"How not? He was more than just the oldest living maester. He was the oldest man in Westeros, and lived through more history than Archmaester Perestan has ever learned. He could have told us much and more about his father's reign, and his uncle's. How old was he, do you know?"

"One hundred and two."

"What was he doing at sea, at his age?"

Sam chewed on the question for a moment, wondering how much he ought to say. The sphinx is the riddle, not the riddler. Could Maester Aemon have meant this Sphinx? It seemed unlikely. "Lord Commander Snow sent him away to save his life," he began, hesitantly. He spoke awkwardly of King Stannis and Melisandre of Asshai, intending to stop at that, but one thing led to another and he found himself speaking of Mance Rayder and his wildlings, king's blood and dragons, and before he knew what was happening, all the rest came spilling out; the wights at the Fist of First Men, the Other on his dead horse, the murder of the Old Bear at Craster's Keep, Gilly and their flight, Whitetree and Small Paul, Coldhands and the ravens, Jon's becoming lord commander, the Blackbird, Dareon, Braavos, the dragons Xhondo saw in Qarth, the Cinnamon Wind and all that Maester Aemon whispered toward the end. He held back only the secrets that he was sworn to keep, about Bran Stark and his companions and the babes Jon Snow had swapped. "Daenerys is the only hope," he concluded. "Aemon said the Citadel must send her a maester at once, to bring her home to Westeros before it is too late."

Alleras listened intently. He blinked from time to time, but he never laughed and never interrupted. When Sam was done he touched him lightly on the forearm with a slim brown hand and said, "Save your penny, Sam. Theobald will not believe half of that, but there are those who might. Will you come with me?"

"Where?"

"To speak with an archmaester."

You must tell them, Sam, Maester Aemon had said. You must tell the archmaesters. "Very well." He could always return to the Seneschal on the morrow, with a penny in his hand. "How far do we have to go?"

"Not far. The Isle of Ravens."

They did not need a boat to reach the Isle of Ravens; a weathered wooden drawbridge linked it to the eastern bank. "The Ravenry is the oldest building at the Citadel," Alleras told him, as they crossed over the slow-flowing waters of the Honeywine. "In the Age of Heroes it was supposedly the stronghold of a pirate lord who sat here robbing ships as they came down the river."

Moss and creeping vines covered the walls, Sam saw, and ravens walked its battlements in place of archers. The drawbridge had not been raised in living memory.

It was cool and dim inside the castle walls. An ancient weirwood filled the yard, as it had since these stones had first been raised. The carved face on its trunk was grown over by the same purple moss that hung heavy from the tree's pale limbs. Half of the branches seemed dead, but elsewhere a few red leaves still rustled, and it was there the ravens liked to perch. The tree was full of them, and there were more in the arched windows overhead, all around the yard. The ground was speckled by their droppings. As they crossed the yard, one flapped overhead and he heard the others quorking to each other. "Archmaester Walgrave has his chambers in the west tower, below the white rookery," Alleras told him. "The white ravens and the black ones quarrel like Dornishmen and Marchers, so they keep them apart."

"Will Archmaester Walgrave understand what I am telling him?" wondered Sam. "You said his wits were prone to wander."

"He has good days and bad ones," said Alleras, "but it is not Walgrave you're going to see." He opened the door to the north tower and began to climb. Sam clambered up the steps behind him. There were flutterings and mutterings from above, and here and there an angry scream, as the ravens complained of being woken.

At the top of the steps, a pale blond youth about Sam's age sat outside a door of oak and iron, staring intently into a candle flame with his right eye. His left was hidden beneath a fall of ash blond hair. "What are you looking for?" Alleras asked him. "Your destiny? Your death?"

The blond youth turned from the candle, blinking. "Naked women," he said. "Who's this now?"

"Samwell. A new novice, come to see the Mage."

"The Citadel is not what it was," complained the blond. "They will take anything these days. Dusky dogs and Dornishmen, pig boys, cripples, cretins, and now a black-clad whale. And here I thought leviathans were grey." A half cape striped in green and gold draped one shoulder. He was very handsome, though his eyes were sly and his mouth cruel.

Sam knew him. "Leo Tyrell." Saying the name made him feel as if he were still a boy of seven, about to wet his smallclothes. "I am Sam, from Horn Hill. Lord Randyll Tarly's son."

"Truly?" Leo gave him another look. "I suppose you are. Your father told us all that you were dead. Or was it only that he wished you were?" He grinned. "Are you still a craven?"

"No," lied Sam. Jon had made it a command. "I went beyond the Wall and fought in battles. They call me Sam the Slayer." He did not know why he said it. The words just tumbled out.

Leo laughed, but before he could reply the door behind him opened. "Get in here, Slayer," growled the man in the doorway. "And you, Sphinx. Now."

"Sam," said Alleras, "this is Archmaester Marwyn."

Marwyn wore a chain of many metals around his bull's neck. Save for that, he looked more like a dockside thug than a maester. His head was too big for his body, and the way it thrust forward from his shoulders, together with that slab of jaw, made him look as if he were about to tear off someone's head. Though short and squat, he was heavy in the chest and shoulders, with a round, rock-hard ale belly straining at the laces of the leather jerkin he wore in place of robes. Bristly white hair sprouted from his ears and nostrils. His brow beetled, his nose had been broken more than once, and sourleaf had stained his teeth a mottled red. He had the biggest hands that Sam had ever seen.

When Sam hesitated, one of those hands grabbed him by the arm and yanked him through the door. The room beyond was large and round. Books and scrolls were everywhere, strewn across the tables and stacked up on the floor in piles four feet high. Faded tapestries and ragged maps covered the stone walls. A fire was burning in the hearth, beneath a copper kettle. Whatever was inside of it smelled burned. Aside from that, the only light came from a tall black candle in the center of the room.

The candle was unpleasantly bright. There was something queer about it. The flame did not flicker, even when Archmaester Marwyn closed the door so hard that papers blew off a nearby table. The light did something strange to colors too. Whites were bright as fresh-fallen snow, yellow shone like gold, reds turned to flame, but the shadows were so black they looked like holes in the world. Sam found himself staring. The candle itself was three feet tall and slender as a sword, ridged and twisted, glittering black. "Is that . . . ?"

". . . obsidian," said the other man in the room, a pale, fleshy, pasty-faced young fellow with round shoulders, soft hands, close-set eyes, and food stains on his robes.

"Call it dragonglass." Archmaester Marwyn glanced at the candle for a moment. "It burns but is not consumed."

"What feeds the flame?" asked Sam.

"What feeds a dragon's fire?" Marwyn seated himself upon a stool. "All Valyrian sorcery was rooted in blood or fire. The sorcerers of the Freehold could see across mountains, seas, and deserts with one of these glass candles. They could enter a man's dreams and give him visions, and speak to one another half a world apart, seated before their candles. Do you think that might be useful, Slayer?"

"We would have no more need of ravens."

"Only after battles." The archmaester peeled a sourleaf off a bale, shoved it in his mouth, and began to chew it. "Tell me all you told our Dornish sphinx. I know much of it and more, but some small parts may have escaped my notice."

He was not a man to be refused. Sam hesitated a moment, then told his tale again as Marywn, Alleras, and the other novice listened. "Maester Aemon believed that Daenerys Targaryen was the fulfillment of a prophecy . . . her, not Stannis, nor Prince Rhaegar, nor the princeling whose head was dashed against the wall."

"Born amidst salt and smoke, beneath a bleeding star. I know the prophecy." Marwyn turned his head and spat a gob of red phlegm onto the floor. "Not that I would trust it. Gorghan of Old Ghis once wrote that a prophecy is like a treacherous woman. She takes your member in her mouth, and you moan with the pleasure of it and think, how sweet, how fine, how good this is . . . and then her teeth snap shut and your moans turn to screams. That is the nature of prophecy, said Gorghan. Prophecy will bite your prick off every time." He chewed a bit. "Still . . ."

Alleras stepped up next to Sam. "Aemon would have gone to her if he had the strength. He wanted us to send a maester to her, to counsel her and protect her and fetch her safely home."

"Did he?" Archmaester Marwyn shrugged. "Perhaps it's good that he died before he got to Oldtown. Elsewise the grey sheep might have had to kill him, and that would have made the poor old dears wring their wrinkled hands."

"Kill him?" Sam said, shocked. "Why?"

"If I tell you, they may need to kill you too." Marywn smiled a ghastly smile, the juice of the sourleaf running red between his teeth. "Who do you think killed all the dragons the last time around? Gallant dragonslayers armed with swords?" He spat. "The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons. Ask yourself why Aemon Targaryen was allowed to waste his life upon the Wall, when by rights he should have been raised to archmaester. His blood was why. He could not be trusted. No more than I can."

"What will you do?" asked Alleras, the Sphinx.

"Get myself to Slaver's Bay, in Aemon's place. The swan ship that delivered Slayer should serve my needs well enough. The grey sheep will send their man on a galley, I don't doubt. With fair winds I should reach her first." Marwyn glanced at Sam again, and frowned. "You . . . you should stay and forge your chain. If I were you, I would do it quickly. A time will come when you'll be needed on the Wall." He turned to the pasty-faced novice. "Find Slayer a dry cell. He'll sleep here, and help you tend the ravens."

"B-b-but," Sam sputtered, "the other archmaesters . . . the Seneschal . . . what should I tell them?"

"Tell them how wise and good they are. Tell them that Aemon commanded you to put yourself into their hands. Tell them that you have always dreamed that one day you might be allowed to wear the chain and serve the greater good, that service is the highest honor, and obedience the highest virtue. But say nothing of prophecies or dragons, unless you fancy poison in your porridge." Marwyn snatched a stained leather cloak off a peg near the door and tied it tight. "Sphinx, look after this one."

"I will," Alleras answered, but the archmaester was already gone. They heard his boots stomping down the steps.

"Where has he gone?" asked Sam, bewildered.

"To the docks. The Mage is not a man who believes in wasting time." Alleras smiled. "I have a confession. Ours was no chance encounter, Sam. The Mage sent me to snatch you up before you spoke to Theobald. He knew that you were coming."

"How?"

Alleras nodded at the glass candle.

Sam stared at the strange pale flame for a moment, then blinked and looked away. Outside the window it was growing dark.

"There's an empty sleeping cell under mine in the west tower, with steps that lead right up to Walgrave's chambers," said the pasty-faced youth. "If you don't mind the ravens quorking, there's a good view of the Honeywine. Will that serve?"

"I suppose." He had to sleep somewhere.

"I will bring you some woolen coverlets. Stone walls turn cold at night, even here."

"My thanks." There was something about the pale, soft youth that he misliked, but he did not want to seem discourteous, so he added, "My name's not Slayer, truly. I'm Sam. Samwell Tarly."

"I'm Pate," the other said, "like the pig boy."

Meanwhile, Back On The Wall . . .

Hey, wait a minute!" some of you may be saying about now. "Wait a minute, wait a minute! Where's Dany and the dragons? Where's Tyrion? We hardly saw Jon Snow. That can't be all of it. . . ."

Well, no. There's more to come. Another book as big as this one.

I did not forget to write about the other characters. Far from it. I wrote lots about them. Pages and pages and pages. Chapters and more chapters. I was still writing when it dawned on me that the book had become too big to publish in a single volume . . . and I wasn't close to finished yet. To tell all of the story that I wanted to tell, I was going to have to cut the book in two.

The simplest way to do that would have been to take what I had, chop it in half around the middle, and end with "To Be Continued." The more I thought about that, however, the more I felt that the readers would be better served by a book that told all the story for half the characters, rather than half the story for all the characters. So that's the route I chose to take.

Tyrion, Jon, Dany, Stannis and Melisandre, Davos Seaworth, and all the rest of the characters you love or love to hate will be along next year (I devoutly hope) in A Dance with Dragons, which will focus on events along the Wall and across the sea, just as the present book focused on King's Landing.

-George R. R. Martin June 2005

Appendix

The Kings And Their Courts

The Queen Regent

CERSEI LANNISTER, the First of Her Name, widow of {King Robert I Baratheon}, Queen Dowager, Protector of the Realm, Lady of Casterly Rock, and Queen Regent,

-Queen Cersei's children: -{KING JOFFREY I BARATHEON}, poisoned at his wedding feast, a boy of twelve, -PRINCESS MYRCELLA BARATHEON, a girl of nine, a ward of Prince Doran Martell at Sunspear, -KING TOMMEN I BARATHEON, a boy king of eight years, -his kittens, SER POUNCE, LADY WHISKERS, BOOTS, -Queen Cersei's brothers: -SER JAIME LANNISTER, her twin, called THE KINGSLAYER, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, -TYRION LANNISTER, called THE IMP, a dwarf, accused and condemned for regicide and kinslaying, -PODRICK PAYNE, Tyrion's squire, a boy of ten, -Queen Cersei's uncles, aunt, and cousins: -SER KEVAN LANNISTER, her uncle, -SER LANCEL, Ser Kevan's son, her cousin, formerly King Robert's squire and Cersei's lover, newly raised to Lord of Darry, -{WILLEM}, Ser Kevan's son, murdered at Riverrun, -MARTYN, twin to Willem, a squire, -JANEI, Ser Kevan's daughter, a girl of three, -LADY GENNA LANNISTER, Cersei's aunt, m. Ser Emmon Frey, -{SER CLEOS FREY}, Genna's son, killed by outlaws, -SER TYWIN FREY, called TY, Cleos's son, -WILLEM FREY, Cleos's son, a squire, -SER LYONEL FREY, Lady Genna's second son, -{TION FREY}, Genna's son, murdered at Riverrun, -WALDER FREY, called RED WALDER, Lady Genna's youngest son, a page at Casterly Rock, -TYREK LANNISTER, Cersei's cousin, son of her father's late brother Tygett, -LADY ERMESANDE HAYFORD, Tyrek's child wife, -JOY HILL, bastard daughter of Queen Cersei's lost uncle Gerion, a girl of eleven, -CERENNA LANNISTER, Cersei's cousin, daughter of her late uncle Stafford, her mother's brother, -MYRIELLE LANNISTER, Cersei's cousin and Cerenna's sister, daughter of her uncle Stafford, -SER DAVEN LANNISTER, her cousin, Stafford's son, -SER DAMION LANNISTER, a more distant cousin, m. Shiera Crakehall, -SER LUCION LANNISTER, their son, -LANNA, their daughter, m. Lord Antario Jast, -LADY MARGOT, a cousin still more distant, m. Lord Titus Peake, -King Tommen's small council: -{LORD TYWIN LANNISTER}, Hand of the King, -SER JAIME LANNISTER, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, -SER KEVAN LANNISTER, master of laws, -VARYS, a eunuch, master of whisperers, -GRAND MAESTER PYCELLE, counselor and healer, -LORD MACE TYRELL, LORD MATHIS ROWAN, LORD PAXTER REDWYNE, counselors, -Tommen's Kingsguard: -SER JAIME LANNISTER, Lord Commander, -SER MERYN TRANT, -SER BOROS BLOUNT, removed and thence restored, -SER BALON SWANN, -SER OSMUND KETTLEBLACK, -SER LORAS TYRELL, the Knight of Flowers, -SER ARYS OAKHEART, with Princess Myrcella in Dorne, -Cersei's household at King's Landing: -LADY JOCELYN SWYFT, her companion, -SENELLE and DORCAS, her bedmaids and servingwomen, -LUM, RED LESTER, HOKE, called HORSELEG, SHORT-EAR, and PUCKENS, guardsmen, -QUEEN MARGAERY of House Tyrell, a maid of sixteen, widowed bride of King Joffrey I Baratheon and of Lord Renly Baratheon before him, -Margaery's court at King's Landing: -MACE TYRELL, Lord of Highgarden, her father -LADY ALERIE of House Hightower, her mother, -LADY OLENNA TYRELL, her grandmother, an aged widow called THE QUEEN OF THORNS, -ARRYK and ERRYK, Lady Olenna's guards, twins seven feet tall called LEFT and RIGHT, -SER GARLAN TYRELL, Margaery's brother, THE GALLANT, -his wife, LADY LEONETTE of House Fossoway, -SER LORAS TYRELL, her youngest brother, the Knight of Flowers, a Sworn Brother of the Kingsguard, -Margaery's lady companions: -her cousins, MEGGA, ALLA, and ELINOR TYRELL, -Elinor's betrothed, ALYN AMBROSE, squire, -LADY ALYSANNE BULWER, a girl of eight, -MEREDYTH CRANE, called MERRY, -LADY TAENA MERRYWEATHER, -LADY ALYCE GRACEFORD, -SEPTA NYSTERICA, a sister of the Faith, -PAXTER REDWYNE, Lord of the Arbor, -his twin sons, SER HORAS and SER HOBBER, -MAESTER BALLABAR, his healer and counselor, -MATHIS ROWAN, Lord of Goldengrove, -SER WILLAM WYTHERS, Margaery's captain of guards, -HUGH CLIFTON, a handsome young guardsman, -SER PORTIFER WOODWRIGHT and his brother, SER LUCANTINE, -Cersei's court at King's Landing: -SER OSFRYD KETTLEBLACK and SER OSNEY KETTLEBLACK, younger brothers to Ser Osmund Kettleblack, -SER GREGOR CLEGANE, called THE MOUNTAIN THAT RIDES, dying painfully of a poisoned wound, -SER ADDAM MARBRAND, Commander of the City Watch of King's Landing (the "gold cloaks"), -JALABHAR XHO, Prince of the Red Flower Vale, an exile from the Summer Isles, -GYLES ROSBY, Lord of Rosby, troubled by a cough, -ORTON MERRYWEATHER, Lord of Longtable, -TAENA, his wife, a woman of Myr, -LADY TANDA STOKEWORTH, -LADY FALYSE, her elder daughter and heir, -SER BALMAN BYRCH, Lady Falyse's husband, -LADY LOLLYS, her younger daughter, great with child but weak of wit, -SER BRONN OF THE BLACKWATER, Lady Lollys's husband, a former sellsword, -{SHAE}, a camp follower serving as Lollys's bedmaid, strangled in Lord Tywin's bed, -MAESTER FRENKEN, in Lady Tanda's service, -SER ILYN PAYNE, the King's Justice, a headsman, -RENNIFER LONGWATERS, chief undergaoler of the Red Keep's dungeons, -RUGEN, undergaoler for the black cells, -LORD HALLYNE THE PYROMANCER, a Wisdom of the Guild of Alchemists, -NOHO DIMITTIS, envoy from the Iron Bank of Braavos, -QYBURN, a necromancer, once a maester of the Citadel, more recently of the Brave Companions, -MOON BOY, the royal jester and fool, -PATE, a lad of eight, King Tommen's whipping boy, -ORMOND OF OLDTOWN, the royal harper and bard, -SER MARK MULLENDORE, who lost a monkey and half an arm in the Battle of the Blackwater, -AURANE WATERS, the Bastard of Driftmark, -LORD ALESANDER STAEDMON, called PENNYLOVER, -SER RONNET CONNINGTON, called RED RONNET, the Knight of Griffin's Roost, -SER LAMBERT TURNBERRY, SER DERMOT OF THE RAINWOOD, SER TALLAD called THE TALL, SER BAYARD NORCROSS, SER BONIFER HASTY called BONIFER THE GOOD, SER HUGO VANCE, knights sworn to the Iron Throne, -SER LYLE CRAKEHALL called STRONGBOAR, SER ALYN STACKSPEAR, SER JON BETTLEY called BEARDLESS JON, SER STEFFON SWYFT, SER HUMFREY SWYFT, knights sworn to Casterly Rock, -JOSMYN PECKLEDON, a squire and hero of the Blackwater, -GARRETT PAEGE and LEW PIPER, squires and hostages, -the people of King's Landing: -THE HIGH SEPTON, Father of the Faithful, Voice of the Seven on Earth, an old man and frail, -SEPTON TORBERT, SEPTON RAYNARD, SEPTON LUCEON, SEPTON OLLIDOR, of the Most Devout, serving the Seven at the Great Sept of Baelor, -SEPTA MOELLE, SEPTA AGLANTINE, SEPTA HELICENT, SEPTA UNELLA, of the Most Devout, serving the Seven at the Great Sept of Baelor, -the "sparrows," the humblest of men, fierce in their piety, -CHATAYA, proprietor of an expensive brothel, -ALAYAYA, her daughter, -DANCY, MAREI, two of Chataya's girls, -BRELLA, a servingwoman, lately in the service of Lady Sansa Stark, -TOBHO MOTT, a master armorer, -HAMISH THE HARPER, an aged singer, -ALARIC OF EYSEN, a singer, far-traveled, -WAT, a singer, styling himself THE BLUE BARD, -SER THEODAN WELLS, a pious knight, later called SER THEODAN THE TRUE.

King Tommen's banner shows the crowned stag of Baratheon, black on gold, and the lion of Lannister, gold on crimson, combatant.

The King At The Wall

STANNIS BARATHEON, the First of His Name, second son of Lord Steffon Baratheon and Lady Cassana of House Estermont, Lord of Dragonstone, styling himself King of Westeros,

-QUEEN SELYSE of House Florent, his wife, presently at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, -PRINCESS SHIREEN, their daughter, a girl of eleven, -PATCHFACE, Shireen's lackwit fool, -EDRIC STORM, his bastard nephew, King Robert's son by Lady Delena Florent, a boy of twelve, sailing the narrow sea on the Mad Prendos, -SER ANDREW ESTERMONT, King Stannis's cousin, a king's man, commanding Edric's escort, -SER GERALD GOWER, LEWYS called THE FISHWIFE, SER TRISTON OF TALLY HILL, OMER BLACKBERRY, king's men, Edric's guards and protectors, -Stannis's court at Castle Black: -LADY MELISANDRE OF ASSHAI, called THE RED WOMAN, a priestess of R'hllor, the Lord of Light, -MANCE RAYDER, King-Beyond-the-Wall, a captive condemned to death, -Rayder's son by his wife {DALLA}, a newborn as yet unnamed, "the wildling prince,"

-GILLY, the babe's wet nurse, a wildling girl, -her son, another newborn as yet unnamed, fathered by her father {CRASTER}, -SER RICHARD HORPE, SER JUSTIN MASSEY, SER CLAYTON SUGGS, SER GODRY FARRING, called GIANTSLAYER, LORD HARWOOD FELL, SER CORLISS PENNY, queen's men and knights, -DEVAN SEAWORTH and BRYEN FARRING, royal squires, -Stannis's court at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea: -SER DAVOS SEAWORTH, called THE ONION KNIGHT, Lord of the Rainwood, Admiral of the Narrow Sea, and Hand of the King, -SER AXELL FLORENT, Queen Selyse's uncle, foremost of the queen's men, -SALLADHAR SAAN of Lys, a pirate and sellsail, master of the Valyrian and a fleet of galleys, -Stannis's garrison at Dragonstone: -SER ROLLAND STORM, called THE BASTARD OF NIGHTSONG, a king's man, castellan of Dragonstone, -MAESTER PYLOS, healer, tutor, counselor, -"PORRIDGE" and "LAMPREY," two gaolers, -lords sworn to Dragonstone: -MONTERYS VELARYON, Lord of the Tides and Master of Driftmark, a boy of six, -DURAM BAR EMMON, Lord of Sharp Point, a boy of fifteen years, -Stannis's garrison at Storm's End: -SER GILBERT FARRING, castellan of Storm's End, -LORD ELWOOD MEADOWS, Ser Gilbert's second, -MAESTER JURNE, Ser Gilbert's counselor and healer, -lords sworn to Storm's End: -ELDON ESTERMONT, Lord of Greenstone, uncle to King Stannis, great uncle to King Tommen, a cautious friend to both, -SER AEMON, Lord Eldon's son and heir, with King Tommen in King's Landing, -SER ALYN, Ser Aemon's son, likewise with King Tommen in King's Landing, -SER LOMAS, brother of Lord Eldon, uncle and supporter of King Stannis, at Storm's End, -SER ANDREW, Ser Lomas's son, protecting Edric Storm upon the narrow sea, -LESTER MORRIGEN, Lord of Crows Nest, -LORD LUCOS CHYTTERING, called LITTLE LUCOS, a youth of sixteen, -Davos Seaworth, Lord of the Rainwood, -MARYA, his wife, a carpenter's daughter, -{DALE, ALLARD, MATTHOS, MARIC}, their four eldest sons, lost in the Battle of the Blackwater, -DEVAN, a squire with King Stannis at Castle Black, -STANNIS, a boy of ten years, with Lady Marya on Cape Wrath, -STEFFON, a boy of six years, with Lady Marya on Cape Wrath.

Stannis has taken for his banner the fiery heart of the Lord of Light; a red heart surrounded by orange flames upon a yellow field. Within the heart is the crowned stag of House Baratheon, in black.

King Of The Isles

And The North

The Greyjoys of Pyke claim descent from the Grey King of the Age of Heroes. Legend says the Grey King ruled the sea itself and took a mermaid to wife. Aegon the Dragon ended the line of the last King of the Iron Islands, but allowed the ironborn to revive their ancient custom and choose who should have the primacy among them. They chose Lord Vickon Greyjoy of Pyke. The Greyjoy sigil is a golden kraken upon a black field. Their words are We Do Not Sow.

Balon Greyjoy's first rebellion against the Iron Throne was put down by King Robert I Baratheon and Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, but in the chaos following Robert's death Lord Balon named himself king once more, and sent his ships to attack the north.

{BALON GREYJOY}, the Ninth of His Name Since the Grey King, King of the Iron Islands and the North, King of Salt and Rock, Son of the Sea Wind, and Lord Reaper of Pyke, killed in a fall, -King Balon's widow, QUEEN ALANNYS, of House Harlaw, -their children: -{RODRIK}, slain during Balon's first rebellion, -{MARON}, slain during Balon's first rebellion, -ASHA, their daughter, captain of the Black Wind and conquerer of Deepwood Motte, -THEON, styling himself the Prince of Winterfell, called by northmen THEON TURNCLOAK, -King Balon's brothers and half brothers: -{HARLON}, died of greyscale in his youth, -{QUENTON}, died in infancy, -{DONEL}, died in infancy, -EURON, called Crow's Eye, captain of the Silence, -VICTARION, Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet, master of the Iron Victory, -{URRIGON}, died of a wound gone bad, -AERON, called DAMPHAIR, a priest of the Drowned God, -RUS and NORJEN, two of his acolytes, the "drowned men,"