Its true that Theon didn't betray Starks because he was their hostage like Sansa was of Lannisters. First he was of Starks and then of Ramsey. While Starks would hate him for his supposed 'betrayal', it will be interesting to see if they would acknowledge his situation. His saving of Jeyne Poole will may affect Sansa perception. Plus she was in similar situation at KL. Bran can be similar to his show version. It would be hard for Jon and Ary@ to forgive him.
yep! it's sort of up in the air to be honest how bran will react because we are given the understanding that bran is undergoing a metamorphosis much, much different than only character growth and age. in his chapters, comparing them with other characters deeply entrenched in magic, there's a core of magic that's essentially cocooned by humanity that let's us believe we completely understand what they see/mean/feel (see patchface, primarily as melisandre is somewhat still more "present", or bloodraven, or to a degree even jojen reed, particularly if you subscribe to the jojen paste theory as I fully do).
but of them, arya and jon are hotheads, making them of like to brandon and lyanna to varying degrees especially when spotted as sibling parallels. happy reunion with jeyne or not, theon is going to face a reckoning and it will be likely very difficult for the readers because on one hand we are presented with what seems to be a really simple situation: he betrayed the family who raised him and accepted him, he faced his punishment, but he killed two boys and caused loads of others suffer with his games in a domino effect he hadn't necessarily meant, but he saved jeyne, regretted his actions and now is redeemed because of this.
i've mentioned here before that redemption isn't something given or bestowed upon a character by the audience. the characters who had wrong done to them must decide what exactly redemption is, and a true redemption path cannot be fully grasped if the character in search of it, solely takes on the task with the belief they will be redeemed in doing so. redemption isn't a cash sale business. you don't earn enough redemption coins and suddenly you've won the prize. for a character journey, the task has to be taken up with the understanding that forgiveness and redemption may fully not be coming your way and you're not entitled to it. on top of that, as you've said and i think i've got a post of that subject around somewhere, theon technically didn't betray the starks. he was a hostage. he always was.
who, in this mess, needs to forgive theon if he didn't betray the starks or the north itself for doing such things? imo it's the same answer it usually is in asoiaf, sort of lingering in the background where grrm expects us to either not pay attention to or do and find it unfulfilling because it won't really happen as we'd like it - the smallfolk.
theon will face something - but apologies won't be made to the smallfolk, and in the light of us seeing such a graphic punishment arc with ramsay that doesn't even serve nearly close enough to vengeance as we can close our eyes and pretend is justice (like dany's chapters) what comes his way won't be satisfying no matter what.
