The actor who portrays Corlys Velaryon on the 'Game of Thrones' prequel series was in pain whenever he had to don the armor created for his character on the TV show.
- Sep 6, 2022
AceShowbiz - Steve Toussaint struggled with the armour he donned in "House of the Dragon". The actor felt he was trapped in "a torture chamber."
Initially thinking his co-stars Fabien Frankel and Graham McTavish - who play Ser Criston Cole and Ser Harrold Westerling respectively - were complaining unnecessarily about their battle costumes, the 57-year-old actor then realised just how uncomfortable and restrictive the tight-fitting gear was when he finally tried on his own as Corlys Velaryon.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly's "West of Westeros" podcast, he said, "Throughout the filming process, both Fabien and Graham would make complaints about how uncomfortable the armour was. 'Oh, it's digging in here. Ahh! I'm in pain.' We'd just go, 'Oh, shut up, deal with it.' "
"Then when I finally had mine on, I was like, 'Oh my God, I understand what you mean. Oh, it hurts!' And also underneath the armour, I just remembered I'm wearing this very heavy… tunic, I suppose. Very heavy and very thick. Of course the armour isn't real metal, but it's some sort of hard plastic."
"Your movements are suddenly incredibly restricted. It became something of a torture chamber, actually - a walking torture chamber. But hopefully it'll look good anyway."
Steve thinks his character has found a form of "mindfulness" when he's in battle. He said, "I think the joy, if that can be the word, in slaughter to him is just that life is simpler here. Here's somebody coming at me with a sword. I have to take him down or he'll take me down. That's it. I don't have to think about anything else."
"We talk a lot about mindfulness and all this stuff about trying to find an activity where you only concentrate on that and nothing else from the outside world. In a way, I guess the battle and being at sea are the things for Corlys."
I don't suppose you'd call it mindfulness, but I think it's that idea that he's just concentrating on one task. I think that's why he feels at home. I don't want him to sound like some sort of bloodthirsty tyrant, but I think there is, dare I say, a certain joy in being able to be elemental."
