- "My new blade. 'Hearteater' I've named it."
- ―King Joffrey Baratheon
Hearteater[1] is the name Joffrey Baratheon gives the new sword he carries to the Battle of the Blackwater.
History[]
Game of Thrones: Season 2[]
Before leaving the Red Keep to oversee King's Landing's defenses against Stannis's attack, Joffrey orders Sansa to kiss Hearteater. He mentions that after the battle he will have her kiss it again and taste his uncle's blood. Sansa asked if that means he will be fighting the vanguard, as her brother does, even though to Joffrey he isn't a real king. Angered, Joffrey says that someday she can lick Robb's blood off Hearteater as well. Ultimately, Joffrey never wields the sword in battle, but on his mother's advice retreats back to the Red Keep when it looks like the city's outer walls will be breached.[1]
Game of Thrones: Season 3[]
Joffrey has Hearteater with him inside his palanquin as he is being transported through Flea Bottom.[2]
In the books[]
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Joffrey has a habit of frequently getting new and quite impressively made swords, and giving them fierce names like "Lion's Tooth" or "Hearteater", but he never actually swings a sword against an opponent at any time in the narrative. When he does personally execute people he uses a crossbow, because he doesn't actually know how to wield a sword.
Joffrey receives a new Valyrian steel sword, Widow's Wail, from his grandfather Tywin on the day of his wedding to Margaery Tyrell, replacing Hearteater - for a few hours, until Joffrey is poisoned at his own wedding feast later in the day. Many lords own more than one sword, but usually only one is "the" single, ancestral sword of their family. As a Valyrian steel sword, Widow's Wail would replace Hearteater as the sword passed down to the head of House Baratheon of King's Landing - and Martin has confirmed that ownership of Widow's Wail technically passed to Joffrey's younger brother Tommen after his death. No mention is made of what happened to Hearteater after Joffrey received Widow's Wail, or of what he intended to do with it.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Game of Thrones: Season 2, Episode 9: "Blackwater" (2012).
- ↑ Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 1: "Valar Dohaeris" (2013).