Who wrote the Pink Letter?

George RR Martin wrote it.

My favorite theory is that Ramsay wrote a letter, but not the one that Jon actually received. Bowen Marsh and his cadre were becoming increasingly pissed off at Jon for his decisions regarding the Night's Watch, and were looking for an excuse to stage a coup. Ramsay wrote a letter to Jon containing MOST of what was said in the pink letter, but it was intercepted by Bowen Marsh and re-written with new details and more inflammatory language in a bid to get Jon to do exactly what he did. This explains why the pink wax was smeared instead of a nice button, why the letter was in the wrong handwriting and in maester's ink, and why there were details that only Ramsay could have known, and also details Ramsay could not possibly have known. It explains why Clydas was terrified of giving the letter to Jon. Marsh probably made him write the doctored letter. Plus, it just seems in GRRM's style to have a clever explanation to a mystery like that.

I thought it was kinda known or accepted that Hodor is the only person that makes sense

A schizo theory of mine is that the letter comes from someone within the night's watch. They wanted to bait Jon into breaking his vows so they'd have an excuse to kill him. The guy delivering the letter was shaking because he knew he was now complicit in a conspiracy

I admit I did not think that Mel as a candidate for the letter writer, though she is the ONLY one who knows for sure about Mance NOT being burned, aside from John and Mance himself.

Literally looking at my bookcase a minute ago deciding if I read the series again, guess the universe answered it😅

Ultimately I believe Lady Barbrey Dustin penned the letter, but Melisandre is my dark horse. For all the reasons you mentioned, and one you didn't- to precipitate the rebirth of Azor Ahai; something she believes is necessary to save mankind. When Mel says she "prays for a glimpse of Azor Ahai but R'hllor shows her only Snow", the 's' in "snow" is capitalized- implying she's referring to a person, ie Jon Snow, rather than the weather. It's possible she came to her senses and realized Jon is the savior rather than Stannis, and decided to act after seeing Jon transition from "man to wolf to man again" because that depiction showed him "coming back", so she know her resurrection ritual would be successful. Plus if she saves Jon, then how could he question his need of her anymore? Anyway, those are just my thoughts. Great video!

That letter made legitimate threats to the Night’s Watch. Taking care of that threat is not breaking vows. That said. I think the anti-Jon Night’s Watch wrote the letter and Clyde knew this or was even forced to write it, which is why he was terrified. The smeared wax means it was open and resealed as best as possible. A real letter came in and was opened and manipulated to get Jon to go south.

One of my favourite topics of discussion in ASOIAF, Robert. Thanks for another one. :)

One interesting candidate I've seen rarely mentioned is Lady Dustin, she at one point I think had an opened letter and Bolton seal in the snow. Her being with Theon and him telling her she is still a contender against Roose could make her write it, but I don't see any reason why she would

Preston Jacobs wrote it

Ramsay writing it is entirely consistent with Stannis surviving the battle, since in the Winds of Winter preview chapter Theon I he told Justin Massey that news of his death in battle may arrive, but to continue his mission regardless. Melisandre herself wouldn't know the name "Reek", so I agree she wouldn't have written it herself. The problem I have with the theory that it was intended to get Jon to join Stannis in battle is that if Jon believed Stannis was already defeated, then he had terrible odds for victory himself as Ramsay would be able to accomplish a defeat-in-detail like Robert Baratheon did repeatedly in one day near Summerhall (only Ramsay has more time to recover). Since Ramsay would expect to win such a battle, and he would control Winterfell's rookery from which letters are sent, the simplest answer really is the best one: he wrote it. He keeps talking about Mance because it is so shocking to Northern sensibilities for the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch to spare the wildling king who attacked the Wall and send him south against a Northern lord. Since Jon is murdered by watchmen who hear about this, Ramsay's calculations of its political implications would appear to be correct.

May be why she ultimately decides to resurrect him. If it was her direct deceitful actions that got Jon killed then she might've been required to by her religious beliefs and practices. It wasn't her intention to cost his life but she was responsible. Knowing that would make her wanna balance all that out somehow.

It was either Barbie, Hodor or Mord. Maybe even Sir Pounce.

Mance definitely wrote that letter. That's where I'm at

Yus! I like how you made it a a story and lead us through your thought process. ty again.

Sadly, we'll likely never find out who wrote the letter. It's been around 13 years since A Dance with Dragons came out. Some of the samples chapters that have been released were originally in Feast for Crows/A Dance with Dragons and were cut at some point, so Martin has been writing it for over 13 years.

I don't think we have enough information to know who wrote it yet. It's chronologically the latest chapter we have, which means it could be motivated by things we haven't seen happen yet. Not to mention characters could have the knowledge to write it who don't have that knowledge "yet". The inclusion of Reek is confusing for everyone. As I just said in another comment, not only has Jon never heard of Reek, but all the potential writers would know that. There are basically enough details included to rule out all of them, until we get more information.

Love these revisits!

One thing that I havent yet heard mentioned is that it might have been someone from the watch. One thing that is very obvious to me is that they wanted to kill him before the letter (there are many proofs including ghosts behaviour or that the wun-wun incident seems staged) so maybe they decided to write the letter to convince everyone else in the nights watch that jon is a deserter. Because jons reaction to it would be obvious to everyone who knows him. I feel like the person who wrote it had to know that jon would be in danger. I still think that Mance is more likely but it is possible...