Daegon Greyjoy

Daegon Greyjoy is the current Lord of the Iron Islands and Lord Reaper of Pyke. He is the second eldest son of Varin Greyjoy and the Esdred Harlaw.

Appearance and Character
Lord Daegon is relatively young, in his late twenties, of strong build and tall stature, he has the black beard and black hair of a Greyjoy. His long hair is tied in a knot behind his head, his eyes are hazel color. He takes more care of his appearance than most of his ironborn brethren, being raised amongst southron lords. In combat, he wears a black full plate armor of a knight instead of it's ironborn variant, preferring two-handed swords than the classic ironborn battle-axe. He clothes himself in black and golden vests, the colors of the kraken, but in silk and wool of andal fashion.

Daegon has a very strong sense of honor, justice and loyalty, he is trustful, kind, fair in judgement. He looks like a knight, fights like a knight, speaks like a knight, but inside he is still ironborn. Daegon is calm and patient, he speaks sense not passion, elegant and distinct. However, when in rage, he is relentless in combat, vicious against his enemies. He doesn't stay on the ground, keeps fighting, with an iron resolve.

Early Life
Daegon was the second son of the Lord of the Iron Islands, not destined to rule the islands but rather left to do largely as he pleased. His older brother was stronger, more ruthless, more ironborn, his father didn't care much for parenting, he was a reaver, not a family man, with not many plans for Daegon. Nevertheless, Daegon was forced by his uncles to go in raids every once in a while from an early age. In one such occasion, while sailing the Narrow Sea with his older brother in search of trade vessels to steal, their ship was attacked by a braavosi patrol fleet which was out looking for lyseni scouts. They fought intensively instead of giving themselves as prisoners to the braavosi, the only two survivors being his older brother and himself. As their ship sunk to the depths of the sea, they held onto a lone plank of the broken hull of the ship, floating for days until finally hitting the shores of Gulltown, where they were rescued by fishermen.

They were both very debilitated from all this. The fishermen recognized them as lords by their broken armor and kraken insignia, reporting them to the Lord of Gulltown, which in turn took them in to treat them. Daegon took a week to even get out of bed, but his older brother was severely injured, and had to lose an infected arm to survive. Eventually, news of their attack and survival had reach Pyke, their father thus sending ravens to Gulltown asking for them to be delivered back as soon as they were able to take the journey, and tanking Lord Grafton and issuing a decree that all trading vessels bearing the golden crimson banner of Gulltown be given protection from any ironborn raid as long as he lived. Eventually, during their stay at the Vale, Daegon got deeply interested in Andal culture, their vows of knighthood and their honor, their fighting style and their weapons. While on their way back, after a thankful stay at Gulltown, they moved on the road to the Eyrie, where they met with Lord Damon Arryn.

While his older brother, after losing an arm and still very much angry about their defeat at sea, was in no mood for pleasantries or learning about the local culture, Daegon was in wonder of the castle the Andals had constructed, high above the clouds, essentially impenetrable. He read as many books as he could from the Arryn library, took many questions to their Maester over their customs. Daegon was so enthralled by this whole new world that he asked Lord Arryn to write to his father, so that he could be taken as a ward to the Arryns. Although Lord Greyjoy initially refused this, as Daegon later passionately asked his father to stay, the Greyjoy lord relented so he could finally get his heir home as soon as possible. Daegon said his goodbyes to his brother and stayed at the Eyrie. There, he was trained as a squire, learned continental customs and etiquette, their tactics, both militarily and in combat, of which he was always quick to adopt and delve deep into. He befriended the Arryns, dining with them, playing and joking with them, training horse riding and andal swordsmanship with them, even teaching them a thing or two about boatmaking and sailing. While riding alongside Lord Arryn at the High Road, coming back from a visit to the Bloody Gate, a hill clan ambush descended upon them, in the fight Daegon was cut several times, in the leg, arms and chest, but fought on, defending his foster parent and friends. They won the battle, and for his bravery, Daegon was knighted by Lord Arryn, earning him the nickname "the Kraken Knight ''.

A Knight Errant
With his new title and a sense of adventure, of seeing more of the world other than the pebbles that were the Isles, Daegon would take on the world. As a group of his vale knight friends decided to go seek adventure in secret at Lys, he joined them, and sailed east. Before departure, his friend Artys asked him to deliver a letter to his uncle Isembard, exiled at Lys. There, Daegon saw what Aegon the Godswrath had done with the Free City, a prosperous port that once harbored another culture, flourishing with knights and andals, with a proper court and tourneys, all that still mixed with their own gods and customs, a new mixed culture. Him and his friends stayed at Lys for a couple of months, and as his friends enjoyed the pleasures that beautiful city could offer, Daegon talked with knights and men from all around the kingdoms, discovering more and more about their customs, their laws, their sense of honor or, as most exiles go, lack thereof. After Lys, they sailed forth west, reaching the city of Oldtown.

There, he again was marvelled by the massive city, admiring that colossal ashen sword that cut the clear skies of the south with fire, like it was calling all to come seek it. As his friends decided to indulge themselves with the wine and girls of the perfumed port town, he saw the opportunity to get access to the Order of Maesters' library. Through sheer insistence and persuasion, Daegon wore the maesters down to allow him access to some of their books at the library, although always accompanied and with several sessions closed to his prying eyes. But even more important than those books, written so boringly that he could sleep through half of them and not miss much, was the opportunity to talk to so many maesters, those wise men of the green lands. He noticed how they spoke so technically over all topics, instead of the more mystic and traditionalistic way of the drowned priests. Their medicine was miles ahead. Their buildings sturdier, taller. Their clothes finer, better made. There was little he could pride his people over theirs, the Ironborn's boats were better made, but even then the Hightower's fleet had ships that dwarfed most longships of the isles. At Oldtown, Daegon also met Vortimer Osgrey, a young son of the Lord of Standfast, whom he quickly developed a friendship with.

A Knight on the Seastone Chair
As his friends decided to go back to the Vale, Daegon decided to go back to the Isles. They parted ways, and as he returned home, now a man, he enjoyed some rest. But this brief moment of peace was not to last, for later that same year Darklyn's Rebellion began. His father, Lord Varin Greyjoy, proclaimed support for the crown, but that was little more than words in the wind, an excuse to assemble the Iron Fleet and raid the Sunset Sea. Daegon was with the southern fleet, which tried to take over the shields. He attempted to give council to lords Goodbrother and Drumm, in command of their detachment, but they gave him little heed, after all, he was young and talked about land tactics and sieges, green lander talk. Maybe the should've listened, for they tried and tried yet failed to conquer the shields. It wasn't until Lord Varin Greyjoy himself arrived with the rest of the Iron Fleet that the Ironborn were able to strike hard enough to break the Shieldmen's defenses. Daegon would still fight against Oldtown, the city that had took him before, but that bloody affair did not yield any victory, and after the combined fleets of the Reach counter-attacked and decisively won against the Iron Fleet at the Redwyne Straits, the Ironborn had to retreat.

Lord Varin and his heir, Torwyn Greyjoy, were both severely injured during this last battle, and would not last until the end of that year. This turn of events led to Daegon becoming the new Lord Reaper of Pyke, much to the disappointment of some lords. He wasn't loved by his vassals, they saw him as more greenlander than ironborn, too much talk about chivalry and architecture for their liking. Daegon felt a stranger to his own people and an outsider to the greenlanders, so he decided the only way he could move forward was to do as Aegon had done in Lys, to bring his own advancements to the Isles and mix them. As lord of the Iron Islands, Daegon brought many scholars to Pyke, setting up his own library and scholar circle. He put to pen many sagas of Ironborn history, genealogy, traditions and even commissioned the first written book with wisdoms, songs and stories from the drowned priests. Daegon brought architects from Oldtown to help repair the towers of Pyke and expand Lordsport into a proper trading port. And even though all this modernization might have begrudged some more traditional ironborn lords, Daegon knows how to balance between his andal and ironborn sides, still allowing them to raid as they pleased, sometimes even joining them. As lord, he compiled the Ironborn laws to paper and dealt ironborn justice, and although he freed the thralls of Pyke later on, much to the disgruntlement of some, he didn't outlaw thralldom on the other isles, leaving this decision to be made by each lord on their own.

Timeline
173 AC: Born on Pyke.

186 AC: Shipwrecks near Gulltown, taken as ward by Lord Damon Arryn.

191 AC: Moves to Lys, starts a romance with Elaenya Rogare.

194 AC: Moves to Oldtown.

195-196 AC: Fights under his father in Darklyn's Rebellion and Black Harren's Rebellion, fighting at the Shields, Oldtown, Redwyne Straits and Pyke.

196 AC: Becomes Lord of the Iron Islands and Lord Reaper of Pyke. Abolishes thralldom on Pyke.

200 AC: Takes Celene Lannister as a salt wife.

Family tree
Family Echo Link


 * Dalton "the Red Kraken" Greyjoy
 * m. Lysa Farman (salt wife)
 * Dagon Greyjoy
 * m. Johanna Greyjoy (neé Lannister)
 * Varin Greyjoy
 * m. Esdred Greyjoy (neé Harlaw)
 * Torwyn Greyjoy
 * Daegon Greyjoy
 * m. Celene Lannister (salt wife)
 * Roryn Greyjoy
 * Maeve Greyjoy
 * Uthor Greyjoy
 * m. Falyse Greyjoy (neé Blacktyde)
 * Eldred Greyjoy
 * Qhorwyn Greyjoy
 * Eivar Greyjoy
 * Veron Greyjoy
 * m. Myranda Lannister (salt wife)
 * Yohn Greyjoy
 * m. Asgrimma Greyjoy (neé Drumm)
 * Dagmer Greyjoy
 * m. Barbra Chester (salt wife)