Ryan Condal talks about designing practical Valyrian steel swords for Game of Thrones and House of The Dragon

Game of Thrones is one of the biggest shows in the history of television film-making. One of the many reasons why the show is so hugely popular is that though the story is largely a fantasy, many of its elements are grounded in reality. That even goes as far as designing the props for the show. Recently in his podcast, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, House of The Dragon co-showrunner Ryan Condal talked about designing practical and believable Valyrian Steel swords for both shows.

He said, “There’s a specificity to the design of everything you’ve done…There is a practicality, a functionality to everything that you do. And that’s not to say that everything isn’t gorgeous, it is…We talked about this a bit when we started working together, about the difference between a really interestingly designed beautiful sword and a piece from a Renaissance Faire…It’s the valley between design and functionality and sometimes it goes a bit too far in moviemaking.”

“I think the trick with what you do is to always walk that line so when the character is holding something it’s credible. Our world is obviously a fantasy world but the reason Thrones works so well is because it’s very grounded in reality and it’s supposed to feel real and dangerous and these are real people and this just happens to be the world they walk around in and it has dragons and magic and all these other things.”

What do you think about the design of swords in Game of Thrones? Tell us in the comments below!

Game of Thrones boasted a host of highly talented actors, and Emilia Clarke is surely one of them. The 34-year-old star, famous for playing Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen, is soon to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and has also lent her voice in famous animations. For example, she was the voice actress of Futurama’s Doctor Zoidberg’s love interest. Clarke has such a great grip and command over her voice and accent, she once improvised an entire speech on Game of Thrones in a matter of minutes! And now, she has once again amazed her fans with a wonderful short performance on The Tonight Show.

In a recent interview with Jimmy Fallon on the show, Clarke participated in a hilarious segment that required her to speak the lyrics to Olivia Rodrigo’s pop-punk hit Good 4 U in an impressive medley of German, French, Russian, American, Irish, and Australian accents. She eagerly rose to the musical challenge and even brought an extra level of authenticity and amusement to her performance by throwing little ad-libs into the song’s lyrics to make them fit more in line with the accent she was using.

“Good for you, fräulein, I guess that you’ve been working on yourself,” she said while employing a German accent. “I guess that therapist I found you she really helped, ja?” Clarke then closed out the song’s chorus with an Irish accent and capped off the performances by cracking open a can of beer while laughing hysterically.

Did you like Emilia Clarke’s beautiful performance? Tell us in the comments below!

Game of Thrones Season 8 wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The season finale divided the fan base into two. One was satisfied with the ending, the other demanded a season remake. Some blamed the absence of George R. R. Martin’s next instalment of books. While some blamed the showrunners’ piqued interest to launch a Star Wars feature film trilogy with Disney’s Lucasfilm. Even the show’s alum Emilia Clarke gets why fans were f**king p***ed about the final episode. After all, she cared deeply about her character, Daenerys, who wasn’t treated well by the showrunners. She once again accepted the fact that the finale disappointed a lot of fans who were expecting a lot more in a recent interview.

Emilia was asked about the fan reaction to the ending during a recent appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan. She replied, “Whatever ending we were ever gonna come up with — like, let’s say that made us all hairdressers — everyone still would’ve been really upset, because people joyfully didn’t want it to end at all. So I think any ending would have upset everybody. But our ending really, really did seem to really upset [people].”

The Mother of Dragons makes it pretty clear that she understands that people are deeply hurt, and so is she. But she seems to have come to terms with it. Have you? Tell us in the comments below!

Gasping for breath, drowning in water is one of the most common nightmares people experience in their dreams. One Game of Thrones actress had to go through that in real, on set, for an excruciating 10 hours. Hannah Waddingham, who played Septa Unella on the show, was strapped to a table, to be tortured by Lena Headey’s Cersei Lannister. She described her harrowing experience in a recent episode of Collider’s Ladies Night.

She described filming the scene as her second most dreadful experience, right after childbirth. However, she’d gladly do it again, she validated her point speaking to The Talk in a recent interview.

“What I said at the end of it that wasn’t picked up on, as I would 100% do it again,” she shared on the program. “Because being given the chance to be on something like Game Of Thrones, you have to go there.”

Hannah added, “That’s why the show is so magnificent, because it brings everybody out, it takes everyone to the nth degree of their emotions. And that’s why it was so successful because you believe it, you believe the gore and you believe the tragedy and the drama.”

She also talked about how her character, Septa Unella’s fate on the show was different from the original script. What do you think of the waterboarding scene? Talk to us in the comments below!

 

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