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A Game of Thrones: Royal CrestsIn medieval times, it was popular throughout Europe for prominent families to have a crest and a motto (sometimes called a coat of arms). The crest would usually be an animal displayed on war standards (banners), clothing, armor, shields, and tapestries to symbolize a family. The motto (usually written in Latin) would feature a phrase that summed up the values or spirit of a particular family. Family crests would also feature colors on them called a field. Just by looking at a family's crest, you could tell if they were royalty, which other families supported them as allies, and their general personality. The choice of animal and motto were usually indicators of how the family thought of themselves. A lion might represent dominance, fierceness, and a higher status. A dove, on the other hand, would send a different message.Mottos are a phrase or a short sentence that represents a family's values or views. For instance, the Medici family (which dates back to the 14th century and is still prominent today) chose their family motto in Italian to be: "Money to get power, and power to guard the money." Compare this to the Kennedy family in the United States whose motto in French translates as: "Consider the End."Historically, crests weren't normally worn by women or religious clergy because these people didn't participate in war tournaments (and therefore wouldn't have armor to display). As It Appears in A Game of Thrones:Author George R.R. Martin creates Westeros in the image of medieval feudal Europe. As a result, there are a lot of similarities between how the world ran back then and how the fictional world in A Game of Thrones operates.Although Martin doesn't use the same names, each family has a crest and a motto. In Westeros, crests are called sigils (which derives from the Latin word for "sign" or symbol) and mottos are called words or family words. These sigils are worn on clothing, armor, and war standards (banners). Martin will often describe a house's sigil in the following way: "the banner showed the Tully's sigil, a leaping trout, on a field of red and blue." Here, the field simply refers to the colors on the banner.If a family is royal, they add a crown to their sigil. For instance, we learn that Robert Baratheon's sigil is a "crowned stag" now that he's king (take a second look at his sigil). If another family were to become the royal rulers of Westeros, they too would add a crown on top of their sigil. ................
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