Game of Thrones
Aeron (Michael Feast, left) and Yara (Gemma Whelan, right) sent the body of Balon (Patrick Malahide) out to sea in “Game of Thrones” Season 6, episode 2. Neither knows that Euron (Pilou Asbæk, who is not pictured) was responsible for killing the leader of House Greyjoy. HBO

“Game of Thrones” is already jam-packed with characters from all over Westeros, but episode 2 of Season 6 introduced yet another new face. Fans of the HBO series returned to the Iron Islands Sunday night and met Euron Greyjoy, the brother of Theon’s father, Balon Greyjoy. And let’s just say it wasn’t a happy reunion for the two brothers.

WARNING: Stop reading if you did not catch “Game of Thrones” Season 6, episode 2.

While everybody may be talking about the death of Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton) and the resurrection of Jon Snow (Kit Harington), another key moment happened involving Balon Greyjoy (Patrick Malahide), a character who hasn’t even been touched on for the past few seasons. Balon made his triumphant return in the episode titled “Home” Sunday, but he didn’t stay in the picture long. Heading outside during a bad storm, Balon ran into his estranged brother, Euron (Pilou Asbæk). In a tense standoff, Euron compared himself to a storm and pushed Balon off a bridge to an untimely death.

It was a shocking scene that left many viewers confused. However, author George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series underlying the “Game of Thrones” TV series reveals more background on the new character.

In the novels, Euron is the captain of a ship named Silence. The story is it that he went crazy during a storm and had to be tied down to prevent him from jumping overboard. When the storm was over and his crew untied him, Euron retaliated by cutting out everybody’s tongue. Hence the name of the ship.

But that’s not his only history with respect to violence. He was eventually banished from the Iron Islands after Balon took over. Euron allegedly seduced and impregnated the wife of his other brother, Victarion. As a result, Victarion beat his wife to death and wanted to kill Euron as well. However, Balon would have none of that: His solution was to send Euron away.

Ultimately, Balon dies and Euron returns to the Iron Islands. Unlike in the TV show, it’s only speculated in the books that Euron killed Balon. The TV series also differs from the novels in that Victarion has yet to be introduced on-screen. However, he plays a big part in Martin’s saga when Euron takes over as the ruler of the Iron Islands.

Euron wants to sit on the Iron Throne and believes he can conquer Westeros with the aid of dragons. The catch is that he doesn’t actually have any dragons. But he does have a dragon horn, which is rumored to command the allegiance of any dragon. In the books, he gives it to his brother and commands him to return with Daenerys Targaryen.

Because “Game of Thrones” has steered away from “A Song of Ice and Fire” with different twists, it’s unclear which direction Euron’s storyline will go. However, Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan) made it clear to her Uncle Aeron (Michael Feast) that she wanted revenge against whomever killed her father. Yara also believed she would be taking over as the leader of the Iron Islands, but Aeron warned her that a kingsmoot would elect the next ruler.

This is the first time that Euron has made an appearance on-screen. However, he was mentioned during Season 1 of “Game of Thrones”: Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) made a comment to Theon (Alfie Allen) about his uncle destroying Lannister ships many years ago.

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