The original vision of "A Song of Ice and Fire" author George R. R. Martin's iron throne is quite terrifying, especially in comparison to the relatively smaller and less menacing version portrayed on HBO's hit adaptation, "Game of Thrones." In a recent post on his Livejournal blog, Martin revealed that digital artist Marc Simonetti has come the closest to drawing what it looks like in his head, Buzzfeed reports.
Martin has admitted that his original vision would be an impractical set piece of the show. The show's iron throne and its many look-alikes have frequently traveled around the world at various expositions, conventions, screenings and promotional events, and a chance to sit on it has become a favorite and coveted fan activity.
"This Iron Throne [I imagine] is massive," Martin wrote on his blog last night. "Ugly. Asymmetric. It's a throne made by blacksmiths hammering together half-melted, broken, twisted swords, wrenched from the hands of dead men or yielded up by defeated foes... a symbol of conquest."
In the story of "Game of Thrones," the iron throne was forged from thousands of swords of Aegon "The Conqueror" Targaryen's fallen opponents, melted by down by dragon fire and melded together to create a cold, frightening and uncomfortable seat for the ruler of the fictional Seven Kingdoms that sits in the Red Keep.
"Yes, I know, that title ['The Real Iron Throne'] is a bit of an oxymoron," Martin wrote. "There is no real Iron Throne. It doesn't exist. I made it up. I said it was made of melted swords, but really, it was made of words, like all such fictional constructs.
Ah, but it's real to me. That's part of what it means to be a writer. If you don't know what I'm getting at there, go read my old short story, 'Portraits of His Children.' When I write about the Iron Throne, I SEE it in my head... and I try to describe it as best I can. Not being a blacksmith or an ironmonger, however, I hammer it together with words, striving to make all of you, my readers, see what I see."
He went on to say that HBO's version of the iron throne "is more real than [his] could ever be," and even though the set piece is not really made out of iron (nor is it uncomfortable to the actors, though it is meant to be in the story), the "real" iron throne he imagined looks more like artist Marc Simonetti's piece, depicting King Joffrey sitting on the terrifying chair, flanked by his guards.
"It's a rough, not a final version, so what you see in the book will be more polished," Martin wrote. "But Marc has come closer here to capturing the Iron Throne as I picture it than any other artist to tackle it. From now on, THIS will be the reference I give to every other artist tackling a throne room scene."
Season 4 of "Game of Thrones" has officially begun filming, and USA's hit "Suits" is using the show's style for its own season 3 promo. Michelle Fairley, who until recently played Catelyn Stark, will make an appearance as a wealthy client on "Suits" who stirs up trouble for Harvey Spector. Fairley's "Thrones" co-star Conleith Hill (who plays Lord Varys) also has a recurring role in the series.
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