When we were at Con of Thrones 2019 last month, we got to talk to Chris Beasley, the guy behind Valyrian Steel, the company that makes no end of awesome replicas of weapons from series like The Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones. Below, he talks to us about his favorite weapons, what he has in the pipeline for Game of Thrones fans, and some interesting things on the horizon for his company:
âIâve worn the real Houndâs helm and smelled Roryâs sweat,â Beasley said. If thatâs not dedication to accuracy, I donât know what is.
Anyway, this was a fun talk. One of the most interesting parts was when Beasley talked about his relationship with George R.R. Martin â remember, Beasley contacted Martin about making weapons based on A Song of Ice and Fire before Game of Thrones was even a thing, so they go way back. â[Martinâs] vision is always a little more fantastical than what the HBO prop designers ultimately came up with.â
I was talking to George on the phone, and I canât take credit for Game of ThronesâŠbut we were talking about, âCould it ever be onscreen?â And I was saying, âDid you see Rome on HBO? They did a really good job. I think if it could go anywhere, it could go on HBO.â And, like, three months later, they did it. SoâŠyouâre welcome.
On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you.
And we canât gloss over the part where Beasley talks about the other properties he works with, or wants to work with. The guy is industrious.
Disney currently does not wanna produce weapons under the Disney brand, so I understand that. That hasnât gone anywhere. Weâre gonna do the Witcher video games, The Last Kingdom on Netflix, and there is one more I canât talk about yet, but itâs gonna be a show thatâs gonna be on Amazon thatâs based on some books and stuff that people probably know about, and weâre gonna get that one as well. So thatâll be exciting.
An Amazon show based on some books people probably know, huh? And books that involve medieval weaponry? (I assume.) Not sure what it could be.
In the near future, look out for replicas of Heartsbane, a sword called âBlackfyreâ featuring input from Martin himself, and a remake of Aryaâs Catspaw blade. Check it all out here!
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