Balon Greyjoy is an idiot.

[falcotron]

Balon Greyjoy's plan:
 
1.  Raid the Stony Shore
2.  Take a few minor holdings and Moat Cailin
3.  ????
4. King of the Isles and the North!

This is what I meant by "delusional".

I think in his head, the reason his plan will succeed is simple: Harwyn Hoare, a borderline-green-lander who spent his life as a sellsword in Essos instead of as a pirate, managed to conquer one of the kingdoms without a huge army. Therefore, a true Ironborn who follows the Old Ways and knows how to pay the Iron Price like a true Ironborn because he's hard and strong like a real true Ironborn can't possibly lose. So there's no reason to waste time thinking about whether he actually has a workable strategy for winning (or how he'd hold the North if he managed to win it); whatever strategy he has must be workable, because he's going to win.

[Bobby b's bobby]

Teaming up with the lannisters ah? well that could be useful too. Lets not forget, Honorable Ned Stark in AGOT was going to force Balon to fight for him. He told his men to keep Theon close. Whenever i hear people complain about the Ironborn attacking Robb, all i can think about is, "well when the Iron islands wanted independence, the North helped put their rebellion down".  So did the Lannisters, and the Tullys, and the Ayrrns and the Tyrells. I'd just set shit on fire and watch it burn. 

Dodge the fight and burn stuff is probably the most iron price thing to do.

[Probably Edd]

A gradual invasion, if the north looks to be vulnerable for a good length of time, is probably a smarter idea in general. But both sides have their points. The "correct" smart idea, long-term, is to gain fertile and/or rich land, thus probably to have allied with the north against the west, or to have allied with the west against the riverlands. Thus Balon would have to set aside his past grievances, and that evidently was impossible.

[Damp Hair - The Prophet]

The true Ironborn thing to do would be take Bran, Rickon, the Reed kids & the Frey kids (that's a lot of good hostages!) and all the loot you could carry, burn Winterfell and hightail it back to the coast and Pyke.  The real-life Vikings did such and, hate all you what, were VERY VERY effective with this method.  Crippling the Northern capitol is better than holding it for the Greyjoys.  Keep your land gains on the coast.  None can oppose the Ironborn near saltwater.

 

Theon lingered because he had a sentimental weakness for Winterfell stemming from his identity crisis. His affection for the place and the Starks was his actual undoing.

 

Balon isn't an idiot but his bitterness was more powerful than his intelligence and thus was his undoing.

[VeryLittleGravitasIndeed]

 
Balon isn't an idiot but his bitterness was more powerful than his intelligence and thus was his undoing.

Erm... yes he is. He's the guy who rebelled against the united Seven Kingdoms when Robert had personal ties with everyone except the Reach and Dorne.

Besides Asha and maybe Euron all the Greyjoys are unspeakably stupid.

[The Stranger.]

What's the point of holding the north if the northerners want you out of it? Even if you proclaim yourself king in the north by rights of conquest, you'd still have to hold every northern lord by the balls. Balon knew that's impossible. He wanted to win every castle and THEN capture WF. There's no point in capturing castles and living under siege the rest of your life. Balon was smart, smarter than Theon I guess.

[Rider on the Storm]

Balon was smart, smarter than Theon I guess.

Well, anyone is smarter than Theon.

[Caspoi]

The news of the day...

 

I am however not of the opinion that Balon was stupid for not trying to hold Winterfell, it is too far from the seas and therefore the supply line, he was stupid for thinking that his plan would work in the first place.

[Frey Pie]

Ok so im reading the last chapter of Theon in a clash of kings. What pisses me off is he told Theon he wanted the North. THEON TAKES WINTERFELL. He said he wanted winterfell but then says withdraw. he could have sent 500 men and kept winterfell. Then it would have been over. If Rodrik attacked WInterfell when he had 500 men, that 2,000 men would die easily. How dumb is Balon?
 
Also Rodrik and all northerners, SHUT UP. Yeah Eddard was nice to Theon. and if His dad revolted Eddard would kill him. He raised him with his own kids, and would remove Theon's head from his neck for a crime he didn't commit. God what assholes. 

The ironborn were never going to take the North, nevermind hold it. The north is too big, too cold, too populous, too different, and too far away from the isles. It was a fools war

And Ned would never have killed Theon. Evidence you hear you ask for? Keeping Jon safe, doing what he could to protect Daenaerys, giving up his honour to protect sansa and arya, and giving up his freedom to give Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella a chance. What do they all have in common? Innocent young people. What is Theon? An innocent young man. Ned does not hold the son responsible for the father. If you think Ned would kill a child then you've read his character all wrong

[Sage of Westeros]

Balon was an idiot far before the books and well into them. Lets tally up some of his greatest achievements shall we?

 

1. Declare independence war years after the realm has reconciled (post Robert-Rebellion), "Pssh, I got this"
2. Hate Theon because he gave him away
3. Blame ONLY the Starks for the war he was stupid enough to declare "Ned Stark did his duty you say? What a jerk"
4. Refuse the offer of the Westerlands and Casterly Rock "Who needs gold when you can have snowballs?" (Asha said it best in her Kingsmoot Speech)
5. Take only Moat and Deepwood "We only need TWO castles. the rest are just there"
6. Hate Theon for being bold and taking TWO castles(Torrhens and WF) "Pssh, what a loser, I only wanted Moat and Deepwood"
7. Not secure his succession "I like Asha, but I'm going to keep it to myself"

There are more idiotic decisions you say? Well I believe you, because Balon is by far the most stupid character in ASOIAF, and what's worse, he supposed to be smart and levelheaded.

[aryagonnakill#2]

Well Balon did invent the Iron fleet, so somehow he must be smarter than most of his ancestors.  

[Sage of Westeros]

Well Balon did invent the Iron fleet, so somehow he must be smarter than most of his ancestors.  

I'll admit, that is the smartest thing he ever did, and also just smart in general.

[Caspoi]

aryagonnakill#2 That does not say much.

 

Sage of Westeros@ Pretty much summarised, and let us not forget that he attacked his only potential ally.

[Fat Mac]

To those who say Balon was an idiot for starting the Greyjoy Rebellion when he did, think about this:

Had the IB beaten the Royal navy at Fair Isle, there was nothing the crown could do until they got their fleet back. If they won there, the three most powerful mainland fleets would be out of commission, and how are you going to invade islands that have a strong fleet without a strong fleet yourself? It IB would have ruled the seas, and no one would have been able to touch them. It hinges a lot on one battle, but it's not the worst plan in the world.

Regarding his second rebellion, the best course of action would be to sack Winterfell, kill the direwolves, take Bran, Rickon and anyone else valuable hostage, and bring them back to the islands. Again, with no fleet, what's the North going to do?

Balon isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer by far, but I think of him less of an idiot and more stubbornly shortsighted.

[Damp Hair - The Prophet]

Calling Balon, Theon, Vic etcetera an idiot doesn't add metaphorical inches to your dickbrain.

 

Putting others down to feel better about yourself is juvenile and a sign of insecurity but alas some never grow out of it.

 

If Balon's an idiot then Ned's an idiot and Robert's an idiot etcetera.

 

What sheepish personality types don't understand is that the Ironborn have great big gigantic balls and they will rebel and die and rebel again if that's what it takes to be free.  It may seam idiotic to the meek but it has it's own internal logic.

[Colton Casados-Medve]

I think Balon was more interested in "paying the iron price" than he was in actually expanding his territory and consolidating it for future generations of ironborn to hold. I really think he just wanted to reave and rape and bring back the ironborn's reputation as reavers and rapers.

[Sullen]

Calling Balon, Theon, Vic etcetera an idiot doesn't add metaphorical inches to your dickbrain.

 

Putting others down to feel better about yourself is juvenile and a sign of insecurity but alas some never grow out of it.

 

If Balon's an idiot then Ned's an idiot and Robert's an idiot etcetera.

 

What sheepish personality types don't understand is that the Ironborn have great big gigantic balls and they will rebel and die and rebel again if that's what it takes to be free.  It may seam idiotic to the meek but it has it's own internal logic.

 

Vic is an idiot though.

 

Balon and Theon aren't, they are both temperamental and easily swayed by emotion, but idiots, they most definitively are not.

 

Balon's plan for the conquest of the North was going roses until he died, it would have gone even better if Tywin never had the Freys to deal with Robb and the Northmen.

[Sage of Westeros]

Calling Balon, Theon, Vic etcetera an idiot doesn't add metaphorical inches to your dickbrain.

 

Putting others down to feel better about yourself is juvenile and a sign of insecurity but alas some never grow out of it.

 

If Balon's an idiot then Ned's an idiot and Robert's an idiot etcetera.

 

What sheepish personality types don't understand is that the Ironborn have great big gigantic balls and they will rebel and die and rebel again if that's what it takes to be free.  It may seam idiotic to the meek but it has it's own internal logic.

Euron becomes king of the Isles, his first thought as king? Let's attack a place with wealth. I wouldn't mind if Balon had attacked Robb, but to take the north when the wealth of the West is open, that is foolish completely. Plus part of his justification is that the Starks killed his sons when in truth, one died at Seagard and the other at Pyke, one of which involves Mallisters and the other which involves many houses including Westerlands ones.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

Next threads:

 

Renly is gay

Rhaegar was handsome

Robert was a drunk

Cersei is an idiot

Dany has dragons

Davos is loyal

[Bobby b's bobby]

 
Vic is an idiot though.
 
Balon and Theon aren't, they are both temperamental and easily swayed by emotion, but idiots, they most definitively are not.
 
Balon's plan for the conquest of the North was going roses until he died, it would have gone even better if Tywin never had the Freys to deal with Robb and the Northmen.

What was his plan though? He said I'm king of the North and Isles and held the moat and the glovers castle while raiding the coast. Without Theon's plan and rodrick plot stupidity he wouldn't have even had wf or the square. Taking a crown then invading the north just before winter is definitely idiotic.