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~ Aeron Damphair's response to Euron Crow's Eye's return to the Iron Islands, having spent nearly three years of exile, after the death of King Balon.
Aeron Greyjoy, also known as the Damphair, is a major POV character from the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series. He is a priest of the Drowned God, a self-proclaimed prophet, and the youngest surviving son of the late Lord Quellon Greyjoy and Lady Sunderly. He is the younger brother of Balon, Euron, Victarion, and Urrigon.
Aeron is known for his fierceness and devotion to the god after his spiritual awakening from a near-death experience. He claims to have witnessed the Drowned God's watery halls and believes he regularly speaks with the god. He earned his moniker because of his wet hair. His acolytes are known as the Drowned Men, and it is unspecified if this how all the acolytes of priests are generally called.
Aeron's brother Urrigon, or "Urri", died in his youth at the age of fourteen because of an infection he gotten on his arm after a maester sewed three cut fingers that he lost by playing the finger dance. Aeron had three older half-brothers—Harlon, Quenton, and Donel—as well as two younger half-siblings, Robin and a stillborn girl. All of his half-sibling died in infancy.
Aeron is tall, but shorter than his older brother Victarion, and thin with long black hair. He has fierce black eyes and a beak of a nose. During his youth before he had a spiritual awakening, he had an easy smile and a mocking grin. After becoming a holy man, Aeron looks gaunt and never cuts his hair and beard, which now falls to his waist, is tangled, and always has seaweed into it. Now humorless, he is always sour-faced, has eyes prone to scorn and easy disapproval and judgement, described as iron. His angry stare intimidates most people. He is often wet with seawater, as he enters into the sea at every chance.
As the priest Damphair, he wears roughspun wool robes dyed in the green, grey and blue colors of the Drowned God. When he performs drowning ceremonies, he wears nothing except for a sealskin clout to cover his privates. He always carries a waterskin with him, which is filled with seawater, which he uses to bless anyone who wishes for it.
Personality[]
As a young man and before changing, Aeron was the most amiable of the four living Greyjoy brothers, feckless, immature, and irresponsible. He was quick to laugh and was fond of songs, ale, and women. As an adolescent and a young man, he was a party animal and a prankster who was often drunk and loved to sing old reaving songs standing on tables with a horn of ale in hand. At the age of sixteen he sang, danced, japed, played the pipes, juggled, and rode horses. He also was a gambler and boasted of his urination prowess. Although the games he enjoyed included the dangerous finger dance, he stopped playing it since it caused the death of his brother Urrigon during Robert's Rebellion. Aeron also had a mocking personality and he was also described as vain. Although he was a captain, nothing about his leadership skills is known. The present-time Aeron thinks of his young-self as a "worthless thing" and a "sack of wine with legs".
When he was young, Aeron was not close to his older and more serious warrior brother Balon, in part due to their age gap, and in part due to Aeron's juvenile behavior, which earned him nothing but scorn from him. His third older brother Victarion hated his derisive side, as Aeron's mockery for others was witty and presented as false praise, only for everyone else to laugh with him at the victim. Aeron always feared and hated his second older brother Euron, who was neither loved by his other siblings. Aeron was truly close to his fourth older brother Urrigon, who was closer to him and age, and the two always spent time together.
After drowning at sea some time after Greyjoy's Rebellion, Aeron underwent a complete and drastic transformation in character, and his personality became utterly unlike his old-self. He claims to have witnessed the splendor and glory of the Drowned God's watery halls deep in the abyss and that when he drowned he died, only to be reborn as a completely new and holy man. He became extremely devoted to the sea deity, at extreme levels of fanaticism. Now a priest and a prophet of the Drowned God, leader of his own following of Drowned Men, Aeron is a dour, humorless, and sharp man who views every breath as a gift that is wasted if it not used to extol the virtues of following the path of his god. He has a strong will of iron and an unbreakable faith. He has a deep commanding voice and even most of the Ironborn captains and reavers respect and follow him. His angry stare is described as something that would make maids feel faint and send children shrieking to their mothers.
When it comes to his religion, Aeron is very overbearing and intolerant of blasphemy. He loves the sea and ocean deeply, always bathing naked in the cold and icy waters of the Iron Islands, ignoring the harsh and windy weather. He dislikes staying too far from the sea. Like the other fellow priests, Aeron often drinks a bit of seawater to feel strengthened and healed by his god. Along with Balon and Victarion, Aeron is a fervent supporter of the Old Way, which glorifies the Ironborn's ancient traditions of paying the iron price by attacking other countries to burn settlements and start wars, raiding, raping, stealing, and taking thralls and salt wives. Although he used to love horses once, the "reborn" Aeron is not fond of them, viewing them as creatures from the green lands of the Westerosi continent that helped to weaken men, suggesting he dislikes mounted warfare. However, he also understands that horses are necessary to travel and rides them without issues if he has to.
Being a fanatical devotee of the Drowned God, Aeron has an avversion toward the Storm God, stormy weather, ravens and crows, and the maesters of the Citadel who tend on such birds. He resents and mistrust maesters ever since Urrigon's death by infection, caused by a past maester of Pyke's poor medical knowledge. He also denounces his brother Euron as a godless madman and a demon in human skin.
Out of all of Balon's children, Aeron loves his niece Asha best. As a child, Theon used to love Aeron's company, but now he cannot stand his perpetual scowling and his serious behavior, and thinks he has gone mad. Baelor Blacktyde thinks Aeron is madder than Balon.
Quotes[]
By Aeron[]
“
We were born from the sea, and to the sea we all return.
„
~ Aeron Greyjoy
“
Young I was, and vain, but the sea washed my follies and my vanities away. That man drowned, nephew. His lungs filled with seawater, and the fish ate the scales off his eyes. When I rose again, I saw clearly.
„
~ Aeron describing his change.
“
A man agrees with God as a raindrop with the storm.
Balon: The lords are gone south with the pup. Those who remained behind are the cravens, old men, and green boys. They will yield or fall, one by one. Winterfell may defy us for a year, but what of it? The rest shall be ours, forest and field and hall, and we shall make the folk our thralls and salt wives. Aeron: And the waters of wrath will rise high, and the Drowned God will spread his dominion across the green lands! Victarion: What is dead can never die.
„
~ Aeron and his brothers during a war meeting for their second rebellion.
“
Have courage. We came from the sea, and to the sea we must return. Open your mouth and drink deep of God's blessing. Fill your lungs with water, that you may die and be reborn. It does no good to fight.
„
~ Aeron drowning the acolyte Emmond.
“
Lord God who drowned for us, let Emmond your servant be reborn from the sea, as you were. Bless him with salt, bless him with stone, bless him with steel.
„
~ Aeron after reviving Emmond with the kiss of life.
“
That Steffarion Sparr had been given to the Drowned God soon after birth he had no doubt. He knew the manner of it too, a quick dip into a tub of seawater that scarce wet the infant's head. Small wonder the ironborn had been conquered, they who once held sway everywhere the sound of waves was heard
„
~ Disapproving thoughts of Aeron about how most "modern" ironborn are "drowned".
“
He was all that an elder brother ought to be, though he had never shown Aeron aught but scorn. I was weak and full of sin, and scorn was more than I deserved. Better to be scorned by Balon the Brave than beloved of Euron Crow's Eye. And if age and grief had turned Balon bitter with the years, they had also made him more determined than any man alive. He was born a lord's son and died a king, murdered by a jealous god. And now the storm is coming, a storm such as these isles have never known.
„
~ Thoughts of Aeron after learning about Balon's death.
“
He had no love of maesters. Their ravens were creatures of the Storm God, and he did not trust their healing, not since Urri. No proper man would choose a life of thralldom, nor forge a chain of servitude to wear about his throat.
„
~ Aeron's contempt for maesters.
“
Silence! Too long have the ironborn listened to you chain-neck maesters prating of the green lands and their laws. It is time we listened to the sea again. It is time we listened to the voice of God.
„
~ Aeron to Maester Murenmure
“
Comforts I shall know in the Drowned God's watery halls beneath the waves. We are born to suffer, that our sufferings might make us strong.
„
~ Aeron about life
“
We were born from the sea, and to the sea we all return. The Storm God in his wrath plucked Balon from his castle and cast him down, and now he feasts beneath the waves in the Drowned God's watery halls. Balon is dead! The king is dead! Yet a king will come again! For what is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger! A king will rise!
„
~ Aeron announcing Balon's death to smallfolk on Great Wyk.
“
Nine sons were born from the loins of Quellon Greyjoy, and I was the least of them, as weak and frightened as a girl. But no longer. That man is drowned, and the god has made me strong.
„
~ Thoughts of Aeron
“
Aeron: For I have heard the god, who says, "No godless man may sit my Seastone Chair!" The Merlyn: Is it Asha, then? Or Victarion? Tell us, priest! Aeron: The Drowned God will tell you, but not here. Look not to me, nor to the laws of men, but to the sea. Raise your sails and unship your oars, my lord, and take yourself to Old Wyk. You, and all the captains and the kings. Go not to Pyke, to bow before the godless, nor to Harlaw, to consort with scheming women. Point your prow toward Old Wyk, where stood the Grey King's Hall. In the name of the Drowned God I summon you. I summon all of you! Leave your halls and hovels, your castles and your keeps, and return to Nagga's hill to make a kingsmoot! The Merlyn: [gaping in surprise] A kingsmoot? There has not been a true kingsmoot in... Aeron: ... too long a time! Yet in the dawn of days the ironborn chose their own kings, raising up the worthiest amongst them. It is time we returned to the Old Way, for only that shall make us great again. It was a kingsmoot that chose Urras Ironfoot for High King, and placed a driftwood crown upon his brows. Sylas Flatnose, Harrag Hoare, the Old Kraken, the kingsmoot raised them all. And from this kingsmoot shall emerge a man to finish the work King Balon has begun and win us back our freedoms. Go not to Pyke, nor to the Ten Towers of Harlaw, but to Old Wyk, I say again. Seek the hill of Nagga and the bones of the Grey King's Hall, for in that holy place when the moon has drowned and come again we shall make ourselves a worthy king, a godly king. Listen! Listen to the waves! Listen to the god! He is speaking to us, and he says, "We shall have no king but from the kingsmoot!"
„
~ Aeron calls for a kingsmoot to prevent a civil war on the Iron Islands.
“
Balon has fallen, Balon my brother, who honored the Old Way and paid the iron price. Balon the Brave, Balon the Blessed, Balon Twice-Crowned, who won us back our freedoms and our god. Balon is dead... but an iron king shall rise again, to sit upon the Seastone Chair and rule the isles. Drowned men: A king shall rise! He shall rise! Aeron: He shall. He must. But who? Who shall sit in Balon's place? Who shall rule these holy isles? Is he here among us now? Who shall be king over us?
„
~ Aeron during the kingsmoot on Old Wyk.
“
I placed the crown upon his head, and gladly will I wrest it off again and crown you in his stead. Only you are strong enough to fight him. Victarion: The Drowned God raised him up. Let the Drowned God cast him down. Aeron: It was not the god who spoke. Euron is known to keep wizards and foul sorcerers on that red ship of his. They sent some spell among us, so we could not hear the sea. The captains and the kings were drunk with all this talk of dragons.
„
~ Aeron and Victarion the night after the kingsmoot.
“
I have my voice, and the god is with me. Mine is the strength of the sea, a strength the Crow's Eye cannot hope to withstand. The waves may break upon the mountain, yet still they come, wave upon wave, and in the end only pebbles remain where once the mountain stood. And soon even the pebbles are swept away, to be ground beneath the sea for all eternity.
„
~ Aeron intending to oppose Euron.
“
The ironborn shall be waves. Not the great and lordly, but the simple folk, tillers of the soil and fishers of the sea. The captains and the kings raised Euron up, but the common folk shall tear him down. I shall go to Great Wyk, to Harlaw, to Orkmont, to Pyke itself. In every town and village shall my words be heard. No godless man may sit the Seastone Chair!
„
~ Aeron declaring to Victarion his intent to raise the ironborn smallfolk in rebellion against Euron.
“
That which is dead cannot die. For he who has tasted death once need never fear again. He was drowned, but he came forth stronger than before, with steel and fire.
„
~ Aeron to Euron.
“
Falia Flowers. Have courage, girl! All this will be over soon, and we will feast together in the Drowned God's watery halls.
„
~ Aeron to Falia Flowers, tied on the prow of the Silence and on their way to the sea battle against the Redwyne and Hightower fleets.
It was me who taught you how to pray, little brother. Have you forgotten? I would visit your bedchamber at night when I had too much to drink. You shared a room with Urrigon high up in the Sea Tower. I could hear you praying from outside the door. I always wondered: Were you praying that I would choose you or that I would pass you by?
„
~ Euron taunting Aeron.
“
Could the Drowned God have sent a gift to him, here on the far side of the world? His brother Aeron would have known, but Aeron had seen the majesty of the Drowned God's watery halls below the sea before being returned to life.
Aeron after his spiritual rebirth as the Damphair.
Aeron and his late brother Urrigon.
At a young age, Aeron feasted on goats for a year as an award for dousing on a hearthfire by peeing.
Aeron's near-death experience after his ship went down in a storm whilst being released from the captivity during Greyjoy's Rebellion.
Aeron on the shores, praying to his Drowned god.
Aeron blesses Theon upon his return to the Iron Islands by pouring seawater onto his head.
Aeron resuscitating a servant after the drowning ritual.
To prevent a succession crisis in the Iron Islands in the wake of Balon's Death, Aeron summons a kingsmoot at Nagga's Hills.
Aeron experienced several nightmarish visions caused by shade of the evening, in which was forcibly fed with by Euron, one of which includes his late brother Urrigon with his arm infected after a failed attempt by the maester to sew his fingers back.
Another vision that Aeron received was of Euron on the Iron Throne in the form of a mutated kraken with a pale bright shadow in a woman's form with hands lively with white flames at his side.
Trivia[]
He is one of the only two priest characters who have been POV characters in the story, the other one being Melisandre. Both are also extremely fanatical about their religious beliefs.
Aeron's entire role in A Song of Ice and Fire and his bad history with Euron were completely omitted from the television series Game of Thrones. He gives no reaction nor opposition when Euron nonchalantly admits to having murdered their brother Balon and committed kinslaying, nor appears to care when Euron orders to kill their niece Yara and their nephew Theon. The only thing that concerns Aeron during their escape is that they took the fastest ships in the Iron Islands. Euron even lets Aeron drown him religiously, which never occurs in the novels. Aeron makes no further appearances after the sixth season, and in the eighth season Euron mentions he and Yara are the last living Greyjoys, suggesting that Aeron died at some point prior.
