Any fans of the Ironborn?

[UFT]

i know the show kinda screwed them up but they used to rule the friggin riverlands. and before the andals and targaryens showed up, were basically king of the seas. 

i think theyre total badasses, the fantasy version of vikings

 

 

 

 

[aryagonnakill#2]

I actually find them more honest then a lot of other regions, save perhaps Dorne.  The mainlanders all pretend to have honor with their knighthoods and stuff, but GRRM has shown us how worthless those titles are, as well as how fake their honor is.  The Ironborn are less pretentious, they simply don't deny what they are.

As a fan of democracy I also have to have some respect for the Kingsmoot, it is kind of like Athenian democracy, where every land owner had a vote, in this case it's every ship captain.

In those respects, I like them.

[kissdbyfire]

23 minutes ago, aryagonnakill#2 said:

I actually find them more honest then a lot of other regions, save perhaps Dorne.  The mainlanders all pretend to have honor with their knighthoods and stuff, but GRRM has shown us how worthless those titles are, as well as how fake their honor is.  The Ironborn are less pretentious, they simply don't deny what they are.

As a fan of democracy I also have to have some respect for the Kingsmoot, it is kind of like Athenian democracy, where every land owner had a vote, in this case it's every ship captain.

In those respects, I like them.

I don't like them mostly because I find their whole pillaging, raping, murdering culture horrible. That said, you make some very valid points. 

[Ser Tristan Flowers]

They´re kind of cool and badass, I guess. If you were living in that world, though, you´d be hating their guts. In the end they´re just like everyone else, just people, only that their culture is different. In many ways for the worse.

I do love Asha though and I do love the Ironborn plot, their complexity fascinates me, and Euron is the best villain in the story, imho.

But I can´t really be a fan of someone that relies on pillaging for a living.

[Jon Fossoway]

I'd like to know more of their inland common life. There has been actually few on-the-spot chapters based on an Iron Island town, for example, whilst we get plenty of 'em following Brienne around. All we know about the ironborn are what the records tells us, some loose trip of Theon in the Lordsport and not much else. 

We usually see them as brute and pointless. IMO, their nobility is brute and a little useless. My point is that a strong reason for this ironborn hate sentiment is that we don't see much of their everyday life. Most ironborn we know are sailors, highborn captains, marauders or highborn marauders. 

Having said this, I think we've been pretty unfair with the islanders. Hope we get some short story or something, set in one of them islands. Wishful thinking but oh well.

[Brannis the Mannis]

No. If someone burnt the Iron Islands to the ground people everywhere would rejoice. 

[The Bard of Banefort]

When it comes to the Iron Islands, I'm the weirdo who thinks that they're essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy that the Iron Throne could have prevented had they ever actually tried. The Iron Islands' isolation does feed into the Old Way, which is the greatest contributor to their problems, but they're also pretty heavily alienated as well. Most of the time, they're not even really considered one of the seven kingdoms: despite predating Dorne by a century and a half and staying largely loyal during this time (if I remember correctly, only Dalton, and later on Dagon, ever rebelled against the throne, and neither of them tried to crown themselves as Balon did) Dorne is typically listed as one of the seven kingdoms in its place. We see this with the chalice that Joffrey receives in ASOS, and there's a noticeable absence of the Ironborn in the Targaryen's history as well. Assuming Rhaegar and Lyanna eloped, the Iron Islands is the only kingdom never to have been married or betrothed into the royal family, as well as the only ones never to serve on  on a Small Council or kingsguard. The closest we have is the Red Kraken reaving the coast under Rhaenyra's orders.

Essentially, the Iron Throne didn't give the Iron Islands any reason to want to remain loyal to them and their decrees. Their smallfolk break their backs to put food on the table, and their lords are disregarded. As we see multiple times in ASOIAF, the surest way to earn the people's loyalty is by having them love and admire you, and here we have an entire kingdom of people of who have no reason to love or admire their monarch. Them wanting to proclaim their own king actually makes sense when you consider how it's the only way their lives and well-being are prioritized. Now, that doesn't excuse or justify the unsavory aspects of reaving and raiding, but it at least exhibits one of the reasons why the establishment of the New Way has been an uphill battle for generations. 

Of course, these are all just my opinions, and I know they aren't popular ones either. But to answer the OP, yes, I do like the Ironborn. There are a lot of aspects of their culture that I find uncomfortable and frightening, and I hope they fully embrace the New Way by the end of the series, but they are a fascinating group of people, and I love reading about them.

[PrinceHenryris]

I kind of like Asha and Victarrion.

The rest not so much.

[TMIFairy]

I think that - even by low Westerosi standards - the Ironborn are worse scum than average.

Their "Old Way" - intertwined with their religion -  is glorification of criminal activity.

So they are totally badass in a mafia/gangster type of way - if that makes the OP tick <shrugs>

Brannis the Mannis - I share your view

 

[PrinceHenryris]

Oh! I forgot Rodrik Harlaw.

[Aegon VII]

6 hours ago, UFT said:

i know the show kinda screwed them up but they used to rule the friggin riverlands. and before the andals and targaryens showed up, were basically king of the seas. 

i think theyre total badasses, the fantasy version of vikings

 

 

 

 

They may be my favorite house. The hardest environments breed the hardest people. I also think the iron born may be the most genuine people, followed by the rest of the north. There's no bullshit, no silver tongues or Joeffrey type people, pretending to be what they're not. Theon is an example and that's why he gets called out so easily and does not fit in with the ironborn. It's also why asha, despite being a woman, is widely respected as the badass she is. There's many ways a person or house can choose to gain wealth. The ironborn are one of the few houses that has taken one strategy 100% and pretty much ignored the others. They don't farm, they don't trade(much), instead they reave. Their startegy is conquest, and as society evolves there is less and less opportunity for it. They're one of the few houses that benefits from the realm being in conflict. They are the epitome of the old world, which means there is no place for them in the new world to come. Their days are numbers, so personally I hope they  take advantage of the current situation in the realm as much as possible. It may be their last hoorah.

[Dorian Martell's son]

8 hours ago, UFT said:

i know the show kinda screwed them up but they used to rule the friggin riverlands. and before the andals and targaryens showed up, were basically king of the seas. 

Individually, all badass, but they have a feral quality that prevents them from doing anything meaningful sans a powerful leader. 

[Regular John Umber]

 I don't see any difference between the Ironborn and any other part of Westeros or even Planetos. Every other group of people in Westeros came there through some sort of conquest. The Ironborn just chose the wrong side against the dragons. They're currently (~last few hundred years) quite belligerent because of their hurt pride at that point. If Harren had submitted, they'd still have a foothold in the Riverlands and wouldn't be reavers or yearning for the 'old way'.

 They want to return to 'the old way' because the old way was prosperous. Sounds like every other group of people to me. The King in the North, Dany, Aegon being other examples.