Asha Greyjoy

Princess Asha Greyjoy, known as The Kraken's Daughter, is a major POV character in A Song of Ice and Fire. 
She is a member of House Greyjoy and is the daughter of Lord Balon Greyjoy by his wife, Lady Alannys Harlaw, the elder sister of Theon Greyjoy, and the younger sister of the deceased Rodrik and Maron Greyjoy. She becomes a POV character in A Feast For Crows.
==Physical appearance==
As a child Asha was a skinny girl with a face full of pimples. The adult Asha is lean and longlegged, with black hair cut short, wind-chafed skin, and strong hands. Theon thinks her nose is too big and too sharp for her thin face, but feels that her smile makes up for it. Asha is fierce and proud, and defies traditional ironborn gender roles by commanding her own ship, the Black Wind, and leading men into battle.
== Personality ==
Asha is a wild, bold, confident, witty, headstrong and charismatic woman. Defying the gender roles of Ironborn culture, Asha is a proud and fierce warrior and a highly respected captain. She cares deeply for her men, and in return her men love and respect her, and would follow her anywhere in spite of the Ironborn's highly sexist culture. She dislikes the idea of being married off to some lord and prefers to live her own life. She entertained the idea of marrying her lover, Qarl the Maid, but dismissed it, due to the fact he is too lowborn for her. She refers to her axe and her husband and her dirk as her babe.
Asha is also highly intelligent, witty and progressive. Her fast wit is part of what attracts people, and she enjoys teasing and joking. She is seen holding her own against other captains and nobles, both in physical combat and in verbal taunting. She is one of the most known intelligent characters from the Iron Islands, alongside her uncles Euron Greyjoy and Rodrik Harlaw the Reader. She recognizes that Balon's invasion of the North was a terrible idea, which gained no valuable spoils of war and only left the Ironmen stuck in wild empty lands. At the Kingsmoot, instead of treasure, she dumped rocks, turnips and pine cones, saying that is all the 'treasure' that the invasion brought them, that they've died for. She seeks to make peace and form an alliance with the North, negotiating for the unused empty lands of Sea Dragon Point to be left to the Iron Islands.
While she is a pirate and reaver, Asha has compassion, empathy and strong morals. She loves her family (with the exception of her uncle Euron) and lovingly teases them, especially her brother Theon and her uncle Victarion, whom she affectionately refers to as 'nuncle.' She refuses to harm children, and is sickened when she saw the two boys' bodies hanging from Wintefell. Even though she repeatedly made Theon a laughing stock in front of other Ironborn lords, captains and reavers, she loves him and cares for him deep down. When she encountered her brother a year after his brutal captivity by Ramsay Bolton, she is horrified and emotionally devastated.
==Biography==
Asha was fairly unattractive in her youth. Her uncle, Victarion Greyjoy, remembers Asha as a little girl swimming naked in the sea and playing with her doll. After Theon Greyjoy's departure for Winterfell to be Eddard Stark's hostage and ward, Asha became Lord Balon Greyjoy's only remaining child in Pyke. Her mother, Lady Alannys Harlaw, fostered five boys at Pyke after Theon's departure. Tristifer Botley, the boy closest to Asha in age, developed an infatuation with her when they went through puberty, but Asha did not reciprocate his affections.
Years later, Asha grew into an attractive and bold young woman, and Balon effectively raised her as his heir. However, Asha preferred Ten Towers, the seat of her uncle Lord Rodrik Harlaw, to Pyke. She lost her virtue at age 16 to a sailor from Lys. In 293 AC or 294 AC Asha sailed the Black Wind on a trading voyage which included stops at Fair Isle, Lannisport, and the Arbor, where she introduced peaches to one of her lovers, Qarl the Maid.
Balon is greatly proud of his wild headstrong daughter, and believes she can succeed him, although it is doubtful the other ironborn would accept her as their queen. He wishes Theon dead so he would not stand in Asha's way, though this resentment has been cut from the television series, where Balon appears to be genuinely saddened after "losing" Theon to the Starks.
Asha's uncles Victarion, Aeron Damphair, and Rodrik "the Reader" Harlaw respect her and acknowledge her power, but do not believe she can rule the ironborn due to her gender. Other ironborn often mock Asha ribaldy. However, Asha is confident and strong-willed enough to dismiss such attitude scornfully, and she always talks back sharply and makes fun of those who taunt her.
Asha's crew adore her devotedly. Half of them love her as their daughter, the other half want to have sex with her, and all of them would die for her.
During the War of the Five Kings Balon declares himself King ot the Iron Islands once more and rallies the noble houses of the Iron Islands. With King Robb Stark fighting in the westerlands and the riverlands, the north is left in a weak position and surrounded by enemies. He gathers the Iron Fleet at Lordsport and forces any other travelling ship to remain at least until he takes the north. While her uncle Victarion is to lead most of the fleet to the Neck and capture Moat Cailin to hold the entire north, Asha takes 30 and captures Deepwood Motte. Meanwhile Theon raid the Stony Shore with 8 ships with uncle Aeron and Dagmer Cleftjaw and later he takes Winterfell. Theon sends ravens to King Balon, Asha, and Victarion for reinforcements to hold Winterfell. He's ignored by his father and uncle and refused by his sister, who gives him only 10 men and leaves after urging him to burn Winterfell and flee before the northmen can kill him for the murder of the Stark boys. After the Boltons burn Winterfell, Dagmer's force captures Torrhen's Square, while the ironmen captures some towns and lands. Asha keeps holding Deepwood Motte, while Lord Galbart Glover and his brother Robett Glover are fighting for Robb. She holds hostages Robett's wife, Sybelle, and his children Gawen and Erena. Her father styles himself King of the Isles and the North.
Some time after Winterfell was sacked, Asha comes there, but finds only unrecognizable dead bodies, partly eaten by wolves. She believes Theon is dead, but admits she cannot be certain. She, not Balon, receives a taunting letter from Ramsay with a piece of Theon's skin when she returned to Deepwood Motte and only after the kingsmoot. That makes her realize what has become of her brother, but unlike in the show she never attempts to save him from the Dreadfort.
Asha loves her father, but considers him as "a brave man but a bad lord". She realizes that the ironborn have gained nothing from his military campaigns - the Greyjoy Rebellion and the invasion to the north - only casualties. She believes it would be best for the ironborn to make peace with the north, and this is her main platform at the kingsmoot.
Asha becomes a POV narrator starting in the fourth novel, A Feast for Crows. This storyline was pushed back so it corresponds to TV-Yara starting in Season 6. Season Six incorporates the Ahsa storyline from the novel but changes some of the order of events. In A Feast of Crows, Balon is dead by the time that Yara returns to the Iron Islands. Instead of visiting Pyke, she visits her uncle Rodrik Harlaw in the Ten Towers, bringing with her the Glover family. Despite these differences, the TV series still incorporates Asha's character including her intention to succeed her father as ruler of the Iron Islands and her criticism of Balon's war strategy in the North. The death of Balon is first reported as an "off-screen" event in A Storm of Swords, in which he's murdered by a faceless man on the orders of his brother Euron Greyjoy. Asha is not present at her father's funeral.
Asha's reunion with Theon occurs under very different circumstances in the fifth novel, A Dance of Dragons. Asha, who by this stage has been taken prisoner by King Stannis Baratheon, encounters a dishevelled and battered Theon; who had recently rescued the false "Arya Stark" (actually Jeyne Poole) from Ramsay Bolton. By that stage, the Kingsmoot has already occurred with Asha and her followers fleeing back to Deepwood Motte in the wake of Euron's victory. In the novels, Asha initially does not recognize Theon - in her eyes he is an old man, resembling a scarecrow, his face is a skull with skin, his hair bone-white and filthy; a reversal of their first reunion on Pyke in A Clash of Kings. When Stannis intends to execute Theon for his role in the alleged murders of Bran and Rickon, she pleads for his life. When that fails, she petitions Stannis to execute him with the sword to spare him a painful death by burning.
Asha learns soon about her marriage with Erik Ironmaker. She is not annoyed for being married without her consent to a man who is old enough to be her grandfather, nor does she dedicate any thought whether the marriage is valid and can it be annulled - she simply accepts that as a fact. She reluctantly admits that it was politically wise of Euron: he turned a rival into a supporter, secured the isles in his absence, removed Asha as a threat, and probbaly had a good laugh of using a seal as a proxy. After the kingsmoot Asha returned to Deepwood Motte with Sybelle Glover, but left the Glover children at Ten Towers.
At Deepwood Motte, Asha considers her options: go to Torrhen's Square, which is still held by Dagmer Cleftjaw; make new life as a trader; settle at Sea Dragon Point; return to the Iron Islands and try to raise the ironborn against their new-crowned king. Tristifer Botley, who wishes to marry Asha, tells her about Torgon. The fact that in the past a Kingsmoot was ruled unlawful gives Asha an idea, but before she has a chance to think it over, Stannis attacks Deepwood Motte, destroying nearly all Asha's troops and taking her captive. Asha believes that now she has no hope to claim the Seastone Chair: the ironborn are not a forgiving people, and she has been defeated twice - by Euron at the kingsmoot and by Stannis.
Stannis takes Asha with his army, a prize to show the north that he can vanquish the ironborn. Asha, however, knows better: bringing down a woman will not awe any Northmen, thus her worth as a hostage is less than naught. Her uncle Euron rules the Iron Islands now, and he does not care if she lives or dies. It may matter some to Erik, but he does not have enough money to ransom her (even if Stannis ever agrees to release her for a ransom). Asha sees no point explaining that to Stannis, especially after she makes the mistake of mentioning Robert to him.
During the march to Winterfell she's guarded by Alysane Mormont and bullied by Stannis's torturer, Ser Clayton Suggs and she's afraid of the laud and aggressive queen's men. A knight named Ser Justin Massey spends a lot of time with her. Asha finds him unimpressive, because he is not an ironborn and too much of a gentleman - definitely not her type. She is told that Ser Justin wants her - namely, her lands. His ancestral holdings were lost to him, so he seeks an advantageous marriage. No doubt he dreamed of putting her in the Seastone Chair on Pyke and ruling through her, as her lord and master. Asha, who knows how her people think, is aware that it is impossible: that would require ridding her of her present husband and Euron. She muses that Euron could eat Ser Justin for breakfast and wouldn't even belch. Morever, her father’s lands will never be hers, no matter whom she marries: her political position has been weakened seriously due to her two recent defeats, more than enough to stamp her as unfit to rule. Wedding Ser Justin, or any of Stannis Baratheon’s lordlings, would make her people despise her for marrying a "soft green land lord". Still, Asha does not deflate Ser Justin because he brings her food and wine, his company is much better than others of Stannis's host, and he is one of the few who'd object to sacrifice her to R'hllor.
On the sample chapter of the sixth book, Theon overhears Ser Justin requests permission from Stannis to marry Asha, reasoning that one day Stannis will need to take the Iron Islands, and that will go much easier with Balon Greyjoy's daughter as a catspaw, with one of his own leal men as her lord husband. Ser Justin claims the fact that Asha is currently married is not a problem: her marriage was done with a proxy, and was never consummated, therefore can be annulled; besides, Eric Ironmaker has one foot in the grave. Stannis thinks it over and answers "Serve me well in this matter of the sellswords, and you may have what you desire. Until such time, the woman must needs remain my captive".
==Differences between the storylines of Asha and Yara==
Like her personality differs from her television counterpart Yara, Asha's story in the novel series is drastically different:
*In the novel series, Asha pays a visit to her brother, Prince Theon, at Winterfell prior the arrival of the northern army and the castle's sack and burning, telling him that neither their father King Balon nor their uncle Victarion will lend reinforcements to hold the castle. She returns to her conquered seat Deepwood Motte after failing to convince her brother to burn Winterfell and go with her, lending him only 10 of her men. Unlike Yara, Asha remains at Deepwood throughout the majority of the third book, as she holds the castle and the lands of Sea Dragon Point as her prize in her father's name. Thus, unlike in the show, Asha staying with her father at Pyke early during the second book, before departing from the Iron Islands to join the war, was the last time she ever saw Balon, who is murdered by his own brother Euron's orders during the third book, only some weeks before the Red Wedding and King Robb Stark's death, making Balon the second of the Five Kings to die after King Renly Baratheon.
**In the television series, Yara also visits Theon at Winterfell prior the arrival of the northern army, always to convince him to go back to Deepwood with her without success. She later abandons Deepwood at some point during the third season, leaving her garrison under a castellan's command.
*Unlike the show, neither Asha nor Balon receive any letter from Ramsay Snow about Theon's capture during the third novel, and the two only learn the news about the battle and sack of Winterfell, not from Ramsay himself. It is the drowned priest Aeron Greyjoy, not Asha, who goes back to Pyke after completing the harrying of the Stony Shore in the western coast of the North, and it is Aeron who reacts with Balon upon learning about Theon's likely death, which causes Balon to despair, unlike his TV counterpart. Asha, still in the North, rides back to Winterfell with her warriors to search for Theon's body through the castle's ruins, only to find nothing and then riding back to Deepwood. Balon is indirectly murdered by his own brother Euron, who returns to the Iron Islands the next day, while Robb Stark is still alive and traveling to the Twins.
**In this version of the books, the nobility of the Iron Islands is divided after Euron takes rule over Pyke and the islands are on the brink of civil war, a situation that is discussed by both kings Robb and King Stannis Baratheon. Robb was making war plans to fight against Asha and Victarion's forces in the North, which do not come into fruition due to the Red Wedding.
***In Season 3's final episode, after the Red Wedding, Yara appears back at Pyke with her father, King Balon, reading a letter from Castellan Ramsay Snow and learning about Theon's capture and mutilation in the Dreadfort, which causes her and Balon to argue about whether letting Theon get mutilated to death or give up the conquered lands of the North. After Balon chooses the former, Yara decides to sail back to the North to rescue Theon at the Dreadfort.
*Unlike the show, there is no sneaky rescue mission for Theon at the Dreadfort in the novels, and for the entirety of the third novel Asha has no idea if her brother survived the battles at Winterfell or not. Theon is presumed dead by the Ironborn at this point, and Euron is facing opposition and division among the rulers of the Iron Islands.
**After learning about Balon's death, Euron's return and usurpation of Pyke, and Aeron's declaration to restore the kingsmoot to avoid a civil war of succession in the Iron Islands, Asha decides to leave Deepwood to oppose Euron's rule, leaving her seat under a smaller garrison and a castellan, to sail to Harlaw with her supporters and her captive Glovers to claim the Seastone Chair, unlike Yara in the show, who is already at Pyke by the time her father is killed.
***In the show, Yara reappears again in the fourth season, leading a band of ironmen to the Dreadfort in an unsuccessful attempt to take Theon back to Pyke with them, some time before the resolution of the siege of Moat Cailin in the same season. It is never said if Yara stayed at Deepwood Motte throughout the fifth season, in which she does not appear, or if she immediately sailed back to Pyke after her failed rescue mission.
*In the novels, the Siege of Moat Cailin last far longer than its show counterpart, after all the events in the third book and throughout many chapters of the fourth book. The siege continues long after Stannis arrived at the Wall and defeated Mance Rayder, Tywin Lannister was murdered by his own son, and Cersei Lannister took over her son's regency. The siege against the ironmen lasts throughout a good portion of the early year 300 AC, in which the fourth and fifth novel take place at the same time. By the time the kingsmoot takes place at Old Wyk and Euron is officially crowned king, the siege is still ongoing, but Asha, Victarion, and the Iron Fleet left the North to join the kingsmoot.
**The sole reason why Moat Cailin is surrendered by the surviving ironborn garrison is because Theon informs them that Euron became king and he has no interest in continuing Balon's campaign in the North, nor wish to summon the ironmen still in the North back home, meaning the garrison of Moat Cailin has to die for nothing but glory. This leads to the rage and sadness of the abandoned ironmen and Adrack Humble deciding to yield in outrage. By the time the siege of Moat Cailin is over, Asha is already back at Deepwood Motte after failing to claim the Seastone Chair.
***In Season 4, the Siege of Moat Cailin is resolved by the northmen, led by Ramsay Bolton, while Balon is still alive. For the entirety of the fifth season, there is no mention of any new war plans by the Ironborn and no mention of their status and progress in their war campaign in the North, as the story entirely cuts the Ironborn from the northern storyline in Season 5 and solely focuses Stannis Baratheon's attention on House Bolton and the Free Folk. After her failed attempt to rescue Theon, Yara does not appear in northern storyline at all, and unlike the books, the siege of Moat Cailin is concluded way before Mance's Battle for the Wall even takes place, and before Stannis arrives at the Wall. Thus the siege ends way earlier than its book counterpart, while Tywin is also still alive.
*Unlike the show, the Ironborn storyline in the novels was never interrupted and always continued earlier since the Sack of Winterfell, even unseen directly, and plans to continue Balon's northern invasion were discussed by Victarion in the fourth book. When the kingsmoot takes place, Stannis is still at the Wall, Theon is living in a dark dungeon in the Dreadfort, the new Lord of Winterfell Ramsay is still the castellan of the Dreadfort, Lord Roose Bolton and his army are still in the Riverlands, and Winterfell is still an abandoned ruin occupied by vagabonds.
**Asha and an enormous amount of ironborn nobles from every island are all camped beneath Nagga's Hill at Old Wyk for the kingsmoot, which is a grander event than its TV counterpart, that lasts for days in the wait for all the claimants to join, filled with loud feasts and rival parties. By the time Victarion and his supporters return from Moat Cailin and join the event, Asha was already camped with her followers and welcomes her uncle back home.
***Theon does not serve as Asha's champion, like his TV counterpart does, as he is still "Reek" at the Dreadfort, while the northern army is occupied with the siege of Moat Cailin. The Greyjoys are not the sole claimants to the Seastone Chair in this version, and instead they face other claimants from other houses, such as Erik Ironmaker and Dunstan Drumm. After losing the kingsmoot to Euron, Asha flees from Old Wyk with fewer supporters, stopping back at Ten Towers in Harlaw for supplies, to bid farewell to her mother, her uncle, and other maternal relatives, and then leaving the Iron Islands with Lady Sybelle Glover to return to her seat Deepwood Motte, where she lingers with her garrison. At the same time, Euron marries her to Erik, to nullify her as an opponent and gain Erik's full support.
****By the time of the beginning of the sixth season, Yara is back at Pyke, with her father Balon still alive, nearly three years after the Red Wedding and after the other rival kings died, including Stannis. Yara reports to her father that the entire ironborn occupation of the North was undone by the northmen and that her garrison at Deepwood was wiped out for last, in which the Boltons took part. Unlike his book counterpart, who is the second of the Five Kings to die, just a few weeks shortly before the Red Wedding, Balon is the last standing of them, outliving even Stannis, who in the novels is the last one standing of the Five Kings and is currently still alive. Unlike the books, Euron has not returned to the Iron Islands until Season 6, where he kills Balon early in said season. After the deaths of Stannis and Balon, Theon returns to Pyke after escaping Winterfell, which is still held by the Boltons at this time, and reunites with Yara.
*****An extremely smaller, simpler, and quieter kingsmoot is held by Aeron at Pyke, with a small amount of ironmen for audience, in which only Yara and Euron participate as claimants to the Salt Throne, with Theon participating as Yara's champion.
*Asha views her failure in the kingsmoot as her defeat, because it is an old and religious ironborn custom that was restored with the independence of the Iron Islands, making Euron's claim and right to rule legal. However, because Euron is an atheist, Asha counts on her priest uncle Aeron Damphair to gain enough support to remove Euron from power, while the latter is busy with his war campaign in the Reach (in truth Aeron has been captured by Euron and dragged inside his galley, the Silence).
**For the rest of the sixth season, Yara sails to Essos with Theon and their ally ironmen to reach the Kingdom of Meereen for an alliance with Queen Daenerys Targaryen, as Yara still wants to claim the Salt Throne and rule over the Iron Islands, which she still sees as her birthright, highly differing from Asha.
*While in the show it was Balon who received a letter from Ramsay at Pyke, and Yara was present, in the novels Asha receives a similar letter from Ramsay during the fifth installment, long after the kingsmoot, while back at Deepwood Motte, and most likely Dagmer too received such letter at Torrhen's Square, which he still holds with hundreds of Ironborn. While in the show Ramsay sent Theon's cut genitals to Balon and threatened to keep mutilating Theon if Balon would not order his invading forces to withdraw from the North, in the fifth book Ramsay sends Asha a piece of Theon's skin, ordering Asha to leave the North with her forces, or else she will face the same fate as that of Theon or the garrison of Moat Cailin, the latter all flayed to death. Asha, who believed Theon to be long dead, was horrified to learn he is still alive and suffering a fate worse than death.
*While Yara remained decided to claim rule over the Iron Islands and keep fighting Euron by supporting Daenerys, Asha considered such quest a thing of the past and accepted that Euron won, while back in the North. She instead was interested in Tristifer Botley's suggestion for Asha's whole party to go live in Essos as traders, by raiding and stealing from pirates and smugglers, and live as free and wealthy sailors and adventurers, an idea that Asha liked. After discussing history around previous kingsmoots with Tris, Asha realized that a kingsmoot can be considered invalid if not all claimants participated in it. Because Theon was a known claimant to the Seastone Chair, but the kingsmoot took place in his absence, and Ramsay's letter confirmed he is still alive, Asha realized she found a way to potentially and legally remove Euron as the King, having considered the idea of supporting Theon's ascension as King of the Iron Islands. This hope is quickly undone by Stannis's arrival at Deepwood Motte.
*In the books, Asha is back at Deepwood after losing the kingsmoot and faces the incoming arrival of the northmen to restore the castle to House Glover. By the time Asha decides to restore Deepwood to the Glovers herself and sail all her forces back to the Iron Islands, it is too late, as Stannis Baratheon's army of southron knights and northern warriors attack Deepwood, leading to the ironmen to flee through the Wolfswood in the night in the attempt to reach Asha's ships at Sea Dragon Point. In this version, the ironmen already decided to return Deepwood to the Glovers, but they are ambushed by Stannis's army in the forest, as Stannis does not let Asha escape, and the Mormonts cut her retreat by burning or capturing her ships. After her ironmen are killed or captured, Asha surrenders and pleads to Stannis to spare her men. She is captured and becomes Stannis's "prize" to show off to the northmen, with many more northern houses joining his cause.
**This defeat is what gives Asha the definitive acceptance that she will never be the ruler of the Iron Islands nor the Lady Reaper of Pyke, which does not take with any sadness, but as a simple fact. In Asha's culture, a resume of major failures such as losing a kingsmoot and losing her own seat and getting captured, made her unworthy to rule the Ironborn, and she will never eligible as a candidate ever again.
***The liberation of Deepwood Motte drastically differs from the TV show, in which its not Stannis who does it, but the northern forces aided by House Bolton. In the show, Yara's garrison of Deepwood Motte is wiped out offscreen in a battle against the northmen, in which House Bolton also participated. Unlike Asha, Yara is not part of the battle, as she is at Pyke. Because the ironborn storyline before Season 6 was entirely left on hold since Season 4, Balon remained alive longer and died early in the sixth season, and Euron was never introduced before the Red Wedding nor in Season 4, only appearing in the sixth season, while Euron in the books begins plotting unseen since the beginning of the third book, starting by his capture of Pyat Pree's crew near Pentos, while they were pursuing Daenerys. In the TV show, Deepwood is liberated shortly after Stannis was killed in his battle against the Boltons, his story abruptly coming to an end.
*In the books, Asha becomes the main POV character for Stannis Baratheon's storyline during the middle of the fifth book. After losing the fight by Deepwood Motte, Asha and her surviving followers are dragged back to Deepwood Motte by Stannis's army, where they become the captives and Stannis assumed temporary rule over the castle. While Asha and nine other ironmen, including Tris Botley and her lover Qarl the Maid, stay with Stannis, all the other valuable survivors are ransomed to their family members and shipped back to the Iron Islands. Stannis only ransoms or uses the captains, knights, notable warriors, and nobles, but he hangs every single other survivor. In the TV show version, the entire ironborn garrison of Deepwood is wiped out. It is from Deepwood, not Castle Black, that Stannis begins marching to Winterfell, with an army made of houses of the Stormlands, the Reach, the Crownlands, and the North.
**In the show, Yara never meets Stannis and all her interactions with him (as well as Theon's) are omitted, with Stannis dying earlier in the fifth season and Yara only re-appearing afterward at Pyke. Thus, Yara has nothing to do with Stannis's storyline. All of Asha's role and interactions with Stannis's army, mainly Ser Justin Massey who wants to marry her, her guardian Alysane Mormont, her bully and tormentor Ser Clayton Suggs, and King Stannis himself, as well as Asha witnessing the human sacrifices by fire, and the tensions between the northmen and Stannis's aggressive and hostile supporters are entirely cut from the show.
*In the novels, Asha does not meet Theon again for a long time since she left him at Winterfell. Only the following year, she finally meets Theon again in the North, in a more tragic fashion and while both of them became Stannis's captives. After escaping from Winterfell with the help Mance Rayder's companions, Theon and "Arya Stark" (real name Jeyne Poole) are captured by Stannis's vanguard, led by Mors Umber, and brought to Stannis's war camp at a deserted crofter's village, three days far from Winterfell. There, Asha initially does not recognize Theon and mistakes him for an unknown old man, as he is a skeletal, white-haired, nearly toothless, and mutilated man, lo longer handsome. She is shocked and horrified when Theon calls her by name and comments how this time he is the one who recognized her while she didn't, referring to the time when Asha played him by pretending to be a commoner named "Esgred", when Theon came back to Lordsport at Pyke after nine years since Greyjoy's Rebellion.
**In the show, Yara meets Theon twice after leaving him at Winterfell; once in Season 4 at the Dreadfort and again Season 6 where she reunites with him very coldly and harshly, after Theon escaped Winterfell with Sansa Stark.
*In the books, it is not Asha who journeys to Meereen for an alliance with Daenerys. It is King Euron himself who sends his brother Victarion and the Iron Fleet to "fetch his bride", Daenerys. Victarion is secretely plotting to "steal" Daenerys from Euron by killing her current husband and take her as his fourth wife, after having three thralls using an ancient horn called dragonbinder, an ancient artifact allegedly created by the mages of the lost Valyrian Freehold, to bind Daenerys's dragons to his will. Victarion reaches the Kingdom of Meereen while the city-state is still under the second siege (also known as the Battle of Fire), leading the Iron Fleet to join the Targaryen side against the Slaver Alliance. At the same time, Asha and Victarion's rival Euron has nothing to do with Cersei and has shown absolutely no interest in her, as he is leading the other Ironborn fleets in a war campaign against the Reach and the Arbor, causing brutal raids and major conquests of castles and towns, notably threatening Oldtown, the largest city in Westeros in the novels, pursuing grander, darker, and more mystical goals than those he publicly declared.
**Asha has nothing to do with Daenerys and Victarion's storylines, and instead she is part of Stannis's storyline. She attempts to ally herself with Stannis, proposing to fight for him against Euron and all of Stannis's other enemies, even offering to help liberating Torrhen's Square from Dagmer Cleftjaw, only to be brusquely turned down by Stannis. Asha wished to make an alliance with Stannis by offering her young body to him so he can marry her as his queen consort, but could not due to the fact that both Asha and Stannis are married to Erik Ironmaker and Selyse Florent respectively. While the Iron Islands follow polygamy, it is only legal for men, while women are only allowed to have one husband. Asha's marriage, however, is unconsummated.
***In the sixth season, Yara and Theon ally themselves with Daenerys Targaryen, so she can help them defeat their uncle Euron, who in the seventh season allies himself with Cersei Lannister. Yara reached Meereen and joined Daenerys's court after her victory in the second siege of Meereen.
*In the books, Asha, 6 of her 8 remaining ironmen (Cromm, one of the 9 captives, died of his wounds, while two others stayed at Deepwood as they are still recovering and remain too weak to travel), and numerous northern houses are part of Stannis's host in the Battle in the Ice (also known as the Battle of Ice), and Asha witnessed the fire sacrifice of four cannibal soldiers of House Peasebury, done to pacificate a violent snow blizzard tormenting Stannis's forces (which the show replaced with the fire sacrifice of Princess Shireen Baratheon). The six ironmen who joined Stannis's camp were released by Sybelle Glover after the Braavosi envoy and banker Tycho Nestoris paid their ransoms to hire them as escorts to reach Stannis. Currently, both Asha and Theon, along with the Karstarks and Tybald the maester of the Dreadfort are Stannis's captives and remain at the crofter's village, as Stannis and his army are awaiting for the incoming arrival of Winterfell's cavalry vanguard, made of the Houses Frey and Manderly, commanded by Ser Hosteen Frey and tasked with delivering Stannis's head to Roose Bolton.
**At the moment, aside for Asha and Theon, the six other ironmen—Tris Botley, Qarl, Fingers, Grimtongue, Roggon Rustbeard, and Rook—are also residing in Stannis's camp, but unlike the two Greyjoys they are now free men again, waiting for the battle to start, while their former employer Tycho and the fake Arya Stark are being escorted back to the Wall by Asha's former guards—Alysane Mormont and Ser Justin Massey— and black brothers of the Night's Watch previously sent with Tycho by Jon Snow. 
**As Stannis wants to burn Theon alive for his crimes, Asha advised him to personally behead him beneath the weirwood heart tree of Winterfell after he takes the castle, telling that executing Theon in the name of the Old Gods will win Stannis favor of the North, rather than doing it in the name of R'hllor. Obviously, Asha's concern, which is no secret to Stannis, is to have her brother receive a more humane death.
***In the show, neither Yara, nor her ironmen, nor any northern houses are part of Stannis's host during the march to Winterfell and the Battle in the Ice, which is a much smaller and simpler battle than its complex and more stategic book counterpart.
==Gallery==
===Images===
Asha Greyjoy.jpg
Magali Villenueve Asha GreyjoyII.jpg|Asha Greyjoy
Anders Finer Asha Greyjoy.jpg
File:Asha Greyjoy by TheMarkyGallery.jpg
Asha Greyjoy TheMarkyGallery.jpg
Asha Greyjoy by Stefan Kopiński.png
Commission Asha Greyjoy by artAlais on DeviantArt.jpg
Asha Greyjoy Bidonicart.png
The Kraken's Daughter by Annie Stuart.jpg
We Do Not Sow by Kasami-Sensei.jpg
Greyjoy Heroes 1.jpg
Alannys Harlaw and Asha Greyjoy by Gaya-the-K.jpg|Asha and her mother after Theon's departure at the end of Greyjoy's Rebellion.
Asha and Qarl the Maid by cosmiart.png|Asha and her lover Qarl, eating peaches during the Long Summer.
Clash of kings theon ii by hed ush.jpg|Asha annoys Theon after a feast at Pyke.
Igor Kieryluk Ours for the Taking.png|Asha during leading the taking of Deepwood Motte.
Asha harasses Theon.jpg|Asha mocking Theon's crown.
Marc Simonetti Asha Kingsmoot.jpg|Asha's speech during the kingsmoot, on Nagga's bones at Old Wyk.
Asha Fight by Deepwood Motte by steamey.jpg|Asha and her followers in the Wolfswood, fighting against Northern Mountain Clansmen set by Stannis against them.
Asha Stannis dream by Stealthnerd.jpg|Asha after being defeated by Stannis Baratheon, dreaming of "red hearts burning, and a black stag in a golden wood with flame streaming from his antlers".
Asha and Theon you have to know your name by kallielef.jpg|Asha having a heart jump as she is reunited with Theon in Stannis's camp.
==Trivia==
*Ironborn women who defy the traditional gender roles of their country are a rare minority, but there are warrior women other than Asha among them, such as the 17 year old and red-haired daughter of Hagen the Horn, who was possibly killed by Stannis Baratheon's army during the Fight by Deepwood Motte, along with her father, who is confirmed dead.
*The original speech of Asha for the Kingsmoot in the novels was mostly omitted (especially the part of her wish to make peace with the North). In the TV show, Yara Greyjoy was reluctant to agree with Daenerys's demand of stopping the Ironborn's tradition way of life if they want independent.
*In the Game of Thrones television series, Asha was renamed Yara Greyjoy, but her name was changed in the TV series; possibly to prevent confusion with Osha the wildling. Ironically, as the daughter of a Great House and one of Balon Greyjoy's only two surviving children, Asha Greyjoy is actually a much more prominent character than Osha; Asha Greyjoy is even a POV character in several chapters. Thus it is curious why they changed Asha's name and not the other way around. It is probably because Osha was already introduced in Season 1 and the similarity with Asha Greyjoy's name wasn't realized until production on Season 2 began.
**In the German dub of the TV series, however, the name of Asha remained unchanged.
*Different from Asha, Yara's sexuality was changed in TV series, as there was a scene in the Season 6 episode "The Broken Man" that described Yara kissing with a half-naked Volantene prostitute after she arrived near the Free City. After the episode's release, the staff of the Game of Thrones Wiki, now called Wiki of Westeros, contacted George R. R. Martin himself for confirmation, and Martin had confirmed that Asha in the novels is neither a lesbian nor bisexual. In the novels, Asha has actually a lover, Qarl the Maid, and it is also known that she had a former childhood lover, Tristifer Botley. She also had multiple lovers or one-night stands with other men, and lost her virginity to a Lysene pirate.
*While the Kingsmoot in A Feast of Crows also results in Euron's victory, it takes place under different circumstances from the TV series. Firstly, the Kingsmoot takes place on Old Wyk, at Nagga's Hill, rather than Pyke. Instead of a two horse race between Yara and Euron, her book counterpart Asha has to face several candidates including her other uncle Victarion Greyjoy. Asha manages to humiliate one of her opponents, Erik Ironmaker, by daring him to stand on his two feet. Erik's support evaporates when he is unable to rise. Unlike the TV series, Asha campaigns on a peace platform castigating Balon's war and advocating making peace with the North in return for some lands of Sea Dragon Point. In the novel, the Kingsmoot almost ends in a fight between Asha and Victarion's supporters until Euron manages to win the Ironborn over by having one of his mutes, Cragorn, blow an enchanted Valyrian horn, the Dragonbinder. Following Euron's victory, Asha and her supporters travel overland through Old Wyk before sailing back to Ten Towers, and then to Deepwood Motte in the North. In A Dance of Dragons, Euron does not intend to kill his niece and nephew; believing the latter to be dead. Instead, he uses a seal to marry Asha to Erik Ironmaker, who rules the Iron Islands in Euron's absence.
*Another small change is that in the books, "Asha Greyjoy" has short black hair, a lean build, and a sharp beak of a nose. In the TV series, "Yara Greyjoy" has brown hair.
==External Links==
*
*Asha Greyjoy on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
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