Iron Islands Economy

[Lucia Targaryen]

Given that the Ironborn's culture is so centered on raiding, how does the local economy work?

Does the "iron price" only apply to foreign lands? 

[The Hoare]

I think the iron price is more of an ideal than a reality. We know that the ironborn trade with the mainland because there are merchant ships on Lordsport at the beggining of Balon's second rebellion.

I think the iron price is just a extra prejudice(which exists in most of Westeros as well) agains't merchants

[Canon Claude]

It’s a really pathetic culture, let’s be honest. They are a bunch of impoverished and savage edgelords who hide behind an overcompensation of pride. They sneer at trading and mining and dismiss “the gold price” as if it’s something degrading, even as they proudly claim the “iron price” as a true calling, ignoring that their devotion to the iron price is why they’re so hated and isolated and poor. It’s like those white supremacists who try to appropriate Viking culture while ignoring how developed, ethnically diverse, and socially progressive their society was.

[The Hoare]

18 minutes ago, Canon Claude said:

It’s a really pathetic culture, let’s be honest. They are a bunch of impoverished and savage edgelords who hide behind an overcompensation of pride. They sneer at trading and mining and dismiss “the gold price” as if it’s something degrading, even as they proudly claim the “iron price” as a true calling, ignoring that their devotion to the iron price is why they’re so hated and isolated and poor. It’s like those white supremacists who try to appropriate Viking culture while ignoring how developed, ethnically diverse, and socially progressive their society was.

Lack of farmlands is why they're poor, not the old way

[James Steller]

56 minutes ago, The Hoare said:

Lack of farmlands is why they're poor, not the old way

I think that's overblown. There must be enough farmland there if they've survived for so long. And even if they don't have a lot of farmland, they can always trade their resources for food. Which is presumably what they've been doing for thousands of years, or else how is anyone still living on those islands? It's not like it's a small colony of cult members, we're talking a population spread out across dozens of islands. And this population is big enough to support multiple fleets of war, and that's before even mentioning the fishing fleets they presumably have, as well as mines which must be worked by themselves because they've been forbidden from raiding for centuries. 

[OberynBlackfyre]

I think the Iron Islands are kind of like Vikings mixed with Privateers during the pirate age.  They do some trading, but I’m sure they also do some pillaging/smuggling/pirating. Asha seems well traveled and the Iron Fleet lead by Victarion seem well maintained and we must believe they are purchasing wood from SOMEWHERE. They can’t just take it from the North because that would be an attack. 
 

I have a feeling they would pay the Iron Price when they would travel to mostly foreign lands.  Maybe even the Wildlings, and of course the Summer Islanders. We know that Asha at least is pretty well traveled. I imagine they could rent out their ships since Iron Islanders are very, very good sailors and would probably provide good escort and security. 
 

 

However I do believe that Euron is actually going to get the Iron Fleet destroyed almost wholesale, and that is very much going to alter the Iron Islands.  Since most of the men, ships, etc. all left, if they never come back that is going to hurt the life on the Iron Islands more than a bit.   I do think eventually either Asha or Theon (read Haereg) will be Lord/Lady of the Iron Islands and may even be vassals under Winterfell. 

[sifth]

I'm more interested on why everyone seems to ignore the fact that the Iron Islands are allowed slaves. Barristan tells Dany that Westeros hasn't had any slaves in a long, long, time, yet forgets thralls exist on the Iron Islands. The fact that everyone else seems to just ignore this as well, is also something I find interesting.

[Lady_Qohor]

1 hour ago, sifth said:

I'm more interested on why everyone seems to ignore the fact that the Iron Islands are allowed slaves. Barristan tells Dany that Westeros hasn't had any slaves in a long, long, time, yet forgets thralls exist on the Iron Islands. The fact that everyone else seems to just ignore this as well, is also something I find interesting.

I think sometimes that some Westerosi nobles get too much credit for not having slaves. They already have a huge peasant population that they have almost complete control over and pay almost nothing. Meanwhile they pay nothing to feed, house or contain their workers which probably makes it a better economic system for them than slavery. 

If the lands belonging to the Lannisters, Tyrells, Baratheons etc suddenly became uninviting, depopulated and hard to survive in (like the Iron Islands or Slavers Bay) then I wouldn't be surprised if they turned to slavery as a way to maintain their wealth and dominence. 

[Aldarion]

2 hours ago, Lady_Qohor said:

I think sometimes that some Westerosi nobles get too much credit for not having slaves. They already have a huge peasant population that they have almost complete control over and pay almost nothing. Meanwhile they pay nothing to feed, house or contain their workers which probably makes it a better economic system for them than slavery. 

 

That is not how feudalism works, even in Westeros. The entire idea behind the feudalism is that lord gives land and protection to landless peasants and they in turn give him a portion of the income (a tenth - tithe). Land is the currency, and lord gives land to his dependants - safe land, it must be added, because depredations on said land would bring lord's wrath on said predator. Even Tywin will do his best to protect his peasants, because that is ultimately where his power base lies.

So peasants definitely receive payment. Serfdom actually developed from Roman colonate, which replaced slavery because it was more productive:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonus_(person)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom

However, England (as usual) had a particularly cruel variant of serfdom called villeins de gross. I don't know much about it, but that might be the reason why GRRM has peasants be so downtrodden. That, or his usual misunderstanding of the Middle Ages.

[The Hoare]

6 hours ago, sifth said:

I'm more interested on why everyone seems to ignore the fact that the Iron Islands are allowed slaves. Barristan tells Dany that Westeros hasn't had any slaves in a long, long, time, yet forgets thralls exist on the Iron Islands. The fact that everyone else seems to just ignore this as well, is also something I find interesting.

I think thralls are not considered slaves because they cannot be sold or bought

[Hrulj]

54 minutes ago, The Hoare said:

I think thralls are not considered slaves because they cannot be sold or bought

Their children are also free. 

[Foot_Of_The_King]

I don’t see how they can yield that high a number of sailors/soldiers.