Game of Thrones season 7: Gendry actually knows how to use his new weapon

Finally, we have a Game of Thrones character that actually prefers a weapon that isn’t a sword, and let’s talk about what that means for Gendry.

Combat has started playing an even bigger role in Game of Thrones this season, and Gendry quickly showed that he’s on pace with the new paradigm in the show. He appeared to have made his own warhammer, and he’d clearly practiced with it.

However, his actor, Joe Dempsie, also had to learn some of the basics of hammer usage, according to an interview he had with Making Game of Thrones.

Of course, his weapon wasn’t quite as big as the one Gendry has:

"“I was practicing with a sledgehammer for about six to eight weeks before we started filming…”"

That’s not a huge amount of time, but presumably Gendry didn’t have much time either to practice in between making some slightly more conventional weapons for the Lannisters. Did you spot those swords Davos looked at? Those were quite well-made, weren’t they?

In my assessment of the fashion of ”Eastwatch,” I talked about briefly how he’s using the same weapon Robert Baratheon did. But it might go further than that. Remember how Jon and Gendry brought up their fathers going to war alongside each other as well, which I also noted briefly in my overall assessment of Gendry’s look? Let’s dive a little deeper into that.

As the Wiki of Ice and Fire notes, Robert actually killed Rhaegar Targaryen with a hammer. Gendry himself introduced that idea of fathers influencing their sons, and Dempsie emphasizes that that knowledge has become integral to Gendry’s character in the same interview. It’s hard not to wonder if Gendry will get to do something similar to his father. It might not be killing a Targaryen, considering exactly who he’s working with, but the parallels would be easy to draw.

Of course, Dempsie also spoke about how Gendry is “still aware of his place within the hierarchy.”

Next: GoT season 7: 5 predictions for episode 6

Wouldn’t it be interesting, though, to see a nobody like Gendry take someone big down? It might be similar to Robert’s story, but it would take on a whole new meaning if he did.