#Game of thrones leather armor full#

The curator talked about how swords, with names like вЂњJoyeuseвЂќ (Joyous) and вЂњShortyвЂќ, sometimes attributed with magical powers, which were sometimes actually forged long after stories first appeared about their owners.

#Game of thrones leather armor full#

Terjanian was full of the kind of anecdotes that Martin paraphrases from history to pepper his novels. For Game of Thrones, Clapton tries to dramatically vary the armor that comes from the metropolis of KingвЂ™s Landing, where armorers compete in earnest, versus that from Winterfell where вЂњthereвЂ™s probably one armorer вЂ¦ using local pieces, thereвЂ™s not particularly trade, so theirs becomes much more functional.вЂќ Terjanian gave examples of the rivalries medieval armorers had with each other: one blacksmith, for instance, forged armor that showed his competitors fleeing from a rooster, the symbol of his family crest. They were fighting, so we finally we had to tell them вЂyou mustnвЂ™t put your helmets on until you get to the set.вЂ™ TheyвЂ™d say things like вЂIt wasnвЂ™t me,вЂ™ and weвЂ™d say, вЂWell, it was you.вЂ™ It actually was quite strange for what it evoked in the people who wore it, itвЂ™s like they became untouchable.вЂќДЄnd just as the real history of the War of the Roses and continental civil wars plays into MartinвЂ™s novels, ClaptonвЂ™s designs reflect history. As soon as the 300 young men playing warriors donned their helms, вЂњthey start behaving as a pack, because they think you canвЂ™t see them!вЂќ Without visible faces, вЂњthey became a total army,вЂќ Clapton said вЂ“ but the design had unintended consequences on the cast. They wanted armor that вЂњno matter who you put on it would create the same strengthвЂќ and finally settled on a variation of what Martin describes in the books: wrapped plate and a helm with a curved point and a mask-like face. For Jaime LannisterвЂ™s golden hand, Clapton designed it thinking of the woman who gave it to him вЂ“ his sister and lover, Cersei, who would want him to have a hand that вЂњlooked like it wanted to caressвЂќ and whose beauty hides the deformity that she sees of his arm.ДЇor the Unsullied, the eunuch warriors of Essos, Clapton said she faced a different challenge. For Joffrey Baratheon, a spoiled boy who never fights his kingdomвЂ™s battles, ornate, gold lions and вЂњhardly aged at all, because he doesnвЂ™t use his armor very muchвЂќ. Her team not only makes armor but breaks it down, ages it and patterns it, cherrypicking historical references and tailoring every detail to match the story of its bearer.ДЇor Theon Greyjoy, for instance, Clapton and her team slashed the sigil of the kraken on to his armor to reflect his homelandвЂ™s vicious culture, waxed its leather because of his island origins вЂ“ and to give it the look of something soaked in fish oil.

Just as George RR Martin crafts baroquely detailed worlds in the novels adapted for HBOвЂ™s most popular show, Clapton described how making the armor of Game of Thrones requires a meticulous attention to subtleties of history and character. An unlikely trio met on Tuesday night to swap stories about kings, battles and the last defense keeping those kings alive: a woman who designed Jaime LannisterвЂ™s golden hand, an artist raised by swordsmiths, and a museum curator who keeps an armorer on staff.ДЄt New YorkвЂ™s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Game of Thrones costume designer Michele Clapton, artist Miya Ando and Met curator Pierre Terjanian considered questions like whether the Greyjoys stink of fish oil and what itвЂ™s like to fight in 100lb armor, as they treated a small crowd to their thoughts about the arms and armor of history and fiction.