#and in the ironborn case - culturally distinct from rest of westeros | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

warsofasoiaf · 7 years

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What are, or should be, the aesthetic differences between the armors of the different kingdoms, in your opinion?

Well, when it comes to aesthetic differences, there are two things to look at. The first and most obvious would be what designs would be used, but there’s also the question of what techniques are they using to ornament their arms and armor. We already know that Dorne paints shields, as Dunk tells us in The Hedge Knight. Depending on the skills of the craftsmen and the materials available in each region, we can see what techniques they would use.

A note about these pictures, these are from different eras during armor development, so they are used as conceptual pieces. Much of these are late medieval period, which might be just a touch beyond where Westeros is at the moment.

The North - I’d imagine that the North would be a place of very few frills. Catelyn mentions that Northmen like Ser Rodrik disliking frills. However, we do know that Rickard Stark’s armor was finely designed, as Jaime describes us during his recollection of Aerys burning him and talking specifically about the melting of the precious metals. I’d imagine that a lot of Northern ornamentation would be metal or fur. I could see the armor itself decorated with gold on the rivets and inlaid with any house crests. Here’s a nice example of a decorated rivet on a Scottish targe:

The Riverlands - Well, the Riverlands are a large area and you’d expect regional diversity between the different areas of the Riverlands. So, of course, you’d see more Westerlander-influences in places like Pinkmaiden, whereas places closer to the Bloody Gate might see more Valemen styles. However, I’d look for probably something closer to the styles of Bavaria for the Riverlander armor, with a nice patterned texture as you see here to evoke gently cresting waves.

The Iron Islands - While the culture itself would probably mock painted lords in their fineries as weak, buying fine ornaments with the gold price, the Iron Islands has too much metal and enough sensibility to understand symbolism that their armor would also be decorated. I’d imagine that Iron Islands armor would, rather than use precious metals, would instead use embossing techniques to put designs into the metal itself. This is a bit fancier than I’d expect the ironborn to use, but there would definitely be these sort of embossing on the nicer pieces of Ironborn armor, though most ironborn raiders would probably use lighter armor.

The Vale - The austere, highly rigid culture of the Vale would almost certainly be reflected in their armor. I’d imagine the armor would be ornamented rather simply, mostly with house crests and wings, while the rest of the armor would be gleaming white, perhaps silvered in places. Given the knight’s spend a good deal of time going against the mountain clansmen, developing a solid harness and a good suit of cased steel plate would be a high priority for the Vale to make themselves relatively invulnerable against the poorly-armed and poorly-armored clansmen. I’d imagine the Milanese style would suit the Vale, and here’s what it looks like:

The Westerlands - Almost certainly, Westerlander smiths would be considered the pinnacle of Westerosi metalcraft, since their region is rich in metal both functional and decorative. This is the easiest kingdom to determine decorations, since their vast mineral wealth would lead to gilding and silvering their armor, decorating them with gold and silver. This would probably be done through mercury-gildening, which is a durable process meant for things like armor. For large areas, gold foil would be adhered with mercury, while smaller, fine areas would use a melted gold-and-mercury paste in a 1-to-8 ratio, which would be painted on with a brush. The gold was typically applied over a layer of copper for better adherence, so it’s steel-copper-gold. Once this was applied, the piece was basically ‘cooked’ in an oven to vaporize the mercury and voila, finely gilded armor. For an elaborate piece, you can see here for the armor of the 3rd Earl Cumberland, George Clifford, which might be used for someone like Jaime if you add a couple lions:

The Reach - Given the high importance of mounted combat, the most distinguishing feature of Reachmen armor would be a very flexible skirt for use in horseriding (this would obviously be important in all kingdoms, of course), and of course, fine ornamentation. I’d imagine Reachmen would have rather ornate engravings on their helmets and armor, with fine embellishments, crests, and gildings, something that looks like this:

As for the rest of their armor, I’d say they probably would take after the Southern French style, again, finely detailed and engraved. Reachmen would probably also have richly decorated cloth to decorate their scabbards and the finest woven surcoats to showcase their wealth

The Stormlands - I’d imagine that the Stormlanders would invest in fine quality armor, to better resist Reachmen incursion. They would probably use coloring to color their armor. The color of armor depended on when the armor was removed from the flame (as in, what temperature it was), with the most desirable being a deep, rich blue, hence why it was called “bluing” the armor. The Stormlanders would probably have richly designed and ornamented armor as befits their warrior culture, and it would probably look like something in the German style, so like this:

Dorne - Fortunately, half the work is already done with Dorne. We’ve seen that Dorne prefers to use painting rather than metal coloration and stains. We also know that they wear robes over their armor to help with the heat, which helps give us a very distinct image that reminds me a little bit of Turkish janissaries:

The Dornishmen would probably decorate their robes and silks finely for ornamentation rather than their armor; it’s easier, more visible, and less resource-intensive. For their finest spears, they probably inlay their hafts with bone, horn, and tortoise shells for poorer houses, and mother-of-pearl and ivory imported from Essos for the richer houses.

Thanks for the question, Overlord.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#asoiaf worldbuilding #armor #technology

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poorquentyn · 7 years

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Hi poor quentyn! LOVE your blog and twitter- I'm just wondering, you said in an earlier post the Dornish and Ironborn plots in AFFC are mirrored throughout the story- do you think this is true of Arianne and Asha's POVs as well? I see a lot of similarities to them and don't think it's an accident they were introduced in the same book (for example theyve both got failed plots to try to win their respective thrones, have contentious relationships w/ their fathers but in different ways...)

Hey thanks structural parallels between the Dornish and Ironborn storylines in AFFC, I would argue that Arianne’s equivalent is Aeron. In the wake of a powerful figure’s death (Balon/Oberyn), as these culturally distinct areas of Westeros reckon with their relationship to the rest of the continent, Aeron and Arianne set out to resolve that struggle with an anointing ceremony that reflects local traditions (kingsmoot/queenmaking). But in both cases, they’re really being driven by personal, familial issues: Arianne wants to strike back at the father she believes (with good reason) abandoned her, while Aeron is desperate for refuge from his abusive brother. And then, it backfires: Dragonbinder sounds, and Areo Hotah steps out onto the deck. Arianne sees Arys killed and Myrcella horribly wounded; Aeron has to crown his abuser. Their failures climax with tonally similar moments of existential crisis, the feeling of the floor falling out from underneath you:

Even a priest may doubt. Even a prophet may know terror. Aeron Damphair reached within himself for his god and discovered only silence. As a thousand voices shouted out his brother’s name, all he could hear was the scream of a rusted iron hinge.

Arianne raised a tear-streaked face. “How could he know?” she asked the captain. “I was so careful. How could he know?”

“Someone told.” Hotah shrugged. “Someone always tells.”

Of course, as their respective TWOW preview chapters demonstrate, their stories have diverged rather dramatically since! I don’t think they’ll be parallels in the future, but I think that’s what GRRM was going for structurally in AFFC.

#arianne martell #aeron greyjoy #asha greyjoy #a feast for crows #asoiaf meta

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