Valyrian steel

Valyrian steel is a legendary metal forged in the lost Freehold of Valyria, prized throughout the Seven Kingdoms for its unmatched sharpness, lightness, and strength. In A Game of Thrones, it functions as a marker of ancient power, a weapon of execution and justice, and a clue in the central mystery of Jon Arryn's murder.

Properties and Origin

Valyrian steel was created in the Valyrian Freehold before the Doom, using spells as well as hammers. The metal is spell-forged and dark as smoke, with a rippling pattern where it has been folded back on itself a hundred times. Nothing holds an edge like Valyrian steel, and blades forged from it remain sharp as the day they were made, even after centuries. The greatsword Ice, wielded by Eddard Stark, was four hundred years old and as sharp as when it was forged. Dragonbone, the material of a dagger's hilt, is described as strong as steel yet lighter and far more flexible, and utterly impervious to fire. The knowledge of how to work Valyrian steel survived only in a few places; the armorer Tobho Mott learned the craft as a boy at the forges of Qohor, where only a man who knew the spells could take old weapons and forge them anew.

Key Weapons and Their Roles

The most prominent Valyrian steel blade in the narrative is Ice, the ancestral greatsword of House Stark. It is as wide across as a man's hand and taller than Robb Stark. Eddard Stark uses Ice to carry out the execution of a deserter from the Night's Watch, a duty he performs himself in accordance with the old way of the First Men. Later, Ice is used by Ser Ilyn Payne to behead Eddard Stark himself, a grim inversion of its original purpose. Another Valyrian steel weapon is a dagger with a dragonbone hilt, which becomes a crucial piece of evidence. Catelyn Stark brings this dagger to King's Landing, and it is identified by Ser Rodrik Cassel as Valyrian steel, too fine a weapon for the common assassin who tried to kill Bran Stark. The dagger's ownership is traced through Petyr Baelish, who claims he lost it to Tyrion Lannister in a wager, a claim that sets the Stark-Lannister conflict in motion. The blade is described as having a smooth dragonbone hilt and being sharp enough to shave with.

Narrative Significance

Valyrian steel serves as both a symbol of ancient, lost power and a concrete object that drives the plot. Ice represents the honor and duty of the Starks, while the Valyrian steel dagger is the physical link that Catelyn Stark uses to accuse Tyrion Lannister of attempting to murder her son. The dagger's unique properties—its sharpness and the distinctive nature of its forging—make it identifiable and thus a key piece of evidence in the investigation into Bran's fall and Jon Arryn's death. The metal's rarity and the mystery surrounding its creation underscore the themes of a world living in the shadow of a lost golden age, where the remnants of that age, both beautiful and deadly, still hold immense power.