Episode 2x04: Parallels / Symbolism / Foreshadowing

** Note: Please join in this week's episode 4 and 5 foreshadowing and parallels discussion if you found great bits from your re-watch and can contribute to our collection, thank you! 

I'm going to pop in a great parallel between the Stark sisters from this episode. Theme: Arya & Sansa wear their armor to protect themselves ...  


Arya's "List" 

One of the most powerful bits of symbolism from both the books and the show is Arya's kill list. She learned about it last episode from Yoren just before the Lannister men attacked them and Yoren was killed. This began Arya's idea to keep a list of names she wants dead... her vengeance path begins.

In episode 4, Garden of Bones, we first see Arya murmuring her list over and over to herself as she's laying in the cold rain trying to survive the horrors of the Harrenhal prison camp ...




Arya uses this list as a focal point, a meditation sort of thing to help her deal with the horrors of what's going on around her. We have to remember this is just a child we're seeing here, a young girl going through terrible things beginning with the execution of her Father and now on the run from the Lannisters, she finds herself landed smack in the middle of their den-of-horrors at Harrenhal. She's watching people being tortured and killed right in front of her eyes. This truly was a traumatic experience that twists her young mind into the only survival mechanism she can think of ... revenge. 

This theme will play out throughout the series for Arya's story and though many disagree on what the final outcome for Arya is (will she be left permanently psychologically damaged?), we can all agree that little Arya is a fighter who is not going to just lay down in that cold mud and wait to die. Fate hands her a chance for much much more than mere survival when Tywin Lannister himself arrives and has her rescued from the torture pits as his cup bearer which we'll explore more next episode.




Sansa's "Costumes"


This theme is also a great one, but much more subtle than Arya's. But Sansa has a coping mechanism too. In the books, it's described as her "Courtesy Armor" and she uses it to help her survive the horrors she too is experiencing at the hands of the Lannisters. Cerse refers to her repeatedly as "little Dove" and the bird symbolism is often a part of Sansa's theme and evolution as well as butterflies/dragonflies which can be symbols of transformation where birds are symbols of freedom and flight. A dove is a pet word for love and sweet innocence but it's also a symbol of peace. Sansa herself is a symbol, almost literally in a sense. She is the only remaining survivor of the Starks left in King's Landing and kept in her 'cage' by the Lannisters. Tormented by Joffrey repeatedly (worse in the books) she is his scapegoat for Robb Stark's victories in the war. 

Here's a decent article about Sansa's transformation via her clothing/costumes:

www.bustle.com/articles/85163-sansa-starks-fashion-evolution-through-game-of-thrones-and-how-her-wardrobe-mirrors-her-character


If you really like the costume theme idea, here's an even more in depth, very detailed Imgur album detailing every change to Sansa's costumes over the seasons and the symbolism around them:

imgur.com/a/tpAhV

It's a lengthy read but fascinating.

The idea here is that Sansa wears her dresses costumes (which she makes herself) as a way to disguise herself as just a beautiful image and nothing more while the symbolism of the dresses themselves is actually quite intriguing and hints at her real wishes/desires to overcome the very things she's wearing the dresses for in the first place. Nowhere is that more apparent than later in the season when she sews the infamous "Dark Sansa" dress of black (mockingbird) feathers to please Littlefinger in her transformation as his daughter. Sewing needles are truly Sansa's weapon where Arya has a real weapon in her own Needle. 

There's another fantastic costume parallel I'll go back to later as well when Sansa marries Tyrion (forced) and then later when she marries Ramsay (forced). Remind me if I forget! 

But where does this Courtesy Armor begin in this episode? Well, when that nasty piece of work Joffrey has it ripped off of her ...



Sansa has tried hard to dress and act like ladies of the court in King's Landing. She wears her hair exactly like Cersei and has made a demure dress in the same kimono fashion ... but Joffrey has her publicly humiliated in front of that entire court for something she has no part in or control over. Sansa's only armor is the dress and fashion she's chosen to try and blend in and appear to be one of them.

Tyrion fortunately saves her from further humiliation and arrives to wrap her in a cloak and lead her away. When asked by him if she wants to end the horrible engagement with Joffrey (something he has the power to do) she refuses and announces that Joffrey is her one true love. It's here that Tyrion first realizes the reality of Sansa's victimizing and how she is surviving through her words, her actions and her dress/appearances. He declares ...

 

This is that beautiful symbolism I'm talking about which is often missed in Sansa's story/theme. Perhaps missing it is part of the game and you didn't notice Sansa actually had wits and survival instincts too? She does. Those instincts will grow stronger over time until at the hands of the Boltons she finally finds her strength of will to survive and escape the ongoing horror she's been a victim to for so long. She finally takes matters into her own hands. And in the end, she finally enacts her own revenge upon Ramsay.

While Sansa and Arya are a different as night and day, their stories are not so different when you examine the underlying symbolism.



(There's TONS more from this episode that need highlighted, please help!)