STANNIS: Though Robert had risked all our lives to win it,
the Iron Throne bored him.
He cared little for justice, and less for rule.
If 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 Iron Islands have never lacked for treachery.
They respect only strength.
And honor is as foreign to them as the Seven.
After six years, their ruler, Lord Balon Greyjoy,
wagered that King Robert had not won the support of the great houses of Westeros,
many of whom still named him "usurper."
Lord Balon declared the Iron Islands independent
and sent his Iron Fleet to Lannisport.
Lord Tywin Lannister was careless,
and the ironborn caught and burnt his ships at anchor.
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, I sensed relief.
War he could understand.
He would smash Lord Balon as he had Rhaegar.
I raised Robert's fleet and sailed around Westeros
to the Iron Islands.
I set a trap for the Iron Fleet off Fair Isle.
As sailors and warriors, the ironborn are unparalleled.
But they are not soldiers.
They have no discipline, no strategy, no unity.
In 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, I smashed their longships
with our larger war galleys.
The strength of the ironborn is in their ships.
With the Iron Fleet broken, I had assured Robert's victory.
He could now transport troops and siege weapons
to invade the Iron Islands.
And contrary to Balon's hopes, Robert had plenty of both.
I'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.
In rebelling against the Iron Throne,
Lord Balon did more than Robert ever could to cement his rule.
When Robert came to the Iron Islands,
he brought with him the full power of Westeros.
Sir Barristan Selmy of the Kingsguard lead the assault on Old Wyk
while I subdued Great Wyk, the largest of the Iron Islands.
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 I'd have led the assault, Balon's neck would have bent.
Under a sword.
Because I do not forget. I do not pardon.
His time will come.
All their times will come.