The Crow's Eye, Part I

The Crow's Eye, part I

A fan mockup of Mads Mikkelsen as Euron Greyjoy

NB: I use the terms ‘Skin-changer’ and ‘warg’ interchangeably. Technically they have different meanings, but for the purposes of readability and clarity I usually utilize warg.

“Balon was mad, Aeron is madder, and Euron is the maddest of them all.” – Baelor Blacktide, to Victarion Greyjoy, A Feast for Crows

So Euron Greyjoy now has control of the Iron Islands. No small feat: the windy and wet colony of raiders and pirates are a proud and dangerous people, factionalized and treacherous. Euron, who has appeared or been mentioned in every Song of Ice and Fire novel so far, has managed to take the throne of the entire island system – in spite of the undercurrent of fear and hatred that he seems to inspire. 

It’s arguable that he is simply a cruel individual, and so he is justifiably reviled. After all, he drowned Sawane Botley, a minor lord of the Iron Isles, in a barrel of seawater, merely because he refused to recognise Euron as the heir to the Seastone Chair. 

However, I would like to put forth the theory that there is a lot more to Euron Greyjoy than initially meets the eye. That he is a compelling character is undoubted, but beyond that, the greater part of his motives and actions are shrouded in mystery. 

So, what is Euron planning? Why is he doing it? And what made him into the man he is when he first appears on the pages of A Feast for Crows? 

Well, let’s start with his formative years. We are told very little about his early childhood or upbringing, and so many things must be inferred rather than taken as fact. One thing we do know is that both Aeron and Victarion, two of his younger brothers, detest him. Aeron’s in particular is a pathological hatred, one that really leapt off the pages at me. 

Aeron makes bizarre efforts to prevent Euron from sitting the Seastone Chair, despite the fact that the Iron Islands’ succession laws inarguably point towards Euron as the rightful claimant: 

“Euron is elder, but Victarion is more godly.” – Aeron’s excuse for Victarion’s claim, A Feast for Crows

His hatred of Euron is so vitriolic that he even goes as far as to claim that Euron is the harbinger of the Iron Isles’ doom:

“Euron’s blasphemies will bring down the Drowned God’s wroth upon us all,” Aeron had prophesied, back on Old Wyk. “We must stop him, brother. We are still of Balon’s blood, are we not?” – Aeron, to Victarion, AFFC

Something is clearly not quite right here. For brother to hate brother so much implies a serious transgression, and the reader is given the perfect example of such an act: Euron cuckolded Victarion. This caused Victarion to beat his wife to death, in accordance with the Old Way. Therefore it’s understandable why Victarion would mistrust and hate his brother.

Yet, we are not directly shown Euron doing something of this enormity to Aeron. In fact the books only sparsely allude to their past interactions. We are, however, presented with a strange image – one that repeatedly haunts Aeron, haunting him and filling him with dread: 

“The sound came softly, the scream of a rusted iron hinge. ‘Urri’ he muttered, and woke, fearful. There is no hinge here, no door, no Urri.”- Aeron’s recollections in A Feast for Crows

This motif of the screaming door hinge is a vivid one. Some believe that this is evidence of Euron molesting Aeron, and perhaps even Urrigon (Aeron’s elder brother, younger than Euron and Victarion, also known as Urri) over a long period. Aeron shows many of the typical symptoms of someone traumatised by abuse – he has recurring flashbacks to the event(s), he affixes his hatred and insecurities to the perpetrator, and he has deep-seated self-esteem issues.

However, I do not agree with this interpretation - or rather, I believe it isn’t quite right, though it’s on the right track. 

Understanding why Euron would have done such a thing to one, or perhaps both of his younger brothers is a question to which I can propose a potential answer.  

Let’s examine some evidence for a theory I’ve been formulating: Euron is a warg. Firstly, Euron delivers this abstruse and surreal philosophical question: 

 

"When I was a boy, I dreamt that I could fly" he announced. "When I woke I couldn't...or so the maester said but what if he lied?" Euron turned to face him, his bruised blue lips curled in a half smile." Perhaps we can fly. All of us. How will we ever know unless we leap from some tall tower? No man ever truly knows what he can do unless he dares to leap."- Euron, A Feast for Crows

The Song of Ice and Fire books are exceptionally dense, and it is easy to miss details on the first or even the second reading. During one such rereading of A Feast for Crows, this section really jumped out at me. 

Euron’s language here is extremely reminiscent of Bran’s journey in becoming a skin-changer. Bloodraven promises Bran that he will “fly” multiple times. Bran fell from a tower, which may have broken his spine, but definitely set him on the path to becoming a warg, allowing him to fly.

Bran dreams of flying, or of at least trying to fly. Flight in Bran’s chapters is often used as an extended metaphor for warging into animals and even people. 

What if Euron has similar dreams? After all, he is the “Crow’s Eye,” a name that is never explained. Interestingly, we do not know if he named himself this or if it was someone else’s nickname for him.

There are a few possible mundane explanations for this name. Firstly, Euron was simply born with a black eye and this led to him being named Crow’s Eye. This is not impossible; after all, there are real-life conditions that can lead to abnormally coloured eyes. It could be an abnormal case of Heterochromia. Or, it could be an example of Aniridia in one eye – a lack of iris. 

Alternately, this could imply some sort of connection to Bloodraven. What if he is one of the three-eyed crow’s eyes? What if Bloodraven is sending him these dreams, like he did to Bran? Keep in mind his personal coat of arms: 

“The charge was one Sam had never seen before: a red eye with a black pupil, beneath a black iron crown supported by two crows.” – Sam’s thoughts, A Feast for Crows

A red eye with a black pupil, beneath a black iron crown supported by two crows. Considering what we know of Bloodraven, this seems about as referential as it can get without having his name right there on the banner.

Firstly, Bloodraven only has one eye, and Bran describes it as red upon meeting him in A Dance with Dragons. The black pupil in this image, then, might represent Euron, who is or was an agent of Bloodraven. 

If this is the case, then perhaps Euron gained the name ‘Crow’s Eye’ in a slightly different way. What if, after discovering or receiving his warging prowess, he practiced this newfound talent on small animals such as crows? He would have been able to see things from a literal bird’s eye view. This would be a remarkable talent under any circumstances, but in a warlike society such as that of the Ironborn it could be especially useful, for surveying enemy forces or simply watching what others were doing. 

In a Storm of Swords, we see Varamyr Sixskins, another warg, entering the mind of a bird specifically to gain a vantage point on the battlefield. Euron wonders, after all, whether every man could fly, if he were only to take the leap… maybe after having experienced flying personally, he has come to long for it. 

There’s another potential explanation, one that neatly ties together several things. One of these things is Euron’s eyepatch. It does not appear to be due to any wound or condition; Euron is unscarred and whole as far as we know. Under the patch is the aforementioned black eye, which is shown in The Winds of Winter to terrify Theon Greyjoy: 

 

“Under it he [Crowfood Umber] wore a stained white leather eye patch that reminded Theon of his uncle Euron. He’d wanted to rip it off Umber’s face, to make certain that underneath was only an empty socket, not a black eye shining with malice.” – Theon’s thoughts, The Winds of Winter sample chapter.

Curious. Euron’s eye is not specifically shown to be maimed at any time, and yet he seems to always wear the eyepatch. He must have worn it even when Theon was a child. Why? As a fighter, this would significantly limit his depth perception in close combat, and make many trivial tasks much more difficult. 

Impairing yourself during a swordfight, especially on a ship which could be rocking or moving, is a terrible idea. The human eye can adjust over time, but we do not know if Euron is aware of this, or why he would bother. 

An argument can be made that he might wear the eyepatch so that he had one eye adjusted to darkness and one to light – meaning he could effectively fight on the deck of his ship or below decks. This is a possible explanation, but it doesn’t entirely satisfy me. Firstly, Euron doesn’t sound like he does much fighting on his own ship. I don’t think he gets boarded very often: 

“Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to hoist sail. When men see my sails, they pray.” – Euron, A Feast for Crows

When men see my sails, they pray.

And even if we allow that he might fight regularly in other ships’ holds, we never see or hear of any other seafaring character practicing this in the Song of Ice and Fire novels. Asha does not wear an eyepatch, and Victarion does not; both these characters are Ironborn like Euron and even from the same family. If this was a known tactic of naval warfare in the Iron Isles, why would Theon, also a Greyjoy, find the idea of his uncle’s patch so distressing? 

Furthermore, if this theory were proved true in the Winds of Winter, I’d question why Euron continued to wear his eyepatch on land, as he does in a Feast for Crows. It seems pointless to prepare yourself for fighting below deck if you’re not on a ship.

To take a brief break from Westeros, I did some googling, and it appears that eyepatches being used to adjust one eye to darkness is likely a myth, as it does not appear in any combat manuals or seafaring accounts of the era. 

Regardless, Euron is a flamboyant, daring character, who embraces his dark reputation and in fact uses it for the purpose of intimidation:

“You should keep your nose in your books, Reader.” – Euron, threatening Rodrik the Reader in A Feast for Crows 

He’s not at all ashamed of himself; in fact he appears very extroverted whenever he is present in a scene. He has a long conversation with Victarion while he is stark naked with a similarly clad woman he seduced the night before. He seems to relish people’s fear of him, often basking in it. Why, then, would he cover his black eye that is so full of malice? (NB: he’s still wearing that damned eyepatch, even when he’s nude in the above scene.) 

Lastly, if Euron’s eyepatch and its explanation are simply mundane characterisation from Martin, then why is the purpose or origin of the eyepatch never explained? After all, we know that Crowfood Umber had his eye stabbed by a crow that thought him dead when he was simply reeling drunk on the side of a path. His eyepatch is explained by Theon in The Winds of Winter just moments after Theon alludes to his uncle’s hateful, patched eye. So if George wanted us to know why it was there, he surely could have told us in this same encounter. My only explanation is that he does not want us to know the true reason for the eyepatch – yet. 

My (admittedly tenuous) theory is as follows: Euron had a contract of sorts with Bloodraven. Remember, there is no known living weirwood grove, or even a weirwood tree on the Iron Isles. There are some implications here and there, but nothing solid, and no Iron Islanders that we know of worship the Old gods. 

I believe that Euron gave one of his eyes to Bloodraven, in exchange for more power – or perhaps the power to warg in the first place. Given that there aren’t any weirwood trees (or very few) on Pyke or the Iron Islands in general, Euron’s perspective as the son of the Iron King would be a priceless vantage point for Bloodraven. This also gives a hidden meaning to his title, ‘Crow’s Eye.’  He is literally an eye for the Crow, and in return has a Crow’s Eye. 

And this, finally, is where the eyepatch comes into the story. I believe Euron doesn’t want Bloodraven to see everything he does. There is no other logical explanation that I can think of for Euron to wear his eyepatch. The only other thing I could suggest is that he thinks it looks cool (or perhaps George R. R. Martin does). I’m sure it will look ace when he appears on the show next year. Far more compelling, however, is the idea that Euron cannot take off his eyepatch, as if he does, he knows that his deeds are being watched. 

Further evidence for this idea is seen when Bran meets Bloodraven. One of his eyes is gone (he lost it when he was still Brynden Rivers) but, interestingly, a branch or tendril of wood is growing through the socket. I wonder if this is how he sees through Euron’s eye – he has some sort of magical connection that allows him to replace his lost eye with Euron’s. Yikes. 

Leaving that aside for a moment, if we take these theories as a given, then Euron becomes a very interesting parallel to the Norse god Odin – a mad king who gave up one eye in exchange for the magical wisdom of the elves. Could Euron, who is after all “the maddest of them all,” and who is now King of the Iron Isles, be a direct reference to Norse mythology? 

Moving back to Aeron, I hope I have convinced you that Euron is a warg, because now I’m going to heavily infer without very much direct reference to the texts. 

What if Euron practiced his warging, first on small creatures, likely crows and ravens, and then moving on to attempting to warg into humans? This may seem entirely crazy, but hear me out.

When Bran wargs into Hodor, it is described as a horrible, awful experience, painful and cruel: 

“Like a dog who has had all the fight whipped out of him, Hodor would curl up and hide whenever Bran reached out for him. His hiding place was somewhere deep within him, a pit where not even Bran could touch him.” – Bran’s thoughts in A Dance with Dragons

This description calls to my mind Aeron’s attitude in A Feast for Crows. During my first reading, a question that flummoxed me was why Aeron crowned Euron on the Seastone chair. After all, he hates him and does not believe that Euron is worthy. In fact, he thinks that Euron will be the ruin of the Iron Isles. 

I am the storm, my lords... the first storm, and the last.

Despite this, he crowns him anyway. All his thoughts are drowned out by the screeching of a door-hinge, and he cannot help himself but do Euron’s bidding. This certainly reminds me of a dog who has had all the fight whipped out of him. 

In fact, I would even go so far as to hypothesize that the screaming door-hinge could represent Euron currently manipulating his younger brother via warging. Despite the roars of the crowd at the Kingsmoot in A Feast for Crows, Aeron can hear nothing but that recurring, horrible sound. I wonder if this is supposed to alert us to the fact the Aeron’s mind is being invaded. 

In fact some textual evidence seems to support the idea that Euron was somehow magically controlling Aeron at the Kingsmoot: 

“I placed the crown upon his head, and gladly will I wrest it off again.” – Aeron, to Victarion in A Feast for Crows

What in Westeros is Aeron talking about? If he hates Euron so much and truly believes that doom will come if he is King, why did he crown him? He’s a high priest of the Drowned God, and so his coronation of his elder brother lends him a lot of legitimacy. I’ve heard the argument that Aeron was helpless at the time because the mob of various important Ironborn were all chanting Euron’s name at this point, but I’m not convinced. Euron had very strong opposition at the Kingsmoot. In fact I’d wager on Victarion’s side if it came to swords, they would have had the numbers if Asha’s alliance had joined the fray.  

Above and beyond that, Aeron is a figure of authority on the Iron Isles. He is the one who called the Kingsmoot; in crowning Euron he screwed up his own agenda. Unless our old friend, that screaming door-hinge, were somehow to blame… 

I note here that unless I missed a line, Euron does not speak after his speech is done until the chapter ends. It’s possible that this indicates that he is concentrating; maybe he is warging into Aeron – after all, Euron is normally quite verbose and dramatic. 

Bran also takes time to strengthen his warging prowess before he can take over even simple-minded Hodor. He’s described as feeling like a shoe that fits wrongly, and Hodor goes wild in the attempt. Moreover, Bran cannot take control of Meera when he tries, implying to me that fully matured adults are far more difficult to warg than people with simpler minds. 

Could Euron have tried to warg into an adult, failed, and theorized that he must practice on the nearest children instead? This would give Euron a motive to terrorize his younger brothers, and explain their trauma. 

Another reason why I believe something is afoot here is that Aeron blames Euron for the death of his brother, Urrigon (Urri.) And yet, in A Feast for Crows’ first chapter, Aeron seems to imply that Urri died because he and Aeron were playing the finger-dance, and Urri lost some fingers. This wound became corrupted and eventually killed him. 

So, if anyone’s to blame, it’s Urri himself, or perhaps Aeron, or maybe whomever let them play such a dangerous game. I can’t think of a reason why Euron would be to blame. So why does Aeron say he hasn’t trusted the Crow’s Eye since Urri’s death? I wonder if either Aeron or Urri were warged by him prior to this incident. I can’t think of much of a motive, though, so maybe that’s a shot in the dark. I leave it in as an open question. 

It is interesting that Aeron, while having one of his flashbacks to his screaming door-hinge, calls out for Urrigon. This makes me think that Aeron and Urri were both being experimented on by Euron, or perhaps that Urri tried to stop Euron, as Aeron’s request for help in this vulnerable moment lends me to imagine Urri and Euron in opposition. 

If Urrigon confronted his elder brother, perhaps Euron poisoned him? I have very little evidence for this, apart from the fact that no maester could correct the festering of Urrigon’s wounds: 

“He had no love of maesters. Their ravens were created of the Storm God, and he did not trust their healing, not since Urri.” – A Feast for Crows

One of Euron’s most famous lines is of course: 

“I am the storm, my lord. The first storm, and the last.” – Euron, A Feast for Crows

The hype is real. 

Aeron might have a subconscious inkling of this, reinforcing his revulsion towards his brother. He could even have evidence, but cannot reveal it for any number of reasons. He might be too intimidated to speak out, as is a common symptom of severe abuse. Or he might have repressed this information, squashed it until only his emotions on the subject remain. 

Let us not forget either that Aeron has been shipwrecked twice. The second time, he supposedly died at sea before being reborn on the beach. When he returned, his whole personality was different. Perhaps he suffered from oxygen starvation? This can damage the brain in many strange ways, including but not limited to the loss of memories. Not to mention the obvious fatigue, dehydration, starvation and trauma that can come from being lost at sea. Perhaps this is what Aeron meant when he claimed that the Drowned God had “made him strong.” He could be implying that by taking away his memories, the sea made him able to face reality. 

Unfortunately, we cannot say for sure whether Euron has had the mysterious black eye since birth, as it is not explained either in the main novels so far or in any additional material that I have read. Much of this theory by nature will remain unsubstantiated until either I or a reader stumbles across some evidence I missed, or the next novel clears the matter up. I for one put little faith in the HBO adaptation of the novels. It is an at-times wonderful series, but is very removed from the detail and subtext present in the books.  

To conclude: Euron is likely a warg, and if not, he's certainly got some serious schemes going on. I will elaborate on this in a future write-up, and give further evidence, as well as some possible uses of this ability in the wider story of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Many thanks to my wonderful editor, Rambus Brogg.