Lord Varys

Even Euron doesn't really fit the cliché of a truly 'evil character' yet. He certainly isn't just a brute like Ramsay or Gregor (who at least has the excuse that something is severely wrong with his head causing him a lot of pain), and he showed in AFfC that he can be open-handed and generous. Aeron's dreams portray Euron as evil demon, basically, but that doesn't mean that's actually true. I do expect Euron to become a force of destruction and suffering, just as he himself sort of portrays to intimidate people. If we imagine for a moment that he vanquishes all his enemies, take the Iron Throne, and ignore the Others then I actually could see Euron developing into some sort of successful king. He is smart and educated enough to realize that he can only survive as a monarch if he doesn't remain (or at least isn't perceived as) a tyrant. Euron certainly is too old to reinvent himself as 'the father of the country' like Augustus did after he has vanquished all his enemies and rivals, but if we assume magic would grant him a 30-40 year long reign then Euron actually could become as 'great' a king as Charlemagne. And it is past time that this magic thing really comes into politics and war. I've cited Euron and the warlocks as potential examples for magic actually affecting the story on a major level but a lot of people do not want to hear or imagine something like that. Perhaps it is because we have grown content with the idea of 'fake medieval realism with a little bit of magic' over the years but it was always pretty obvious that this magic thing must take a bigger role if George is repeatedly saying it will. Ser Robert Strong is another example. That guy could to a lot of stuff and kill a lot of people if we imagine he is sort of undestructable by conventional means. He seems to be even stronger than Gregor was if we take the armor Qyburn ordered as evidence, and unlike Gregor there is no reason to assume he'll ever grow tired. The scenario of him running amok and defeating a small army literally all by himself isn't all that far-fetched. I mean, if Cersei would dispatch him to bring her Mace's, Tarly's, and Margaery's head who could stop him? Or rather: How many of Mace's knights/men would continue to try to protect them once they realized that this guy cannot be killed. You do not try to fight a Terminator-like creature with a sword. But I digress. Back to the chapter: I really think we could simply interpret the shadow-woman as Aeron's view of that dreadful queen Euron is searching for. He has learned that Vic is off finding 'the dragon queen' by then and presumably Aeron assumes that person is a creature and vile, evil, and cruel as Euron himself. But he doesn't know who she is or how she looks so she's just a shadow. If not, then my money is still on Cersei. That would be such a nice alliance of doom. And Qyburn and Euron would be so eager to exchange notes...

@bent branch Whatever the timeline, this 'The Redwyne fleet creeps toward us. The winds have been against them rounding Dorne (...)' suggests that they are long past the Broken Arm. It would be difficult 'to round Dorne' if you were still somewhere amidst the Stepstones or even back in the Narrow Sea or the Sea of Dorne, wouldn't it?

Well, that is an odd notion - especially if you could just take it then and there. After all, if Euron paid for his brother's death he must have negotiated with the Faceless Men. And one most likely doesn't leave the House of Black and White if they don't want to allow you to go...

I've read that. But what use would the Faceless Men would have for a dragon egg? As Braavosi they are, presumably, not very interested in the dragons. Aside from ways to kill them that is. And Euron's entire grand plans would actually trigger their revolt and disgust. The Faceless Men destroyed Valyria and the Lands of the Long Summer - they would have no interest in a guy trying to conquer the world with dragons. And if the prosperity of Braavos is any indication they also have no interest in destroying their surroundings and the society they live in for no good reason. And the symbolism there is - at least a little bit far-fetched if you ask me. Sorry, but that is contradictory to anything the Kindly Man and the Waif have taught Arya so far. They see death as one face/aspect of pretty much every deity there is, so there is no need for them to enter into some sort of religious war or crusade. The whole god imagery is in this Aeron chapter simply because Aeron is a religious nut and thus thinking in such categories, and Euron likes to mess with his mind with his whole 'I'm god' talk. That's his way to get into the head of his stupid little convert brother. But there is no reason to believe Euron has actual plans to wage a war against the gods or something as ridiculous as that. He uses the 'holy men' for his ritual and presents this whole thing as if he was stronger than the gods combined to impress his superstitious people, but he himself doesn't believe all that crap. I think I once put forth the Faceless Man-Euron theory as I saw it: Euron captures the ship of the Qartheen warlocks. The Qartheen warlocks have talents. Euron captures other ships and/or has other prisoners aboard the Silence, and one of them happens to be a Faceless Man. The warlocks help him reveal him/her as what he/she truly is, and then Euron breaks him/her. Either by using the spells the warlocks can work or with the help of his own magic. If you want to speculate a little more this all could tie neatly into the whole Dany thing. If we assume that Braavos/the Faceless Men might consider the return of dragons/magic a threat then a Faceless Man could already have been on his way to Qarth back in ACoK/ASoS because the Faceless Men might have the magical means to uncover things quickly (not to mention the Braavosi traders all across the world). So he might actually have high-jacked a guy who was supposed to kill Dany originally. I'm not sure the time line allows Euron to capture the Qartheen warlocks on their way to Pentos, to go to Braavos to hire some Faceless Men and to reach Pyke in time for his rendezvous with Balon in ASoS (before the Red Wedding!). Not to mention that Euron also knows by the time of the Kingsmoot that Daenerys Targaryen didn't go to Pentos but rather to Meereen in Slaver's Bay. The idea that this news traveled this quickly to the Iron Islands of all places is very far-fetched. You can try to built some elaborate case about Euron being heavily interconnected with virtually everybody outside of Westeros but I really think such cases are built on salt. Just don't watch the show. That's doable. I honestly had forgotten about the crappy Ygritte hide-and-seek plot in season 2 until I remembered this stuff thanks to @Veltigar mentioning the show above. You really can get this stuff out of your system if you try.

I don't think Euron had the courage or the stamina to buy a Faceless Man. I think he broke himself one, just as he broke himself some warlocks. The man would have to pay a very high price to get his own brother killed, and I don't really buy the whole idea that the House of Black and White only collects money. But the Faceless Man thing is just an aspect of it. Varys and Illyrio have the means to remove obstacles to their plans, and assassins would only be one of them. Not to mention that the whole Aegon thing as well as the complications with Dany will actually force Euron the reassess his entire campaign. Which is why I hope he doesn't attack attack. Regardless what he does there it will most likely cost him people and then he might actually be done much earlier than one would have thought, victory over the Redwynes or not.

@Good Guy Garlan I don't think that was the last Aeron chapter. If he dies we'll there with him when it happens. If not, then he'll give us a decent part of the coming battle until he jumps/falls into the sea. And damn, I actually really like that guy now. I don't want him to die. He was such nuisance back in AFfC and during all those rereads when you couldn't make much sense out of the whole plot but now he really is fun.

The Elder Brother on the Quiet Isle is supposed to have healing hands. And he seems to have healed Sandor Clegane from wounds that clearly appeared to be lethal when Arya left him back in ASoS. Those books are subtle. In addition there is the historical anecdote of the healing hands of Septon Murmison, the last Hand of Aenys I. I don't buy that at all. They will do anything in their power to ensure that Aegon ascends the throne and remains there. And if Euron tries to mess with Aegon he'll feel their wrath, one way or another. Euron isn't the only guy who can hire a Faceless Man... Not sure I buy that as a hint that the battle has already happened. Paxter apparently has already come round Dorne and is approaching the Arbor so the idea there would be that this could be an allusion to what might happen, not something that already has happened. News about Euron's victory over the Redwyne fleet should spread quickly and and in very clear fashion. He would want it to spread, so there should be no curious rumors hinting at any of that.

Well, thinking about the shadow-woman again she could just be Aeron's mental representation of 'the dragon queen' Falia Flowers told him about. By this time Aeron knows that Euron is looking for some dragon queen wife and his mind have created an image of her. In such a scenario she wouldn't be symbolizing anything *real* at all. @Veltigar Ah, well, don't buy any of that horn stuff, I'm sorry. We'll have to wait and see how that turns out. As to dragon eggs: We have yet to see any other genuine dragon egg at this point. We don't know for sure where Dany's eggs came from but it seems not very likely that Illyrio just bought them so I'm not exactly inclined to buy that Euron captured some trader who happened to have a dragon egg on board. That would be pretty lucky and one should assume that ships and traders carrying such valuables wouldn't travel alone, making it even more unlikely that a man like Euron could capture such a ship. TWoIaF has hints that the Qohorik might be able to do more than just reforge Valyrian steel, though. Maester Pol's report suggest that they might actually be able or at least try to make Qohorik steel 'to equal to that of the Freehold'. That could be a hint that they actually do know how to make Valyrian steel, they just lack the dragons. As to brands: I did not consider that a great argument but unlike modern trading goods Valyrian steel never was something you could buy easily. If I was a member of the group in Valyria making this super special steel I'd name after me or my group, not the city. Especially if Valyria itself had little to do with the whole thing, and you couldn't actually purchase Valyrian steel from your average Valyrian (dragonlord). The horn and stuff wasn't buried in any snow at all. It only began to snow at/near the Fist when the wights came. Remember how pissed Chett was when the snow ruined his 'grand plan'? Besides, you also remember that the Fist is in the middle of the forest surrounded by trees and plants of all kind. We are talking about land here in which trees and other bigger plants, animals, and humans can still live (or at least exist). That necessitates that it is not frozen and full of snow all the time. So, no, there is a very small chance that this stuff lay there for thousands of years undisturbed. The whole thing might indeed be a hint that Benjen is (or at least was) still out there at this time.

Yeah, it's not very likely. People at court do know how Valyrian steel looks like.

Speaking about that - if Euron acquires a Valyrian steel sword in addition to his suit of armor (or already has one) then he is actually my number one candidate for a future dragonslayer - perhaps the only one in the entire series. That is, if the magic of the armor protects him from the dragonfire. My idea about that armor was that Robert put them there to get them out of sight just as he put the dragon skulls (and presumably other valuables in the Targaryen colors or depicting the Targaryen banner) away. The Dance and previously possibly Maegor's reign could have cut the Targaryens off from their past so there is a chance that Aegon III and his successor had no clue what they had in those armors. But then, wouldn't have Aegon II and Aemond worn armor like that if they had known it could protect them from dragonfire? In any case, thanks to your finding there I feel free to say that we should at least not take Aeron Greyjoy as expert on Valyrian steel armor or assume that his knowledge about that topic is complete. He concludes Euron must have been in Valyria after all after he sees him in that armor, but we, the readers, still tend to agree with the Reader on that topic, are we not?

@Veltigar Oh, come on, that horn isn't going to travel up to the Wall again. If things went that way and if the Others needed the Wall to come down via the horn before they could make their book move this could easily mean 2-3 books between TWoW and the final attack of the Others. After all, winter has come. Nobody near Oldtown right now should have any interest or incentive to travel north to the Wall. Nobody at all. And Euron least of all people. Do you actually believe that Euron crap about the dragon egg? I always thought and still think this is in the same category as the talk about him being to Valyria. There is no proof for that claim we know of, and thus I'm also very reluctant to consider any theories proposing Euron lied about throwing the dragon egg into the sea and instead doing other stuff with it. We have no proof he ever had a dragon egg. The only way I see him having a real dragon egg is if it turned out that the Greyjoys of all people ended up with a Targaryen bride. Egg's sisters might also have had dragon eggs and they could have passed them on to their children. But right now that would be pretty far-fetched. The best explanation for Euron's talk about dragon eggs is to keep in mind that he knows about Daenerys and her hatching dragons from three dragon eggs. Talking about dragon eggs makes sense in that context, as does claiming you once owned one if that's just crap. As to Valyrian steel: We have to keep in mind that the Qohorik still can reforge Valyrian steel. So it might have not been that big a secret just very difficult and expensive to do (involving dragons and lots of sacrifices). And one should assume that the steel wouldn't be named 'Valyrian steel' if it wasn't associated with Valyria in general but rather with a certain school/family/group from Valyria. Well, that black cloth with the horn wasn't deep in the ground nor was it winter at that time. Stuff grows and dies and rots beyond the Wall just as anywhere else. At least in summer. I must say I don't know who the Night's Queen is supposed to be. Assuming such a woman exists is pretty far-fetched with our current knowledge. But then, I still prefer my Cersei idea there. Often prophecies/visions are referring to actual people in the books. The counterexample I can think of right now would be the dwarfs and the woman. And if George wanted us to get a hint towards the Others he could have been more precise in a number of ways. Say, make some of the throngs on the Iron Throne out of ice, have Euron wear a crown of ice, or other winter/ice related symbolism. I think the sea of blood (when referring to Euron as in Moqorro's vision - the burning longships on a sea of blood might be Victarion's near Slaver's Bay after they faced a dragon's wrath) does refer to the victory over the Redwynes. After the battle is over the sea might either be literally (not so likely) or figuratively a sea of blood because thousands of people will have died. The fact that Euron is giving his ship special treatment in regards to prow-sacrifices should be considered, too. As I've said earlier my idea is that those people might serve as offerings to whatever creatures Euron is going to summon, not so much as actual fuel for the spell. The analogy I used was blood sacrifices serving as a protective spells similar to the blood at the doors that protected the Israelites from god's wrath in the Exodus story. Euron might allow whatever spirits/demon he is going to summon to feast on the life of the prow people on the condition that they spare the rest of the ship. As to how the Damphair might get away to preach another day: He is tied to the prow with leather straps. As I've said above, leather actually does not 'shrink' as the chapter claims when it gets wet (unless in English this can also mean 'widen' in that context). It widens. So Aeron should have a fighting chance to wriggle himself out of his bonds and jump into the sea after the leather has gotten wet enough. He is a better chance of surviving there than with Euron. @Colonel Green That would be my view, too. We know that she was stupid to trust Euron but from her POV the man had no reason to be nice to her and give her gifts and stuff, so it is easy to see why she thought he genuinely liked her or had at least no intention to hurt/kill her. She had no way of knowing who and what he was. She would also have known that Ironborn take salt wives, so she would have had any reason to think she was as 'safe' as one could be as a woman in the confines of that 'social construct'. @Ibbison from Ibben Well, that's interesting. I'd laugh if Robert had been too stupid to realize that he had a bunch of Valyrian steel armor in his stolen castle. But one should assume that other people would have figured out what those things were. On the other hand, if nobody had actually touched or investigated them since the Sack then, well, they might be Valyrian steel. But then the Targaryens most likely had long forgotten that they had stuff like that. Else they would have worn it in battle.

It has been too long for me, too. However, even if she was we don't know how justified she was in wanting to see them punished this way. Perhaps they have been really nasty to her? We didn't get her entire biography. And making a bastard daughter your official servant in the household suggests some twisted sort of family dynamics. That is not common among the noble houses we have seen so far.

She didn't take any revenge. She played along in Euron's game. You would have done the same in her position, I guess. Especially if you knew the choice was between playing along and enjoying some sort of triumph over your fucked-up family or being raped/forced to serve men naked, too. She might have been guilty of being naive, of not being able to see through Euron's facade, but the man can be nice, apparently. And one assumes she was as afraid as the other family members, too, in the beginning. She would only have ended up trusting Euron after he had convinced her that he meant her no harm. And that he did.

Come on, that woman was apparently treated like shit by her half-siblings and family.

I actually think Euron that was honestly just intending to broaden the senses of his brother there. I mean, shade of the evening seems to be a pretty good drug. And the first time he gave Aeron the stuff to drink it seemed to have been part of his usual game routine with him, too. They were supposed to drink together, after all, and it was back before they had even taken the Shield Islands. Back then Euron had not yet made plans how to defeat the Redwyne fleet because he would have been gone long before the Redwynes even had a chance to react to the whole Shield Islands conquest thing. And in general I really think the warlocks and the shade of the evening were the things that opened the necessary doors for Euron. He may have dreamed of flying as a child but those days were, presumably, long over. But we know from Dany how shade of the evening can affect you, it can trigger visions and perhaps unlock hidden memories and make yourself aware of any magical powers and talents you might possess. I think that's what has happened to Euron in the last years and months. He has been drinking this stuff constantly and so unlocked his own magical potential as well as knowledge he might have once been given by Bloodraven. We know that Bloodraven can bury memories (e.g. Bran's memory of Cersei and Jaime in the tower - not to mention that Bran has already seen what there is in the Heart of Winter and forgot/never thinks about that, too) so one assumes that Euron had no longer any good picture/memories what Bloodraven had done to or with him as a child until he began drinking shade of the evening. It might also be that drinking this stuff is helps you unleash your magical potential if you are working a grand spell of some sort. Euron really seems to be very full of that stuff when Aeron meets him again in the end. Addendum to the sacrifice stuff from above: Oh, and the Falia Flowers/unborn child sacrifice also extends to Aeron's own sacrifice. He is of Euron's blood, his own brother, so sacrificing him (if he ends up being sacrificed) will be a very powerful sacrifice, too. I wonder whether it might be this double sacrifice that Euron has prepared which is the key to Aeron's survival (assuming he doesn't die). Imagine the spirits/demons/monsters Euron is summoning begin to drink the life of Falia Flowers and the child first. Then Aeron might have a chance to free himself and escape into the sea. The guy has experience in surviving being drowned so really could survive this way. In addition, the transcript of the chapters seem to include an odd mistake in the end. Aeron is specifically bound 'tight with strips of leather that would shrink when wet', something that's actually weird because leather doesn't shrink but extends when it gets wet, so Aeron might be able wriggle out of his bonds when the leather straps have been wetted sufficiently by the seawater. In any case, somebody should point out that leather thing to George. I don't think he meant to say that leather in his world gets tighter when being wet (although that could be interesting, too).

@LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse I just don't buy the idea that some small horn supposedly hidden by some NW man not so long ago (you know, because else the black cloth would have been rotted away) is the big magical horn. Not to mention that it would be a rather boring story if it turned out that the Others needed Euron and Samwell for their grand plan, not to mention that, again, the idea that the horn blown down south is either not going to affect the Wall at all or has to affect the entire continent. And this would have to mean that a lot of castles and houses will come tumbling down aside from the Wall. And there is little chance that Euron will get his hands on Sam's horn (or care about that if he did) before he faces the Redwyne fleet. If Theon is ever going to rule the Iron Islands then the Ironborn will be as castrated as he is. They are very unlikely to take a mutilated eunuch as their king of their own free will, so we would have to imagine they would have to be as broken as he is to accept somebody like him. But I actually consider it more likely that Asha was the last hope of the Ironborn. Peace was the only way to save their lives. But they choose Euron as his travesty of the old way. Now they are going to pay. This time dragonfire might cleanse the Iron Islands for good. And, of course, there won't be a Kingsmoot again. Not many Ironborn will ever return to their rocks after they decided to leave with Euron. Euron is only seen through Aeron's perspective here. The man still might have some redeeming qualities. After all, there are people he doesn't torture, and presumably he also likes his bastard sons (at least a bit) and so on. @Fire Eater The woman is just a shadow in woman's shape in the actual wording of the chapter. That makes it more likely that this is just some sort of allusion to some concept or principle rather than an actual person. One should assume that any direct allusion to the Others would be less subtle at this time in the series. If George was teaming up Euron and the Others or drop direct hints that this is going to happen he could have made the shadow-woman a living corpse queen with blue eyes or an ice queen or something of that sort. Instead the whole thing is directly tied to the Iron Throne and the rule over the mundane world, reflecting Aeron's fear more than anything. Euron is not going to actually defeat and kill various gods (the actual chapter also had the Great Shepherd and the Black Goat impaled on the throne - it is not very likely that Euron will ever be able to really threaten those gods or the people who worship them) but Aeron has become afraid of stuff like that because of Euron's apparent 'demonic nature'. And it could be, of course, also foreshadow what Euron is going to do to Aeron and the other holy men he has collected. @The Scabbard Of the Morning Yeah, Aeron really comes off as more sympathetic and likable in that chapter. I mean, I really didn't like that guy all that much but he comes off a lot better than one would have thought he would. But I think it is a little bit late that he discovered his love for Asha and part of that clearly is the result of his fucked-up Kingsmoot. Back then he clearly did not want Asha to succeed to the Seastone Chair, and his Victarion idea was always more than a little bit stupid. And him liking Asha most of Balon's children - small wonder, she is the one he knew the longest. The elder sons are long dead and Theon spent half his life in Winterfell. Nope. That was a direct and in-chapter reference to the death and subsequent resurrection of the Drowned God. He drowned and then came back with steel and fire. No mystery there. By the way, we first get some sort of description of the Drowned God in that chapter. Or rather how Aeron pictures him in his mind. There seems to be no official Drowned God imagery on the Iron Islands so no surprise that the guy didn't look like a Deep One (or Cthulhu himself). The final image of Euron on the Iron Throne and the shadow-woman had strong allusions to Cthulhu, though. One wonders whether it won't be a storm but indeed a grand kraken who deals with the Redwyne fleet? We know they supposedly exist, and there is talk that blood draws them to the surface of the sea. Could of course be both. Yeah, the shade of the evening stuff is part of the ritual/spell Euron is intending to use. However, I don't buy into the specialty of 'king's blood'. That's just nonsense. There is no difference whatsoever between a guy wearing a crown and a guy wearing a hat. George used a common concept from the real world middle ages (that king's are of a special blood line, and rule by the divine right of kings, etc.) but his kings are either completely normal people (like, say, Mance Rayder), not much different from their noble peers (the Starks or Greyjoys) or they have a special 'magical bloodline' due to some ancient sorcery stuff (the First Men in general due to a possible mingling with the Children of the Forest, the Targaryens due to their dragonlord ancestry, the Durrandon/Baratheons due to an alleged union between gods and men, etc.). Thus the sacrifice of Falia Flowers and her unborn child won't be special because she has 'king's blood' in her womb but rather because Euron sacrifices something that is (or should be) dear to him: his own unborn child as well as a woman he loved (and who knows, perhaps he actually liked her - that would make the sacrifice much more powerful indeed). We know that true sacrifices involve sacrificing people and things you actually love. That is the core message of the story of Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa. And we have seen a variation of that in the healing of Drogo - Rhaego had to go to bring Drogo back. And Dany had to lose literally everything to get her dragons. This is why Stannis most certainly will make the decision to burn Shireen himself, if Shireen is going to burn in the books. Because that's what's makes the whole thing a true and powerful sacrifice. A father killing his only child. And I'm pretty sure we are going to see a lot of this kind of sacrifice in the camp of the good guys, too. If there are any good guys left when winter has finally come for real.

Who said anything about the Breaking having anything to do with the Horn of Winter. And even if it did (for some strange reason) there is also talk about blood sacrifice engulfing the entire continent in an earthquake. If blowing the horn is going to have such an effect without all those spells and blood sacrifices then we can not only kiss the Wall goodbye but also all the castles in Westeros - because none of them is going to withstand a serious earthquake. That would only make sense if only that horn would be able to wake the giants in the earth - and there is no reason to believe that. Besides, we do know that this horn is also called 'the Horn of Joramun' and that guy was the first King-beyond-the-Wall which strongly suggests he lived and died in the lands beyond the Wall. Which means the Others could have found said horn a long time ago, possibly in Joramun's very own grave. After all, we know from Ygritte that Mance was looking for it, too. Suggesting that the free folk for some reason also believed that horn was near their home turf, not down south near or on the Isle of Faces. If you ask me, then this whole hornblowing stuff in Aeron's dreams of Euron are just reflections of echoes of him witnessing the blowing of Dragonbinder on Old Wyk. They are not prophetic visions foretelling that Euron is going to play some other special horns. By the way - we get way too much hornblowing stuff in that series and far too little payoff for all of that. Dragonbinder still has to do something meaningful, and the Horn of Joramun still has to be found. Hell, I don't even recall whether Tormund has ever blown a horn on screen.

@Veltigar Not sure the Honeywine is deed enough to be navigable up to its headwaters. But in any case - to try to do that the Ironborn would first have to take and hold Oldtown. The rivers flow across the city, after all. As to any Horn of Winter stuff: Come on, the idea that a horn blown down in the South will have any effect up at the Wall is just nonsense. We know from TWoIaF that the Horn of Joramun is causing an earthquake, presumably in the region in which its magical sound is actually heard. That means the Horn of Winter will have to be blown near the Wall and presumably by some guy who wants to bring down the Wall. It could turn out to be the Weeper or one of the Others. After all, they might have secured that horn long ago for their own ends. My idea about Valyrian steel is that you need about ten blood sacrifices for a dagger and a hundred normals sword and, say, five hundred for a great sword like Ice. If that's the case then slaves might still be cheap but it might be both insane and very risky to kill hundreds and thousands of people for this kind of thing if you no longer have powerful sorceries and hundreds or thousands of dragons at your disposal. I see no reason for the assumption that there might be an alliance between the Faceless Men and Euron. In fact, if Euron can break warlocks he might even have been able to acquire his own pet Faceless Man - the guy who killed Balon (and who might actually be the Dusky Woman). I know, Faceless Men should be very tough but Euron could have used magic. And we don't yet know what you can do to a mind with magic in this world. I'm actually more inclined to believe that Pate-Jaqen will stick around because he'll be interested in Sam's story. My personal guess is that Jaqen either works for Varys/Illyrio (Varys had the best opportunity to plant or put a Faceless Man in the dungeons of the Red Keep) or is on a solo mission for the House of Black and White itself. If the latter is the case this could tie back into Arya's own Faceless Girl story - which might eventually lead to her first real assignment - assassinating Daenerys Targaryen. I really don't see any links between Euron, the Others, and the FM. The Others are very alien, Euron is just a cruel and ambitious mortal guy (with interesting delusions of grandeur), and the Faceless Men are an assassin cult who worships death. I think the news about the defeat of the Redwyne fleet (especially if Euron allows some ships to escape to spread the tale) will be able to drive the people in the Reach to a frenzy. As you say - Euron is different. He might want to inform everybody how different he is so that he can conquer without having to fight. Just look how he conquered his Ironborn. The man knows when the smile, when the threaten, when to kill, and when to flatter. In the light of such a victory there is little chance that Euron would be considered no vital threat to Oldtown itself. If he can sink/defeat 200+ huge war galleys without suffering major losses himself (presumably) then (or so people might think) stone walls might be no match for him, either. Hence the idea that the Hightowers might be severely pushed to bend the knee or offer some sort of peace deal. Remember, the Hightowers are not known for the martial prowess or their stiff knees. They have always been opportunists (save when they tried to take over the Realm but even then they used smiles and marriages, not force). Well, after his victory over the Redwynes Euron would make the decisions, not the Ironborn. If he pulls such a thing off they will worship him as their living god or, well, die. And they will only attack Oldtown if Euron wants to attack the city. Could be he wants to do that, but it is just as likely that he'll just sack the Arbor (which he hasn't done yet!) and then be off to make preparations to take the Iron Throne. If Cersei were to join him around that time - say, because he has decided to contact her via raven and Qyburn in the wake of Pycelle's death - they could begin some interesting scheme to take KL (back). Not to mention that Euron might decide to target Sunspear and Dorne pretty quickly after he has sacked the Arbor - which most likely will be next target after the Redwyne fleet is crushed. By this time Euron should have news about Aegon and be (considerably) irritated about that. Not to mention that whatever news he gets about Daenerys might be less than promising.

This is why I've speculated above that he might survive. Or not. If George intends to kill him in the battle then the question might have been whether to put the battle partially (until Aeron died in his next chapter) in there or not. And they might have decided to not do that if we get the other half of the battle and its conclusion from complementary (and back then unwritten) Samwell chapters. A lot of this shuffling around stuff seems to be connected to mundane matters like the size of the book and stuff. But the book wouldn't have physically exploded if they had added another 100-200 pages. And you can always use thinner paper and stuff. Actually, it seems young Euron felt guilty for a short while after murdering Harlon. But when he challenged the god(s) to smite him down and (surprisingly) he quite correctly concluded that the gods either don't exist or do not care. @Rhaenys_Targaryen & other timeline-obsessed people: I think we got some sort of hint towards the age of the Greyjoy brothers in the chapter because Euron mentions that he was usually drunk when he came visiting Aeron and Urrigon. That most likely suggests that Euron was at least in his mid-teens by that time, perhaps even near his twentieth nameday, putting more than a bunch of years between him and his younger brothers.

From what we have heard and what I still remember there was talk about the editors suggesting pushing stuff in the next book. I think Anne Groell was responsible (or partly responsible) for the scrapping of the Arianne chapters and in general for suggesting to move the battles to the next book. If stuff is reshuffled again one should consider moving the AFfC stuff back into ASoS where it belongs chronologically (early Ironborn and Dorne chapters) and subsequently perhaps pulling the battle chapters from TWoW into a combined AFfC/ADwD (which already exists in various versions). But I'm actually pretty fine with a lot of the endings there - perhaps the battle of Meereen could fit nicely into ADwD. But the Pink Letter works better as a concept if we don't know yet what has happened to Stannis (or that the Karstark betrayal has been revealed).

One really wonders who advised George on this whole stuff. I mean, ADwD had no Euron in it. Nada. And very people tried to keep up the belief that this guy was dangerous and mattered despite the fact that Moqorro's vision very much indicated it. If there were connected Samwell chapters planned/unwritten at the time of publication then it makes sense why the battle was left out of ADwD but at least Aeron 1 would have been a nice and fitting addition to ADwD. It didn't begin a new story it continued the story of Aeron and Euron as it was begun in AFfC

Has Aeron any chance to survive the whole thing? The chances are very bad indeed, but then - he is tied to the prow of a ship so if, for whatever reason, said prow shut break of the ship and he ends up falling into the sea the right way he has a fighting (or rather: swimming) chance. And if he is washed ashore he could even end up assisting the Hightowers in their fight against Euron, or something of that sort. There is even a chance that he might convert again, this time to the Seven ;-).

That is the time line question. But again - Aeron having visions/dreams of Euron on the Iron Throne isn't the same as Euron actually sitting the Iron Throne. Not to mention that the Iron Throne isn't the kingdom. I can see Euron taking KL and the Iron Throne from Aegon but not catching Aegon there. The man just wants to be king. But he has not yet succeeded. He always was a big player. The difference is that now we all see that he is big business, not some charlatan. However, that doesn't he is going to win. Magic is fine and good but Euron will have to cross blades with Varys and Illyrio to defeat Aegon. That's not going to be easy.

Dany is safe. She is the Slayer of Lies. We'll see her making eunuchs out of Stannis, Aegon, and Euron, all.

George has told us that he has written versions of Meereen chapters in which Marwyn was already there. Unless he completely changed his plans Marwyn is going to get to Meereen.