The Great Mystery of the Iron Islands and Its People's Origins

[KingMaekarWasHere]

Hey everybody! It's good to be back on the forums because I have been off since last Fall or so.

 

Now to the topic at hand...

 

               I always find myself turning back to AWOIAF when I am looking for yet more answers in GRRM's Universe. Last month and last week I looked into the history of the Iron Islands heavily; it's history was such a mystery to me. It still is! And after reading on the history of the Iron Islands and Essos I realized that the Iron Islands were factually the most mysterious lands of Westeros with regards to recorded history in general. The maesters have been very successful with following Andal history as most would guess but as soon as we get back to the time before the Andals we start to enter the 'zone of historical fantasies.' It may be true that First Men histories were mostly coherent but there is/was fantasy and mystery mixed-in to them just as there was with Britain's history before the times of the Romans and then the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. And so the Celts and Picts were/are very much like the First Men; and as such they didn't see much of a need to write down about 'all there was before on Westeros' before they arrived. So what/who did the First men encounter when they showed up on Westeros? There is proof that humans were living there before and there were humans who had been living in two places with certainty; where Oldtown is and the Iron Islands! The mysterious black stone that makes up the bottom layer of the Hightower as well as the Seastone chair speaks to an ancient civilization that existed on Westeros before the First Men. It seems to me that GRRM once again found inspiration from mythological British history when he decided to include races on Westeros before the Celts or First Men. I have heard several tales of ancient races that lived on the British isles before the Celts/Picts/Britons got there; and certainly Stonehenge could perhaps be compared to the very ancient stones/buildings found on Westeros. And just like Britain Westeros is said to have had of course giants and other creatures who are now gone. So could this ancient civilization have been half-giant/ half-human as the World book points to as a theory? Or could the ancient Maze Makers of the areas around Lorath have had cousins in Westeros? We could safely say that it wasn't Valyrians in Westeros however as their artistic markings are found nowhere on the Hightower or on the Seastone chair. It's a mystery that I have come to love as it mirrors the ancient and mysterious history of Britain and Europe before the Indo-Europeans arrived.

                Now why do the Iron Islands factor in so much? Well both the islands and Oldtown are located on the far western coasts of Westeros; very far from Essos and the Narrow Sea. (If the very ancient humans came from Essos they would have likely crossed the ocean from the other end and it would have likely been more difficult especially when compared to the migrations of the Andals and First Men.) Also the very different culture of the islands speaks to something unknown by any of the other races and ethnicities of Westeros and Essos. The religion centered around the Lovecraftian inspired 'old ones' or 'deep ones' speaks to ancient culture(s) and ancient knowledge that now seems to be gone; and perhaps lost completely at that. We can thank the Andals and First Men perhaps for encouraging bronze and iron weapons on the islands, as well as the thirst for building ships and using them to pillage and plunder; but the very sea connected culture of the Iron Islands has to be something that connects to the very first humans that lived there. And while both Andals and First men came to call themselves 'masters' of the islands for lack of better terms, it seems to me that the Andals certainly were hated by most of the natives/nobles when the Hoare kings came to power. This hatred of the Andals seems to indicate not just a traumatized culture but also a reclusive culture and certainly a distinct culture. But maybe not a traumatized culture so much as a Nietzschean-Lovecraftian culture that favors old bloodlines and traditions immensely. (Perhaps a culture that already experienced outside invasions and knew how to preserve Ironborn culture and customs nonetheless.) But perhaps I am going out on a limb by insinuating that certain bloodlines have been preserved better than others on the iron islands and these bloodlines are very cherished and very old and go back to the times of figures like the fabled Grey King. These bloodlines may have been largely mixed with first men blood but we know that the First men made deals with the Children of the Forest for the price of peace and prosperity. So is there something magic and hidden about ancient Ironborn bloodlines? Is there more to the Greyjoys? Well I would say so...but there is much more to Ironborn history than meets the eye. And I would love to hear different ideas about Iron Islands/Oldtown history. :cool4:

[Ramsay Gimp]

crab people?

[Free Northman Reborn]

There were no humans living in Westeros prior to the arrival of the First Men.

Whoever built the Seastone Chair and the base of the Hightower came from elsewhere - and most likely from the ocean.

As to the settlement of the Iron Isles: My view is that the First Men reached them before the Hammer of the Waters cataclysm shattered the continent and turned them into islands.

[roryclague]

We know that the oceans can cover land as sea levels rise, and there are myths that this happened in Westeros. What if the Iron Islands were, ten or twenty thousand years before the time of ASOIAF, submerged beneath the waters, and seismic activity lifted the seamounts above the surface? Just a different ecxplanation. Maybe the Deep Ones didn't come ashore. Perhaps they are so ancient that they built the Seastone Chair before the Iron Islands emerged from the waters.

[KingMaekarWasHere]

We know that the oceans can cover land as sea levels rise, and there are myths that this happened in Westeros. What if the Iron Islands were, ten or twenty thousand years before the time of ASOIAF, submerged beneath the waters, and seismic activity lifted the seamounts above the surface? Just a different ecxplanation. Maybe the Deep Ones didn't come ashore. Perhaps they are so ancient that they built the Seastone Chair before the Iron Islands emerged from the waters.

I like your ideas very much. After all on Earth we know that there are structures built under the water near Japan. What happened with ancient people in japan could have also happened with the Iron Islands. Older civilizations may have been wiped out due to flooding and new ones came along to pick up the pieces.