STANNlS: Though Robert had risked all our lives to win it,
the lron Throne bored him.
He cared little forjustice, and less for rule.
lf it weren't women or wineskin, he had no use for it.
Without the stalwart Jon Arryn as Hand of the King,
the challenge to Robert's crown would have come much earlier than it did.
The lron lslands have never lacked for treachery.
They respect only strength.
And honor is as foreign to them as the Seven.
Lord Balon and his reavers controlled the Sunset Sea.
Robert then ordered me to succeed
where his father-in-law, Lord Tywin, had failed.
Beneath Robert's fury, l sensed relief.
War he could understand.
He would smash Lord Balon as he had Rhaegar.
l raised Robert's fleet and sailed around Westeros
to the lron lslands.
l set a trap for the lron Fleet off Fair lsle.
As sailors and warriors, the ironborn are unparalleled.
But they are not soldiers.
They have no discipline, no strategy, no unity.
ln a battle, each man fights only for his own glory.
And their longships are built for lightning strikes and shore raids.
When the captains rushed in, l smashed their longships
with our larger war galleys.
The strength of the ironborn is in their ships.
With the lron Fleet broken, l had assured Robert's victory.
He could now transport troops and siege weapons
to invade the lron lslands.
And contrary to Balon's hopes, Robert had plenty of both.
l've never seen such allegiance as Robert could inspire in war.
Enemies who tried to kill him one day would be drinking with him the next
under their own fallen banners.
ln rebelling against the lron Throne,
Lord Balon did more than Robert ever could to cement his rule.
When Robert came to the lron lslands,
he brought with him the full power of Westeros.
Sir Barristan Selmy of the Kingsguard lead the assault on Old Wyk
while l subdued Great Wyk, the largest of the lron lslands.
But Robert saved the seat of House Greyjoy, Pyke, for himself and Lord Eddard.
Robert would later boast of the battle's bloodiness
and how he could have torn down the island into the waves
if Lord Balon hadn't bent the knee.
But if l'd have led the assault, Balon's neck would have bent.
Under a sword.
Because l do not forget. l do not pardon.
His time will come.
All their times will come.