Xiphoid Armaments of the Knightly Caste Quiz

Answer: Ice

Valyrian steel is so named for the land of Valyria, a part of the world in Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" that experienced a Doom long ago. The lands of Westeros, where most of the novels are set, were conquered by the Targaryens and their dragons as they came from Valyria.

Made with magic spells in their forging, blades made of Valyrian steel are lighter and stronger than even the best castle-forged blades. "Ice" was forged shortly after the Targaryen conquest, making it more than 400 years old.

Once 'Kings in the North', House Stark were relegated to the status of Wardens of the North under the reign of the Targaryens for hundreds of years.

"The blade was Valyrian steel, spell-forged and dark as smoke. Nothing held an edge like Valyrian steel." - Bran Stark's thoughts in "A Game of Thrones", Ch. 1.

Answer: Widow's Wail

Joffrey was originally betrothed to Sansa Stark, but after Lord Eddard was accused and found guilty of treason and executed, Sansa essentially became a hostage. She is subsequently married off to Joff's uncle Tyrion, and Joffrey becomes betrothed to Margaery Tyrell with the intent of sealing a new allegiance between Houses Lannister and Tyrell.

At the wedding feast, Tywin Lannister presented Joffrey gift of one of the newly forged swords, which Joffrey named "Widow's Wail". Ironically, Joffrey was poisoned at the wedding, never having the chance to use the sword, and leaving his bride a very young widow.

"Most Valyrian steel was a grey so dark it looked almost black, as was true here as well. But blended into the folds was a red so deep as the grey. The two colors lapped over one another without ever touching, each ripple distinct, like waves of night and blood upon some steely shore." - Tyrion Lannister's thoughts in "A Storm of Swords", Ch. 32.

Answer: Oathkeeper

Lady Catelyn had taken Jaime Lannister prisoner, then later chose to ransom him back to King's Landing in an unsanctioned exchange for her daughters. Things didn't go as planned, and by the time Brienne and Jaime finally make it back to King's Landing, news of the Red Wedding came to them, as well as the news of the death of Joffrey (Jaime's son in truth).

Jaime's father (Lord Tywin) gave him the other sword forged from Lord Eddard Stark's blade, but Jaime took the gift as an insult, considering the loss of his right hand. Rather than keep it, Jaime passed the sword on to Brienne, and charged her with finding and protecting Sansa Stark (who went missing after Joffrey's wedding). He also asked her to name the sword 'Oathkeeper'.

"This one was thicker and heavier, a half-inch wider and three inches longer, but they shared the same fine clean lines and the same distinctive color, the ripples of blood and night." - Tyrion Lannister's thoughts in "A Storm of Swords", Ch. 32.

Answer: Longclaw

After going through training as a recruit to the Night's Watch, Jon Snow is raised to the Black and assigned to the stewards, a position he thought an insult. When a wight (a reawakened corpse that had been killed by White Walker) tried to assassinate the Lord Commander, Jon saved him by setting the wight on fire (and burning his own hand and the Lord Mormont's tower in the process).

After recovering his blade from the ashes of his chambers, Lord Mormont had a new hilt put on the blade and presented it as a gift to Jon, replacing the original bear's head (from the description below) with that of a direwolf, to honour House Stark.

"The hilt had been fashioned new for him, adorned with a wolf's-head pommel in pale stone, but the blade itself was Valyrian steel, old and light and deadly sharp" - Jon Snow's thoughts in "A Game of Thrones", Ch. 17.

Answer: Needle

As one of the two girls in the Stark household (other than their mother), Arya was required to learn the courtesies of being a Lady, which included doing needlework. Unlike her sister Sansa, however, Arya had no talent for it. She preferred practicing swords and other 'unladylike' pastimes with her brothers.

Before he departed for the Wall to join the Night's Watch, Jon had Mikken, Winterfell's armorer, forge a sword made just for Arya. That way, she could practice some real 'needlework' with her 'Needle'.

Needle is a small, slender blade, well suited to Arya's smaller size. And Jon gave her some advice on how to use it: "Stick 'em with the pointy end." - "A Game of Thrones", Ch. 10.

Answer: Blackfyre

Blackfyre was passed down the line of Targaryen kings until Aegon (IV) the Unworthy gave it to his bastard Daemon, rather than his legitimate son Daeron, whom he believed was actually his brother's. This sparked a feud that came to be known as the Blackfyre Rebellion. Daemon took the name of the sword as his own family name, and the Blackfyre line was born.

The blade was taken by Daeron's half brother Bittersteel (Aegor Rivers) to the Free Cities in exile, where he founded the Golden Company (of mercenaries). The sword continued to stay within the exiled family, until the death of Maelys the Monstrous during the War of the Ninepenny Kings.

Some of the history of the Blackfyre rebellion can be found in "The Sworn Sword" and "The Mystery Knight", novellas set in the world of "A Song of Ice and Fire", published in the anthologies "Legends II" and "Warriors", respectively.

Answer: Heartsbane

Samwell Tarly of the Night's Watch was Randyll Tarly's firstborn son, but because of his decided lack of manly traits, his father forced him to take the Black, so as to be able to name his second son Dickon as his heir. Sam shared this information with Jon Snow when they met as recruits of the Night's Watch in "A Game of Thrones", Ch. 26.

Lord Randyll threw his support behind King Robert's brother Renly in rebellion against King Joffrey, following the claim that King Robert's children were not actually his, but rather of an incestuous relationship between Queen Cersei and her brother Jaime. After Renly was assassinated under mysterious circumstances, Lord Randyll refused to support the other Baratheon brother, Lord Stannis.

Answer: Dawn

Ser Arthur Dayne was the Sword of the Morning and a member of King Aerys II Targaryen's Kingsguard during the war of Robert's Rebellion. He died fighting alongside two other Kingsguard against Lord Eddard Stark and six companions at the Tower of Joy (where Prince Rhaegar kept Eddard's sister Lyanna). Lord Eddard and Howland Reed were the only two survivors of the fight.

In honour of Ser Arthur, Eddard carried Dawn personally to Starfall, the seat of House Dayne far to the south, to return the blade to the family.

"Its blade is as pale as milkglass." - from Eddard Stark's remembrances (in "A Game of Thrones", Ch. 39) of the events at the Tower of Joy.

Answer: Brightroar

Lord Tywin Lannister burned with envy at other Houses, both Great and Small, that had blades of Valyrian steel, while his Great House did not. Even efforts to purchase a sword (with all the riches at his disposal) were to no avail. His youngest brother Gerion had attempted to recover the sword, but never returned from his expedition.

Only by having Tobho Mott (a master armorer in King's Landing) reforge the Stark's family greatsword did Tywin finally manage to acquire a blade (in this case two) for his family.

Answer: Lightbringer

Lord Stannis Baratheon, the righful heir to the throne after the death of his brother Robert, chose to forego an assault on King's Landing and the Lannisters to take his army to the Wall and face the expected attack of the White Walkers. Following the guidance of Melisandre, priestess of R'hllor, Stannis made the claim that he is Azor Ahai reborn, and made a display of having a sword burst into flame.

"The sword is wrong, she has to know that ... light without heat ... an empty glamour ... the sword is wrong, and the false light can only lead us deeper into darkness." - Maester Aemon speaking to Samwell Tarly in "A Feast for Crows", Ch. 35.