The Iron Islands
The Iron Islands are a group of seven islands to the west of Westeros – Pyke, Great Wyk, Old Wyk, Harlaw, Saltcliffe, Blacktyde and Orkmont – lying in Ironman's Bay off the western coast of the continent. Ruled by House Greyjoy of Pyke, the isles are described as bare and barren, and the local weather as "windy and cold, and damp". The members of this seafaring nation are known in the rest of Westeros as Ironmen, and as Ironborn among themselves. As with Westerosi customs to give bastards a surname showing their origins, illegitimate children born in the Iron Islands are given the surname Pyke.
Because of their naval history of fierce raids, the Ironmen have a fearsome reputation as the "terror of the seas". They worship the Drowned God, who "had made them to reave and rape, to carve out kingdoms and write their names in fire and blood and song". The appendix of A Game of Thrones summarizes that the Ironmen once ruled over the Riverlands and much of the western coast of Westeros. When Aegon the Conqueror extinguished Black Harren's line, he chose House Greyjoy as the new rulers of the Ironmen.
Read more about this topic: World Of A Song Of Ice And Fire
Famous quotes containing the words iron and/or islands:
“I was even more surprised at the power of the waves, exhibited on this shattered fragment, than I had been at the sight of the smaller fragments before. The largest timbers and iron braces were broken superfluously, and I saw that no material could withstand the power of the waves; that iron must go to pieces in such a case, and an iron vessel would be cracked up like an egg- shell on the rocks.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)