Brynden Tully’s Blackfish Armor
Simultaneously the MVP and black sheep of the Tully family (thus the nickname, considering the family’s trout sigil), Brynden the “Blackfish” is a sharp-minded, straight-talking, and experienced battle commander who proves to be the biggest post-Red Wedding thorn in Walder Frey’s side—until Arya Stark’s return to Westeros, that is. He’s a big personality, and he’s got the quirky armor to prove it. Of course, Edmure Tully does have the same armor, but he doesn’t pull it off half so well as his uncle.
Missandei’s First Post-Kraznys Outfit
The budding friendship between Daenerys and her future confidant/advisor Missandei is strongly indicated by the Missandei’s first post-slavery outfit seen in “And Now His Watch Is Ended” (episode 3.4). While not quite “twinning,” this first instance of corresponding outfits—might we call it yin-and-yang-ing?—sets a trend that will continue until season 6, when Missandei’s plotline becomes more staunchly intertwined with that of another character…
Sansa’s First Wedding Dress
Sansa’s first marriage—a rushed match with Tyrion Lannister at the behest of Tywin Lannister after discovering the Tyrells’ plot to spirit her away to Highgarden—is hardly a marriage (much to Sansa’s relief), and her first wedding dress correspondingly really does not look like a wedding dress. Sure, it’s a little fancier than her usual dresses, the skirt a little puffier, but overall, it doesn’t really scream “wedding.” It does, however, scream “Lannister,” with its yellow tones, red-jeweled bodice, and pattern highly reminiscent of Joffrey’s robe—a firm reminder of how deeply Sansa is ensnared in the lion’s den by the end of season 3.
Brienne’s Bear-Fighting Dress
To mock both her appearance and the fact that she dares to wear a suit of armor and fight men, Locke, left in charge of Harrenhal in Roose Bolton’s absence, tosses the captive Brienne of Tarth into a bear pit with no armor and only a wooden sword to defend herself in an homage to the jaunty song “The Bear and the Maiden Fair.” However, although Brienne only manages to escape a grizzly death through the intervention of Jaime Lannister, Locke’s notion of making her look weak by forcing her to fight a bear in a decidedly unflattering dress totally backfires—if anything, the scene only serves as the ultimate evidence that Brienne is one of the biggest badasses to be found in all seven kingdoms.
Roose Bolton’s Red Wedding Chainmail
There’s a war going on and Robb Stark’s army is in mid-campaign, so nobody packed their Sunday best. As such, the outfits worn to the Red Wedding are pretty unremarkable aesthetically. We never even get a good full view of Roose Bolton’s outfit, but that doesn’t stop it from being a key costume—Catelyn Stark catching a glimpse of Bolton’s chainmail sleeve the giveaway that reveals his treachery sooner than anticipated, but far too late to actually make a difference.
Margaery Tyrell’s Wedding Dress
As Margaery tells Petyr Baelish, she does not want to be a queen—she wants to be the queen. And unaware of her grandmother’s plotting with the aforementioned master of coin, her wedding dress looks like the victory lap she imagines her wedding to be, with its ornately embroidered motif of roses with prominent thorns. she might be marrying into the Houses of Baratheon and Lannister, but her wedding dress is Tyrell through and through, with the open-backed style favored in the reach.
Margaery Tyrell’s Mourning Dress
Margaery wears black following the death of her second kingly husband, Joffrey Baratheon, as one would expect, and as he croaked at their wedding feast before they could consummate their union, the rose of Highgarden is well aware that her grip on any royal power is tenuous at best. However, whether intentional or not (but almost certainly intentional), she still wears her wedding necklace and her mourning dress shares the same silhouette as her wedding gown—a subliminal reminder that shouts “I’m still queen, goddamnit” for all to see.
Tyrion Loses Faith in the Lannisters
Any time Tyrion is spotted fully dressed prior to “The Laws of Gods and Men” (4.6), he wears red to honor his Lannister name. Sometimes it’s no more than a high-collared shirt peeking from underneath his doublet, but until he goes on trial for Joffrey’s murder, there is always at least a hint of red somewhere. However, realizing that his family, and particularly his father, is fully willing to see him killed for his nephew’s murder, Tyrion abandons his family’s color. He hasn’t worn red since.
Sansa Goes Dark
After lying to the Lord of the Vale to protect Petyr Baelish from being charged with the murder of Lysa Arryn, Sansa reveals her dark new look, and I’m not just talking about her hair. By this point Sansa sees Petyr Baelish as her greatest ally, and her edgier, feathered look suggests her association with the Mockingbird.
Brienne Gets New Armor
After losing her first suit of armor during her imprisonment at Harrenhal, Jaime Lannister gifts her a replacement, along with Oathkeeper, one of the two Valyrian steel swords reforged from the House Stark ancestral blade Ice. He also gifts her Podrick Payne, no longer safe in King’s Landing after his refusal to testify against Tyrion. Of all these gifts, the protective gesture of giving her a suit of armor—as well as the suggestive subtext of his ability to correctly “guess” her measurements—is the one most indicative of the deep yet fundamentally nebulous bond that has formed between this most unlikely pair. While the armor is certainly of the highest quality, it, along with Oathkeeper’s lion hilt, are obviously of Lannister origin, which ends up causing Brienne more than a few headaches in the long run.
Related Topics: Game of Thrones
