Did Euron kill Balon?

[Treekid]

Re-readind AFFC, I came upon this in Aeron’s first chapter

(The Damphair has just learned that Balon has fallen from a bridge at Pyke.)

Aeron was almost at the door when the master cleared his throat, and said, “Euron Crow’s eye sits the Seastone Chair.”

[…]

The Crow’s eye is half a world away. Balon sent him off two years ago, and swore that it would be his life if he returned.

[…]

“He sailed into Lordsport the day after the king’s death and claim the castle and the crown as Balon’s eldest brother” said Gorold Goodbrother. “Now he sends forth ravens, summoning the captains and the kings from every isle to Pyke, to bend their knees, and to do him homage as their king.

Coïncidences are scarce in ASoIaF. To have Euron near Pike when Balon falls to his death in a so-called accident is not one, I think.

In this extract we learn that Balon has threatened his brother but the way Martin phrases the thing makes it a double-entendre.

Either it’s Euron’s life at risk if he dares to come back: his life taken from him (what the reader understands immediately), or it can also mean Balon’s life is at risk if Euron ever comes back: “his life” as in Balon’s life

It can also mean that Euron would get the life he was meant to have by returning to the Iron Islands. It would be his life if he returned: The life of a king, meaning Balon’s death again.

Two pages before, Balon is said to have scaled the Flint’s Cliff to the Blind Lord’s haunted tower at only ten which tells the reader that scaling thing are part of the coming of age in the Iron Islands. We can assume that Euron, eager to prove his worth after his brother, was also able to climb rocks and towers at a very early age.

I think that Euron may have been not far from his brother when he fell from that bridge. Euron or one of his men.

The fact that Balon’s death is announced (and supposedly triggered) long before it actually happens, by Melisandre and her leeches, kept me from looking for who actually killed him, but Euron is a good contender in my opinion and I wouldn’t be surprised to have him think about his brother’s death in one of his POV chapter in The Winds of Winter. (I love to write those words)

Balon's death can of course still have been an accident. But accidents are like coïncidences in Westeros: very unlikely it seems.

[Mourneblade]

He killed Balon through the use of a FM for which he paid THoBW a Dragon Egg.

[Treekid]

So it's actually clear in the books? I had forgotten all about that.

[Formerly Tetrarch42]

So it's actually clear in the books? I had forgotten all about that.

It's not made explicitly clear but it seems like a reasonable assumption.

[Treekid]

I guess I'll have to read ADwD again

[Chebyshov]

I guess I'll have to read ADwD again

It's not in the text, really. You'd be better off reading forum posts about it, like this one: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/60826-the-drowned-king-and-the-faceless-crow-complete-analysis/

[Treekid]

It's not in the text, really. You'd be better off reading forum posts about it, like this one: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/60826-the-drowned-king-and-the-faceless-crow-complete-analysis/

Thank you. I'm going to read it.

[Mourneblade]

There are almost zero coincidences in ASOIAF, there would be no way for Euron to show up in Pyke the day after Balon dies unless he knew Balon would die. He was under a death sentence to return. Also he said he had a Dragon Egg and when asked where it was, he made up some BS about tossing it into the Sea.

Yeah Euron just tosses priceless items into the sea /sarcasm off especially when he is aware that dragons have hatched.

[Chebyshov]

Thank you. I'm going to read it.

NP :cheers:

This forum is a treasure trove. I've spent hours with the compendium of theories: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/79775-a-compendium-of-theories/

[Stormland's Fury]

Euron and Stannis both. Balon never stood a chance, he was on two hit lists.

Somehow I imagine Euron took him out himself with the help of the newest ACME catalog.:

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/98874/Wile_E_Coyote_reading_book.jpg

[Mourneblade]

NP :cheers:

This forum is a treasure trove. I've spent hours with the compendium of theories: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/79775-a-compendium-of-theories/

lol and a massive time sink... its like eating just 1 M&M, must read more....but yes awesome info.

[briantw]

The Ghost of High Heart told Beric and company about her dream that Balon was killed by a man without a face with a drowned crow (the Crow's Eye, perhaps?) perched on his shoulder. A man without a face is, obviously, a faceless man, or a Faceless Man (proper noun) in this scenario.

The text does not explicitly confirm it, but the sketchy nature of his death coupled with Euron's extremely timely return and the Ghost's vision is about as close to confirmation as we can get unless Euron just flat out admits to it later.

[Stormland's Fury]

... as close to confirmation as we can get unless Euron just flat out admits to it later.

Which he probably will at some point because, let's face it, he's Euron

[yolkboy]

So it's actually clear in the books? I had forgotten all about that.

heres the foretelling by Ghost of High Heart...

"I dreamt of a man without a face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung. On his shoulder perched a drowned crow with seaweed hanging from his wings."

The man without a face is a faceless man, the bridge is where Balon fell, the crow with seaweed is Euron.

given we know Euron had a dragons egg and 'threw it away', it seems reasonable to assume he paid the FM with it.

[Mourneblade]

Euron and Stannis both. Balon never stood a chance, he was on two hit lists.

Somehow I imagine Euron took him out himself with the help of the newest ACME catalog.:

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/98874/Wile_E_Coyote_reading_book.jpg

I do not buy that the Red Woman can actually kill people from afar without the use of a shadow baby. I DO see her taking credit for it, since she can see the future pretty well, and using that as a way to improve her standing with Stannis.

[Treekid]

I've juste read the thread about it that Chebyshov pointed to me.

It has to be Euron then.

[Stormland's Fury]

I do not buy that the Red Woman can actually kill people from afar without the use of a shadow baby. I DO see her taking credit for it, since she can see the future pretty well, and using that as a way to improve her standing with Stannis.

I never bought that she causes it, but more like she could see their deaths in the flames and believes it would only happen if she does something.

[Fat Mac]

Its one of the few technically unsolved mysteries that I think are basically fact. Like yolkboy said, it was in the GoHH's prophecy.

The Dragon Egg part makes sense too given that Balon's life would demand a ridiculously high price from the FM (since he's a King), who are already expensive to begin with.

[Mourneblade]

I never bought that she causes it, but more like she could see their deaths in the flames and believes it would only happen if she does something.

I am not sure if she buys that or not... its certainly possible she feels that way, but after reading her POV's it seems she is more concerned about being in power/surviving/being taken as all knowing and less as a 100% truly devoted fanatic. I certainly think she believes in the Lord of Light, but she lied about, or gave incorrect info, that she knew was incorrect to Jon just so he would believe her.

[Stormland's Fury]

She comes across as disillusioned at times, but strangely sincere in her cause. As for the need for being in power etc., she was a slave after all, so maybe she tries to compensate.