With the burning of Harren the Black and the ending of House Hoare, the ironborn were left without a king, for the line that had ruled both the Iron Islands and the riverlands had perished in the fires of Harrenhal. Aegon Targaryen turned his attention next to the isles, expecting perhaps that a hard and proud people, reavers all, would need to be brought to heel by fire and blood as Harren had been. Yet the ironborn had seen what the dragon had done to the mightiest castle in Westeros, and they had no wish to share Harren's fate for the sake of a dead man's house.
When Aegon came among them, the ironborn bent the knee rather than give battle. Aegon, in his mercy, did not name a ruler over them from among his own or set a foreign lord upon Pyke, but instead granted the ironborn leave to choose their own overlords after their ancient custom. They passed over the priests and the reavers who might have claimed the old driftwood crown and chose instead Vickon Greyjoy of Pyke, and so House Greyjoy rose to rule the Iron Islands as Lords Reaper of Pyke and wardens of the salt kingdom, in the name of the Iron Throne.