So the Boltons aren’t as treacherous as people think they are, but what about the ironborn? You can’ deny that their historyis a millenia long testament to human evil, even w/minor instances of goodness like Quellon, the squids always seem to return to their reaving, which invariably has a larger and longer lasting impact on the mainland than their brief and premturely smothered trade. Would “making another island from their skulls” really be that extreme if they’re just going to start up again?

Again, go back to the text. The Hoare kings ruled from the Andal invasion until Aegon’s Conquest, and for much of that period, pursued a different policy. Harmund the Host, Harmund the Haggler, Harmund the Handsome, Qhorwyn the Cunning, these men pursued trade and diplomacy instead of reaving. 

The Old Way is not the only way of the Ironborn, it’s a revanchist, reactionary tendency aimed at the New Way.  

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