#(though would grrm even use kabbalah/thelema as an inspo? i don't even know)

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

You asked for criticism, but I think you definitely have something here. Euron's big transformation — from an ordinary human monster, to a supernatural horrific menace — all seems to hinge on the fact that he ran into the warlocks outside of Qarth, drank shade of the evening, and tripped the fuck out had his mind opened.

(Now I'm wondering about how the shade of the evening trees are a negative reflection of weirwood trees, how shade and weirwood paste has the same initial effects — does shade tap into some negative reflection of the weirwood network? some evil opposite Old Gods???)

Also note that according to the WOIAF app (which reportedly gets info from GRRM, though such info is only semi-canon as anything not yet appearing in the books might be changed before publication), Dragonbinder did not actually come directly from Valyria, but was in the possession of the Qartheen warlocks when Euron took their ship. I've theorized that the Valyrian steel armor might have come from them too — on their ship, or from a cache of Valyrian treasures they knew about. Seems more likely to me than his actual going to Valyria, considering Rodrik's mere doubt of "have you?" makes Euron run off rather than answer.

I mean, yes, he's a disturbingly dangerous Valyria-boo, but sure Euron set foot on the magical-poisoned shores of Valyria, home of mutant dragon-worm-people more horrific and dangerous things than you can imagine. And you could think, hmm, perhaps his shade of the evening visions inspired him to go there despite the dangers. Or maybe, though he never touched the land itself, maybe Euron did go to Valyria... in visions. Maybe he saw, spoke to someone, someThing. And that set him on his new, terrifying path...

Euron's Master Plan

something i recently realized about euron is that he wasnt always this unhinged. like, we know that he raped aeron and urri when they were kids, and that he has a crew of mutes with ships whose floors are painted red to hide the blood, and has raided all across essos, but the full-blown magically unhinged i-bring-forth-the-doom part of his character we see in affc and the forsaken is, by all indications a more recent shift. specifically it seems to have occurred after euron captured the four qartheen warlocks who were sailing to find daenerys and after he took their shade-of-the-evening, granting him visions that spur his actions in the main plot. so what is euron's grand master plan? lets see what his main actions were so far

Step 1. Hire a faceless man to kill your brother by giving the house of black and white a dragon egg (?)

Step 2. Get elected at the kingsmoot because you bribed everyone with gold and bcz all your competition is way tooo normal for the Iron Islands

Step 3. Capture your priest brother and a bunch of other priests of various faiths and lock them up in the bowels of your ship. This will come in handy later

Step 4. Give your other brother a dragonhorn, some ships, a suspicious mute woman, and a mission to fuck off eastward (to not bother you) and subtly hint to him that he can totally use the dragonhorn for himself and there wont be any negative repercussions ohh nooo

Step 5. Conquer the Shield Islands as a morale boost for your troops and as a launching point for capturing Oldtown. Impregnate Falia Flowers and let your unborn child grow for a few months

Step 6. Lure the redwyne and hightower fleet into the straits between the arbor and the reach, making them think theyve encircled you (parallel to when stannis actually did catch you in the straits in the greyjoy rebellion 10 years ago)

Step 7. Sacrifice the priests and Falia in an orgiastic blood ritual that will awaken krakens from the sea in order to defeat the reach fleet and leave westeros undefended by sea

Step 8. ???

Step 9. Take the iron throne

So it seems like euron's trigger for constructing his master plan was the discovery of the warlocks and him finding out about daenerys. euron wants to remake the world in his image according to the forsaken chapter, and for that he needs great power. so it seems like his plan is to use magic--the armor of valyria, of oldtown, and of dragons--to conquer the iron throne (at least based on aeron's visions in the discarded Forsaken chapter of Winds of Winter)