Euron Greyjoy: what can we expect in Game of Thrones season 8 and how bad is he in the books?

Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy in Game of Thrones - HBO
Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy in Game of Thrones - HBO

Game of Thrones has produced some very messed up characters. At first, we didn’t think anyone could get more sadistic than Joffrey... then Ramsay came along with his fondness for castration, flaying men alive and long dog walks. With those two out of the picture, Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) has swaggered into the Iron Throne room ready to take the crown of most barbarous nobleman.

As far as malevolent qualifications go, we’ve already seen Euron kill his brother, Balon, and disinherit his niece and nephew, Yara and Theon. Within his marriage proposal to Cersei Lannister in season seven, he even managed to sneak in the suggestion that she murder brother/lover Jaime. And in Stormborn, the following week's episode, he switched into full-on "mad pirate mode", dispatching two of the supposedly deadly Sand Snakes, ransacking Theon and Yara's fleet, and capturing the latter.

Nonetheless, it's Euron’s actions in George RR Martin's books that really give us an insight into his depravity and hint that, as far as this new villain is concerned, we ain't see nothing yet.

Ahead of Game of Thronesseason 8, here's a quick round-up:

Pilou Asbæk becomes king of the Iron Islands in Game of Thrones - Credit: HBO
Pilou Asbæk becomes king of the Iron Islands in Game of Thrones Credit: HBO

He's good at cutting back on workplace gossip

The best start to finding out about Cersei’s newest suitor would be to ask the crew of his ship, the Silence. You won’t get much of an answer though, because Euron had their tongues ripped out.

He's got blue lips

Euron's appearance is also a little more terrifying in the books. He wears an eyepatch to conceal the fact that one of his eyes is black in sharp contrast to his blue “smiling eye”. Just to keep everything co-ordinated, his lips are also blue due to a fondness for drinking shade of the evening (a brew of special leaves, which some believe will give the drinker magical powers).

He's not really a family man

Euron is loyal to no-one — not even his brothers. Shortly after the Greyjoy rebellion, he was banished from the Iron Islands for having sex with brother Victarion’s "salt wife" (the name given to a woman captured by one of the ironborn during a raid and forced into being a sort of unofficial spouse). We don’t know if the encounter was consensual.

He was not supposed to return for as long as Lord Balon was alive (which to be fair, he kind of didn't in that he killed Balon within minutes of landing back on Pyke). Victarion would have killed Euron for the huge betrayal, if it wasn't for the taboo against kinslaying. Instead, Victarion beat his salt wife to death.

It later transpires in the books that Balon wasn’t the only brother Euron killed. As a boy, he also killed his younger brothers Harlon and Robin.

Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy in Game of Thrones - Credit: HBO
Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy in Game of Thrones Credit: HBO

He's well-travelled

After his banishment, Euron sailed all over the world, raping and pillaging wherever he pleased with the Silence and its mute crew. On his travels he went to dangerous places such as the ruins of Valyria, and supposedly seized a dragon horn from the warlocks of Qarth. That last bit could prove quite important, as it can control dragons and might make a lovely engagement gift for Cersei.

When he returned to take the Seastone Chair, one of the lords of Pyke, Lord Sawane Botley objected to Euron’s claim. Not wanting to get into a debate, Euron had him drowned in a cask of seawater.

His relationship history is a little worrying

After Euron conquered the Shield islands (which are in the Reach area of Westeros), he held a feast in the Oakenshield Castle. While there, he tied and gagged Lord Humfrey Hewett and makes Hewett’s daughters and granddaughters serve him naked. Euron also took Hewett’s bastard daughter Falia Flowers as his lover.

Things don’t work out well for Falia, however. According to a preview chapter from Martin's forthcoming The Winds of Winter, she is later lashed to the prow of the Silence. Pregnant and with her tongue cut out.

You’ve been warned, Cersei.

Assassination of Balon Greyjoy came at the hands of younger brother Euron 
The assassination of Balon Greyjoy (left) came at the hands of younger brother Euron (right)

What can we expect from Euron Greyjoy in season 8?

At some point, death. Euron is filled to the brim with the kind of reckless depravity that always meets its comeuppance in Westeros and, with his proposal to Cersei in the balance, its unlikely we'll end the series watching the panned pair get hitched.

Having finally been ditched by her lover/twin brother Jaime, there would actually be some poetic justice in the Mad Queen losing all suitors/alliances when they matter most.

With Euron off in Essos fetching the Golden Company - a troop of mercenary sellswords - for Cersei, it wouldn't be entirely unlikely that he lose his life en route to King's Landing.

If he does make it back, against many viewers' hopes, it is likely he will continue to fall down his self-perpetuated rabbit hole. Perhaps using the now-captured Yara as his own "Reek". Perhaps giving the man who literally jumped ship, his nephew Theon, the chance to save her and avenge his personal terrors as "Reek".

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