The Iron Islands: Unveiling the Greyjoy Family and Ironborn Traditions

Welcome to another episode of The Westerosi Primer. My name is Liz. And in this episode, I will be talking about The Iron Islands. I’ll be discussing some of the notable people, places, and historical events that happened in the baren, rocky islands west of mainland Westeros.

Before I start the discussion, there are a couple of things to note. First there will be some potential spoilers for people who have not read the novels in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” saga. There may also be potential spoilers for House of the Dragon and other future shows that may be adapted by Max in the future. So if you’re okay with this, then please continue listening.

Second, this will not be a definitive episode of everything about the Iron Islands as there really is a lot of information about all the notable houses mentioned in the novels and the additional information written by George R. R. Martin and collected by various fans including the contributors of Westeros.org.

Throughout this season of the Westerosi Primer, I will be using information gathered from the novel series, Westeros.org, The World of Ice and Fire, and The Lands of Ice and Fire. Check out the full show notes and other links located on this show’s website: thewesterosiprimer.com With that said, let’s begin!

The Iron Islands, as you would imagine, is an archipelago. It’s located in the Sunsea Sea off the western coast of Westeros. They are west of the Riverlands and northwest of the Westerlands. There are many islands of various sizes. There are only a few notable ones mentioned in the novels and other related material. I will only be discussing a few of them when talking about the different houses of note.

The Iron Islands are sparsely populated due to the size of the islands and the limited resources. The islands are mostly rocky with limited arable land. It’s often rainy and overcast with fierce storms. Unsurprisingly, the people living there are pretty tough people to survive.

The people of the Iron Islands are often called Ironmen or Ironborn. They are primarily seafaring people exactly because they are on islands with not much farmland. This results in a people who believe that people on the mainland aka Greenlanders are weaker. This is also a reason why the Ironborn are also known for having a strong navy. Ships are their strong point. They don’t have a formal army like people in the mainland.

The dominant religion is the belief in the Drowned god. They perform a type of baptism where people are drowned and then basically do CPR to revive them. We actually see this performed in Game of Thrones when Euron is recognized as King of the Iron Islands. Worship of the New Gods isn’t common, which also means knighthood isn’t common. There are a few knights, but not many.

There are mines on the various islands. However unlike the Westerlands, these mines mostly have metals like iron, lead, and tin. Due to the amount of labor needed, Ironborn historically have thralls doing much of that work.

Thralls were people that Ironborn raiders kidnap when they go on their raids. This is why book readers would describe the Ironborn as being partially based on Vikings and partially based on pirates. Sometimes women who are captured in these raids become salt wives. Salt wives are basically concubines and are lower ranking than a “rock wife” which is a legally acknowledge wife.

It’s believed that the Ironborn are descendants of First Men who settled there thousands of years earlier. Weirwood trees can’t grow on the Islands, which resulted in them worshipping a different god than other First Men. The priests of the Drowned god claim they were made in the image of their god. This includes being partially descended from merfolk. There’s also belief in mysterious sea beings called the “deep ones.” These seem to be based on some Lovecraftian creatures.

Legends state the first king of the Iron Islands was a figure called the Grey King. The Grey king allegedly killed a sea dragon called Nagga. The Drowned god turned the dragon’s bones to stone, which became a hall called the Grey King’s Hall. The ruins of the hall is the place where kingsmoots would occur.

Historically the various individual islands had their own kings, which is similar to what happened on the mainland. Eventually the priests of the Drowned God argued it was wrong for Ironborn to fight each other rather than mainlanders. Eventually kingsmoots started so that all Ironborn will agree who is to lead them. We saw this in season 6 of Game of Thrones. Leaders in the Iron Islands gather and listen to candidates basically explain why they should be king. The candidate who did the best convincing is chosen. It’s fascinating that this and The Night’s Watch are the closest thing to a republic or a democracy in Westeros.

Before the Greyjoys led the Iron Islands, there were a couple of dynasties. There were the Greyirons and then Hoares. It was during the Hoare dynasty that the king of the Iron Islands was called the Kings of Isles and Rivers.

The king ruling the Ironborn during Aegon’s Conquest was known as Harren the Black. He was the king who ordered the construction of Harrenhal in the Riverlands. It was a monument to his pride and power. Unfortunately for him and his family, he forgot that even though rock can’t be burnt it melts.

The Greyjoys were chosen as lord of the Iron Islands in a kingsmoot in the year AC 2. They gave up claims to the Riverlands. Harrenhal was first given to house Qoherys and was passed to various other noble families afterwards. I’ll now turn to discussing some of the noble houses since most of the information we know about some of these families are after the Targaryen conquest.

I’ll start with House Greyjoy. House Greyjoy of Pyke is the ruling family of the Iron Islands. As mentioned just before, they got this status in the year AC 2. The head of House Greyjoy is traditionally called Lord Reaper of Pyke. Their sigil is the golden kraken on a black background and their words are: We do not sow. Like many other houses in the Iron Islands, they claim descent from the Grey King.

Lord Vickon Greyjoy was chosen in the kingsmoot and afterwards House Greyjoy was the leading house. Aegon the Conqueror converted to the Faith of the Seven. Since Aegon permitted the kingsmoot that elevated House Greyjoy, Lord Vickon allowed the Faith on the Iron Islands. This naturally upset some people.

Vickon’s son Goren became the next Lord Greyjoy. Goren defeated a rebel claiming he was a priest-king in the year 37. As his reward, he wanted the septons and septas to be expelled from the Islands. King Aenys I was forced to agree to this.

Lord Dalton the Red Kraken Greyjoy was offered the Master of Ship’s position by Aegon II. However Rhaenyra sent a better offer and he decided to join the Blacks. He raided the western coast of Westeros for the whole war. Even after the war he was still raiding and Lord Velaryon had to deal with him. I say Lord Velaryon because this happens after Corlys Velaryon dies and I’d rather not spoil for you who inherits his title. Not clear if this will actually happen in House of the Dragon. I just had to share this with you listeners because it’s just too interesting not to.

Later on, Lord Quellon Greyjoy attempted to start reforms in the Iron Islands to integrate them better with the rest of Westeros. Unfortunately he dies during Robert’s Rebellion when he and his fleet were raiding in the Reach. Quellon had three wives and ten children: 9 sons and one daughter. The daughter unfortunately was stillborn. Of the nine sons only four lived to be adults. His sons Balon, Euron, and Victarion convinced him to join rebels in order to get spoils in the fighting.

After his death Balon becomes Lord Greyjoy. We only met three of Quellon’s sons in Game of Thrones: Balon, Aeron and Euron, though Aeron wasn’t properly identified in the show. I’ll briefly discuss his four adult sons. There are some significant differences in the books from the tv show.

We already know quite a bit about what happens with Balon in Game of Thrones. Balon was married to a woman named Alannys Harlaw. They had four children together: Rodrik, Maron, Asha, and Theon. Rodrik and Maron were both young men during Balon’s failed Rebellion and eagerly joined the battles. They died in the Rebellion, which is why Theon was the hostage for Balon’s good behavior. I’m sure you’re wondering, why did I say Asha? Isn’t her name Yara? Apparently, there were concerns the audience would get confused between Asha the Ironborn and Osha the Wildling with their similar names. So her name was changed in the show. I will say overall, Balon is more or less the same in the adaptation.

I won’t spend too much time discussing Theon Greyjoy or his sister Asha. Please note that I have previously used Yara in another episode for those of you who didn’t read the books. However I personally prefer to call her Asha since that’s her actual name and the name I knew her by.

Theon’s characterization in the show is mostly the same as the books. I will say however his storyline in season 5 onwards is very different. I won’t go into all the details and I might cover this in a future season of this podcast if you listeners are interested. The short version is that Sansa in the books doesn’t go to the North to marry Ramsey. In truth that actually doesn’t make any sense for a lot of reasons I won’t get into here. If you will recall from the second episode of this podcast, I mentioned that some of Jeyne Poole’s storyline in the books was given to Sansa in the TV show. Jeyne was the unfortunate girl who married Ramsey and she had to pretend she was Arya Stark. Also in the books, Theon doesn’t separate from Jeyne after fleeing Winterfell. Brienne and Podrick were also not there either. In fact Mors Umber was the one who found them and brought the two of them to Stannis. And that’s how his storyline in book five, A Dance with Dragons ended.

Asha does have a few things different in the books from the TV show. For one thing, George has stated Asha isn’t bisexual or lesbian in the books. There’s nothing wrong with a character being LGBTQ at all. I’m just not really sure why the change other than to make her character more interesting or spice things up. Frankly I don’t know what changing her orientation actually does. The character is already pretty interesting and strong as she was in the books. She’s a tough Ironborn captain who plays by her own rules and earned respect. This is all despite the fact she’s a woman.

Similar to Theon, there’s a notable difference in Asha’s storyline starting in season 5 onwards. After Asha’s failed bid for leadership of the Ironborn, she actually flees to Ten Towers, which is the seat of House Harlaw. I’ll explain the reason for this a little bit later in this episode. After that she heads to Deepwood Motte in the North to raid. She is eventually captured by Northerners who side with Stannis in a bid to overthrow the Boltons in Winterfell. If you haven’t listened to episode 2 of this podcast, you should since I explained this storyline there. She’s also brought to Stannis’s camp where she sees Theon and Jeyne Poole. So no, the brother and sister duo didn’t go off to find Daenerys. This storyline was given to them in the TV show because it was a different Greyjoy who did this.

Euron Greyjoy is a fascinating character. As a book reader I wasn’t overly impressed with Euron in the TV show. This isn’t to say that Pilou Asbaek (Pea-loo Ahs-beck) is a bad actor. I think he did what he could with the writing of his character. Euron is a way more scary person in the books. He was so out of control that Balon actually had to banish the guy from the Iron Islands for years. Given what’s considered acceptable behavior for Ironborn, you could probably guess what kind of outrageous behavior Euron was doing.

Euron actually did more pillaging during his exile in Essos. He’s the captain of a ship called the Silence, which is mostly crewed by mutes. Apparently he started dabbling in magic and claimed to have gotten rare treasures including a dragon horn. Allegedly, this dragon horn will allow you to control a dragon even without having a Valyrian dragonlord bloodline. Similar to the show, he’s interested courting Daenerys as his wife and actually sends his brother Victarion to negotiate a marriage. Of course Victarion does go to find Daenerys, but not for the reason Euron thinks. One interesting detail is that when Euron was a child, he says he often had dreams of flying. This led to a popular fan theory, but I won’t discuss it hear. I’ll just say that this fan theory about Euron also involves a three-eyed raven. If you’re interested, I’ll talk about this in a future season of this podcast. TV Euron was pretty strange and was crazy. He just lacked the bloodthirsty aspect in the book. Or maybe Dan and David thought he’d be too similar to Ramsay Snow.

Aeron Greyjoy is the youngest of Balon’s surviving brothers. We briefly met him in the show. In season 6 we see him reminding Asha or Yara that she won’t be the leader of the Iron Islands until the kingsmoot. And then later when Euron undergoes the ceremonial drowning, Aeron is the Drowned Priest doing the ceremony. We see him as a very serious priest of this god.

However his early years was the complete opposite. He was as wild and reckless as any Ironborn sailor would behave. He participated in raids with his brothers during the Greyjoy Rebellion. He wound up captured and was a prisoner at Casterly Rock. Years later, he nearly drowned in a storm and miraculously survived. This caused the former rowdy youth into becoming a Drowned priest. After all only their god could possibly be responsible for his safety.

Unlike in the TV show, Aeron actually fears and even hates Euron. He has a lot of traumatic memories of his brother from his childhood. Also in the books he actively conspires against Euron and tried to prevent him from winning in the kingsmoot. In book five, A Dance with Dragons, he has disappeared after the kingsmoot and appears to be gathering opposition against Euron.

Victarion Greyjoy is one of those characters that weren’t included in the TV show. Maybe he was considered too boring compared to the many dynamic characters in the saga. I have to admit there are aspects of this character that is similar to others. He’s got the humorless nature that is reminiscent of Stannis Baratheon. He’s also a loyal competent lieutenant similar to Kevan Lannister. I can’t deny that many of the things that he does in the novels could easily be combined with other characters. In fact part of his storyline was given to Yara and Theon as I mentioned earlier.

Similar to Aeron, Victarion actually hates Euron. Euron got Victarion’s wife pregnant. He wound up killing her due to the dishonor. He couldn’t kill Euron because of the taboo against kinslaying.

One small tangent, this is one of many personal beefs I have with Dan and David regarding the Dorne characters. That nonsensical plot where they killed Doran and Trystane in the show. It was stupid, pointless, and not something any of them would do, especially Oberyn’s daughters. But I digress.

Victarion goes to find Daenerys supposedly for Euron. However he plans to court Daenerys for himself. Likely as a way to get revenge on Euron and possibly claim the lordship. Or maybe get the Iron throne. I can’t say for sure considering that’s more or less where he is in A Dance with Dragons. He has some adventures trying to track down Daenerys. He was given the mysterious dragon horn that Euron found. He also rescued a Red Priest called Moqorro who winds up becoming an advisor. It’s similar to Melisandre’s position with Stannis.

Next I will talk about House Harlaw. There are actually multiple branches of this family ruling a few islands. However I’ll be focusing on a few notable members. The main branch of the family is on the island of Harlaw. The castle they rule from is called Ten Towers. Like many Ironborn families, they were at one point kings, but were later downgraded to lords. They originally lived in a place called Harlaw Hall. However the damp environment caused the death of three of Lord Theomore Harlaw’s newborn children. He spent years building new homes but wasn’t satisfied with the look of each tower. Over time, the ten towers became linked by bridges and got their name.

There are just a handful of notable Harlaws I’ll mention briefly. As I discussed earlier in the episode, Balon Greyjoy married Alannys Harlaw. She was in fact from this main branch of house Harlaw. In fact the lord is her younger brother, Rodrik the Reader Harlaw. He’s called this because he is a great reader and cautious. This makes him pretty different from the typical Ironborn.

Rodrik’s also a calm, reliable advisor for Asha in the novels. I personally would be curious to see if he appears again in The Winds of Winter. He had two sons, who died in their uncle’s failed rebellion. Rodrik lives in Ten Towers with his sisters, Alannys and Gwynesse. Both women are widows and unfortunately Alannys is both physically and mentally unwell. I can’t exactly blame her given her two sons are dead and her youngest was taken away from her as a hostage for her husband’s good behavior.

One interesting character I’ll mention is Ser Harras Harlaw of Grey Garden. He is a cousin of the Ten Towers Harlaws. He is Rodrik’s heir since he has no living children and no intention of remarrying. Aside from being one of the few Ironborn with a knighthood, his mother is a Serrett. This is interesting because House Serrett is a noble family from the Westerlands. I didn’t mention this family in the Westerlands episode because they haven’t done much in the novels worth mentioning. The last thing I’ll note is that he owns a Valyrian steel sword called Nightfall. The sword was originally a prize that Dalton Greyjoy claimed, but it’s not clear how this wound up with Ser Harras.

There are a few other noble houses in the Iron Islands, but I’d rather not talk about them. They make some appearances in the novels and other material. However I don’t feel like many of them are extremely major to know at this point in time. If you’d like me to talk about other Ironborn, let me know.

And that just about covers the basics of whose who in the Iron Islands. If you’re interested in finding out more for yourself about any of these houses and other people and places I didn’t discuss in this episode, feel free to go to the full show notes where I will have links. Though be aware if you do any of this research there will be spoilers to the novels and some possible material covered in the future seasons of House of the Dragon.

Thank you for listening and tune in to the next episode where we travel to a region known for its winding, flowing rivers. A place where the people value family, duty, and honor.