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This context comes from the second episode of "Game Of Thrones" The conversation happens between a young girl, no more than twelve, and her older friend who brought her a present, which is a sword.

Girl- It's so skinny.

Friend- So are you. I had the blacksmith make it for you special. It won't hack a men's head off but it will poke him full of holes if you quick enough.

Here are some definitions that might be applicable:

: designed for a particular purpose or occasion*(Merriam-Webster)*

Does it mean then that the sword was made so small for the occasion of the girl being so small?

or according to the definitions below..

  1. Additional; extra: a special holiday flight.(American Heritage Dictionary)

: being other than the usual: ADDITIONAL, EXTRA*(Merriam-Webster)*

was an additional sword made by the blacksmith?

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  • 1
    your title seems to have a typo: "if" -> "it".
    – starball
    Jan 6 at 9:28
  • IMHO, I had the blacksmith make it for you special is "casual conversation" highly suspect syntax. It should be I had the blacksmith make it [e]specially for you. But unless you use a lot more words, I don't think there's any succinct way of differentiating between the actual sword being "special" (there are few or no others exactly like it), OR the fact that the blacksmith made the sword specifically for the addressee (with no particular implications as to whether or not it's identical to other swords he makes).
    – FumbleFingers
    Jan 6 at 13:34

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"designed for a particular purpose or occasion" is the correct meaning.

In itself it means only that the speaker had the blacksmith not go through the standard process, but put in special work to make one for the girl. That it was more suited for her can be inferred from context.

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  • 3
    Can also be paraphrased: "I had him make it specially for you."
    – Luke Sawczak
    Jan 6 at 4:47
  • 2
    @LukeSawczak In fact, that would be more grammatical, though colloquially what he says works.
    – Mary
    Jan 6 at 4:52
  • "usage: In American English the adjective special is overwhelmingly more common than especial in all senses: He will be of special help if you can't understand the charts. The reverse is true of the adverbs; here especially is by far the more common: He will be of great help, especially if you can't understand the charts. specially is more idiomatic only when the intended sense is “specifically”: The machine was specially designed for a left-handed operator."*(source:thefreedictionary.com) I think this is the missing piece that we were missing :)
    – Static Bounce
    Jan 6 at 19:45

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