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Why I love Victarion Greyjoy.


Edmund Snow

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Quite OT, but since this is a "worship thread" for Victarion "Hellboy" Greyjoy ('cause of the hand, you know, the hellish one)... You have to look at THIS man.. He IS Victarion. I want him in the cast: http://image.toutlec...3-2011-18-g.jpg

That's the guy from Ironclad right?

But yeah, I like Victarion. His brutal honesty is refreshing and he is honorable in his own way. His fight with Talbert Serry and his disdain of Euron dishonoring and shaming Lord Hewett and his family.

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The interesting thing about Martin's characters, is that they all seem to evolve or change to some degree depending on their initial personalities in some sort of "Twilight Zone" type of irony.

For example, Jamie Lannister taking such an arrogant pride in his ability to wield a sword and lead men into battle, when in fact not only is he defeated by Robb Stark, but also loses his hand as well. Rendering him in the end, an almost broken and humble man. And so he and the audience have learned not only his character arc, but redeeming qualities as well.

With Victarion however, it's almost as if he's just too dense to or just can't comprehend the word "humility". He can't or will never form any type of character arc, which is interesting because it seems as if Martin only introduces a character POV in order to accomplish just that!

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That's the guy from Ironclad right?

Yes - Vladimir Kulich - he played Tiberius. He's also famous for being the Viking leader in The 13th Warrior with Banderas.

He's Czech-Canadian, so I don't know how his accent would be considered by HBO (which seems to prefer british actors). A man can only hope :-)

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haha how can anyone blame him for thinking the Dothraki SEA was actually water when he hasn't been there before

Have you ever been to the Sea of Tranquility? :P

Having said that, I don't think we blame him, but it is hilarious, given what we know, and the fact that this guy in a born mariner. You'd think he would know more or less all the discovered seas.

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haha how can anyone blame him for thinking the Dothraki SEA was actually water when he hasn't been there before

1. It was funny don't deny it.

2. The guy just cross the world, and he knows squat. You pretty much need every info you could have your hands on. Especially if you want to bring dany in Westeros. hell, in AGOT, Dany's marriage to Drogo was a pretty big deal, and EVERYBODY and their dog seems to know the dothraki. Euron I have no doubt know them and yet, Victarion just came across as a big fool.

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1. It was funny don't deny it.

2. The guy just cross the world, and he knows squat. You pretty much need every info you could have your hands on. Especially if you want to bring dany in Westeros. hell, in AGOT, Dany's marriage to Drogo was a pretty big deal, and EVERYBODY and their dog seems to know the dothraki. Euron I have no doubt know them and yet, Victarion just came across as a big fool.

Personally, I read it as revealing something about his character rather than his intelligence. He's a follower, not a leader, and there is a reason for that. He followed Balon loyally, and he is a soldier, even as commander of the Iron Fleet. He hates Euron, and is trying to outmaneuver him, but he is a soldier because he is not suited to be a leader, he doesn't know enough about where he is going, he hasn't really planned out what he is going to do, and he doesn't really know enough about the world to succeed. He is going about this like a soldier carrying out his own objectives/strategy rather than those of his superiors and he will probably fail, because he lacks the temperament and mind for strategy and macro decisions, IMO.

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He pays the Iron Price, leads his men well, and is flexible enough to bring on Moqorro.

Speaking of the Iron/Gold Price there was one passage in ADWD that really made me wonder. It's about some of Victarion's ships lying moored in Volantis, and he notices the Volantene fleet taking on provisions to sail East towards Slaver's bay and Victarion realises they're in a hurry to get there ahead of them. It then says "so he reluctantly paid the gold price for provisions and fresh water".

I couldn't help but think - if he paid the gold price reluctantly, what would ha rather have done? Was his original plan to simply sail into Volantis and do some regular Iron Born looting and pillaging for provisions and water, or what...? :fencing:

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Heh, I took my name from him! He is badass!

Isn't that cool when someone makes a thread about your namesake? Not that I know what that's like... noone would ever make a thread about a knight from Tarth who took the black. :crying: lol.

Speaking of the Iron/Gold Price there was one passage in ADWD that really made me wonder. It's about some of Victarion's ships lying moored in Volantis, and he notices the Volantene fleet taking on provisions to sail East towards Slaver's bay and Victarion realises they're in a hurry to get there ahead of them. It then says "so he reluctantly paid the gold price for provisions and fresh water".

I couldn't help but think - if he paid the gold price reluctantly, what would ha rather have done? Was his original plan to simply sail into Volantis and do some regular Iron Born looting and pillaging for provisions and water, or what...? :fencing:

Ironborn would always rather pay the iron price, but Vic is pressed for time. He may have planned to raid and pillage around the stepstones and Volantis, but upon seeing the Volantene fleet decided to change his plans most like. IDK its been a while since I read it.

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You know, Robert Ervin Howard said that his characters Conan and Kull were stupid and violent, and that when facing a problem, they would hit, stab or crawl their way out of it using their brute force and resilience. I think Victarion is GRRM's version of that kind of character, only that, unlike Robert E. Howard, he doesn't sympathize/identify with that kind of person and will show what would happen in a realistic world (they are destroyed by somebody who is not only brave, but also has a brain).

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