‘Game of Thrones’: There Was More to Beric’s Flaming Sword Than You Thought

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for the latest episode of Game of Thrones! Continue reading at your own risk…

The battle with the White Walkers in last Sunday’s Game of Thrones was nothing short of a spectacle. From dragons flying to zombies screaming, this scene had just about everything you could imagine.

With everything going on, it was easy to forget that one of Jon’s teammates – Beric Dondarrion – was wielding a flaming sword.

It may have looked like just another masterful CGI breakthrough for Game of Thrones, but there was way more to it than that. In case you didn’t know, that fire-sword was 100% real.

Yes, actor Richard Dormer had to swing that sword around while it was covered in flames.

Dormer recently spoke to Variety about filming that battle, and he revealed that the sword was incredibly difficult to work with.

“The sword is not CGI,” Dormer said. “That’s real flames every single time. It lasts about two minutes, so I could only use it for two minutes and then it would start to go out so we had to start all over again…Also, I had to slow my sword arm down by about 20%. So if I was doing a move, I would just do it quick with the sword. But with the sword on fire, you can’t move that fast otherwise the flame will go out. So you’ve got to move just slightly slower but more effort, you know? Also it weighs three times as much as a normal sword, so it’s just this big club really.”

While it might have been hard to film with that thing, it definitely kept Dormer warmer than his co-stars.

The Season 7 finale of Game of Thrones is set to air on HBO this Sunday, August 27 at 9 p.m. ET.