Game of Thrones season 7 can’t go too long without a resident psychopath, and with Joffrey and Ramsay out of the way, we might’ve met their replacement. Well, of course there’s always Qyburn, but Cersei seems to have him under control… for now. We met Euron Greyjoy, Balon Greyjoy’s brother, last season and he seems to be the next raging psychopath that GoT fans have not-so-anxiously been awaiting. We knew there’d be another sadistic antagonist as some point—because when is there not—but who knew he’d show up so soon, and with such vengeance? Well, he’s here, and we might as well get to know him, because he seems like a ferocious fighter with nothing to lose. Euron Greyjoy’s axe seems to be his trusty sidekick and weapon of choice—but true Greyjoy diehards and fans of the George R. R. Martin novels know that Euron Greyjoy’s axe and Victarion Greyjoy have a relation. To learn more about Victarion from Game of Thrones, keep reading.
A New Villain in Game of Thrones Season 7
Okay, so he’s not exactly from GoT. Euron Greyjoy’s brother doesn’t actually make an appearance in the TV show, but he does have a significant role in the epic fantasy novels, A Song of Ice and Fire—which the show is based on, by the way. Euron Greyjoy from Game of Thrones presented himself as the character, or one of the characters, to watch as the war between the kingdoms rage on.
Audiences saw him brutally attack his niece, Yara Greyjoy’s ships. His men murdered half of the Sand Snakes, killing Obara and Nymeria (Sand, not Stark) before impaling and hanging them on the front of Yara’s main vessel. He captured Ellaria and Tyene, as well as Yara, presumably to take back to King’s Landing as trophies for Cersei—but not before taunting his traumatized nephew. It’s clear that Theon hasn’t, and likely never will, recover from his time with the Bolton’s, and Euron knew that the fighting would trigger him. He held Yara with his axe against ger throat, and told Theon to save his sister, if he wanted.
Credit: Giphy.Com
Theon couldn’t deal with the gore and brutality of Euron’s men, and jumped ship—literally.
Credit: Giphy.com
While this scene left us sad for, and disappointed of, Theon there was a detail here that satisfied the fanatic in us. As Euron held his axe up to Yara’s throat, we got a good look at its design. It takes the shape of a golden kraken, which is a reference to Euron’s older brother, Victarion. While he’s not in any of the GoT episodes, he’s well known in the books for his glorious axe. In one notable passage, Red Priest Moqorro warns Victarion about Euron, and references his weapon: “You come striding through the flames stern and fierce, your great axe dripping blood, blind to the tentacles that grasp you at wrist and neck and ankle, the black strings that make you dance.”
While showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have chosen to exclude Victarion from the TV show, it seems as though Euron will embody some aspects of the missing warrior—as a service to fans of the books, we presume. We’re not too upset about Victarion’s absence, because there’s no way we would’ve been able to keep up if they included all the characters from the books. And we’re not alone—one Reddit user feels the same: “While I’m a bit upset that they’re cutting Victarion out, paying homage to his character in pieces of Euron’s character will do,” they wrote. “What’s dead may never die!”
