Part 3 of 3:

At last we’ve reached the final part of the essay. In Part One, we looked at Euron’s exile from the Iron Islands and the locations he visited on his route back, as well as his likely residence in Qarth and the source of his information about Daenerys and her dragons. In Part Two, we looked at the Kingsmoot where he was crowned King of the Iron Islands and broke down his surprise attack on the Shield Islands, while speculating about how he could have known they’d be defenseless. We also outlined his careful placement of his rivals men in key positions and his manipulation of his brother Victarion in sending the Iron Fleet to Slaver’s Bay. We examined the connections between Weirwood trees and the Black, blue leaved trees that produce Shade-of-the-Evening for the Warlocks, as well as speculated about Euron’s possible connection with Bloodraven.

In our final segment, we will unravel Euron’s master plan, tying his Urrathon Night-Walker alias to his Corsair King persona, explaining exactly how much loyalty he really has to the Ironborn, and what his plans in the Reach will likely be. We’ll examine his plans for dealing with the Redwyne Fleet that is en route to Oldtown, and speculate with particular certainty about his current location, as well as shining a light on what exactly happened to half the Iron Fleet. Finally, we’ll reveal how Dragonbinder likely works, and why Euron made the decision to send his brother to Daenerys. You’re in for a wild ride, so strap in and let’s get going!

A Euron By Any Other Name…

Looking over the evidence we have been given about Euron Greyjoy’s time in exile, we can begin to piece together a probable theory of what his goals are and what the impetus may have been to sail back to the Iron Islands and depose his brother from the Seastone Chair when he did. As far as timing, we can deduce that his capture of the warlocks and acquisition of the horn Dragonbinder from their galleas, combined with the curious tale they told most likely led to his decision to seize the driftwood crown. The idea that Euron was living in Qarth under the pseudonym Urrathon Night-Walker isn’t much of a stretch when we consider that the “Crow’s Eye” having possession of a glass candle answers a lot of our questions about his mysterious foresight. In fact, most of these assertions start to fit together like pieces of a puzzle, and Martin provides us with additional clues throughout A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons that solidify it even more. Let’s look at these clues one more time, this time all together. We have Xaro Xhoan Daxos statement to Daenerys in A Clash of Kings:

”It is said that the glass candles are burning in the house of Urrathon Night-Walker, that have not burned in a hundred years.”

And we have this little tidbit from The World of Ice and Fire about a famous Urrathon who was known as Badbrother:

Upon the death of King Urragon III Greyiron (Urragon the Bald), his younger sons hurriedly convened a kingsmoot whilst their elder brother Torgon was raiding up the Mander, thinking that one of them would be chosen to wear the driftwood crown. To their dismay, the captains and kings chose Urrathon Goodbrother of Great Wyk instead. The first thing the new king did was command that the sons of the old king be put to death. For that, and for the savage cruelty he oft displayed during his two years as king, Urrathon IV Goodbrother is remembered in history as Badbrother.

Which closely parallels our story, with Torgon’s role being played by Theon Greyjoy, as the Kingsmoot was convened without his participation, when he was the rightful heir by their own laws. In fact, this very story is discussed in A Dance with Dragons by Asha and Tristifer Botley and it leads Asha to realize what she can do about Euron’s rule. As far as predictions go, the idea that Asha and Aeron will use Theon to challenge the “Crow’s Eye’s” rule in The Winds of Winter with the help of Tristifer Botley and Rodrik Harlaw is a pretty safe one.

With Euron and “Urrathon” connected via Ironborn history, we can even explain the genesis of the rest of his psedonym. Euron, a man with strange magical interests and powers has been to Asshai, where all manner of magic users congregate. And wouldn’t you know it:

The dark city by the Shadow is a city steeped in sorcery. Warlocks, wizards, alchemists, moonsingers, red priests, black alchemists, necromancers, aeromancers, pyromancers, bloodmages, torturers, inquisitors, poisoners, godswives, night-walkers, shapechangers, worshippers of the Black Goat and the Pale Child and the Lion of Night, all find welcome in Asshai-by-the-Shadow

Suddenly the name Urrathon Night-Walker makes perfect sense. Location-wise, we can place Euron in that particular area:

The Crow’s Eye had sailed halfway across the world, reaving and plundering from Qarth to Tall Trees Town, calling at unholy ports beyond where only madmen went.

And finally, Moqorro’s vision of Euron contains some interesting word choices that solidify our theory with one final clue:

“Have you seen these others in your fires?” he asked, warily. “Only their shadows,” Moqorro said. “One most of all. A tall and twisted thing with one black eye and ten long arms, sailing on a sea of blood.”

Tall and twisted. Just like a glass candle:

Sam found himself staring. The candle itself was three feet tall and slender as a sword, ridged and twisted, glittering black. It was said that they had been brought to Oldtown from Valyria a thousand years before the Doom. He had heard there were four; one was green and three were black, and all were tall and twisted.

But wait, that description has also been used to describe the horn Dragonbinder. Wouldn’t that be a better fit?

The horn he blew was shiny black and twisted, and taller than a man as he held it with both hands.

Well, leaving aside the fact that the horn is technically described as taller and twisted, not tall and twisted, when Moqorro makes this proclamation, the horn is in the possession of Victarion, not Euron. Furthermore, Euron having a glass candle answers too many questions in relation to his ability to predict outcomes during our story. It also explains Daenerys’ dream about Hizdahr:

Beneath her coverlets she tossed and turned, dreaming that Hizdahr was kissing her … but his lips were blue and bruised, and when he thrust himself inside her, his manhood was cold as ice.

Finally, Euron having a glass candle makes sense when you consider who else in our story has them. Marwyn the Mage and Quaithe the Shadowbinder are connected by their possession of this item, but they also share another commonality with each other and Euron: They’ve been to Asshai. Also, consider their nicknames: Mage, Shadowbinder, Night-Walker – remind you of Asshai again? Overall, when all of the evidence is presented side by side, the truth becomes nearly overwhelming. Euron Greyjoy, while in exile, amassed a fortune reaving in the Summer and Jade Seas, acquired magical items, including Dragonbinder and a glass candle, and perhaps even a dragon egg, and he did so under the pseudonym ‘Urrathon Night-Walker.’ According to rumours, however, he also used another name: The Corsair King. I won’t go into detail reexplaining this one, you’re welcome to reread Part One or this incredible breakdown by /u/ser_dunk_the_lunk if you need a refresher. Euron’s use of other names could be because he wanted to build a name for himself outside of the shadow of the Greyjoy name – but that doesn’t feel right to me. I suspect that he’s using multiple aliases because he’s got a plan that involves certain things staying a secret from those who know him by another name. So what is the Corsair King hiding from Urrathon Night-Walker and Euron Greyjoy and vice versa? We’ll unveil Euron’s master plan just a little further down in the essay.

The Tie that Binds

I dedicated a good portion of Part Two to Euron’s clever manipulation of Victarion in convincing him to take the Iron Fleet to Slaver’s Bay to use Dragonbinder and retrieve Daenerys for him. I also speculated that the “Crow’s Eye” is aware that Victarion will try to double cross him – in fact, he’s counting on it. Indeed, we as readers are privy to Victarion’s inner voice, and his intentions are quite clear. Having done what Euron did to his brother’s wife has a direct cause and effect relationship to Victarion’s intentions, and only a fool wouldn’t see it coming. I contend that Euron is using this state of affairs (ha) to his advantage in the wake of Rodrik’s concerns about his initial plan.

You’ll remember that Euron first planned to send the bulk of the Ironborn strength to Slaver’s Bay with himself at the helm:

“On the morrow we prepare once more to sail,” the king was saying. “Fill our casks anew with spring water, take every sack of grain and cask of beef, and as many sheep and goats as we can carry. The wounded who are still hale enough to pull an oar will row. The rest shall remain here, to help hold these isles for their new lords. Torwold and the Red Oarsman will soon be back with more provisions. Our decks will stink of pigs and chickens on the voyage east, but we’ll return with dragons.”

Viewed within that context, we must realize that Euron’s initial plan calls his entire invasion of the Reach into question. What was his intention for the area once the majority of the Ironborn set sail for Slaver’s Bay? I suspect his plan to attack the Reach was a feint, borne of his knowledge that the Redwyne Fleet was over near Dragonstone and hopelessly out of position, and that the meager defenses left to repel his onslaught could be avoided by sailing out of sight from land through the Sunset Sea from the Iron Islands to the Shields. He then allowed Hewett’s ravens to be released so that Highgarden could be apprised of the attack and respond by deploying the Redwynes, giving the Ironborn plenty of time to first sail south of the Stepstones and into the Summer Sea.

What was the plan for the few ships that were to stay in the Shield Islands? With the Redwyne fleet en route to defend their lands, and the remaining Ironborn forces consisting of the men Euron chose as Lords of the Shield, who happened to be champions of his rivals, and men too wounded to pull an oar, is there any chance he expected them to survive?

A cursory glance at the size of the Greyjoy fleet shows that the actual number of ships are closer to 1,000 than the 100 of the Iron Fleet itself.

the Iron Islands can float a lot more than a hundred ships. Each of the major lords probably commands that many.[sic]

However, the primary strength of the Ironborn isn’t the durability of their ships. Nearly all of the longships are built for speed and maneuverability, making them excellent choices for the reaving culture of their men. While the Ironborn are fearsome warriors themselves once they board another vessel or swarm an enemy’s shores, their ships lack the size to challenge some of the warships employed by others, such as the Redwyne Fleet.

However, it is important to remember that the longships are smaller and simpler than the fleets that Joffrey and Stannis warred with on the Blackwater. The former are Viking longboats, more or less; for the latter, think Venetian/Byzantine dromonds of war.

Now the Iron Fleet in particular is the answer to this deficiency.

The ships [of the Iron Fleet], while smaller than the war dromonds of the mainland, are three times the size of a standard longship of the Isles.

And one final detail is important when looking at the difference between the Iron Fleet and the rest of the longships from the Iron Isles:

unlike other ironborn ships they belong to the Seastone Chair.

Using this information, combined with the fact that the initial attack on the Shield Islands was likely a feint by Euron, leaving behind his rivals to die with the wounded, what conclusions can we draw from Euron’s change of plans, once Rodrik objected and the Ironborn began to speak out against going to Slaver’s Bay and favored remaining in the Reach?

The simplest answer seems like Euron sent the Iron Fleet to Slaver’s Bay and planned to retreat back to the Iron Islands, since he can’t hope to defeat the Redwyne Fleet without his most powerful arsenal. However, textual clues, and a little logic tell us that this is not the case. Euron’s new plan, it appears, was far more ambitious.

Left Behind

We know from the merchants and the residents of the Reach that after the Battle of the Shield Islands, after the Iron Fleet set sail for Slaver’s Bay, the Ironborn began to reave near Oldtown in particular.

“These are no mere reavers. The ironmen have always raided where they could. They would strike sudden from the sea, carry off some gold and girls, and sail away, but there were seldom more than one or two longships, and never more than half a dozen. Hundreds of their ships afflict us now, sailing out of the Shield Islands and some of the rocks around the Arbor. They have taken Stonecrab Cay, the Isle of Pigs, and the Mermaid’s Palace, and there are other nests on Horseshoe Rock and Bastard’s Cradle. Without Lord Redwyne’s fleet, we lack the ships to come to grips with them.”

There have also been reports that the Ironborn have attempted to infiltrate Oldtown specifically, in an effort to open the gates from the inside:

“My apologies,” the captain said when his inspection was complete. “It grieves me that honest men must suffer such discourtesy, but sooner that than ironmen in Oldtown. Only a fortnight ago some of those bloody bastards captured a Tyroshi merchantman in the straits. They killed her crew, donned their clothes, and used the dyes they found to color their whiskers half a hundred colors. Once inside the walls they meant to set the port ablaze and open a gate from within whilst we fought the fire. Might have worked, but they ran afoul of the Lady of the Tower, and her oarsmaster has a Tyroshi wife. When he saw all the green and purple beards he hailed them in the tongue of Tyrosh, and not one of them had the words to hail him back.”

There’s something there that Euron is after, and it’s clear that he left instructions for his men to accomplish a goal for him. Perhaps it’s simple raiding and reaving. My guess, though, is it’s more than that. The fact that they attempted to sneak in and set a diversionary fire shows a depth of strategy that I don’t believe denotes simple raiding. However we’ll have to wait for more information to get to the bottom of it. If I had to guess, though, I would have say that I suspect the plan is to get the troops in Hightower to assemble their armies and distract them while the rest of the Ironborn take Highgarden.

Meanwhile, with Euron’s glass candle, he no doubt not only knew where the Redwyne Fleet was, but also what their strength was and what they were doing.

Paxter Redwyne owned two hundred warships, and five times as many merchant carracks, wine cogs, trading galleys, and whalers. Redwyne was encamped beneath the walls of Dragonstone, however, and the greater part of his fleet was engaged in ferrying men across Blackwater Bay for the assault on that island stronghold. The remainder prowled Shipbreaker Bay to the south, where only their presence prevented Storm’s End from being resupplied by sea.

Sending the Iron Fleet on a mission to Slaver’s Bay, removing the fiercest warriors and all of the ships most capable of dealing with Paxter’s two hundred warships from the Reach, seems like suicide – but given what we know about Euron’s ability to control the winds and move quickly through the waters, combined with the path that the Redwyne Fleet had to take to go from Dragonstone to the Reach, I suspect he thought that the Iron Fleet might make it back in time to engage the enemy with the rest of his ships. Sound crazy? Believe me, I know it is. But let’s look at a few details:

Paxter’s Path Back

To go from Dragonstone to the Reach, the Redwyne Fleet was going to have to travel through the Stepstones, which, as of our timeline in A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, is getting pretty crowded. Not only is the area normally a haunt for all sorts of men of ill repute:

“The sea is hazardous,” replied Illyrio. “Autumn is a season rife with storms, and pirates still make their dens upon the Stepstones and venture forth to prey on honest men.

But a few other pirates have also set themselves up in that area. There’s Aurane Waters, who stole the Royal Fleet:

“As soon as word of Your Grace’s present troubles reached the river, Lord Waters raised sail, unshipped his oars, and took his fleet to sea. Ser Harys fears he means to join Lord Stannis. Pycelle believes that he is sailing to the Stepstones, to set himself up as a pirate.”

which is confirmed here:

“A new pirate king has set up on Torturer’ s Deep. The Lord of the W aters, he styles himself. This one has real warships, three-deckers, monstrous large”

and Salladhor Saan:

Salla would be sailing around the Fingers and down the narrow sea. He was returning to the Stepstones with what few ships remained him. Perhaps he would acquire a few more along the way, if he came upon some likely merchantmen. A little piracy to help the leagues go by.

which is confirmed here:

A mate on the green galley wolfed half a dozen oysters and told her how his captain had been killed by the Lysene pirates who had tried to board them near the Stepstones. “That bastard Saan it was, with Old Mother’s Son and his big Valyrian. We got away, but just.”

and Volantene Ships dropping off the Golden Company:

“Sellswords landing on Cape Wrath, castles under siege or being taken, crops seized or burned. Where these men come from and who they are, no one is certain.”

Even Ironborn:

“And krakens off the Broken Arm, pulling under crippled galleys,” said Valena. “The blood draws them to the surface, our maester claims. There are bodies in the water. A few have washed upon our shores.”

confirmed again:

“Those waters are crawling with strange sails, all the way north to the Straights of Tarth and Shipbreaker’s Bay. Myrmen, V olantenes, Lyseni, even reavers from the Iron Islands”

Even though it’s confirmed in Arianne’s first chapter in The Winds of Winter that the Redwyne Fleet has passed through the Stepstones, I suspect that there’s more to the story. Consider Rodrik Harlaw’s warning to Euron, when he heard the initial plan to take all the Ironborn ships to Slaver’s Bay:

The Reader walked forward, sounding all the hazards. “Galleys guard the Redwyne Straits. The Dornish coast is dry and bleak, four hundred leagues of whirlpools, cliffs, and hidden shoals with hardly a safe landing anywhere. Beyond wait the Stepstones, with their storms and their nests of Lysene and Myrish pirates. If a thousand ships set sail, three hundred may reach the far side of the narrow sea .

Well, Paxter Redwyne has 1,200 ships, sailing past Volantene ships carrying the Golden Company, Myrish and Lyseni Pirates, including Salladhor Saan, the new Lord of the Waters, who we know is Aurane Waters, with his massive dromonds he stole from the crown, and Ironborn ships that we can’t account for, who are also in the Stepstones. In this crowd of ne’er-do-wells, I wonder how much time and how many ships Paxter will have lost next time we hear from him. I suspect it will be substantial.

Other questions remain, however. Who are these Ironborn in the Stepstones? And what’s Euron’s role in all this, since we haven’t seen him since the Iron Fleet was about to leave for Slaver’s Bay? Where is the Silence? Well folks, I’m here to tell you – he’s been following Victarion the whole way.

Sailing Behind in Silence

As /u/BryndenBFish outlines in his essay “Sailing on a Sea of Blood to Meereen”, GRRM did an early reading of A Dance with Dragons Daenerys III, where instead of this quote by Quaithe:

“Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin, the sun’s son and the mummer’s dragon. Trust none of them. Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal.”

we learn that the initial text was actually:

“The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare. After her will come the others [no caps]. Crow and kraken, lion and griffin, the sun’s son and the mummer’s dragon. Remember the undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal.”

This has massive implications for the likely location of Euron Greyjoy, who we conveniently lose track of, due to a theoretical lack of POV near him. What it means is that Euron is likely following behind Victarion on the way to Slaver’s Bay, and honestly, it makes a lot more sense. It also explains a few things that didn’t make much sense beforehand. Like why Euron would send someone he knows will betray him, or what exactly happened to half of the Iron Fleet after they left Volantis. Or, what Euron plans to do to ensure he gets his dragon, as well as the likely fate of Victarion himself in The Winds of Winter.

A Fleet Divided

In The Iron Suitor, our first Victarion chapter in A Dance with Dragons, we learn what has happened with the Iron Fleet since it’s departure from the Shield Islands. Of the 93 ships that set sail, only 45 now remained, augmented by 9 additional ships they have commandeered along the way, for a total of 54. From the Stepstones, after taking on food and fresh water, Victarion had split the Fleet in thirds, and his group, Ralf the Limper’s and Red Ralf Stonehouse were supposed to meet again near the Isle of Cedars near Slaver’s Bay

“Storms,” Ralf the Limper had muttered when he came crawling to Victarion. “Three big storms, and foul winds between. Red winds out of Valyria that smelled of ash and brimstone, and black winds that drove us toward that blighted shore. This voyage was cursed from the first. The Crow’s Eye fears you, my lord, why else send you so far away? He does not mean for us to return.”

While Victarion showed up with 22 ships, Ralf the Limper had only survived with 14. Red Ralf Stonehouse, on the other hand, who was supposed to follow course to the Basilisk Isles before sailing north to the Isle of Cedars, never turned up. Neither did nearly all of his ships. Of the third of the Iron Fleet that he took, only 9 showed up on the southern tip of the Isle where they were meant to reconvene. Where did they all go? Did they also fall prey to the storms that relentlessly assaulted Ralf the Limper and Victarion’s ships? I believe a better explanation is that, given their intended destination in the Basilisk Isles, they fell prey to The Corsair King, also know as Euron Greyjoy.

Now, there’s no direct evidence of this, but given what we know about Euron:

The Crow’s Eye had sailed halfway across the world, reaving and plundering from Qarth to Tall Trees Town, calling at unholy ports beyond where only madmen went.

and the Corsair King:

If the sailors could be believed, the east was seething with wonders and terrors: a slave revolt in Astapor, dragons in Qarth, grey plague in Yi Ti. A new corsair king had risen in the Basilisk Isles and raided Tall Trees Town, and in Qohor followers of the red priests had rioted and tried to burn down the Black Goat.

and Red Ralf Stonehouse:

He [Victarion] had broken the great fleet into squadrons, and sent each by a different route to Slaver’s Bay. The swiftest ships he gave to Red Ralf Stonehouse to sail the corsair’s road along the northern coast of Sothoryos. The dead cities rotting on that fervid, sweltering shore were best avoided, every seamen knew, but in the mud-and-blood towns of the Basilisks Isles, teeming with escaped slaves, slavers, skinners, whores, hunters, brindled men, and worse, there were always provisions to be had for men who were not afraid to pay the iron price.

and the Ironborn in the Stepstones in Arianne’s first chapter in The Winds of Winter:

“Those waters are crawling with strange sails, all the way north to the Straights of Tarth and Shipbreaker’s Bay. Myrmen, Volantenes, Lyseni, even reavers from the Iron Islands”

I think it’s a safe bet. The only question is, was Euron only responsible for reclaiming and rerouting Red Ralf’s ships, or was he the one behind the storms that led to the others getting lost as well?

He did not like these storms, which seemed to come up out of nowhere. The seas around Pyke were often stormy, but there at least a man could smell them coming

Victarion sure blames someone

As the sea crashed around him and the deck rose and fell beneath his feet, he had seen Dagon’s Feast and Red Tide slammed together so violently that both exploded into splinters. My brother’s work, he’d thought.

and while we’ve already shown how Euron can control the winds to fill his sails, one begins to wonder exactly what else he can accomplish with his warlocks and whatever other magic users he employs.

A smile played across Euron’s blue lips. “I am the storm, my lord. The first storm, and the last.”

He’s also acutely aware of what Victarion is expecting from the voyage, and what he’d likely believe to be possible.

“It comes to me that the Reader was not wrong. Too large a fleet could never hold together over such a distance. The voyage is too long, too perilous

Euron knows that he doesn’t need the entire Iron Fleet to accomplish his goals, but if was going to send Victarion to Slaver’s Bay, he needed to send them all. In all likelihood, the plan is the same as his brother anticipates:

“the only way to do this is to take the slavers unawares, as once I did at Lannisport. Sweep in from the sea and smash them, then take the girl and race for home before the Volantenes descend upon us.”

And he trusts Victarion to be able to execute this plan, because that’s what his brother is good at. Meanwhile, Euron can commandeer the lost ships and use some of them to slow down the movement of the Redwynes as well as send the rest behind Paxter’s fleet as they round the southern edge of Westeros and sail north to meet his comrades waiting in the Reach. I honestly think that Euron believes he can:

use some ships to delay the progress of the Redwynes in the Stepstones

send the remainder of his commandeered fleet behind them

create a pincer attack by hitting them from both sides

return with the remainder of the Iron Fleet before this happens

kill off whoever remains with dragons

And considering that we don’t hear about the Redwynes passing through the Stepstones until The Winds of Winter .. I think he’s got a shot of doing it.

Everything seems to be going just according to plan for the “Crow’s Eye” – until Victarion happens upon the wreckage of a ship and brings a red priest aboard…

The Black Flame

Moqorro is not the same Red Priest who was on the Selaesori Qhoran with Tyrion and Jorah. Once he boards the Iron Victory, his tattoos are different colors (the yellow changes to red), his robe appears to have aged about 20 years, the monkeys on the ship start going apeshit (har) and the Dusky Woman has a visceral reaction and hisses at him. She’s most certainly met him before – and it was onboard the Silence. I suspect that Moqorro is actually Pyat Pree in a glamour, and he’s on board the Iron Victory with Euron’s permission, but not explicity working for him. Pyat Pree has his own plans for Daenerys Stormborn, and I believe that even though Euron claims he wants her, he really is interested more in binding a dragon. Also, as you may have guessed, this makes Quaithe’s warning to Dany make a LOT more sense:

“Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin, the sun’s son and the mummer’s dragon. Trust none of them. Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal.”

Did anyone ever consider that Remember the Undying and Beware the perfumed seneschal were both part of the same warning? Moqorro is Pyat Pree (Remember the Undying) and he’s traveling as Moqorro (from the Selaesori Qhoran, or perfumed seneschal)

Also, once you realize who Moqorro is, it makes some of his quotes make a lot more sense:

“Your death is with us now, my lord. Give me your hand.”

Indeed. He is leading you to your doom, Victarion.

This particular scene, right after “Moqorro” boards, is very strange:

The iron captain was not seen again that day, but as the hours passed the crew of his Iron Victory reported hearing the sound of wild laughter coming from the captain’s cabin, laughter deep and dark and mad, and when Longwater Pyke and Wulfe One-Eye tried the cabin door they found it barred. Later singing was heard, a strange high wailing song in a tongue the maester said was High Valyrian. That was when the monkeys left the ship, screeching as they leapt into the water.

I’m guessing that last part was something important. Unfortunately, I’m still not sure what it was, but I’m betting we’ll find out, and in the meantime, I’ll be pouring through the text, trying to figure it out. However, now we need to move on!

So… What about Bloodraven?

You’ll remember in Part Two, we discussed this quote from Euron to Victarion:

“When I was a boy, I dreamt that I could fly,” he announced. “When I woke, I couldn’t . . . or so the maester said. But what if he lied?”

So what’s the deal with that? Is Euron a greenseer? A skinchanger? Has he been receiving greendreams from Bloodraven? Is he working for Bloodraven!? Unfortunately, I doubt it. Although, and I’m just speculating here, I do believe that he was contacted by Bloodraven once, and that’s precisely what started his thirst for magic.

You’ll remember that in A Game of Thrones Bran III, Bran had a similar experience to the one described by Euron here, and it happened to him after he was pushed from the tower by Jaime Lannister, but before he woke up. My understanding of this dream was that Bran could have died, but the Three Eyed Crow came to him in this fragile state and basically planted a seed, giving him the opportunity to either FLY or DIE.

The Three Eyed Crow also came to Jojen for the first time when he was sick and in danger of dying. I suspect that a child has to be in this precarious state for Bloodraven to open the kind of connection he is attempting in these situations. I think that Euron, when he was a boy, was very sick or injured the same way and this dream he’s describing to Victarion was indeed the work of the Three Eyed Crow. I think that Euron had his third eye opened just like Bran did, but when it came time to go north, or whatever was expected next by Bloodraven, something didn’t work out.

Tell the truth – can you see Euron looking at a dude who is halfway to becoming a tree and thinking.. “Yep, that’s the life I want?” Me either. However, the connection opened a door for Euron, and I think it explains his pursuit of all things magical. I also suspect that we will learn more about this in The Winds of Winter.

The Truth About Dragonbinder

All right, you’ve been patient. You’ve waited through three parts of this essay, read over 15,000 words, and all you really wanted to know in the first place was “What the hell is that damn horn gonna do when whoever blows it?” Well, here we go. First, and foremost, I’ll answer the question of who will blow it. Mind you, this is only a guess, based on my instincts from what I’ve read, but I believe the answer is three different people will blow it in Meereen. The first two will be thralls of Victarion’s, and then the third will be Victarion himself. The third horn blow will activate the power of the horn, binding Rhaegal to Euron, who will have just appeared.

Wait, what? Why would Victarion do that! He knows what will happen if he blows the horn! Well, I believe it will be a combination of a few things. He will:

Have just seen Euron approaching in Silence and he will accelerate his agenda.

Have his three thralls ready to blow the horn each one time.

Have the first one blow the horn to no effect.

Watch as Rhaegal begins to engulf his ships and his men in dragonflame.

Have the second thrall blow the horn to no effect.

Hear the screams of the Ironborn and smell the cooked flesh, while listening to the crackling wood of his Iron Fleet as it roasts outside Meereen.

Notice that the two men who blew the horn are not burned, bleeding, or hurt in any way.

Then he will start to doubt whether this is working. He will think about how he is blessed now by the Red God and the Drowned God, how perhaps it requires someone of significance blowing the horn for it to work.

We learned from the excerpt of Victarion I in The Winds of Winter about Victarion’s “three thrall” plan.

“The mute sounded the horn three times. You three will sound it only once. Might be you’ll die, might be you won’t. “

but back in A Dance with Dragons Victarion was already starting to gravitate toward wanting the pleasure of blowing the horn himself:

He brushed his hand across one of the red gold bands and the ancient glyph seemed to sing beneath his fingertips. For half a heartbeat he wanted nothing so much as to sound the horn himself. Euron was a fool to give me this, it is a precious thing, and powerful. With this I’ll win the Seastone Chair, and then the Iron Throne. With this I’ll win the world.

These sound like Gollum levels of delusion, and in both of his A Dance with Dragons chapters, Victarion treats the horn a lot like the One Ring. The power he perceives that item to contain is very seductive to him and if he comes to believe that he might have a better chance of success by blowing the horn, as stupid as that sounds, I think he will do it. With Rhaegal circling overhead, and Euron closing in from the rear, and the two thralls standing beside him, no worse for the wear, I think he snatches the horn out of the mouth of the third thrall at the last second and blows that horn so loudly and deeply that everyone in Slaver’s Bay is rocked to their core. The question on everyone’s mind, of course, is who will the dragons bind to?

Fire and Blood

We know from Moqorro that the Valyrian glyphs on Dragonbinder read:

The black priest pointed to one golden band. “Here the horn is named. ‘I am Dragonbinder,’ it says. Moqorro turned the hellhorn, examining the queer letters that crawled across a second of the golden bands. “Here it says, ‘No mortal man shall sound me and live.” Moqorro pointed to the band of steel. “Here. ‘Blood for fire, fire for blood.’ Who blows the hellhorn matters not. The dragons will come to the horn’s master. You must claim the horn. With blood.”

Many people question whether Dragonbinder will work at all, as it does not say that it will ‘bind dragons to it’s owner’ specifically. Some speculate that the glyphs might have been added to the horn by Euron or his warlocks. However, when we look at what happened to the man who blew the horn three times at the Kingsmoot, and his condition after they cut him open, it’s hard to deny that the horn has power, which is no doubt rooted in “Fire and Blood.”

“When the maester cut him open, his lungs were charred as black as soot.”

The horn itself appeared to activate in three stages. Three horn blasts is not a new concept to our story. We know from the Night’s Watch that three horn blasts signifies the white walkers, and we learn that this is a rather ancient tradition, dating back to the beginning of the Night’s Watch itself. So it’s not surprising to anyone that three horn blasts carries some significance here. Anyways, the first blast was

Sharp as a swordthrust, the sound of a horn split the air.

Bright and baneful was its voice, a shivering hot scream that made a man’s bones seem to thrum within him. The cry lingered in the damp sea air.

And then, during the second blast the glyphs on the horn begin to react:

It was bound about with bands of red gold and dark steel, incised with ancient Valyrian glyphs that seemed to glow redly as the sound swelled.

Finally, during the third blast, which is noticeably louder and longer than the previous two:

And now the glyphs were burning brightly, every line and letter shimmering with white fire.

This is clearly a sort of magic spell working, activated by the third blast. The effect on the horn blower is also remarkable:

The cheeks of the tattooed man were so puffed out they looked about to burst, and the muscles in his chest twitched in a way that it made it seem as if the bird were about to rip free of his flesh and take wing. He staggered and almost fell. The priest saw Orkwood of Orkmont catch him by one arm to hold him up, whilst Left-Hand Lucas Codd took the twisted black horn from his hands. A thin wisp of smoke was rising from the horn, and the priest saw blood and blisters upon the lips of the man who’d sounded it. The bird on his chest was bleeding too.

Aside: Like I noted earlier, the ritual by which Moqorro “heals” Victarion’s hand is reminiscent of other scenarios we’ve seen before. Look at the description of the horn after the third blow – “A thin wisp of smoke was rising from the horn” compared to Victarion’s hand:

As his crew gathered, whispering and trading glances, he raised a charred and blackened hand. Wisps of dark smoke rose from his fingers as he pointed at the maester.

And watch the reactions of the animals in the area, “above the gull screamed and screamed again”, compared with the monkeys who at first react loudly to Moqorro when he boards the ship and then, after the ritual, abandon ship immediately and jump in the water. Taking these animal reactions into consideration, then look at this description from Asshai:

An account by Archmaester Marwyn confirms reports that no man rides in Asshai, be he warrior, merchant, or prince. There are no horses in Asshai, no elephants, no mules, no donkeys, no zorses, no camels, no dogs. Such beasts, when brought there by ship, soon die.

Is there an Asshai connection with the magic of the Lord of Light? Is all of this a coincidence? Keep this in mind for later.

So we know that the horn is enchanted by some kind of magic, and that the glyphs react to whatever spell is imbued. I doubt very seriously that this horn is a fraud or that the glyphs were “added” to fool anybody. And, if we accept the description the glyphs provide, it seems fairly likely that this horn is the real deal. The only odd thing is – we know from the history of the Targaryen dynasty that they put the eggs into the beds with the babies and that’s how they bound the dragons to their children. Why would a horn be necessary at all? The fact that we’ve never heard about a horn to bind dragons or seen one in action is probably the reason people don’t believe it will work. Though, technically we have heard a little about them:

“It is a dragon horn, bound with bands of red gold and Valyrian steel graven with enchantments. The dragonlords of old sounded such horns, before the Doom devoured them. With this horn, ironmen, I can bind dragons to my will.”

Euron makes this claim at the Kingsmoot, and, at the time it seems questionable whether or not he is telling the truth, given that he also claims that he found the horn while sailing the Smoking Sea of Valyria, which we know is bullshit. But then, at the very end of A Dance with Dragons, Daenerys thinks about how she was able to bring Drogon to heel:

The dragonlords of old Valyria had controlled their mounts with binding spells and sorcerous horns. Daenerys made do with a word and a whip.

But why would the dragonlords of old Valyria need to control dragons with spells and horns? Aren’t they already dragonriders?

Binding and Bloodlines

So here’s what I think is the likeliest explanation. The dragonriders of old Valyria were the 40 families, land owning aristocrats who controlled the Freehold. Among them were the Targaryens, but they weren’t anywhere close to the most powerful. Like the Targaryens, the rest of the Valyrians of the Freehold practiced incest, to keep their bloodlines pure. Now, I believe that most of us as readers have not questioned this practice because it can be mirrored in our history as well, where oftentimes royal families would practice incest in various cultures, typically to keep the bloodlines pure in order to protect what was viewed as a “divine right” to rule. I suspect that the Valyrians were doing it because it was necessary to control their dragons.

Let me be more specific. I think the initial connections between a Valyrian and a dragon was made using magic. Specifically, I think sorcery was used to bind a dragon to a person, but I believe that once that spell successfully bound the dragon, it was bound to that person’s bloodline. Not only that, I think they were bound to that dragon’s bloodline as well. So if our person has a child and their dragon has a child, the dragon’s child will easily take to the person’s child. Make sense? That’s why the Valyrian’s practiced incest, because they could avoid having to use sorcery to bind dragons by “keeping it in the family,” so to speak.

In The World of Ice and Fire, one of the theories on the genesis of dragons considered by Septon Barth is that they came from Asshai originally:

In Asshai, the tales are many and confused, but certain texts—all impossibly ancient—claim that dragons first came from the Shadow, a place where all of our learning fails us. These Asshai’i histories say that a people so ancient they had no name first tamed dragons in the Shadow and brought them to Valyria, teaching the Valyrians their arts before departing from the annals.

I think this explanation makes sense, given that the people of the Freehold weren’t always dragonriders and we have evidence that dragons had predated them in locations all around the globe. It also fits pretty well with what I believe was the cost of this binding sorcery that first connected people to the dragons.

The horn itself says “Blood for Fire, Fire for Blood,” in keeping with what we’re familiar with when it comes to fire magic – blood sacrifice. I suspect that the reason the Valyrians practiced incest so often that centuries later, the Targaryens forgot the reason behind it, was because the spells that bound dragons to their blood, which they eventually enchanted into horns that could be used by non-sorcerors, required a massive blood sacrifice to cast. In fact, a clue to what I’m talking about was hinted at when Victarion described the horn to Moqorro:

Those writings glowed red-hot, then white-hot and painful to look upon. It seemed as if the sound would never end. It was like some long scream. A thousand screams, all melted into one.”

I suspect that a thousand slaves were sacrificed, just to cast a spell to bind a dragon, or to enchant that spell into the horns themselves. We know that the Freehold needed to expand at a rapid pace, ostensibly to acquire enough slaves to send to their mineral mines, to keep production at a high enough level to continue the growth and expansion they desired – but what if something more nefarious was happening that required them to capture as many slaves as possible? Is this the root of the words of House Targaryen?

All right, so, assuming this is correct, it really only leaves one more question? How does the horn know who its master is? How do you bind the horn to yourself so that no matter who blows it, the dragons come to you? The answer to this is another guess, but I believe it also answers a question I’ve had for a long time. I could be wrong – we’ll find out in the future.

In Part One we talked about Balon’s death and how the Ghost of High Heart’s vision seemed to point to a Faceless Man. I linked a thread where I attempt to poke holes in that theory because it never really made sense to me. Again, I won’t argue that point here, but suffice to say, I could be wrong about the Faceless Man, but I think that Euron bound the horn to himself by killing Balon. If the horn works by binding bloodline to bloodline, then it would make sense, and be a hefty price in sacrifice, if to bind the horn you had to sacrifice someone of your own blood. For someone like Euron, this is not a problem.

So, there you go, that’s my theory on how the horn Dragonbinder works, why it works, and what will happen for it to work. When Victarion blows the horn Rhaegal (at least) will be bound to Euron. I then fully expect Euron to give Victarion the “glorious end” that Moqorro saw in his visions and roast him in dragonflame.

Aside: For an excellent analysis of the Battle of Fire, I highly recommend reading /u/BryndenBFish’s analysis at War and Politics of Ice and Fire. It’s very exciting and I wholeheartedly agree with almost all his conclusions. You can find it here, but be aware that it does contain spoilers for The Winds of Winter sample chapters.

Take Me To Your Leader

In conclusion, let’s explore one more unanswered question from these essays. Who, if anyone, does Euron serve? Now, I certainly don’t have all the answers. Obviously, while the first two parts of this essay have stuck pretty close to the given text of the novels while I make guesses on the meaning of the passages I’m quoting, I have spent a good portion of this final part trying to extrapolate the hidden meaning contained in the lack of text, whether it be something Martin is saving for The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, or even a mystery best left up to the fans. You may remember in Part Two of this piece, I quoted a particularly mystifying response that Euron gives to Victarion after he asks him to go and fetch the dragon queen for him. I’ll quote a large part of the passage so you can read the parts immediately preceding it as well:

Balon was mad, Aeron is madder, and Euron is maddest of them all. Victarion was turning to go when the Crow’s Eye said, “A king must have a wife, to give him heirs. Brother, I have need of you. Will you go to Slaver’s Bay and bring my love to me?” I had a love once too. Victarion’s hands coiled into fists, and a drop of blood fell to patter on the floor. I should beat you raw and red and feed you to the crabs, the same as I did her. “You have sons,” he told his brother. “Baseborn mongrels, born of whores and weepers.” “They are of your body.” “So are the contents of my chamber pot. None is fit to sit the Seastone Chair, much less the Iron Throne. No, to make an heir that’s worthy of him, I need a different woman. When the kraken weds the dragon, brother, let all the world beware.” “What dragon?” said Victarion, frowning.

Euron clearly says “an heir that’s worthy of him” .. and, no, he’s not referring to himself in the third person, or he would have said “he needs a different woman” instead of “I need a different woman” directly after. What does Euron mean HIM? Honestly, I have no idea, and to speculate would really just be a complete guess. Although, if I had to guess, I admit that the first place my mind wanders is to this passage from Varys:

“Yet I still dream of that night, my lord. Not of the sorcerer, nor his blade, nor even the way my manhood shriveled as it burned. I dream of the voice. The voice from the flames. Was it a god, a demon, some conjurer’s trick? I could not tell you, and I know all the tricks. All I can say for a certainty is that he called it, and it answered, and since that day I have hated magic and all those who practice it.

The Great Other, whatever his name is, may just be a personification of diametric opposition to the Lord of Light, necessary to create in order to satisfy the theistic dualism of the religion itself, but even if it’s real, it doesn’t seem to be willing to work with anybody, at least as far as I’ve seen. R’hllor, on the other hand, seems to manifest it’s power through a variety of channels, seducing the race of men with unmatchable power and magic, so long as it continues to be fed (read: blood sacrifice) Whether it’s resurrection, dragonsteel, glass candles, omniscience, or any other number of tricks, the Lord of Light seems to invite anyone who would wield his power a chance to separate themselves from the masses of their fellow man, but always at a price. If I had to guess if any of our characters were serving anyone, I would guess that it inevitably led back to him.

And that’s really a big part of our story, I think. For, while the presence of the Others north of the Wall are a real and current danger that threatens to blanket the world in a winter that never ends and raise the dead from their graves, mankind can grasp this “sword without a hilt” that R’hllor represents and take their destiny into their own hands – but then what? I love this quote from the blog Made in Myr

R’hllor is humanity’s fiery salvation from the Others and a power that can be used by human civilization, but it is also a threat every bit as great as the Others. Blood and fire magic, Valyrian steel blades, flaming swords, and dragons are necessary to defeat the merciless powers of Ice, but once the need for these magical tools is gone they must be promptly put away, otherwise further catastrophes will result. A lot of old conflicts have are about to be replayed or given one last chapter in this story: the Long Night, the War for the Dawn, the Blackfyre Rebellions, Aegon’s Conquest, and the Dance of Dragons. It is likely that there will also be a replay of the Birth and Doom of Valyria. During and after the war against the demons of ice, the heroes who command R’hllor’s fire will start being tempted to feed its hungry flames so that they might discipline, master, and make empires over their fellow men. Those who give in and flatter themselves that through such empire building they will save and rebuild the world will in reality only be doing the destructive work of the second, wilier enemy.

Final Words

You’ve reached the end of my comprehensive analysis of Euron Greyjoy. Congratulations! That was a lot to get through! Here at the end I just want to address a couple of things that people might think I skipped over.

First of all, I don’t think there’s anything particularly special about the Dusky Woman, as far as her identity goes. As in, I don’t think she’s a warlock in disguise, I don’t think that Euron is warging into her and having sex with his brother (ew.) and I don’t think that she’s secretly Euron. These things are all technically possible, but there’s no textual basis for them. There is an interesting possibility that I have considered, which is that he could be using his glass candle to talk to her in her dreams, where she would have her tongue, much like Jaime still has his right hand. In that way, I could see her being a spy and that’s how he gets his information. However, I don’t really think that’s what’s happening. I think that she is there for a reason, and that reason will reveal itself in The Winds of Winter and I suspect it has to do with making sure things go the way they’re supposed to with the horn Dragonbinder.

As for the supposed dragon egg that Euron claims he found and then threw overboard. I honestly don’t know if he ever had one, and if he did, I’ll bet he still has it. If you’ve read these essays, you know I’m not a big believer in the Faceless Man killed Balon theory – though I admit I could be wrong. Perhaps we will find out in the next book.

Thanks everyone for reading all of this. It took a lot of work to put all of this together and I hope that everyone got something out of it, perhaps learned a little something, or looked at Euron in a different way than they had before. I welcome comments, questions, and feedback below. Also, this blog “The Disputed Lands” is brand new, and I hope to be adding content every week, so feel free to follow me here or on Reddit where I’ll continue to post. Most importantly, the conclusions I’ve drawn are based on my own train of thought, but a lot of the information contained in these essays was researched not just from the books but from works that others have done on the subject. Wherever possible and appropriate, I have given credit in the main body of the essay, but I especially want to praise the work of:

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

I think that my next series is going to delve further into what I started to talk about in relation to R’hllor and the Great Other – so stay tuned!