Welcome, my lords and ladies, to another Game of Thrones Season 6 reminder course, where we catch up on all the comings and goings of members of the great houses of Westeros, as well as with some of the ancillary power-players in the game of thrones. In our previous installments, we discussed where the members of House Lannister and House Stark stood by the end of Season 5. This week we turn our eyes to the western sea, and the Kraken of House Greyjoy.
House Greyjoy
The members of House Greyjoy have been a sort of an enigma on Game of Thrones. Theon Greyjoy was the only one we met in Season 1, and considered he’d been a ward of the Starks since he was very young, he wasn’t the best one to represent the whole clan. It wasn’t until Season 2 that we were introduced other members of this dysfunctional family.
- King Balon Greyjoy: Old yet strong and proud, Balon refuses to bend his knees to anyone not wearing a driftwood crown. He believed that the Ironborn must once again pay the iron price for what they wanted, and that meant first betraying Robb Stark, and then invading the unprotected North while Robb was fighting the Lannisters down south.
- Yara Greyjoy (Asha in the books): The only living daughter of Balon Greyjoy, it is Yara’s belief that she can reave, loot, and pillage better than any man on the Iron Islands, and that her father’s crown should pass to her once he goes to dine with the Drowned God at his table beneath the waves.
- Theon Greyjoy: The youngest son of Balon thinks the Seastone chair and Driftwood crown are his by rights, but that’s not necessarily the way of the Ironborn. After his return to the Iron Islands in Season 2, Theon was ridiculed by his father and told he had to prove himself an Iron Islander before the men of his ship would respect and follow him.
Season 2 saw the rise of House Greyjoy…for a time. Still mainly focusing on Theon, we saw him take Winterfell and kill Ser Rodrik Cassel, ignore pleas from his sister to abandon the castle, and then ultimately lose the seat of House Stark when his own men turned on him and gave him to Ramsay Snow.
Season 3 was the year Theon was mercilessly tortured by Ramsay Snow. Balon and Yara were all but forgotten as other storylines pushed their way to the forefront. By the end of Season 3, Ramsay Snow had tortured Theon so much that he had adopted a new identity: that of the meek, subservient Reek.
Yara and Balon were in Season 3 only very briefly. They received a “special gift” from Ramsay Snow: Theon’s severed penis, a warning to the Ironborn not to mess with northerners. In her anger, Yara assembled “the 50 best killers on the Iron Islands,” and sailed directly for the Dreadfort, where her brother Theon was being held prisoner.
Unfortunately, when Yara reached Theon in Season 4, he refused to go with his sister, since he feared the rescue was a trap set by Ramsay. By this point, it seemed like Reek had completed subsumed Theon—he wasn’t going anywhere.
And that was the last time we laid eyes on any Greyjoy other than Reek, née Theon. In Season 5, Reek made strides toward reclaiming his old identity, or at least casting off his new one, when he helped Sansa Stark escape Winterfell, There was no mention of Yara or Balon. It seemed that they were forgotten.
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT
But as we start the wind-up to Season 6, the other members of House Greyjoy look ready to make a comeback, and it seems they’ll be bringing along some new faces. What can we expect from the Greyjoys in Season 6?
- We know Gemma Whelan (Yara Greyjoy) was seen heading to Belfast, where Game of Thrones films much of it’s material, and that she worried she would die when she was handed her script for Season 6. At minimum, we’ll get some new scenes with her, and it’s possible she’ll play a large part.
- Theon and Sansa jumped off the walls of Winterfell at the end of Season 5, and there is no telling where they are now. However, we do know that Alfie Allen (Theon) was seen during filming of scenes on the Iron Islands. Could this mean Theon makes his way home in Season 6?
- Balon is presumed dead. There have been no rumors or sighting of actor Patrick Malahide, who portrayed Balon in previous seasons. If things happen as they do in the novels, Balon will fall off a bridge to his death under mysterious circumstances. This is borne out by reports that the production was filming on the famous Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge in Northern Ireland.
- Now for that new face: long-lost Greyjoy family member Euron Greyjoy will be showing up this season. He’s new, he’s exciting, and he’s definitely dangerous, if the books are any indication. Euron will be portrayed by Danish actor Pilou Asbæk, and will most certainly make an impression on viewers. In the books, he seizes the Iron Islands’ driftwood crown for himself after defeating other candidates for the position in a Kingsmoot, which is a kind of royal election. He then sends a fleet of Ironborn ships to Meereen to bring Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons home to Westeros, hoping to use them to take over the Seven Kingdoms. Euron is wildly unpredictable and I can’t wait to see what he does on the show.
Unlike the other great houses of Westeros, House Greyjoy prefers to mostly keep to itself. Its members adhere to the old ways: they take what they want through pillaging and plundering, and they worship their Drowned God. They’re an odd bunch. However, if done right, the Game of Thrones showrunners have a chance to make the dickheads from asshole island Ironborn something special this season.
Via http://winteriscoming.net/2016/02/05/game-of-thrones-season-6-the-last-time-we-saw-the-greyjoys/
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