Symbolism & House Targaryen Part 1

A bit of background

House Targaryen of Dragonstone is one of the most ancient families in Westeros, dating back to the Valaryian freehold.  The family ruled the kingdom for 500 years until Robert Baratheon's rebellion broke their rule and the surviving members of the family fled across the narrow sea.

The Significance of the Sigil and Words

The Targaryen sigil takes the form of a red three-headed dragon on a field of black and their words read Fire and Blood.  These seem to be obvious on the front with the Targaryen ties to dragons and their words as boast to their bloody conquests, but as with every other house and their words and sigils, this concept runs far deeper than meets the eye.
Beginning first with the symbolism of the three headed dragon, it is seen within the books to represent Aegon, Visenya and Rheanys and their three dragons when they first made conquest across Westeros, but deeper than this it may represent Danearys and the need for another two "heads", a concept which has lead to many theories from fans attempting to guess who the other "heads" might be.
Fire and blood is another direct reference to Aegon's conquest as it was won through blood and the fire of his and his sisters dragons.  It is also symbolic in nature to Dany's coming of age scene where the Targaryen blood allows her to walk through fire and come out unscathed at the other side.

Symbolism & House Baratheon Part 2

The Stag, The Lion & The Wolf

In further exploration of House Baratheon, it is found that they are introduced symbolically, before any member of the family is introduced.
As mentioned briefly in Part 2 of House Stark (Symbolism & House Stark Part 2) , the first meeting of the Direwolves comes with a foreshadowing warning since the mother wolf was killed by a stag, and in turn the stag by the wolf.

This is later reflected in the relationship between House Stark and House Baratheon, who ultimately lead to each other's downfall.
On the face of things, this is a rather obvious parallel since it is Jeoffrey (believed at the time to be of Baratheon blood) who ordered the execution of Eddard Stark.  However, this theme runs much more deeply and more subtly than this.
Following a lead found by Jon Arryn, his predecessor to the Hand of the King role, Eddard discovers that Jeoffrey is base-born and born of incest.  His loyalty to Robert Baratheon brings need for Eddard to expose the truth, but his honor leads him to warn Cersei first.  It is this action that leads Cersei to have her husband killed, meaning that Eddard is arguably at fault: the wolf killed the stag.

Though this theme  runs throughout the story as part of several subplots, it will be explored more fully when I come to address houses Targaryen and Lannister.  As per the results of the poll, House Targaryen is next in line for analysis.

Symbolism & House Stark Part 1

As the first family to be introduced through Bran's POV in book 1, it is only fitting that this blog series begins with House Stark.

A bit of background

House Stark, whose seat lies in the Northern city of Winterfell, is one of the oldest standing houses in Westeros. According to legend, the House was found some 8000 years ago by Bran the Builder of the First Men. This in itself holds significance of a symbolic nature considering that his decendant of the same name, Bran, is the first of the Starks that the audience meets.

The significance of the Sigil and Words

The Stark sigil takes the form of a grey direwolf on a field of white, and their words the dire warning Winter is Coming.

On the face, the symbolism of the sigil is to the point. The direwolf is a fictional creature, thought canonically as extinct, linked to both the Stark ancestral line and the North. The white background is there to represent snow, another strong link to the Westrosi North and to northern baseborn children, even Lord Stark's son Jon. However, digging deeper further sybolism can be uncovered. In the wild, wolves travel in packs, lead by the strongest who protect the weakest. This can be seen to mirror the Stark family, where they stick together through the many hardships they face and will without doubt sacrifice their own safety for the others in their “pack”. Coming back to the near-extinction of the Direwolf, this can be seen as foreshadowing for the seperation and near-extinction of the Stark family itself beginning with Eddard's death at the beginning of the first book.

Again, the words Winter is Coming can seem rather obvious in terms of symbolism, for there isn't a time where winter is not coming, but this too can be explored in more detail. In a way, this phrase can also be symbolic of coming-of-age. Bran is refered to as “sweet summer child” throughout the books, meaning he has seen none of the hardships winter, and indeed adulthood can bring. This interpretation is supported by Eddard himself when he says “Summer will end soon enough, and childhood too.”

Bringing this more in line with the book, we have Bran's waking from his coma as winter is beginning and, with the seperation from his family and new need for independence pointing as well to the beginning of adulthood.

This symbolism of summer's end is brought full circle with Bran's naming of his direwolf Summer. This link to his direwolf, and the other Stark children with their own will be explored in the next post.