Game of Thrones actor Pilou Asbaek says the death of Sand Snakes was barbaric but poetic

Euron Greyjoy started out with a short but impactful appearance in season 6 of Game of Thrones and he’s been unstoppable since. With his amazing outfit and quick wit in season 7, he’s managed to gather quite an audience, not to mention the surprise attack he launched on Theon and Yara, which also ended up in the capture of Ellaria Sand and the death of 2 of the Sand Snakes. Now that we’ve seen how terrible Euron can really be, we can obviously expect a lot more psychopathic traits of this character who might be able to defeat the likes of Ramsay and Joffrey when it comes to being master tormentors.

Actor Pilou Asbaek, who plays Euron on the show talked about his character and what motivates him when it comes to Cersei Lannister in an interview with Timemagazine. Here are the excerpts of his interesting reveals about Euron’s nature and the brutal scene with the Sand Snakes.

Talking about what drives Euron and his psychopathic traits, he said, “All of the psychopaths I’ve met in my lifetime have multiple personalities. Not like they’re schizophrenic, but they can adapt to the people they are surrounded with. He’s a chameleon.”

On what Euron thought of Theon’s escape from the boat, he said,“Maybe Euron wanted him to stay. Maybe Euron wanted him to stand up for himself. Maybe Euron wanted him to be a Greyjoy, a viking, a man of the ocean and of the sea. The easy storyline is that Euron wanted to humiliate Theon, to prove that he’s a wimp. The more interesting angle is Euron wanted to put him into a situation where he would actually stand up for himself. That’s why he says, ‘Aw, come on you c—less coward!’”

On the debate over the graphic deaths of the Sand Snakes, he said,“There’s a debate about that? That’s interesting. We had a Battle of the Bastards last year that was inspired by Stalingrad in Russia, which was so realistic it was horrifying. Then we killed two characters on a boat and people debate that? It’s because it was two women. I’m not going to get into the politics of that. But I like the fact that it was very brutal for one simple reason: Those two women were some fierce, incredible warriors in the previous season. And the more brutal we would make their deaths — and with their own weapons — in my mind, that’s barbaric but poetic that they get killed by their own weapons. It’s closer to Shakespeare.

People have to understand one thing: Some things we have to do for the story. People give the writers a hard time for, “How can Euron know that [Yara and Theon] are there? How can he do a surprise attack?” Guys, I don’t know if you’ve seen Game of Thrones, but we have dragons. Last time I checked, we don’t have any dragons in reality. It’s for the story. And the Sand Snakes dying also [serve a purpose] in the story.“

Finally, Pilou talks about Euron’s intentions with Cersei, “I think it’s very important that your lines are honest in the moment that they are said. So when he says — and I remember all of it because I’m Danish, and it takes me a hell of lot longer for me to memorize English — “When I was a little boy, I wanted to grow up and marry the most beautiful woman in the world,” I think he means it. And what’s more sexy than a beautiful woman with power?”

‘So I think he wants her. And I think he wants what she’s got. So how I played that scene, I wanted to be a contender to Jaime Lannister. I wanted to challenge him and the love between those two siblings.”

Euron has managed to create a giant stir in the Game of Thrones fandom, so we can only wonder how much more chaos he can create. What else do you guys think Euron is capable of? Talk to us in the comments!