Baekar Shrine

(All credit goes to YezenIRL who originally posted this meta on r/asoiaf. Minor editing by me.)

TL;DR: In one corner we have Victarion Greyjoy, the Nissa Nissa-killing fiery-hand champion of R'hllor. In the other corner we have Euron Greyjoy, the night-walking icy-dick champion of the Great Other. Both are cruel, glory-seeking mad men who will mostly succeed at making the world more terrifying. The thesis is the pursuit of glory is a pointlessly violent contest between brothers.

"Would you have me fight the Crow's Eye? Brother against brother, ironborn against ironborn?" Euron was still his elder, no matter how much bad blood might be between them. No man is as accursed as the kinslayer. —The Iron Captain, AFFC

When we are introduced to Victarion, he is essentially a lifelong henchmen loyal to the line of succession. His older brother commands, and he burns a fleet, holds a castle, and leads an attack, but his brother steals the glory. Yet by the end of AFFC, the henchmen has finally had it with the dark lord and sets out on a quest to prove his masculinity by winning the glory for himself.

What would the Crow's Eye do? —Victarion I, ADWD

Basically, Victarion is becoming more like Euron.

Let us count the ways.

I. Euron prefers silence, so does Victarion

"If the Crow's Eye can make mutes, so can I." —The Iron Suitor, ADWD

Euron famously captains a crew of mutes, and now Victarion keeps the dusky woman. While many assume the dusky woman is a Chekhov's Gun who will ensure Euron's success, she is a sex slave with absolutely no motive to do so. Victarion's failure would mean her death. Her purpose is to show Victarion that he prefers the company of those who cannot talk back. The dusky woman is Silence.

That, or the Drowned God has no power here. More and more, he had come to fear that they had sailed too far, into strange seas where even the gods were queer… but such doubts he confided only to his dusky woman, who had no tongue to repeat them. —The Iron Suitor, ADWD

This comes up repeatedly and goes back to Vic's fear of mockery. It's why he mistrust laughter, hates monkeys, and starts cutting out the tongues of anyone who says anything he doesn't want to hear.

The war for Meereen was won, the captain claimed; the dragon queen was dead, and a Ghiscari by the name of Hizdak ruled the city now.

Victarion had his tongue torn out for lying. —Victarion I, ADWD

The Crow's Eye demands suicidal faith and silent obedience, and so does Victarion.

II. Euron's gifts are poison, so are Victarion's

"Foul stuff. Do you mean to poison me?" "I mean to open your eyes." —The Reaver, AFFC

Victarion is becoming increasingly exploitative.

Afterward he put their crews to death as well, saving only the slaves chained to the oars. He broke their chains himself and told them they were now free men and would have the privilege of rowing for the Iron Fleet, an honor that every boy in the Iron Islands dreamed of growing up. "The dragon queen frees slaves and so do I," —Victarion I, ADWD

Notice how he "frees" slaves only to force them to continue rowing under the false pretense that they are now free men. He claims to be a liberator, but offers only a the illusion of freedom. Now the Volantene fleet is headed his way carrying thousands of slave soldiers seeking a breaker of chains. He just needs to claim a dragon.

If it made the three feel braver to believe they had a choice, let them cling to that. Victarion cared little what they believed, they were only thralls. —Victarion I, TWOW

Though the glyphs inscribed upon Dragonbinder read "No mortal man shall sound me and live", Victarion convinces three men to blow the horn by promising to give them freedom, wives, land, and thralls.

“The mute sounded the horn three times. You three will sound it only once. Might be you’ll die, might be you won’t. All men die. The Iron Fleet is sailing into battle. Many on this very ship will be dead before the sun goes down – stabbed or slashed, gutted, drowned, burned alive – only the Gods know which of us will still be here come the morrow. Sound the horn and live and I’ll make free men of you, one or two or all three. I’ll give you wives, a bit of land, a ship to sail, thralls of your own. Men will know your names.” —Victarion I, TWOW

Of course Vic knows these men are going to die. He is manipulating them into becoming blood sacrifices, which is exactly what Euron did with Claggorn.

The Crow's Eye leads people to die so that he can fly, and so does Victarion.

III. Euron embraces magic, so does Victarion

The Crow's Eye keeps wizards, why shouldn't I? —Victarion I, ADWD

Victarion doesn't just keep a wizard on board; he also fully embraces magic. He allows Moqorro to heal his arm, kills his maester, starts making blood sacrifices, and claims the horn. It's often suggested embracing magic will lead him to his doom, but without embracing magic Victarion would already be dead.

The Iron Captain was not seen again that day, but as the hours passed the crew of his Iron Victory reported hearing the sound of wild laughter coming from the captain's cabin, laughter deep and dark and mad, and when Longwater Pyke and Wulfe One-Eye tried the cabin door they found it barred. Later singing was heard, a strange high wailing song in a tongue the maester said was High Valyrian. That was when the monkeys left the ship, screeching as they leapt into the water. —The Iron Suitor, ADWD

The embrace of magic causes the man who mistrusts laughter to laugh maniacally, causes the monkeys he so hates to jump overboard, and marks the change from The Iron Suitor into Victarion. Yes, the stump may have embraced Euron's madness, but he is a henchman no more.

Magic is dangerous and unpredictable, but if it can work for Euron then it can work for Victarion. Neither man is an experienced mage, neither fears death, and both are using magic to pursue personal glory no matter the cost. The brothers may treat their wizards differently now, but once upon a time Euron had his own Moqorro who made similar promises.

"I once held a dragon's egg in this hand, brother. This Myrish wizard swore he could hatch it if I gave him a year and all the gold that he required. When I grew bored with his excuses, I slew him. As he watched his entrails sliding through his fingers he said, 'But it has not been a year.'" He laughed. —The Reaver, AFFC

The Crow's Eye is mad enough to kill priests, and Victarion is on track to embrace the same madness.

IV. Euron mocks the gods, so can Victarion

The Crow's Eye had sailed halfway across the world, reaving and plundering from Qarth to Tall Trees Town, calling at unholy ports beyond where only madmen went. Euron had even braved the Smoking Sea and lived to tell of it. And that with only one ship. If he can mock the gods, so can I. —The Iron Suitor, ADWD

The Victarion arc is all about competing with Euron. As he sails east like his brother did, he leaves behind honor, duty, tradition, interest in material rewards, and even his loyalty to the Drowned God.

"I had forgotten what a small and noisy folk they are, my ironborn. I would bring them dragons, and they shout out for grapes." "Grapes are real. A man can gorge himself on grapes. Their juice is sweet, and they make wine. What do dragons make?" —The Reaver, AFFC

At Lord Hewett's town, Euron wants to sail his men across the world to claim glory and dragons, but his captains all prefer to raid the Arbor in pursuit of material gain. Euron is able to convince Victarion to take the quest up because, unlike the other captains, Vic is interested in winning glory as a means of proving his masculinity against Euron.

Later, after taking a slaver ship, Victarion claims the seven prettiest sex slaves, puts them on a fishing boat, and sets them on fire as blood sacrifices to R'hllor. Not only does this exemplify Victarion's growing disinterest in the material world and his embrace of magic, but it also echoes Euron's sacrifice of Falia Flowers. Both Euron and Vic have no loyalty to any particular god, and simply sacrifice whoever they can to whatever power they believe might bring victory.

"Two gods are with me now," he told the dusky woman. "No foe can stand before two gods." —Victarion I, ADWD

The Iron Suitor confides to his mute that he has begun to doubt the Drowned God's power. Then Victarion proclaims to his mute that he has the power of two gods.

Who is he starting to sound like?

"Who knows more of gods than I? Horse gods and fire gods, gods made of gold with gemstone eyes, gods carved of cedar wood, gods chiseled into mountains, gods of empty air . . . I know them all. I have seen their peoples garland them with flowers, and shed the blood of goats and bulls and children in their names. And I have heard the prayers, in half a hundred tongues. Cure my withered leg, make the maiden love me, grant me a healthy son. Save me, succor me, make me wealthy . . . protect me! Protect me from mine enemies, protect me from the darkness, protect me from the crabs inside my belly, from the horselords, from the slavers, from the sellswords at my door. Protect me from the Silence." He laughed. "Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray." —The Iron Captain, AFFC

We hear this monologue from Vic's POV because it foreshadows him following Euron's footsteps into a world of fire gods, horse gods, and men seeking protection from slavers, horselords and sellswords. Like Euron, Victarion comes to see gods and men only as a means to win glory and usurp his older brother.

After all, the Crow's Eye killed his brother—why shouldn't Victarion?

V. Euron seeks death or glory, so does Victarion

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?" —The Reaver, AFFC

I'm sure some of you still believe that Euron is the true dark lord in control of everyone, and Victarion is a clueless imitation who will succeed only in ensuring his brother's rise. But if Vic's arc is inconsequential, why did George bother to write it? Why bother with the mutes, wizards, and moral decay? Sure, Euron may still seem more terrifying from Aeron's perspective, but from the perspective of his men, Victarion is also pretty fucking terrifying. Maybe greatness and madness are a matter of perspective.

"I will not let this city go the way of Astapor. I will not let the harpy of Yunkai chain up those I've freed all over again." —Daenerys VI, ASOS

Victarion has been brought to Slaver's Bay in place of Euron to act as a dark mirror to Daenerys. After he claims a dragon and takes the Volantene fleet, Vic will set out upon a crusade of false liberation. Yet while Dany tries to build sustainable peace to preserve freedom, Vic offers no alternative but continued violence. For example, Victarion may sack and plunder Yunkai, but if he doesn't build a stable government it will just become another Astapor, and the only option people have left will be to join Victarion to plunder the next city... and then the next one... and the next one.

Again, who does this sound like?

“Your victories are hollow. You cannot hold the Shields.” “Why should I want to hold them?” His brother’s smiling eye glittered in the lantern light, blue and bold and full of malice. “The Shields have served my purpose. I took them with one hand, and gave them away with the other. A great king is open-handed, brother. It is up to the new lords to hold them now. The glory of winning those rocks will be mine forever. When they are lost, the defeat will belong to the four fools who so eagerly accepted my gifts.” —The Forsaken, TWOW

The Iron Captain held Moat Cailin. Victarion cares only for the glory of victory.

Death or glory, I will drink my fill of both today. —Victarion I, TWOW

Eventually, Victarion's crusade across Slaver's Bay will build into a massive cult of personality that rivals the one being built around the dragon queen. However, when the Long Night comes, Dany will refuse his hand and make for Westeros to find the son of Rhaegar and protect the realm from the Others. Victarion will then receive a vision that Euron has taken the Iron Throne and assume he has been cucked again. Finally ready to kill his brother, Victarion will lead his followers across the sea and into a zombie apocalypse.

Will Euron have the last laugh? Will Victarion have his vengeance?

looking back, it is no coincidence that victarion remained celibate for the three years of euron's exile. we were told that many a night, he dreamed of driving a mailed fist through euron's smile. but because he was denied sweet revenge via balon's intervention, he voluntarily forsook sexual gratification as well, because no fleeting fulfillment could compare to the final release of the dam of hatred welling up inside him. it is again no coincidence that victarion ceased his celibacy when euron returned, and with the sex slave he was sure euron had "used", no less. desire and hatred are intermingled through their veins.

Context

While the post was obviously made in jest, this anon asked me to put "all jokes aside" and answer this seriously, so I shall. Assuming that Euron is capable of warging into the body of a woman a continent away from him: No, I do not find it out of character for him to violate his younger brother's sexual boundaries to exert power and control over him.

The fandom seems to have difficulty grasping the fact that Victarion is also a victim of Euron's sexual abuse, albeit indirect.

Victarion had no doubt that Euron had "used" the Dusky Woman prior to gifting her to him, because "that was his way". When he gazes upon the Dusky Woman, Victarion "found himself remembering the first woman his brother had given him, to make a man of him." This establishes a pattern of Euron's invasive presence in Victarion's sexuality, so deeply rooted as to color his first sexual encounter.

The creepiness of Euron summoning Vic to the chamber he took up residence in while freshly post-coital and naked aside from a cloak also goes understated. What is even more telling is Vic's reaction: he treats this like a minor nuisance, which tells us that he is accustomed to Euron inflicting his nudity upon him, but he simultaneously finds it obscene and is rendered unable to gaze upon him until Euron covers himself. Why would a grown man, especially one so dedicated to being stoic and unfazed in the face of all challenges, be unnerved by the sight of another man's naked body?

Finally, in terms of its power dynamics, cuckolding as a sexual practice is not about two men sharing a woman, but about a man using the woman's body as vehicle for having sex with the other man. Euron forcing cuckoldry upon Victarion is fundamentally About Victarion; afterwards, his mockery of Victarion's supposed size and lack of sexual prowess all but confirms that.

Taking all of the above into account, my interpretation is: Euron is established to have a habit of preying upon his younger brothers. However, he is thwarted by Vic's closeness in age to him, his size and strength, and the fact that Balon may have taken Vic under his wing relatively early. So lacking that direct venue he could exploit with impunity, he resorts to poisoned gifts and psychological warfare, culminating in the rape of Vic's third wife.

I suppose there is yet one element left unaddressed, and that is the sexual politics of fucking and being fucked — it is everything to the deeply patriarchal. But in terms of warging into the Dusky Woman, it is not Euron that is physically being fucked. Whatever iffiness he might feel towards the notion of being fucked, I guarantee you that he feels greater relish from outsmarting Victarion and violating him sexually. Rape is about power; the physical gratification from intercourse pales in comparison for him.

"You smile plenty for the both of us."

I really wanted to draw him

somebody pointed out that maekar wears baelor's pin over his heart during the funeral, and the detail really stayed with me...

Lemons 🍋

a messy abandoned wip of young maekar at the redgrass field 🛡️