1 definition by The Kingslayer
To pay "the iron price" means or implies stealing something. If you paid the iron price for something, it serves to say the item has been stolen.
It comes from a concept in the George R. R. Martin fantasy series A Song of Ice And Fire and subsequent HBO adaptation Game of Thrones, wherein a culture known as the "ironborn" seize things from those they have defeated, rather than paying for them or treating for them.
The opposite of the iron price is "the gold price" -- paying for possessions, which is considered shameful among the ironborn.
It comes from a concept in the George R. R. Martin fantasy series A Song of Ice And Fire and subsequent HBO adaptation Game of Thrones, wherein a culture known as the "ironborn" seize things from those they have defeated, rather than paying for them or treating for them.
The opposite of the iron price is "the gold price" -- paying for possessions, which is considered shameful among the ironborn.
Balon Greyjoy: "That bauble around your neck; did you pay the iron price for it, or the gold? ... Did you pull it from the neck of a corpse you made? ... Iron or Gold?"
Theon Greyjoy: "Gold..."
Theon Greyjoy: "Gold..."
by The Kingslayer May 7, 2013