Kingsmoot

The Kingsmoot is an ironborn custom and part of the traditions which they call the Old Way. Unlike regular lordships or the kings of the mainland, in past centuries the King of the Iron Islands was not a hereditary monarchy, but an elective kingship: all the lords and ship captains of the Iron Islands would gather at an assembly known as a Kingsmoot to elect a new king from among their own numbers.

History
After King Harren the Black and his sons were killed in the War of Conquest, Aegon the Conqueror had the ironborn select a new House to rule the Iron Islands (under the overall rule of the Targaryens), according to their custom. The ironborn chose Vickon Greyjoy as Lord of the Iron Islands, and House Greyjoy continued to rule over the ironborn by hereditary right for the next three centuries. Vickon Greyjoy's election, however, was not called a "kingsmoot". There has not been a formal Kingsmoot in thousands of years.

Kingsmoot upon the death of Balon Greyjoy
Euron Greyjoy, Balon Greyjoy's younger brother, shows up one stormy night, after Balon and Yara discuss their failed conquest of the North, and confronts Balon as he crosses one of the rope bridges that connects Pyke's three towers. With Euron having been away from the Iron Islands for many years, Balon is noticeably displeased to see his brother again. Tensions grow between the two brothers, with Euron demanding that Balon let him pass so that he may become the next King of the Iron Islands, and Balon refusing. Balon comes at Euron with a knife, slicing his cheek, though Euron grapples Balon and throws him off the rope bridge where the standoff occurs.

At Balon's funeral, Yara tells the priest of the Drowned Men - her uncle Aeron Greyjoy, Balon's youngest brother - that she will find the person who did this and feed them to sharks while they're still alive. She swears to do this upon the Salt Throne, but Aeron declares that the Salt Throne isn't hers yet, because the law says that the Kingsmoot chooses the next ruler. Yara argues that her father wanted her to rule, but Aeron says that this wasn't her father's decision to make.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, during a Kingsmoot all captains may cast a vote to choose the new Iron King and any captain may put his name as candidate. Kingsmoots are traditionally held on Nagga's hill on Old Wyk. According to the book History of the Ironborn there hasn't been a Kingsmoot in four thousand years, but according to Questions, it has been two thousand years. Some famous Iron Kings were chosen at a Kingsmoot: Urras Ironfoot, Sylas Flatnose, Harrag Hoare (of House Hoare), and the Old Kraken (of House Greyjoy).

Any ironborn may nominate himself, not necessarily royalty, even from a House which is regarded poorly in the eyes of the other ironborn (naturally, his chances are low in such case). Women are not officially forbidden from participating in the Kingsmoot, but the ironborn are not likely to choose a woman to rule them. The TV series stated that no woman has ever ruled over the ironborn: this hasn't been outright confirmed in the novels but seems strongly implied, given that no female ruler was ever mentioned (even over the vassal Houses on the isles).

The nominee must explain why he is a better choice than the others: boast about his past accomplishments and his abilities, describe his future plans as a king (usually which parts of the world he intends to raid), and offer gifts to the crowd, the richer the better. This is not considered bribery but an expected part of the Kingsmoot: logically, the man who has accumulated the most plunder to give out must be skilled at acquiring plunder, which means he will probably be the best candidate to direct all of the ironborn's raiding activities. Gifts of riches are expected and impressive but not necessarily required: sometimes kings were selected who had little wealth but were so impressive with their skills as warriors and military commanders that this swayed votes to their favor anyway, or if they promised to revenge some grievance, etc. The wise nominees would not speak first, but wait patiently till the less worthy candidates are rejected by the voters. The vote is performed by yelling the names of the candidates; whoever has more supporters is declared the winner by the officiating Drowned Men priests.

Once a candidate puts himself forth, he is bound to the Kingsmoot decision. Only once in the history of the Iron Islands has the election been declared unlawful. When one king died, the king's brother called a Kingsmoot while Torgon the Latecomer, the deceased king's son, was off at sea raiding. The king's brother hoped he would be elected in the son's absence, but the Kingsmoot raised up Urragon Goodbrother, whose first act was to put all the present kin of the old king to death. Torgon returned two years later and claimed the Kingsmoot was unlawful since he, the previous king's son, was not present to put forth his candidacy as was his right. Since Urragon was bloodthirsty and his cruelty made him many enemies, the priests and ironborn denounced him and raised Torgon to be the new Iron King.

The last Kingmoot was a bloodbath and took place centuries before the Andal invasion. Urron Greyiron gathered his men and killed all the other attendees and set up the Greyiron dynasty, which lasted a thousand years until the arrival of the Andals.

Kingsmoot upon the Death of Balon Greyjoy, in the books
Following Balon Greyjoy's death, his brother Euron attempts to take over the Iron Isles. Aeron Greyjoy, who loathes Euron for being a godless man (and perhaps for more personal reasons which are implied in his nightmares), forestalls him by announcing that Kingmoot must be held. The ironborn, who respect Aeron greatly, obey him.

Aeron was also personally opposed to the idea of Balon's daughter Asha (called Yara in the TV series) directly inheriting rule from her father, because he felt it was ungodly for the ironborn to be ruled by a woman. Nonetheless he respects the tradition of the Kingsmoot enough that he will not outright deny Asha the right to put forward her candidacy, he just hopes she won't win. Maester Murenmure, who serves House Goodbrother, tells Aeron that according to the law, the Seastone Chair belongs to Theon, or to Asha if Theon is dead. Aeron states scornfully that "Green land law" does not apply to the ironborn.

At the time the Kingsmoot is held, Theon is still imprisoned at Dreadfort. He has no idea about it, nor about his father's death. Most assume he is dead, and many ironborn such as Aeron don't care to confirm if he is alive as they consider him "hopeless, a boy of sulks and smiles", because he lived too long on the Green land, and put himself to shame by killing (allegedly) a cripple and a babe. Even so, several lords who weren't particularly attached to Theon before do call out that by rights rule should pass to him, but as no one can prove if he is even still alive this is ignored.

In Season 6's "Home", Aeron implies that the succession law of the revived kingdom of the Iron Islands is clear that a Kingsmoot must be held. Actually, the kingship had become hereditary centuries before the Targaryen Conquest, and upon Balon's death there is an open question of who should rule - Asha/Yara or one of her uncles, because the inheritance laws for their new kingdom hadn't been clearly established (though in private Balon indeed wanted Asha to rule after him). Of course, there isn't necessarily a discrepancy: just because TV-Aeron says "the law is clear" doesn't mean it actually is, this could be his opinion that he is forcing on everyone else as a powerful clergyman. That is, in the novels, Aeron similarly says that they "must" have a Kingsmoot and the ancient traditions are clear on this, even though they actually aren't - he really wants to hold a Kingsmoot in the hope that neither Asha nor Euron will win it. There are seven major islands in the Iron Isles: Great Wyk is the largest; Harlaw the second largest but richest and most populous; Orkmont in the middle of the chain is still fairly abundant in mineral resources; Pyke actually isn't as wealthy or populous as the first three but benefited from being the ruling seat of the isles under the Greyjoys for three centuries and is fairly prosperous; Old Wyk is not wealthy but as the first settled of the islands it is considered the holiest and most prestigious; the final two of the isles, Saltcliffe and Blackmont, are the smallest and least notable.

In the lead up to the Kingsmoot, Asha's main base of support is Harlaw, where here maternal uncle dominates as the head of House Harlaw. Euron, meanwhile, seized power over Pyke directly, using his plunder from across the world to bribe off various local Houses, often giving great largesse to weaker Houses or second sons to encourage them to usurp power over local Houses and take his side. Soon Orkmont was also swayed to Euron's side. Blackmont also sided with Asha, favoring her pro-diplomacy platform and sharing her fear of provoking the mainland too far, but House Blackmont is the only noble family from that tiny island. The Houses from the remaining three islands - Old Wyk, Great Wyk, and Saltcliffe - remain undecided and waver between openly declaring their support for one or the other.

Aeron Damphair calls the Kingsmoot in part to avoid a civil war between Euron on Pyke and Asha at Harlaw - though given that any ironborn can put himself forward as a candidate at the Kingsmoot, this encourages several Houses such as the Drumms of Old Wyk to support neither of them and put forward their own candidate. Victarion was cut from the TV show, though when he returns to the Iron Islands in the books for the Kingsmoot, many who were wary of either Euron or Asha see him as a respectable compromise candidate. Aeron himself gives his support to Victarion. Asha becomes so afraid of Euron that prior to the Kingsmoot, with candidates multiplying, she approaches Victarion and says that she will throw her supporters behind him, if he promises to make her his Hand of the King, to at least stop Euron from taking the throne. Victarion declines the offer, given that this office is a tradition of the mainlanders which the ironborn kings never used, and having a female advisor might make him be seen as weak.

Asha half-sarcastically, half-insistently refers to the upcoming kingsmoot as "my queensmoot".

The ironborn gather at the Grey King’s Hall. Aeron thunders "Who shall sit in Balon’s place? Who shall rule these holy isles? Is he here among us now?”. Several ironborn put themselves forward as a possible candidate: Aeron disappears the next day, his fate is unknown. Asha fears that Euron might have murdered him. There are rumors that he is hiding on Great Wyk and will soon come forth to call down the wrath of the Drowned God on Euron Crow's Eye and his minions.
 * Lord Gylbert Farwynd comes first as a candidate, with his three sons Gyles,Ygon and Yohn as his champions, promising the ironborn that if he becomes king he will lead them to a new bountiful land across the Sunset Sea, as Nymeria did with her ten thousand ships. His gifts are whale bone, sealskins and bronze. The captains look at the miserable gifts and turn away, leaving lesser men to help themselves. Soon enough the cries of “Gylbert! Gylbert King!” fade away to silence.
 * Erik Inronmaker, called the Anvil-breaker, comes next carried on a palanquin by three of his grandsons Dagon, Thormor and Urek. His gifts are silver, bronze and a few steel daggers and blades. Aeron muses that sixty years ago, Erik could well have won the favor of the moot, but his hour is long past. Asha humiliates him by asking him to stand on his own two feet. Angrily, Erik does his best to stand, but is unable to do. Euron bursts into laughing.
 * Lord Dunstan Drumm comes next. His champions are Andrik the Unsmiling and Drumm's sons Donnel and Denys. Dunstan's speech starts well, but he talks too long and soon loses the interest of the crowd. His gifts of bronze do not win them back to him.
 * Aeron feels it is time for Victarion to make his claim. He cries “Who shall be king over us? Nine sons were born from the loins of Quellon Greyjoy. One was mightier than all the rest, and knew no fear.” Victarion nods and comes next with Nute the Barber, Ralf the Limper and Red Ralf Stonehouse as his champions. He says: "You all know me. If you want sweet words, look elsewhere. I have no singer’s tongue. I have an axe, and I have these.” He raises his huge mailed hands up to show them. “I was a loyal brother. When Balon was wed, it was me he sent to Harlaw to bring him back his bride. I led his longships into many a battle, and never lost but one. The first time Balon took a crown, it was me sailed into Lannisport to singe the lion’s tail. The second time, it was me he sent to skin the Young Wolf should he come howling home. All you’ll get from me is more of what you got from Balon. That’s all I have to say". He is well received and his gifts of gold, silver and gems add to his supporters.
 * Asha comes next with Qarl the Maid, Tristifer Botley and Ser Harras Harlawas her champions. Her uncles Victarion and Rodrik "the Reader" Harlaw try to dissuade her, but she does not listen to them. First she states that her claim is better than Victarion and Euron. She does better than anyone expected: unlike the rest, her gifts are cobblestones, pinecones and turnips. She shows the ironborn these gifts to demonstrate that this is what they have won so far by fighting the North, losing fathers and sons for these "treasures". She addresses to some of the people at the crowd, reminding them of the kin they lost because of her father's poor plan of invasion. Some ironborn taunt her, but she does not care. She offers the ironborn a chance for land, peace and victory. She wins much support, but many more support Victarion and it looks like there is about to be a riot between their followers. Suddenly, the sound of a horn splits the air, silencing everyone.
 * Euron has one of his men, Cragorn, blow the dragon horn, which silences the crowd. Euron then steps forward and claims the horn they heard can bind dragons to his will, and that he knows where to locate three of the creatures. He promises to use them so the ironborn can conquer all of Westeros. Asha mocks him "A horn to bind goats to your will would be of more use, Crow’s Eye. There are no more dragons", but he announces "There are three, and I know where to find them. Surely that is worth a driftwood crown" His men then pour forward his gifts, a wealth of treasure. Euron is elected the new Iron King. Aeron is shocked, feeling deep terror. As a thousand voices shout out his brother’s name, all he can hear is the scream of a rusted iron hinge.

Asha's uncle "the Reader" Harlaw begs her, as he did before the kingsmoot, to flee because Euron will either kill her or marry her to one of his supporters. She does as he advises, and returns to Deepwood Motte. Soon afterwards Stannis liberates Deepwood Motte, destroys nearly all Asha's troops and atkes her captive.