It got Game of Thrones fans talking.
We’ve got swords draped in fire. Spears made of ice. Dragons that can destroy cities. Valyrian steel swords that can kill the undead. Daggers shrouded in mystery. Scorpion crossbows that can kill dragons and enough wildfire to destroy the Sept of Baelor, and yet, Game of Thrones fans can only talk about one weapon.
Jon Snow’s sword Longclaw became the talk of the Thrones community after that scene involving the King in the North on the frozen lake.
In case you need a reminder, during that epic battle against the undead, Jon Snow was pulled into the icy abyss by a horde of wights. Before hitting the water, Jon managed to throw his sword on the ice as he sunk below the water.
What happened next has got some very imaginative Thrones fans speculating about Jon’s Valyrian steel sword.
https://twitter.com/apdhurve/status/899333407091470336
Various theories have floated about and even by Game of Thrones’ standard, they’re pretty wild. People think something warged into the sword, the sword has magical properties and that it’s somehow ‘alive.’
Well, the director of Beyond the Wall, Alan Taylor has poured cold water on those theories. In fact, his statement is probably colder than the icy water that Jon fell into.
Speaking with Insider, he said : “That is so funny, somebody else mentioned that to me and I haven’t got a clue what they’re talking about. So either this sword is magic and it’s doing stuff on its own or something happened. I’m going to have to go back and watch that moment close up and in slow motion to see what’s going on there. I can say that there was no intention for that to be the case.”
It appears that the image of Longclaw “opening” is eye was solely due to the elements. A riddle of water and ice, if you will.
“That sounds very likely because there was a lot of conversation about frost because he climbs out of the water and collapses on the ice and there’s a slight time cut, so when we see him staggering to shore he’s frosted up and not wet anymore because everything freezes that fast. So I know there was discussion about starting to show that process, and so they probably amped it up and used whatever they could to show the shift. So I think that’s a very good theory and I’m gonna go with that one until I look at it more closely and see if I can figure out what’s going on. But I spoke to somebody earlier and he was convinced it was a really loaded symbolic moment of Longclaw,” said Taylor.
There you have it. We can have dragons, time travel, magic, the undead and resurrection in the show, but not swords with a mind of their own.
