In A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones, dragonglass, or obsidian, is a mysterious
material with special magical properties relating to white walkers and dragons.
It’s used by the children of the forest and the Night’s Watch, and may play an important
role in the ending of the series.
So let’s have a look.
Obsidian exists in the real world – it’s a volcanic glass that forms from cooled lava.
Historically, obsidian’s been highly valued, because as well as being quite beautiful,
it can be fractured to form really sharp edges.
So for thousands of years, all over the world , it’s been used to make tools and weapons
like blades and arrowheads, as well as objects of artistic and religious significance.
On Easter Island, the Moai statues had obsidian for eyes, in Anatolia, mirrors were made out
of obsidian, and in Mesoamerica, the Aztecs used obsidian knives in bloodletting rituals
and human sacrifice.
Now, obsidian is used to make surgical scalpels with blades sharper than steel, is considered
a magical stone by various New-Agey folks, and is a high-tier crafting material in Minecraft
and Terraria, so in a way, we still seem to value obsidian to this day.
Anyway, in Game of Thrones, obsidian has basically the same physical properties that it has in
the real world.
It’s apparently formed from volcanic activity though there are alternative theories . It’s
“slick and shiny” and usually black, though can be other colours . It’s very “brittle”,
and can form “razor sharp” edges.
And it’s been used by ancient peoples for thousands of years, though in Game of Thrones,
those people aren’t humans.
The original inhabitants of Westeros are the giants, and the children of the forest . The
giants apparently “knew of no better tools or weapons than branches pulled from trees”
, but the children of the forest “had great art in working obsidian”, and used it “to
make tools and weapons for hunting” . Eventually, human settlers came to Westeros – the First
Men, and later the Andals, who all but wiped out the giants and children, who now only
survive in small numbers north of the Wall . But the humans value obsidian too – it’s
traded , and used in ornamentation – in sword hilts, and rings and things – Crowfood
Umber wears a chunk of dragonglass in his empty eye socket . So obsidian is, around,
in small amounts, but it’s only during the events of A Song of Ice and Fire that people
start to realise just how important obsidian is.
In Clash, Jon Snow finds a cache of obsidian weapons, wrapped up in a Night’s Watch cloak
and buried on the Fist of the First Men . The cloak hasn’t rotted, suggesting that the
obsidian was recently buried , so it might have been Benjen Stark who left it , or maybe
Coldhands for Bloodraven.
In the show it’s a bit different – Grenn and Sam find the cache beneath a stone marked
with runes of the First Men, suggesting that it might have been left by ancient Night’s
Watchmen . Whoever buried it, Jon takes some of the obsidian, and gives it to his friends
in the Watch . Sam gets one of the daggers , and discovers its importance when the Others
come.
The Others, or white walkers, are “strange” icy creatures from beyond the Wall who’ve
been killing humans and raising them as wights, basically zombies, in an army of the dead,
apparently intent on killing everything that lives . It may actually be more complicated
than that, but either way, it is looking like the Night’s Watch will have to stop them.
The wights can be killed with fire , or by chopping them into bits , but the Others are
really hard to kill – they’re apparently invulnerable to most normal blades , and we’ve
never seen them hurt by fire.
The only thing that we’ve seen kill a white walker, at least in the books, is Sam’s
obsidian dagger . When Sam stabs a walker with obsidian, the walker dissolves, melts
away, its body smoking and steaming where it touches the dagger – this stuff is, like,
white walker kryptonite, it has a fiery magic to it which is hugely destructive to the icy
white walkers . So the Night’s Watch wants more obsidian . All they have now are the
few daggers and arrowheads and stuff that Jon took from the First of the First Men , and
also some wildlings have obsidian weapons . There’s still lots more obsidian at the
Fist – or at Hardhome, in the show – but with all these wights and walkers around,
it’d be too dangerous to go back for the cache.
So as Jeor Mormont says, they “need to find dragonglass someplace else” . Luckily for
the Watch, there are at least four different places they could get some.
Firstly, when Stannis Baratheon comes to the Wall, he agrees with the Watch that they need
to get more obsidian to fight the Others.
He says that on the island of Dragonstone, where he originally ruled, there are tunnels
full of obsidian, whole “Chunks of it, boulders [and] ledges”.
So Stannis orders his men back on Dragonstone to start mining this obsidian . The only problem
is that, in the next book, Dragonstone is besieged and captured by the forces of King
Tommen , and we don’t know whether any of Stannis’ obsidian makes it off the island.
Mace Tyrell says that after its capture, “No wealth [is] found on Dragonstone”, that
“every inch” of the island is searched, and not “a single gemstone or speck of gold”
[is] found , though Kevan Lannister doubts this . So basically it’s uncertain, but
possible, that some of the obsidian mined on Dragonstone makes it off the island and
is shipped towards the Wall – maybe to arrive in the next book.
The second way the Watch could get obsidian is from Skagos.
Skagos is a big island just east of the Wall, and its people, the Skagosi, are infamous
for savagery, cannibalism , human sacrifice, and, apparently, riding unicorns . In Dance,
Davos sets sail for Skagos because apparently Rickon Stark is taken there by Osha . So it
looks like Skagos will be an important location in the next book, and the thing is, the Skagosi
are known to offer obsidian blades in trade – Skagos may be a source of obsidian for
the Watch.
So with any luck, we’ll soon see Rickon Stark riding a unicorn to the Wall, with a
big stash of dragonglass to fight the Others.
The third possible source of obsidian is Valyria.
Valyria is where the Targaryens and their dragons originally came from – it was once
the centre of a huge, powerful empire , but was destroyed in a massive, mysterious, fiery
apocalypse known as the Doom of Valyria.
We don’t really know what caused the Doom, but it seems to have been volcanic , and part
of the destruction involved dragonglass raining down from the sky – so presumably there’s
a whole lot of obsidian still lying around in the ruins of Valyria.
Valyria is now considered a cursed , dangerous place, avoided by just about everyone , but
if, say, Daenerys Targaryen was brave enough to stop off at her ancestral homeland on her
way to Westeros, she might just be able to pick up a supply of obsidian.
Imagine her turning up at the Wall when the walkers come knocking, bringing not only fire-breathing
dragons but enough obsidian to arm every man on the Wall – that would be a perfect way
to stop the Others – and for Daenerys to prove herself to the realm she intends to
rule.
This is just speculation, and George Martin has been kind of ambivalent about whether
we’ll actually see Valyria – though it has been shown in the show – so, we don’t
know.
It seems – maybe not likely, but surely possible – that Dany will deliver obsidian
from Valyria.
The fourth possible source of obsidian is the children of the forest . We know that
they’ve used obsidian for thousands of years, we know that the children still exist north
of the Wall, and we are told that last time the Others came, thousands of years ago, they
were stopped with the help of the children of the forest , which seems to have involved
the children providing the Night’s Watch with obsidian . This may also be related to
the legendary hero Azor Ahai, or the “last hero”, a figure who apparently led humanity
against the white walkers with a flaming sword called Lightbringer . Some fans speculate
that this magic sword may have been made of obsidian, or some obsidian alloy, because
many of the powers of Lightbringer can be explained by the properties of obsidian – it
kills white walkers, it burns without being consumed , it can emit bright light . A tale
of Azor Ahai says when he stabbed a monster with Lightbringer, the creature steamed and
smoked and melted – just as a white walker steams and smokes and melts when Sam stabs
it with obsidian . So there seems to be a connection here between Azor Ahai’s magical
sword and obsidian.
Maybe the children of the forest will help Azor Ahai forge another Lightbringer – or
maybe Lightbringer was actually not one sword, but the many hundreds of obsidian weapons
given to the Night’s Watch by the children – which, over thousands of years, became
the myth of a single hero and his magic sword saving the world.
For now, we don’t know.
The point here is that the children of the forest may give the Watch obsidian, and this
could also be related to this Azor Ahai prophecy business somehow.
That makes four really cool ways that the Night’s Watch could get obsidian to fight
the Others, and decide the outcome of what may be the biggest conflict in the conclusion
of the series.
But there’s still another reason why obsidian is important – glass candles.
Glass candles are magical artefacts from Valyria, tall, twisted chunks of obsidian that can
function as candles.
They seem to be closely connected to the power of magic in the world – apparently no one
had succeeded in lighting a glass candle for many many years , until the recent reawakening
of magic with the birth of new dragons, and the return of the white walkers . In Feast,
we see that Marwyn the Mage has succeeded in lighting a glass candle, which symbolises
this magical reawakening.
But glass candles aren’t just symbolic, they’re also very powerful tools.
Marwyn says that “The sorcerers of [Valyria] could see across mountains, seas, and deserts
with … glass candles.
They could enter a man’s dreams and give him visions, and speak to one another half
a world apart” . We’ve actually already seen this magic at work – Quaithe, the mysterious
Asshai’i shadowbinder, appears to Daenerys in strange dreams and gives her cryptic advice,
apparently using a glass candle . This use of fire magic to see across long distances
and enter peoples’ dreams contrasts with the magic of the old gods and the weirwoods,
which Bloodraven and Bran use to do the same things – to see across long distances , and
enter peoples’ dreams . The way Melisandre and Moqorro see visions in their flames may
also be related here, cause it also seems a similar magic – using fire to see images.
So all this gives a sense of order to the magic in this world.
Anyway we know Marwyn and Quaithe have glass candles, and it’s actually possible that
using them to communicate and work together – because when Quaithe warns Daenerys about
everyone who’s coming for her, she leaves out Marwyn.
As well as Quaithe and Marwyn, glass candles are owned by the other maesters of the Citadel,
someone called Urrathon Night-Walker in Qarth, and also the Targaryens of Aemon’s day seem
to have had some.
We don’t know much about how these candles are being used, but they’re obviously very
powerful, and could maybe play a big role in the future of the series.
Hopefully we’ll learn more about glass candles while Sam is at the Citadel.
Anyway.
That is pretty much everything we know about obsidian.
It kills white walkers, so the Night’s Watch will probably need some, and luckily, there
are a bunch of interesting ways they could get more.
There also glass candles, which we don’t know much about, but could also be really
important later on.
Thanks for watching.
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Special thanks also to Shawn Woods, who kindly allowed the use of his video about making
obsidian arrowheads – there’s a link in the description if you’d like to check out
his channel.
So thank you all again, and comment below to let us know what you’d like to see next.
Cheers.