What if Greyjoys were isolationist?

[UFT]

since everyone on this site can't read, i guess i have to clarify.

quellon never dies in this timeline because he told his sons to piss off. greyjoy rebellion is averted, and no matter what robb says, quellon also never helps him or anyone else in WoFK. 

doesnt mean hes not raiding people for food and resources. he still would.

proceed from there with the effects. 

[Lord Vance II]

Then they'd be hella boring. 

And their "army" is as fresh as anyone's at the beginning of WOFK. Balon had been rebuilding the Iron Fleet for a while and it seems to be at full strength by the time it's introduced. They surely lost good sailors at Fair Isle, but sailors are a dime a dozen in the Iron Islands.

Frankly everyone's army is fresh at the start of the story. No one had fought a major campaign since the Greyjoy Rebellion, and even then only the North, Westerlands and combined Navy mobilized. That said, at this point the remaining "fresh" armies (Dorne, The Vale, Lord Manderly) are going to play huge roles going forward. 

[UFT]

you didnt tell me anything i didnt already know. what i clearly meant is what if quellon's death, greyjoy rebellion and greyjoy attack on the north dont occur. basically quellon tells his sons to screw off. 

[LordImp]

Why all this what if threads? 

[Universal Sword Donor]

If they are isolationist, then they probably use their army and do nothing.

[Light a wight tonight]

They can't be isolationist and survive. They aren't self-sufficient in food, for one thing, and wood for their ships for another. They need to trade or raid for survival.

Not getting involved in Mainland Westerosi politics is not the same as isolationism.

[Dorian Martell's son]

7 hours ago, UFT said:

no entry into robert's rebellion except i guess at the very very end to bend the knee to robert. 

no greyjoy rebellion

no invasion of the north.

what if they just stayed completely out of everything, and spent all their time just raiding random merchants and summer islanders for loot and salt wives? this gives them a completely fresh army, much like the arryns, going into post WOFK. 

There would be no point in them having them in the story. Boring 

[Jon Fossoway]

Then they would systematically raid the coasts, until the mighty Bob would go and and conquest Pyke, to tell Balon (or any other lord reaper) to chill the duck out. I can't see them completely isolated, keeping to theirself. It contradicts a little the Old Way, which require systematic invasions to pay the prize.

[talvikorppi]

What if the Greyjoys were isoalist? All the better!

And the rest of the Iron Irlanders?

Let them isolate themselves from the realms of men, I say. Let their misereble islands sink, with their stupid macho culture. Bye! I won't miss you.

[talvikorppi]

Oh, and Theon gets a pass for being an interesting, well-written character. The rest of the Irionislanders not so much.

[UFT]

 

Quote

 

Not getting involved in Mainland Westerosi politics is not the same as isolationism.

 

 

 

except for the sake of the scenario, yes it is. read the OP, morons. i clearly meant quellon never enters robert's rebellion so all the major suicidal attacks of balon also do not occur. quellon is notoriously progressive so theres no reason why he can't maintain the neutrality in war of five kings. martells managed it. 

and read the OP. they are raiiding in this timeline. they just aren't launching massive stupid attacks on major families. 

and i don't need people telling me how supposedly boring it would be. this is simply speculative thought and if you dont want to do that, then dont click on my thread?

[Universal Sword Donor]

2 hours ago, UFT said:

 

except for the sake of the scenario, yes it is. read the OP, morons. i clearly meant quellon never enters robert's rebellion so all the major suicidal attacks of balon also do not occur. quellon is notoriously progressive so theres no reason why he can't maintain the neutrality in war of five kings. martells managed it. 

and read the OP. they are raiiding in this timeline. they just aren't launching massive stupid attacks on major families. 

and i don't need people telling me how supposedly boring it would be. this is simply speculative thought and if you dont want to do that, then dont click on my thread?

Exactly, which is why I told you they would take their isolationist army and do nothing. Don't need to get all huffy about it

[Jaehaerys Tyrell]

They’d probably just sit calling people morons on the internet.

[Lord Lannister]

If they Greyjoys were isolationist, they probably wouldn't get more than a passing mention in the books. A more interesting question would revolve around Balon. What if he went about achieving his goals more intelligently?

If his goal was to achieve independence and restore the old way, attacking the Starks wasn't the way to go about it. They were the only other separatist movement against the Iron Throne. Say what you want about Theon, he was dead right when he said the Iron Throne wouldn't give two hoots about the Iron Islands until they've crushed all their other enemies, then notice a fool with a crown on his head. He should've swallowed his pride and gone after the Lannisters, like Robb and Theon suggested.

Or if his goal was just revenge on the Starks, he could've done it in a manner to get something for his trouble. Instead of declaring independence and crowning himself, he should've just waited for things to get bad for the regime in King's Landing, then offered to attack the North in exchange for rule of it. Tywin all but admitted he probably would've looked favorably on that option, but as things turned out, why reward him for something he was already doing for them for free?

[Blackwater Revenant]

On 05/03/2018 at 9:08 AM, UFT said:

you didnt tell me anything i didnt already know. what i clearly meant is what if quellon's death, greyjoy rebellion and greyjoy attack on the north dont occur. basically quellon tells his sons to screw off. 

Either of two scenarios:

1. Instead of dying in battle against the Shield Islands, Quellon dies due to his failing health, and the story unfolds in the same manner as it has been written.

2. None of us illiterate morons see your ignorantly rude and pointless OP, as this is a forum dedicated to discussing ASoIaF, the story that GRRM wrote, and your post would be on a different forum, dedicated to discussing the non existent story that you are referring to.