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What will be the fate of the Ironborn?


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They're pretty good at alienating themselves from everyone else in Westeros, especially since Euron became king. Plus the Others are on the move, dragons are returning, it's looking a lot like the Ironborn have bitten off way more than they can chew. The Iron Fleet is away to the east, Euron has to face the Hightower and the Redwyne fleets, and there has been a foreshadowed movement to cancel the kingsmoot which made him king in the first place.

So what do we reckon will end up happening to these people and their islands? Will they be the last survivors of the Others' conquest? Will they be wiped out once and for all? Or will they just keep on going as they've always done?

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I'm not sure but I always felt like Euron's mistake was not going to Meereen to meet Daenerys himself with most of his ships and army then proposing marriage and a alliance to Daenerys. He could kill off her Ghiscari husband and Daario long before his arrives. If Dany fancies Daario so much then I feel like she'd jump at the opportunity to marry Euron since he is like a Daario 2.0 with a huge navy and an army. Then from there they could plan their invasion of Westeros on the Iron Islands while Euron charms Dany about his travels through Valyria. If that fails then he has the Dragon Horn.

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My first guess was they survive and start a more peaceful lifestyle come spring under king Theon - but the thought that the islands and culture might be destroyed did cross my mind. Could be a pretty epic story. They definitely won't carry on unchanged.

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49 minutes ago, Ralphis Baratheon said:

I'm not sure but I always felt like Euron's mistake was not going to Meereen to meet Daenerys himself with most of his ships and army then proposing marriage and a alliance to Daenerys. He could kill off her Ghiscari husband and Daario long before his arrives. If Dany fancies Daario so much then I feel like she'd jump at the opportunity to marry Euron since he is like a Daario 2.0 with a huge navy and an army. Then from there they could plan their invasion of Westeros on the Iron Islands while Euron charms Dany about his travels through Valyria. If that fails then he has the Dragon Horn.

Had Euron gone himself to Slaver's Bay, he would have lost the ironborn and they are as important (or even more) in Eurons's plans as dragons. This was his problem after taken the shields, because as the Reader pointed out, the ironborn longships are unable to make such a trip. Only the Iron Fleet is barely capable. Euron could have ordered the Iron Fleet and few others to come with him, but who is left to command the ironborn? And regardless the travel may have a high reward (dragons) but also high risks. There is for example no guarantee that the famous horn works as advertised.

My take is that after being confronted by the Reader and the ironborn basically agreeing with him (and Euron himself finding the reasoning quite sound), he went out with Falia, took some cups of that vile blue wine and had some extra visions, and saw a way to achieve similar goals. And for that he needs the ironborn and Victarion out of the way.

If Victarion succeeds, all the better, if not  Euron gets rid of a dangerous rival (win-win). Euron of course planted some assurances to make sure that any betrayal Victarion is planning goes awry (dusky woman, spies, etc). But, he didn't see Moqorro

Now, given how Euron is guiding to ironborn, their fate doesn't look too bright. The Iron Islands will likely be a female based society after the conflict.

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28 minutes ago, rotting sea cow said:

Had Euron gone himself to Slaver's Bay, he would have lost the ironborn and they are as important (or even more) in Eurons's plans as dragons. This was his problem after taken the shields, because as the Reader pointed out, the ironborn longships are unable to make such a trip. Only the Iron Fleet is barely capable. Euron could have ordered the Iron Fleet and few others to come with him, but who is left to command the ironborn? And regardless the travel may have a high reward (dragons) but also high risks. There is for example no guarantee that the famous horn works as advertised.

My take is that after being confronted by the Reader and the ironborn basically agreeing with him (and Euron himself finding the reasoning quite sound), he went out with Falia, took some cups of that vile blue wine and had some extra visions, and saw a way to achieve similar goals. And for that he needs the ironborn and Victarion out of the way.

If Victarion succeeds, all the better, if not  Euron gets rid of a dangerous rival (win-win). Euron of course planted some assurances to make sure that any betrayal Victarion is planning goes awry (dusky woman, spies, etc). But, he didn't see Moqorro

Now, given how Euron is guiding to ironborn, their fate doesn't look too bright. The Iron Islands will likely be a female based society after the conflict.

Perhaps Aegon's and The Golden Company's campaign in the Stormlands will make things easier for Euron in the Reach and he can achieve what he's after there. Then I sure hope he figures out a way to handle Victarion, Euron is a much more interesting character then Victarion is in my opinion. I know he's a terrible person and all but he has a lot of charisma and dreams big. His speech at the Kingsmoot gave me goosebumps. It's my favorite part of the book series and I'm wasn't even a big Iron Born fan.

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4 hours ago, Floki of the Ironborn said:

They're pretty good at alienating themselves from everyone else in Westeros, especially since Euron became king. Plus the Others are on the move, dragons are returning, it's looking a lot like the Ironborn have bitten off way more than they can chew. The Iron Fleet is away to the east, Euron has to face the Hightower and the Redwyne fleets, and there has been a foreshadowed movement to cancel the kingsmoot which made him king in the first place.

So what do we reckon will end up happening to these people and their islands? Will they be the last survivors of the Others' conquest? Will they be wiped out once and for all? Or will they just keep on going as they've always done?

Im thinking Asha Greyjoy will survive to lead and reform the Iron Islands into a less warlike people.

 

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The hardliners will probably lose and we might get some more reform-minded peple in charge. Still, I wouldn´t count on those reforms to stick. Like usual, the Ironborn seems doomed to switch between new and old way depending on when the new way fixed the economical issues the old way couldn´t do, but was too impopular and seen as a sell-out of traditional, ironborn culture. 

So, they will keep on going as they've always done, swinging back and forth between the two conflicting ways. 

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4 hours ago, Ralphis Baratheon said:

Perhaps Aegon's and The Golden Company's campaign in the Stormlands will make things easier for Euron in the Reach and he can achieve what he's after there.

Well, it is actually the other way around. Euron's campaign in the Reach is making things easier for Aegon. The Tyrells and the Iron Throne do not consider Aegon an existential threat, whilst Euron has already made the life difficult for the people in the Reach.

4 hours ago, Ralphis Baratheon said:

Then I sure hope he figures out a way to handle Victarion,

He already did that by sending Victarion to Meeren.

4 hours ago, Ralphis Baratheon said:

Euron is a much more interesting character then Victarion is in my opinion. I know he's a terrible person and all but he has a lot of charisma and dreams big. His speech at the Kingsmoot gave me goosebumps. It's my favorite part of the book series and I'm wasn't even a big Iron Born fan.

Of course Euron is interesting. Terrifying interesting.

“Who knows more of gods than I?  Horse gods and fire gods, golds made of gold with gemstone eyes, gods carved of cedar wood, gods chiseled into mountains, gods of empty air…I know them all.  I have seen their peoples garland them with flowers and shed blood of goats and bulls and children in their names.  And I have heard the prayers in half a hundred tongues.  Cure my withered leg, make the maiden love me, grant me a healthy son.  Save me, succor me, make me wealthy…protect me!  Protect me from mine enemies, protect me from the darkness, protect me from the crabs inside my belly, from the horselords, from the slavers, from the sellswords at my door.  Protect me from the Silence.”  He laughed.  “Godless?  Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail!  You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand.  From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray.”

 

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I'm pretty sure Euron's plan to send Victarion to Meereen is a lot more complex then we know. This guy is super savvy, I doubt he expects Vic to simply "go get him dragons" and I doubt it was plan to get him out of the way. CrowsEye has a strange psychopathic mysticism going for him. I have no idea what his plans are with Vic but I think Euron is the most dangerous man in the Seven Kingdoms.

And as far as a reformed Iron Islands, I don't buy it. The "Old Way" exist because they live on tiny, shitty rocks. They raid because their land can't support them. Plus you know, "what is dead may never die."  

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I think Euron and Victarion will both die. Either killing each other or in some mad scheme of Euron's.

I think either Asha or the Reader will lead the remaining Ironborn into some sort of reform and assimilation. It seems like George fashioned the Ironborn to the Danes and Norse warriors, so it's not too big of a leap to assume that they might convert and assimilate into Westerosi society. 

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Provided the Others don't get them the fate of the Ironborn should depend much on how the rest of Westeros fares. If the Long Night 2.0 ends with a strong and unified Westeros, then the Ironmen will probably continue to be marginalized as they've already refused Asha's reform agenda in favor of Euron's conquests. But if Westeros takes a real hit and a unified realm crumbles, it might be a new golden age of reaving for the Ironmen.

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10 hours ago, Floki of the Ironborn said:

They're pretty good at alienating themselves from everyone else in Westeros, especially since Euron became king. Plus the Others are on the move, dragons are returning, it's looking a lot like the Ironborn have bitten off way more than they can chew. The Iron Fleet is away to the east, Euron has to face the Hightower and the Redwyne fleets, and there has been a foreshadowed movement to cancel the kingsmoot which made him king in the first place.

So what do we reckon will end up happening to these people and their islands? Will they be the last survivors of the Others' conquest? Will they be wiped out once and for all? Or will they just keep on going as they've always done?

Remember Black Harren Hoare?  Perhaps Euron will play the same role but with a twist.  Instead of building a great castle he'll build a giant armada that he thinks will be invincible.  He will conquer and enslave a big portion of Westeros just like Harren did but go beyond that and style himself a god.  

The immediate fate for the Ironborn is civil war.  One side will follow Euron thinking he will bring back the old ways of piracy and reaving.  The other side will support Asha.  Victarion is a wild card but I can see him finally seeing the light and supporting Dany's return.

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Hopefully scoured to hell and back. Cersei was right, Robert should have wrecked them more thoroughly. Every Greyjoy adult should have been killed. That house should have gone extinct, and every single house that takes part in reaving.. which would be about 95% of them. That whole region won't ever prosper until you burn everything down and start fresh.

Should Asha become queen after Euron gets them all destroyed, things may get a little better for them. At least for a bit. And assuming Victarion helps Dany in some way by lending her his ships, I'm sure she'll let some semblance of Ironborn culture survive. They'll probably continue doing exactly what they've been doing for a thousand years.

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14 minutes ago, Renly's Banana said:

Hopefully scoured to hell and back. Cersei was right, Robert should have wrecked them more thoroughly. Every Greyjoy adult should have been killed. That house should have gone extinct, and every single house that takes part in reaving.. which would be about 95% of them. That whole region won't ever prosper until you burn everything down and start fresh.

Should Asha become queen after Euron gets them all destroyed, things may get a little better for them. At least for a bit. And assuming Victarion helps Dany in some way by lending her his ships, I'm sure she'll let some semblance of Ironborn culture survive. They'll probably continue doing exactly what they've been doing for a thousand years.

May have been the one and only thing she was correct on.

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8 hours ago, Coolbeard the Exile said:

Im thinking Asha Greyjoy will survive to lead and reform the Iron Islands into a less warlike people.

 

Same here. And I have this almost-head-canon of her marrying Willas Tyrell. A major power-marriage like that with a "greenlander" could lend serious support to her efforts at influencing the Ironborn to adopt a more pacifistic approach. They could develop some industry, and become a major source of seafood products.

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43 minutes ago, Lady Blizzardborn said:

Same here. And I have this almost-head-canon of her marrying Willas Tyrell. A major power-marriage like that with a "greenlander" could lend serious support to her efforts at influencing the Ironborn to adopt a more pacifistic approach. They could develop some industry, and become a major source of seafood products.

That's a cute idea, but Mace would never go for it :c
No way is he marrying the heir of Highgarden to a Greyjoy. Especially after all the hell that the Ironborn are about to put the Reach through; people would not look kindly on that match. I also don't think Asha would be too happy with that marriage. She'd do better to marry Tris Botley or some other Ironborn. 

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Victarion's party will go with Daenerys. Euron's party will be against Westeros and Daenerys. There will be some sort of civil war between the two parties when Daenerys reaches Westeros and they will both suffer great loses. The remnants of the Ironborn will be isolated again and try to recover.

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