This is the first post of a compare/contrast series that I wanted to talk about regarding artistic interpretation of George R.R. Martin's world as presented in his epic Song of Ice and Fire. Basically, I'm going to post artist drawings of these places and then how they appear in the HBO series and ask you, did HBO get it right?
Here is everything that I know of a castle called the Eyrie:
Essentially it is the ancient seat of House Arryn, one of the oldest lines of Andal nobility. It is situated in the Mountains of the Moon astride the mountain known as the Giant's Lance. It is reachable only by a narrow goat trail that takes Caetlyn 12-hours to climb, guarded by the Gates of the Moon and three small waycastles; Stone, Snow and Sky. It is supplied by means of a massive dumbwaiter that extends down to the topmost waycastle.
The Eyrie is the smallest of the great castles, consisting only of a cluster of seven slim, white towers bunched tightly. The castle is made of fine white stone. The towers encircle a garden, which had been meant as a godswood, but the soil was too poor. The Eyrie is also unique in that it lacks a godswood; no weirwood tree would take root in the stony soil. The barracks and stables are in the mountain.
Okay, first up here is Ted Nasmith's version (Ted Nasmith is an award-winning professional artist more famous for his works on Tolkien than anything else):
Click to make bigger.
Okay, here in this painting Mr. Nasmith gives us all the elements. Seven slender towers, white stone, the dumbwaiter thing that goes to one of the keeps that isn't featured in the painting, and a sense that this beast of a castle is really super high (because there are clouds actually beneath the castle in the picture).
Also featured are the sky cells that Tirrion gets thrown into plus I could see it taking a full 12-hours to get to this place using a goat path. I'm no professional climber but getting up to this thing has got to be terrifying (which it was for Caetlyn).
Okay, here I give you a screenshot of the Eyrie as it appears in the HBO series. Right off, you see a bridge that goes over to it and it isn't surrounded by mountains like in Nasmith's version. Additionally, if you look closely, the bridge is just a road that winds up underneath the actual Eyrie and then up to the castle on top. Furthermore, it's kind of round which isn't how I visualized it. As well, if the slender towers are there, they're so small I can't even see them.
Which one got it right? HBO or Ted Nasmith? Please let me know in a comment.
See my second post in this series entitled Harrenhal HERE.
Here is everything that I know of a castle called the Eyrie:
Essentially it is the ancient seat of House Arryn, one of the oldest lines of Andal nobility. It is situated in the Mountains of the Moon astride the mountain known as the Giant's Lance. It is reachable only by a narrow goat trail that takes Caetlyn 12-hours to climb, guarded by the Gates of the Moon and three small waycastles; Stone, Snow and Sky. It is supplied by means of a massive dumbwaiter that extends down to the topmost waycastle.
The Eyrie is the smallest of the great castles, consisting only of a cluster of seven slim, white towers bunched tightly. The castle is made of fine white stone. The towers encircle a garden, which had been meant as a godswood, but the soil was too poor. The Eyrie is also unique in that it lacks a godswood; no weirwood tree would take root in the stony soil. The barracks and stables are in the mountain.
Okay, first up here is Ted Nasmith's version (Ted Nasmith is an award-winning professional artist more famous for his works on Tolkien than anything else):
Okay, here in this painting Mr. Nasmith gives us all the elements. Seven slender towers, white stone, the dumbwaiter thing that goes to one of the keeps that isn't featured in the painting, and a sense that this beast of a castle is really super high (because there are clouds actually beneath the castle in the picture).
Also featured are the sky cells that Tirrion gets thrown into plus I could see it taking a full 12-hours to get to this place using a goat path. I'm no professional climber but getting up to this thing has got to be terrifying (which it was for Caetlyn).
Which one got it right? HBO or Ted Nasmith? Please let me know in a comment.
See my second post in this series entitled Harrenhal HERE.