[Dragonglass — Lore]
Later Jon receives a raven from Sam informing him of his discovery of dragonglass on Dragonstone. At another gathering of the Northern lords, Jon informs them of Sam's discovery and Daenerys's invitation telling them that he has decided to accept. Many of the Lords, including Sansa, openly disapprove, but Jon stresses that they need both the dragonglass and powerful allies like Daenerys to have any chance at defeating the Night King. He names Sansa as Regent to rule in his place until he returns.
While Daenerys is watching over her dragons, she is joined by Jon. Daenerys tells Jon that she named her dragons Rhaegal and Viserion after her brothers Rhaegar and Viserys Targaryen , noting Jon's own losses and Jon nods. When Daenerys says people thought dragons were gone forever and perhaps they should be re-thinking what they believe they know, Jon realizes that Tyrion has been talking with her too. Daenerys tells Jon she is determined to remove Cersei. She allows Jon to mine the dragonglass and will provide what he needs for this. When Jon asks if she believes in the Night King and White Walkers, she only responds, "You better get to work, Jon Snow." Later, Jon leads Daenerys on a tour of the long-abandoned Valyrian dragonglass mine that Samwell Tarly told him about. The mine is ancient and impressive, used by the First Men long before the Valyrians came to Dragonstone. But this is not why Jon asked Daenerys to come.
Sometime later, Tyrion talks her into letting Jon mine and make weapons of the dragonglass. He insists that if Jon is to be their ally, some good-willed intent must be shown from their side and as they have no use for the dragonglass, they have nothing to lose by letting Jon have it. When she goes back to Davos's saying of Jon "taking a knife to the heart", Tyrion brushes it off as a tall tale.
Daenerys and Jon meet in private at a spot overlooking the sea and the dragons, which roam the skies. She expresses similarities between them in having lost loved ones (Rhaegar and Viserys for Daenerys, Robb, and Rickon for Jon). Daenerys explains that since people once thought dragons were gone for good, they should examine what they believe they know, and Jon realizes Tyrion has been talking to both Daenerys and him. Daenerys reminds Jon she won't let Cersei stay in power and Jon responds he didn't expect she would. When Daenerys also explains she hasn't changed her mind about which kingdoms belong to the throne, Jon says he hasn't changed his mind about refusing to bend the knee either. Both come to a standstill until Daenerys offers to help him mine the dragonglass he needs and provide what he needs to do so. Jon asks her if she believes him now about the army of the dead, to which Daenerys responds by telling him to hurry and begin his work.
After making apologies for her lateness, they proceed in getting the meeting on track, Tyrion, Daenerys, and Jon try to warn Cersei of the greater threat coming for them all, but she dismisses it as a ploy to trick her into lowering her defenses. To prove their claims, the Hound returns with the crate containing the wight, which is worryingly silent. Sandor gets the crate open, but there is still no movement. He finally gives the crate a massive kick, which prompts the enraged wight to launch itself out and charge toward the nearest target - Cersei, appropriately enough. Visibly horrified, the Lannister queen and her allies recoil in horror as Sandor pulls the wight back on a chain, its claws inches from Cersei's face, and manages to slice the creature in half when it turns to attack him. The assembled look on in shock as the wight's upper half still moves around. Jon steps forward and picks up the wight's discarded hand, using a torch provided by Davos to demonstrate how fire can be used to stop them. He then uses a dragonglass dagger to the heart to end the wight's upper half, bluntly stating that if they don't win the coming war, such a fate awaits every person in Westeros. A horror-struck Jaime asks how many wights are coming, and Daenerys tells him the army of the dead numbers at least 100,000. Euron asks if the wights can swim. When Jon responds, "No," Euron announces to Cersei his intention to withdraw the Iron Fleet back to the Iron Islands . He declares that he has been over the whole world and has never been terrified until now. On his way out, Euron tells Daenerys to retreat to her island while he returns to his own and to come find him when they are the only two left alive.
Visibly horrified, the Lannister queen and her allies recoil in horror as Sandor pulls the wight back on a chain, its claws inches from Cersei's face, and manages to slice the creature in half when it turns to attack him. The assembled look on in shock as the wight's upper half still moves around. Jon steps forward and picks up the wight's discarded hand, using a torch provided by Davos to demonstrate how fire can be used to stop them. He then uses a dragonglass dagger to the heart to end the wight's upper half, bluntly stating that if they don't win the coming war, such a fate awaits every person in Westeros. A horror-struck Jaime asks how many wights are coming, and Daenerys tells him the army of the dead numbers at least 100,000. Euron asks if the wights can swim. When Jon responds, "No," Euron announces to Cersei his intention to withdraw the Iron Fleet back to the Iron Isles. He declares that he has been over the whole world and has never been terrified until now. On his way out, he tells Daenerys to retreat to her island while he returns to his own, and to come find him when they are the only two left alive.
Arya later visits Winterfell's forges and comes upon Gendry presenting the Hound with a custom-made axe of dragonglass, which the latter is not especially impressed with. She tells him to stop insulting Gendry's work and the two lock eyes. Before he leaves, the Hound gives Arya a back-handed compliment; calling her a "cold little bitch", but saying that's probably why she's still alive.
With the news that the army of the dead has taken Last Hearth and is advancing towards Winterfell, the inhabitants of the castle increase the speed of their preparations. Arya returns to the forges and asks Gendry if her weapon is ready, but he is still crafting her design. Annoyed, she tells him to prioritize it, before asking him what fighting the wights was like. Gendry replies, "Bad. Really bad." Arya is unsatisfied with "really bad" and keeps pushing for details until Gendry sums up their likeness in one word: "death." Gendry says that whatever bravery and fighting skill she has, the wights are like nothing she's ever faced. Unperturbed, Arya casually picks up three dragonglass daggers and throws them, one after another, into a wooden beam over Gendry’s shoulder, landing them in a tight formation. While doing so, she explains her familiarity with death and her excitement of what is to come, and Gendry stands, mesmerized at her deadpan surety and confidence.
Arya participates in the fighting on the ramparts with the dragonglass weapon Gendry made for her. She skillfully kills off many wights, much to Davos's surprise, but is nearly surrounded and narrowly escapes. However, she loses her weapon in the process and sustains a head injury after being knocked into a doorway by a wight. Disoriented and bleeding from the gash at the side of her head, Arya feels a newfound fear for the wights. Arya escapes through a window into the castle, as she traverses through the corridors, she takes a dead soldier's dragonglass dagger.
Beric and the Hound have entered the castle to find and rescue Arya. She appears when a wight tackles her through a door, breaking it off its hinges, and prepares to kill her when she's pinned underneath him. Beric throws his flaming sword into it and helps her to her feet. More wights come through the doorway and Beric is stabbed in the leg whilst the Hound fights more wights. As the three try to escape the corridor, Arya watches as Beric runs in front of her to pin a wight to a wall and gets stabbed by more wights. Arya picks up a dragonglass hatchet and kills the wights hurting him, but the Hound picks her up and leaves Beric as more wights swarm in.
When the army of the dead and the army of Winterfell finally face each other across the battlefield, Sansa and Arya observe from the castle walls. When the initial charge of Dothraki screamers is easily repelled and the wights advance, Arya orders Sansa to go down into the crypts and hands her a dragonglass dagger. Sansa says she doesn't know how to use it, and Arya repeats the words that Jon said when he gave Arya Needle : "Stick 'em with the pointy end." Down in the crypts, Tyrion is restless about not being able to help, but Sansa firmly reminds him that they are all down there for a reason; they won't be any help on the battlefield, and doing nothing is the most heroic - if the most difficult - thing they can do.
They march to the Fist of the First Men and Sam is amazed at the ancient fortification. Sam assumes Jon's responsibilities as steward to the Lord Commander so that Jon can accompany Qhorin Halfhand scouting the Skirling Pass . The party does not return and are believed dead but Sam refuses to give up hope. He finds a cache of Dragonglass weapons buried at the Fist while working with Grenn and Edd.
Sam staggers back to his feet, pulls out his Dragonglass dagger, and attacks the Walker, stabbing it in the back. The Walker howls in pain, as its whole body begins to freeze from the point at which he was stabbed It falls to its knees and shatters, leaving nothing behind but white dust and the dagger. Leaving behind the dagger, Sam takes Gilly's arm, and runs as the crows chase after them.
At the library, Sam reads a note from Slaver's Bay to Maester Aemon updating him on Daenerys 's situation. Sam praises the courage of Daenerys but Maester Aemon worries about her safety because she is all alone, under siege, and with hardly anyone to guide her, while he, as her only living relative, is useless and dying thousands of miles away. Then, Jon enters and asks to speak with Aemon in private, so Sam leaves them. Later, Sam tells Gilly about his wish to go to Citadel and become a Maester before he was sent to the Night’s Watch, when Stannis Baratheon walks in. Stannis reminisces about how Sam’s father, Randyll Tarly, defeated Robert Baratheon in the Battle of Ashford . Stannis wants to know how Sam killed the White Walker and Sam tells him how he did it with a dagger made of dragonglass. Stannis muses that it is abundantly available on Dragonstone . Sam has been researching dragonglass and how it can kill White Walkers, but has yet to come up with anything. Stannis tells him to continue his research and leaves him to investigate the further weaknesses of the Army of the Dead.
In the book, Sam's encounter with the White Walker is different in the show: it takes place during the retreat from the Fist of the First Men. Sam collapses, and only Grenn stays with him and urges him to move on. A steward of the Watch named Paul joins them and carries Sam on his back. Due to the delay, the three fall behind the other survivors, and one of the Others attacks them. The Other kills Paul, and Sam desperately stabs it with dragonglass dagger. To Sam and Grenn's amazement, the Other is destroyed. Sam does not leave the dagger behind, but tells Grenn to pick it up once it is warm enough to touch. Eventually Sam and Grenn catch up with the rest of the Watch. Grenn tells everyone how Sam destroyed the Other. Since then, Sam earns the nickname "the Slayer", which the other rangers use either as respect or (more often) for mockery. Sam hates that nickname, even though it is better than "Ser Piggy", because he does not feel he deserves it. He keeps asking people not to call him that, but for no avail.
The thing that attacks Sam and Gilly is not an Other but a wight. Although Sam is scared, he is determined to protect Gilly, and fights valiantly against the wight. Both the dragonglass and steel daggers prove to be useless against the wight, but Sam destroys it by shoving a burning stick into its mouth.
Since in the books Jon has killed a wight but not any Others, Sam is the only known character that killed both an Other and a wight. He is also the one who discovered (by trial-and-error) that dragonglass is lethal to Others but ineffective against wights.
In the Battle of Winterfell , Theon stands guard for Bran along with the Ironborn and several other soldiers. When the Wights attack, he fires several arrows with dragonglass arrowheads, but it does little to stop the onslaught. When the Night King arrives with several other White Walkers to kill Bran, Bran calls Theon a good man and thanks him, having redeemed himself. Knowing that there is no escaping death at this point, Theon chooses to die with dignity. He nods at the Night King, challenging him, the Night King steps forward and Theon charges at the him with a dragonglass spear. The Night King easily stops Theon and breaks his spear in half, then takes hold of the sharp end and stabs Theon through the stomach with it. Theon falls to the ground, and bleeds to death as the Night King makes his approach towards Bran. Theon's death was not in vain, however, as it bought just enough time for Arya Stark to arrive and kill the Night King, preventing Bran's death.
As Jon, Jorah, and Beric spot the Night King in the distance, Beric suggests that they go for the Night King himself, as slaying him will destroy the entire army, but Sandor warns Beric that with Thoros gone, this is effectively his last life now, as he can no longer be brought back. A while later, Sandor disinterestedly starts throwing rocks at the wights. However, one rock skids across the surface, signalling that the ice has refrozen. Sandor mutters a curse as the wights realize the ice is now thick enough to support their weight and resume their attack on the group. Sandor initially fends off the wights with Gendry's warhammer, but switches to a Dragonglass hatchet and blade once he realises the hammer isn't effective in killing them. Sandor manages to kill many wights and saves Tormund's life before Daenerys saves the group, and witnesses Viserion's death at the hands of the Night King. As they fly back to Eastwatch, Sandor saves Jorah by grabbing him when he briefly falls off Drogon's back.
Dragonglass was a very important tool to the Children of the Forest , using it to fashion weapons. A long-forgotten secret is that the Children created the White Walkers as a weapon, by transforming humans into them. This was achieved in a magic ceremony that involved plunging a dragonglass shard into a human's chest.
After escaping Craster's Keep with Gilly , Sam shows her a piece of the dragonglass he had found. She asks what it does, and Sam responds that he isn't sure it does anything. He does remark how beautiful it is however. Sam later uses his dagger to slay a White Walker that was after Gilly's baby . When Sam stabs the White Walker in the shoulder, the creature shrieks in pain while turning to ice and shattering. Sam provides Bran Stark with a dragonglass dagger and Meera Reed with a set of dragonglass arrowheads for their journey beyond the wall.
At Hardhome , Jon Snow gives Sam's dragonglass to the Free Folk he is trying to convince to come South of the Wall with him, telling them of Sam's experience of killing a White Walker with dragonglass. Some of the wildlings are convinced, partly due to the dragonglass. Later, during the evacuation, the Night's Watch oversees the collection of dragonglass needed for the defense of the Wall. However when the White Walkers and the horde of wights attacked most of the dragonglass is left behind when they overrun the whole settlement. Wun-wun, a giant at Hardhome who survived the invasion may have kept a dragonglass arrowhead he was examining as the attack began.
Dragonglass is revealed to be the substance that turns men into White Walkers. The first White Walker was created when Leaf and several other Children of the Forest forced a dragonglass dagger through a First Man 's heart. When the White Walkers invade the Cave of the Three-Eyed Raven , one of the Children tries to kill a White Walker with a dragonglass spear, but the blade is blocked by his chest armor and he kills her. Meera Reed then kills him by throwing another dragonglass spear into his unprotected neck.
In preparation for the coming war against the White Walkers , Jon Snow , the newly-acclaimed King in the North , give orders for every maester in the North to search for dragonglass, so that it could be mined and made into weapons. He pressed upon his lords that dragonglass was now far more precious a resource to the people of the North than gold.
On Dragonstone, Jon tells Tyrion Lannister of the utility of dragonglass against the army of the dead, who later tells Daenerys Targaryen . Not wanting to waste time on a feud over the dragonglass, she allows Jon to mine for it, whilst she concentrates on defeating Cersei Lannister .
In Winterfell, cartloads of dragonglass, mined and shipped from Dragonstone, are unloaded so that Gendry and his team can set to work forging the many thousands of weapons required for the upcoming battle against the Night King and the Army of the Dead . The Hound collects a dragonglass-headed axe; and Arya asks Gendry to make her a specialised weapon based on a design which she hands him (a modified pole staff with a dragonglass-speared point).
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, dragonglass is found in quantity on Dragonstone and in the ruins of Valyria , where it was used to make different kinds of ornaments, including candles . It is also an export from Asshai . According to legend, the Children of the Forest also made use of the substance. Samwell Tarly discovered, by chance, that dragonglass is one of the few materials that can harm or kill Others . According to legend, every year the Children of the Forest would provide the Night's Watch with one hundred daggers made of dragonglass specifically for that purpose.
Dragonglass is useless against wights: Sam discovers that by stabbing a wight with a dragonglass dagger, and the dagger shatters to pieces. He later tells Melisandre about the anomaly, that what kills Others is ineffective against wights. She explained " Necromancy animates these wights, yet they are still only dead flesh. Steel and fire will serve for them. The ones you call the Others are something more. " Dragonglass apparently has no special effect on them, given that the TV series has confirmed that Valyrian steel can also kill White Walkers but to wights it is only a particularly sharp sword that can carve through them better than regular steel.
When the wildlings come to Castle Black, Jon examines their weapons and notices some of them are made of dragonglass. It is unclear whether the wildlings are aware that dragonglass is lethal to the Others, and have made those weapons for that purpose. It is possible, given their technological level, that dragonglass was simply the sharpest material those particular wildlings had available.
Apart from its effectiveness against White Walkers and its use in magic, dragonglass is identical to real-world obsidian, down to its volcanic origins, its overall functional limitations, and its use as a reliable cutting tool by peoples who had yet to develop metallurgy. The World of Ice and Fire directly states that "obsidian" is what maesters officially call this type of volcanic rock, while "dragonglass" is a popular name for it used by the common people. That being said, it is often referred to as "dragonglass" in the novels, except for one or two points when a maester calls it "obsidian" (to point out to readers that "dragonglass" actually is "obsidian") and in A Storm of Swords , Samwell Tarly refers to it as "obsidian" a number of times. The Valyrian word for dragonglass translates as "frozen fire".
Out of desperation, a small group of Greenseers attempted to create a powerful new weapon against the humans. They bound a captive man to a weirwood and pressed a cursed shard of dragonglass into his heart. The unfortunate captive was transformed into a cold, heartless, deathless creature whose only desire was to consume all life. He would become the progenitor of the White Walker race and lead his kind on a campaign of destruction, not only against humans, but against his creators as well.
A White Walker attacks Sam and Gilly when they are seeking refuge in a destroyed cabin. Sam tries to stop the White Walker with his sword, but the Walker shatters it and throws him aside. The Walker then approaches Gilly, seeming intent on seizing her baby . Sam, on the ground, grabs one of the dragonglass daggers that he found at the Fist of the First Men . He attacks the Walker from behind, stabbing it in the shoulder. The Walker screeches in pain and quickly begins to freeze, shattering soon afterwards.
Brynden Rivers shows Bran a vision of a heart tree amid spirals of standing stones in lush green valley. He spies Leaf and other Children of the Forest talking amongst themselves, then looking eagerly at a captive - a First Man - bound to the tree. Leaf approaches and slowly forces a dragonglass dagger into the captive's chest. The captive screams, but does not die, instead becoming the first White Walker: the Night King.