Paul Suda’s Tower of Joy Fan Film Debuts

In six days time, Game of Thrones Season 6 will finally arrive, and at some point during the year, we will get to see a scene that up until now has only been described in George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series: the Battle at the Tower of Joy.

This battle happened towards the end of Robert’s Rebellion, and featured a young Ned Stark and a group of his followers heading to the Tower of Joy, in Dorne, and fighting three members of Aerys Targaryen’s Kingsguard. Ned has fever dreams about it in the books, but they weren’t depicted on the show

Last year, we told you about a group of actors and filmmakers who were raising money on the crowdsourcing platform Indiegogo to make a fan film about the Tower of Joy. It is in no way connected to the version HBO will show on Game of Thrones, but is based entirely off how Martin describes the scene in the books. Tower of Joy is directed by Michael Schatz, and produced by Paul Suda and Jack Yang. Without further adieu, watch it below:

As is the norm with most fan-made films, Tower of Joy doesn’t have that HBO “big budget” feel to it, but is still very well-made. And if it felt something produced by HBO, it might lose that integrity so often brought to a project made by, and for, the fans.

As a fan of the books, I appreciate the detail that Suda and company bring to the film. Notice, for example, the Knight of the Laughing Tree’s heraldry in Lyanna’s room. This was a nice callback to Lyanna’s participation in the Tournament at Harrenhal, the event that kicked off Robert’s Rebellion. The blue rose petals (Lyanna’s favorite) scattered around the room are also a nice touch.

"A blue flower growing from a chink in a wall of ice, filling the air with sweetness."

Then there are the lines between Ned and the Kingsguard. We don’t know if HBO’s version will include this dialogue, or if the Kingsguard will even be depicted as they are in the books (points to this movie for putting the Kingsguard in their traditional white armor, something the show isn’t doing), which is why fan films like this one are so important. Tower of Joy pays the perfect amount of respect to the original work while not stepping all over the television show’s toes, and now has earned its spot in the hallowed halls of A Song of Ice and Fire fandom.