Armor old, armor new; armor borrowed, armor blue?

[LynnS]

2 minutes ago, Lady Dacey said:

Renly's and Val's eyes seem like genuine depction of real eye colour to me, truly. That's not connected to the OP though, and I do think there might be something magical about Renly's armour and about the Hound's helm and anything else from Tobho's forge. I just don't think it's eye colour connected, is all. We can have different opinions and move on I guess  

Fair enough.  But don't you think the description of Ramsey with his close set, beady eyes and pudgy body sets him up as the Rat Cook in the story? Snow is such a white name. LOL

[Lady Dacey]

7 minutes ago, LynnS said:

But don't you think the description of Ramsey with his close set, beady eyes and pudgy body sets him up as the Rat Cook in the story?

It's a great parallel, but see it as more symbolic than magical... 

[LynnS]

33 minutes ago, Lady Dacey said:

It's a great parallel, but see it as more symbolic than magical... 

No not magical, only that Old Nan's story of the Rat King is being played by Ramsey.  What's going on with Roose is another story.

[Springwatch]

14 hours ago, Seams said:

I meant to cite another example: Mance wears the rattleshirt of the Lord of Bones when he is glamored by Melisandre. This is part of creating the disguise, and could tie into Jaime's description of Garlan in Renly's armor as a "masquerade."

The disguise and the masquerade is what strikes me most. I'd guess it's not so much the 'borrowed' bit that's important, more the badge, the branding that goes with that armour: armour is very close to arms in the way it tells the world who you are and what you are. That identity might not even be the 'real' you, but dominate you all the same: e.g. Sandor seems to let the Hound identity carry him through the uglier episodes in his life.

So maybe the link between Tyrion and Lyanna is that neither of them got branded by their armour - they stayed in their right minds the whole time. The other time Tyrion fought (the Blackwater), he wore custom-made armour with (I think) a helm shaped like a demon. That time he felt like a warrior (like Jaime?), and he fought like a demi-god.

[Back door hodor]

This kinda reminds me of Dani's "floppy ears" Not just her tokars either, she is a chameleon, changing the style of her dress constantly to better fit in with those around her or to suit her current situation . On the surface it appears to simply be a sign of her intelligence, especially when compared to her brother in AGOT, Dani quickly embraces not just the dothraki style of dress(her painted vest and riding leathers) but thier culture as well. Viserys does not and we see how rhis works out for both of them.

 

Granted most of her new clothes are not actually borrowed, though i suppose the clothes she is wearing when we meet her the first time could fall under this category, aa they are all from illyrio.(the quartheen gowns as well maybe, as they are gifts from Xaro.) So we kinda have the reverse with her, starting out in borrowed clothes and ending up in her own, but it does fit with the idea of changing clothes to change the person

[Seams]

15 hours ago, Lucius Lovejoy said:

Tyrion in AGOT when first facing the mountain clans on the way to the Vale picks up a helm, dirk, axe, and cloak on the way.  He gets more armor/weaponry as Catelyn's doubts to Tyrion's guilt grows.

Eddard in AGOT borrows clothes for his first small council meeting.  Could symbolize how uncomfortable/out of his place he is.

Ramsay wearing Reek's outfit in ACOK (could have been ASOS) to trick Theon and the northerners.  Could also foreshadow the new Reek "borrowing" Theon's armor to take Moat Cailin.  In both cases the person they are borrowing from is who they really are (Ramsay really is a foul man, Reek really is Theon) and yet they "pretend" to be themselves in order to bring death.

These are excellent examples! This contributes to that "masquerade" situation Jaime noted when Garlan wore Renly's armor, except the first two men are not consciously trying to be someone other than themselves and the second two men may be showing who they truly are instead of hiding behind "mummer" identities.

Your examples also reinforce to me that the armor has to be considered alongside clothing in general: people are forced by circumstances to change their identities and their true colors by wearing someone else's clothes or by taking up arms and armors to defend against attack. I am starting to think of other situations where we see characters changing clothes or wearing something unexpected or getting a tear in a sleeve. GRRM tells us something each time this happens, I bet.

[Lady Dacey]

15 minutes ago, Seams said:

I am starting to think of other situations where we see characters changing clothes or wearing something unexpected or getting a tear in a sleeve. GRRM tells us something each time this happens, I bet.

Like Sansa describing her new gown and then finding out it's a wedding dress? How does it connect with the armour?

[Seams]

14 hours ago, Curled Finger said:

We've got Tyrion, Penny and Jorah all wearing "borrowed" armor during their stint with the Second Sons in ADWD. Tyrion goes to great lengths to find "suitable" armor for Penny.

This one particularly intrigues me. On your Crannogman thread, I started to ponder the reciprocal relationship between squires and knights. It does seem as if Tyrion and Penny have a jumbled up relationship to each other in terms of which one is the squire and which one is the knight. Penny teaches Tyrion to fake-joust, which would be a knight or master-at-arms job, but she also helps him in and out of his armor, which is a squire's job. And your point reminds me that Tyrion is acting as a squire here, finding armor for Penny, just as Pod helped to put together mismatched cast-offs for Tyrion at the Green Fork.

And the "Penny" motif ties both of them to Ser Arlan of Pennytree and Ser Illifer the Pennyless, I suspect. The Pennytree itself is "armored" with hundreds of pennies nailed to its trunk. But maybe the penny symbolism requires a thread of its own.

Thanks for checking in! I know you have a lot of irons in the fire at the moment.

[Seams]

7 hours ago, LynnS said:

. . . I'm guessing that you are wondering about the attributes of certain pieces of armor or clothing that are magicked up in some way or carry some memory of the previous owners.  Thoros' trepidation about Clegane's helm is an example.  Melisandre explains that bones, articles of clothing, etc. can carry a memory of their previous owner that can be drawn out to cloak another in a glamor. 

This is a big part of what I was hoping would come out in this discussion. Just as Bran finds he can connect with long-gone CotF who skinchanged into a crow because some of their essence remains after they have been in the mind of that bird.

7 hours ago, LynnS said:

The thing that strikes me the most about Renley's armor is that it changes the eye color of whomever wears it to green.  Another case of mysterious eye color would be Val.  Jon first describes her eyes as pale grey and then blue. When she returns from her mission beyond the Wall, she is wearing white bear skins and a weirwood pin.  Not the clothing she set out in.  So I wonder if this is something akin to 'Renley's armor'.  The effect of her appearance on Jon is that she is the lovliest thing he has ever seen; rather than what's going on with her eyes.

The armor affecting eye color of the person wearing it could (yet again - sorry to be so single-minded!) confirm the egg / eye / Ei wordplay - armor is like an egg shell out of which a person will hatch but the close relationship between eggs and eyes (in the author's artistry) means that the eyes are colored by the egg shell. Many of the examples you discuss in subsequent posts focus on the way that other people see the changing eye color of the person, but I wonder whether that person sees the world differently, looking out from the newly-recolored eyes.

Returning again to the "masquerade" function of armor, as I was writing the OP, I started to think about masks in the books and how closely those are related to armor and helmets. Quaithe wears a red door on her face, Catelyn prays before masks representing the Seven gods. But Morna White Mask, warrior witch, stood out to me: she offers to be a man or woman, whichever Jon Snow prefers. Something tells me this weirwood mask links to Val and to the Knight of the Laughing Tree, who may or may not be a woman. Jon gives Morna the Queensgate castle, which may reinforce the persistent notion of Val as a wildling princess and Lyanna / possible-KotLT as Rhaegar's second wife or paramour.

8 hours ago, LynnS said:

Qyburn is another one who uses eye color to great affect.  His warm brown eyes disarm Jaime, working against his perception that Qyburn is a monster who can't be trusted.  While Cersei thinks that Qyburn's bold blue eyes remind her of something.

I see what you did there. Lol.

[Seams]

7 hours ago, PrettyPig said:

I will be convinced until the last page of the series that something was going on with Rhaegar’s fancy black armor — armor that as described sounds similar that of Daemon I Blackfyre, I might add....particularly the winged dragon helm.   I’m not sure what to make of that.

There’s also the “hall of dragons” that may be significant:

Seems like pretty easy access to some old Targaryen armor—I wonder if someone helped themselves to a piece or two at some point?

It is intriguing. I hadn't realized that his armor was similar to Blackfyre armor. Maybe this confirms that he was trying to unseat Aerys and get to the throne himself.

That hall of dragons is the same "long gallery" Sansa and Ser Dontos pass through on their escape after Joffrey's wedding feast:

They continued down the serpentine and across a small sunken courtyard. Ser Dontos shoved open a heavy door and lit a taper. They were inside a long gallery. Along the walls stood empty suits of armor, dark and dusty, their helms crested with rows of scales that continued down their backs. As they hurried past, the taper's light made the shadows of each scale stretch and twist. The hollow knights are turning into dragons, she thought.

One more stair took them to an oaken door banded with iron. "Be strong now, my Jonquil, you are almost there." When Dontos lifted the bar and pulled open the door, Sansa felt a cold breeze on her face. She passed through twelve feet of wall, and then she was outside the castle, standing at the top of the cliff. Below was the river, above the sky, and one was as black as the other.

ASoS, Sansa V

I have the feeling that this long gallery is like the Targaryen version of the Winterfell crypt, where Bran and Theon have described kings and lords coming alive in various ways (and where Jon has dreamed of receiving instructions from dead Starks). People may have helped themselves to a piece or two of armor, just as Bran and his traveling companions helped themselves to swords in the Winterfell crypt. Or maybe we are witnessing the "hatching" of Targaryen dragons just as Joffrey has died and the Lannister hold on the seven kingdoms starts to become more chaotic and insecure.

[Curled Finger]

1 hour ago, Seams said:

This one particularly intrigues me. On your Crannogman thread, I started to ponder the reciprocal relationship between squires and knights. It does seem as if Tyrion and Penny have a jumbled up relationship to each other in terms of which one is the squire and which one is the knight. Penny teaches Tyrion to fake-joust, which would be a knight or master-at-arms job, but she also helps him in and out of his armor, which is a squire's job. And your point reminds me that Tyrion is acting as a squire here, finding armor for Penny, just as Pod helped to put together mismatched cast-offs for Tyrion at the Green Fork.

And the "Penny" motif ties both of them to Ser Arlan of Pennytree and Ser Illifer the Pennyless, I suspect. The Pennytree itself is "armored" with hundreds of pennies nailed to its trunk. But maybe the penny symbolism requires a thread of its own.

Thanks for checking in! I know you have a lot of irons in the fire at the moment.

Ah Seams, it's always good to chat with you.   I mentioned in another topic that I wondered if you would catch my little pun about "suitable" armor.   I have to get up earlier to get anything by you.  I have to agree with your assessments of Penny and Tyrion's changing roles.  

Never to busy to answer your call, Seams!  Glad I could offer something here.  

[Lucius Lovejoy]

4 hours ago, Lady Dacey said:

Mine own eyes wil be described as green, grey or blue depending on the lighting and the clothes I'm wearing. They are actually a light shade of cool greyish green. Put me in a deep dark green dress and they'll look emerald green - I can't imagine what full enameled plate armour would do for them, but it's probably amazing! I took a picture once on a sunny day at the beach when I was wearing a blue bikini top and they are positively blue, only a hint of a green behind - the same effect happens if the sky is blue and the sun is bright and the floor is covered in white, just like in Val's case. On a bright cloudy day or under fluorescent my eyes look greyish green, their actual colour. When I dyed my heir red nobody ever thought my eyes to be grey, no matter how the room was lit or what I was wearing. Now my hair is the regular brown and often people think they are more grey than green.

Also people's perception of colour is subjective. What Sansa sees as green Ned may see as blue. 

I do believe Martin is just depicting real eye colours as people perceive them to be, which is very realistic. 

(Qyburn's brown to blue can't be explained like that of course. There might be something there, but he is plenty magic to begin with.)

Nice commentary @Lady Dacey - I too have an undefined eye color, my optometrist calls them "sunflower eyes" because of the odd golden sunburst iris on a gray/green field that seems to catch different colors.  They've been described to me as green, grey, brown, even blue before (they are NOT blue) - I just put "hazel" on my driver's license since no one knows what that is.  But your observation that it is natural for different people to perceive different colors, particularly with people who have eyes like us.  I just never considered this to occur in the books, mostly because I have never read any multiple POV novels besides ASOIAF and it never would have crossed my mind.  Sure, people having different memories, yeah, but not both describing the same thing objectively, accurately, and different.  I will be on the lookout for instances of this on my next re-read.

13 minutes ago, Seams said:

I have the feeling that this long gallery is like the Targaryen version of the Winterfell crypt, where Bran and Theon have described kings and lords coming alive in various ways (and where Jon has dreamed of receiving instructions from dead Starks). People may have helped themselves to a piece or two of armor, just as Bran and his traveling companions helped themselves to swords in the Winterfell crypt. Or maybe we are witnessing the "hatching" of Targaryen dragons just as Joffrey has died and the Lannister hold on the seven kingdoms starts to become more chaotic and insecure.

Excellent observation, never considered the importance of this area.  Now I need to research it!

[Seams]

7 hours ago, Lollygag said:

Most prominently, I see a connection between mismatched armor and fools/fooling people. . . .

. . .Your example of Mel/Cressen and Sansa/Lysa’s clothes and Arya/Lady Smallwood’s daughter’s clothes are all linked to trying to fool someone.

. . .

Perhaps the motley [Tyrion] is given is foreshadowing those who will give Tyrion aid in the future? Perhaps suits of mismatched armor can be interpreted similarly.

. . .

AGOT Tyrion VI

"Conn speaks truly," Gunthor said. "Your silver is ours. Your horses are ours. Your hauberk and your battle-axe and the knife at your belt, those are ours too. You have nothing to give us but your lives. How would you like to die, Tyrion son of Tywin?"

"In my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a maiden's mouth around my cock, at the age of eighty," he replied.

The huge one, Shagga, laughed first and loudest. The others seemed less amused. "Conn, take their horses," Gunthor commanded. "Kill the other and seize the halfman. He can milk the goats and make the mothers laugh."

—————————————————————————

Just as Tyrion had to fool wildlings, Jon has to fool the Wildling King Mance for his life. . . . It’s worth noting that when Jon fools Mance (this is up for debate), Jon is given a new cloak.

—————————————————-

Jorah who is perhaps one of the most foolish characters (in regards to love at least) undergoes an evolution when he acquired mismatched armor. He was forced to play the fool’s part of the Bear who carries off the Maiden Fair shortly before receiving his mismatched armor.

ADWD Tyrion XII

A big knight stepped down from the back of a wagon, clad head to heel in company steel. His left greave did not match his right, his gorget was spotted with rust, his vambraces rich and ornate, inlaid with niello flowers. On his right hand was a gauntlet of lobstered steel, on his left a fingerless mitt of rusted mail. The nipples on his muscled breastplate had a pair of iron rings through them. His greathelm sported a ram's horns, one of which was broken.

When he took it off, he revealed the battered face of Jorah Mormont.

He looks every inch a sellsword and not at all like the half-broken thing we took from Yezzan's cage, Tyrion reflected. His bruises had mostly faded by now, and the swelling in his face had largely subsided, so Mormont looked almost human once again … though only vaguely like himself. The demon's mask the slavers had burned into his right cheek to mark him for a dangerous and disobedient slave would never leave him. Ser Jorah had never been what one might call a comely man. The brand had transformed his face into something frightening.

The connection between mismatched armor and fools/fooling people may be right on the bulls eye. Nice work! I connected it to Tyrion's motley, but I think your description encompasses both situations more clearly. When Tyrion tells Jon Snow to wear his bastard status like armor, he points out that he wears his status as a little person the same way, but has also made the point that little people are always presumed to be fools in motley. This does sound like GRRM equating armor and motley.

"Did I offend you?" Lannister said. "Sorry. Dwarfs don't have to be tactful. Generations of capering fools in motley have won me the right to dress badly and say any damn thing that comes into my head." He grinned. "You are the bastard, though."

"Lord Eddard Stark is my father," Jon admitted stiffly. . . .

"Let me give you some counsel, bastard," Lannister said. "Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you."

Jon was in no mood for anyone's counsel. "What do you know about being a bastard?"

"All dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes."

AGoT, Jon I

I hadn't thought to interpret Tyrion's motley or his mismatched armor in terms of those who would give him aid, but that's certainly a possibility. If there is ever a code that explains a consistent symbolism of colors in ASOIAF, I think it will have to take relationships and context into account: otherwise each color has too many changing meanings and appears to be random.

My own (old, stale) interpretation of the colors and patterns on Tyrion's motley was that it might represent the Seven Kingdoms. But your idea gets into more detail, with meanings of the flowers and bronze studs more clearly explained.

I know you cite Tyrion's encounter with the mountain clans, in which Gunthor instructs Conn to kill Bronn and take Tyrion prisoner so he can milk the goats and make the women laugh as part of your exploration of color, but I think it might actually tie back into armor and the OP. Milking goats is dairy-related, and I suspect there might be a relationship between House Darry and dairy references. Willem Darry was master-at-arms at the Red Keep and he saved the lives of Viserys and Dany thus preserving the Targaryen bloodline. Gunthor proposes that Tyrion be allowed to live (as long as he does dairy work) and makes mothers laugh. It's a bit obscure, but there could be an arms allusion here through the dairy / Darry reference, and arms is part of our armor discussion.

But there's more to discuss in your comment.

I agree that there is significance in the new cloak Mance gives to Jon, although I also agree with your comment that it's open to debate whether Jon actually fooled Mance into thinking that he was deserting from the Night's Watch. The cloak Mance gives to Jon is sheepskin, which makes Jon a wolf in sheep's clothing. Since Mance gave him the cloak, it might be his way of saying that he knows what Jon is under this layer of wool.

The example you cite of Jorah in mismatched armor is intriguing. The ram helmet and lobstered gauntlet remind me of elements from Jeor's experiences: a ram and bear skull mounted outside of Craster's compound, where both Jeor and Craster die, and the crab claw that Jeor crushes in his bare fist during the crab feast attended by Tyrion. The fingerless mitt could be an allusion to Qhorin halfhand, although Arya Stark also receives a fingerless glove from the sailors aboard the Titan's Daughter. If @LynnS is right about armor carrying memories or qualities of people who have worn it in the past, maybe the details of Ser Jorah's armor here are telling us that he has taken on some of the skill and strength of people associated with similar details. The devil branded on his face could tie back into the mask / masquerade motif that seems to be connected with armor: he has "hatched" out of Yezzan's cage and is reborn as a devil.

[Seams]

6 hours ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

His armor is bronze. Their armor is steel filigreed with bronze. Pretty substantive difference imo

So the family and/or the smith may have thought they were improving and strengthening the new armor by using steel, but they couldn't duplicate the "memory" of the thousands of years of warriors who have worn the old bronze suit, making it smarter than the newly-forged pieces.

Maybe.

[Seams]

2 hours ago, Springwatch said:

The disguise and the masquerade is what strikes me most. I'd guess it's not so much the 'borrowed' bit that's important, more the badge, the branding that goes with that armour: armour is very close to arms in the way it tells the world who you are and what you are. That identity might not even be the 'real' you, but dominate you all the same: e.g. Sandor seems to let the Hound identity carry him through the uglier episodes in his life.

So maybe the link between Tyrion and Lyanna is that neither of them got branded by their armour - they stayed in their right minds the whole time. The other time Tyrion fought (the Blackwater), he wore custom-made armour with (I think) a helm shaped like a demon. That time he felt like a warrior (like Jaime?), and he fought like a demi-god.

Yes, I think that masquerade / mask idea goes with the idea of the armor carrying a memory or magic from the previous wearer or the original owner. And that probably also relates to warging / skinchanging as well as glamors and mummery and (possibly) pregnancy - the baby inside the womb is like a skinchanger inside an animal.

I'm not sure that Tyrion and Lyanna are unchanged by their armor. Tyrion seems to be an inexplicably awesome combatant, for a guy who probably never had training from a master-at-arms. Are you saying that they retain no qualities of the warriors once they take off the armor? That might be, although Tyrion seems to be growing in strength and abilities as his arc progresses. If the earlier dialogue about fools' motley and mismatched armor is correct, it seems as if GRRM is showing Tyrion growing and changing each time he puts on a new outfit or set of armor.

[Seams]

2 hours ago, Back door hodor said:

This kinda reminds me of Dani's "floppy ears" Not just her tokars either, she is a chameleon, changing the style of her dress constantly to better fit in with those around her or to suit her current situation . On the surface it appears to simply be a sign of her intelligence, especially when compared to her brother in AGOT, Dani quickly embraces not just the Dothraki style of dress(her painted vest and riding leathers) but their culture as well. Viserys does not and we see how this works out for both of them.

Granted most of her new clothes are not actually borrowed, though i suppose the clothes she is wearing when we meet her the first time could fall under this category, as they are all from Illyrio. (The quartheen gowns as well maybe, as they are gifts from Xaro.) So we kinda have the reverse with her, starting out in borrowed clothes and ending up in her own, but it does fit with the idea of changing clothes to change the person

Yes, Dany changes clothes more often than any other character I can think of. Sometimes to reflect the culture around her but sometimes to reflect her mood or desires (for example, her desire to have sex with Daario). While she felt comfortable and properly-dressed for conditions when wearing Dothraki clothes (or going naked, in accordance with their custom), she became increasingly uncomfortable as she tried to fit in with the Meerenese expectations - tokars, the too-small slippers from King Cleon, the pearls on her wedding gown. But her clothes are burned off of her when she walks into Drogo's funeral pyre and at the dragon pit when she rides Drogon for the first time. She is reborn in each situation, and sheds these clothes she has worn as temporary coverings.

You're also right about the borrowed aspect or, at least, whether she obtains the clothes on her own: all wedding gifts are significant, and Illyrio gives Dany a chest full of fabric and the three dragon eggs. She also receives weapons, which she hands over to Drogo in keeping with Dothraki ritual. Later, after Drogo's death, she takes those weapons back.

[Seams]

2 hours ago, Lady Dacey said:

Like Sansa describing her new gown and then finding out it's a wedding dress? How does it connect with the armour?

Good example. The dressmaker is in Cersei's employ, and seems to fit a somewhat standardized role for a crone character: dressing young women. I wonder whether these crones / dressmakers can be directly compared to smiths who make armor or fit out young men who need to be prepared for battle? Or maybe we should be looking at squires and handmaids.

Catelyn and Brienne have a conversation about how childbirth is the female version of battle, with all the blood and potential loss of life.

And we know that the groom's cloak on the bride's shoulders is the moment the marriage is solemnized, showing that the bride has joined the groom's household.

So a wedding dress and cloak might be like custom-made armor, showing the sigil of the woman's house, as well as preparing her for "battle" in the bedding and subsequent childbirth.

Sansa depends on maids to dress her right up until she escapes after Joffrey's wedding feast. There for the first time, she pulls out the clothes she has hidden in the gods wood and she dresses herself, including wearing her own cloak. (I think the colors of her outfit are like the brown and green associated with The Hound, though.) Later, Littlefinger puts a cloak over her shoulders but she is already wearing her own cloak. I suspect that this means his symbolic attempt to "marry" Sansa has failed.

[PrettyPig]

1 hour ago, Seams said:

That hall of dragons is the same "long gallery" Sansa and Ser Dontos pass through on their escape after Joffrey's wedding feast:

So it is, so it is...

The quote of Sansa’s About “hollow knights” is amusing in another sense, as the slang meaning of “empty suit” is, of course, a person of prominence who is all show and no substance, and who has typically gained his/her position via nepotism.

Considering that so much has been made about Rhaegar and his fancy black dragon armor, I wonder what we’re being told here about his place in the line of “empty suits”....especially given that most likely his armor, which must have been badly damaged after meeting Robert’s warhammer, isn’t there.

[Lady Dacey]

29 minutes ago, Seams said:

Good example. The dressmaker is in Cersei's employ, and seems to fit a somewhat standardized role for a crone character: dressing young women. I wonder whether these crones / dressmakers can be directly compared to smiths who make armor or fit out young men who need to be prepared for battle? Or maybe we should be looking at squires and handmaids.

Catelyn and Brienne have a conversation about how childbirth is the female version of battle, with all the blood and potential loss of life.

And we know that the groom's cloak on the bride's shoulders is the moment the marriage is solemnized, showing that the bride has joined the groom's household.

So a wedding dress and cloak might be like custom-made armor, showing the sigil of the woman's house, as well as preparing her for "battle" in the bedding and subsequent childbirth.

Sansa depends on maids to dress her right up until she escapes after Joffrey's wedding feast. There for the first time, she pulls out the clothes she has hidden in the gods wood and she dresses herself, including wearing her own cloak. (I think the colors of her outfit are like the brown and green associated with The Hound, though.) Later, Littlefinger puts a cloak over her shoulders but she is already wearing her own cloak. I suspect that this means his symbolic attempt to "marry" Sansa has failed.

Great parallels. It's also worth noting that Sansa often describes her wardrobe, but never to such detail as in this occasion - and she does so before she knows she is getting married or even going anywhere. I know many people find Martin's descriptions of clothes and food and weather/background boring, and sort of skimp through them, but this is a fine reminder that they are there for a reason. She gets her "look at every detail of what I'm wearing" moment just before a major event in her life that is connected to that garment, but the same could probably be applied to other characters with more flexible timing - like Renly's armour, for exemple. 

[Lady Dacey]

"Borrowed" boots, mail shirt and helm, and Gendry gets a "borrowed" long sword! 

ACOK, Arya II 

Come morning, when Praed did not awaken, Arya realized that it had been his coughing she had missed. They dug a grave of their own then, burying the sellsword where he'd slept. Yoren stripped him of his valuables before they threw the dirt on him. One man claimed his boots, another his dagger. His mail shirt and helm were parceled out. His longsword Yoren handed to the Bull. "Arms like yours, might be you can learn to use this," he told him. A boy called Tarber tossed a handful of acorns on top of Praed's body, so an oak might grow to mark his place.

@Seams, doesn't this make you think about Loras burying Renly and the Elder Brother burying the Hound?

I think Martin is saying something when someone claims  the boots, but Yoren gives the sword to Gendry.

It's curios that this Praed character is only mentioned twice, with no introduction whatsoever, and the first time is also grave-related! 

Arya noticed the first grave that same day; a small mound beside the road, dug for a child. A crystal had been set in the soft earth, and Lommy wanted to take it until the Bull told him he'd better leave the dead alone. A few leagues farther on, Praed pointed out more graves, a whole row freshly dug. After that, a day hardly passed without one.

Gendry might be on to something telling us it's better to leave the dead alone... wise boy