Freeze-framing featured letters and books and other details has been part and parcel of the Game of Thrones experience since the beginning. We’ll look for answers anywhere! However, it’s rare to get as great a look as today’s at the show’s intricate props.
If, while watching Stormborn, you wondered in which context Tyrion snuck in the “All dwarfs are bastards in their father’s eyes” comment in his letter to Jon, or how poignant Jorah’s farewell to Daenerys was (spoiler alert: very poignant,) or how Sam revealed the mountain of dragonglass under Dragonstone, read on. Also: we actually get to read part of Archmaester Pylos’ treatise “on rare diseases” —the cure for Greyscale!
Making Game of Thrones shared ten wonderfully high-resolution photos earlier today. The following is a selection of the ones that are, perhaps, most telling:
Head to Making Game of Thrones for the full gallery, including a closer look at Sam’s map of Dragonstone’s mountain of dragonglass and more pages from Pylos’s book.
Hodor!
ETA! YES! My first Hodor! (I almost did it yesterday but put my info incorrectly in and missed my chance, but not today!)
I guess the part in the other book about ingesting dragonglass as a cure for diseases won’t come into play for greyscale…. ?
So are you telling me that the radical treatment for a highly infectious disease which affects the skin is…
…peel the affected skin off?
That’s it?
I love the letter Tyrion sent to Jon – it echoes the relationship they had in season one, while simultaneously showing Tyrion’s understanding of the recent historical relationship between House Targaryen and House Stark. Tyrion made a point of sounding like he was extending an invitation to discuss an alliance rather than doing as Daenerys asked and demanding he bend the knee.
Tyrion wouldn’t have been much more than a child then, but he would have known that the last time a Targaryen summoned a Stark south to bend the knee, they were burned alive. His letter is far more effective than what Daenerys asked for in persuading Jon to come south.
That appears to be phase 1 of the treatment only.
I wonder when Sam went out farming for materials? 😛
Seriously though, this type of stuff fits right into creating a (good) rpg or mmorpg with crafting:
Greyscale Salve:
5 Resin of Pine
10 Green Bark of Elder Twig
15 White Beeswax
1 Oyl from the Olive
Resin of Pine can be found in pine tree clusters such as near the foothills of the Red Mountains near Summerhall.
Green Bark of the Elder Twig can be found near Goldengrove in the Reach.
White Beeswax can be found…
This is awesome! Thanks, Luka.
Jorah’s letter to Khaleesi is so beautiful and sad
It also echoes, rather interestingly, Ned’s decision to rephrase King Robert’s last will and testament slightly without telling him that he was doing so. Two good examples of wise and valuable advisors to monarchs exercising their own discretion when needed, rather than being complete sycophants, as per Varys’ conversation with Dany.
Squad goals!!!
Maybe Phase 2 involves crushing obsidian into powder, mixing it with milk of the poppy and pouring it onto a flesh wound made by a valyrian sword. Sam should have those in his possession…
Tyrion is wise enough to know, or at least willing to chance it that Jon and Daenerys are ‘good people’ that should make good allies in any endeavor and not war with each other. He has to get them together first though and having a forceful “bend the knee” line in his letter would mean Jon wouldn’t come. That is of course without knowledge that Jon pretty much has to for dragonglass.
Okay, looking at this again… Greyscale salve… the stuff that cures a disease that’s thought to be nearly incurable consists of just pine resin, crushed green bark, beeswax and olive oil? May as well just say, “rub some dirt on it and walk it off.” 😛
JenniferH,
Tah-Dah! Congratulations!
ok, love Sams letter. its soo..Sam. no “Lord Commander” or “Your Grace” (not sure if Sam knows Jon is KitN?) anywhere. just “Jon” from “Sam”. Two guys just trying to save the world.
Violator,
As Luka says, it appears to be the first phase of the treatment, which includes an ointment with ingredients unknown to us. If it is in a Citadel book, it probably has some special component.
Anyway, being so highly contageous, saying that peeling is a “just it” treatment of grayscale is an understatement. Whomever is doing the healing could contract it at anytime (a small puncture in the gloves…, a spatter of pus into the face…). As maester Ebrose pointed out to Sam, the maester who worked on the cure died of the disease). The stakes are so high that many people would rather quarantine the sick that treat them at all…
Clob,
Lots of people are so stoked about Daeny and Jon meeting for the first time. I prefer to wait and see what comes out of the meeting.
But I am really dying to see Tyrion and Jon talking to each other again!! Will they have a chance to appreciate the changes that have taken place?
Please, please D&;D give them the chance to have a good interaction.
Oh God. If that’s the cure for greyscale and there’s no anesthesia … I think I’d rather take the Tommen way out.
Wbo would’ve thought the Boltons’ traditional torture technique was Step 1 of curing a horrible disease ?
Hodor.
So glad the Maesters specify that you should pull back the skin “gently”!
Violator,
Yeah, it’s pretty silly if that’s all there is to it.
It’s a pretty intuitive solution, if that were enough you’d think more people would have attempted it. Ebrose said the procedure was “far too dangerous”. This doesn’t seem particularly more dangerous than other interactions maesters would have with sick people.
Wear gloves, peel off the infected tissue, apply ointment. This is the dangerous and unique cure that Pylos only ever did twice and died from ?
Violator,
Our blades are sharp.
Hey wait. What if you take the debrided greyscale tissue, dry it and pulverize it into a powder, and spray it on the White Walkers ?
Wouldn’t they get stoned in a couple of weeks?
Hodors Bastard,
Sam doesn’t have any obsidian with him, unless the Citadel has some. His bag of it was lost at Hardhome.
Jon even says in S5E10 that it was all gone.
GhostCR,
I unfortunately have little faith in D&D to deliver compelling, believable, and fluid character interactions between major characters that don’t have an established dynamic.
They have the difficult work of creating the relationship between Dany and Jon, basically from scratch, and whatever GRRM told them about it, if anything.
I feel like Bryan Cogman does a lot better with these things. His dialogue is usually far less cringe-worthy, less modern, more eloquent, more straightforward, and more organic. It just flows better, in my opinion.
Wish he had more episodes.
I doubt that the salve mentioned is the cure part, likely just a…well…salve. Once you’ve been skinned, you might want a bit of soothing. I found it interesting that Ebrose told Jorah he should have cut his arm off as soon as he knew – that answers my question of whether it’s localized or systemic (as does the skin peeling). Of course, that doesn’t explain how it affects the mind long before you die, unless you’re just driven mad by the knowledge that you’re turning into a brick.
Why didn’t Master Pylos treat himself?
I for one am not looking forward to the “Sam rubs medicinal salve all over Ser Jorah’s peeled torso” scene you just know they’re going to show in graphic detail next week.
I think there’s too little time to have Jorah receiving treatment over several episodes. I would bet he’s miraculously on the mend the next time we see him – albeit with a chest that would make Freddie Krueger self conscious.
Pigeon,
He probably did. Treatments aren’t 100%, even with modern medicine.
It’s great to see you, Pigeon!
Catspaw Assassin,
I’m pretty sure they’re skipping the rest of that scene, thank goodness!
Jorah: I would not feel so all alone. Everybody must get stoned.
Shireen: Or burned at the stake. One of those.
Boy seems a ball-peen brutish approach and then that salve must have some mojo to it? I thought there was supposed to be some part of this that involved dragon glass?
I remember yelling at the screen during that sequence. Why, Edd, why did you forget/drop that?!!! Oh well, the cost of being scared shitless.
Oh, I’m sure the Citadel has plenty of obsidian/dragonglass in storage. No doubt. I’m convinced that dragonglass has medicinal qualities as well as pacemaker/weapon qualities.
Nymeria, gloves.
Need I remind you, Ser, I have been waiting for Jorah to remove his shirt for 6 years?! I’ll take it!
Markus Stark, I can write more medievally. See above.
Good because that sounded stupid.
Why? It’s already been proven as a magical steroid (CotF-created NK), pacemaker (Benjen) and weapon against WW. Why wouldn’t it be medicinal in small doses?
The way Jon stood up for Tyrion makes me think….
Benjen’s DG pacemaker , I like that!
Why would Sam risk his life to save Jorah’s? And it’s not his own life he’s risking. If he gets sick or kicked out for disobeying all hope of sending more critical intel to Jon is lost. The greater good is more important than one man.
Meanwhile … I want to know the secret recipe for the COTF’s Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
Those fire bombs worked pretty well against the skeleton wights and the cave wights.
Put some of those suckers on arrowheads and let Bronn, Anguy and Arya score some bullseyes. (Too bad Ygritte’s gone ☹️.)
Tron79,
I agree. Not only did Jon stand up for Tyrion, but at the mention of Jon’s name, Tyrion stood up for Jon, too!
On another topic, could a book reader please help me with something.
Another prophecy goes: “three treasons will you know . . . once for blood and once for gold and once for love.”
Could the last betrayal for love be Tyrion, betraying Daenerys at some point because of his love for Jaime?
Is this possible or have these two points been resolved already?
Ten Bears,
Hahahahaha!
GhostCR,
Im eager for this as well. I think Tyrion will be impressed by Jon, and Jon will find in him a peer and confidante
I find it amazing the lengths the production crew go in writing these messages the ravens carry or pages from a book in the Citadel (or Jorah’s letter). Its quaint also that some are written in Middle English – ‘be sure to remove all hard grey’s’cale, until left wyth ???’ ‘s’= the long old form of S when used within a word and ‘with’ spelt as wyth.
Whoever wrote those props has a great writing style! The quill pen and the ink pot produced a much neater script than the Bic Biro 😉
When one considers the scenes showing these items are often less than a second its remarkable the details they go to with props like this? Perhaps its because they know fans will analyze video clips frame by frame to weed out every detail 🙂
HoundDog,
I thought it was after he found out Jorahs name. His father was very good to him. Curing him would be a way of thanks. Or could be that Sam is just a doctor at heart.
really had to dig deep for that one, huh?
Hodors Bastard, How are you gonna eat a rock?
I’m actually surprised that Jorah would be cured of greyscale. If he is indeed cured, I wonder what his role will be from now on in? Will he die in Dany’s arms after he saves her? Will he be the only one left by her side after she loses everything? (this would be awesome imo). Wonder how this will play out.
Because Jeor was his father figure.
Haven’t you ever done crack? Sheesh! You crush it into powder first. You don’t eat the rock. 🙂
Crush it down into a powder I would guess. I’ve take ‘iron’ tablets in the past. Good for the red blood cells I believe.
I recall some guy (perhaps to get into the Guinness Book of Records) a few years ago ate an entire car – Don’t know what model it was, but it took him a few years!
He’s probably still farting gasoline fumes, haha 😀
Hodors Bastard, but it’s the hardest shit in the 7 kingdoms!
Jon Snow told Stannis Baratheon to burn dead bodies.
Jon Snow buries Ygritte North of the Wall.
Rose Leslie was at the season 7 premiere.
“Too bad Ygritte is gone” 🙂
firstone,
[ spoiler ]😳 🤓 👏🏻[ / spoiler]
firstone,
My first attempt at spoiler coding went amiss. Good thing it wasn’t anything spoilery.
Check again regarding your spoiler though.
That’s amazing!
I really love Jorah’s final intended words for Daenerys, and Tyrion’s message to Jon.
Does anyone have an idea what that last word is in the last picture (Pylos’ explanation)?
WOW!
This is so pretty!
I need some crafty etsy-person to make me one of those to frame it and hang it on my walls.
As a biochemist, I was really looking forward to finding out what the cure for greyscale was. Olive oil and beeswax? Whaaaaaaaat??
Pretty sure this must be the first phase because if not then this’ll go down as one of the major plot holes of the show.
Can I just say though- look how far Sam has come since season 1. What he’s doing is truly courageous.
Jorah!!! Hope springs eternal
🤔🤔🤔
You too, Ginevra! And good point….😉
Well, but he
Oh, come the hell on. As folk remedy, the recipe actually makes some sense, and the series researchers should probably be commended for creating something mildly believable.
Pine resin seals wounds, has antifungal and antibacterial properties.
Mixed with beeswax, it probably forms a barrier to prevent further infection.
Olive oil is probably the medium (the basis in which all the other components are mixed).
The active component is probably the elder bark, which contains, among other things, cyanogenic glycosides. Imagine that in contact with greyscale, it produces hydrogen cyanide. Imagine that it’s toxic to the greyscale bacterium.
Additionally, elder has somewhat of a folk fame – cf. Harry Potter, the Elder Wand.
Pigeon,
You are so right… I stand corrected!!!!!
Okay, so people now complain that this cure is too simple?
FFS people.
I am glad it is not something that involves ingesting dragon glass or something like that.
I had a feeling it would be curable by something more simplified like peeling/treating… especially when we were told that Shireen was able to be cured.
And it is understandable that it is a dangerous operation and forbidden… they would rather leave men/women to turn to stone and sending them away than risk spreading it
Nothing plot holey about this.
____
And people ALREADY don’t like the character conversations between Jon/Tyrion/Dany
LOL… SMH
https://sitwithandrea.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/cant-even-guy.jpg?w=696
The one thing I find amazing that no-one is talking about is how lore, legend and history are created. When Hot Pie tells the story of the BoB to Arya “Jon Snow and an army of wildings won the battle”. No mention of other Northern Houses or the Vale cavalry…..
Kinda like Ned’s fight with Arthur Dayne! The truth does not quite live up to the legend.
Doesn’t Sam still have the Dragonglass he killed the WW?
Sure you’re not thinking of dragonbone, Rygritte? It’s at least as strong as steel, but more flexible. Dragonglass/obsidian (vulcanic glass) on the other hand can be made sharper than steel, but it’s quite brittle, so it should be possible to turn it into powder…like crushed glass. As a weapon dragonglass is only good for piercing/stabbing – not slashing.
Have to check, but I’m pretty sure he left it there in the snow, as he took off with Gilly.
He left it there. Here’s a clip of the blade clearly visible on the ground at 02:18, and at 02:24 as they run away.
New photos from episode 3
https://twitter.com/yeahclarke/status/890180263015264258
I wonder what Varys is saying there.
Flayed Potatoes,
All of my whisperers I sent to the Night’s King said that they couldn’t make it back through the Wall for some reason, Your Grace.
yeah, apparently all you have to do is rub a little olive oil on that ashy skin.
Apollo,
Think what extra virgin could achieve!..
JenniferH,
nothing like that first Hodor ..makes a person feel good..it is known
This looks like it slipped by without a response. You must be thinking of Valyrian steel. Dragonglass, aka obsidian, is not hard or strong. It can be made into very sharp weapons but it is also very brittle and could easily be crushed into a powder.
I think the show might be starting to confuse people with so much dragonglass talk and no Valyrian steel talk anymore. It’s probably on purpose because that’s their method for getting Jon to Dragonstone. With so few Valyrian steel weapons available the dragonglass is needed to battle the WW but the wights can be destroyed or incapacitated in a number of ways (fire). I guess it’s wise to have everyone carrying something made of dragonglass but how many will actually fight a WW considering how few there are. Then again, we don’t really know how many there are…
Violator,
This is an easy show work around. Nothing that simple exists in the books. D&D clearly don’t want to kill Jorah off…at least yet.
Clob, Thank you. Sharp & brittle doesn’t sound like a good weapon and drinking powdered glassy rock sounds worse. How does Jon know that WW is called the Night King? He needs a mountain of dragonglass because the inexperienced archers are gonna miss. He’ll probably have everyone prepare fireball catapults, flaming arrows, and barrels of oil like Battle of Castle Black.
Dead Dane Walking, WTF is dragonbone?!
At your service 🙂
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Dragonbone
I.e. the black hilt on the Valerian steel dagger, used by the catspaw assassin in the attempt to kill Bran, is dragonbone.
DireStark,
Nope, it was left at the Wall, and Jon took it all to Hardhome. He even tells Sam in S5E10 that the dragonglass they had is all gone.