A hawk-eyed Imgur user pointed out that in last week’s episode of Game of Thrones, “Battle of the Bastards,†Jon Snow’s sword, Longclaw, isn’t made out of the Valyrian steel as we had been led to believe, but rather “Valyrian rubber.†Fortunately, no one on the battlefield noticed. Scratch that — the bald, bearded dude to the right definitely clocks that wobble. And he didn’t even have the Internet to help him out, so, well-played.
Real talk, no one wants an actor to jump onto a live animal with a historically accurate medieval sword hanging from his hip. That’s how everybody gets hurt. If it takes Valyrian rubber to keep everyone’s vital organs safe, so be it. So yes, it turns out that Valyrian steel isn’t real, we’re sorry to crush all the fan dreams. Still, let’s give the multimillion-dollar battle credit where it’s due — that 40 horse cavalry charge on Snow was very real, and, as Kit Harrington reports, “very scary.â€