Game of Thrones Symbolism: The Baratheons

[I'm not trying to honor you. I'm trying to get you to run my Kingdom while I eat, drink and whore my way to an early grave. ] The Baratheon sigil is a black stag on a gold field.

After Robert Baratheon seizes the Iron Throne in Robert’s Rebellion, he adds a golden crown around the stag’s neck. The crown marks that when the Game of Thrones series begins, House Baratheon is the royal house of the Seven Kingdoms. But the edit to the sigil reminds us that the Baratheons are recent royalty.

A lot has already changed since then, and [spoilers coming from here on ] the Baratheon house is in danger of disappearing forever. [You are the King's Hand, and the King is a fool. Your friend I know, but a fool and doomed unless you save him.

] The Baratheons are proud, angry and vengeful, but the one thing that most defines them is their stubbornness -- every true Baratheon is steadfast in pursuing his goals. [I'll kill every Targaryen I get my hands on. ] [In the morning, I'll destroy my brother's army.

] Because of this, they make great warriors -- they are powerful, fearsome, and will stop at nothing to get what they want. [But Robert loves his killing. And he's the king.

] [How did that ever happen? ] [Because he loves his killing. ] When Rhaegar Targaryen took Robert Baratheon’s love Lyanna Stark, Robert responded by seizing the Iron Throne.

[Someone took her away from me. And Seven Kingdoms couldn't fill the hole she left behind. ] Yet their headstrong nature means they can fall as quickly as they rise, and they’re brought down by in-fighting.

[The Starks fight the Lannisters; the Baratheons fight each other. ] After Robert is murdered by Cersei, House Baratheon is split between three heirs claiming the right to rule: the sociopathic brat Joffrey, Robert’s legal but not biological son; Stannis, Robert’s younger brother, the middle of the three Baratheons, stern and humorless but well-intentioned; and Renly, the youngest of the three brothers, the most likeable and beloved Baratheon, who nonetheless has no real legal basis for claiming the throne. The sigils of the Baratheon branches vary to reflect the three heirs.

When Joffrey ascends the Iron Throne, he combines the Baratheon and Lannister sigils, reflecting his true heritage and creating the House Baratheon of King’s Landing branch -- which is carried on by his younger, also illegitimate, brother Tommen. Stannis, the head of House Baratheon of Drgonstone - which is where Daenerys was born and where we later see her return to Westeros - uses Robert's crowned black stag, which underlines that he is a true Baratheon and and the rightful heir to the family. [The Iron Throne is mine.

By right. ] But he also has the stag enclosed within the fiery red heart of the Lord of Light, or R’hllor, underlining how powerfully he’s under the sway of Red Priestess Melisandre. [I will give you a son, my King.

] Renly’s faction changes the color scheme to depict a gold stag on a green field, signaling the marriage between Renly and Margaery Tyrell -- a political move that masks Renly’s true sexuality and his affair with Margaery’s brother. So this tells us Renly is an opportunist, making calculated moves to advance his own political interest. [We all know what Stannis is.

He inspires no love or loyalty. He's not a King. I am.

] Adopting gold and green, and dropping the black, Renly projects an intelligent, optimistic reputation, glossing over the fact that he’s trying to seize power from his older brother. [You should kneel before your brother. He's the Lord's chosen.

Born amidst salt and smoke. ] [Born amidst salt and smoke. Is he a ham?

] Following the deaths of Renly, Joffrey, Stannis, and Tommen, the Baratheon house is legally extinct. But there is still one loose end and hope for the Baratheons: Gendry, Robert’s bastard, who is never acknowledged as a true Baratheon, is still alive. [What's 'Ours is the Fury, Lords the Baratheons?

'] [I've been sitting here for days! Start the damn joust before I piss myself. ] Their motto, “Ours is the Fury,” signifies the Baratheon rage.

As we've seen with Robert, Baratheons are hot-headed and quick-tempered. [One King, Seven Kingdoms! Do you think honor keeps them in line?

] [Do you think it's honor that's keeping the peace? It's fear. ] Like the Lannisters, they'll seek revenge if wronged.

[I'll punish them with any arms at my disposal. ] But the Lannisters vengeance is cold and calculated; the Baratheons’ is impulsive and emotional. The words point to the weather of the land they rule.

Like the Starks, the Baratheons are close to the elements and their land. Storm’s End, which overlooks Shipbreaker Bay, is fierce. And the Baratheons’ mercurial tempers are as unpredictable and dangerous as Storm’s End.

[Your mother was a dumb whore with a fat ass. Did you know that? Look at this idiot.

One ball and no brains. ] [Lancel - God what a stupid name. ] A possible reference to Shakespeare, “Ours is the fury” might also make us think of Macbeth’s nihilistic words about life: “it is a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/Signifying nothing.

” Aligning the Baratheons with this kind of meaningless fury foreshadows that all their raging and noise is likely to come to naught in the end, which is what we’ve seen so far. The early frontrunners have become a very dark horse in the Game of Thrones. [Do you still believe good soldiers make good Kings?

] Other Houses use the colors Gold or Black, but the significance of these colors changes with House Baratheon. Gold, also used by the Lannisters, still evokes power and the desire to win and conquer. However, with the Baratheons it’s less about wealth and more about gold’s greed for amassing power.

[And you feel your blood gives you a claim on our gold? ] [More than any man living. ] We see the selfish nature of gold in the split after Robert’s death -- the three Baratheon heirs are willing to kill one another to win the Throne.

[I murdered my brother. ] [They say Stannis never smiles. I'll give him a red smile.

] [Imagine Stannis' terror. ] [I am trying. ] The masculine energy of gold is seen in the fact that there are few females in the House, and the one female heir, Stannis’ daughter Shireen, is a sickly child who’s sacrificed by her father and Melisandre.

The color black -- also used by the Targaryens -- most obviously refers to the dark hair central to the Borathean lineage, whcih conspicuously proves the illegitimacy of Cersei's children. [Robert Baratheon, black of hair. Joffrey Boratheon.

. . golden head.

] Black also represents the interior dark side or hidden secrets behind the Baratheons’ noble warrior exteriors. Robert, a great warrior in public, privately abused and cheated on his wife; Stannis, who acts based on a rigid sense of duty and justice, lets his religion twist his mind into believing he should burn his only child alive; and Renly, hides behind the facade of a perfect-looking marriage while he’s selfishly fighting for a Throne he has no rational claim to. [No one wants you for their King.

] [You think a few bolts of cloth will make you King? ] At first glance their animal, the Stag, may seem ironic because deer are thought of as peaceful, delicate creatures, unlike the large, fierce Baratheon men. [You're too fat for your armor.

] [Fat? You heard the Hand -- the King's too fat for his armor! Go find the breast plate stretcher!

] However, male deer, stags, with their sharp antlers and tendency to butt heads, can be dangerous and deadly. The very first episode shows the lethal nature of the animal, when we see a dead direwolf mother, gutted by the antlers of a stag, foreshadowing the death of Ned Stark at the hands of the Baratheon family. Stags are seen as kings of the forest, with their antlers symbolizing crowns.

Robert makes this explicit by adding the crown to the sigil. But that crown also makes the stag it a target from episode 1. All the noble families are chasing the Iron Throne, trying to remove that crown from the Baratheon sigil.

[Tell Cersei. I want her to know it was me. ] But more even than by their enemies, the Baratheons are brought down by battling each other -- and this too is embodied in their animal.

[I never loved my brothers. ] [You didn't love them? They didn't love me.

] [I loved him once. ] Stags challenge one another during the mating season -- if neither animal backs down, they clash antlers, And this is exactly what we see in the Baratheon brothers -- butting heads vying for power after Robert's death. [If for the time being you could make peace with your brother.

] [I won't make peace with Renly while he calls himself king. ] Stannis uses Melisandre’s magic to kill his own brother who was in turn trying to kill Stannis with an army. The deer is among the most hunted animals in the forest, and the Baratheons become the most hunted family, struggling to make it through the games alive.

Only Gendry, who’s currently out of sight of the main players, could return and bring Robert Baratheon’s blood back into the picture. [I'm the King, I get what I want. ] [What do you want?