House Harlaw

The largest and steadiest of the ironborn houses, seated at Ten Towers on Harlaw ÔÇö and, improbably, the home of the isles' most bookish lord.

The fuller tale

House Harlaw holds the island of Harlaw and the seat of Ten Towers, and commands more wealth and more men than any ironborn house save the Greyjoys themselves. Their Valyrian sword, Nightfall, and their long unbroken line make them the anchor the other salt-lords swing around at every kingsmoot.

Their lord, Rodrik Harlaw, is called the Reader ÔÇö a man who keeps the finest library in the islands and would rather win by wit than by axe, which his own countrymen count a shameful eccentricity. Rodrik thinks the reaving life a dead end and says so, calmly, in halls full of men who want to strike him for it. As uncle to Asha Greyjoy, he is one of the few voices of sense in a culture that prizes plunder over sowing.