In the Song of Ice and Fire novel series by George R. R. Martin, the Iron Throne is the literal seat of power in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, forged by dragonbreath from the thousand swords of King Aegon I’s defeated enemies. On the HBO show however, that number appears to be far more modest than a thousand — perhaps more in the ballpark of several dozen?
This discrepancy between the description in the books and the set design is something that HBO show smartly addressed on-screen in the Season 3 episode “The Climb,” through a conversation between Littlefinger and Varys, the two great political power-brokers of King’s Landing. “There aren’t a thousand blades. There aren’t even two hundred. I’ve counted,” said Littlefinger, who turned the apparent departure from canon into a fantastic metaphor for the myths and illusions of power that prop up the political system of Westeros. “Do you know what the realm is? It’s the thousand blades of Aegon’s enemies — a story we agree to tell each other over and over, until we forget that it’s a lie.”
Thanks to a recent blog post by Martin titled “The Real Iron Throne,” however, we can finally get a glimpse of what Martin actually had in mind. While he acknowledges that the HBO version has become “iconic,” and is perhaps more realistic, “It’s still not right. It’s not the Iron Throne I see when I’m working on The Winds of Winter. It’s not the Iron Throne I want my readers to see. The way the throne is described in the books… HUGE, hulking, black and twisted, with the steep iron stairs in front, the high seat from which the king looks DOWN on everyone in the court… my throne is a hunched beast looming over the throne room, ugly and asymmetric.”
Instead, says Martin, the above image painted by artist Marc Simonetti for the upcoming The World of Ice and Fire concordance, is the closest he’s seen to the Iron Throne of his own imagination, and and the one that he plans to offer as reference to any future artists who attempt to depict the Westerosi seat of power.
This Iron Throne is massive. Ugly. Asymmetric. It’s a throne made by blacksmiths hammering together half-melted, broken, twisted swords, wrenched from the hands of dead men or yielded up by defeated foes… a symbol of conquest… it has the steps I describe, and the height. From on top, the king dominates the throne room. And there are thousands of swords in it, not just a few.
This Iron Throne is scary. And not at all a comfortable seat, just as Aegon intended.
Look on his works, ye mighty, and despair.
[Wired]