Think the Iron Throne from Game Of Thrones is a seat of power and brutality? That's nothing compared to what George RR Martin originally envisioned it to be.
From series one concept art that the author revealed yesterday it appears that he sees the seat of rule as a ten feet tall monstrosity of swords that the king of the Seven Kingdoms has to climb in order to sit on. Writing on his personal blog, he said…
“The HBO throne has become iconic. And well it might. It's a terrific design, and it has served the show very well. There are replicas and paperweights of it in three different sizes. Everyone knows it. I love it. I have all those replicas right here, sitting on my shelves.”
“And yet, and yet... it's still not right. It's not the Iron Throne I see when I'm working on [next book in the series] THE WINDS OF WINTER. It's not the Iron Throne I want my readers to see. The way the throne is described in the books... HUGE, hulking, black and twisted, with the steep iron stairs in front, the high seat from which the king looks DOWN on everyone in the court... my throne is a hunched beast looming over the throne room, ugly and assymetric... The HBO throne is none of those things.”
“It's big, yes, but not nearly as big as the one described in the novels. And for good reason. We have a huge throne room set in Belfast, but not nearly huge enough to hold the Iron Throne as I painted it. For that we'd need something much bigger, more like the interior of St. Paul's Cathedral or Westminster Abbey, and no set has that much room. The Book Version of the Iron Throne would not even fit through the doors of the Paint Hall.”
The concept art, by artist Marc Simonetti, can be seen below. As he says himself, we can only think that the show's creators vetoed the idea due to expense, safety and King Robert Baratheon porky frame.
