The Iron Captain - AFFC Chapter 18
Feb 13, 2016 19:32:56 GMT
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Post by Melifeather on Feb 13, 2016 19:32:56 GMT
The Iron Captain - AFFC Chapter 18
Last edit: May 8, 2016
*Note* I plan to come back and revise this essay due to my work on The Reaver which revealed that Vicatarion is reliving Aegor "Bittersteel" River's life and not Aerys I and II like I originally thought in the Iron Captain. Look for a future update after The Reaver is complete.
I read through The Iron Captain twice, because the first time through I didn’t notice any obvious parallels to go with an inversion theory. After a second reading I thought about The Prophet and how I had identified Damphair as mirroring Aemon Targaryen and Victarion as Aerys I and Aerys II Targaryen and then it clicked. The Iron Captain. The Iron Throne. Could it really be a metaphor?
The chapter begins with Quellon’s Greyjoy’s second son, Victarion sailing into Old Wyk on the Iron Victory on his way to the kingsmoot. He sees Nagga’s ribs rising from the top of the grassy hill and thinks they are the bones of the Grey King’s Hall and how he could feel the magic of the place. Victarion never imagined that he would be king, and he wondered if the people would shout his name as loud as they had shouted for Balon. He’s currently unmarried, though one of his sworn men offered him a daughter. He killed his last wife by beating her to death with his fists.
Daeron’s second son, Aerys 1 never imagined that he would be king. He was a learned man, but his interests lay mainly in books, prophecies, and higher mysteries. He married Aelinor Penrose, but he never showed an interest in getting her with child. Rumor has it that their marriage was never consumated.
While Victarion had many reasons to want to kill Euron, he believed that nothing was so accursed as the kinslayer. He also believed that an elder brother had rights before a younger, but when Damphair suggested that the Drowned God should decide the next king by calling a kingsmoot, Victarion easily agreed with the brother who spoke with god’s voice. Their shared faith drew the two brothers together.
Aerys I faced many difficulites early on in his reign. Many people died during the Great Spring Sickness, the ironborn were reaving up and down the shores of the Sunset Sea, and Bittersteal plotted to take the Iron Throne. Perhaps those were some of his reasons for turning to Bloodraven to serve as his Hand, but it was their shared belief in prophesy that truly drew the two brothers together.
Euron expected Victarion and Damphair to support his claim as king since he was the elder.
When Aerys named Bloodraven hand, his brother Prince Maekar objected as he thought the Handship should come to him. He left Kings Landing shortly after the argument to live at Summerhall.
Speaking of Summerhall, it is believed that Aegon tried to work some magic there that failed.
Nagga’s ribs became the Grey King’s Hall, and Victarion felt it was a magical place.
Nine-tenths of the Iron Fleet sailed in on the evening tide when Victarion came to Old Wyk. The sight of their sails filled him with great content. No man had ever loved his wives half as well as the Lord Captain loved his ships. Longships lined the shore as far as his eye could see, with masts thrust up like spears. Was there ever such an obvious phallic symbol?
Aerys II (second of his name) was a handsome youth with undeniable charm, and he gained a reputation for his infidelities. Many a maid was dimissed from Queen Rhaella’s service as she did not approve of his “turning my ladies into his whores”.
Victarion notices Euron’s ship Silence and the ships of his men, and instructs his own men to position their ships between Silence and the sea, and to seal the bay.
Aerys I’s brother Daemon the Younger could have easily launched a rebellion from a gathering of allies under the guise of a tourney held by Lord Butterwell, but before the tourney was even over, Bloodraven turned up outside Whitewalls with a host of his own, and the rebellion ended before it could begin.
Nute the Barber helped Victarion with his Lord Captain’s cloak which was constructed with nine layers of cloth-of-gold, sewn in the shape of a kraken. Underneath his clothes was heavy mail that he wore day and night even though his shoulders were sore and his back ached from the weight. He thinks his pains are easier to bear than bloody bowels caused by poisoned arrows shot by bog devils (crannogmen). One scratch and a few short hours later he could be squirting his life down his legs.
When Aerys I assumed the crown, the Great Spring Sickness was a plague epidemic that killed tens of thousands of people in the Seven Kingdoms. Symptoms included bouts of diarreah. Bodies were burned in the Dragonpit by pyromancers, and the light of their pyres could be seen glowing even during the day.
Hotho offers his twelve year old daughter to Victarion as a bride. Victarion tries to imagine what she might look like, but can only see his third and last wife that he had killed. He had sobbed each time he struck her, and then carried her down to the rocks to give her body to the crabs.
King Aerys I had no natural born children, but he did recognize heirs, one of whom was his brother Rhaegel, third son of Daeron the Good, but he choked to death upon a lamprey pie during a feast. The third and last of Aerys named heirs would be the one to succeed him to the throne: his sole surviving brother, Prince Maekar.
The Iron Captain spies his neice, Asha Greyjoy and they discuss rights to the crown, how an elder comes before a younger, but how Balon’s child would come before a brother. Victarion declares that the king must be a kraken.
During Aerys I’s time there was much disagreement over the line of inheiritance with the only agreement being that the king must be a Targaryen.
Added 9/6/19: Asha questions Victarion about what happened with Euron three years ago:
"He took the Silence east. A lengthy voyage."
"I asked why he went, not where." When he did not answer, Asha said, "I was away when Silence sailed. I had taken Black Wind around the Arbor to the Stepstones, to steal a few trinkets from the Lyseni pirates. When I came home, Euron was gone and your new wife was dead."
"She was only a salt wife." He had not touched another woman since he gave her to the crabs. I will need to take a wife when I am king. A true wife, to be my queen and bear me sons. A king must have an heir.
Recall that Asha is a parallel to Rhaella, Victarion is Bittersteal, and Euron is Bloodraven, but this passage seems to be an older parallel than Rhaella. The Lyseni pirates seems to point towards Prince Daemon Targaryen who took a pale Lysene dancer and maegi working as a prostitute in Flea Bottom, as his mistress. Her name was Mysaria, but everyone called her Lady Misery or referred to her as the White Worm. She became Daemon's favorite and later an accomplished Mistress of Whispers on par with Bloodraven. Daemon, for his part, gave himself the title King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea. Mysaria became pregnant while on Dragonstone, so Daemon gave her an egg, which angered King Viserys I who demanded the egg be returned. Daemon sent Mysaria with the egg to Lys, but she lost the child while crossing the Narrow Sea during a storm. Somehow I see a parallel between the "trinkets" that Asha stole in Lys with the dragon egg that Mysaria took with her to Lys. How this relates back to Rhaella is not clear. Perhaps Asha is also a parallel to Shiera Seastar who was connected to both Bloodraven and Bittersteal?
I think I've found the answer to my Asha question:
Some said that Daemon's support for his brother in the Great Council was motivated by the belief he would be his brother's heir. But in Viserys's mind, he already had an heir: Rhaenyra, his sole daughter by his cousin, Queen Aemma of House Arryn. Rhaenyra was born in 97 AC, and as a child her father doted upon her, and took her everywhere with him—even to the council chamber, where he encouraged her to watch and listen intently. For these reasons, the court doted on her as well, and many paid homage to her. The singers dubbed her the Realm's Delight, for she was bright and precocious—a beautiful child who was already a dragonrider at the age of seven as she flew on the back of her she-dragon Syrax, named for one of the old gods of Valyria.
Asha is more than a parallel for Rhaella. She's a parallel for every female Targaryen heir that should have inherited the throne, but for one reason or another was supplanted by a male heir. Rhaenyra was of course part of the first Dance of the Dragons which ended when she was burned and eaten by her brother's dragon. The reference to the stolen trinket was to bring our attention to Mysaria so that we'd understand which Targaryen female Asha was being compared to in this chapter.
Euron is described as being the most comely of Lord Quellon’s sons with hair as black as a midnight sea, a smooth, pale face with a neat dark beard, and a black leather eye patch covering his left eye. His right eye was blue as a summer sky. Victarion greeted him as “Crow’s Eye”, but Euron corrected him by saying, “King Crow’s Eye, brother.”
An albino, Brynden Rivers had milk white skin, long white hair, and red eyes. On the right side of his face was a red birthmark said to look somewhat like a raven. He lost an eye during the First Blackfyre Rebellion, but preferred to leave the empty socket uncovered. Bloodraven goes on to become the Last Greenseer, and his appearance in dreams is as a Three Eyed Crow.
Damphair declares that no godless man may sit the Seastone Chair. Euron declares that he has already sat the Seastone Chair and heard the prayers of many. He has travelled the world and learned of all the different gods and says he knows them all. He’s heard prayers in half a hundred tongues, including pleas for protection.
Bloodraven tells Bran that the weirwoods have no sense of time. He will see the past, present, and future. He will become part of a godhead, have power over nature, have prophetic visions, and the wisdom of ages.
Asha accuses Euron for the death of her father, Balon. Euron replied, “Do I command the winds?”
Was Bloodraven responsible for the events at Summerhall? Does he command fire?
Asha is the daughter of King Balon Greyjoy and Alannys Harlaw, and Victarion is her uncle and Damphair's chosen to be Balon's heir. She is currently unwed, but romantically connected to two men: Tristifer Botley, and Qarl the Maid. When Asha goes to Victarion to suggest that they share the rule it causes Victarion to think that she’s proposing that they marry, but when he crosses his arms and declares that the Seastone Chair seats but one, Asha clarifies that she meant that she wanted to be his Hand.
Queen Rhaella Targaryen was the sister, wife, and queen of King Aerys II Targaryen, and the only daughter of King Jaehaerys II. Her grandfather was King Aegon V. Rhaella was the mother of Rhaegar, Viserys, and Daenerys. In her youth she was in love with Ser Bonifer Hasty, a young landed knight from the stormlands. She married her brother on the command of her father, who had been influenced by a woods witch brought to court by Jenny of Oldstones. On the same day as her grandfather and his eldest son perished in the Tragedy at Summerhall, Aerys II became crown prince and Rhaella gave birth to Rhaegar.
When Asha came back from Deepwood Motte she brought Lady Glover back as a hostage. She talks to Victarion about making peace with their enemies, and that her gentle treatment of Lady Glover will enable her to treat with the Northmen. Lady Glover swore her lord would treat with Asha, and if Deepwood Motte, Torrhen’s Square, and Moat Cailin were returned that the northmen would cede the ironmen Sea Dragon Point and all the Stony Shore.
If Asha is mirroring Rhaella, and Lady Glover is Lyanna, then this chapter suggests that the queen was holding Lyanna hostage with the hope of using her as a means to treat with the Starks, Arryns, and Baratheons. Whoa!
Victarion (Aerys II) tells Asha (Rhaella) that Lady Glover (Lyanna) has played her for a fool, and Asha counters that Victarion is the fool if he believes he can become king without her support as Euron is getting all the praise and she brings up the burning of Tywin’s fleet at Lannisport. Victarion insists that he burnt the lion’s fleet, flinging the first torch onto his flagship.
If Aerys II knew that Rhaella had Lyanna, could they have had a similar argument? Rhaella councils Aerys that Tywin is getting all the praise and credit. Victarion's burning of Tywin’s fleet is a metaphor for when Aerys II’s burned Lord Rickard Stark, effectively burning Tywin's "fleet" which was his alliance with the Starks, Arryns, and Baratheons. Asha insists that Crow’s Eye hatched the scheme…which suggests that Rhaella blamed Bloodraven for suggesting he burn Rickard as a way to destroy any threat from Tywin, but it backfired and fueled the Rebellion.
Last edit: May 8, 2016
*Note* I plan to come back and revise this essay due to my work on The Reaver which revealed that Vicatarion is reliving Aegor "Bittersteel" River's life and not Aerys I and II like I originally thought in the Iron Captain. Look for a future update after The Reaver is complete.
I read through The Iron Captain twice, because the first time through I didn’t notice any obvious parallels to go with an inversion theory. After a second reading I thought about The Prophet and how I had identified Damphair as mirroring Aemon Targaryen and Victarion as Aerys I and Aerys II Targaryen and then it clicked. The Iron Captain. The Iron Throne. Could it really be a metaphor?
The chapter begins with Quellon’s Greyjoy’s second son, Victarion sailing into Old Wyk on the Iron Victory on his way to the kingsmoot. He sees Nagga’s ribs rising from the top of the grassy hill and thinks they are the bones of the Grey King’s Hall and how he could feel the magic of the place. Victarion never imagined that he would be king, and he wondered if the people would shout his name as loud as they had shouted for Balon. He’s currently unmarried, though one of his sworn men offered him a daughter. He killed his last wife by beating her to death with his fists.
Daeron’s second son, Aerys 1 never imagined that he would be king. He was a learned man, but his interests lay mainly in books, prophecies, and higher mysteries. He married Aelinor Penrose, but he never showed an interest in getting her with child. Rumor has it that their marriage was never consumated.
While Victarion had many reasons to want to kill Euron, he believed that nothing was so accursed as the kinslayer. He also believed that an elder brother had rights before a younger, but when Damphair suggested that the Drowned God should decide the next king by calling a kingsmoot, Victarion easily agreed with the brother who spoke with god’s voice. Their shared faith drew the two brothers together.
Aerys I faced many difficulites early on in his reign. Many people died during the Great Spring Sickness, the ironborn were reaving up and down the shores of the Sunset Sea, and Bittersteal plotted to take the Iron Throne. Perhaps those were some of his reasons for turning to Bloodraven to serve as his Hand, but it was their shared belief in prophesy that truly drew the two brothers together.
Euron expected Victarion and Damphair to support his claim as king since he was the elder.
When Aerys named Bloodraven hand, his brother Prince Maekar objected as he thought the Handship should come to him. He left Kings Landing shortly after the argument to live at Summerhall.
Speaking of Summerhall, it is believed that Aegon tried to work some magic there that failed.
Nagga’s ribs became the Grey King’s Hall, and Victarion felt it was a magical place.
Nine-tenths of the Iron Fleet sailed in on the evening tide when Victarion came to Old Wyk. The sight of their sails filled him with great content. No man had ever loved his wives half as well as the Lord Captain loved his ships. Longships lined the shore as far as his eye could see, with masts thrust up like spears. Was there ever such an obvious phallic symbol?
Aerys II (second of his name) was a handsome youth with undeniable charm, and he gained a reputation for his infidelities. Many a maid was dimissed from Queen Rhaella’s service as she did not approve of his “turning my ladies into his whores”.
Victarion notices Euron’s ship Silence and the ships of his men, and instructs his own men to position their ships between Silence and the sea, and to seal the bay.
Aerys I’s brother Daemon the Younger could have easily launched a rebellion from a gathering of allies under the guise of a tourney held by Lord Butterwell, but before the tourney was even over, Bloodraven turned up outside Whitewalls with a host of his own, and the rebellion ended before it could begin.
Nute the Barber helped Victarion with his Lord Captain’s cloak which was constructed with nine layers of cloth-of-gold, sewn in the shape of a kraken. Underneath his clothes was heavy mail that he wore day and night even though his shoulders were sore and his back ached from the weight. He thinks his pains are easier to bear than bloody bowels caused by poisoned arrows shot by bog devils (crannogmen). One scratch and a few short hours later he could be squirting his life down his legs.
When Aerys I assumed the crown, the Great Spring Sickness was a plague epidemic that killed tens of thousands of people in the Seven Kingdoms. Symptoms included bouts of diarreah. Bodies were burned in the Dragonpit by pyromancers, and the light of their pyres could be seen glowing even during the day.
Hotho offers his twelve year old daughter to Victarion as a bride. Victarion tries to imagine what she might look like, but can only see his third and last wife that he had killed. He had sobbed each time he struck her, and then carried her down to the rocks to give her body to the crabs.
King Aerys I had no natural born children, but he did recognize heirs, one of whom was his brother Rhaegel, third son of Daeron the Good, but he choked to death upon a lamprey pie during a feast. The third and last of Aerys named heirs would be the one to succeed him to the throne: his sole surviving brother, Prince Maekar.
The Iron Captain spies his neice, Asha Greyjoy and they discuss rights to the crown, how an elder comes before a younger, but how Balon’s child would come before a brother. Victarion declares that the king must be a kraken.
During Aerys I’s time there was much disagreement over the line of inheiritance with the only agreement being that the king must be a Targaryen.
Added 9/6/19: Asha questions Victarion about what happened with Euron three years ago:
"He took the Silence east. A lengthy voyage."
"I asked why he went, not where." When he did not answer, Asha said, "I was away when Silence sailed. I had taken Black Wind around the Arbor to the Stepstones, to steal a few trinkets from the Lyseni pirates. When I came home, Euron was gone and your new wife was dead."
"She was only a salt wife." He had not touched another woman since he gave her to the crabs. I will need to take a wife when I am king. A true wife, to be my queen and bear me sons. A king must have an heir.
Recall that Asha is a parallel to Rhaella, Victarion is Bittersteal, and Euron is Bloodraven, but this passage seems to be an older parallel than Rhaella. The Lyseni pirates seems to point towards Prince Daemon Targaryen who took a pale Lysene dancer and maegi working as a prostitute in Flea Bottom, as his mistress. Her name was Mysaria, but everyone called her Lady Misery or referred to her as the White Worm. She became Daemon's favorite and later an accomplished Mistress of Whispers on par with Bloodraven. Daemon, for his part, gave himself the title King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea. Mysaria became pregnant while on Dragonstone, so Daemon gave her an egg, which angered King Viserys I who demanded the egg be returned. Daemon sent Mysaria with the egg to Lys, but she lost the child while crossing the Narrow Sea during a storm. Somehow I see a parallel between the "trinkets" that Asha stole in Lys with the dragon egg that Mysaria took with her to Lys. How this relates back to Rhaella is not clear. Perhaps Asha is also a parallel to Shiera Seastar who was connected to both Bloodraven and Bittersteal?
I think I've found the answer to my Asha question:
Some said that Daemon's support for his brother in the Great Council was motivated by the belief he would be his brother's heir. But in Viserys's mind, he already had an heir: Rhaenyra, his sole daughter by his cousin, Queen Aemma of House Arryn. Rhaenyra was born in 97 AC, and as a child her father doted upon her, and took her everywhere with him—even to the council chamber, where he encouraged her to watch and listen intently. For these reasons, the court doted on her as well, and many paid homage to her. The singers dubbed her the Realm's Delight, for she was bright and precocious—a beautiful child who was already a dragonrider at the age of seven as she flew on the back of her she-dragon Syrax, named for one of the old gods of Valyria.
Asha is more than a parallel for Rhaella. She's a parallel for every female Targaryen heir that should have inherited the throne, but for one reason or another was supplanted by a male heir. Rhaenyra was of course part of the first Dance of the Dragons which ended when she was burned and eaten by her brother's dragon. The reference to the stolen trinket was to bring our attention to Mysaria so that we'd understand which Targaryen female Asha was being compared to in this chapter.
Euron is described as being the most comely of Lord Quellon’s sons with hair as black as a midnight sea, a smooth, pale face with a neat dark beard, and a black leather eye patch covering his left eye. His right eye was blue as a summer sky. Victarion greeted him as “Crow’s Eye”, but Euron corrected him by saying, “King Crow’s Eye, brother.”
An albino, Brynden Rivers had milk white skin, long white hair, and red eyes. On the right side of his face was a red birthmark said to look somewhat like a raven. He lost an eye during the First Blackfyre Rebellion, but preferred to leave the empty socket uncovered. Bloodraven goes on to become the Last Greenseer, and his appearance in dreams is as a Three Eyed Crow.
Damphair declares that no godless man may sit the Seastone Chair. Euron declares that he has already sat the Seastone Chair and heard the prayers of many. He has travelled the world and learned of all the different gods and says he knows them all. He’s heard prayers in half a hundred tongues, including pleas for protection.
Bloodraven tells Bran that the weirwoods have no sense of time. He will see the past, present, and future. He will become part of a godhead, have power over nature, have prophetic visions, and the wisdom of ages.
Asha accuses Euron for the death of her father, Balon. Euron replied, “Do I command the winds?”
Was Bloodraven responsible for the events at Summerhall? Does he command fire?
Asha is the daughter of King Balon Greyjoy and Alannys Harlaw, and Victarion is her uncle and Damphair's chosen to be Balon's heir. She is currently unwed, but romantically connected to two men: Tristifer Botley, and Qarl the Maid. When Asha goes to Victarion to suggest that they share the rule it causes Victarion to think that she’s proposing that they marry, but when he crosses his arms and declares that the Seastone Chair seats but one, Asha clarifies that she meant that she wanted to be his Hand.
Queen Rhaella Targaryen was the sister, wife, and queen of King Aerys II Targaryen, and the only daughter of King Jaehaerys II. Her grandfather was King Aegon V. Rhaella was the mother of Rhaegar, Viserys, and Daenerys. In her youth she was in love with Ser Bonifer Hasty, a young landed knight from the stormlands. She married her brother on the command of her father, who had been influenced by a woods witch brought to court by Jenny of Oldstones. On the same day as her grandfather and his eldest son perished in the Tragedy at Summerhall, Aerys II became crown prince and Rhaella gave birth to Rhaegar.
When Asha came back from Deepwood Motte she brought Lady Glover back as a hostage. She talks to Victarion about making peace with their enemies, and that her gentle treatment of Lady Glover will enable her to treat with the Northmen. Lady Glover swore her lord would treat with Asha, and if Deepwood Motte, Torrhen’s Square, and Moat Cailin were returned that the northmen would cede the ironmen Sea Dragon Point and all the Stony Shore.
If Asha is mirroring Rhaella, and Lady Glover is Lyanna, then this chapter suggests that the queen was holding Lyanna hostage with the hope of using her as a means to treat with the Starks, Arryns, and Baratheons. Whoa!
Victarion (Aerys II) tells Asha (Rhaella) that Lady Glover (Lyanna) has played her for a fool, and Asha counters that Victarion is the fool if he believes he can become king without her support as Euron is getting all the praise and she brings up the burning of Tywin’s fleet at Lannisport. Victarion insists that he burnt the lion’s fleet, flinging the first torch onto his flagship.
If Aerys II knew that Rhaella had Lyanna, could they have had a similar argument? Rhaella councils Aerys that Tywin is getting all the praise and credit. Victarion's burning of Tywin’s fleet is a metaphor for when Aerys II’s burned Lord Rickard Stark, effectively burning Tywin's "fleet" which was his alliance with the Starks, Arryns, and Baratheons. Asha insists that Crow’s Eye hatched the scheme…which suggests that Rhaella blamed Bloodraven for suggesting he burn Rickard as a way to destroy any threat from Tywin, but it backfired and fueled the Rebellion.
This could really help me! Because I'm stuck deciphering The Captain of Guards chapter. Symbolically many people will sometimes fit the various parallels, but all the pieces have to fit together to make one picture, and when that happens, I know I'm on the right track.
