Game of Thrones season 8: The fashion of Daenerys and Sansa

(L to R) Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen – Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO

Daenerys Targaryen and Sansa Stark are ostensibly on the same side in Game of Thrones, but their conflict is reflected even in their costuming.

The moment from this week’s Game of Thrones immortalized in the above image reads as tense and discordant despite the smiles on the faces of Sansa Stark and Daenerys Targaryen. Of course, if you’ve seen the episode, then you know that the conversation turns sour almost immediately afterwards, but we’re talking on a very visual level.

In fact, we’re talking about their costumes. From head-to-toe, even as there are similar shapes and coordinating colors, there are details sprinkled throughout that make it clear that these two women are still at odds with each other.

Watch the adornments

We’ll actually start with their hands and, in a larger sense, the jewelry each is wearing — or not wearing, in one case. Take a close look at Daenerys’ hands in the above image; she’s wearing at least two rings that we can see. Although it’s tough to see in this image, through the scene itself, she’s clearly wearing her three-headed dragon chain as well. Meanwhile, Sansa is bare-handed, her only adornment her circle-and-chain.

On one level, we expect the queen claimant of the Seven Kingdoms to be dressed more ornately than her vassal, but these kinds of jewel choices are quite incongruous with what she and Sansa are currently facing. They talk about war in this conversation, and yet Daenerys’ rings and chain are more feminine — more suited to the love portion of the conversation. Sansa, meanwhile, still looks every inch the lady, but not with things that get in her way. Both have chains on, but one is far less ornate than the other.