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Euron's Plan and Why it has Failed


Theralion

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Euron had his warlocks make him master of dragonbinder and handed it off to Victarion knowing that no matter who blows it, the dragons will go to Euron. But now Moqorro is rebinding the horn to a new master, probably Daenerys. Back in westeros he is going to lose the shield islands to the redwynes and the dragons he hoped for won't materialize. These events will eventually bring about his downfall as king.

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Except, Moqorro himself doesn't necessarily know *how* to re-bind the horn to a new master.

And I think Victarion had ideas of his own - which may succeed, or may fail. I think Victarion is going to blow the horn, and a dragon will come to his will - and he will end up going back to Westeros with one dragon (it is hinted, in the preview Tyrion chapter, that another one withdraws from the battle, Viserion the white dragon - probably injured - while Rhaegal is flying over near the ironborn ships - if the horn is blown, he will hear it.) And try to betray Euron with it.

Euron is trying to conquer Oldtown - where we have been told there is a book of dragon lore of some kind. I think he is trying to steal that book - as a back-up plan, in case Victarion *does* succeed in binding a dragon to himself rather than Euron - or in case Victarion decides to betray him by somehow managing to ally with Daenerys, and bring back dragons without using the horn at all.

Which then brings the idea: Is Jaqen H'ghar (currently impersonating Pate the Stupid Alchemist) in Oldtown to steal the book *for* Euron, or is he there to steal it before Euron gets it? Euron has had dealings with the Faceless Men, and I think he double-crossed them - and they're now trying to stop him.

Samwell will be at ground zero when Euron's invasion of Oldtown happens, of course.

However, Victarion can't stay in Meereen. Nothing for his men to eat, and the city will be ravaged by plague. He and his ironborn will have to leave the city after taking what they can - namely one dragon (Rhaegal) if the horn works - before Dany gets back. So there will be no Dany / Victarion alliance. BUT, Euron is going to get a dragon, the first dragon to arrive in Westeros will be under his control, and he will be Dany's worst enemy.

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I don't think he'll lose against the Redwyne fleet. While it certainly seems that way, with the Redwyne fleet being insanely overpowered and the Iron Fleet being sent away, Euron is too smart to put himself into that bad a position without a plan. He has captive warlocks and various magical artifacts at his disposal, and twice so far he's benefited from drastic weather changes (the storm that disguised Balon's assassination, and the super fast winds that allowed him to reach the Shield Islands in record time). I imagine he'll be using weather magic again to destroy/scatter the Redwyne fleet, at which point he'll be the only major naval power in the south, and a much more dangerous enemy for Aegon/Dany/whoever.

I'm not sure about whether or not he'll get a dragon, even if his attempt with Victarion fails.

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Except, Moqorro himself doesn't necessarily know *how* to re-bind the horn to a new master.

And I think Victarion had ideas of his own - which may succeed, or may fail. I think Victarion is going to blow the horn, and a dragon will come to his will - and he will end up going back to Westeros with one dragon (it is hinted, in the preview Tyrion chapter, that another one withdraws from the battle, Viserion the white dragon - probably injured - while Rhaegal is flying over near the ironborn ships - if the horn is blown, he will hear it.) And try to betray Euron with it.

Euron is trying to conquer Oldtown - where we have been told there is a book of dragon lore of some kind. I think he is trying to steal that book - as a back-up plan, in case Victarion *does* succeed in binding a dragon to himself rather than Euron - or in case Victarion decides to betray him by somehow managing to ally with Daenerys, and bring back dragons without using the horn at all.

Which then brings the idea: Is Jaqen H'ghar (currently impersonating Pate the Stupid Alchemist) in Oldtown to steal the book *for* Euron, or is he there to steal it before Euron gets it? Euron has had dealings with the Faceless Men, and I think he double-crossed them - and they're now trying to stop him.

Samwell will be at ground zero when Euron's invasion of Oldtown happens, of course.

However, Victarion can't stay in Meereen. Nothing for his men to eat, and the city will be ravaged by plague. He and his ironborn will have to leave the city after taking what they can - namely one dragon (Rhaegal) if the horn works - before Dany gets back. So there will be no Dany / Victarion alliance. BUT, Euron is going to get a dragon, the first dragon to arrive in Westeros will be under his control, and he will be Dany's worst enemy.

1. "I am Dragonbinder ... No mortal man should sound me and live ... Blood for fire, fire for blood." The instructions are branded on the horn itself.

2. Why do people always think only one dragon is going to be bound, and always think its Rhaegal? Is Viserion deaf? Vic's sample chapter shows he has 3 volunteers to blow the horn. One, two, three. In the 2nd Tyrion sample chapter, Tyrion can hear regular warhorns from where he is in the camps. I think everyone will clearly hear the sound "of a thousand wailing souls."

3. Any assault on Oldtown is going to be a disaster. The Hightowers know they're coming. Euron's infiltrators were caught, so they've lost the element of surprise. And the Ironborn are substantially weaker with the Iron Fleet (their most powerful ships) sent to Slaver's Bay.

4. Why would Euron have a Faceless Man steal a book from the citadel if he's going to attack Oldtown anyway, he could take it himself. Plus, the Faceless Men are assassins, not thieves.

5. Again, I think Moqorro is binding the horn to Daenerys. Vic won't get them either and will forced to make an alliance the normal way, with Dragonbinder as the ultimate bargaining chip.

Overall, I have always thought Euron was highly overrated. That the fandom projects onto him. What makes him different from Dalton, Dagon or Balon? Dragonbinder, that's all! And that plan is going up in smoke. The dragons aren't coming. His men are going to die, he is going to lose the shields, and he is going to flee back to the Iron Islands with his tail between his legs in defeat just like every iron king before him. Then Asha is going to produce Theon, overrule the original Kingsmoot, run for queen again and win.

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Overall, I have always thought Euron was highly overrated. That the fandom projects onto him. What makes him different from Dalton, Dagon or Balon? Dragonbinder, that's all! And that plan is going up in smoke. The dragons aren't coming. His men are going to die, he is going to lose the shields, and he is going to flee back to the Iron Islands with his tail between his legs in defeat just like every iron king before him. Then Asha is going to produce Theon, overrule the original Kingsmoot, run for queen again and win.

I somewhat agree.  This forum cracks me up sometimes.  People will just assume what is put in front of them as face-value, and then go on to believe crack-pot theories on things.  Who's to say that the stupid horn will even work?  People are just assuming it will.  For all we know, it was a fabrication made by Euron to get rid of his brother.

Everybody fantasizes and wants so badly for people to ride Dany's dragons, but in reality...it will probably never happen.  Vic will go to Mereen, blow the horn, it won't work and probably just piss off the Dragons.  They'll go nuts and end up burning down half of Mereen (after all, they are already loose and Dany is nowhere to be found).  Vic and his entire fleet will perish, Mereen will be destroyed, and Dany will probably have no choice but to take down her own dragons to save everyone.  Dany will find out about Eurons plans, get pissed over it, and end up being the reason she *finally* makes it to Westeros to confront and take care of Euron.

 

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Moqorro is not going to MEET Daenerys - yet, or possibly ever. She is not, in fact, in Meereen at all: and will not be back for some time.

Likewise, Victarion is not going to meet her. He will be forced, by starvation (the city has lost its food growing hinterland, and not yet succeeded in replanting it, and the ironborn certainly aren't going to do it) and plague (from corpses flung over the walls into the city), to leave before Dany has a chance to return.

GRRM hinted that Daenerys would eventually cross paths with Tyrion, but not for some time yet. This fits my theory that she will not be back for some time, because she still has business with the Dothraki to be concluded.

While the horn has the inscription "Blood for fire, fire for blood. No mortal man may sound me and live", neither it - nor Moqorro's knowledge or skill - give *a direct specified course of action* that will bind the horn to any new owner. Moqorro does not know EXACTLY how to bind the horn either to Dany or to any other owner. Besides, Dany should not need the horn: she has Drogon without needing the horn, but no single person has yet been observed or reported to ride or control more than one dragon. The horn will only be of any use as a plot device if it binds a dragon to a person other than Daenerys. At the moment, we may assume it is bonded to Euron.

Apparently it was hinted, in a read-out but not officially word-for-word published Victarion preview chapter, that Victarion had attempted something involving his own blood, that MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT succeed in binding the horn (and thus any dragon that hears it) to him. If this succeeds, the horn is Victarion's: if not, it is still Euron's, no matter who actually blows it.

Either way, the horn is going to be blown during the battle: while Daenerys, and her dragon Drogon are not present: two other dragons are present in Meereen: and, at the point of its being blown, the horn - and thus the dragon that hears it - will either be bonded to Euron, or Victarion. It has to be one or the other: because if it's neither, then the only possible reason for that is that the horn does not actually function or bind dragons at all (since it is going to be sounded at a battle in which dragons are present, at a time when Dany does not even know of its existence, and at a time when the only possible owners it can recognise are Euron or Victarion.)

Have any of you read the Tyrion preview chapter? It was mentioned that Viserion (the white dragon) at some point withdraws from the battle. It is possible that the symbolism of Tyrion wiping blood off a white dragon cyvasse piece may be more than just a fluke - it may hint that Tyrion, left behind after the battle, will meet Viserion, and that Viserion will be injured at the time (almost certainly the reason for his withdrawal) and Tyrion will nurse him back to health - after all he does have a sympathy for "cripples and broken things". GRRM has hinted that at some point Tyrion may ride a dragon - and it seems that the evidence is pointing to Viserion (and to the fact that Tyrion will tame him by being nice to him, not by magical means - like the story of Nettles and Sheepstealer in the Dance of the Dragons.) In either case, having withdrawn from the battle makes Viserion less likely to be in a position to hear the horn when Victarion's men sound it. The men who blow the horn will not be in the front line of the battle: they are back on his ships, while Viserion is back in his lair in whichever pyramid he makes his home.

Rhaegal, meanwhile, is reported flying over near the ironborn fleet. Which just happens to be more conveniently within earshot of the horn if it is sounded. Conclusion: IF the horn is sounded during the battle for Meereen, and IF it works at all - if it is not a complete red herring - then Rhaegal will be bound to it: and therefore (see above) to the service of either Euron or Victarion.

Drogon, like Dany, is not present at all.

This is why I think that (1) Victarion cannot, and will not, even meet Dany, and certainly the ironborn will not ally with Dany: and that (2) If they succeed in getting control of a dragon at all, it will be Rhaegal.

And, because of the starvation and plague issues, if Victarion does not want to leave, his men will force the issue for him. No foreign army with ships will stay in a place where there is plague: the only people who stay in a plague-ridden place are those who live there and cannot leave. The ironborn and their ships have NOT come to stay. They have come, in ironborn fashion, to "grab and go": and since Dany is not there to be taken, they will take what they can and get the hell out because it is all they will be able to do.

So, either Victarion and chums will go back home with no dragons, because the horn does not function: or they will go back home with one dragon, or two (but more likely one) because the horn does function and has bound the dragon to the service of whichever Greyjoy the horn recognises as a master: long before Dany returns to Meereen.

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How could Moqorro possibly bind the horn to Danaerys?  Personally I think Vic rubbing his blood on the horn is meaningless, its no sacrifice at all.  I don't know what's going to happen, but I do believe that the man who blew the horn at the Kignsmoot was one of Eurons bastard sons and in that way he sacrificed his blood to control the horn.  Since a dragon can only have 1 rider and a person can only ride 1 dragon, Rhaegal being the only dragon effected is simply the logical outcome.

My personal theory is that when each of the men Vic has lined up blow the horn, they will themselves claim the horn for their blood, and in turn die, leaving Rhaegal with no master, that is why Moqorro is fine with Vics plan.

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I doubt Euron will be defeated by the Redwyne fleet but Aegon and Jon C. can be trouble for him as will Aeron back home.Euron has also done the mistake to count on warlocks,but as we have been told magic is not a safe weapon.Red priests can do wrong as we have seen with Mel's visions.Moqorro doesn't know everything.I believe one who succeeds will be Tyrion who will follow the Nettles-way. Euron taking a dragon can work for Daenerys's arc to push her go to Westeros to reclame her stolen child.

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  • 5 weeks later...
On 15/01/2016 at 4:23 PM, JLE said:

Have any of you read the Tyrion preview chapter? It was mentioned that Viserion (the white dragon) at some point withdraws from the battle. It is possible that the symbolism of Tyrion wiping blood off a white dragon cyvasse piece may be more than just a fluke - it may hint that Tyrion, left behind after the battle, will meet Viserion, and that Viserion will be injured at the time (almost certainly the reason for his withdrawal) and Tyrion will nurse him back to health - after all he does have a sympathy for "cripples and broken things". GRRM has hinted that at some point Tyrion may ride a dragon - and it seems that the evidence is pointing to Viserion (and to the fact that Tyrion will tame him by being nice to him, not by magical means - like the story of Nettles and Sheepstealer in the Dance of the Dragons.) In either case, having withdrawn from the battle makes Viserion less likely to be in a position to hear the horn when Victarion's men sound it. The men who blow the horn will not be in the front line of the battle: they are back on his ships, while Viserion is back in his lair in whichever pyramid he makes his home.

Rhaegal, meanwhile, is reported flying over near the ironborn fleet. Which just happens to be more conveniently within earshot of the horn if it is sounded. Conclusion: IF the horn is sounded during the battle for Meereen, and IF it works at all - if it is not a complete red herring - then Rhaegal will be bound to it: and therefore (see above) to the service of either Euron or Victarion.

I don't believe Daenerys will marry either Euron or Victarion. If any of them binds Rhaegal (or other dragon), it could mean war among dragon riders. This could be what Teora Toland means in Arianne's released Winds of Winter chapter:

Quote

They were dancing.  In my dream.  And everywhere the dragons danced the people died.

So far, I was almost sure it meant Daenerys fighting Aegon.

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I don't know about this. While Euron is absolutely crazy about his plan and seems absurd, let's be aware that there are few prophecies surrounding this guy including Moqorro's vision about the ten arms and one eye who heavily implied to be Euron, will be the biggest threat to Dany. We are underestimating Euron here. He have warlocks and wizards on his side. So who knows what they will be cracking with their magic and stuff. Dany might meet him, but will Euron have her dragons? Who knows.

For the Redwyne fleet, it doesn't matter to him. Why? He gave Shield Islands to those who were candidates to the Seastone Chair. Thus the new lords have to face the fleet themselves. This was his intention to remove any rivals to his claim and by giving them Shield Islands, only for those new lords to be defeat by the Redwynes, is like killing many birds with one stone. Euron is not going to waste his time helping the new Shield Islands lords to fight the Redwynes and only planning to invade Oldtown.
 

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I think Daenerys will fight, but Aegon will not be her enemy. For starters, if he IS the real thing, then they have the option of marrying instead of fighting, while there is still a chance that Aegon will have enough good publicity to give the reign a chance of starting with some goodwill. And even if he's a Blackfyre descendant rather than a true Targaryen - well, marrying Daenerys would still be an option to end the old blood feud between the red and black dragons, without violence (as happened in the Wars of the Roses in England, when the last male descendant of the Lancaster line - descended through at least one technically disinherited ancestor of the bloodline, if not through a bastard or two - married the last female descendant of the York line.)

At some point there is going to be a battle between dragons. ACTUAL dragons. Which means that at some point a dragon is going to arrive back in Westeros that is not under Dany's control. Aegon is not, at the moment, even trying to send anybody out to steal a dragon: he will not get a dragon because he isn't even trying to get one. The Dornish, thanks to Quentyn Martell - with the hope of taming at least one dragon and using it as a bargaining chip, not to fight Dany, but to marry her - have tried and failed to tame a dragon of their own.

The only prospect of a dragon actually being controlled and turning against Dany, and actually coming to Westeros while not under her control, currently comes with the dragon horn - which is currently bound to the ownership of Euron or Victarion. Which means *if* it works at all, then a dragon will fall under ironborn control.

Since Dany and Drogon are not there to stop it - and Meereen has many armies competing over it, very little in the way of food since the Great Masters ravaged the city's own farmland to punish Dany for taking it, and is also likely to be plagued with the Bloody Flux following the corpses being flung over the walls as the opening shot of the war, so there will be plague inside and out - the ironborn will not be staying long. Either the horn will achieve nothing, and they will go back without a dragon, in which case their whole voyage will have been for nothing: or the horn will achieve something, meaning that they will go back with a dragon under their control: which means Euron or Victarion - and I am betting on Euron here, having some surprise to be able to defeat Victarion if the latter rebels against him - will be the controller of the first dragon in Westeros.

Aegon, meanwhile, will still not have a dragon: and he will have an enemy, namely Euron, who does. And those two will be fighting against each other while Dany is still dealing with Khal Jhaqo's Dothraki. Guess who wins that fight - "Euron with a dragon" or "Aegon without one".

(My betting is on a disastrous combination of "Aegon actually succeeds in taking King's Landing and driving Cersei out and sets a date for his coronation", "An ironborn-controlled dragon arrives back in Westeros just about now and flies over Kings Landing at the appropriate time, with the people cheering right up until the dragon breathes fire" and "remember all that extra alchemists' wildfire that Tyrion and Cersei were successively having them produce" resulting in an Earth-Shattering Kaboom. Bye-bye Aegon, and indeed, bye-bye King's Landing.)

Tyrion to Aegon, after the cyvasse game: "Your dragon was too far away to save you. You should have moved her to the centre of the action". Daenerys is the one who SHOULD have been Aegon's dragon - he is without her and he will fail. Tyrion did not intend to be prophetic but he'll turn out to be right in a way he did not expect.

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Euron seems pretty convinced this will work.   He's armed himself with all sorts of magic and treachery.  This hornbinding may or may not work for either Greyjoy or dragon.  Still, Euron has been preparing for this for a very long time and has spent all his time away from the Iron Islands doing something.   There are some folks who discuss the possibility that Euron may have been a student of BR's.   I haven't seen any really convincing evidence for it, but it is interesting.   With this in mind I speculate he went somewhere to study magic with someone and shouldn't be discarded as a major player from this game.   I think it's entirely possible Euron may be the one to defeat Aegon if Dorne doesn't join his cause right away.   Dorne left the decision to support Aegon with Arienne of all people.   I still hope Doran is smarter than that.  At any rate, if Dorne doesn't join Aegon he will be little more than a flash in the pan and Euron will eat him alive.   Euron is a scary guy.   Scary and prepared.  

Vic, on the other hand, seems to be constantly rebounding from near defeat and disaster.    That Moqorro found him at all is interesting.    That Moqorro would want an allegiance with him is suspect.    The Red Priests believe Dany is AA.   I can't see Moqorro doing anything to harm Dany.  If Vic is dead I'm unsure what impact it will have on the whole Mereen/dragons/battle story.   He is there to get Dany and get a dragon.   He will have to become involved in the battle in some capacity if for nothing else than to learn that Dany's gone.    Some part of the story we haven't got yet will be told in Vic's time in Mereen.  Beyond that it's possible he could get a dragon.   The question is if he got a dragon and it bonded with him would he really walk away from an entire army with UNSULLIED and famous knights to go back to the Iron Islands-or would he want to take everything in order to overthrow his brother?   Vic actually could become a true believer in Dany's cause.  Could be Marwyn's entire purpose is to give Vic information that may be useful in defeating Euron.    

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Any plans by Moqorro, or indeed Victarion, to ally with Dany at Meereen, will be pretty seriously spiked by the fact that Dany is not, in point of fact, THERE to be allied with - and, indeed, she may well not be popular in the city even if she should return (and that is a big "if" as far as the people are concerned, especially since some are convinced she is dead.)

Also, Victarion's ships are full: he cannot transport an army back with Dany in addition to his own men. Notwithstanding the fact that he has also lost a fair number of his ships on the way. He *can't* "take everything" to overthrow his brother: he has not the space in his ships to transport an army of twenty thousand landlubbers (and still less their horses, if there should be Dothraki involved) (and still less in the way of provisions for either men or horses: in fact, horses taken on board ship on such a long voyage will quickly become lunch.) To transport armies, you need EMPTY troop-transport ships that arrive at the place running on a skeleton crew - not full military ships that travel all the way there fully staffed with warriors.

As for the horn: Dany doesn't need it since she has Drogon, and no one person can bond with more than one dragon. Either the horn will fail to work, in which case it achieves nothing, or it will work in some fashion, and bind a dragon to the support of a person who is NOT Daenerys - and someone whom Daenerys will most likely oppose, or be opposed by, because having all the dragons on the same side would be just handing the battle (even if not the peace, as we found in Meereen) to one person on a plate: whereas, there is going to be another dance of the dragons in which dragons fight dragons, and therefore must be bound to opposite sides of a battle.

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16 hours ago, JLE said:

Any plans by Moqorro, or indeed Victarion, to ally with Dany at Meereen, will be pretty seriously spiked by the fact that Dany is not, in point of fact, THERE to be allied with - and, indeed, she may well not be popular in the city even if she should return (and that is a big "if" as far as the people are concerned, especially since some are convinced she is dead.)

Also, Victarion's ships are full: he cannot transport an army back with Dany in addition to his own men. Notwithstanding the fact that he has also lost a fair number of his ships on the way. He *can't* "take everything" to overthrow his brother: he has not the space in his ships to transport an army of twenty thousand landlubbers (and still less their horses, if there should be Dothraki involved) (and still less in the way of provisions for either men or horses: in fact, horses taken on board ship on such a long voyage will quickly become lunch.) To transport armies, you need EMPTY troop-transport ships that arrive at the place running on a skeleton crew - not full military ships that travel all the way there fully staffed with warriors.

As for the horn: Dany doesn't need it since she has Drogon, and no one person can bond with more than one dragon. Either the horn will fail to work, in which case it achieves nothing, or it will work in some fashion, and bind a dragon to the support of a person who is NOT Daenerys - and someone whom Daenerys will most likely oppose, or be opposed by, because having all the dragons on the same side would be just handing the battle (even if not the peace, as we found in Meereen) to one person on a plate: whereas, there is going to be another dance of the dragons in which dragons fight dragons, and therefore must be bound to opposite sides of a battle.

JLE, it's been bandied about that Vic will never even set foot on land.   There is the Volantine force on it's way and may already be there by the time Vic arrives.   As a potential player in the battle of fire, why wouldn't Vic capture those ships for the sake of transport?  He probably isn't even cognizant of all the potential for his own power play back home yet.    I doubt there are many Dothraki to contend with and Dany's forces in Mereen will be reduced by simple engagement in war.    This troubles me as I like the Unsullied with Dany, enforcing her rule in Westeros.  There are only 8000 of them.   They are primarily trained in close combat with short spears I believe.   You can take it to the bank there will be losses on the ground.   Still, there may be some 5 to 10,000 loyal remaining when all the smoke clears.   I don't know how many ships are numbered among the Volantine fleet, but it seems to me that providing ships are their entire purpose for existing.   

As to dances of dragons there are only 3 dragons.   I'm struggling with the entire dance scenario.  If you have read TPATQ you know these are brutal fights between dragons more than simple fire launches to the ground.    Rhaegal & Viserion have been raised as brothers and unless there is some magical reassignment of loyalty or whatever it is that binds dragons to a rider I simply can't envision this dance.    Even if there is a dance it is over with the death of a dragon.   We only have 3 dragons.   Rhaenyra  had 11 I think and Allicent had 6 I believe--it's been a while since I read the story.    That was a real dance with lots of dragons and skies on fire.   Realistically there can only be 2 dragon fights in the sky as they fight to the death.  Granted that would be enough to lay ruin to an Iron Island or Mereen or whatever location they are over but hardly the devastation wrought by 18 or so dragons.    As you say the horn is supposed to bind the dragon to a rider.   Whether this actually happens or not remains to be seen.   But you bring up an interesting point and I am at a loss to explain what Moqorro could possibly be doing to this horn.  Perhaps Moqorro believes Vic would be a good match for Dany and he thinks his interference will further her cause rather than give one brother a huge advantage over the other.    I can only imagine how badly Dany will feel watching her children kill each other. 

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I've always felt that Dany's slayer of lies  prophecy is particularly relevant. A lot of the series is about young people learning how to lead, and here is this revelation that is all about 3 different, failed leaders. It has always stood out to me, since first reading Clash of Crowns.

One, we always knew was Stannis, and the next, we now know for sure is Varys, but the third one is unknown. Stannis life and story is all about what he believes his destiny should be compared to what he has gotten from the world so far. His role as false prophet is played out through the novels in the unconfident way he is claiming his right to rule and then declaring himself to be the great hero reincarnated. Varys is a trickster, manipulating the perceptions of others to get his own ends, and being the second part of the prophecy as the mummer's dragon lines up with everything we've read about him since the first novel. These are key figures, whose traits we know well, and that just adds to my sense that this vision is a key one.

At any rate, my best guess for the third "lie to be slain", the stone dragon breathing shadowfire, would be Euron. Most of the other candidates with some support on these forums are a repeat of the first 2 or point back to them. Also, the likes of Melisandre or Connington just aren't as central as Stannis and Varys. In spite of his late entry, Euron might be the 3rd king still standing when the Others break through. It only takes the already shaky Lannister-Tyrell alliance to break apart, and these 3 leaders are the remaining powers on Westeros - Stannis in the north, Varys through his creation fAegon in the main of Westeros, and Euron in the island perimeter.

 

Going back through aFfC, its hard to see how this will play out. He gives a great speech to get the ironborn to vote him into kingship but then can't convince them to venture east. It does appear he just failed at the persuasive part and had to settle on getting Victarion to do the eastern journey for him. Although it is odd he can't see Victarion's main gripe with him. He seems more perceptive than that, so maybe he doesknow Vic'smotives and instead he's keeping tabs through the dusky women and knew all along he would need Vic to do this for him and figured he could manipulate Vic by claiming he wants Dany as a bride.

I think that's important because if you assume Euron really thought he could take the whole fleet east, you might be lead to believe he has no further plans. I am sure he has no plans to try and take Old Town, that's a huge gamble, a giant endeavour to fight the massive resources of Highgarden, and doesn't get him anything we know he wants.

He clearly has an interest in dragons and magical power. His path to leadership is through raw magical power. Stannis is about destiny and right to rule leadership, Varys is about perception games, and Euron is power. Therefore, the only place that makes sense for him to go is Dragonstone. We get odd reports as to what's happening there, and a feint at Tyrells could leave it open to him. Again, the thing that clearly motivates him is magic and dragons. He will use the other stuff and maybe even wants to be king, but its that kind of power that he gets emotional about. In a moody fit he throughs the dragon egg overboard. Its capturing the warlocks and finding about Dany that sends him back to Westeros.

 

I think there may be something to your theory that Moqorro mucks things up for Euron. It could be that is what sends him to Dragonstone to attempt what Melisandre foreshadowed - raise dragons out its stones.

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On 1/15/2016 at 11:36 PM, Theralion said:

1. "I am Dragonbinder ... No mortal man should sound me and live ... Blood for fire, fire for blood." The instructions are branded on the horn itself.

"Aeron had drowned and been reborn from the sea, the god's own prophet.  No mortal man could frighten him"  And who is the only person on Planetos who frightens Damphair?  Euron.  Only by casting the OneRing back into the fiery chasm from whence it came can Euron be destroyed.

The dragonhorn is what is known as a "macguffin."  It's presence propels the plot along.  No way those other two dragons are going to remain riderless and no way Dragonbinder (which is clearly magical) was inserted in the story to be ineffectual & have no payoff.  Put two and two together.

 

The Reach is OP overpowered and is about to get NERFED.

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