Game of Thrones‘ emerald green wildfire is something we’ve seen wreck destruction both on the screen and in the Song of Ice and Fire books. But what if it wasn’t that strong, bright green color? What if it was just red and orange? Apparently, in early concept art for the show, it was.
This comes from The Art of Game of Thrones, a coffee table book out on shelves now. In concept art for the scene in “Blackwater” where Tyrion destroys part of Stannis Baratheon’s fleet with wildfire, the explosion is plain old orange-and-red.
Diving into the series’ mythology for a moment, wildfire is a substance created by the Alchemist’s Guild, a society of men revered in the time of the Targaryen kings but who were eventually mostly replaced by maesters, who believe in science over the magic of the Guild.
As we’ve seen in the series, wildfire burns a bright green color when it is lit. It’s extremely hot and ridiculously difficult to douse. The extent of damage it is capable of is exactly the reason why even in the crazy world of Game of Thrones, it is used sparsely and rarely, unless you’re Cersei Lannister and you’re mad at someone.
It’s hard to imagine a scene like that without the burning green wildfire, which at this point has become iconic. Sort of boring, isn’t it? It’s weird to think it was even mocked up, since the books are pretty explicit about wildfire’s color, but I guess the artists had to start with a familiar point of reference.
Luckily, as we know, the final version of the show has the green wildfire in all its glory, whether it’s blowing up a building or oozing menacingly out of barrels. I think we can all agree that was the right call.
The Art of Game of Thrones is available now!
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h/t ScreenRant
