Game of Thrones is a show about death. Everyone dies. It doesn't matter how beloved the character is or how central he or she might be to the plot. Death is always coming. No one knows that better than Beric Dondarrion, the Lord of Blackhaven turned Brotherhood Without Banners leader. After Ned sent him to hunt The Mountain back in Season One, Beric Dondarrion has died quite often, actually. At his side, thankfully, is Thoros of Myr, a red priest of the Lord of Light, who has resurrected him a total of six times so far.
In Season Seven, Beric and Thoros, leaders of the Brotherhood, have made their way north, where they met up with The Hound (who once defeated Beric in battle back in Season Three, only to be revived moments later) and joined Jon Snow on his foolhardy quest to catch a wight. They also reunited with Gendry Baratheon, who they betrayed and sold to Melisandre to be sacrificed.
And Episode Six brought the scene fans had been waiting for since the first trailer for Game of Thrones Season Seven dropped this spring: Beric Dondarrion wielding his flaming sword, preparing to mess some shit up in the North. While Beric and his flaming sword made it through the battle, his priest wasn't so lucky. Thoros died after an undead bear injured him, leaving Beric on his last life.
Esquire spoke with actor Richard Dormer, who explained what will happen to Beric now that he's mortal, and filming the incredible Episode Six fight scenes with his 100 percent real flaming sword.
What it means with Beric out of extra lives.
Well, with Thoros gone, Beric is now just a mortal man. I'm an undead mortal man. If he gets killed again, yeah, that's the end of Beric.
I also think though that in a way he's a little bit relieved that the next time will be the last. Because I don't think he's particularly enjoyed being resurrected six times. He's actually only like 26. It's obviously added a couple of years. He's young. He's a young lord in the books in the beginning.
I think Beric will go where he knows he's needed. He knows he is just a pawn in the great game of the red gods. He's just a foot soldier and he knows that. He has no illusions. He will go where there's danger and he will defend his comrades and he will fight to the end and if that means losing his life then so be it.
That burning sword was 100 percent real.
It was a real burning sword. It was lethal. It was specially made for Game of Thrones. These guys designed the sword. You light the thing up and it burns solidly for about two minutes. And it's pretty dangerous because, you know, the problem was I kept setting fire to the stunt guys. I have to make contact with a lot of clothing and armor, but because it was so messy that mad sequence at the end where we're on the island, and I've only got one eye as well so it was very difficult for me to see. I had to make contact with each one of them so I could move on to the next move. They wouldn't burst into flames like you see on screen, but part of their cape would burn. They didn't go up in torches, but the crew would come in with blankets and put them out. That was all expected.
Luckily, I spent weeks and weeks rehearsing those moves so it was more like a dance, you know. I didn't have to really use my eye that much. If you actually look at it, you can see the light from the sword, which I think is impossible to do with CGI so they needed to have the flame as the source of light in each scene. You can see it reflecting on the backs of people's head. It was in Season Three, it was a real sword in the cave. It's a pretty cool weapon. I'm just really careful with it. I've practiced with that sword for years now, so I know how close I can bring it to my face and my head. The stunt guys are the only ones I'm worried about because they're in the path of the sword. But they're all rehearsed so they know exactly what they're doing. They were actual real flames. The only time it was CGI was when we used it to cauterize Thoros's wounds.
The filming of this scene was brutal.
It was one of the most exhausting experiences ever. We rehearsed the fighting for three weeks. The actual fight on the island took five weeks. It was January/February, so very cold. In fact, it was colder during that sequence in Belfast than it was in Iceland. We were all very well rehearsed. It became kind of a ferocious dance. Every day we would go in, get on the island and just kill the undead all day, which was crazy.
Beric's conversation with Jon sums up the entire show.
I think what Beric is saying sums up the entire series really. Beric should know, of all people, because he's died six times—he knows that death really is the enemy. And that death is the end of all things and life is the thing that unites us all. We shouldn't be fighting one another we should unite to fight the thing that claims us all. Anyone who takes an innocent life for no reason, they're the enemy as well. Anyone who creates death they're the enemy. It's a very broad sweeping statement. It's also about justice. I believe that Beric is like a Westeros policeman. Because Ned Stark sends him out to apprehend the Mountain, who was a monster going across the country killing children. Beric has a real sense of right and wrong, and he has a real belief that life is precious. Anyone who would take a life is the real enemy.
How he feels about screwing over Gendry.
I think that what's happened between Season Three and Season Six: the fire is beginning to speak more to Thoros. And in the flames they can see glimpses of the future. And so the reason they give Gendry away is because they knew this great war was coming and they needed money to form a band of warriors. I did think that scene—when Gendry is upset about being sold off and Beric and Thoros tell him to pull it together—was funny. He's the kid of the group amongst all these ragged weathered warriors.
Beric isn't going south. He's staying to fight at the Wall.
Beric is staying behind with Tormund to guard the Wall. The dead are coming from the north so Beric is a pretty good shock trooper and he's going to be with Tormund and the Wildlings to keep the Army of Undead at bay. Yes, you'll see me next at the Wall.
