The Starks of Iron Pointe | The Starks of Winterfell | The Lannisters of Casterly Rock and Baratheons of King's Landing | The Targaryen Exiles | The Baratheons of Dragonstone and Storm's End | The Tyrells of Highgarden | The Brotherhood of the Blackfyres | Braavos | Wider Essos | The Council | The Ironborn | King's Landing | The Martells | The Wall and Beyond | Asgardians | The Court of the Others
The Ironborn
The people of the Iron Islands, who have a long history of pirating and raiding. In light of the chaos starting to consume Westeros, they're beginning to return to that heritage.
- Cool Sword: Thanks to the use of sunstones, they've upgraded their swords into lightsabers, which they put to good use in the siege on Winterfell.
- Horny Vikings: As per canon, the Ironborn are a sea-faring people who practice a religion different from the mainland and frequently raid their neighbors.
Asha Greyjoy*
Asha Greyjoy/Nebula
The daughter of Balon Greyjoy and a skilled Ironborn captain. Asha has joined forces with her lover, Ivan Vanko, to destroy their enemies. It doesn't go well, and would lead to her falling into more dire situations than she would've ever expected.- Action Survivor: She endured Ramsay Snow's tender attentions for two weeks until he tried to play his favorite game of "hide and seek" with her, giving her an opening to ambush and kill him with all his men.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the source material, Asha was a Noble Demon. Here, she's bent on ravaging and pillaging the North and Westerlands with her lover Vanko and
Word of God confirmed her as a Big Bad for the story. - All Girls Want Bad Boys: Her lover is a pirate captain who explicitly wants to ravage the West and North of Westeros, and she sees nothing wrong with it. She actually is helping him.
- Arc Villain: Towards Robb Stark in A Crack of Thunder.
- Asshole Victim: After everything she did in A Crack of Thunder, it's hard to feel too much sympathy for her when Euron captures and tortures her in A Shield of Man.
- Brainy Brunette: Her plan to lure Ramsay into a false sense of security to destroy him when he would try to hunt her worked without a hitch.
- Cain and Abel: Very much the villainous reaver to Theon's faithful ward. Still, she seems a bit reluctant to hurt her brother when they meet again, while Theon actively wants to kill her. Granted, he doesn't know she's his sister, but he makes it clear that he doesn't care.
- Composite Character: As of A Shield of Man, she has become Nebula, being mutilated into said character's appearance by her transformation into a thrall at Euron's hands.
- Demoted to Dragon: Goes from being part of a Big Bad Duumvirate in A Crack of Thunder to unwillingly serving Euron in A Shield of Man.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Her relationship with Vanko is rather equalitarian and strong. She also seems to care for Theon in spite of his being raised in the North, and is obviously dismayed when he refuses to identify himself as Ironborn.
- Fighting from the Inside: While being made into Nebula extinguished most of her humanity, there are moments where Robb can notice she still has sparks of humanity fighting to get out.
- Have We Met?: Theon is able to tell she looks familiar, but doesn't peg her as his sister - a cousin at the most. What rattles her is that not only does he not know, he doesn't care who she is.
- Hero Killer: She's responsible for killing Jonos Bracken.
- Irony: In canon, Theon was a villain who ended up being horribly tortured by a worse villain (Ramsay). In A Song of Metal and Marvels, however, Asha is the villain horribly tortured by a worse villain (Euron).
- It's Personal: She involved herself into Vanko's crusade for kicks, but after meeting Theon - who doesn't remember her and blatantly renounces the Ironborn culture - she develops a grudge towards the Starks for stealing her baby brother away.
- Make Way for the New Villains: After being an Arc Villain in A Crack of Thunder, she's captured and made a test subject by Euron in A Shield of Man.
- Master Actor: She played Ramsay like a fiddle when posing as a poor commoner girl seeking refuge and help. She draws from those skills to make Euron think that he successfully broke her with her forced transformation into Nebula.
- Moral Myopia: She wants to get revenge on the Starks for ruining her plans, even though said plans consisted of razing Winterfell and killing all of them.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Her killing Lord Bracken helps turn her allies against her, and more importantly, ensures that Theon will never try to reconcile with her as well as making him declare himself for the Starks.
- Unholy Matrimony: With Ivan Vanko. They are quite demonstrative with each other.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Flees from Winterfell when the Guardians show up and defeat her assault on it.
- She does it again when escaping the battle at Hardhome.
- Villainous Valor: Gal holds Rape, Pillage, and Burn as a holy sacrament but Seven above has she massive balls. She willingly endures Ramsay's idea of fun for two weeks then uses his trademark killing method to lure him and his followers into a trap and kill them all.
Ivan Vanko
Ivan Vanko
An Ironborn captain from the island of Lash, who has sworn to destroy the North and the Westerlands for their actions in the Greyjoy Rebellion.- Arc Villain: Towards Tony Stark in A Crack of Thunder.
- Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: He's never called Whiplash.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His desire to destroy the Starks and Lannisters stems from his family being wiped out in the Greyjoy Rebellion. He also shares a passionate relationship with Asha.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Utterly unimpressed by Renly Baratheon's motive for seeking Tony's destruction. At least Vanko is trying to avenge his family, not crying over his hurt ego.
- Faking the Dead: He faked his death with Renly Baratheon's support in order to escape capture by the Martells.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Jon accuses him of being no better than the lords he hates for killing his family, by killing innocent bystanders. He does not care.
- Kavorka Man: Asha Greyjoy took him for lover in spite of him being very much older and disinclined to bathe.
- May–December Romance: He's a good deal older than Asha (think Mickey Rourke versus Gemma Whelan).
- Misplaced Retribution: Tony calls him out on the fact that the Iron Pointe Starks had nothing to do with his family's deaths, so targeting them makes no sense.
- Old Soldier: He's actually middle-aged, but that is old for an Ironborn captain. And when an Ironborn captain gets old, he either retires to die on the earth or is killed and tossed into the sea. Not him.
- The Pig-Pen: His shirt is tattered, his pants absolutely covered by grime and his hair unwashed. Truly lovely.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: His group is operating without Balon Greyjoy's approval. When Balon hears that they were apparently working with Renly on his behalf, he's not happy, and orders all Ironborn ships to return to Pyke.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: His response to Jon's He Who Fights Monsters comment above is to state that he doesn't care.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Theon manages to identify him because he remembered seeing his father Anton while the Ironborn were rebelling against the Iron Throne.
- Taking You with Me: Just like his MCU self, his response to being beaten by Tony is to blow himself up in an attempt to kill him.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He doesn't bother hiding his loathing towards Renly Baratheon but needs his money for his campaign against the North and the Westerlands.
- Unholy Matrimony: With Asha, whom he treats as a worthy partner.
- You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: During their Final Battle, Tony calls him out on how he could have used his knowledge of the sunstones to save people, instead of pursuing petty revenge.
- You Killed My Father: His desire to ravage the Westerlands and North is motivated by his whole family dying in the Greyjoy Rebellion.
Dagmer Cleftjaw
Dagmer Cleftjaw
A member of Asha's crew during her travels with Vanko.- An Arm and a Leg: Theon cuts off both his hands during his break from the Ironborn.
- Elite Mook: He gets to put up a much better fight than Asha's other men, though it's pretty much entirely because he's fighting Theon rather than Brienne.
- No Name Given: He has yet to be named in the story, but the description of his face leaves little doubt who it is.
Euron Greyjoy
Euron Greyjoy
Asha and Theon's uncle, who was banished from the Iron Islands for being too much even for the Ironborn. He has since found a new calling, unfortunately for everyone else.- An Ice Person: His alliance with the Others has granted him the ability to freeze things solid instantly.
- Arc Villain: Serves as one A Shield of Man for Robb's plotline.
- Carry a Big Stick: He wields a massive, ancient war hammer as his weapon.
- Composite Character: He has been merged with Ronan the Accuser, dressing like the latter's MCU appearance, wielding the same weapon, acting as Thanos' agent, and evidently having the Power Stone. He then also becomes one with Carnage, after he notes how Robb uses the Venom symbiote.
- Discard and Draw: When critically injured by Valkyrie, the Guardians and Venom, Euron's own obsessions and crazed nature caused him to gain a portion of the Venom symbiote to save his life. Unfortunately, in the process of healing, the Power Stone is popped from his body, and Asha escapes with it.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He mentions he once met Qyburn, who was very interested in his bloodline and offered him a list of people to sleep with and to pay for it. Even for someone as twisted and perverse as Euron, it was a surreal experience, as he doesn't want to be paid for having sex.
- Eviler than Thou:
- Was banished from the Iron Islands because he was too intense and psychotic even for the other Ironborn. He also makes quick work of Asha in their first in-story encounter, overwhelming her crew and taking her prisoner.
- At one point he states his belief that Thanos, who wants to Kill All Humans, thinks too small.
- Eye Beam: Courtesy of the Power Stone sitting in his eyeball, he's able to shoot beams of purple light to his foes. However, his aim is not that good.
- Faux Affably Evil: He enjoys chatting with his prisoners and playing the jolly host indulging his guests, while he plots to torture and twist them into barely recognizable wrecks.
- Transhuman Treachery: He became an Other's thrall and now serves the Night King of his own free will.
- Villain Respect:
- Actually respects Theon's decision to cut loose from his heritage and forge his own path.
- He also quickly comes to see Robb as a Worthy Opponent after managing to match him in their first fight.
- Villain Team-Up: Has pledged himself to the Others, due to the Night's King accepting his true nature.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Discusses this out loud with himself while he has Shireen, the Guardians and their allies dead to rights. He could drag on the fight and enjoy a truly thrilling brawl, and he'll probably regret not doing so years later as overlord. That's a regret he can live with though, but he's thankfully interrupted by Robb/Venom before he can kill Yondu.
