Burning of the Lannister fleet

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Burning of the Lannister fleet
Conflict Greyjoy's Rebellion
Date 289 AC
Place Lannisport
Result Greyjoy victory
Combatants
House Greyjoy House Lannister
Commanders
Victarion Greyjoy
Euron Greyjoy
Strength
Iron Fleet Lannister fleet

The burning of the Lannister fleet began Greyjoy's Rebellion in 289 AC.

Prelude

Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, desired to restore the Old Way after he succeeded his father, Lord Quellon Greyjoy, during Robert's Rebellion. Over five years he constructed the Iron Fleet,[1] one hundred warships controlled by the Seastone Chair instead of local lords.[2] One of Balon's younger brothers, Victarion, became Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet.[3]

Burning

Balon declared himself King of the Iron Islands, rejecting the authority of King Robert I Baratheon. Another younger brother, Euron Greyjoy, devised the plan to attack the twenty or thirty[4] unsuspecting ships of Lord Tywin Lannister, Robert's Warden of the West, while they were at anchor at Lannisport.[5] Leading the Iron Fleet to Lannisport, Victarion began the burning by throwing the first torch at Tywin's flagship.[5]

Aftermath

Balon hoped that the destruction of Tywin Lannister's ships would give the ironborn naval supremacy over the Sunset Sea. Stannis Baratheon, the master of ships, eventually defeated Victarion's Iron Fleet in a sea battle off Fair Isle, however,[6] allowing his brother, King Robert, to invade the rebellious Iron Islands.[1]

Quotes

The sea shall be my moat, and woe to any man who dares to cross it.[1]

—declaration of Balon Greyjoy

Asha: Walk amongst the cookfires if you dare, and listen. They are not telling tales of your strength, nor of my famous beauty. They talk only of the Crow's Eye; the far places he has seen, the women he has raped and the men he's killed, the cities he has sacked, the way he burnt Lord Tywin's fleet at Lannisport ...

Victarion: I burnt the lion's fleet. With mine own hands I flung the first torch onto his flagship.

Asha: The Crow's Eye hatched the scheme.[5]

—Asha Greyjoy and Victarion Greyjoy

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The World of Ice & Fire, The Iron Islands: The Old Way and the New.
  2. ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 56, The Iron Suitor.
  3. ↑ A Game of Thrones, Appendix.
  4. ↑ So Spake Martin: The Lannister Fleet, September 26, 1999
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 18, The Iron Captain.
  6. ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 63, Victarion I.
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