After Sam gifts Jorah the Tarly sword Heartsbane, serious questions are raised on who is wielding what in the battle against The Night King. There are only five swords in HBO’s Game of Thrones that can kill the White Walkers, along with magical dragonglass. Here’s what you need to know.
“We have dragonglass and Valyrian steel. But there are many of them. Far too many. Our enemy doesn’t stop. Doesn’t tire. Doesn’t feel.”
As we end the second episode of Game of Thrones’ final season, our heroes face impossible odds. The army of the dead is standing on the doorstep of Winterfell, and so far, no one on the side of the living has found an effective counter to their relentless numbers.
Nothing makes the living faction’s odds seem more hopeless than the realization that a small number of talented fighters wield their best weapons — the only weapons we’ve seen successfully defeat White Walkers and wights. Whether it’s Valyrian steel or dragonglass, there are just a few blades that won’t shatter when they connect with a White Walker, instead vaporizing the living dead (and hopefully, all the nearby wights they turned as well).
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[Ed. note: The rest of this post contains major spoilers for Game of Thrones through season 8, episode 2.]
With Jorah Mormont receiving the legendary Valyrian steel blade Heartsbane from Samwell Tarly in episode 2, another chess piece drops into place. But who holds each important weapon? And since Sam has yet to uncover a reason why only these weapons work, what chance do our heroes have with such few weapons at their disposal? Here’s what we know.
Valyrian steel — named for the magical land where it was forged — is as old as the Seven Kingdoms. It’s known for the ripples in its blades, marking the multiple times the steel was folded over on itself during a weapon’s forging. We know from series creator George R. Martin that magic was used in Valyrian steel’s creation, but the specific nature of the spellcraft was lost when all of Valyria was consumed by a cataclysmic event, simply known as The Doom. So we don’t know why these weapons turn White Walkers into puffs of ice.
There are a little over 200 Valyrian steel swords in Westeros right now, but in the show, we’ve really only seen five blades.
Valyrian steel inspires a lot of jealousy in noble houses, and there are few more covetous than Tywin Lannister, whose house lost its blade when a former Lannister tried to explore the ruins of Valyria. When Ned Stark is executed cruelly with his own Valyrian blade, Ice (which was said to be “as wide across as a man’s hand, and taller even than Robb”), Tywin sees his chance. He orders the blade reforged into two smaller swords (which still seem to be normal-sized by sword standards, making Ice one damn big sword).
