Video: Who on Game of Thrones has Valyrian steel swords?
Game of Thrones season 7 is coming, and with it, so too is the Night King, his White Walker lieutenants, and his undead army. It’s a problem. White Walkers are deadly, malicious, and nearly invulnerable. Since the show began, only three people have killed one: Samwell Tarly, Jon Snow, and Meera Reed. And out of those three, only Jon used a Valyrian steel sword — Sam and Meera both used dragonglass. So far as we know, those are the only ways to kill a White Walker, so it would behoove the people of Westeros to know where the few Valyrian steel swords remaining in Westeros are.
YouTuber Alt Shift X recently uploaded a video exploring just that topic. Who on Game of Thrones has a Valyrian steel sword? Let’s find out:
1. Jon Snow has Longclaw
Jon was given his Valyrian steel sword as a reward for saving the life of Lord Commander Jeor Mormont in season 1 of Game of Thrones. Longclaw was once meant for Jorah Mormont, Joer’s son. But then Jorah disgraced the Mormont family by selling slaves, and fled across the Narrow Sea to avoid Ned Stark’s justice. When Jorah gave it to Jon, he had a white direwolf’s head placed on the pommel. The sword is now inseparably associated with Jon Snow.
2. Brienne of Tarth has Oathkeeper
When Ned Stark traveled to King’s Landing, he brought his Valyrian steel greatsword — Ice — with him. He didn’t need it anymore after his death, and Tywin Lannister figured he’d be best off melting it down and reforging it into two blades. One of those blades was Oathkeeper, which he gave to his son Jaime. Jaime, in turn, gave it to Brienne of Tarth before sending her to track down and watch over Catelyn Stark’s daughters. Since then, Brienne has made a lot of use of the sword, using it to defeat the Hound in season 4, execute Stannis Baratheon in season 5, and fight off Bolton soldiers in season 6.
3. Jaime Lannister has Widow’s Wail
Widow’s Wail is the other sword Tywin reforged from Ice. Tywin gave it to Joffrey as a wedding present, right before Joffrey was poisoned at his own wedding. Joffrey only used the sword twice: once against a book, and once against a pigeon pie.
After that, we didn’t see the sword for a while, although it was assumed that it passed to Tommen, Joffrey’s brother. It popped up in the first official photos for Game of Thrones season 7, hanging on Jaime Lannister’s hip.
4. Samwell Tarly has Heartsbane
Heartsbane is the ancestral Valyrian steel sword of House Tarly, and by rights, it should have been passed down to Sam upon the death of his father Randyll. However, Randyll threatened to kill Sam if he didn’t give up all rights to land and titles (and Heartsbane) and join the Night’s Watch, so by the law of the land, it’s set to pass to Sam’s younger brother Dickon.
In season 6, Sam decides it shouldn’t belong to his father or his brother. He travels home to Horn Hill with Gilly and baby Sam, in hopes that his family would take in his family while he studied to be a aaester at the Citadel in Oldtown. Sadly, Randyll was just as hateful to Sam as ever, and Sam decided to take the sword and split.
There’s more piece of Valyrian steel weaponry seen on the show: the dagger the would-be assassin used to try and assassinate Bran Stark in season 1. However, we haven’t seen that dagger in years. In the books, Littlefinger has it back.
There are many other Valyrian steel blades out there — for example, Arya mentions Dark Sister, a blade wielded by Queen Visenya Targaryen during Aegon’s conquest of Westeros, when she’s serving Tywin in Harrenhal in season 2. The blades above are the only ones we’ve seen on the show, though. Alt Shift X does a great job of enumerating what’s happening with the other Valyrian steel blades, most of which are only mentioned in the novels. We’ll see whether the living can make use of them when Game of Thrones returns on July 16.