How common was Valyrian Steel prior to the Doom?

[ArkOfTheTargaryens]

How common does everyone think Valyrian Steel was in Valyria before the Doom? Did the whole Valyrian Army have some, or was it still quite rare and expensive? Would be good to hear if Martin's said anything about it, but if not, happy to hear everyone's thoughts. 

[Jon's Queen Consort]

Since the Valyrians had traveled all around the known world it's only natural that they were trading with the whole world and small Houses like House Roxton and House Mormont were able to have one I would say pretty common.

[Tucu]

Not clear, but there is an SSM that says that it was always expensive even before the Doom:

http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/On_Valyrian_Steel_and_Twist_Endings

 

[dariopatke]

I just dont get why there arent bunch of VS swords in Volantis.

[Tucu]

6 minutes ago, dariopatke said:

I just dont get why there arent bunch of VS swords in Volantis.

There might be. We have not seen the army of the Tiger faction yet.

[Fire Eater]

20 minutes ago, dariopatke said:

I just dont get why there arent bunch of VS swords in Volantis.

Valyrian steel was always expensive, so only wealthy houses could afford them. 

1 hour ago, ArkOfTheTargaryens said:

How common does everyone think Valyrian Steel was in Valyria before the Doom? Did the whole Valyrian Army have some, or was it still quite rare and expensive? Would be good to hear if Martin's said anything about it, but if not, happy to hear everyone's thoughts. 

GRRM said it was always costly, and it would have been too expensive to equip the entire Valyrian army with it. 

[Nyrhex]

1 hour ago, Fire Eater said:

Valyrian steel was always expensive, so only wealthy houses could afford them. 

GRRM said it was always costly, and it would have been too expensive to equip the entire Valyrian army with it. 

Let's work by the numbers:

The Targaryens had two swords: Blackfyre and Dark Sister.

There were 40 Dragonlord families. One of those was the house Targaryen.

During the Second Spice War the Freehold fielded 300+ dragons. This gives the average Dragonlord family 7.5 dragons. With only Balerion at the time of the Doom (Vhagar and Meraxes were born later on Dragonstone), the Targaryens were one of the poorer families of the Freehold, probably the poorest, which also explains why (aside of prophecy) they ended up with the barren rock that is Dragonstone.

If the Targaryens had 1 dragon when the average was 7.5 dragons, we could, with some reservations, estimate that the Freehold's average was ~15 swords per family, for a total of ~600 swords (or equivalent with other VS weapons). This for the Freehold alone, not all of Essos. If we insist that the Targaryens had 3 dragons even though not at the time of the Doom, then the average would be ~5 swords per family, for about 200 swords in the Freehold at the time of the Doom (the Freehold's greatest extent and the zenith of it's power).

Of course in the ~500 years before the Targaryens left the Freehold there could have been changes in the amount of dragons, and there could have been more dragons than those used in the Second Spice War, etc etc. 

[Ser Arthur Hightower]

13 hours ago, Nyrhex said:

Let's work by the numbers:

The Targaryens had two swords: Blackfyre and Dark Sister.

There were 40 Dragonlord families. One of those was the house Targaryen.

During the Second Spice War the Freehold fielded 300+ dragons. This gives the average Dragonlord family 7.5 dragons. With only Balerion at the time of the Doom (Vhagar and Meraxes were born later on Dragonstone), the Targaryens were one of the poorer families of the Freehold, probably the poorest, which also explains why (aside of prophecy) they ended up with the barren rock that is Dragonstone.

If the Targaryens had 1 dragon when the average was 7.5 dragons, we could, with some reservations, estimate that the Freehold's average was ~15 swords per family, for a total of ~600 swords (or equivalent with other VS weapons). This for the Freehold alone, not all of Essos. If we insist that the Targaryens had 3 dragons even though not at the time of the Doom, then the average would be ~5 swords per family, for about 200 swords in the Freehold at the time of the Doom (the Freehold's greatest extent and the zenith of it's power).

Of course in the ~500 years before the Targaryens left the Freehold there could have been changes in the amount of dragons, and there could have been more dragons than those used in the Second Spice War, etc etc. 

The Targaryens started off with 5 Dragons on Dragonstone, one of which was Balerion, 4 died and 2 more were born.

[spauldo17]

19 hours ago, Nyrhex said:

Let's work by the numbers:

The Targaryens had two swords: Blackfyre and Dark Sister.

There were 40 Dragonlord families. One of those was the house Targaryen.

During the Second Spice War the Freehold fielded 300+ dragons. This gives the average Dragonlord family 7.5 dragons. With only Balerion at the time of the Doom (Vhagar and Meraxes were born later on Dragonstone), the Targaryens were one of the poorer families of the Freehold, probably the poorest, which also explains why (aside of prophecy) they ended up with the barren rock that is Dragonstone.

If the Targaryens had 1 dragon when the average was 7.5 dragons, we could, with some reservations, estimate that the Freehold's average was ~15 swords per family, for a total of ~600 swords (or equivalent with other VS weapons). This for the Freehold alone, not all of Essos. If we insist that the Targaryens had 3 dragons even though not at the time of the Doom, then the average would be ~5 swords per family, for about 200 swords in the Freehold at the time of the Doom (the Freehold's greatest extent and the zenith of it's power).

Of course in the ~500 years before the Targaryens left the Freehold there could have been changes in the amount of dragons, and there could have been more dragons than those used in the Second Spice War, etc etc. 

this has always been really interesting to me. The Targaryens were the poorest (therefore had the lowliest status) of those families in Valyria.  Therefore they went to Westeros, and were still one of the most powerful houses in Westeros.  Which means that the "great" houses of Westeros are only great relative to Westeros' standards.

Also gives you a unique perspective on the Targaryens...they were kinda losers and then left to play easier competition.  Reminds me of a baseball player a few years back who wasn't very good in the big leagues, so he retired and started playing professional slow picth softball and was the best player in the league. 

[Jaak]

Valyria deployed 300 dragons against Garin. This would not have been all dragons that Valyria had at the time - some would have been left guarding Valyria, and some would have been riderless or ridden by noncombatants.

Doom was 6 centuries later.

How many dragons do you think then existed?