when stonesnake loses stealth

By sky_cuson, in 2. AGoT Rules Discussion

There is a question about stonesnake, it says, "Stealth. No attachments. Stonesnake can declare stealth on characters with stealth."

If stonesnake loses stealth (e.g. Pentoshi Manor), can he declare stealth? I have three different ideas, but I don't know which one is right?

1)He can declare stealth on everyone.

2)He can only declare stealth on characters with stealth, but cannot declare stealth on who without stealth, as his text.

3)He cannot declare stealth on anyone as he loses his keyword.

Which one is right, and why? Please give me an answer, thank you.

#3 is the correct answer.

#1 would be the resolution of the Stealth keyword (including his ability) as if he had not lost the keyword - clearly not the case. #2 would mean that his ability lets him declare stealth against characters with stealth independently of the Stealth keyword - which implies that when he has the keyword, he could assign stealth normally and against a character with stealth (effectively allowing him to bypass two characters). This clearly isn't the case, either.

So, his ability is dependent on him having stealth. It changes the way the keyword is resolved when he is involved. So if the keyword isn't there to resolve, the ability doesn't mean much. That's #3.