The Ibbenese are a people that live on the island nation Ibben,[1] which is composed of the islands Ib and Far Ib, several smaller islands, and the small foothold on the northern shore of Essos ruled by the colony located at New Ibbish.[2]
The Ibbenese are frequently referred to as "the men of Ib"[3][4][5][6][1] after Ibben's largest island,[2] which is home to most of the Ibbenese.[7]
Appearance
The Ibbenese are considered by maesters to be different from the other races of mankind. They are a heavy, broad-shouldered, and broad-chested people. The Ibbenese are short in stature, seldom reaching a height more than five and a half feet. Their arms are long, while their legs are short and thick. Their skulls have sloping brows with heavy ridges, small sunken eyes, great square teeth, and massive jaws.[1]
The Ibbenese have the most body hair of all known peoples in the known world.[1] Beneath their pale skins run dark blue veins, but covering their skin is dark and wiry hair. Ibbenese men have dark, wiry hair covering their arms, legs, chests, and backs, while Ibbenese women commonly have coarse dark hair, even on the upper lip.[1] A myth falsely claims that Ibbenese women have six breasts.[1] The Red Book states many Ibbenese women sold into slavery were deemed too ugly to serve as bed slaves and too savage to use as field hands. As such, many enslaved Ibbenese women ended their days in the fighting pits of Meereen, Yunkai, and Astapor.[1]
Although Ibbenese can reproduce with the people of other lands, the children Ibbenese men father upon the women of other lands are frequently malformed and almost[N 1] always sterile, while Ibbenese women, when impregnated by men from other lands, birth only stillbirths and monstrosities.[1] Such couplings are uncommon, however.[1] Some scholars have speculated that the very hairy Skagosi have a large amount of Ibbenese blood in their heritage.[8] The Pentoshi and most maesters of the Citadel believe the Ibbenese are akin to the hairy men, though it is unknown if the hairy men settled Ib from Essos or if they originated on the island and then spread to the mainland.[11]
Culture
Maester Yandel reports the Ibbenese to be a taciturn but cunning folk, composed of skilled craftsmen, able hunters and trackers, and doughty warriors.[1] The Ibbenese speak their own language, which has been described as grunting and rasping.[1][12]
The Ibbenese are a suspicious people, and Ibbenese of old believed that a man would be cursed if he ventured inland away from the sound of the sea.[4] Visitors from foreign lands are restricted to the harbor precincts of the Port of Ibben. They are only allowed to venture beyond the city in the company of an Ibbenese host, but such invitations are rarely made.[1] The Ibbenese who live in the woods and mountains of Ibben are even more suspicious of strangers. These foresters, goatherds, and miners prefer to make their homes in caves or houses of grey stone which they dig into the earth. The inland Ibbenese rarely live in towns, instead preferring to dwell in solitary compounds. They only gather for weddings, burials, and worship.[1]
Despite their suspiciousness, the Ibbenese who live at the shores are a venturesome people. Fishermen travel the northern seas in search of cod, herring, whitefish, and eel. Most famously are the Ibbenese whalers, whose big-bellied ships are a common sight in ports all over the world.[1] Ibbenese ships are renowned for their strength, as they are built to withstand any storm or any assault of a leviathan, even the largest.[1] The Ibbenese are fond of chewing blubber.[7]
The ferociously-strong Ibbenese excel over Westerosi at their favorite sport, wrestling.[1] Some Ibbenese are fond of carrying axes into battle,[13] as well as shaggy brown shields.[14][15] Some Ibbenese have found employ as sellswords in the Brave Companions.[14]
History
There is evidence of Ibbenese settlements on the Axe, the isles of Lorath, and along the shores of the Bitterweed Bay, the Bay of Tusks, Leviathan Sound, and the Thousand Islands. History also tells of several Ibbenese attempts to seize the mouth of the Sarne, which brought them into war with the Sarnori cities Saath and Sarys.[1]
At its greatest extent, the Ibbenese foothold on Essos was as large as Ib itself, and far richer. More and more Ibbenese crossed over from the isles to make their fortune on the mainland, cutting down trees, plowing land, damming the rivers, and mining the hills. Some two hundred years ago, however, the Dothraki destroyed the Ibbenese settlements on the mainland, aside from the small colony of New Ibbish.[1]
Previously ruled by God-Kings at the Port of Ibben, the Ibbenese are now ruled by the Shadow Council.[1]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Hairy men from the Port of Ibben are among the guests attending the wedding of Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo.[16]
Catelyn Stark sees an Ibbenese whaling ship when Storm Dancer arrives at the port of King's Landing.[17]
A Clash of Kings
When Theon Greyjoy returns home to Pyke, he spies an Ibbenese cog among the ships docked at Lordsport. After going ashore, he observes Ibbenese sailors.[18]
After Tyrion Lannister makes arrangements for Shae to reside at a manse near the Iron Gate in King's Landing, among those hired by Varys to guard her are two Ibbenese that are fond of one another, according to Tyrion.[19]
Arya Stark observes several Ibbenese sellswords arrive at Harrenhal as part of a mercenary group, the Brave Companions.[14]
A Storm of Swords
An Ibbenese axe-man is among a group of Brave Companions that Nymeria slaughters in the riverlands.[20] Several Ibbenese Brave Companions, carrying shaggy brown shields, are encountered by the brotherhood without banners during the battle at the burning septry.[15]
Varys reports to the small council that a kraken off the Fingers attacked an Ibbenese whaler and pulled it under.[21]
Ben Plumm, a sellsword from the Second Sons of mixed ancestry, claims to have a half-Ibbenese grandmother.[9]
A Feast for Crows
Archmaester Marwyn is said to keep company with hairy Ibbenese, among others.[22]
Togg Joth, an Ibbenese member of the Brave Companions, is currently on the run as one of the last known survivors of the disbanded sellsword company.[23]
In Braavos, Arya sells her oysters on the decks of many ships that have made port in Ragman's Harbor, including Ibbenese ships.[24] Arya befriends the prostitute Assadora of Ibben at the Happy Port.[24]
At Maidenpool, a harpooner on an Ibbenese whaler offers to buy Podrick Payne from Brienne of Tarth.[25]
A Dance with Dragons
Prince Quentyn Martell spots Ibbenese at the Merchant's House in Volantis.[26]
Casso Mogat, the captain of Merry Midwife, is said to be the son of a Sisterton whore and an Ibbenese whaler.[27]
An Ibbenese whaler traveling in the Bay of Seals is commandeered by the commander of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, Cotter Pyke, on the orders of the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jon Snow.[28]
Quotes
—Ben Plumm to Daenerys Targaryen on his half-Ibbensese grandmother
Behind the Scenes
The description of the Ibbenese as a people that "stand apart from the other races of mankind", their skulls with heavy ridged sloping brows, larger square teeth, and massive jaws, their wide chests and short limbs, and the fact that that their few children with other races are often deformed or sterile,[1] suggests that George R. R. Martin designed them as a different species than humanity, likely inspired by Neanderthals. Furthermore, popular culture often depicted Neanderthals as extremely hairy[29] (not supported by current scientific research), and it was not commonly known until the mid-2010s (after the publication of The World of Ice & Fire) that Neanderthals interbred with early modern humans and their DNA survives today.[30]
Notes
- ↑ In The World of Ice & Fire, Maester Yandel describes the children of Ibbenese with other races as "inevitably sterile".[1] However, other maesters within the book theorize that the Skagosi have a large amount of Ibbenese blood,[8] and there are characters within A Song of Ice and Fire of claimed Ibbenese hybrid descent, such as Brown Ben Plumm.[9] When asked about the discrepancy, Elio Garcia answered that Yandel was "over-reaching a bit", and that an "almost" before the "inevitably" would have been preferable.[10]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: Ib.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Lands of Ice and Fire, Central Essos.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The North: The Kings of Winter.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Free Cities: Lorath.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Free Cities: Norvos.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 So Spake Martin: Ibben and Armor (November 9, 2002).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The North: The Stoneborn of Skagos.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 57, Daenerys V.
- ↑ Westeros.org: "The Ibenness", comment by Elio Garcia (November 5, 2014)
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Arrival of the Andals.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 3, Daenerys I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 28, Bran IV.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 30, Arya VII.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 39, Arya VII.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 18, Catelyn IV.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 11, Theon I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 29, Tyrion VII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 3, Arya I.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 19, Tyrion III.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Prologue.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Appendix.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 34, Cat Of The Canals.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 25, Brienne V.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 6, The Merchant's Man.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 15, Davos II.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 44, Jon IX.
- ↑ Wikipedia: Neanderthals in popular culture
- ↑ Wikipedia: Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans