Iron Fleet

The Iron Fleet is the supreme naval force of the Iron Islands, a fleet belonging not to any single lord but to the Seastone Chair itself. Unlike the smaller longships common among the ironborn, the ships of the Iron Fleet are larger, with deep hulls and savage rams, fit to meet the war dromonds of the green lands in battle. Its ships are captained and crewed by men from all the islands, bound together under a single command. In A Dance with Dragons, the fleet is commanded by Lord Captain Victarion Greyjoy, who sets sail from the Shields with ninety-three ships, the remnants of the hundred that once made up the full fleet.

The Voyage East and the Storms

Victarion’s voyage from Westeros to Slaver’s Bay is a grueling ordeal. He splits the great fleet into three squadrons to better manage provisions and navigation: the swiftest ships under Red Ralf Stonehouse take the corsair’s road along the northern coast of Sothoryos; the larger, slower ships under Ralf the Limper sail for Lys to sell captives and take on provisions; and Victarion himself commands the ships that creep along the shores of the Disputed Lands, taking on food and wine at Volantis before swinging south around Valyria. The plan is for all three squadrons to join up again off the southern tip of the Isle of Cedars. The voyage is plagued by storms. Victarion loses ships to the savage weather, including the first two from his own third of the fleet, Dagon’s Feast and Red Tide, which are slammed together and explode into splinters. By the time the remnants gather at the Isle of Cedars, only fifty-four ships have arrived, far fewer than the ninety-nine that set out. Victarion broods on the loss, blaming the Storm God and his brother Euron’s treachery, but he refuses to wait any longer for stragglers, determined to reach Meereen before the Volantene fleet.

Victarion’s Command and the Red Priest

Victarion is a brutal and superstitious commander. He has his maester, Kerwin, drain the pus from a festering wound on his hand, threatening to kill him if he tries to take the hand. He also takes aboard a red priest, Moqorro, who is fished from the sea after his ship sinks. Moqorro claims to have seen Victarion in his nightfires and offers to heal his wounded hand. The priest performs a ritual involving fire and a blade, causing terrible pain, but afterward the hand is healed, though it is hideous to look upon, like pork crackling from elbow to fingertips. Victarion comes to believe that two gods now favor him: the Drowned God and R’hllor, the Lord of Light. He uses Moqorro’s prophecies to guide the fleet, and the priest’s predictions of prizes and lost ships returning prove accurate, earning him Victarion’s trust and a golden torque as a reward.

Prizes and the Approach to Meereen

As the Iron Fleet sails into the waters near Slaver’s Bay, Victarion captures numerous prizes, renaming them for his fleet. These include the Ghiscari Dawn, a trading galley out of New Ghis, which he renames Red God’s Wroth; the Myrish cog Dove, renamed Shrike; and two galleys, renamed Ghost and Shade. He also captures the slaver galley Willing Maiden, freeing the rowers and taking the girls for his captains. He brutally executes the slavers and throws the perfumed boys into the sea. With each prize, the fleet grows stronger, numbering sixty-one ships by the time he reaches the waters off Yunkai. He learns from captured crews that Daenerys Targaryen is said to be dead, but he has their tongues torn out for lying, trusting Moqorro’s vision that she still lives. He also hears of the black dragon’s return and the silver queen’s flight on its back.

The Dragon Horn and the Final Approach

Victarion brings forth the dragon horn that his brother Euron found in the smoking wastes of Valyria, a twisted thing six feet long, gleaming black and banded with red gold and dark Valyrian steel. Moqorro reads the Valyrian glyphs on the horn, revealing its name as “Dragonbinder” and the warning that “No mortal man shall sound me and live.” He explains that the horn will bind dragons to its master, but the one who blows it will die. Victarion understands that Euron’s gift is poisoned, but he plans to have another man sound the horn, claiming it with blood. As the Iron Fleet sails on, Victarion feels the power of the Drowned God and the red god both guiding him, and he is confident that no foe can stand before two gods. The fleet finally arrives off Meereen, its numbers now sixty, ready to claim the dragon queen and her dragons.