Who Exactly Is Euron Greyjoy? Here's What to Know About Game of Thrones' New Villain

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We're getting to meet a ton of new characters on Game of Thrones this season, but Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek) might be the most sinister. He makes his first appearance on the second episode of the season, and what does he do within minutes of being onscreen? MAJOR spoiler alert: He murders Balon Greyjoy like it's no big deal. So, who is this mystery caller? Here are the basics of what you need to know about him.

• He is one of the middle Greyjoy brothers. Euron is older than Victarion and Aeron Greyjoy, but younger than Balon, the now-deceased King. This makes him Yara and Theon's uncle.
• In the books, he's banished from the Iron Islands. In George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, Balon bans Euron from the Iron Islands for raping the wife of Victarion, the Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet.
• He's basically a pirate. He and Balon briefly chat about this on the show, but Euron is the Game of Thrones version of a pirate. He's been sailing around on his ship, apparently going somewhat mad and cutting out the tongues of his crew. In the books, he rapes and pilages towns, and it sounds like the show is following the character laid out by ASOIAF pretty closely; Euron mentions to his brother that when people see his ship coming, they start praying.
• He has been mentioned before. Way back on the first season, Tyrion mentions Theon's uncles having fought in the Raid on Lannisport, one of the first battles of the Greyjoy Rebellion. He hasn't been mentioned since, and obviously we haven't met him until now.
• His presence doesn't bode well for Yara. Now that Balon is dead, Yara wants to be the new ruler of the Iron Islands. As we see on the episode, she believes her father would also want that. In the books, however, it is Euron who is elected the new king, and a fierce king he is.

That's all we know for now, but we certainly haven't seen the last of Euron. Stay tuned, because he might give Ramsay a run for his money on the villians front - and that's saying a lot, seeing as Ramsay feeds a newborn to a pack of dogs.

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