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Why do some fans think Vic is dumb?


Brad Rivers

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I've seen that a fair amount of posters don't like Vic, stating that they believe he's a moron. The guys is admiral of the Iron Fleet. How dumb could he be? Everyone fears the ironborn on the sea.

Personally, I love Vic. I really enjoyed his Dance chapters. He's not the most complicated character, but I find he's want for revenge over Euron to be one of the arcs I want to see advance more.

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I think he lacks many of the critical reasoning skills that we see even from naive young characters in other parts of the world. For instance, Victarion spends half of his chapters (it feels like) noting that Euron's gifts are always poisoned -- meaning that when Euron gives you a gift, assume that it's going to bite you in the ass at some point. Then he spends the other half of his time confiding his secrets to the dusky woman, a slave that Euron practically forced him to accept as a gift. As far as I can remember, he never once thinks, 'Oh, wait, if Euron's gifts are always poisoned, maybe this gift that Euron gave to me might be poisoned'. Now, I'm not 100% convinced that the dusky woman is some kind of spy or assassin, but the fact that Victarion never contemplates this (as far as I remember) doesn't speak well of him.



There is also the sad/funny scene when he remembers interacting with his brothers as a kid, and he is never able to determine when they're making fun of him or not, leading to a lifelong distrust of all laughter.



I don't think that he's completely stupid, I just think that he has a one-track mind. He has a good amount of cunning when it comes to battle and strategy, but he's not well-equipped to tangle with the likes of Euron or, well, anyone who is willing to lie to him. Victarion is a direct and forthright person who is completely incapable of resisting deception.


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He's dumb. Martin confirmed it himself, he called him "dumb as a stump" in an interview.

He's the admiral of the Iron Fleet mainly because his brother was the Lord of the Iron Islands. Stannis crushed him in the first rebellion.

Yeah grrm said he was an idiot. But I don't think it's really an indication of how dumb he is that he lost to stannis. I think at sea Vic knows what he's doing, it's where he is at home and he spends most of his time on a ship.
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Mad Monkey summed it up pretty well. I always enjoyed the bit about the monkeys. It reinforces the bit where he's unable to tell when he's being made fun of and it makes me giggle that he redirects that anger to the chattering monkeys. That's ... the opposite of critical thinking. He's dumb.



That's not to say I don't enjoy his character, I do. I just don't expect much from him in the strategy department. However in the kicking ass department, bring it on!


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I like him no matter how smart or dumb he is.

There is also the sad/funny scene when he remembers interacting with his brothers as a kid, and he is never able to determine when they're making fun of him or not, leading to a lifelong distrust of all laughter.

Yeah I felt really bad for him when I read this.

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What Mad Monkey said, plus a little compilation of episodes :)



Following the right brother


-He resents Euron, yet he always follows his orders.


He even qoutes his brother Euron while mistaking his sentences as if they were Balon's.



Detective Victarion is spot on the case


-His wound is infected, doesn't heal and he suspects some poisoning: the only people to ever had it treated are himself, maester Kerwin and the dusky woman. Guess who's the only one he suspects? That's right, not the slave he keeps raping, the one who has all the reasons to act against him. The one who could very likely be Euron's agent. He suspects Kerwin.


By the way, Moqorro also predicts him that "death is already here" while probably referring to the dusky woman, but Vic doesn't realise it and thinks he's referring to his wound.



Tactical genius


-His only defeat comes from Stannis exploiting a mistake of fleet positioning, a mistake he repeats when going to Mereen after considering that this could spell disaster once again. It's like he refuses to learn...



Top comedian


-He cannot understand sarcasm or irony.



Trusting the right brother


-"Euron's gifts are always poisoned", by the man itself. The man who suspects Euron about everything.


Yet, when Euron offers him the shade of the evening to drink, he accepts to only then spit and ask his brothers if the drink was poisoned.



Victarion's theology 101


-"If I put togheter two gods who Moqorro claims to be enemies I'm surely going to take benefit from both!"


By the way, one god's element is water and the other fire... ^_^



I love this guy and some of his mistakes can be explained, but damn if he's not dense as a brick...


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I've seen that a fair amount of posters don't like Vic, stating that they believe he's a moron. The guys is admiral of the Iron Fleet. How dumb could he be? Everyone fears the ironborn on the sea.

Personally, I love Vic. I really enjoyed his Dance chapters. He's not the most complicated character, but I find he's want for revenge over Euron to be one of the arcs I want to see advance more.

Other than GRRM saying he was dumb as a stump, I didn't really pick up on any clues that the guy wasn't bright. Apparently everyone's convinced that the Dusky woman is a spy or even Euron himself. Whatever.

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