Symbolism & House Targaryen Part 1

A bit of background

House Targaryen of Dragonstone is one of the most ancient families in Westeros, dating back to the Valaryian freehold.  The family ruled the kingdom for 500 years until Robert Baratheon's rebellion broke their rule and the surviving members of the family fled across the narrow sea.

The Significance of the Sigil and Words

The Targaryen sigil takes the form of a red three-headed dragon on a field of black and their words read Fire and Blood.  These seem to be obvious on the front with the Targaryen ties to dragons and their words as boast to their bloody conquests, but as with every other house and their words and sigils, this concept runs far deeper than meets the eye.
Beginning first with the symbolism of the three headed dragon, it is seen within the books to represent Aegon, Visenya and Rheanys and their three dragons when they first made conquest across Westeros, but deeper than this it may represent Danearys and the need for another two "heads", a concept which has lead to many theories from fans attempting to guess who the other "heads" might be.
Fire and blood is another direct reference to Aegon's conquest as it was won through blood and the fire of his and his sisters dragons.  It is also symbolic in nature to Dany's coming of age scene where the Targaryen blood allows her to walk through fire and come out unscathed at the other side.

Symbolism & House Baratheon Part 2

The Stag, The Lion & The Wolf

In further exploration of House Baratheon, it is found that they are introduced symbolically, before any member of the family is introduced.
As mentioned briefly in Part 2 of House Stark (Symbolism & House Stark Part 2) , the first meeting of the Direwolves comes with a foreshadowing warning since the mother wolf was killed by a stag, and in turn the stag by the wolf.

This is later reflected in the relationship between House Stark and House Baratheon, who ultimately lead to each other's downfall.
On the face of things, this is a rather obvious parallel since it is Jeoffrey (believed at the time to be of Baratheon blood) who ordered the execution of Eddard Stark.  However, this theme runs much more deeply and more subtly than this.
Following a lead found by Jon Arryn, his predecessor to the Hand of the King role, Eddard discovers that Jeoffrey is base-born and born of incest.  His loyalty to Robert Baratheon brings need for Eddard to expose the truth, but his honor leads him to warn Cersei first.  It is this action that leads Cersei to have her husband killed, meaning that Eddard is arguably at fault: the wolf killed the stag.

Though this theme  runs throughout the story as part of several subplots, it will be explored more fully when I come to address houses Targaryen and Lannister.  As per the results of the poll, House Targaryen is next in line for analysis.

Symbolism & House Baratheon Part 1

As the reigning monarchy at the beginning of the series, it is only natural that this family comes next in the analysis series.

A bit of background

House Baratheon is now extinct, but in the beginning of the series they were one of the most powerful families with a seat at Storm End and King Robert on the throne. The House was founded more recently than House Stark, 281 years ago, when Orys Baratheon defeated Argilac the Arrogant and was rewarded his lands. He cemented this partnership with his marriage to Argilac's daughter Argella.

This is mirrored in modern Westeros with King Robert's acention to the throne being won through conquest and cemented with a marriage to a more powerful family.

The Significance of the Sigil and Words

The Baratheon sigil takes the form of a black crowned stag on a field of gold; the crown symbolic of their royal status and the gold of their wealth. The stag also is symbolic of royal status, the stag being “King of the Forest”, but more than this it suggests fertility (King Robert's numerous base-born children), and pride shared by the entire family.

The words “ours is the fury”, unlike the Stark warning, is a boast of their power. Symbolic in nature, these words might stand for the Storm's surrounding their seat, which legend says destroyed six castles before Orys Baratheon's seventh stood. This is also, more modernly, symbolic of Robert's anger, easily flared and hard to tame.

In part 2 of the analysis of House Baratheon, we will delve deeper into the symbolism surrounding this house, mostly in terms of their relationships with other houses.

Also, I will be running a poll to determine which house will be explored after the Baratheon's are done with.

Symbolism & House Stark Part 2

The Stark Children and Their Wolves

The Stark family are returning from the execution of a Night's Watch deserter when they encounter a direwolf that has been killed by a stag (but more on that in another post) and her now-orphaned pups. Theon Greyjoy, ward to the Stark family, suggests that the pups be killed as they are dangerous, which could be a foreshadowing towards his later betrayal of the Stark children, but Jon Snow convinces his father to let them live as there is one for each of his trueborn children, and for his baseborn son. Arguably, these wolf pups will later come to hold much more significance than that.

Robb & Greywind: The strongest of the pups and the Stark heir together are a force to be reckoned with in the war against houses Lannister and Baratheon in which Robb is refered to as “The Young Wolf” but separation saw death for both.

Jon & Ghost: The runt of the litter and the baseborn son is a fitting match even before taking into consideration the pups seperation from his family even at first meeting. The personalities of both coincide as the timidness of both is replaced by strength as the story goes on.

Sansa & Lady: The name Lady is also befitting to Sansa as she is indeed the lady of house Stark, with her hand promised to a future King and her love of sewing beside her sister's love of the sword. More than this, Lady's death was the most symbolic tying to her owner as this death represented both the conflict between Sansa and Arya, and the loss of Sansa's innocence as it showed the brutality of her future husband.

Arya & Nymeria: Nymeria's naming after an ancient warrior queen is befitting to Arya's personality and future from her anger and need to avenge her family to her life as an assassin before her return to Westeros. The wolf and the girl both follow parallel journey's on the run, forming new packs of their own.

Bran & Summer: As mentioned before, the name Summer is symbolic to Bran's coming-of-age, but further than this he shares the closest connection with his wolf with his later-found ability to warg.

Rickon & Shaggydog: Shaggydog, though named in childhood innocence, later becomes like an alter-ego to Rickon who was raised by the wildling Osha after the seperation from his family and the death of his parents. Shaggydog is also symbolic of Rickon's life, filled with fighting, brutality and death.

Symbolism & House Stark Part 1

As the first family to be introduced through Bran's POV in book 1, it is only fitting that this blog series begins with House Stark.

A bit of background

House Stark, whose seat lies in the Northern city of Winterfell, is one of the oldest standing houses in Westeros. According to legend, the House was found some 8000 years ago by Bran the Builder of the First Men. This in itself holds significance of a symbolic nature considering that his decendant of the same name, Bran, is the first of the Starks that the audience meets.

The significance of the Sigil and Words

The Stark sigil takes the form of a grey direwolf on a field of white, and their words the dire warning Winter is Coming.

On the face, the symbolism of the sigil is to the point. The direwolf is a fictional creature, thought canonically as extinct, linked to both the Stark ancestral line and the North. The white background is there to represent snow, another strong link to the Westrosi North and to northern baseborn children, even Lord Stark's son Jon. However, digging deeper further sybolism can be uncovered. In the wild, wolves travel in packs, lead by the strongest who protect the weakest. This can be seen to mirror the Stark family, where they stick together through the many hardships they face and will without doubt sacrifice their own safety for the others in their “pack”. Coming back to the near-extinction of the Direwolf, this can be seen as foreshadowing for the seperation and near-extinction of the Stark family itself beginning with Eddard's death at the beginning of the first book.

Again, the words Winter is Coming can seem rather obvious in terms of symbolism, for there isn't a time where winter is not coming, but this too can be explored in more detail. In a way, this phrase can also be symbolic of coming-of-age. Bran is refered to as “sweet summer child” throughout the books, meaning he has seen none of the hardships winter, and indeed adulthood can bring. This interpretation is supported by Eddard himself when he says “Summer will end soon enough, and childhood too.”

Bringing this more in line with the book, we have Bran's waking from his coma as winter is beginning and, with the seperation from his family and new need for independence pointing as well to the beginning of adulthood.

This symbolism of summer's end is brought full circle with Bran's naming of his direwolf Summer. This link to his direwolf, and the other Stark children with their own will be explored in the next post.