#hell-heron

Heyo! Not to be weird but I've actually read a good bit of your asoiaf fanfic it is sooo... *chef's kiss* 🤌 (and I know you from The Discord. kudos to a fellow throbb ponderer 🫡🫡🫡 too bad I'm super shy and never post on there lol.)

Per your first point, I combed Vic's chapters but I honestly couldn't find anything specific about Vic believing Hotho to be the heir to Ten Towers. If there is, feel free to send it my way. That said, there is some general ambiguity to that particular inheritance because of Euron's move of making Harras Lord of Greyshield. My read was that because Harras will already be lord of both Grey Garden and Greyshield, it's somewhat expected that he might 'step back' from Ten Towers, and let that inheritance go to another Harlaw (namely Hotho lol).

Per your second point, it is genuinely strange that there are no characters we really know to be salt sons/daughters. To be honest, I think George just included the whole salt wife/son bit without thinking through all of the wrinkles it might cause, so salt wives/sons are pretty much ignored in feastdance. Consider Balon, as according to Aeron, Balon took his first two salt wives when he was seventeen (implying that he took more in the following years). And Balon never had any salt sons by any of these women? Seems unlikely. But obviously, George knew that adding salt sons to the Greyjoy succession crisis would only complicate things further (Asha would never have been Balon's heir, nor would Euron have ever been able to inherit after Balon's death, and story events would not be able to unfold in the way GRRM wanted).

To me, that indicates that maybeeee George shouldn't have included that bit about Balon's salt wives at all. Maybe. Just maybe. And also, Quellon let Balon do that? It seems like it would really undermine Quellon's attempted reforms to let his son go around taking thralls and salt wives. George. George are you listening to me. George. Hey.

Now, if I were famous American novelist George RR Martin (and thank god I'm not), I'd have it so that salt sons start with the last name 'Salt' (distinct from the bastard name 'Pyke'), but if their father has no other sons, then they gain the house name and are raised up as heir. And I would have written salt wives/sons into my story in a way such that they're actually relevant. But alas.

In that same vein, I'm actually a big fan of a potential Iron Islands civil war, because I love cataclysm! I love it when tenuous cultural/societal trappings splinter and create devastating calamity! The Iron Islands have a strong reputation for being fiercely independent and quarrelsome, and I am SO looking forward to the complete catastrophe TWOW will be for them. Even on a small scale, it would be super interesting if salt sons could challenge rock sons for their inheritance via duel or a mini-kingsmoot (lordsmoot?), and that was a constant point of tension. There's just so much juice there!

As a final note, I hope I didn't come across as a "well ackchyually-" annoying weirdo. I just really enjoy discussing the sparse ironborn lore we're actually given. I have approximately ten thousand of my own ironborn headcanons, some of which roughly align with established canon, some of which directly contradict it lol. That's partially why the Iron Islands are my favorite region in Westeros: we're not given nearly as much world-building about them as, say, the Starks, and the world-building we do get sometimes makes absolutely no sense. So there's so much room to craft your own headcanons/lore!

5. something you see in fics a lot and love

There's a tendency of mentioning braids in ironborn-focused fics when describing characters like Asha or Victarion and I think it's probably motivated by "Viking"-like hairstyles depicted in pop culture but I associate it to the Dothraki so it's a sort of accidental parallel that I appreciate a lot. Also Theon getting his hair washed and cut after escaping Winterfell. I don't care who does it, immediate catharsis.

6. something you see in art a lot and love

As of late I've finally gotten to see more non-west/centre European inspiration in art and it fills my heart with glee.

More specific examples

Every time I get to see Arab, Indigenous, African or Asian inspired Iron Islands inhabitants. Admittedly, I don't think I have much of a preference because due to the thraldom and the trading with non-westerosi cultures allows for a lot of diversity but yess these are all faves. Some reasons: Arab (Stories like that of Sayyida al-Hurra, their nautical vehicles being more similar to dhows than actual viking galleys), Indigenous and African (Theon being taken away from his culture and raised by foreigners who look down on him and behave paternalistic at best mirroring the story of Leftraru and hundreds of other indigenous heroes, them choosing their kings and having a less monarchic policy than the rest of Westeros, described as dark and often facing some sort of bias, history and lore being traditionally passed orally), Asian (not gonna lie purely because the connections between Yi Ti and the Iron Islands that kind of goes overlooked by most)

Yakut or Inuit based Starks and The North ( Yakut fashion my beloved, unipkaaqs my adored)

Mesoamerican inspired Tyrells and habitants of the Reach (Remember that thing I told you about Oldtown being in Guatemala?)

Black Westerlings(/Spicers), (purely because the Spicers are descents of Maggy the Frog, who is Essosi, and a dear friend of mine is obsessed with Jeyne W in the way I'm obsessed with Jeyne P and she is mozambican)

I feel like lately a lot of these have become more accepted in fandom so there's a lot more art featuring them and I gush about that a lot.

16. a tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate

I think Theon's cultural isolation during his time in Winterfell. At this point most people seem to agree that plays a role in his arc but I still feel like it's dismissed in favour of loyalty conflicts (Stark vs Greyjoy; Robb vs Balon)

An example of that could maybe be his religion. The faith of the drowned god is passed down orally, they worship no items and have no specific place of praying. The few religions in real life that still do this are often motivated by wanting to create a sense of community in their faith. There is a need to gather around together, wherever you are, in order to learn of your faith. Theon can't do that in Winterfell where there are no drowned priests. Sansa gets to find some solace in the Godswood in King's Landing and the Eyrie but that's not an option for Theon who can't even baptise himself with salt water.

Even if the North's religion is that of the Old Gods, Ned Stark has a sept built for Catelyn and Sansa and Arya get a septa to instruct them in the beliefs of her mother. Theon's faith however is unimportant.

Theon found himself wondering if he should say a prayer. Will the old gods hear me if I do? They were not his gods, had never been his gods. He was ironborn, a son of Pyke, his god was the Drowned God of the islands … but Winterfell was long leagues from the sea. 

Then there's also the fact his clothes already set him apart. House colours being black & gold vs stark house colours being white and grey.

And of course also the subtle xenophobia/racism that GRRM tiptoe's around. Luwin is where he gets the boldest. Take this

"Windy and cold and damp. A miserable hard place, in truth . . . but my lord father once told me that hard places breed hard men, and hard men rule the world." - Theon I, ACOK

and compare it to this:

"Cruel places breed cruel peoples, Bran, remember that as you deal with these ironmen. Your lord father did what he could to gentle Theon, but I fear it was too little and too late." - Bran VI, ACOK

Balon speaks of "hard" when referring to their land being a poor one with bad weather, Luwin, who lives in a place called WINTERfell, a more or less prosperous city, speaks of "cruel"

(Sources: "Cuthbert praying in the sea" by Clara M. Burd, "Sand and Foam" by Khalil Gibran, Alfred Guillou's "Adieu", "Mozambique" by Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah, illustration of Urashima Tarō by an unnamed illustrator from "El Libro de nuestros hijos" 1955, "Dreamt of a Wave" by Mirel Wagner, Gustave Doré's "I Watched the Water-Snakes", "La Ciudad" by Gonzalo Millán, "Christ in the Dessert" by Ivan Kramskoi, "Hearing voices" by RembrandtsWife)

oh and this

King Lear - It is the all time fave and the only one that I could rank easily. I think it's the one I found the most emotionally striking. The initial question on whether love can be measured and love as words≠love as actions was admittedly the source of my fascination due to some family dynamics.

Julius Caesar - Hehe roman history lover here.

Macbeth - Quite honestly I think that out of all those listed here it’s the one where I have the most mixed feelings about but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If anything, it makes rereading it more fun.

Coriolanus - More Romans and in my opinion these are more entertaining ones. I reread a few segments of it a few months ago when you compared a certain someone to Volumnia. That was really interesting.