The Ironborn Plot: Will Dany literally miss the boat?

[Mourneblade]

This is just sooo wide open, so many possibilities. One thing I believe for certain, is Dany will be in Westeros or heading to Westeros by WoW end.

Also the idea that Tyrion cannot negotiate with Vic is preposterous, the man negotiated with Shagga, and the mountain clans on nothing but promises, Vic is no different. Tyrion would need to find out what Vic wanted and use that as his bargaining chip. Tyrion might be vile, and wretched, but when it comes to negotiation and diplomacy, there are very few better for the job.

[Whitering]

This is just sooo wide open, so many possibilities. One thing I believe for certain, is Dany will be in Westeros or heading to Westeros by WoW end.

Also the idea that Tyrion cannot negotiate with Vic is preposterous, the man negotiated with Shagga, and the mountain clans on nothing but promises, Vic is no different. Tyrion would need to find out what Vic wanted and use that as his bargaining chip. Tyrion might be vile, and wretched, but when it comes to negotiation and diplomacy, there are very few better for the job.

That would make half of the posters puke heh, so I hope it happens. Dany showing up to save the day like the vision is something many people dread. I will laugh if I read it, not because it will be funnily written but because I will imagine all the vomit.

[JLE]

That's why I think Victarion will have been and gone, Dany come back, and her hand will be *forced* - she will have to chase back to Westeros to rescue "her children", whether it's one or two dragons that are stolen by Victarion.

Whatever plans Euron has in store for Victarion when he gets home are another matter entirely, because even Victarion is not capable of thinking like more than a glorified pirate on a larger scale - he, for example, would never have had the idea to travel as far away from home as Euron already has, or to visit Valyria. I believe we may take it that Euron will win that confrontation (and confrontation there certainly will be - Victarion is already planning to betray Euron, and Euron cannot possibly be stupid enough not to know this.) If so, then Aeron may end up becoming our POV among the ironborn.

So. Suppose the first dragon to get back to mainland Westeros ends up under the control of the ironborn? Terror, slaughter and destruction. I suspect Aegon will have taken the Iron Throne by then, but will die, because "his dragon" - Dany - was "too far from the centre of the action" (as foreshadowed in Tyrion's game against him.) Suddenly, with Euron spreading terror over the whole mainland, the arrival of Dany *will* be as a saviour and rescuer - which it wouldn't necessarily have been if she came back to fight the Lannisters or Aegon, who have sympathisers, but against the ironborn, it certainly will be. Even if she has to come back alone on Drogon, with an injured Viserion being left behind (and potentially nursed back to health, and ridden towards Westeros, by Tyrion, who reserves his greatest sympathy for injured, malformed, crippled or broken things?)

One woman. One dragon. Against an entire continent - or, on behalf of an entire continent, against its enemies. It could be no other way. Foreign invasion-armies for Daenerys to bring with her, are just a smokescreen: they will never make it, neither by land nor by ship.

[Mourneblade]

I do not know when, but soon IMHO, that Vic is going in for a dirt nap. He is just too stupid. I think the Red Wizard is going to betray him, and then we still have the group from the Citadel coming as well... just one big nasty bag of possibilities.

I do see Dany taking control of the Doth Raki

[Talking Hodor]

I'd like for the Ironborn to attack, get their asses kicked and have Victarion be executed by Ser Barristan.

From what I remember Ironborn kinda blow when it comes to land fighting, so hopefully the only Victarion chapter we get is when he dies.

A Victarion prologue would be great. The horn gets blown three times, it turns out to truly be a dragon mating call/binder, and Viserion mistakes the longship for his dragon mate and rapes it with Victarion inside. Victarion goes to where Patchface lived, and reemerges as a prophetic lunatic with seaweed in his hair.

[mothbomb]

I kind of thought it would be funny if the Horn was actually the Horn of Winter. We know the wildlings didnt hve the real one, so irony would be Victarion blows the horn attempting to bind a dragon and instead obliterates the walls of mereen. And the dialogue between Tyrion and others on the outside being, "what in the hell just happened??"

And by stories end victarion has returned to Euron to tell him the horns true power. Euron kills him and joins the Others using the horn to eradicate the wall

[Paid the Iron Price]

And by stories end victarion has returned to Euron to tell him the horns true power. Euron kills him and joins the Others using the horn to eradicate the wall

I see what you did there.

[Mithras]

The horn will work, otherwise Moqorro would not go into trouble and intercept with Victarion. He broke the power of Euron and now he can manipulate Victarion as he likes. Since Benerro claims Dany to be a messiah, we cannot expect Moqorro to do something which will weaken Dany or harm her dragons. On the contrary, he should make sure that Dany gets all the help she can get and a converted Victarion is a very valuable asset for their purposes.

I think Victarion will claim Rhaegal with the horn and Tyrion will heal the wounded Viserion and bond with it in the process.

GRRM alost confirmed it in the latest TWoW Tyrion chapter. He sent Rhaegal over the ironborn ships and he took Viserion from the battlefield. This can only meant that GRRM does not want confusion when the horn is blown. Victarion will claim Rhaegal by the horn.

The bloody white cyvasse dragon came to Tyrion’s feet; he picked it up and threw to the air. It is a very obvious foreshadowing that Vsierion will get wounded, Tyrion will heal it with his dragonlore and he will bond with it in the process.

But first thing’s first.

I guess the Volantene Fleet is very far away. They should be coming as a single group which means they are constrained by their slowest ships.

Victarion had divided his Fleet into three groups according to their speed and we see that this was a brilliant idea. Victarion’s skills as a captain are highly underrated. I think even the voyage to other end of the world with his fleet is alone a brilliant success.

Victarion knows every ship in his fleet by name and captain. Moreover, he knows how fast they can sail and what can they do. Dividing his fleet into 3 groups increased the chance of success. A single storm might destroy the whole fleet while it is not so likely that all three groups being destroyed by storms.

As a result, Victarion minimized the risk and maximized the speed so that he could be able to reach Meereen swiftly and with a strong force.

His strategy to join the battle is also very good. He filled the trading ships captured on the way with his most notorious raiders. He commanded them to hide their men and approach the blockade, which will hide the main force of Victarion at the back. He thought that the Yunkish forces will laugh at the incoming group of grotesque ships with few men but as soon as the reavers come out with the whole force of Victarion behind, they will not have the time to run.

It is obvious that the siege is broken and the Yunkish army has lost the battle (though they do not know it yet). After the battle is won, there will be an awkward situation.

Victarion will learn that “grab Dany and her dragons and flee before the Volantene fleet arrives” plan is doomed. Dany is missing but Moqorro will tell him that she is alive.

Tyrion might betray BBP and have him killed. Moqorro and Tyrion were BFF’s in the stinky steward. I think Tyrion will stick to Victarion and he may even get the control of the Second Sons after BBP’s death as well.

Victarion will try to take control of Meereen but Barristan will not have it that way. With the incoming threat of the Volantene, they will not waste time and men with fighting. Instead there might be a contest to decide who will rule Meereen in the name of Dany. The idea of this contest is given in AFfC like this:

“The Knight [ser Harras Harlaw] took Grimston by himself. He planted his standard beneath the castle and defied the Grimms to face him. One did, and then another, and another. He slew them all... well, near enough, two yielded. When the seventh man went down, Lord Grimm’s septon decided the gods had spoken and surrendered the castle.”

Ser Harras Harlaw duels with 7 men. He slays 5 of them and the other 2 yields. And so the castle is surrendered to him.

I think Victarion will challenge like The Knight. I can already give a few names who would sooner die than seeing Victarion controlling Meereen and proposing to Dany.

Jorah and Daario will be the first ones to face him. Barristan will also accept the challenge because the code of chivalry demands it. Victarion will slay them all. Jorah will die of his wounds. Victarion will also be injured but Moqorro will heal him.

Note that Barristan left the charge of the city to a captain of the Stormcrows called The Widower, who wields a cruel axe. Victarion already made up his mind to make Dany a widow again with his cruel axe. Thus, when Barristan dies, he will again leave the charge of the city to The Widower.

After having the control of Meereen, one of the first thing Victarion will do is to execute Hizdahr from treason (of which he is guilty) and attempted poisoning on Dany (of which he is actually innocent).

I think Shavepate will find a good place among Victarion and Tyrion. His ruthless offers to deal with the Harpy will now be accepted by Victarion and Tyrion. The supporters of the Harpy will be massacred.

After the dust is settled in Meereen, Victarion will now make a plan to defeat the Volantene Fleet with the additional troops and ships he now has and most importantly, Rhaegal.

I think with the exact intelligence supplied by Moqorro, Victarion will have the rematch of Battle of Fair Isle. He will defeat the Volantene Fleet with the same tactic he saw in his one and only defeat. He will trap the Volantene Fleet in the Yaros Straits. Remember what he was thinking when he passed there.

When the cliffs of Yaros appeared off their larboard bows, he found his three lost ships waiting for him, just as Moqorro had promised. Victarion gave the priest a golden torque as a reward.

Now he had a choice to make: should he risk the straits, or take the Iron Fleet around the island? The memory of Fair Isle still rankled in the iron captain’s memory. Stannis Baratheon had descended on the Iron Fleet from both north and south whilst they were trapped in the channel between the island and the mainland, dealing Victarion his most crushing defeat. But sailing around Yaros would cost him precious days. With Yunkai so near, shipping in the straits was like to be heavy, but he did not expect to encounter Yunkish warships until they were closer to Meereen.

What would the Crow’s Eye do? He brooded on that for a time, then signaled to his captains. “We sail the straits.”

The numerical advantage of the Volantene Fleet will be nullified in the narrow straits. Victarion will crush them and with the shadow of Rhaegal looming over them, the slave soldiers will turn their cloaks for Dany. Most of the slave soldiers are the worshippers of the Red Religion. I think Moqorro will advise Victarion to wield the symbol of Red Religion on his banners, which will make it easier for the slaves to turn their cloaks.

As a result, Victarion will capture hundreds of ships with the crews on them.

Now the time is ripe for Dany’s return. I think contrary to what many believe, I think Dany’s bond with Drogon is very weak and Drogon will flee when attacked by the riders of Jhaqo. So, he will capture Dany and take her to dosh khaleen for trial because the law and tradition demand it. Among the dosh khaleen, Dany will become the stallion that mounts the world when Drogon returns and she will fulfil the ancient prophecy. Dany will unite a mighty khalassar

I think after the victory at the Yaros Straits, Victarion will search the Dothraki Sea and meet Dany on Drogon. Dany will be impressed by him and more so by the news of his victories. Surely she will grieve for Barristan, Daario and Jorah but she will be a different person by that time.

Therefore, when Dany returns to Meereen, most of her problems will be resolved. She will leave the rule of Meereen to Shavepate and start her journey West. Her khalassar will be moving in the Dothraki Sea. Her infantry will take the demon road with Tyrion among them. Victarion will oversee the ships.

On the way, she will punish the defiant cities like Mantarys, New Ghis. But her main target will be Volantis and she will sack the shit out of Volantis with a good plan.

I think Tyrion will make a feint attack on Selhorys, the Volantene will rush to defend, and then Tyrion will leave Selhorys and ride swiftly to Volantis herself. Victarion will play a similar game and approach Volantis as the victorious army returning from Meereen with the head of Dany. Both from lands and the sea, they will sack Volantis and the whole world will get the news and tremble.

[Anarchosaurus Rex]

Victarion will blow the horn and gain control of at least one of the two dragons fighting outside of Meereen. Euron, having shadowed Victarion all along, will then appear and command the obedience of the dragon, torching Victarion. Euron will return to Westeros to complete his conquest, and Dany will chase after him.