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- "To defeat an enemy, you must know them. Not simply their battle tactics, but their history, philosophy, art."
- ―Rud Volmark
Grand Admiral Rud Volmark, notoriously known as the Angel of Death (Wastelandic:
Dinok-Lokzii "Death-Angel") and the Leviathan, is a major character in the seventh and eighth seasons, and was previously a recurring character in the sixth season. He is portrayed by starring cast member Stephen Lang and debuts in "Book of the Stranger". He is a member of House Volmark, and is the first cousin of Lord Maron Volmark, and also acted as an advisor to Caspus Harlaw during his campaigns in the North. Intimidating, pragmatic, strategically astute and utterly ruthless, Rud appears to be fiercely devoted to House Blackgard and is noted as one of the most vicious but intelligent military commanders in the Seven Kingdoms.
Rud served as one of Balon Greyjoy's foremost naval commanders during both the Greyjoy Rebellion and the early stages of the War of the Five Kings, serving as one of the initial leaders of the Greyjoy campaign to conquer the Stormlands and Ashlands alongside Victarion Greyjoy and Ryden Spyre.
After Balon is killed by his returning brother, Euron Greyjoy, Rud attends the subsequent Kingsmoot and nominates Yara Greyjoy alongside her brother Theon. A self-admitted pragmatist, Rud's nomination of Yara was not out of loyalty to Balon, but rather a practical vote owing to the fact that Euron was genuinely insane and would probably end up destroying the Iron Islands. When Euron ended up being crowned the new King of the Iron Islands anyway, Yara informs Rud of her plan to ally her faction of House Greyjoy with Daenerys Targaryen in the hopes that they will bring down Euron. She advises him to ally with House Blackgard in the hopes that, due to their history with the Targaryens, he could form an allegiance with them to further bolster their chances to bring down Euron. Rud ultimately does this, and plays a key role in aiding Eddin Blackgard against the Grreyjoy forces during the Assault of Blackgard by instructing him in various forms of ironborn warfare and how they could use it against the Greyjoys. For his role in the battle, Eddin Blackgard appoints Rud as the new head of the Ashlands Navy.
He continued to serve Eddin up until the Black Day, when Eddin's nephew, Steffon Blackgard, killed him and crowned himself Black King of Ebonheart, declaring the Ashlands a soverign state independent from the Iron Throne. Rud once again pragmatically switches his alliegance, and his role as head of the Ashlands Navy is formalized when he is named Grand Admiral on Steffon's Black Council.