A Clash of Kings-Chapter 11

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Theon I
A Clash of Kings chapter
AClashOfKings.jpg
POV Theon
Place Aboard the Myraham on the Ironman's Bay - Pyke
Page 121 UK HC (Other versions)
Chapter chronology (All)
Davos I  ← Theon I →  Daenerys I

Theon II

Theon Greyjoy arrives at Landsport and then Pyke with none of the fanfare he was expecting. When he finally meets with his father, Balon Greyjoy, his father only derides him for his clothing, and after seeing the letter that Theon thought would eventually give him a crown, his father throws it in the fire. His father tells him that he will not ally with Robb Stark but instead carve out a kingdom on his own.

Synopsis

Theon insists that the southern merchant up from Oldtown Myraham approach the island towards Pyke, much to the disgust of the captain. The last time he had seen Pyke was as when he was leaving on Robert Baratheon’s war gallery, taking him to be a ward of Eddard Stark. Behind the castle he can see the Red Comet, which he considers his comet. He is feeling good, considering the paper that Robb Stark gave him as good as a crown. Pressing against him is the captain’s daughter. Theon is disgusted at the captain and crew not being willing or able to approach as close as Theon would wish or as close as a longship from the Iron Islands. Also the merchant ship took twice as long as a longship. Theon thinks how each Iron Islands captain was king aboard his ship, which is why the Iron Islands was named “the land of ten thousand kings.” Theon tells the captain to fetch him from the cabin when they make Lordsport, and proceeds down to the captain’s cabin with his daughter; the captain had offered Theon the cabin, but the girl had come on her own (Theon thinks he can detect the captain’s outrage).

Once in the cabin, Theon starts undressing her, and tells her about the hard life on the Iron Islands. She offers to come with him, be his Salt wife, but he tells her that she will not come with him. Theon thinks how she is stupid, but he does not require his women to be smart. She ask for him to enter her again, but he demands that she take him in her mouth. Theon considers the Old Way, when the ironmen lived by the axe and took what they wanted. That ended with the coming of Aegon the Dragon, who gave the Riverlands to the Tullys and banished the ironmen back to the Iron Islands. Theon reminisces that his father had raised his banners in rebellion more to bring back the Old Way, than for the empty vanity of a crown. Theon vows to himself that he will never again go far from the sea. As the girl pleads for him to take her to be his salt wife, Theon tells her that his place is at Pyke and hers on the ship. She tells him that she cannot stay, and if she does, her father will punish her. Theon tells her that she is probably with child, and her father should be pleased since it would be an honor to raise a king’s bastard. He leaves her for the deck.

From the deck he can see Lordsport filled with ships. The last time he had seen the port had been a smoking ruin. Now a new three storied inn replaced the inn half its side, but the sept had not been replaced. Among the 50-60 longships he can see the bannersof House Goodbrother, House Wynch, House Harlaw. He cannot see his uncle Euron Greyjoy’s Silence, but does spy his father’s Great Kraken. It is obvious to Theon that the longships are hosting. He wonders if his father had anticipated his message. Robb Stark had sent ravens, and Jason Mallister had sent more birds when they had found no longship waiting for him. He wonders who will meet him at the quaryside, or, more likely he had sent his steward Sylas Sourmouth or Lord Sawane Botley, or Dagmer.

There seems to be no one to meet him, and none of the people seem to recognize him, which angers him. He ordersa horse from an innskeep. The innskeep demands to know where Theon is going, and Theon angrily replies Pyke. Then the innskeep tells him that he will send his boy to show him the way, which further angers Theon. They he hears his uncle Aeron Damphair. He does not recognize him immediately but then remembers his father writing about Aeron going down in a storm, and when he washed up having turned holy. This sour priest of the Drowned God states he will take Theon to his father’s house. Theon asks his things, and the girl brings him his pack, and tells him she loves him; he replies that he must go.

Theon asks Aeron why he did not receive a more formal greeting, and is told he is not to question the Lord Reaper of Pyke; Theon remembers how his uncle had always been jovial, but now he is chilly. Then his uncle asks if Theon prays to Stark’s gods (wolf gods), and Theon states not. Aeron is pleased and demands that Theon kneal (which he does not like), and then drenches his hair with seawater from a waterskin, says;

Let Theon your servant be born again from the sea, as you were,” Aeron Greyjoy intoned. “Bless him with salt, bless him with stone, bless him with steel.

He then asks if Theon remembers the words and Theon says:

What is dead may never die.

Aeron continues:

What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger.

Aeron then leads him to Pyke. Along the way Aeron replies to Theon question on if the islands have changed with the statement that the islands are as the gods made them. Theon then asks if his mother and sister Asha Greyjoy are at Pyke, and is told his mother is with her sister in Harlaw and his sister has taken Black Wind to Great Wyk with a message from his father. He then asks about Aeron becoming so serious and is told he was then young and vain, and now the Drowned God has shown him the way. Theon again asks about why his father plans are for the host he has called, and is told his father may tell him at Pyke. Angered, Theon tells Aeron that he is the heir, and Aeron replies that this will be seen, and even though his brothers are dead, his sister lives. Theon angrily insists that he will not be cheated. To this he hears that his father will not hand over the Iron Islands to a Stark.

Theon remembers his life at Winterfell. Eddard had occasionally tried to be a father to him, but Theon could not forget that this was the man that brought destruction to Pyke. He felt somewhat towards Robb as a younger brother, Jon Snow was sullen and seemed to be jealous of his position, and relationship to Robb, and the other children were much younger. The whole castle knew of he was a hostage, and treated him as such, particularly Catelyn. On this trip to the Iron Islands he was friendly with Patrek Mallister, but his father Lord Jason Mallister noticed and did not approve his son being friendly with a Reaver; Lord Jason had killed Theon’s brother Rodrik Greyjoy when he stormed Seagard. He thinks of his father and his uncles as old men with their biases and feuds.

Theon tells Aeron that Robb is now Lord of Winterfell, and that he has broken fealty with the Iron Throne and is told that this is old news; it was brought by the ravens. When Aeron states that each day is much like the last Threon quotes

They say the Red Comet is a herald of a new age. A messenger from the gods.

To this Aeron states it is a sign from the Drowned God, not their gods:

A burning brand it is, such as our people carried of old. It is the flame the Drowned God brought from the sea, and it proclaims a rising tide. It is time to hoist our sails and go forth into the world with fire and sword, as he did.

They reach Pyke at sunset. Theon can see that parts of the castle that had been destroyed when Robert and Eddard had captured it had been replaced. There is no one to meet him, and nobody seemed to even notice that the heir had returned, only the sableman for his horse and an old crone to show him to chambers. His uncle hastily departs, stating he has to deal with god’s business. When he asks why his father did not meet him, the crone, who names herself Helya and steward, states that his father is in the Sea Tower and see him after he had rested. Theon is told that the steward Sylas has been dead for 5 years, and Maester Qalen has been replaced by Maester Wendamyr. She leads him to his chambers in the Bloody Keep, not to the Sea Tower as he expected. The chambers are in bad disrepair, and had obviously not been used in a long time.

Even Theon’s validity as heir to Pyke is put to the question by his uncle, who reminds Theon of his older sister Asha. Theon hated Eddard, and had only gotten along with Robb, considering himself more a hostage than a ward during the ten years he spent at Winterfell. He is still confident in the letter he carried from Robb, which contained the plan Theon had devised himself. At Pyke, Theon is ushered into a long-disused room in the Bloody Tower, where a thousand years before the sons of the River King had been slaughtered. He asks for a basin of hot water and for the braziers to be lit in the other rooms to drive out the chill. She says she will and flees. It takes a long time for the basin to arrive and the water it tepid seawater. He cleans up and dresses in his finest cloths. Before he leaves, he warns the thralls that he expects clean rushes and a warm room when he returns.

The way to the Sea Tower includes a rope and wood bridge that swayed underfoot, and he is amazed that as a boy he would run across it. After a curt word with the guard at the door, he climbs to the solar where father waits. As they talk, there is a coldness in Balon towards Theon, who he accuses him of being an envoy. When Theon states he is Robb’s envoy, Balon notes that he pomised that he would outlive both Eddard and Robert, who broke his walls, but he still aches. He next accuses Theon of dressing like a woman with his velvets and silks, and then asks if the gold chain around his neck was bought (a warrior only wears the jewelry he takes off a corpse). When Theon blushes, his father pulls the chain off him, and tells him his sister has taken an axe for lover, and he will not have a son that dresses as a whore. He then follows saying the green lands have made him soft. Theon tries to tell his father that he will like what is in the letter he brings from Robb Stark, and that Robb heeds his council. Theon is about to state that Robb looks on him as an older brother, but his father stops him saying he will not hear him name a brother to the son of the man that killed Balon’s sons; the truth is that Eddard was responsible for neither death.

When Balon reads the letter he is unimpressed, saying Robb promises nothing only that Theon speaks for him. Balon throws the letter into the fire, exclaiming that he does not need to be given a crown, he can take one; pay the iron price. When Theon asks if his father has gone mad, he slaps him, telling him that he will not speak to him so, and he will take his crown as Urron Redhand did 5000 years previous. He has called is host to take on lands that are ripe and undefended; Casterly Rock is too strong and Tywin Lannister is too cunning.

References and Notes

See also