Balon Greyjoy is the son of Quellen, and Sansa Greyjoy making him a member of House Greyjoy and the current Patriarch of House Greyjoy, as well as the Reaver of the Iron Islands. Balon Greyjoy is married to Alannys Greyjoy of whome he has four children with in Theon, Rodrik, Moran, and Asha Greyjoy.
As the heir to the throne of the Iron islands from an early age Balon Greyjoy has not disapointed in his rulership. Under his reign the lands of the Iron Islands have grown extensivley in population and wealth. Above even this on his list of accomplishments is the fact that he destroyed much of the power of Harrenhall the ancient enemy of the Iron islands during the Siege of Harrenhall.
Balon Greyjoy was trained from an early age to become the Reaver of the Iron islands upon the death of his father, and each year of his training he appeared to get smarter and smarter at understanding the rule of the Iron Islands.
While meeting with his top leaders Balon Greyjoy watched as the meeting was interupted by a mysterious man clothed in dark robes entering seemingly through a wall. The man was nearly killed but before he was, he was able to get his offer onto the table in which he offered House Greyjoy, and the Iron Islands the chance to gain the Dragon Harp simply by going and getting it from Pontus. The Harp was a legendary item of unimagineable power which could if used by someone with enough Dragon's blood be used to litterly call dragons to its sound.
Unfortunatly for House Greyjoy, and the Iron Islands they were not the only ones offered this deal as the mysterious man was a servent of Malekor, and was attempting to cause the destruction of Westros through the destruction of Pontus, which would weaken the entire region. Following his meeting with House Targaryan he used other servents to offer the same deal to the leadership of Harrenhall, Iron Islands, Kingdom of Bolten, and the Easterlings. With all these parties now obsessed with the hope of getting the "Harp" from Pontus the armies of these nations headed towards Pontus.
The Iron Fleet had become brazen in its actions during his youth, and on one such raid of the area west of the Rhine, and very near to Stormwind Theon was brought with the raiding crew in order to see it in action. The captain of the ship had been ordered to raid the area south of Westbridge, and had taken those commands very liberaly when he went all the way south to the rich countryside east of Stormwind. Attacking this area was forbidden because the leadership of the Iron Islands wanted to take Lorderon and when they did they would need Lucerne as an ally against the very hostile forces of Gondor, and Arnor.
The captain disregardeed this and they made landing in the area where the Port of Stormwind stands now, but at the time it was the neutral village of Mul. As the raiders landed Theon waited on the boat for them to return but two days went by and still noone returned. Eventually a group of Stormwind forces arrived at the location and took young Theon into captivity.
Giving his son away
House Starke who had destroyed the raiding party, and then captured young Theon sent a letter to the Iron Islands suggesting that they not return to raiding this area of Lucerne if they wanted one of their princes back. The letter was sent back with a responce from Balon Greyjoy who didn't want to make an enemy of Lucerne since he down the road saw a great possibility in trade with them once he took control of Lorderon. In order to keep the peace he offered Theon as a gift to House Starke, and a olive branch to let them know he wanted nothing of harm to come to Lucerne. The leadership of House accepted the gift and Theon Greyjoy became a member of the House Starke Honor Gaurd.
The Iron Islands was a very expansionist Kingdom and they were always interested in controlling Harrenhall, as from Harrenhall they could attempt to control the entire Dolish Penensila. At first they attempted diplomacy as the city itself was very strong and they didn't want to attack the city for fear of heavy losses. Their diplomacy was rebuffed by House Strong who wanted to control Harrenhall alone.
With diplomacy over they had attempted to gain control of the banner houses of House Strong but were rebuffed in their attempts at every turn by a people who were very ideologically opposed to the Iron Islands.
