Season four also brought us the happy demise of another mildly insane ruler in this case, the long-awaited comeuppance of King Joffrey My Dad And My Uncle Are The Same Guy Baratheon, but not before he would be given a brand new sword by his grandfather Tywin as a wedding present, made of the highly sought after, lightweight but strong Valyrian steel. As Joffrey plays with the sword, he calls out for suggestions to name the blade, all the heroic swords in fantasy having stirring, dramatic names, of course. Its a nice touch, considering that Joff is the least heroic character in the series, and that viewers know that the only reason Tywin could get his hands on enough Valyrian steel is that hed had the deceased actual hero Ned Starks greatsword Ice melted down. The courtiers laugh and, off-screen, duly shout out some names (although the ones he chooses, Widows Wail, sounds more like the name of a race horse). The first two names, however, are two rather geeky references to fantasy epics of days gone by: Stormbringer and Terminus. Stormbringer was the name of the black living sword wielded by Elric of Melniboné., the albino emperor that starred in the legendary Michael Moorcocks 1970s sagas. A demon in the form of a sword, it would drink the souls of its victims and forever torment Moorcocks world-weary protagonist, who was already reasonably tormented to begin with. Meanwhile, Terminus Est was the name of the tall, mercury-filled executioners blade carried by Severian, the protagonist and narrator of Gene Wolfes 1980s classic series The Book Of The New Sun. Its interesting that, given the provenance of Joffreys new sword, both suggestions are the names of executioners weapons interesting, but probably coincidental.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
