The Colors of Magic: spitballing the spectrum

[hiemal]

I've seen a lot of really interesting ideas about colors and what they mean recently and I thought it might be productive to start a thread specifically on that theme. If you have any ideas about colors, gems, eyes, metals, , magic, the Seven, yadda yadda trot them out! No matter how vague.

For example:

I'm playing with the idea of color schemes and "branches" of magic. I see white and red as representing the power of the weirwoods and their network. This is reflected in the theme of albinism.

The power of fire- of R'hlorr of flame and shadow as well as House Targaryen- seems to red and black.

The power of ice would be white and blue as in the skin and the eyes of the Others.

The power of the sea I'm guessing is blue and black, as the Shade of the Evening and

Spoiler

Euron's eyes.

 

Just spit and tinfoil at this point but you get the idea.

Does anyone have any interesting ideas about dragon scales? I've been looking to work some fresh tinfoil on those colors in particular.

 

 

 

[Lady Blizzardborn]

Don't forget the green for the CotF!

I've got nothing major on the dragon scales except that it seems the black, and maybe the red, dragons tend to grow the largest/fastest and be the fiercest. Balerion, Caraxes, Drogon. You might want to look at the color of their fire as well. Balerion's was black with swirls of red...much like him and much like Drogon's egg and scales.

Of course there's something to be said for the Blue Queen as well--she was up against two older and bigger dragons and still put up one heck of a fight.

[hiemal]

1 hour ago, Lady Blizzardborn said:

Don't forget the green for the CotF!

 

I haven't forgotten it- I just haven't found a place yet

Jojen's eyes in particular demand explanation but beyond the greed/red/blue dreams and the Green Men I don't have a lot of connections beyond the Lannister's and Cersei's emeralds.

[Curled Finger]

 @hiemal  are you also factoring the general consensus' meaning of colors in things other than magic?  I was not big into that whole idea but I remember blue = lies and I think red = secret Targ or something along those lines.  Folks have a lot of ideas about color so it may be difficult to pinpoint a single color representing a single type of magic.   However, I'm not an authority on this and it would be useful to have a reliable categorization when proving or disproving actual associations.  The colors I am interested in are red, green and possibly blue as I am convinced there is something to the instances of silk pulled from water, but I haven't yet determined what the significance may be. 

[hiemal]

3 minutes ago, Curled Finger said:

 @hiemal  are you also factoring the general consensus' meaning of colors in things other than magic?  I was not big into that whole idea but I remember blue = lies and I think red = secret Targ or something along those lines.  Folks have a lot of ideas about color so it may be difficult to pinpoint a single color representing a single type of magic.   However, I'm not an authority on this and it would be useful to have a reliable categorization when proving or disproving actual associations.  The colors I am interested in are red, green and possibly blue as I am convinced there is something to the instances of silk pulled from water, but I haven't yet determined what the significance may be. 

To the extant that I know them. I've heard a few vague things about the colors of horses but can't recall anything specific. I think the wine code is probably correct.

The silk sounds promising- it's loaded with symbolism so if you hit on anything let me know!

[Renly's Banana]

I think you're definitely on to something when it comes to weirwood magic and its colors. It's almost exclusively white and red like the weirwoods themselves. The Ghost of High Heart, Jojen paste, Bloodraven, etc. The color green seems to be closely tied to it too, i.e. Jojen's eyes, his "green dreams", the Children. I guess you could say all these colors are just natural to trees and foliage; it's all earth-based magic that comes from nature.

Although you could also argue that green is a very dangerous and unpredictable color in our story: Wildfire, Cersei almost always wears greens, Tyrion's one green eye which could represent his volatility along with his father's eyes, Littlefinger's eyes and his house sigil, the Green Grace(???). I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting.

[Curled Finger]

Just now, hiemal said:

To the extant that I know them. I've heard a few vague things about the colors of horses but can't recall anything specific. I think the wine code is probably correct.

The silk sounds promising- it's loaded with symbolism so if you hit on anything let me know!

Mance's cloak is repaired with red silk that washes ashore, the brothers on the Quiet Isle pull bolts of an unknown color silk from the river shores, Euron overtakes the Warlocks on a ship where silk is mentioned being aboard and Serra dies on a ship also mentioned to have silk aboard and I think green silk is specifically mentioned in that one.   We've got abandonment, secrets and secret storage, black magic (or blue magic since they are warlocks) and death or plague.   None of these things seem like good things, but I'm not convinced there are unpleasant things going on at the QI.  

Red eyes are supposed to be associated with greenseers and moss green eyes are indicative of green dreamers.  I reckon purple eyes indicate some sort command of fire or dragons.  Oh why not just go for the whole enchillada and associate those violet to indigo colored eyes with sphinxes too?  You make a good point about Euron's eyes, let's try to expand that to Tyrion and Sheira Seastar.  Daario and Aegon's eyes seem to change color.  Jon Snow's grey eyes seem almost black.  Arya's grey eyes are temporarily blinded.   Our wargs are blue and grey-eyed.   Does any of it mean anything in direct relationship to the potential color of magic?    

[hiemal]

Just now, Renly's Banana said:

I think you're definitely on to something when it comes to weirwood magic and its colors. It's almost exclusively white and red like the weirwoods themselves. The Ghost of High Heart, Jojen paste, Bloodraven, etc. The color green seems to be closely tied to it too, i.e. Jojen's eyes, his "green dreams", the Children. I guess you could say all these colors are just natural to trees and foliage; it's all earth-based magic that comes from nature.

Although you could also argue that green is a very dangerous and unpredictable color in our story: Wildfire, Cersei almost always wears greens, Tyrion's one green eye which could represent his volatility, the Green Grace(???). I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting.

Wilfire! How could I have forgotten that one!? And I think you've nailed it one word.

[hiemal]

10 minutes ago, Curled Finger said:

Mance's cloak is repaired with red silk that washes ashore, the brothers on the Quiet Isle pull bolts of an unknown color silk from the river shores, Euron overtakes the Warlocks on a ship where silk is mentioned being aboard and Serra dies on a ship also mentioned to have silk aboard and I think green silk is specifically mentioned in that one.   We've got abandonment, secrets and secret storage, black magic (or blue magic since they are warlocks) and death or plague.   None of these things seem like good things, but I'm not convinced there are unpleasant things going on at the QI. 

Since silk is associated moths I wonder if it is safe to link with it change/metamorphosis- death and plague both fit that billing.

If the green of wildfire and emeralds is linked with... unpredictable lethality (?) that would fit with green silks as agents of plague. I wonder if green-eyed greenseers burned out young and the red-eyed ones are the lot Bran sees en-treed in Bloodraven's cave?

[hiemal]

10 minutes ago, Curled Finger said:

 

Red eyes are supposed to be associated with greenseers and moss green eyes are indicative of green dreamers.  I reckon purple eyes indicate some sort command of fire or dragons.  Oh why not just go for the whole enchillada and associate those violet to indigo colored eyes with sphinxes too?  You make a good point about Euron's eyes, let's try to expand that to Tyrion and Sheira Seastar.  Daario and Aegon's eyes seem to change color.  Jon Snow's grey eyes seem almost black.  Arya's grey eyes are temporarily blinded.   Our wargs are blue and grey-eyed.   Does any of it mean anything in direct relationship to the potential color of magic?    

I've been playing around with purple as a combination of red and blue- like the Tully colors for example- and the heterochromia begs for meaning. Both purple and having mismatched eyes seem sphinxlike traits. I don't suppose there are any cases of one purple eye heterochromia?

 

[Curled Finger]

1 minute ago, hiemal said:

Since silk is associated moths I wonder if it is safe to link with it change/metamorphosis- death and plague both fit that billing.

If the green of wildfire and emeralds is linked with... unpredictable lethality (?) that would fit with green silks as agents of plague. I wonder if green-eyed greenseers burned out young and the red-eyed ones are the lot Bran sees en-treed in Bloodraven's cave?

Don't know, but moths are a fine place to start.  

We were chatting a bit about eye colors which are fascinating.   I recalled 2 characters with 2 definite hair colors.  Tyrion and Jaqen Hagar.  Does that mean anything to a color code?  Then again there are Daario, Aegon, Sansa and Griff with changing hair colors.   

[hiemal]

Just now, Curled Finger said:

Don't know, but moths are a fine place to start.  

We were chatting a bit about eye colors which are fascinating.   I recalled 2 characters with 2 definite hair colors.  Tyrion and Jaqen Hagar.  Does that mean anything to a color code?  Then again there are Daario, Aegon, Sansa and Griff with changing hair colors.   

And Darkstar- speaking of purple eyes. Oh yeah, it has to have meaning. Or at least I want it to, lol

 

[The Fattest Leech]

I haven't seen yellow mentioned yet. 

Yellow should be looked into as well 

 

now that hat I think about it, maybe yellow links more to other, nonmagical actions 

[Renly's Banana]

Actually I kinda want to add on to that green color theory. I guess it's not really related to magic as much as it is a thematic thing but.. whatever. 

Along with being an unpredictable danger in our story, I'd also say that green is associated with hunger and greed. Green in our story is a color that wants to keep consuming and growing. Think of the Tyrells, who are closely tied to that color. Baelish also tends to wear somber colors, except his bright green eyes always pop out. His house sigils (the old and new) are also green. Cersei, like wildfire, also wants to keep growing and taking more and more -- her eyes and clothes tend to be green. The Twins, home of the greediest clan in our story, sits on top of the Green Fork; in fact they control that whole river.
We don't really know what the Green Grace's deal is yet but.. I don't trust her, so I'm putting a pin on her for now.

[Kienn]

Fire and Blood are the words

Black and Red are the colors

Black = Fire

Red = Blood

Goldcloaks and the golden company

Gold = Swords

White and Grey are the colors

Snow and Stone are the lands

White = Snow/Ice

Grey = Stone

There are others I can't remember atm.

[hiemal]

1 hour ago, The Fattest Leech said:

I haven't seen yellow mentioned yet. 

Yellow should be looked into as well 

 

now that hat I think about it, maybe yellow links more to other, nonmagical actions 

Possibly.Yellow is gold and the sun- both potent but not magical but amber is magical in a preservative sense and found in jewelry and in eyes.And honey! Honey is sunlight alchemically changed into gold, contrasted I believe with wildfire.

[hiemal]

16 minutes ago, Kienn said:

Fire and Blood are the words

Black and Red are the colors

Black = Fire

Red = Blood

Goldcloaks and the golden company

Gold = Swords

White and Grey are the colors

Snow and Stone are the lands

White = Snow/Ice

Grey = Stone

There are others I can't remember atm.

Blue and white (moon and sky) for the Arryns and blue and red for the Tullys (water and clay)?

[hiemal]

38 minutes ago, Renly's Banana said:

Actually I kinda want to add on to that green color theory. I guess it's not really related to magic as much as it is a thematic thing but.. whatever. 

Along with being an unpredictable danger in our story, I'd also say that green is associated with hunger and greed. Green in our story is a color that wants to keep consuming and growing. Think of the Tyrells, who are closely tied to that color. Baelish also tends to wear somber colors, except his bright green eyes always pop out. His house sigils (the old and new) are also green. Cersei, like wildfire, also wants to keep growing and taking more and more -- her eyes and clothes tend to be green. The Twins, home of the greediest clan in our story, sits on top of the Green Fork; in fact they control that whole river.
We don't really know what the Green Grace's deal is yet but.. I don't trust her, so I'm putting a pin on her for now.

Something that consumes and transforms instead of purifies.

I like it, but I'm struggling to put a label on it.

Feverish corruption and growth, maybe?

[Curled Finger]

9 hours ago, hiemal said:

And Darkstar- speaking of purple eyes. Oh yeah, it has to have meaning. Or at least I want it to, lol

 

Oh heck yes.   You've got some great suggestions and input.  Let's break it down into the simplest form.    And what do you suppose brown could indicate?   

 

8 hours ago, Kienn said:

Fire and Blood are the words

Black and Red are the colors

Black = Fire

Red = Blood

Goldcloaks and the golden company

Gold = Swords

White and Grey are the colors

Snow and Stone are the lands

White = Snow/Ice

Grey = Stone

There are others I can't remember atm.

Where did this fine list come from?   It's a good representation of possibility.  

[hiemal]

1 hour ago, Curled Finger said:

Oh heck yes.   You've got some great suggestions and input.  Let's break it down into the simplest form.    And what do you suppose brown could indicate?  

My guess is that brown is the "common" hair color of unaltered humanity.

Blond seems linked to gold and the sun.

Red hair needs to broken down into "normal" human red and "Melisandre" red. She seems to be wearing her eye color in her hair. Is that natural? Does the meaning of the color change from eye to hair?

Bald? Black hair? Gray? White? Bald? The sphinxes riddle in men's hair?

Speaking of multicolored hair- what about the Tyroshi and their dyes? Daario with his blue and gold hair?  Archon's daughter and interestingly enough the young Manderly girl with their green locks also seem significant.