What if the Iron Throne literally broke?

[Angel Eyes]

Say if someone like Aegon the Unworthy sat on the Iron Throne one day and the whole thing just fell apart, what would happen?

[Eltharion21]

In my opinion Westerosi superstitious bunch as they are would take it as really bad omen, royalty might try to keep it a secret and mend the thing if it is possible.

Though symbols of the rule of Targaryen the Dragons were removed in flesh and later even their skulls from the Throne room, so if the ruling group has enough power people will get used to loss of that symbol.

[Syl of Syl]

It'd have to be one truly massive individual to do harm to a throne made from thousands of swords welded together with dragonfire.

[Jaak]

5 hours ago, Syl of Syl said:

It'd have to be one truly massive individual to do harm to a throne made from thousands of swords welded together with dragonfire.

It´s big. And ungainly. Made of ordinary steel - little if any Valyrian steel in it, and no stainless steel. No provision to oil or clean the interior.

As the loadbearing paths rust through over centuries, yes - it might collapse one day, or night, under its own weight without anyone touching it. But the occupant is the only live load it needs to bear (indoors, protected from winds). So, if three centuries after making, the throne is about to collapse under its own weight, it might collapse under its own weight plus thirty stone man climbing on it a year before it would have collapsed under its own weight.

[TheThreeEyedCow]

It would set the naysayers to naysyin'. That's for sure. That said, I don't think the occupant would survive anyway so it'd be something of a moot point. They'd just build another one and argue over that instead. The only way to truly get rid of something, is to put something else in its place. Elsewise, you just have the space where it was. 

[Syl of Syl]

1 hour ago, Jaak said:

It´s big. And ungainly. Made of ordinary steel - little if any Valyrian steel in it, and no stainless steel. No provision to oil or clean the interior.

As the loadbearing paths rust through over centuries, yes - it might collapse one day, or night, under its own weight without anyone touching it. But the occupant is the only live load it needs to bear (indoors, protected from winds). So, if three centuries after making, the throne is about to collapse under its own weight, it might collapse under its own weight plus thirty stone man climbing on it a year before it would have collapsed under its own weight.

I don't know about all that. It was forged with dragonfire, which I think might be a key part of forging iron into Valyrian steel, so the Iron Throne may well be Valyrian steel or at the very least share some of the anti-corrosion properties of Valyrian steel. Also, I imagine the thing is a pretty solid mass, so it probably isn't corroding from the inside anyway.

Over 5 thousand died at the Field of Fire. Throw in whatever Ironborn died at Harrenhal, and that's probably upwards of 15 thousand pounds of steel which would make the Iron Throne perhaps 30 cubic feet of relatively solid steel.

[Jaak]

9 hours ago, Syl of Syl said:

 Also, I imagine the thing is a pretty solid mass, so it probably isn't corroding from the inside anyway.

Over 5 thousand died at the Field of Fire. Throw in whatever Ironborn died at Harrenhal, and that's probably upwards of 15 thousand pounds of steel which would make the Iron Throne perhaps 30 cubic feet of relatively solid steel.

Nowhere near solid.

The real, World of Ice and Fire not show, Iron Throne is far bigger:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/83/Iron_Throne-World_of_Ice_and_Fire_%282014%29.jpg

It´s far too big to be solid for the stated available assets. Beneath the bitter steel, it must be slender, fragile... and I suspect rusty as well. Not feet of clay, but of rust by now.

 

[James Steller]

5 hours ago, Jaak said:

Nowhere near solid.

The real, World of Ice and Fire not show, Iron Throne is far bigger:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/83/Iron_Throne-World_of_Ice_and_Fire_(2014).jpg

It´s far too big to be solid for the stated available assets. Beneath the bitter steel, it must be slender, fragile... and I suspect rusty as well. Not feet of clay, but of rust by now.

 

See, I think that’s the real question: how rusty is that throne? Because depending on the answer, any little cut someone gets off that thing means a case of tetanus that nobody could cure.

[Angel Eyes]

8 hours ago, James Steller said:

See, I think that’s the real question: how rusty is that throne? Because depending on the answer, any little cut someone gets off that thing means a case of tetanus that nobody could cure.

Viserys I lost a couple of fingers when he slipped and cut his hand.

[Syl of Syl]

13 hours ago, Jaak said:

Nowhere near solid.

The real, World of Ice and Fire not show, Iron Throne is far bigger:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/83/Iron_Throne-World_of_Ice_and_Fire_(2014).jpg

It´s far too big to be solid for the stated available assets. Beneath the bitter steel, it must be slender, fragile... and I suspect rusty as well. Not feet of clay, but of rust by now.

That's an artist's rendering. Yes, it's probably about that size, but that's not necessarily exactly how it looks. I always imagined that the throne was more solid than that. The swords are described as twisted and melted. It's got jagged edges and points that you can cut yourself on, but it's not as if it's just a bunch of swords stuck together, which is what that picture kind of looks like to me.

Here are three descriptions from the text. First Ned:

He sat high upon the immense ancient seat of Aegon the Conqueror, an ironwork monstrosity of spikes and jagged edges and grotesquely twisted metal. It was, as Robert had warned him, a hellishly uncomfortable chair, and never more so than now, with his shattered leg throbbing more sharply every minute. The metal beneath him had grown harder by the hour, and the fanged steel behind made it impossible to lean back. A king should never sit easy, Aegon the Conqueror had said, when he commanded his armorers to forge a great seat from the swords laid down by his enemies.

...

Ned could feel cold steel against his fingers as he leaned forward. Between each finger was a blade, the points of twisted swords fanning out like talons from arms of the throne. Even after three centuries, some were still sharp enough to cut. The Iron Throne was full of traps for the unwary. The songs said it had taken a thousand blades to make it, heated white-hot in the furnace breath of Balerion the Black Dread. The hammering had taken fifty-nine days. The end of it was this hunched black beast made of razor edges and barbs and ribbons of sharp metal; a chair that could kill a man, and had, if the stories could be believed.

And Tyrion:

The Iron Throne of Aegon the Conqueror was a tangle of nasty barbs and jagged metal teeth waiting for any fool who tried to sit too comfortably, and the steps made his stunted legs cramp as he climbed up to it, all too aware of what an absurd spectacle he must be. Yet there was one thing to be said for it. It was high.

And lastly, Stannis:

Have you ever seen the Iron Throne? The barbs along the back, the ribbons of twisted steel, the jagged ends of swords and knives all tangled up and melted?

Spikes and jagged edges, but the swords and knives are melted and twisted together. I don't think there's a ton of hollow space inside. Maybe some, but it's obviously not rusted much in the first three centuries. The sharp edges haven't even dulled (which I think is some evidence of the dragonfire relationship to forging of Valyrian steel).

[Bowen Marsh]

It's already broke.  Financially.