Sansa's cloaks of many colors

[Seams]

Merillion is part of a weird game of cloaks that involves Sansa and Tyrion: the singer took the shadowcat cloak from the corpse of a mountain clan member who had died in battle. Tyrion then won the cloak from Merillion gambling. The jailer at the Eyrie took the cloak from Tyrion, who retrieved it when he was released from his sky cell. (Later, I think Jaime is a symbolic jailer who frees Tyrion when he is accused of Joffrey's murder, but I don't know how this ties into the jailer at the Eyrie.)

The shadowcat cloak seems to disappear from Tyrion’s storyline about the time he comes under the protection of Bronn. Bronn, perhaps coincidentally, is compared to a cat:

She had seen Bronn fight on the high road; it was no accident that he had survived the journey while other men had died. He moved like a panther, and that ugly sword of his seemed a part of his arm. (Catelyn VII, AGoT)

"What, and break your heart?" Tyrion shot back. "I shall keep Shae. Did you perchance note the name of this knight you took her from? I'd rather not have him beside me in the battle."

Bronn rose, cat-quick and cat-graceful, turning his sword in his hand. "You'll have me beside you in the battle, dwarf."

Tyrion nodded. The night air was warm on his bare skin. "See that I survive this battle, and you can name your reward." (Tyrion VIII, AGoT)

At weddings in Westeros, a cloak symbolizes the groom’s protection of the bride. Is the message to the reader that Shae is Tyrion’s new spouse and Bronn is Tyrion’s new (shadowcat) cloak? Or that Tyrion doesn’t need a cloak with Bronn by his side (“the night air was warm”)? Bronn eventually declines to fight in a second trial by combat for Tyrion, shortly after Cersei arranges for Bronn to marry Lollys Stokeworth. Maybe Bronn can be a cloak for only one spouse at a time. Of course, Tyrion has recently married Sansa and she may represent a new cloak in his life as well (see below), making Bronn less necessary for Tyrion’s protection.

Back to the original shadowcat cloak. There are some leaps of inference in these next paragraphs, but the connections are consistent with other complex symbols GRRM has constructed throughout the series.

First of all, it’s important to note that singers in ASOIAF are truth-tellers. Often those truths get them into trouble, as Symon Silver Tongue learns after threatening Tyrion and another singer learns after offending King Joffrey. So Merillion is the truth-teller in the Eyrie at a time when Littlefinger is coaching Sansa to lie about her identity, her aunt’s death, the use of informants among the bannermen of the Vale, etc. Littlefinger’s maiming and imprisonment of Merillion probably symbolizes the similar mangling and hiding of the truth in Sansa’s arc.

Long after losing the cloak to Tyrion, Merillion is also imprisoned in a sky cell at the Eyrie. Sansa pictures him there huddled under his cloak - but, of course, he no longer has the shadowcat cloak. At this stage of the story, however, there is extensive imagery of Sansa taking the place of, or turning into, Catelyn – known as Cat. Would it be fair to say that she “shadows” her mother, in a sense, making her a Shadow Cat? And since Sansa doesn’t actually see Merillion huddled under his cloak in the sky cell, the cloak is her creation – a Shadow Cat’s cloak. Is it relevant to compare Sansa’s imagined kiss from the Hound with her imagined cloak for Merillion? The bloody cloak she saved from the Hound came to her when she gave him a song (an example showing that Sansa herself is a singer) and at the same time as the imaginary “unkiss.”

So Sansa may now embody the shadowcat cloak. Instead of relying on a cloak given to her by a man, she may be her own best protection. Or is the symbolism not so much about Sansa protecting herself as it is a continuation of the metaphor about singers symbolizing the truth? Sansa makes a conscious decision at this stage to support Littlefinger in his lies. But she imagines Merillion – a singer / truth-teller – locked away in a cell, covered by a cloak. The truth is still there and could be freed one day as Tyrion was freed from the same sky cells.

But let’s not lose sight altogether of the origin of the shadowcat cloak among the mountain clans. In the thread called Sansa and the Giants, sweetsunray outlined a good case for a possible future pairing of Sansa with Timett son of Timett, the one-eyed leader of the Burned Men clan. If so, the shadowcat cloak and the marriage symbol would come full circle.

Other cloaks worth noting: Benjen Stark also gave Tyrion a bearskin cloak while they traveled to the Wall, and Sansa describes herself (I believe) as a bear cub at some point at the Eyrie.

Sansa refuses to kneel for the Lannister cloak when Tyrion weds her; only with help from Ser Dontos / Florian is Tyrion able to put it on Sansa's shoulders.

Ser Dontos also helped when Sansa fled King’s Landing while Joffrey was dying. (Although it’s highly notable, from the perspective of the larger motif of clothing and fabric, that Sansa undresses and dresses herself with clothes she has chosen, before she meets up with Ser Dontos.) Their escape down the hidden steps along the steep cliff is almost identical to Jon Snow’s climb up a steep cliff with a Night’s Watch brother named Stonesnake. Jon’s climb ends with his first contact with Ygritte, which she later tells him was the equivalent of a wildling marriage proposal, “stealing” her in the sense that he held a knife to her throat but then spared her life. Sansa’s climb ends when she finds Littlefinger waiting for her on a ship in the harbor. As soon as she climbs aboard, Littlefinger puts his cloak over her shoulders – a Westeros marriage symbol. So is Littlefinger “married” to Sansa by both Westeros and wildling standards, having engineered the taking of this valuable hostage from the Lannisters, and by putting his cloak over her shoulders? Note that Sansa is already wearing a cloak that she chose and she hid in the tree in the godswood when Littlefinger puts his cloak on her. Does this self-cloaking somehow immunize her from the symbolic marriage gesture by Littlefinger?

All this complex cloak stuff came to mind because another discussion of House Lothston and its tenure at Harrenhal had brought up the taking and passing of a shield with the Lothston bat sigil. Ever since I’ve started trying to sort out the sewing and fabric and garment symbolism, I’ve wondered whether armor and garments are all part of one big motif. With their protection functions, it seems like shields and cloaks are definitely linked.

The Lothston bat sigil is uniquely connected to Sansa as she talks about feeling bats in her tummy and is associated with other bat imagery as her arc progresses. The shield itself picks up a number of associations and passes through a variety of hands. Jaime gives Brienne the old shield he picked up at Harrenhal to use on her quest to find Sansa. So Jaime is like a groom giving a cloak to a bride and Brienne - a maid, like Sansa - accepts it. The charge to find the Stark daughters originated with Catelyn but is renewed by Jaime; bats are associated with Sansa who is the object of the quest; and the shield comes from Harrenhal where Sansa's creepy mentor / father is the new Lord.

In the countryside, the reaction to the Lothston bat sigil is that it has bad associations. Brienne soon has the shield repainted with the arms of Ser Duncan the Tall – does this represent a divorce of Brienne from Jaime? Brienne is sort of taking her mother’s maiden name by using Dunk’s arms. Or is the repainted shield like Sansa’s effort to hide by changing her name to Alayne Stone? Both sigils represent a return to the past: no one uses the arms of House Lothston, and we don’t know of anyone using the name or arms of Ser Duncan the Tall, although GRRM has confirmed that Brienne is related to him in some way, presumably through a female descendant.

Brienne was in Renly’s king’s guard and wore a rainbow cloaks as a uniform, fwiw.

When Tyrion joins Penny’s comical jousting act, he notes that the shields have been painted and repainted many times. Later, though, he thinks, “On the cog, alas, everyone was just who they appeared to be.” The repainted shields, however, might contradict his assumption.

[Elisabetta Duò]

22 hours ago, Seams said:

singers in ASOIAF are truth-tellers.

That's not true…the singers sing only part of the truth, usually the part the people they want to please will like. For the same reason, they frequently change the facts making up false tales of what happened or avoid telling stories that would displease the people they need to please.

It's not dissimilar to what Shakespeare did with Richard III, because he was being payed by the Tudors.

After Blackwater, there were tales (songs?) about Jeoffrey's valor in battle, which never existed. There were no tales and no songs about Tyrion's role in the victory, while he is represented as a murderer after Jeoffrey's death. He himself, at the wedding feast, bitterly commented that:

Tyrion: If I am ever Hand again, the first thing I'll do is hang all the singers.

Garlan: A valiant deed unsung is no less valiant.

 

[Springwatch]

Very interesting. So Tyrion wears a shadowcat fur when protected by a cat-like man, and an old bearskin when under the protection of the Old Bear at the Wall. Neat.

Marillion lost the shadowskin cloak to Tyrion and probably lost Bronn's protection around the same time. Now Tyrion has lost Bronn, but does he still have the cloak somewhere? It would be too hot to wear it much in King's Landing, but he might have put it in storage ready for winter.

This doesn't always work though - poor Jeyne Poole tried to hide under wolfskins in Ramsay's bedroom, but got no help from the Starks. Maybe it has to be a cloak, or maybe the fur has to be given.

Sansa doesn't wear a lot of fur that I remember - just some fox fur in the Eyrie. I don't think it was a cloak.

[Seams]

19 hours ago, Elisabetta Duò said:

That's not true…the singers sing only part of the truth, usually the part the people they want to please will like. For the same reason, they frequently change the facts making up false tales of what happened or avoid telling stories that would displease the people they need to please.

It's not dissimilar to what Shakespeare did with Richard III, because he was being payed by the Tudors.

After Blackwater, there were tales (songs?) about Jeoffrey's valor in battle, which never existed. There were no tales and no songs about Tyrion's role in the victory, while he is represented as a murderer after Jeoffrey's death. He himself, at the wedding feast, bitterly commented that:

Tyrion: If I am ever Hand again, the first thing I'll do is hang all the singers.

Garlan: A valiant deed unsung is no less valiant.

Yes, sometimes the singers reveal only part of the truth. Or they are cryptic in their choice of lyrics and we have to dig deeper to find the meaning. Symon Silver Tongue tells us that hands of gold are always cold but a woman's hands are warm. He doesn't say that Tyrion will kill his lover (who has warm hands) with a gold chain that symbolizes his father (and himself). I think the so-called false tales in the songs are artfully done so they might appear to be one thing but may eventually turn out to carry another layer of meaning. I just re-read the scene with Joffrey's wedding feast and it sounds as if the singers are singing about brave King Joffrey, but they never actually use his name. They refer to a golden-haired son of a previous king. So this could be one of GRRM's famous uses of carefully-chosen phrases to appear to be describing one thing while actually foreshadowing something that has not yet occurred.

6 hours ago, Springwatch said:

Very interesting. So Tyrion wears a shadowcat fur when protected by a cat-like man, and an old bearskin when under the protection of the Old Bear at the Wall. Neat.

Marillion lost the shadowskin cloak to Tyrion and probably lost Bronn's protection around the same time. Now Tyrion has lost Bronn, but does he still have the cloak somewhere? It would be too hot to wear it much in King's Landing, but he might have put it in storage ready for winter.

This doesn't always work though - poor Jeyne Poole tried to hide under wolfskins in Ramsay's bedroom, but got no help from the Starks. Maybe it has to be a cloak, or maybe the fur has to be given.

Sansa doesn't wear a lot of fur that I remember - just some fox fur in the Eyrie. I don't think it was a cloak.

It will be interesting to see whether the cloak turns up again, or whether the motif is completely played out with Bronn ("the Panther") married to someone else. Shortly after I posted this cloak thread, I was commenting on a post about Tysha, and I realized that both Tysha and Lollys had been gang-raped. This is the relevant point about Bronn and the shadowcat cloak that may signal the end of that motif: "Like Tysha, Lollys is also gang-raped. She gives birth to a child named Tyrion. She also marries Bronn, who is Tyrion's protector. Symbolically, Tyrion has given up his protector to now protect a victim of gang-rape. This seems consistent with Tyrion's regard for Tysha and his wish - too late - that he could have done right by her."

But there are a few important props that have disappeared from the narrative: whatever happened to the books that Tyrion borrowed from the Winterfell library, and read on the way to the Wall, for instance? Maybe he returned them on his return trip south, but the author doesn't mention them. There have been some threads about characters who have simply dropped out of sight and about known Valyrian steel swords that are "missing," but maybe we should start a "Westeros Lost and Found" thread for things like the shadowcat cloak or other key items that seem to just fall out of the story. Gendry's helmet with bull horns? Robb Stark's head? Ned Stark's bones?

I will have to re-read the bedding scenes with Jeyne Poole. (Ugh. Can't imagine why I don't want to do that.) I do remember that there is flaying imagery involved in Ramsay's approach to Jeyne on their wedding night - he cuts her clothes off with a knife, as I recall. You might be right that a cloak is different from a plain animal hide. There is a pun around animal hides and people trying to hide from something and, of course, the whole skin changer notion of inhabiting the body of another animal or human. Jeyne's failure to "hide" under wolfskins could be the author's way of confirming that no one is really fooled by her attempt to impersonate Arya Stark; she is not a warg and not a Stark. Much earlier in the books, Cersei had wanted the skin of the direwolf Lady to be laid across her bed. I think this represented Cersei's wish to "warg" into Lyanna, who was apparently loved by both Rhaegar and King Robert. Of course, she fails when Ned makes sure that Lady's pelt and bones are sent to Winterfell, far from Cersei's grasp.

I suspect we will see a continuing evolution in Sansa's wardrobe as she moves north again. It would not surprise me to see her wearing more furs as she rediscovers and reclaims her North-ness. Nice catch on the fox fur reference. I will go back and look for that. Sansa is trying on a lot of disguises and new identities at the Eyrie - almost like an accelerated version of Arya's many identity changes. Since a fox is a trickster in traditional European literature, it would be interesting to see what is going on in Sansa's story when she "skin changes" into a fox fur.

[Lost Melnibonean]

Didna Tyrion don the cloak when visiting the alchemists? 

[The Ned's Little Girl]

11 hours ago, Seams said:

Nice catch on the fox fur reference. I will go back and look for that. Sansa is trying on a lot of disguises and new identities at the Eyrie - almost like an accelerated version of Arya's many identity changes. Since a fox is a trickster in traditional European literature, it would be interesting to see what is going on in Sansa's story when she "skin changes" into a fox fur.

There's another layer to Sansa's outfit with the fox fur. (IIRC it's her last chapter in ASoS, when she builds the snow Winterfell.)

Underneath the fur cloak, she's wearing a blue dress made of lambswool. She's a wolf in sheep's clothing.

 

[Ser Creighton]

56 minutes ago, The Ned's Little Girl said:

There's another layer to Sansa's outfit with the fox fur. (IIRC it's her last chapter in ASoS, when she builds the snow Winterfell.)

Underneath the fur cloak, she's wearing a blue dress made of lambswool. She's a wolf in sheep's clothing.

 

The significance is probably the color blue. You remember anyone associated with blue from Winterfell that may have run off or been kidnapped?

[Seams]

18 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Didna Tyrion don the cloak when visiting the alchemists? 

Nice catch, LM! I wonder what that means? Here is the excerpt:

They had warned him to dress warmly. Tyrion Lannister took them at their word. He was garbed in heavy quilted breeches and a woolen doublet, and over it all he had thrown the shadowskin cloak he had acquired in the Mountains of the Moon. The cloak was absurdly long, made for a man twice his height. When he was not ahorse, the only way to wear the thing was to wrap it around him several times, which made him look like a ball of striped fur.

Even so, he was glad he had listened. The chill in the long dank vault went bone deep. Timett had chosen to retreat back up to the cellar after a brief taste of the cold below.

Interesting that he specifically refers to the Mountains of the Moon and to Timett in the same paragraph with the reappearance of the cloak. (I also like GRRM's choice of the phrase, "when he was not ahorse..." Apparently, Tyrion is sometimes a horse. Where do horse go?) And I am always curious whether references to balls might allude to Ser Quentyn Ball, known as fireball. (Ser Quentyn, of course, loses out on his career ambitions to someone named Ser Willem Wylde.) It would certainly be appropriate to think of fireballs on a visit to the wildfire storage area. One of those great paragraphs packed with subtext that I love to try to puzzle out.

The scene in this sub-basement reminds me very much of scenes in the Winterfell crypt. There is a reference to "bone deep" and to the cold. I have discussed elsewhere that the lower level of the Red Keep and the Winterfell crypt are symbolic forges for turning people into weapons. Maybe Tyrion is being "turned into" a fireball during his descent below the cellar? It is wildfire, so maybe he is being turned into a wildling?

Timett is not interested in being transformed, apparently. Interesting to note that, during the battle, Tyrion notices that the Hound balks when he orders Bronn and the Hound to prevent fire from reaching the Guild of the Alchemists. "For half a heartbeat, Tyrion thought he glimpsed fear in the Hound's dark eyes. Fire, he realized. The Others take me, of course he hates fire, he's tasted it too well." The taste of fire is such an interesting contrast with Timett's aversion to the taste of cold and his retreat from it.

During his visit to the Alchemist, Tyrion asks for spare clay jars so the soldiers can practice handling the empty jars before they have to handle the loaded grenades:

"These clay jars . . . do you have an ample supply?"

"We do, my lord, and thank you for asking."

"You won't mind if I take some, then. A few thousand."

"A few thousand?"

"Or however many your guild can spare, without interfering with production. It's empty pots I'm asking for, understand. Have them sent round to the captains on each of the city gates."

"I will, my lord, but why . . . ?"

Tyrion smiled up at him. "When you tell me to dress warmly, I dress warmly. When you tell me to be careful, well . . . " He gave a shrug. "I've seen enough. Perhaps you would be so good as to escort me back up to my litter?"

So the wearing of the cloak is being compared to the safe handling of wildfire. Both describing protection and safety? Or is there another interpretation?

The scene confirms that the cloak made it to King's Landing and that Tyrion turns to it when he wants protection from the cold.

On 6/13/2016 at 7:47 AM, Springwatch said:

Sansa doesn't wear a lot of fur that I remember - just some fox fur in the Eyrie. I don't think it was a cloak.

It is a cloak. Here's the excerpt:

Sansa left the shutters open as she dressed. It would be cold, she knew, though the Eyrie's towers encircled the garden and protected it from the worst of the mountain winds. She donned silken smallclothes and a linen shift, and over that a warm dress of blue lambswool. Two pairs of hose for her legs, boots that laced up to her knees, heavy leather gloves, and finally a hooded cloak of soft white fox fur.

Interesting that, here again, she is dressing herself while her maid sleeps. Not the old, passive Sansa we have seen. And it fits with some other things - she is excited about the snow, which she has not seen since leaving Winterfell, and she ends up building a snow version of Winterfell. (She has just seen clouds that look like two castles and then get "smushed" into one castle. Since she has referred to the Eyrie as a snow castle, there may be more than a small amount of foreshadowing here about Sansa become heir to both the Eyrie and Winterfell, although the colors of the cloud castles might indicate a Casterly Rock and Winterfell merger - the dialogue refers to a castle of gold.)

There are a number of references to foxes hiding in the woods in Brienne chapters. Since Brienne is "hunting" for Sansa, maybe the fox fur is the author's way of acknowledging that Sansa is Brienne's "prey." But the wearing of fur and Sansa's building of Winterfell out of snow seem like an important pair of symbols. Wearing fur is mostly a northern thing, I think, so it's particularly appropriate for this scene.

As I read further, I notice that Aunt Lysa is wrapped in a blue velvet robe trimmed with fox fur as she looks down on Sansa building the snow castle, though. So maybe the fox fur isn't unique to Sansa. Maybe it shows Sansa and Lysa in competition here?

Perhaps coincidentally, there are also references to balls in this scene - snowballs. Interesting to contrast these snowballs to Tyrion as a fireball at the Alchemist's Guild. And there is another "taste" to go with Timett's taste of cold and the Hound's taste of fire: "She could feel the snow on her lashes, taste it on her lips. It was the taste of Winterfell. The taste of innocence. The taste of dreams."

One more random thought about the fox fur: I have been trying to figure out GRRM's heavy emphasis on the "kof, kof, kof" as part of Joffrey's last words at the wedding feast. I wonder if "kof" and "fox" are supposed to be sort of mirror image words? Maybe I'll post that question on the Puns and Wordplay thread.

Thanks for noting these important cloak scenes, LM and Springwatch. Lots of interesting food for thought.

[Elisabetta Duò]

On 13 giugno 2016 at 8:36 PM, Seams said:

it sounds as if the singers are singing about brave King Joffrey, but they never actually use his name. They refer to a golden-haired son of a previous king.

I didn't remember they didn't mention his name, interesting. It would be twice interesting if A+J=T turned out to be true (personally I'm not really a fan of this theory), because in that case, a golden-haired son of a previous king could be tyrion as well as jeoffrey. this way, instead, technically it can't be tyrion because tywin was hand of the king but not king (unless the tale was just being partly misleading). 

[Springwatch]

1 hour ago, Seams said:

Sansa left the shutters open as she dressed. It would be cold, she knew, though the Eyrie's towers encircled the garden and protected it from the worst of the mountain winds. She donned silken smallclothes and a linen shift, and over that a warm dress of blue lambswool. Two pairs of hose for her legs, boots that laced up to her knees, heavy leather gloves, and finally a hooded cloak of soft white fox fur.

Interesting that, here again, she is dressing herself while her maid sleeps. Not the old, passive Sansa we have seen. And it fits with some other things - she is excited about the snow, which she has not seen since leaving Winterfell, and she ends up building a snow version of Winterfell. (She has just seen clouds that look like two castles and then get "smushed" into one castle. Since she has referred to the Eyrie as a snow castle, there may be more than a small amount of foreshadowing here about Sansa become heir to both the Eyrie and Winterfell, although the colors of the cloud castles might indicate a Casterly Rock and Winterfell merger - the dialogue refers to a castle of gold.)

There are a number of references to foxes hiding in the woods in Brienne chapters. Since Brienne is "hunting" for Sansa, maybe the fox fur is the author's way of acknowledging that Sansa is Brienne's "prey." But the wearing of fur and Sansa's building of Winterfell out of snow seem like an important pair of symbols. Wearing fur is mostly a northern thing, I think, so it's particularly appropriate for this scene.

Thanks for looking into the fox fur, I didn't properly remember it.

I've been perfecting my own version of a clothes code, but I've not thought much about furs before now.

Following the line that cloaks mean protectors, I'd have to say the fox is Littlefinger, because no other protectors are present. It's a little unsatisfactory, because Littlefinger is already a mockingbird and a titan, and it's all a bit much - but the cunning fox is an excellent symbol for him, and I like the idea that Sansa is 'skinchanging' into a stronger, sharper mindset (even if it's Littlefinger's). I also notice Sansa gets a whole cloak, but Lysa, his wife, only has a bit of fur trim - so again we see where the protector's true loyalties lie.

My clothes code hasn't produced any great insights yet; I'm saving it for when I next read the books. But for what it's worth, I've got:

blue : disaster or death (you can hardly go wrong with disaster or death)
white : a person not as good as they pretend they are, a hypocrite
velvet: physical weakness, a victim
lambswool: an innocent victim
(silk or linen: no idea)

The black and white striped shadowskin would have to be a person neither as good as they pretend, nor as bad as people think. Or maybe just a person capable of both very good and very bad actions, which is a good fit for Tyrion, but not so much for Bronn.

[tugela]

1 hour ago, Seams said:

Nice catch, LM! I wonder what that means? Here is the excerpt:

They had warned him to dress warmly. Tyrion Lannister took them at their word. He was garbed in heavy quilted breeches and a woolen doublet, and over it all he had thrown the shadowskin cloak he had acquired in the Mountains of the Moon. The cloak was absurdly long, made for a man twice his height. When he was not ahorse, the only way to wear the thing was to wrap it around him several times, which made him look like a ball of striped fur.

Even so, he was glad he had listened. The chill in the long dank vault went bone deep. Timett had chosen to retreat back up to the cellar after a brief taste of the cold below.

Interesting that he specifically refers to the Mountains of the Moon and to Timett in the same paragraph with the reappearance of the cloak. (I also like GRRM's choice of the phrase, "when he was not ahorse..." Apparently, Tyrion is sometimes a horse. Where do horse go?) And I am always curious whether references to balls might allude to Ser Quentyn Ball, known as fireball. (Ser Quentyn, of course, loses out on his career ambitions to someone named Ser Willem Wylde.) It would certainly be appropriate to think of fireballs on a visit to the wildfire storage area. One of those great paragraphs packed with subtext that I love to try to puzzle out.

The scene in this sub-basement reminds me very much of scenes in the Winterfell crypt. There is a reference to "bone deep" and to the cold. I have discussed elsewhere that the lower level of the Red Keep and the Winterfell crypt are symbolic forges for turning people into weapons. Maybe Tyrion is being "turned into" a fireball during his descent below the cellar? It is wildfire, so maybe he is being turned into a wildling?

Timett is not interested in being transformed, apparently. Interesting to note that, during the battle, Tyrion notices that the Hound balks when he orders Bronn and the Hound to prevent fire from reaching the Guild of the Alchemists. "For half a heartbeat, Tyrion thought he glimpsed fear in the Hound's dark eyes. Fire, he realized. The Others take me, of course he hates fire, he's tasted it too well." The taste of fire is such an interesting contrast with Timett's aversion to the taste of cold and his retreat from it.

During his visit to the Alchemist, Tyrion asks for spare clay jars so the soldiers can practice handling the empty jars before they have to handle the loaded grenades:

"These clay jars . . . do you have an ample supply?"

"We do, my lord, and thank you for asking."

"You won't mind if I take some, then. A few thousand."

"A few thousand?"

"Or however many your guild can spare, without interfering with production. It's empty pots I'm asking for, understand. Have them sent round to the captains on each of the city gates."

"I will, my lord, but why . . . ?"

Tyrion smiled up at him. "When you tell me to dress warmly, I dress warmly. When you tell me to be careful, well . . . " He gave a shrug. "I've seen enough. Perhaps you would be so good as to escort me back up to my litter?"

So the wearing of the cloak is being compared to the safe handling of wildfire. Both describing protection and safety? Or is there another interpretation?

The scene confirms that the cloak made it to King's Landing and that Tyrion turns to it when he wants protection from the cold.

It is a cloak. Here's the excerpt:

Sansa left the shutters open as she dressed. It would be cold, she knew, though the Eyrie's towers encircled the garden and protected it from the worst of the mountain winds. She donned silken smallclothes and a linen shift, and over that a warm dress of blue lambswool. Two pairs of hose for her legs, boots that laced up to her knees, heavy leather gloves, and finally a hooded cloak of soft white fox fur.

Interesting that, here again, she is dressing herself while her maid sleeps. Not the old, passive Sansa we have seen. And it fits with some other things - she is excited about the snow, which she has not seen since leaving Winterfell, and she ends up building a snow version of Winterfell. (She has just seen clouds that look like two castles and then get "smushed" into one castle. Since she has referred to the Eyrie as a snow castle, there may be more than a small amount of foreshadowing here about Sansa become heir to both the Eyrie and Winterfell, although the colors of the cloud castles might indicate a Casterly Rock and Winterfell merger - the dialogue refers to a castle of gold.)

There are a number of references to foxes hiding in the woods in Brienne chapters. Since Brienne is "hunting" for Sansa, maybe the fox fur is the author's way of acknowledging that Sansa is Brienne's "prey." But the wearing of fur and Sansa's building of Winterfell out of snow seem like an important pair of symbols. Wearing fur is mostly a northern thing, I think, so it's particularly appropriate for this scene.

As I read further, I notice that Aunt Lysa is wrapped in a blue velvet robe trimmed with fox fur as she looks down on Sansa building the snow castle, though. So maybe the fox fur isn't unique to Sansa. Maybe it shows Sansa and Lysa in competition here?

Perhaps coincidentally, there are also references to balls in this scene - snowballs. Interesting to contrast these snowballs to Tyrion as a fireball at the Alchemist's Guild. And there is another "taste" to go with Timett's taste of cold and the Hound's taste of fire: "She could feel the snow on her lashes, taste it on her lips. It was the taste of Winterfell. The taste of innocence. The taste of dreams."

One more random thought about the fox fur: I have been trying to figure out GRRM's heavy emphasis on the "kof, kof, kof" as part of Joffrey's last words at the wedding feast. I wonder if "kof" and "fox" are supposed to be sort of mirror image words? Maybe I'll post that question on the Puns and Wordplay thread.

Thanks for noting these important cloak scenes, LM and Springwatch. Lots of interesting food for thought.

There is nothing particularly symbolic about fox fur. It was a commonly used fur for cloak trimmings.

[Lost Melnibonean]

Someone wrote a thread about Jon Connington's red fox cloak you might find interesting. 

[Isobel Harper]

6 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Someone wrote a thread about Jon Connington's red fox cloak you might find interesting. 

That was me.  I lost it during the forum update. 

The thread concerned Connington's "red wolfskin cloak of the Royne" that he wears in all of Tyrion's chapters and in one of his own.  In Tyrion's chapters, the cloak is mentioned whenever (within the same paragraph) that Connington appears in said chapters.  The Connington chapter where the cloak makes an appearance is at the end of The Lost Lord  (Jon Connington I) when he derobes and degloves, revealing the greyscale - ie turns out he'd been wearing the cloak the whole chapter. 

I think the cloak symbolizes something R+L, makes an illusion to Connington bring a sort Ned Stark echo, or both. 

[Seams]

17 hours ago, tugela said:

There is nothing particularly symbolic about fox fur. It was a commonly used fur for cloak trimmings.

Silly me. And here I was thinking that GRRM puts meaningful details into his novels. Thanks for setting us straight.

15 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Someone wrote a thread about Jon Connington's red fox wolf cloak you might find interesting. 

 

8 hours ago, Isobel Harper said:

That was me.  I lost it during the forum update. 

The thread concerned Connington's "red wolfskin cloak of the Royne" that he wears in all of Tyrion's chapters and in one of his own.  In Tyrion's chapters, the cloak is mentioned whenever (within the same paragraph) that Connington appears in said chapters.  The Connington chapter where the cloak makes an appearance is at the end of The Lost Lord  (Jon Connington I) when he derobes and degloves, revealing the greyscale - ie turns out he'd been wearing the cloak the whole chapter. 

I think the cloak symbolizes something R+L, makes an illusion to Connington bring a sort Ned Stark echo, or both. 

Excellent! I bet the parallel between Connington and Ned Stark is deliberate - both raised and helped to hide mysterious foundling "sons" who appear to have destinies as kings. Connington also becomes a father-figure for Tyrion in the time their paths overlap, and he rescues Tyrion from the river, probably contracting greyscale as a result.

In other clothes-related symbolism, it is Connington who instructs Tyrion to sew his own garment after Tyrion emerges from a different swim in the river (both the pleasant swim and the stonemen swim represent symbolic rebirths for Tyrion). The garment ends up being a fool's motley, made out of old clothes that were in a trunk aboard the Shy Maid. (Provided by Illyrio, I think?) The garment has seven types of fabric, and this makes me think it is a symbol for the Seven Kingdoms. Tyrion enjoys the task of sewing.

Isn't Connington back at Griffin's Roost when he takes off his glove and the reader learns about the greyscale? I bet there's some kind of symbolism around the return home that coincides with the removal of the wolf cloak. This might parallel Ned Stark's missing bones and the importance of interring Stark remains in the Winterfell crypt with stone likenesses of each Lord to guard them.

[Lost Melnibonean]

9 hours ago, Isobel Harper said:

That was me.  I lost it during the forum update. 

The thread concerned Connington's "red wolfskin cloak of the Royne" that he wears in all of Tyrion's chapters and in one of his own.  In Tyrion's chapters, the cloak is mentioned whenever (within the same paragraph) that Connington appears in said chapters.  The Connington chapter where the cloak makes an appearance is at the end of The Lost Lord  (Jon Connington I) when he derobes and degloves, revealing the greyscale - ie turns out he'd been wearing the cloak the whole chapter. 

I think the cloak symbolizes something R+L, makes an illusion to Connington bring a sort Ned Stark echo, or both. 

I thought it was you, but I couldn't remember and I couldn't find it.

[Lost Melnibonean]

34 minutes ago, Seams said:

Silly me. And here I was thinking that GRRM puts meaningful details into his novels. Thanks for setting us straight.

 

Excellent! I bet the parallel between Connington and Ned Stark is deliberate - both raised and helped to hide mysterious foundling "sons" who appear to have destinies as kings. Connington also becomes a father-figure for Tyrion in the time their paths overlap, and he rescues Tyrion from the river, probably contracting greyscale as a result.

In other clothes-related symbolism, it is Connington who instructs Tyrion to sew his own garment after Tyrion emerges from a different swim in the river (both the pleasant swim and the stonemen swim represent symbolic rebirths for Tyrion). The garment ends up being a fool's motley, made out of old clothes that were in a trunk aboard the Shy Maid. (Provided by Illyrio, I think?) The garment has seven types of fabric, and this makes me think it is a symbol for the Seven Kingdoms. Tyrion enjoys the task of sewing.

Isn't Connington back at Griffin's Roost when he takes off his glove and the reader learns about the greyscale? I bet there's some kind of symbolism around the return home that coincides with the removal of the wolf cloak. This might parallel Ned Stark's missing bones and the importance of interring Stark remains in the Winterfell crypt with stone likenesses of each Lord to guard them.

And Redwyne colors? 

I am pretty sure Jon Connington picks his finger at the end of the The Lost Lord... with an open tent flap, I might add. 

[Isobel Harper]

5 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

And Redwyne colors? 

I am pretty sure Jon Connington picks his finger at the end of the The Lost Lord... with an open tent flap, I might add. 

Yes.  He was still at the GC camp, just before they sailed west.  

As for the colors of Tyrion's various clothes, I'm sure they signify something, though what/whom I'm not sure.

[Seams]

I stand corrected on the location of Jon Con removing his red wolf cloak. I'll have to go back and look at that one.

Here is the description of Tyrion's crazy suit on the Shy Maid:

His clothing was still soaked from his involuntary swim, clinging to his arms and legs uncomfortably. Whilst Young Griff went off with Septa Lemore to be instructed in the mysteries of the Faith, Tyrion stripped off the wet clothes and donned dry ones. Duck had a good guffaw when he emerged on deck again. He could not blame him. Dressed as he was, he made a comic sight. His doublet was divided down the middle; the left side was purple velvet with bronze studs; the right, yellow wool embroidered in green floral patterns. His breeches were similarly split; the right leg was solid green, the left leg striped in red and white. One of Illyrio's chests had been packed with a child's clothing, musty but well made. Septa Lemore had slit each garment apart, then sewn them back together, joining half of this to half of that to fashion a crude motley. Griff had even insisted that Tyrion help with the cutting and sewing. No doubt he meant for it to be humbling, but Tyrion enjoyed the needlework. Lemore was always pleasant company, despite her penchant for scolding him whenever he said something rude about the gods. If Griff wants to cast me as the fool, I'll play the game. Somewhere, he knew, Lord Tywin Lannister was horrified, and that took the sting from it.

So we have his shirt:

left side was purple velvet with bronze studs;

the right, yellow wool embroidered in green floral patterns

pants:

right leg was solid green,

the left leg striped in red and white

I had remembered seven different fabrics, but I guess it's more like seven different elements or colors. Maybe the number 7 isn't significant, but I bet the colors and patterns are. The colors in the shirt are complementary colors - purple vs. yellow. Same for the breeches: green vs. red. I guess the bronze is meant to contrast with flowers - are these masculine and feminine symbols? And the stripes and solids are opposites. Are these clothes a continuation of Tyrion's mismatched eyes?

It's probably also significant that Septa Lemore takes the lead in making the outfit. Crones and septas often dress women before their weddings or, in Cersei and Margaery's situations, when they are are imprisoned. Crones are also often found in the company of fools.

Tyrion uses the phrase, "If Griff wants to cast me as the fool . . . " This suggests a mummers' show or performance of some kind. The following spoiler hides some thoughts about how this might relate to a The Winds of Winter chapter (spoiler alert).

 

In the released "Mercy" chapter, Arya has joined a troupe of actors who perform plays in the manner of Shakespeare and other acting companies of the Elizabethan era. One of the plays is a fictionalized version of the death of King Robert and the ensuing events for Joffrey, etc. In one scene, a raunchy, villainous dwarf, modelled on Tyrion, rapes a character played by Arya as part of the drama. Does this make Arya a Tysha figure? Before the play begins, Arya helps the dwarf to get dressed. She also helps the actor playing the King Robert character to find his missing crown before the show begins. When she is helping him to get dressed, is Arya a crone at that point? What does it mean that both Tyrion and Arya are "actors" during their stopovers in Essos?

[Isobel Harper]

20 minutes ago, Seams said:

I stand corrected on the location of Jon Con removing his red wolf cloak. I'll have to go back and look at that one.

Here is the description of Tyrion's crazy suit on the Shy Maid:

His clothing was still soaked from his involuntary swim, clinging to his arms and legs uncomfortably. Whilst Young Griff went off with Septa Lemore to be instructed in the mysteries of the Faith, Tyrion stripped off the wet clothes and donned dry ones. Duck had a good guffaw when he emerged on deck again. He could not blame him. Dressed as he was, he made a comic sight. His doublet was divided down the middle; the left side was purple velvet with bronze studs; the right, yellow wool embroidered in green floral patterns. His breeches were similarly split; the right leg was solid green, the left leg striped in red and white. One of Illyrio's chests had been packed with a child's clothing, musty but well made. Septa Lemore had slit each garment apart, then sewn them back together, joining half of this to half of that to fashion a crude motley. Griff had even insisted that Tyrion help with the cutting and sewing. No doubt he meant for it to be humbling, but Tyrion enjoyed the needlework. Lemore was always pleasant company, despite her penchant for scolding him whenever he said something rude about the gods. If Griff wants to cast me as the fool, I'll play the game. Somewhere, he knew, Lord Tywin Lannister was horrified, and that took the sting from it.

So we have his shirt:

left side was purple velvet with bronze studs;

the right, yellow wool embroidered in green floral patterns

pants:

right leg was solid green,

the left leg striped in red and white

I had remembered seven different fabrics, but I guess it's more like seven different elements or colors. Maybe the number 7 isn't significant, but I bet the colors and patterns are. The colors in the shirt are complimentary colors - purple vs. yellow. Same for the breeches: green vs. red. I guess the bronze is meant to contrast with flowers - are these masculine and feminine symbols? And the stripes and solids are opposites. Are these clothes a continuation of Tyrion's mismatched eyes?

It's probably also significant that Septa Lemore takes the lead in making the outfit. Crones and septas often dress women before their weddings or, in Cersei and Margaery's situations, when they are are imprisoned. Crones are also often found in the company of fools.

Tyrion uses the phrase, "If Griff wants to cast me as the fool . . . " This suggests a mummers' show or performance of some kind. The following spoiler hides some thoughts about how this might relate to a The Winds of Winter chapter (spoiler alert).

 

  Hide contents

In the released "Mercy" chapter, Arya has joined a troupe of actors who perform plays in the manner of Shakespeare and other acting companies of the Elizabethan era. One of the plays is a fictionalized version of the death of King Robert and the ensuing events for Joffrey, etc. In one scene, a raunchy, villainous dwarf, modelled on Tyrion, rapes a character played by Arya as part of the drama. Does this make Arya a Tysha figure? Before the play begins, Arya helps the dwarf to get dressed. She also helps the actor playing the King Robert character to find his missing crown before the show begins. When she is helping him to get dressed, is Arya a crone at that point? What does it mean that both Tyrion and Arya are "actors" during their stopovers in Essos?

 

Good catch on the complementary colors.

I wonder if the clothing represents the people on the Shy Maid.  Red and white stripes remind me of Connington's white and red griffin.  Yellow with a green floral pattern (with it being Tyrell colors reversed) *might* allude to someone baseborn from the Reach, i.e. Duck.  Not sure what to conclude from the other two, except that "purple with bronze" and "green" might be a clue to Lemore and Haldon's identity/background.  Other than that, I got nothing. 

 

[Springwatch]

13 hours ago, Seams said:

So we have his shirt:

left side was purple velvet with bronze studs;

the right, yellow wool embroidered in green floral patterns

pants:

right leg was solid green,

the left leg striped in red and white

I had remembered seven different fabrics, but I guess it's more like seven different elements or colors. Maybe the number 7 isn't significant, but I bet the colors and patterns are. The colors in the shirt are complementary colors - purple vs. yellow. Same for the breeches: green vs. red. I guess the bronze is meant to contrast with flowers - are these masculine and feminine symbols? And the stripes and solids are opposites. Are these clothes a continuation of Tyrion's mismatched eyes?

I too am looking for clues to Lemore's identity, but I can't think of anything here. Shame, because mysteries begin to feel like shaggy dog stories if they go on and on.

My best guess for Tyrion's outfit is this:

Tyrion's identity is a mix of many parts, represented by motley clothing.

Purple is for royalty, and it is not a dilute shade, so a very strong link to royalty. Velvet for physical weakness. Bronze is the metal of winter. So either he will be Dany's right hand man, or he will make a bid for the throne himself, perhaps being King in the winter.

Yellow is the colour of warriors. Well... grrm wants Tyrion to be a fighter, so that's what he is. (And he enjoys needlework = Needle = swordplay!) I hope the green floral patterns stand for the green shoots of spring, and that is what Tyrion is fighting for. I doubt wool means anything good, but at least it's not lambswool, which is definitely for victims. (Oh dear, it could be victimhood without the innocence.)

Solid green. I have a lot of trouble interpreting greens; if it's the bright, jewel-like greens worn by Cersei and Renly, I'd say a large proportion of Tyrion's character is consumed by envy and ambition. I think this is true. Tyrion has spent a long time trying to serve arrogant, abusive masters; I think he's sick of it.

Striped red and white. By my current theories this is a mix of blood-thirstiness and the wish to be thought a good person, which is probably right enough.