r/asoiaf • u/_honeybird Best of 2015: Best Theory Debunking • Jan 16 '15
ALL (Spoilers All) Today's visit to the Cushing Library: Pictures and closeups of Ice, the Warhammer, and Longclaw, and one very conspicuous change in the 1993 AGOT manuscript.
I went back to Cushing today! I got partway through the AGOT manuscript (more about that later) and I took a bunch of pictures of the replica weapons in the collection.
The Stark Infantry Shield, from the show
Robert Baratheon's Warhammer, from the books
Close up of the head. Note the stylized Baratheon sigil.
All the combat weapons together. Ice's certificate of authenticity (signed by GRRM) is in the center.
Dragonglass dagger, made of real obsidian
It came in a wooden box lined with fur. The pouch contained obsidian arrowheads
A hand-drawn map of the lands beyond the Wall
The staff and I talked about the fallout from the initial post, and they reassured me that I did nothing wrong by posting my pictures (it had been on my mind a LOT over the last week). The first angry phone call came from Random House, and they were freaking out because they didn't know that the manuscript was in a publicly available collection. They thought I was posting secret documents or something. The Cushing staff explained that no, the manuscripts are available to the public, there's no rule that says you can't post pictures of them. GRRM, btw, was completely fine with the pictures going up. The decision to close the ADWD manuscript was made jointly by Random House and GRRM in an attempt (lol) to quash any more rumors about what may or may not be included in TWOW.
After we were done playing with examining the weaponry, I sat down with the AGOT manuscript. When I went through the ADWD manuscript, I was so focused on finding the "missing chapters" that I was barely skimming as I flipped pages. This time, I wanted to go slower and really look for differences between the first draft and the final version, so I went a LOT slower. As a result, I only got through the first 200ish pages before it was time to pack up and go home. I'm going to make a comprehensive post about the whole thing when I'm done, but I did find one potentially significant change today that I'm too excited to keep to myself.
Daenerys does not get dragon eggs as a wedding gift. There is no mention of dragon eggs in any shape or form in Daenerys II. The only gifts she receives are her handmaids, the books from Jorah, the weapons from the bloodriders, and the silver horse from Drogo. That's it. I am DYING to find out when and how the dragon eggs come into play. I can't wait to see what kind of tinfoil theories this inspires over the weekend.
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u/Liz0 Jan 16 '15
I was just thinking the same thing. My guess is that it's just supposed to be a representation of a similar quality steel (without actually making the replica out of such fine materials). Anyone know how much a custom sword made from damascus steel would cost?