Watch this video on the special effects behind the Titan of Braavos
At the end of last season of Game of Thrones, in what now passes for an uplifting moment on this show, Arya Stark boarded a ship bound for the trade city of Braavos and sailed away from the continent where she’d suffered so much pain and lost so many people close to her. Those who have read A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, the two books from which Season 5 will draw much of its material, know that Arya will be spending a lot of time in Braavos this year. Non book-readers may remember that Stannis Baratheon visited the city during Season 4 to ask for a loan from its Iron Bank. That particular subplot was not included in the books, and may have been a clever way for the producers to familiarize audiences with Braavos so they’d be ready for Arya’s adventures there.
When Stannis sailed into Braavos, his ship passed under its famous Titan, an enormous statue that could totally take the Statue of Liberty in a fight. HBO recently uploaded a video about the construction of that shot to its official YouTube channel, in case anyone missed it on the Season 4 Blu-ray extras. Watch it below.
One of producers mentions that, among the 1,390 visual effects shots in Season 4, his “absolute favorite” is the shot of the Titan of Braavos. And no wonder. It’s big, dramatic, and introduces us to Braavos in a really memorable way.
Interestingly, a number of other producers mention that they conceived of Braavos as a wealthy city. “The thing that I think was quite exciting about Braavos and the Bank,” one said, “was just being able to show wealth but being able to show it through an austerity, like through the notion that less is more.” That’s an interesting take on the subject, given that the books mostly include descriptions of the city’s back alleys and trash-filled gutters. Of course, we were looking at the place from Arya’s perspective there, and it stands to reason that a high-roller like Stannis would view the city differently.
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