Kevin Also Blogs: Game of Threads: The Rogue Prince

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Game of Threads: The Rogue Prince

This week on Game of Threads: King’s Landing threw a Blue Party but the memo didn’t reach Rhaenyra, Alicent ponders crenels, and Daemon asks the age old question: “What comes first (in line)- the dragon or the egg?”

I might have spoken too soon last week when I mused on the characters not being shuffled into uniforms. I want to get my dumb little rant out of the way right off the bat and I’ll try not to speak about it again as the season moves forward. I tend to forgive this a bit with male characters because most of them literally have to wear a uniform, but it really irks me when royals and noblewomen wear the same dresses within a few days time like cartoon characters. I KNOW that these ladies have access to any and every dressmaker on the continent of Westeros so why would say, Alicent, be wearing the same, albeit beautiful, dress over the course of however many days this episode takes place?

Anyway, with that out of the way, let’s get into it. Blue was the color du jour(s). Both Alicent and Rhaenys are wearing practically the same shade of peacock blue. In last week’s article, I mentioned Thrones designer Michele Clapton’s connection of the color blue with the idea of hope. Last week’s hopeful blue was powdery and muted. This week’s is rich and layered, showing that Aemma’s death has had a huge impact on court machinations. Blue is also the color embodiment of calmness, trust, loyalty. I think in both cases, these women are using their position to create a sense of order and trust with Viserys. Rhaenys deploys it to calmly urge her cousin into marriage with her daughter. Even Corlys, though dressed in similar tones to Viserys, holds his sigil’s blue close to his heart, signaling how he and Rhaenys are always on the same page. I would also argue that Rhaenys wears the color in the court to present herself in a way that would curry favor with those that might not have initially backed her claim to the throne, as well as holding herself to the standard of her supporters, as blue is, according to my googling, most people’s favorite color.

Alicent wears blue to provide a serene calm for Viserys during their visits. She is playing the game, whether she knows yet or not. I was also struck with the details of the dress. Not only is it showing more skin, but the lacing almost evokes a sense “coming undone” while “keeping it together,” as evident in her cool demeanor while ripping at her nails. Maybe less so deliberate, but I also saw a connection with the sigil of House Hightower in the battlement-esque motif along the neckline. I like to think that the crenel and merlon detail is a deliberate choice to show that she is subtly keeping herself protected in this extremely awkward situation that her father has put her in, all while creating her own offense in how to handle what she is being dealt.

Both blue-dressed women are also paired in scenes with Rhaenyra. The scene between Rhaenyra and Alicent is interesting because Rhaenyra is dressed in a white, vaguely priestly-esque dress, which covers her entire body. There is a notable juxtaposition between Alicent’s now very mature way of dressing compared to a vaguely juvenile, or at least not fully formed, style that Rhaenyra wears. Alicent is actually getting these hands-on conversations with the King, sort of a second hand queenly education, which Rhaenyra isn’t and can only dream of. Alicent is, in turn, dressing the part. There’s also an obvious light vs. dark comparison that I’m sure will come into play in future episodes.

In the scene between Rhaenyra and Rhaenys, Rhaenyra wears a muted gold dress, which would look strong in most cases on its own, but seems almost weak in the shadow of the strong blue Rhaenys wears. Not to say that she is weak, but whether or not Rhaenys is right in her argument, she put Rhaenyra in her place for the moment, and did it in an imposing color. Another light vs. dark moment, insofar as outlook on the role of women in society. However, we should not discount the creeping red that we see in Rhaenyra’s sleeves. She wears this dress again when Viserys announces his resolve to wed Alicent, and I believe the creeping red will explode into a full costume takeover at some point.

This is further driven home in the dinner sequence between Rhaenyra and Viserys. She is once again being underestimated all while wearing white in contrast to her scene partners’ dark fabrics. This is later smoothed a bit. After the initial argument from her returning from Dragonstone is out of the way, they come to better terms, and both are on equal playing fields wearing dark tones.

One more scene I wanted to touch on is between Rhaenyra and Daemon at Dragonstone, where Rhaenyra intercedes in a standoff between Daemon and Otto Hightower. Daemon, to me, seems like he is dressed similar to the egg that he has taken captive. Both have a sort of shell like quality of layers and protection. Daemon is obviously on the offensive at this moment, and Rhaenyra arrives dressed more dragon than egg, albeit a creeping dragon motif, as the offense. It’s a sort of symbolic showdown between Rhaenyra as the dragon, in this situation, and Daemon as the egg that is swayed by the dragon. He is holed up in Dragonstone, incubating, taunting Viserys but not acting. But we do see plans ready to hatch at the episode’s conclusion. And once again, they are on more level playing fields, wearing black. Going forward, I would wager scenes where Rhaenyra is wearing black, will be the ones in which she has the most agency.

Stray thoughts:

Laena is also dressed in blue, but this IS the hopeful blue of the last episode. In this case, not so much her hopes, but the hopes and expectations of her parents. I also loved how she was dressed in a way to highlight how young she is and how awkward the whole situation is. It’s almost as if she’s playing princess dress up in her mother’s clothes, even though the fit and fabrics are of the highest quality.

Mysaria, like Rhaenyra earlier, is also dressed in white in a sea of darker colors. It’s possible that Daemon might’ve dressed her in white to drive home the pregnancy story, or at least to present a more fragile figure during the face off. It’s clear that she has no intention of being that at all.

Speaking of white costumes, we once again see Viserys in his white undershirt (this time with maggots!), facing off with a dark-clad Hightower. These moments illustrate how precarious Viserys’ rule is, and who actually has the upper hand or influence on him.