Portrayed by Gemma Whelan

Status: Alive

Origin: Pyke

Episode Appearances: 16

First Seen: ‘The Night Lands’

Last Seen: ‘The Iron Throne’

BACKGROUND

Yara Greyjoy is the only daughter of Lord Balon Greyjoy and Lady Alannys Greyjoy. Balon is the head of House Greyjoy and Lord of the Iron Islands. The Iron Islands are one of the constituent regions of the Seven Kingdoms and House Greyjoy is one of the Great Houses of the realm. House Greyjoy rule the region from their seat at Pyke and Balon also holds the title Lord Reaper of Pyke. Yara was born at Pyke as Balon and Alannys’ third child after Rodrik and Maron Greyjoy. She also has a younger brother named Theon. 

Balon rose in rebellion with House Greyjoy against the Iron Throne. This was an attempt by House Greyjoy to break away and secure independence from the Iron Throne and revive the Old Way, a term used by the Ironborn to refer to their traditional lifestyle of reaving and plundering. Balon Greyjoy declared himself  King and forged the Kingdom of the Iron Islands. He led the rebellion, supported by his vassals. The rebellion began eight years after King Robert Baratheon seized the Iron Throne in the civil war known as Robert's Rebellion. The Ironborn  were crushed in the war led by King Robert and Lord Eddard Stark of House Stark. Yara’s older brothers were both killed in the fighting. Balon surrendered and was allowed to remain Lord of the Iron Islands on the condition that her younger brother Theon remains a hostage and ward of Eddard Stark in his home at Winterfell.

With Yara as Balon's only remaining child in the Iron Islands, he raised her as a surrogate son, encouraging her to become a reaver in her own right, which is unusual for women within their patriarchal culture. Yara is a fierce warrior and commands her own longship, to the disquiet of some of the Ironborn who hold that women should not fight or command men in battle.