Iron Islands
"The islands are stern and stony places, scant of comfort and bleak of prospect. Death is never far here, and life is mean and meager." - A Clash of Kings[1]
The Iron Islands, also known as the Iron Isles or the Kingdom of the Iron Isles, are a harsh and storm-lashed archipelago off the western coast of Westeros. Once ruled by rock, salt, and High Kings chosen in kingsmoots, the isles came under the rule of hereditary Kings of the Iron Islands after the slaughter at Nagga’s Hill, when Urron Greyiron abolished the title of High King. The Iron Islands are home to the ironborn, a fierce seafaring people who pride themselves on their unyielding nature. The isles themselves are small, rocky, and only thinly fertile, with frequent storms, grey skies, and restless seas. [2]
The Iron Islands
Terrain
The Iron Islands consists of thirty-one isles west of the Cape of Eagles, with another thirteen clustered around Lonely Light, the westernmost point of known lands. Of these, seven are counted as major: Old Wyk, Great Wyk, Pyke, Harlaw, Saltcliffe, Blacktyde, and Orkmont. The isles are rocky and thin-soiled, better suited to grazing goats than raising crops. Frequent storms, grey skies, and stony shores define the landscape. The sea is the lifeblood of the isles, without its bounty, the ironborn would starve in winter. The surrounding waters teem with fish, cod, monkfish, skate, sardines, mackerel, as well as crabs, lobsters, swordfish, seals, and whales, providing sustenance for the islanders. Seven of every ten families are said to be fisherfolk, and to own a ship is to command one’s fate. [2]
Main Islands/Regions
Culture
The ironborn are a fierce seafaring people who view themselves as set apart from other men. According to their priests, they are not descended from those of the green lands, but were born of the sea itself, created by the Drowned God to rule the waters of the world. Their religion is without temples or books; the priests, called Drowned Men, wander the isles, living an austere life close to the sea, and wield great influence. The Drowned God is opposed by the Storm God, whose winds and storms bring ruin. [2]
The culture of the Ironborn is built upon reaving and raiding. War, not labor, is a proper ironman’s calling. Captives work the fields and mines, while freeborn men fight and sail. Reavers from the Iron Islands rule the Sunset Sea, their longships swift and deadly. [3] Inland, the ironborn rarely venture far from salt waters. In time, the loss of their own forests to shipbuilding forced them to raid the green lands for timber and wealth. Raiding also supplies the islands with thralls, food, and salt wives. Salt wives, captured during raids, are joined to their captors in marriage rites performed by Drowned Men; their children are legitimate, and salt sons could inherit in the absence of trueborn heirs. But a salt wife would always be beneath a rock wife.
Pyke
Pyke is one of the larger islands of the Iron Islands, a harsh and stony archipelago. East of Saltcliffe, southeast of Great Wyk, and southwest of Harlaw, Pyke lies but a day's sail from Harlaw’s shores. Pyke is not as vast or wealthy in resources as Great Wyk, Harlaw, or Orkmont. [3]
On Pyke is the seat of House Greyjoy. Pyke is so ancient that no one can say with certainty when it was built, nor name the lord who built it. Like the Seastone Chair, its origins are lost in mystery. [4]
Below the towering cliffs, sheltered from the worst of the storms, lies Lordsport. The seat of House Botley. Lordsport offers the safest anchorage on Pyke and serves as the primary point of arrival for ships braving the perilous waters to Pyke. To the north, along the rocky coast, stands Iron Holt, the seat of House Wynch, another of the island’s powerful houses. The seas around Pyke are notorious for sudden storms and treacherous currents, and cold winds sweep ceaselessly across the island’s barren hills.[3]
Once that isle was ruled by rock kings and salt kings, before the rise of Urron Greyiron. [5]
Notable House
Hardstone Hills and East Wyk
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Great Wyk is the largest of the Iron Islands. It lies west of Old Wyk and Orkmont, north of Saltcliffe, and northeast of Pyke. Aside from the distant Lonely Light, it is the westernmost of the major isles of the archipelago.[2] The isle is home to several noble houses, including House Farwynd, House Goodbrother, House Hoare, House Merlyn, and House Sparr. The main line of House Goodbrother holds Hammerhorn, a castle set inland in the Hardstone Hills, a rarity among Iron Island keeps, which typically stand near the sea. Other branches of the Goodbrothers dwell at Corpse Lake, Crow Spike Keep, and Downdelving. House Merlyn holds Pebbleton, while the Farwynds reside at Sealskin Point on the western coast, with other branches living on the small isles beyond. [6]
Great Wyk is rich in natural resources. It holds the greatest deposits of lead, tin, and iron among the Iron Islands. [2]
Today, blue-green soldier pines still cloak many of the mountains, their color visible even from across the bay on Old Wyk. Under grey skies, these forests give the island a dark, brooding appearance. The seas off Great Wyk are rich with life, crabs, lobsters, swordfish, seals, and whales roam the waters of the Sunset Sea west of the island. [6]
Great Wyk’s size and wealth make it a vital part of the Iron Islands. Its inland castles, iron mines, and forested hills distinguish it from its smaller neighbors. [2]
Notable House
Old Wyk
Old Wyk is one of the seven great isles of the Iron Islands. It is the holiest among them and lies in the western reaches of the archipelago, set amidst the grey waves of Ironman’s Bay. The island has black hills howling with wind, its shores battered by the endless surge of the sea. Across the waters to the east lie Great Wyk and west of Orkmont. [2]
Near Nagga’s Cradle stands Nagga’s Hill, where the petrified ribs of a massive sea creature rise from the earth. Some claim these are the bones of a sea dragon, although doubts remain, as the ribs are not large enough to match the monstrous size attributed to such beasts. The very existence of sea dragons is questioned by many, as none have been seen in thousands of years.[7]
Legend holds that the First Men found the Seastone Chair already standing at the coast of Old Wyk when they first arrived on the isle. [8]
The era of kings chosen on Old Wyk ended when Urron Redhand seized power through slaughter upon the isle. Afterward, the kingship of the Iron Islands passed by primogeniture, and the ancient kings of salt and rock were no more. The rulers of the various isles were reduced to lords, and many old lines were extinguished for refusing to submit. [9]
Notable House
Harlaw
Harlaw is the easternmost of the Iron Islands, lying northeast of Pyke, a day's sail across Ironman’s Bay, and southeast of Orkmont and Blacktyde. To the south, across the wide grey waters of the bay, lies the coast of the Westerlands, with Banefort visible on clear days from Harlaw’s high shores. [2]
Second in size only to Great Wyk, Harlaw is the most densely populated of the Iron Islands. While other isles remain stark and thinly peopled, Harlaw boasts more villages, holds, and keeps than any of its kin. The island is dotted with small stone towns and harbors where longships are built and repaired, and trade flows through its markets. Beneath Harlaw’s low hills lie rich veins of lead, tin, and iron . [2]
Once Harlaw was thick with ancient forests, but these were long ago felled by the shipwrights of the isles. Even so, the ironborn here have adapted; while horses are rare across the Iron Islands, the islanders ride sturdy Harlaw ponies and ox-carts remain a common sight along the winding roads. [3]
Harlaw is ruled from Ten Towers, the great seat of House Harlaw, whose power on the isle is unrivaled. Though noble houses such as the Volmarks and Stonetrees hold large lands and boast fierce captains, even they bend the knee to Ten Towers. [3]
Notable House
Saltcliffe
Saltcliffe lies south of Great Wyk and west of Pyke. The isle takes its name from the towering sea-cliffs that line much of its rugged coastline, worn smooth and pale by centuries of salt spray and storm. The waves of Ironman’s Bay crash ceaselessly upon these cliffs, carving sea caves and narrow inlets beneath the grey skies. [2]
Saltcliffe is less notable than its neighbors and the islands stony soil yields little. A single castle rises on the northwestern coast of the isle, a weathered stronghold perched high upon the cliffs, overlooking the restless sea. [2]
Notable House
Blacktyde
Blacktyde is the northernmost of the seven great isles of the Iron Islands, lying north of Orkmont and northwest of Harlaw. [2]
Though counted among the major islands of the archipelago, Blacktyde is less notable than its neighbors. The isle is sparsely populated, its stony hills supporting little more than sheep and goats. Scattered along its coasts stand small fishing villages, where hardy folk harvest fish, crabs, and mussels from the cold, churning sea. Many of Blacktyde’s smaller islets remain uninhabited, save for seabirds and seals. [2]
Notable House
Orkmont
Among the seven great isles of the Iron Islands, Orkmont lies in the middle of it, a land of jagged hills, bare rock, and iron-rich soil. [2]
Once Orkmont was thick with forests, but in the distant past the shipwrights of the Iron Islands stripped its woods for timber, feeding the longships that carried the ironborn to distant shores. Now only stunted scrub and thin grasses remain, and the land is dominated by stone and ore. [2]
Beneath the hills of Orkmont lie some of the richest veins of iron, lead, and tin in all the islands. These metals are the lifeblood of the isle’s trade and forgecraft, worked by skilled smiths into swords, axes, and mail. Though much of this metal finds its way to the forges of Lordsport, many of the finest weapons of the isles are still shaped on Orkmont’s own anvils. [2]
Orkmont is the seat of the mighty House Greyiron, the Iron Kings.
Notable House
Lonely Light
Far to the northwest of the Iron Islands, beyond the shores of Great Wyk and past scattered islets barely large enough to hold a single hearth, rises Lonely Light. It stands upon the largest of a remote cluster of barren rocks scattered amidst the endless grey expanse of the Sunset Sea. The voyage from Great Wyk takes eight days by sail, through waters frequented by seals, sea lions, and spotted whales and great walruses. [2]
Atop the rocky isle stands the lone keep of House Farwynd of Lonely Light, crowned by a great beacon fire that burns without ceasing. It is from this light that the isle takes its name, serving as both a guide and a warning to those who dare the far western seas. Beyond Lonely Light lie no charted lands, only the unending grey horizon. [2]
The Farwynds of Lonely Light are a queer folk, even by the measure of the ironborn. It is said that they are skinchangers who take the forms of sea lions, walruses, or even whales that haunt the deeps. Darker tales claim that they consort with seals to birth half-human children. [6]
From the Lonely Light’s beacon, many bold captains have launched westward, lured by tales of lands beyond the sea. Few return, and those who do speak only of endless waters beneath an empty sky. [2]
Notable House
The Giant's Fist
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The Giant's Fist is the traditional name given to the peninsula which stretches from the Neck in the east, all the way to Cape Kraken in the far west. The Fist is predominantly populated by First Men who are most similar in culture to the North and the Neck respectively, however most of their landowning and lordly elites have been supplanted by men from the Iron Islands. The Giant's Fist is currently ruled from Ironmark, held by House Greatiron.
The Giant's Fist is defined by three key features. Firstly, a giant primordial forest covers almost all the land from the Neck to the coasts. These forests are dense, composed primarily of spruce, fir and pine - with several hidden groves of weirwoods nestled in its deepest reaches, where even the Ironborn cannot find them. The second most notable feature of the Giant's Fist are its impressive range of cliffs, spanning its entire southron coastline from the Neck all the way around Cape Kraken, where any harbours are hard to find, and safe harbours nigh impossible. The final notable feature of the Fist are the high ridges that break through the canopied forest, breaking up the landscape and dividing parts of the land. Giants still dwell in these parts, and if they do not take umbrage at intruders, the bears will.
Notable House
- House Greatiron
- House Hayes
- House Steep
- House Longpebble
- House Coldstrand
- House Knott of the Wrist
- House Bark
- House Wells
- House Murk of Murkwood (Currently under the rule of the Neck)
History
The Dawn Age
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The Age of Heroes
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The Coming of the Andals
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References
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (1998). A Clash of Kings - Theon I. Voyager Books.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) pp. 175-178
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: A Clash of Kings, (Bad Hersfeld: Random House LLC US, 2000) Theon I
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) pp. 193
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) pp. 183-186
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: A Feast for Crows, (Bad Hersfeld: Random House LLC US, 2005) The Drowned Man
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) pp. 178-182
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire: A Clash of Kings, (Bad Hersfeld: Random House LLC US, 2000) Theon I
- ↑ George R. R. Martin, The World of Ice and Fire, (London: HarperVoyager, 2014) pp. 182-183