Dagon the Skinner

Dagon "the Skinner" Pyke was one of the infamous Sons of the Kraken who terrorized the Iron Islands and indeed all of Westeros for nearly seventy years. Dagon's attempt to cunningly usurp the Seastone Chair would be met with defeat and exile - a fate which did not sit well with the Skinner, who immediately turned his eyes to the south.

Setting his men loose upon the coasts of the Westerlands, Dagon's short but bloody war is known as the Red Reaving.

Appearance and Character
Dagon bore the traditional Greyjoy features of dark eyes and dark hair, but there was little iron in him, for he was not a man of strength or durability. Thin and lanky, with a pasty, blotchy complexion and a constant, dreadful cough, many thought Dagon to be weak and sickly, spurning him and making of him a mockery.

This did not sit well with the Pyke in the least, for he was always a vindictive and calculating creature. Cruel to no end, boastful and craven, possessing all those vices which a man ought spurn, Dagon's ability to prey upon the desperate and wicked won him a small measure of a following in the Iron Islands.

Usurping the Isles
Taking inspiration from Euric the Dancer and his failed revolt some decades earlier, Dagon was the second - and for a time, the last - of the Sons of the Kraken to seek out Pyke as a seat. Operating out of Lordsport initially, before moving his base to the isle of Harlaw, Dagon whispered into the ears of men, trying to foment dissent with the current Greyjoy rule.

As whisperings grew, and Dagon's treasons become more numerous and pronounced, it eventually came to pass that his name reached the ears of the Lord of Pyke, who at once set out to destroy him. Rather than stay and face his foe, Dagon gathered those men who would follow him and fled, escaping Harlaw in the dead of night and taking off towards the south.

Defeat and Exile
Angered and shamed, Dagon considered for a time some means of revenge against House Greyjoy. But he knew they stood little chance against the Iron Fleet, and no true Ironborn would follow him now that he had chosen to run. Indeed, even among his crew there were whispers of coward and ''craven. ''Dagon had no choice but to combat these rumours, or lose what little following he had left.

The Red Reaving
Main Article: The Red Reaving

So began the Red Reaving, that infamous event which saw Dagon alight upon the shores of Westeros to sack and burn and pillage from Banefort to Fair Isle. His attack was the first Ironborn assault the West had known in decades, but nonetheless they responded at once, preparing to meet him in the field.

Their brief game of cat and mouse would eventually lead to Fair Isle, where House Lannister would face their enemy head on.

Death
Trapped upon the shore of Fair Isle, his fleet burning on the horizon behind him, Dagon had little choice but to face his approaching foes. A coward to the end, Dagon called for parley with the approaching Westerlanders, and attempted to murder or apprehend the leader of the small party sent out to speak with him. In the ensuing scuffle, Dagon was slain - and the Westerlanders set to their grim work, cutting down the rest of his men; save for those who were taken as captives, to later hang.

Legacy
Some fishing wives and aged grandmothers in the Westerlands still whisper the tale of the Red Reaving to their children, warning that Dagon might emerge to steal away those who misbehave.

House Farman of Faircastle still houses the Skinner's Sword in their halls.