Director Alex Graves is one of the bold names that help give such depth to the world of HBO’s Game of Thrones. He held down the Director’s chair for the crazy events of the Purple Wedding, and he’s also behind the camera for this Sunday’s trial by combat between Oberyn “The Red Viper” Martell and Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane. Graves spoke with Charles Poladian of the International Business Times about his career and his Game of Thrones experience. Graves gives this insight into his work on this Sunday’s episode.

Graves: Two things probably influenced me the most in that fight. Because of who Oberyn, the Red Viper, is, and as portrayed by so perfectly by Pedro, he has a real level of style and finesse that, obviously, nobody on “Game of Thrones” has in wielding weapons. I mean, it’s usually, “Cut, rip, kill,” and you got the Hound, you bump into the Hound at the grocery store and it’s like, “You’re dead.” So, I thought it should have a very elegant, slick style, especially because of the way it ends, it would set up a contrast.

The other thing was, it’s a story about Oberyn and talking to David and Dan about it, and the more I learned about Oberyn and what that scene is about. That scene is two people skimming the surface of one of the single most important events in the mythology of the show, and it is the night of the murder of Elia Martell. It was the night the Kingslayer was born, it was the night King’s Landing was sacked by Tywin Lannister, and it was the night several other things happened. It serves several purposes which is: One, it is really bringing to the forefront to the audience these names and this content, and yet you’re really not quite pulling it all in, and you will as the show goes on, but you’ll know about it through this fight scene.