Valyrian Steel is the famous material used to forge certain metal items in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books. Most notable are the Valyrian steel swords, which are created using an archaic process of blacksmithing that just a handful of people alive still know how to do. Valyrian steel is known for its extremely high quality; it’s lighter, stronger and sharper than regular steel. Many of the great houses in Westeros have a Valyrian steel sword that is passed down from lord to heir, and they are regarded as treasured heirlooms. Although many have been lost or stolen, there are a few remaining that show up in the books and are wielded by main characters.
Let’s go through the armory and run through the top 10 Valyrian steel swords from the A Song of Ice and Fire books.
10. Vigilance
Vigilance was the ancestral sword of House Hightower, a family from the Reach and the lords of Oldtown. By the time of Daenerys Targaryen, House Hightower’s sword had been lost for decades. It was last seen during the Dance of the Dragons. During this time, Vigilance was wielded by Lord Ormund Hightower, the nephew of Hand of the King Otto Hightower. In the Dance, House Hightower supported Aegon II Targaryen, even though his father Viserys I named his daughter Rhaenyra as the heir. Since Aegon’s mother was a Hightower, they naturally supported him in the struggle against Rhaenrya.
When the war broke out, Ormund Hightower gathered his family’s forces and began marching them north to King’s Landing, skirmishing with several of his fellow lords in the Reach who supported Rhaenyra. Ormund led thousands of men in the Battle on the Honeywine, where he was almost defeated until his squire and Aegon’s youngest brother Daeron used his dragon Tessarion to turn the tide and win the day for the Greens. Ormund subsequently knighted Daeron with Vigilance, and dubbed him Ser Daeron the Daring.
After campaigning for several more battles, Ormund met his demise during the First Battle of Tumbleton at the hands of the Northern Lord Roderick Dustin. It is unknown what happened to Vigilance after Ormund’s death. We haven’t seen Vigilance turn up on House of the Dragon yet, which covers these events, but it may well show up in season 2.
9. Brightroar
The ancestral sword of House Lannister was the Valyrian steel blade called Brightroar. According to the World of Ice and Fire, the Kings of the Rock purchased Brightroar from the Valyrians a century before the Doom. It is said they paid enough gold to raise an army.
Not much is known about Brightroar except it was wielded by two prominent Lannister patriarchs. The first was Lancel IV Lannister, who used the sword to behead an ironborn king called Harrald Halfdrowned. The next was Tommen II Lannister, who wielded the blade when he sailed a massive fleet to plunder the ruins of Valyria. Tommen, the fleet and Brightroar were all lost in this voyage, and generations of Lannisters attempting to recover the blade in vain. The most recent attempt was made by Tywin Lannister’s younger brother Gerion, who left Westeros in 291 to find the sword. By the time of the main books, Gerion had not returned yet and is presumed to be dead.