Aeron Greyjoy

"Your father does not get to choose! The law is clear! Perhaps you'll win. Perhaps you'll be the first woman in history to lead the ironborn. And perhaps not."

- Aeron Greyjoy councilling his niece, Yara.

Aeron Greyjoy is a recurring character in the sixth season who was previously alluded to in the first season. He debuts in the episode "Home" and is portrayed by guest star Michael Feast. He is commonly referred to as Aeron Damphair.

Background
Aeron Greyjoy is the brother of Euron, Victarion and Balon Greyjoy, the late head of House Greyjoy and the former Lord Reaper of Pyke. He is also the uncle of Yara and Theon Greyjoy. He is a Drowned Man in service to the Drowned God.

Season 6
Aeron oversees the funeral of Balon Greyjoy after his assassination. When his niece Yara swears on the Salt Throne that she will avenge her father's murder, Aeron reminds her that the King of the Iron Islands must be chosen in the kingsmoot. Aeron hosts the kingsmoot a few days later, but does not participate. After the ironborn choose Euron Greyjoy to be their new king, Aeron takes him into the sea to be drowned, reciting a prayer as he does so, to consecrate his faith to the Drowned God. Euron is taken ashore and revived, and Aeron places a driftwood crown on his head. He goes with Euron and the ironborn captains to seek out Theon and Yara, and is the first to point out that they have fled in the best ships on the Iron Islands.

Quotes
""Let Euron, your servant, be born again from the sea as you were. Bless him with salt, bless him with stone, bless him with steel. Listen to the waves, listen to the God. He's speaking to us and he says: 'we shall have no king but Euron Greyjoy'. Let the sea wash your follies and your vanities away. Let the old Euron drown. Let his lungs fill with sea water. Let the fish eat the scales off his eyes. What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger!""

- Aeron drowns Euron.

Behind the scenes

 * A Drowned Priest appeared in the second season but has been confirmed as not being Aeron.
 * Though in the books, Aeron is Balon's youngest brother, Michael Feast, who plays Aeron, is actually only one year younger than Patrick Malahide, who plays Balon, and is thirty-six years older than Pilou Asbæk, who plays Euron, supposed to be younger than Balon but older than both Victarion and Aeron. It is possible that the television series has changed this to portray Euron as the youngest and Aeron as the oldest of Balon's younger brothers.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Aeron is known as Damphair and is a priest of the Drowned God. He is tall and thin with fierce black eyes and a beak of a nose. He garbs himself in roughspun robes dyed in the green, grey, and blue of the Drowned God. He never cuts his hair, which falls to his waist and he weaves seaweed into it.

In his youth, Aeron was an unruly ribald drunk who often came at odds with his brother Balon. During the Greyjoy Rebellion, he nearly drowned when his ship was sunk by Stannis Baratheon. He washed ashore and was imprisoned at Lannisport. After being released, he had changed significantly due to his near-death experience, and became very pious and devoted to the worship of the Drowned God.

Aeron's devotion to the Drowned God became greatly respected, and in time he rose to command strong influence among the ironborn. Officially the Drowned Men priests have no single leader or ruling hierarchy, but Aeron is universally considered to be their de facto leader.

Aeron sometimes has nightmares about a door with screeching hinges, which he associates with his brother Euron.

In the novel A Clash of Kings, when Theon returns to the Pyke from the North, it is Aeron who greets him first and almost immediately baptizes him at his arrival.

Martin repeatedly gets asked in Q&A sessions how "Damphair" is pronounced, to which he has repeatedly had to explain that it is simply "damp hair" because he has long hair and wades into the sea much of the time (a surprisingly large number of people for some reason assumed that the "ph" that happens to be next to each other are meant to be pronounced as an "F").

Aeron makes his first appearance in the Season 6 episode "Home", which roughly corresponds with the Ironborn storyline in "A Feast for Crows". While Aeron's character is faithful to his portrayal in the novel, it does not mention that he presided over his brother Balon's funeral. He also does not meet his niece Asha at Balon's funeral since Asha first travels to meet her uncle Rodrik Harlaw at the Ten Towers in Harlaw island. Aeron only briefly meets with Asha during the Kingsmoot itself at Old Wyk. Like the novel, Aeron also appears to be hostile to Yara's aspirations to succeed her father as ruler of the Iron Islands, though he does not seem hostile towards Euron's claim.

In A Feast of Crows, Aeron is given a point-of-view chapter during the Kingsmoot. Since Euron's return to the Iron Islands, Aeron is staunchly opposed to his brother seizing the Seastone Chair in the wake of Balon's death. He regards Euron as an ungodly man who has abandoned the Drowned God. In the novel, Aeron favors another brother Victarion as Balon's rightful successor since many in the Iron Islands believe Theon to be dead. Aeron is also revealed to have lived in fear of Euron since childhood; it is implied that Euron abused him when he was a child. While Aeron in the TV series does not contest Euron's victory and even crowns him with the driftwood crown, the book Aeron goes into hiding following Euron's election. The novel also reveals that the younger Aeron was a drunkard who underwent a conversion experience after narrowly avoiding death by drowning at sea during the Greyjoy Rebellion. In A Dance of Dragons, there are rumors of Aeron rallying the Drowned Men to oppose Euron. However, some believe this to be a ruse created by Euron's supporters.

In a preview chapter from The Winds of Winter entitled "The Forsaken", it is revealed that Aeron was taken captive by Euron following the Kingsmoot. He is imprisoned in Euron's ship Silence where he is forced to consume Shade of the evening, which causes him to have multiple visions. During his time in captivity, he encounters several holy men from other religions who have been tortured by Euron. Euron and his supporters also take the opportunity to torment Aeron. Aeron also meets Falia Flowers, a salt-wife of Euron, who tends to his wounds. Aeron urges her to flee but she is enamoured with her lover. Later, Aeron and Falia, who has had her tongue ripped out, are tied to the prow of the Silence as the Ironborn fleet sails to battle the Redwyne fleet.