Heraldry

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Heraldry is an important part of the Seven Kingdoms feudal structure. Heraldry are used by the Royalty and nobility as sign of status, Coat of arms are commonly used by Knights in Tourneys and on the battlefields as a way to identify allied from enemy soldiers.

Heraldry in Westeros and in the real world

Overall, the heraldry of the Seven kingdoms seems to be quite similar to that of medieval Europe, at least in purpose. Dorne however seems to favor circular Coats of Arms that aren't widely seen anywhere else. There is little or no mention of the heraldic vocabulary of Westeros, either; in the real world those terms are subject to strong variation according to language, but Westeros seems to have a far more restricted set of languages and might well have an unified heraldic vocabulary.

Also, it is worth noting that real world heraldic rules and terminology seem to have little formal use in Westeros and may in fact be non-existent[1], including the well-known [w:Rule of tincture] that dictates that metals (argent and or, usually meaning white and yellow) shouldn't be used over metals, nor should "colors" (the most traditional being vert (green), goules (red), azure (blue), sable (black) and purpure (purple)) be placed over other colors either. It is possible and perhaps likely that GRRM wanted to depict an earlier medieval society, before the rules of heraldry were well-developed and well-accepted. Many of the available descriptions of Westerian Coats-of-Arms are notable in their lack of detail; for instance, House Blanetree's fails to tell us how many maple leafs the shield should have, and gives only the vaguest indication of how they should be placed.

In some cases this manifests in quite poor designs rendering them of little use for recognition on the battlefield:

For practical reasons, traditional heraldry uses a very limited set of tinctures; it wasn't always practical or possible to reproduce subtler color variations in the numbers and time constraints found. Besides, coats of arms are meant to be recognizable from far away and are often employed in shields and other pieces of equipment that are subject to abuse, neglect and disrepair. Even today, many pigments show some degree of color degradation, often severe, when consistently exposed to sun rays, rain and other influences.

This limited palette is not the case in The Seven Kingdoms, where heraldic descriptions include ambiguous colours such as

The use of physical material descriptions like 'oak', 'masonry' or 'sand' in Martin's heraldic descriptions also complicates matters because it is uncertain whether these refer to a shade of colour or an attempt to actually represent these materials pictorially, such as painting the grain of the oak or the bricks of the masonry. Such detail would seem difficult to render on fabric surfaces such as flags, surcoats or the livery of men-at-arms or servants.

Many of the devices and charges used in the heraldry of Westeros derive directly from traditional sources and include creatures such as lions, stags and birds, and symbols such as stars, weapons and ships. There are some notable differences in Martin's designs though:

  • The use of seven-pointed stars to represent the Faith of the Seven. Examples include House Sunglass and House Templeton. Seven-pointed stars are rare in traditional heraldry and vexillology, with a notable exception being the flag of Australia.
  • The use of very detailed pictures, particularly humanoid figures, such as the flayed man of House Bolton, the drowned man of House Sunderly or the silk-swirled dancing maiden of House Piper. In reality, these figures would be difficult to render on shields and flags with any accuracy or consistency.
  • The use of detailed creatures and figures on the shield that would normally only appear as supporters in traditional coats of arms, such as the merman of House Manderly or the giant in chains of House Umber.
  • The use of Westeros-specific fauna and flora, such as the lizard-lion of House Reed or the weirwood tree of House Blackwood.

Canting

Martin makes use of canting arms to represent some of the houses in his books. Canting arms are a type of heraldic pun, whereby the blazon of the shield makes a direct reference to the name of the family. Examples include the candles of House Waxley, the pitchfork of House Haigh (hay), the bells of House Belmore and the black bar of House Blackbar.

Heraldic homage

Some of the Houses and their blazons are tributes to other authors. For example, House Rogers can be seen as a tribute to Roger Zelazny, and the unicorn and maze device on that house's arms to be representative of two of Zelazny's works: "Unicorn Variations" and the "Chronicles of Amber" series. This latter features "The Pattern", a labyrinth-like inscription that orders the multiverse. Jack Vance is acknowledged in two houses, House_Vance_from_Wayfarer's_Rest and House_Vance_from_Atranta. In the latter, the use of the tower could refer to Vance's Nebula Award-winning 1966 work "The Last Castle". In the Wayfarer's Rest branch, the circle enclosing the pair of eyes could symbolise the title of "The Eyes of the Overworld", from The Dying Earth series. The use of dragons in both Vance houses' shields could refer to another award-winning work, "The Dragon Masters".

See also

Software

References

  1. ↑ http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/Heraldry_in_Westeros/
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