Dragonglass is mixed in with the metal
While traveling my usual haunts for Game of Thrones (GoT) fan theories, mainly reddit, I stumbled across the theory that dragonglass may be added to the iron during the forging process and I really thought it had a lot of merit. Now this theory has been stated a number of times by multiple people but I personally never read any hard evidence for or against the theory. Knowing that, I sat down and looked at some of the real world science (like metallurgy, mohs hardness, and the composition of the metals) behind the theory to see if it were possible. I know what your thinking, when looking at a fantasy world, especially one with magic in it like GoT, its hard to apply real world science without simply saying it can all be explained with, “Its magic.” But let us not forget Arthur C Clarke’s third law, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Damascus steel: real world Valyrian steel
Most GoT readers and viewers think Valyrian steel is based off of real world Damascus steel. Now Damascus steel is also a lost art so no one really knows why it had its distinct characteristics but its hypothesized that the trance amounts of impurities found in the metal played a large roll. All Damascus steel blades were made using wootz steel, which had a steel matrix that was pearlite, that was imported from India. Some believe that getting the ore from that region gave the metal the correct impurities that allowed the steel to achieve superplasticity, which allows the metal to retain it strength yet also allows it to become more lightweight and gives it a certain flexibility. What if Valyrian steel was also made from a very specific type of ore from a specific region? What if that’s the reason the Valyrians put so many slaves into the mines of the Fourteen Flames? Not just for the gold and silver they loved so much, but also the precious metal used to create Valyrian steel.
In GoT it is theorized by many people that dragons played a key roll in the forging process of Valyrian steel. I agree, mainly because if Valyrian steel is based off Damascus steel, then it also would need to have been kept at a very constant high temperature and using dragon-fire would be a pretty effective way of keeping metal, or anything for that matter, at a very high temperature for a consistently long time. It’s possible that the magic from the dragon fire might also have imbued the blades with certain properties that allowed them to withstand extreme temperatures and gave them magical properties as well. (i.e. killing White Walkers)
It is widely agreed upon in the GoT fandom that Valyrian steel is based off the real world Damascus steel, mainly because the swords look similar and they both seem to use the same fold-forge method of crafting a blade. They are also lost arts that can’t seem to be perfected in the modern era, only mimicked or reforged, but there is another type of steel and another forging process that a lot of people don’t seem to bring up or even know about. Yet this other process shares a lot of characteristics and maybe even some of the same creation processes, although there is one key difference.
Tamahagane steel or Damascus steel?
One of the times I was reading up about Valyrian steel, I read that there was a Japanese metalworking technique that also looked a lot like the description of Valyrian steel. Upon reading that my curiosity was peaked, so I started reading up on this other steel, Tamahagane. One of the things that really got me excited when I read it was what Tamahagane steel is made of, iron-sand. Yes, you read that correctly, iron-SAND. What if dragonglass isn’t made from normal sand but is in fact created using iron-sand? In fact, what if this iron-sand was also what the Valyrians used to create Valyrian steel? Let’s take a closer look at Tamahagane steel and the techniques used to create swords and other bladed weapons to see if its possible.
Most of the time, Japanese metalsmiths would use two different types of tamahagane steel, a hard outer metal wrapped around a soft inner metal at the core. This use of two different types of metal gave the blades most of their distinct characteristics, such as the wavy pattern that can be found on the blade, the durability to withstand lots of use in combat, as well as allowing the blades to be sharpened to a razor-like edge almost indefinitely. One of the other seemingly strange things that the metalsmiths did was once the blade was mostly finished, the final step in the process involved coating the entire blade in clay. The clay wouldn’t be applied evenly across the entire blade, though. The clay was usually applied more thickly along the back of the blade and thinly applied along the edge. By applying the clay differently, certain areas of the blade would cool faster than other areas. The back of the blade, with the thicker coating, would cool down a lot slower which would allow the blade to keep the pearlite characteristics of relative softness and flexibility. While the thinner coating along the edge of the blade allowed the edge to cool down much quicker, allowing the metal to form into a harder version called martensite, which can be ground to razor-like sharpness.
After reading those last things about Japanese Tamahagane steel, I became convinced that the metal used to create Valyrian steel had to be made using this method and that the metals used were heavily concentrated with obsidian, or dragonglass, which is what allows the blades to destroy White Walkers. All in all, this method would give the Valyrian steel blades all of the necessary characteristics that they have in the world of Game of Thrones, lightweight, distinct wavy patterns, razor sharp, and incredibly durable.
