Blackfyre and Dark Sister - The rise of the dragon

One of the illustrations I had the pleasure of making for "The Rise of the Dragon, An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty, Volume One" by George RR Martin, Elio García and Linda Antonsson.

It was unbelievable for me the moment I knew I had to make these legendary swords. I always imagine this ancient Targaryen art as something that the conquerors brought from old Valyria with a less medieval style and closer to really fine craftwork. I imagine this style as a very sophisticated one, created by the mastery of sculpting and shaping metal with dragon fire.

For Blackfyre, the idea was to represent a field of flames and a dragon emerging from it. These flames were crowned by a higher one, a small reference with the iron throne, that embraces a square ruby, as those the Conqueror's crown had.
For Dark Sister, the idea was to represent a dragon embracing and protecting something valuable by hiding it behind her wings. This idea came to me after thinking about the history behind the foundation of the Kingsguard as a desire of Visenya to protect his brother. In fact, the suggestion was finally accepted with a bit of blood she took from Aegon with Dark Sister.

"Blackfyre is the fabled hand-and-a-half longsword of Valyrian steel once wielded by Aegon the Conqueror. It is the most famous of the several Valyrian swords once owned by House Targaryen and provided the name for House Blackfyre. Another known Valyrian blade owned by the family was Dark Sister, once wielded by Aegon's sister, Visenya"

© George R.R. Martin
Publisher: Penguin Random House / TenSeed Press