nominally the Drowned God; treats it with open contempt
Weapon
a Valyrian steel dagger; a warhorn he calls Dragonbinder
Notable for
winning the driftwood crown at the kingsmoot; the silent-crewed ship Silence
The brother the Iron Islands exiled and then, in desperation, crowned
Euron Greyjoy is Lord Balon Greyjoy's younger brother, banished from the Iron Islands for reasons the family kept quiet even from itself and spent the years since crewing the seas east and south of Westeros aboard the Silence — a ship, by every account of those who've served on it, rowed and sailed by a crew that never speaks, their tongues reportedly cut out so that whatever the Crow's Eye has seen and done stays exactly that private.
He returned to the Iron Islands to claim the driftwood crown at a kingsmoot in Old Wyk, arriving late, uninvited by most of the captains present, and leaving with the crown anyway — defeating his niece Asha and brother Victarion in the choosing through a mixture of plunder, promises, and a claim to have sailed further and seen stranger things than any rival captain could match. Chief among those claims: a horn he calls Dragonbinder, which he says can bind dragons to a rider's will, and which he is prepared to test against Daenerys Targaryen's three at whatever cost the horn demands of the one who blows it.
His reign opens with a campaign meant to marry the Iron Islands' fortunes to the dragon queen's whether she consents to it or not, sending his brother Victarion and a fleet east while he himself plots closer to home. What he is capable of beyond ambition and cruelty — the poisoned wine called shade of the evening, the warlocks he is rumored to have consulted in Qarth, the fratricide the smallfolk whisper about more than the Citadel can confirm — remains, as of the latest reports reaching Oldtown, an open and alarming question.
Appearances
In the novels
A Clash of Kings
A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons
On screen
HBO's Game of Thrones — Seasons 6–8
Key events
before 289 ACExiled from the Iron Islands by his brother Balon for reasons the family kept quiet.
unrecordedSpent years raiding and trading across distant seas aboard his ship the Silence.
300 ACReturned to the Iron Islands to contend for the driftwood crown as the kingsmoot at Old Wyk convened.
300 ACWon the kingsmoot at Old Wyk, defeating his niece Asha and brother Victarion for the driftwood crown.
300 ACRevealed a warhorn, Dragonbinder, which he claims can bind a dragon to its blower's will.
300 ACSent his brother Victarion east with a fleet while pursuing his own designs closer to home.
Reading the character
Euron Greyjoy is built almost entirely out of the gap between what he claims and what anyone can verify — a horn that supposedly binds dragons, warlocks he's rumored to have consulted, a crew whose silence is either mutilation or myth, and a personal history the family that exiled him won't discuss even among itself. The Citadel's caution around him isn't narrative coyness; it reflects a character whose power comes specifically from nobody being able to confirm his limits.
His victory at the kingsmoot over both a proven captain in Asha and a loyal brother in Victarion says as much about the islands' desperation as about Euron's own gifts — a people willing to crown the most dangerous unknown quantity available rather than back either of the safer, better-attested claims in front of them. What he does with that crown, reaching directly for the one power in the world greater than his own ambition, is the open and alarming question the Citadel's most recent reports leave unresolved.
Legacy
The claim that Euron cut out his own crew's tongues himself, with his own hands, is repeated widely enough to count as reputation, but no witness has ever been produced to confirm the act firsthand — only its result.
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Explore further
House
Who is Euron Greyjoy?
The brother the Iron Islands exiled and then, in desperation, crowned
Is Euron Greyjoy from the books or the show?
Book canon. This profile follows George R. R. Martin’s novels and histories, and notes where the television series diverges rather than following it.