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[Book Spoilers] We Do Not Sow


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Even in the books, i always admire the greyjoys... Their stubborn, resistence, THE IRONBORN attitude e even their Words are my favorite from all house words...with the series came to fill the gaps of my admirance to the greyjoys (Theon and Balon)... Majestic interpretations... and iam already seeing alfie allen as REEK in future seasons!!!

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I know this. But, it still doesn't address the poor of the Pyke. They haven't anything to trade that sustains their society.

There the other Iron Islands too, they seem to have the resources to mount a 'Viking' like culture. Victarion's fleet is fairly substantial.

But yeah, even the Vikings had trade and a better economy (for a while) than the Ironborn.

The Iron Isles , even united, could have mounted a limited land war, but that was doomed , as we see later.

Jaqen would say "Ironborn have more courage than sense".

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I know this. But, it still doesn't address the poor of the Pyke. They haven't anything to trade that sustains their society.

They do trade. The boat Theon came over on was there to trade. They mine tin and other soft metals. The ironborn do not necessarily do the work, but there are people on the islands that do.

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I'm going to confess, I actually felt like crying watching Alfie play Theon in the scenes with his salt water baptism and the burning of the letter. It was that powerful. I think because I know what ends up happening with Theon made it that much worse. I feel so damn sorry for this kid, yes even though he does some terrible crap and kills little kids at Winterfell. I feel like the show is making that future incident more believable and you can actually understand how very desperate Theon was to impress and win back his family's love. It's just tragic. He had no choice in any of it and it was hearbreaking to watch him pledge himself so fully and with such longing.

Word. Don't feel bad about feeling like crying. My sorry ass actually teared during Theon speech to his father. "YOU GAVE ME AWAY!" As soon as that, it was a done deal. It was pretty heart-wrenching, not just because I love Theon as a character but the acting was on point. I'm so glad Alfie Allen was cast as Theon and Patreck Malahide really put some humanity into Balon during that scene. The shot of Balon with his back turned on Theon during Theon's plea gave us a view of Balon we couldn't get in the books. He had this pained expression on his face that showed that what Theon was saying really was hitting him hard even though he refused to show it.

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I completely agree that the Ironborn/Theon story has been better in the show than the books, with the exception of Asha/Yara's character. I am far more sympathetic to Theon in the show, in the books I always felt like he was getting what he deserved and just wanted him to die painfully for what he did to the Starks who had been so good to him. They could have made his life much harder but Ned always treated Theon like another son, he actually got better treatment than Jon.

I also agree that it never really made sense why Balon wanted to attack the North other than revenge. The only wealth in the North is in White Harbor which is the one place he couldn't go. There is no way to hold the North with a small army of seaman. There was certainly no way the Ironborn could ever take most of the castles of the North that were far inland. At some point the Starks would get back in control and take vengeance on the Iron Islands as well. Even if he was successful the real mistake is the North doesn't care about keeping the Iron Islands in the Kingdom but the Lannisters, Baratheons, and Tyrells do and they have the ships and men to take Pyke once again. The plan just doesn't make sense.

Casterly Rock or at least the Westerlands OTOH are filled with lightly defended castles with tremendous stores of wealth. They don't need the gold mines, they just need to take the castles that have the gold and take it back to the Iron Islands. Casterly Rock itself may have been difficult but Lannisport and the rest of the Westerlands were easy pickings as shown by what Robb was doing. He also could have gone farther South and pillaged The Reach, all of their armies and navy are on the wrong side of Westeros. He could have attacked either of those areas with impunity and demanded his crown be recognized as well as taken other spoils and there would have been almost nothing Tywin or Mace Tyrell could do but to buy him off.

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Whenever I watched Theon's with Robb, I would always wonder how he'd go from that to betrayal. To my amazement, I now feel that I understand Tv-Theon's motivations (though I do not agree with his choices), whereas book-Theon came off to me as a powerhungry, ingrateful douche. Allen was amazing in this episode.

I was also impressed by Malahide's portrayal of Balon. I felt nothing for Book-Balon during Clash, and his death in Storm was "meh" to me. When I was introduced to Victarion and Euron, I appreciated how Balon's death gave room in the story to his brothers. TV-Balon feels much more a part of the story to me, as the Ironborn culture oozes off the man. When Theon yelled at him to his back, I even felt that there was a real man inside that was capable of regret.

TV-Asha OTH hasn't been satisfying as of yet. She doesn't seem half as charismatic as book-Asha was, and I still can't imagine her hefting an axe with any ease.

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Agree with most on this thread the Pyke/Greyjoy scenes are just great on the big screen, and I also agree the foreshadowing to Theon transforming into Reek is also progressing well. What I am curious to see is what type of cliffhanger the show is going to present for non-readers in terms of the fake Bran Rickon death scenes.

Moreover I am curious if it will create the press firestorm that was created when Ned was executed in season 1.

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I always thought that We Do Not Sew explained the Ironborn’s appalling wardrobes.

Then I saw it was We Do Not Sow, which must be either about not planting crops or not raising pigs. (j/k)

Does (j/k) mean your joking? Cause if you are, it is a good joke. If you weren't, it's even better. I love these types of moments in life. I always laugh when I have them.

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Even in the books, i always admire the greyjoys... Their stubborn, resistence, THE IRONBORN attitude e even their Words are my favorite from all house words...with the series came to fill the gaps of my admirance to the greyjoys (Theon and Balon)... Majestic interpretations... and iam already seeing alfie allen as REEK in future seasons!!!

I can't wait for them to get to Reek but I know that's several seasons away. I'm already anticipating Alfie Allen just bringing it with that storyline which was one of my favorites in ADWD even though I loathe the Greyjoys except Asha.

One thing I didn't think about until the episode that never dawned on me while reading the books is, since Theon is Balon's last living son, why send him away to Winterfell? Why not send Asha instead? The Iron Islands culture is arguably the most sexist, mysongicistic culture in the entire world of ASOIAF. I know Asha is a complete tomboy and obviously very capable of handling her own but, I do wonder what Balon was thinking. If I had one son left, my heir, I wouldn't be giving him away. Sure, he has his brothers but the Brothers Greyjoy have very little love for each other. Did he see weakness in Theon that Asha doesn't posess? Was he hoping it would toughen Theon up? Make him angry and bitter like the rest of the family so he could turn against the Starks?

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I think Alfie is really good. The scene between him and Balon was very well done, you could feel Theon's frustration. I'm really starting to like Theon.

I feel so bad for what will happen to him :frown5:

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I can't wait for them to get to Reek but I know that's several seasons away. I'm already anticipating Alfie Allen just bringing it with that storyline which was one of my favorites in ADWD even though I loathe the Greyjoys except Asha.

One thing I didn't think about until the episode that never dawned on me while reading the books is, since Theon is Balon's last living son, why send him away to Winterfell? Why not send Asha instead? The Iron Islands culture is arguably the most sexist, mysongicistic culture in the entire world of ASOIAF. I know Asha is a complete tomboy and obviously very capable of handling her own but, I do wonder what Balon was thinking. If I had one son left, my heir, I wouldn't be giving him away. Sure, he has his brothers but the Brothers Greyjoy have very little love for each other. Did he see weakness in Theon that Asha doesn't posess? Was he hoping it would toughen Theon up? Make him angry and bitter like the rest of the family so he could turn against the Starks?

I'm guessing they wouldn't have accepted Asha as a hostage, as sons are seen as much more valuable than sons.

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Very well edited Theon video

Yes. Thank you. That was great. Do you mind sharing this in the GoT youtube video thread. please? :D

I just rewatched the episode again and the Theon parts still affect me the same way they did in the first and second viewing.The Greyjoy parts continue to be my favorite parts of the season, so far.

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The Greyjoys are such sad jokes. Balon doesn't seem to realize his rebellion failed the first time and THAT'S why his sons are dead and Theon was taken away. He doesn't even answer Theon when he confronted... he just slaps him! It's sure easy to pay the iron price when Ned Stark an Robert Baratheon are too dead to stop your rebellion a second time and Winterfell is completely empty. Crowns come cheap these days, dude, didn't you know? Their scenes lose so much power when you realize all that yelling and swaggering is over a plan to attack a child lord and a bunch of clueless servants.

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The Greyjoys are such sad jokes. Balon doesn't seem to realize his rebellion failed the first time and THAT'S why his sons are dead and Theon was taken away. He doesn't even answer Theon when he confronted... he just slaps him! It's sure easy to pay the iron price when Ned Stark an Robert Baratheon are too dead to stop your rebellion a second time and Winterfell is completely empty. Crowns come cheap these days, dude, didn't you know? Their scenes lose so much power when you realize all that yelling and swaggering is over a plan to attack a child lord and a bunch of clueless servants.

Since this thread has a spoiler flag, we know that it happens all over again. Balon is wrong again as we know by the end of ADwD, but then he's dead . Not clear that the Greyjoys who take over have any better sense than him, they could all be bound for vainglory.

Victarion seems to have a handle on how to win the big sea battle coming up, but does he confuse cowardice with caution?

We shall see.

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