catelyn walks up to a conversation between her and Robb in which she asks Robb about his troop movements.

She also encourages Robb to break off his engagement to a daughter of Frey, something that was crucial to his alliances and war efforts, and marry her instead.

These aren’t even all the pieces to the puzzle, but after putting them together, it becomes pretty clear to me that Talsia Stark is truly Talisa Lannister and might become Talisa Turncloak in the near future.