The adventures of Euron Greyjoy or A story that doesn't add up

[messem]

Yeah. It's probably BS. Doesn't he claim to been in Ib as well? makes the journey even longer

[Victarion Chainbreaker]

Euron is dead and a Warlock is glamoured up as him. Remember the blue lips? How about the crew with ripped-out tongues so they can't say what they know?

[Lord_Tyrell]

Another interesting question is, if when he went to the FM he had both the dragon egg and the horn, why did the FM choose the egg over the horn? Or why didn't they ask for both if they're allowed to name any price they want?

I'm not sure if the Faceless Men would even recognize the horn, and I doubt Euron would tell them exactly what it did.

[EricEmpire94]

Why was Euron exiled in the first place?

[RedBean]

Why was Euron exiled in the first place?

For sleeping with Vic's wife?

[Sweet-N-SourRobin]

For sleeping with Vic's wife?

Yeah.

Balon kicked Euron out of the Iron Islands because there IS a taboo about Ironborn slaying other Ironborn that's gotten mentioned a couple times [ironborn, remember, is a class distinction, thralls and salt wives don't count (though their children do)]. Not that this is universally respected, of course, but it's there. Which makes sense given how small the population is, such a stigma would arise since their collective survival REALLY hinges on them not fighting among themselves. So when it happens, its a big deal and a Bad Thing, doubly so if its kinslaying. Vic and Euron would've broken the fuck out of that taboo if Balon didn't exile one of them, and naturally he exiled the more dangerous/less trustworthy one (who also happened to be "in the wrong", but Euron being "maddest of all" while Vic is mostly a loyal dumb follower probably had a lot to do with it. Vic's poor wife, unfortunately, likely didn't matter any more to Balon than she did to Vic or Euron).

Euron is, pointedly, banned from the islands for life by Balon. Which is why Euron showing back up immediately after Balon dies strikes all the characters as super suspicious.

[Lord Reaver]

Well, she mattered to Vic, or he wouldn't have cried when he pummeled her to death.

Anyway, you've got two options:

1. Euron is lying to inflate himself. Personally this is the option I hold. I pretty much doubt anything that comes out of his mouth unless I've seen some sort of proof for it. The man is pretty much the clearest example of a Magnificient Bastard (well aside from Littlefinger, the Ultimate Magnificient Bastard himself) in the books, so him lying through his teeth to make himself look better is pretty bang on.

2. GRRM fudged up travel times a bit. Very plausible, since he's pretty much handwaiving stuff like that all the time (travel times from KL to the north, height of the Wall etc.) Still, not my favored explanation, but far from unlikely.

[Fire Eater]

I always thought he took the horn from the warlocks...

Also, he captured the warlocks somewhere around Pentos.

That's what I think as well especially given his reaction to the Reader questioning his claim.

"Have you?" the Reader asked, so softly.

Euron's blue smile vanished. "Reader," he said into the quiet, "you would do well to keep your nose in your books."

[BreastplateWithNipples]

Viking longships were not, actually, very fast ships. Just nimble.

Just sayin' because the Ironborn are not, actually 1:1 Viking ripoffs. They're Vikings with a lot of generic medieval/early modern Pirate mixed in and their ships are lots better than the 8th century small ship that the Vikings used.

[tydides]

im pretty sure george tries to make the distances ambiguous because he doesnt want people to do this. i guess it is a bit fishy, but i think it wasnt on purpose

[ser naes yennet]

in the OP, it is stated that the maps were looked at to come up with travel times. my issue is that we only have maps, not a globe. we have no idea how far Ashaii is if you sail west from the Iron Isles.

[Night'sQueen]

Well, she mattered to Vic, or he wouldn't have cried when he pummeled her to death.

Ok, this made me laugh out loud.

:rofl:

[Teal'c]

The reason he travels so quickly is that he is summoning the wind. He's in league with the Storm God, the great enemy of the Drowned God. That's why Aeron calls him a godless man.

That's also how he blew Balon off the bridge. As the text tells us, "the Storm God cast [balon] down."

[sertravisredbeard]

Did Euron specifically say he'd gone to Asshai and Valyria only since he got exiled? He'd been a pirate and a reaver since probably he was in his early teens so he could be talking about trips he had taken before he got infamously exiled. We know he raided the Lannister fleet during Balon's Rebellion, but there's plenty of other unaccounted for time when he could have visited all those places he's bragging about.

[Magic 8 Ball]

He's Captain Jack Sparrow, only less wimpy. His timeline isn't supposed to make sense, he just shows up surfing on turtles and stuff.

Besides, everybody knows he's really Sylvio Forel.

[Ser Not Appearing]

Generically, if the timeline was entirely and categorically unsound... all the Ironborn would reject the claim. They of all people would know. It'd be like Uncle Rico claiming to throw a ball over the mountains...

... that's how I view the matter.

[Summerqueen]

1. BS

2. A year on Planetos could well consist of many more days than a year on Earth. Is 365 ever mentioned as standard days per year in story?

[Rahgh Neqaj]

1. Both the storm god and the drowned god (sea god) could've helped to speed up the voyage.
   
2. If we look at SSM (http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Category/C90/P15), we'll read that we shouldn't question distances and travel time too much:

   
   [How big is Westeros? Is it the size of Europe, or even larger?]
   I have deliberately tried to be vague about such things, so I don't have obsessive fans with rulers measuring distances on the map and telling me Ned couldn't get from X to Y in the time I say he did.
   However, if you really must know, you can figure out the distances for yourself. The Wall is a hundred leagues long. A league is three miles. Go from there.
   But if you turn up any mistakes in travel times by using that measure, let it be your secret.

3. He's a pirate. Who knows what ships they encountered on their journey, whom they looted. Maybe they raided one of Illyrios ships coming out of the Smoking Sea/Valyria, carrying the Horn. Of course that would sound less awesome than having entered Valyria and recovered the Horn themselves.
   
4. Tossing away a dragon egg in a fool mood seems to stupid to be believable.
   

In other words, little and less is known about what really happened during his travels.

[LynnS]

...but Ironborn longships probably have sails to sail agains the wind as well as with it. And oars.

Yes, and if we are going to believe in the "gods" and magic; then can we assume the storm god is giving him an assist?

"...When people see my sails, they start praying..."

Perhaps they start praying when they see the storm clouds coming. Storms do seem to follow him around.

"I am the first storm, my lord, and the last."

[Mad Monkey]

It's possible that Euron never even left Casa Greyjoy and was instead just flitting from room to room ahead of Balon, remaining totally unseen. He stole food from their stores at night when everyone was sleeping and slept in the rookery disguised as a raven. When Balon finally died, he snuck out of the castle and returned, pretending to have been abroad.