World of A Song of Ice and Fire - The Iron Islands

The Iron Islands

The Iron Islands are a group of seven islands to the west of Westeros – Pyke, Great Wyk, Old Wyk, Harlaw, Saltcliffe, Blacktyde and Orkmont – lying in Ironman's Bay off the western coast of the continent. Ruled by House Greyjoy of Pyke, the isles are described as bare and barren, and the local weather as "windy and cold, and damp". The members of this seafaring nation are known in the rest of Westeros as Ironmen, and as Ironborn among themselves. As with Westerosi customs to give bastards a surname showing their origins, illegitimate children born in the Iron Islands are given the surname Pyke.

Because of their naval history of fierce raids, the Ironmen have a fearsome reputation as the "terror of the seas". They worship the Drowned God, who "had made them to reave and rape, to carve out kingdoms and write their names in fire and blood and song". The appendix of A Game of Thrones summarizes that the Ironmen once ruled over the Riverlands and much of the western coast of Westeros. When Aegon the Conqueror extinguished Black Harren's line, he chose House Greyjoy as the new rulers of the Ironmen.