Does Valyrian Steel Need Human Sacrifice?

[BearQueen87]

After the section on Qohor, I definitely think that blood is used to make VS. And, moreover, I think the VS keeps its sharp edge (forever and ever and ever) because it is continuously "drinking" more blood sacrifices--even if the wielder doesn't understand the nature of what he's doing.

As for Dawn...I think it might be in a category all it's own. Isn't there a theory that it was forged by plunging the sword into the heart of a dragon...maybe that particular blood sacrifice is somehow "stronger" than human sacrifice and thus Dawn's almost magical appearance and abilities outside of really sharp object.

[aryagonnakill#2]

Something I pointed out a while back and no 1 commented on. If VS is as strong as its made out to be, and if the blades last thousands of years, weren't Ned and Jon completely wasting their time "sharpening" their vs?

When you sharpen a blade your shaving metal off, so over a long period of time the blade gets smaller and smaller.

[complexphoenix]

Something I pointed out a while back and no 1 commented on. If VS is as strong as its made out to be, and if the blades last thousands of years, weren't Ned and Jon completely wasting their time "sharpening" their vs?

When you sharpen a blade your shaving metal off, so over a long period of time the blade gets smaller and smaller.

Ned wasn't sharpening Ice, he was cleaning it.

[Ser Creighton]

Ned wasn't sharpening Ice, he was cleaning it.

Yes and if Jon was trying to sharpen Langclaw it's because he knows nothing, the boy just can't help himself.

[Aetta]

I think Dawn is made with the same magic as VS but with different forging techniques. As it does not have the folding and the metal comes from a different source (meteorite rather than mined) it has a different appearance. I think this magic was dicovered during the LN and was a deciding factor. It was then lost and re-discovered by the Valyrians.

We don't know the if any boarders or countries existed during the long night. If there were Asshai dragonriders, with black stone bases all over the planetos, then it may well be that a sword was made in Westeros and used on both continents and the hero left descendants all over the place, not just in either Starfall or Yi Ti (or Winterfell).

I do thing that VS (and dawn) needed human sacrifice to be made. I wonder if they killed specific people or just anybody. It would be interesting if some of these souls were still present in the steel. Names like "dark sister" and "lady forlorn" make me think there were a few Nissa Nissa's, maybe related to the families the swords are owned by.

Indeed it would, what a great thought. It would provide us, perhaps, a method for a certain little man, who may or may not have been able to connect with the dead, to "talk" to Dawn when it was about to be used on Ned at the ToJ.

We don't know that Howland had any such abilities, but it would be kind of cool.

[Lord Varys]

We should keep in mind that many people in the Free Cities - especially those in Volantis and Lys, as the ruling elite is clearly in part descended from various dragonlord families of Valyria - should actually have a pretty decent knowledge of the basics of Valyrian magical culture.

This would also extend to many of the settlers in Lorath, Qohor, and Norvos, as those cities were founded by the followers of various sects. Such cults would have been attractive - in various degrees, of course - for all members of Valyrian society, and thus even some dragonlord children may have become followers of the Black Goat.

But I'd say that after the Doom the knowledge and the means to recreate some/all of the magics of Valyria were way to disparate, especially after the Century of Blood which would have not only deepened the rift between the various colonies, but also destroyed much of the knowledge they still had.

Considering that the Targaryens eventually 'converted' to the Faith after they settled on Dragonstone (long before the Conquest), I'd assume that slavery was not practiced all that long on Dragonstone.

And Dragonstone clearly did not support a population large enough to enable the Targaryens to sacrifice people in the hundreds to make more Valyrian steel. However, Blackfyre and Dark Sister (especially the latter) may have only been forged on Dragonstone by the Targaryens. The name Dark Sister strongly suggests that it is named after Visenya by Visenya herself. And I do not doubt one bit that Visenya still had the knowledge and the means to create Valyrian steel weapons.