Master Armorer Tim Lewis, Swordsmith Peter Johnsson, and more discuss the collaborative process and historical research behind developing the weapons in the show, including Dark Sister.
The amount of work that went into the first season is just staggering. I do hope they keep up the quality as they work on the second season. Gods I love this show!!
Fun fact, from the Making-Of-House of the Dragon Book: the hilts of Valyrian steel swords are meant to be covered in "Dragon leather" (I guess from the weaker points between the main big scales like at the joints or something) -- so they didn't want it to look like just regular leather. To achieve this odd, dragon-scale like look, they actually used *ostrich leather* for the prop hilts.
Peter Johnsson is a true master of sword making, all of his designs sport perfect proportions, weight distribution , it's a true pleasure to wield his designs.
The detail to everything in HOTD - costumes, weapons, the castles and locations, props - is just phenomenal. GOT's details were pretty amazing but HOTD just upped the game to a whole new level. I love seeing how things come together on this set so keep the videos coming please!!
You just know it's going to be good when Peter Johnsson is making the sword. The guy is swordsmithing royalty. Also love to see all the historically accurate sword props like the Gallowglass sword type in the background. It gives such a grounded feeling despite it being a fantasy show.
You Really MUST See Peter Johnsson's ''THE VIKING SWORD WHAT IT WAS AND WAS NOT'' But Read The Newest Comments First. Comments From Which Peter Johnsson Has RUN LIKE A FRIGHTENED RABBIT Rather Than Answer,
I have seen it and I have read your MANY comments. Aside from your obvious self importance, it is clear that you have a chip on your shoulder when it comes to Johnsson, as shown by your commenting/ spamming aggressive messages over the course of several years... It kind of undermines the validity of your points (which I don't dispute). But I do not blame Peter for not further engaging with such comments. You may have time to write novels on RU-vid, but many of us are actually busy doing things. That being said, I hope you have fun doing it. And Please Do Keep Capitalising Every Single Word. It will only reinforce people's perception that you are a highly stable and trustworthy person 😉
@@ismagoff Ah ~~~ One Of Johnsson's BLIND SHEEP ??? Well You Are Of Course Entitled To Your Narrow Opinions. As For Peter Johnsson ~~~ From The Word Go He Has Refused To Admit His Endless Errors And False Information. I Greatly Object To Such False Experts As He Is Spreading His Nonsense To Those Who Do Not Know The Difference. If This Upsets You ~~~ Frankly My Dear I Don't Give A Dam. But You, As Johnsson Himself May Be Certain Sure That I Will Always Expose His Nonsense When Ever And Where Ever I Find It.
This is so Awesome, I love watching behind the scenes and seeing what goes into making such a fantastic show. As an artist myself I really appreciate all the different elements that go into the making of a show like this and I love seeing how dedicated and creative the artists of all the different departments are. It's such a marvelous series and everyone who works on this show should be extremely proud of themselves and their work! I would kill to be an artist involved with This show. Great job guys! Can't wait for season 2! ❤❤
OMG I did not know Peter Johnsson did design work for this. His sword geometry tries to grasp what makes handling swords lively or cumbersom. I wish I had the funds to buy some of his Albion swords. I am looking forward to season two
Absolutely incredible design and workmanship goes into making these swords a reality, these guys are the best every tiny detail is encompassed to really bring the individual weapons to life!! Whatever HBO are paying them.. Double it!!
They didn't want a fantasy element to the swords, they wanted a fantastic element to the swords. They delivered that in the best way possible, dark sister is modern and old, realist yet fantasy. It looks advanced beyong its years despite being so old, and those dragon wings, scales and egg all give it the look of old valyria
This is really cool ! Also, two of the swords at 2:46 seem to be based on Charlemagne's sword Joyeuse (or at least the sword that is called Charlemagne's sword and has been called such since the middle ages) which is always a cool detail.
YOU REALLY 'MUST SEE' PETER JOHNSSON'S ''THE VIKING SWORD WHAT IT WAS AND WAS NOT'' TO REALLY UNDERSTAND HIS KNOWLEDGE OF VIKING AGE AND MEDIEVAL SWORDS. BUT READ THE NEWEST COMMENTS FIRST, COMMENTS FROM WHICH HE HAS RUN LIKE A FRIGHTENING RABBIT RATHER THAN ANSWER FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS.
Now just please please please please make sure the replica displays that come out are as close to the original as possible! Dark sister has to be my favorite blade of all time and im dying to get a replica even if its a small batch of 200 ill pay anything for this work of art!
It is the wonderful Damascene steel, the best steel in history for making swords. It was made in the Syrian city of Damascus, as Damascus was famous for making weapons in the Middle Ages and ancient times. It's Valyrian steel in the real world
Peter Johnsson's Knowledge Of Early Swords Is Quite AMAZING !!! Never More So Than In His ''THE VIKING SWORD WHAT IT WAS AND WAS NOT'' This Video Should Go VIRAL !!! But Read The Newest Comments First To REALLY Understand How Peter Johnsson EXPOSES HIMSELF ON THE INTERNET ~~~ Exposes His Amazingly Awful Knowledge ~~~ Not The Other Thing !!!
Why did you use the seven-pointed star in Dark Sister if the Dark Sister was designed in Old Valyria? Faith in Seven wasn't make sense for sword makers then at all. The Targaryens had another faith.
Blackfyre was layed with Aegon the Conqueror when he died, and was on his funeral pyre, the fire is said to have darkened the blade and likely damaged the hilt. At some point during the time between Aegon's funeral and Jahaerys Targaryen's reign, both swords may have been rehilted to reflect a shift to the Faith of the Seven.
@BlazingSteel It was never said they were re-hilted or that they were damaged. Also, why would Maegor (the one who would've re-hilted them) put symbols of the seven on it when he hated that religion.
@Aaron Guest implications. Let's not forget that GRRM does many parallels. Longclaw's hilt was damaged in the fire before being fit with a wolf's head pommel. And odds are that it was rehilted for Aenys, Aegon's son and Maegor's brother, though he was not martially proficient, he likely didn't want his father's sword to be rendered unusable.
@@AaronGuest Aegon's funeral pyre would have been the earliest it would be rehilted, but Blackfyre and Dark Sister have been in Westeros for at least 150 years by the events of House of The Dragon. That's plenty of time for the hilts to be either damaged, worn, or decayed and needing replacement, especially if the hilt components are not made of Valyrian steel. As a magical steel, the blades would certainly outlast the hilts in any form of wear and tear.
@@BlazingSteel Not a single Valyrian sword was said to be too damaged that they needed to be re-hilted. That would just be a poor excuse, those swords would've been getting taken care of by some of the best smiths in Westeros. Also why would they be re-hilted with different designs?
I’m peeved that they never mentioned Dark sister or Blackfyre in the show. Valyrian steel is a pretty big deal in their world to the point Tywin was willing to pay an arm & a leg to get one for his family.
Yup the ancestral sword of House Lannister was Brightroar but it was lost when Tommen II Lannister, King of the Rock, sailed to Valyria and never returned.
They should've kept the designs from the book for the swords and the crowns. The Conqueror's crown looks awful in the show, Dark Sister and Blackfyre are way more regal in the book, the series version look like any regular sword.
I 100% agree. The crowns look bad, especially Jaehaerys' crown, and Aegon's doesn't even have the rubies on it. While the swords are lackluster compared to the book versions, Dark Sister looks decent, still not good or unique though, and Blackfyre just looks atrocious. I don't get them saying they were going for a realistic vibe for the swords when the setting is fantasy, and it's not like the book versions of them were unrealistic, even the Blackfyre replica that Valyrian Steel is making looks better, they could've used that and it would've been way better.
@@AaronGuest Absolutelycorrect! A show with dragons and people with silver hair and purple eyes definitely don't need to be 100% realistic, I don't understand these showrunners' decisions.
Dark sister should be needle like wielded by Visenya who was a better warrior than Aegon ever was, while Blackfyre was more ice like ,used in ceremonies rather than in actual battle because Kings who wielded it rarely came to field, they preferred to ride dragons
I wouldn't base the design too much on Aegon and Visenya, sure they were the first owners in history we know of but they definitely weren't the first owners at all Ice and blackfyre were btw both used in combat and weren't only ceremonial things
@@Elnina-pv3bx @Elnina where did you get that from? And if so why do we have so many examples where it was used in combat or war. Aegon I. Used it for example in the invasion of the Iron Islands (killed qhorin volmark) or during the first dornish war (killed the disguised fool of ghost hill) After him Maegor used it in his Trial of seven Jaehaerys I. used it in the 3rd dornish war and the young dragon aka Daeron I. Fought the whole conquest of Dorne with it And even the infamous Daemon blackfyre (who named himself after the blade ) used this sword in the first blackfyre rebellion
@@Vaelor.B it is stated that Dark Sister was forged for a woman's hand, so why not base it off Visenya? We do not know who owned it before her, and we'll never know.
@@janhenker8970 we probably will never know xD maybe one day we'll get more information on this matter, but basing this blade too much on Visenya would impling that this blade was made for her which it wasn't It was already an old heirloom when she got it
After Playing More Hours of DiablO(1)...Than I Want to Admit, "DarkSister" Looks More Like a "Blade"...Than "Sword". (Possibly More "Rapier", from "Symphony of TheNight"!)🤔
No they only make these videos for now. Because of the writers strike they can't film because the cameras want more pay you know obviously logical makes sense. And of course they do not create season 2 because it has been almost a year and they renewed it right after the first episode of course they need like 3 years to start.
@@adrianneagoe3652 however the writers strike may still affect the season in terms of rewrites and changes that can not be made during or between filming.
@@adreamingghost they said theyll reshoot stuff after the strike if they made any mistakes along the way but the strike should not affect production. They also revised each episode a lot with George so it should be fine