What did the costumes of Game of Thrones tell us in “Stormborn”? It’s all about the parallels and echoes this time around.
Game of Thrones has some beautiful costuming. However, the clothes also help serve another purpose besides being fun to look at. Costuming can tell us who’s in line with whom and who shares connections.
That idea of connections seems to be the most important part of the clothing of “Stormborn.” In an episode where bonds were broken and others were reaffirmed, all of that echoes in the costuming.
Let’s start with our friends in the North, shall we?
Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth and Kit Harington as Jon Snow – Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO
This is Jon leaving for Dragonstone and saying good-bye to Sansa. Pay attention to the drawn-back hair, the broad shoulders, and the heavy cloak. All of those attributes are pretty northern in general, but …
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark – Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO
Here’s Arya in a less rich version of the same aesthetic, also on a horse. Yours truly predicted that Jon and Arya might meet on the road, although he’s headed to White Harbor and she directly to Winterfell. They even both have their hair pulled back!
Episode 62 (season 7, episode 2), debut 7/23/17: Conleth Hill, Jacob Anderson, Nathalie Emmanuel, Diana Rigg, Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Gemma Whelan, Indira Varma, Alfie Allen.
photo: Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO
Although the lighting is understandably not great, since Dragonstone is generally grim and more than a little foreboding, this is a shot of Daenerys Targaryen’s allies. Pay attention to what everyone’s wearing: all dark colors. Even Ellaria Sand has traded in some of her richer hues for something more fitting to a Targaryen, though she notably retains her general aesthetic and even patterns from earlier seasons.
There are ties, too, between Olenna Tyrell and Daenerys. Yes, they’re sitting at opposite ends of the table. But they’re also wearing darker versions of clothes we’ve seen them wear before, with new meanings attached. (Have we actually ever seen Olenna’s hair? Asking for a friend.) Dany, as we’ve noted before, is more covered up and armor-like, while Olenna’s in mourning still. No wonder she urges Dany to “be a dragon.” Dany’s already dressed like one anyway, which we’ve also noted before.
Episode 62 (season 7, episode 2), debut 7/23/17: Pilou Asboek, Keisha Castle-Hughes.
photo: Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO
Here’s Obara Sand. Perhaps the easiest thing to note would be that although Obara shares a similar palette with Ellaria, they have very different hairstyles — and Ellaria doesn’t wear armor while Obara (and Nymeria Sand) do.
Tyene Sand, the one who gets captured, does look like Ellaria, though, even down to her hairstyle. Here’s a photo from season 6. Tyene is sitting to Ellaria’s right:
Diana Rigg, Conleth Hill, Rosabell Laurenti Sellers, Indira Varma, Keisha Castle-Hughes.
photo: Macall B. Polay/courtesy of HBO
But, just to be sure we all knew which Sand Snake was which, we had to have Nymeria and Obara mocking Tyene for being close to her mother.
Episode 62 (season 7, episode 2), debut 7/23/17: Alfie Allen, Gemma Whelan.
photo: Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO
Everything here suggests that there’s a lot of unity between the Greyjoy siblings. They have a few slightly different details, but the thought is that they’ll work together, right?
Well, we all know how that turned out.
Next: GoT: 5 predictions for episode 3
What did you see in the costumes of “Stormborn”?