Did Balon make a single smart decision ever?

[Brynden"Bloodraven" Rivers]

On 11/25/2021 at 1:47 PM, Jaenara Belarys said:

He's an Ironborn, do any of them even have enough cognitive ability to think beyond "Oooh, glittery. Steal it. No unmanly things, so I don't move beyond being an idiotic version of a Viking. Burn stuff. Grab that fisherman's daughter, because I'm a total piece of shit, but I have to be a true Ironborn, blah, blah, blah. "? 

 

Besides Asha, and maybe Qarl and the Reader, the Ironborn are complete idiots and I'm honestly surprised anyone, besides heaps of skeletons, live on them islands. 

That is pretty racist. We haven't seen much of the ironborn other than Balon, Euron, Victarion, Theon, Asha, Aeron and Rodrik. These are the only fleshed out ironborn characters. Plenty of other Ironborn characters seem pragmatic and cunning. For example, Quellon Greyjoy.

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight9]

7 hours ago, Brynden"Bloodraven" Rivers said:

That is pretty racist. We haven't seen much of the ironborn other than Balon, Euron, Victarion, Theon, Asha, Aeron and Rodrik. These are the only fleshed out ironborn characters. Plenty of other Ironborn characters seem pragmatic and cunning. For example, Quellon Greyjoy.

Well you can't deny that madness, delusions are stupidity are very present among the Ironborn with most of them still delluding themselves about the Old Way and their supposed superiority on the mainlanders and capacity of conquest, the reasonnable ones such as Quellon or Rodrik the reader being in minority.

The Drowned Men and cult of the Drowned God are in no small part responsible for this given that they keep preaching about the "past glory", "holiness of these islands and people" and Iron Price. Not counting that their drowning may have seriously caused brain damage on many Ironborn.

It's telling that the most brilliant rulers they had, the Hoares, had Andal blood and were worshippers of the Seven.

[Jaenara Belarys]

18 hours ago, Brynden"Bloodraven" Rivers said:

That is pretty racist. We haven't seen much of the ironborn other than Balon, Euron, Victarion, Theon, Asha, Aeron and Rodrik. These are the only fleshed out ironborn characters. Plenty of other Ironborn characters seem pragmatic and cunning. For example, Quellon Greyjoy.

Their society is based upon idiotic things (raiding, stealing, a bunch of other unsavory stuff). 

 

"Plenty", I hope you're joking. The vast majority of Ironborn are idiots whose primary occupation is stealing stuff. This is a medieval society, and by and large the peasants were illiterate, but I don't think they look down at reading at writing half as much as the Ironborn.