Armour of Game of Thrones (TV show)

[Vympel]

Whilst in the book series the armor is High Middle Ages (as stated by the author - lots of wonderful plate for the lords and knights like - think Battle of Crecy etc), the show is a bit different:-

House Stark

House Stark soldiers:-



House Stark shields:-



Robb Stark:-




Jory Cassel protecting Lord Eddard Stark:-



Armoured Stark rider:-



The Greatjon (House Umber) and Theon Greyjoy in Northern plate:-



House Lannister

Lannister armor:-



Lord Tywin Lannister's variant:-



King Joffrey and Lancel Lannister (Tyrion in foreground):-



Joffrey, the Hound, and an acher:-



Ser Armory Lorch, bannerman of Lord Tywin:-



Raff the Sweetling, one of Gregor Clegane's men:-



Various Lannister troops:-



House Baratheon of Dragonstone

King Stannis Baratheon and Guards:-



Baratheon archers:-



House Baratheon of Storm's End

King Renly Baratheon, Brienne Tarth, Loras Tyrell and guards, plus Catelyn Stark



Renly and guards, from earlier:-



Brienne Tarth, plus Ser Loras Tyrell (of Highgarden)



Baratheon soldiers, plust some Tyrells:-





House Arryn / The Vale

Ser Vardis:-



Unfortunate Ser Vardis, bested by Bronn the sellsword:-



Arryn soldier:-



House Greyjoy

Theon Greyjoy in Greyjoy armor:-



House Frey

Two Frey riders:-



Miscellaneous

Ser Hugh of the Vale and Ser Gregor Clegane:-



Ser Gregor Clegane, out of his tourney armor:-



Goldcloaks, the City Watch of King's Landing (clearly inspired by Ottoman Jannisaries):-



Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch



Ser Barristan Selmy of the Kingsguard:-



Kingsguard:-



Kingsguard shield:-



Lancel Lannister as a Lannister squire in Season 1 (same outfit worn by Podrick Payne, Tyrion's squire, in Season 2):-



The Hound's helmet:-



Ser Jorah Mormont, Northern plate, in exile:-



Ser Alliser Thorne of the Night's Watch (with Samwell Tarly in practice gear):-

[Connor MacLeod]

Does this mean you're going to start doing a GoT thread to complement your LOGH one?

[LadyTevar]

I see a lot of leather for the House Armies, studded, riveted or plated with metal. Only the Gold Cloaks seem to have full chain. Metal cuirasses and shoulder plates for extra protection. ScaleMail on the KingsGuard, but quilted or leather underneath.
Full Plate for the Tourney, not unusual. Tourney Armor was normally heavier, to protect the Knight better. After all, this was not War, just a game.

Many of the photos are too dark to make out more details, but the helmets are all interesting. The extra flange on the KingGuard helms is for looks, I'm sure. I can't see it really deflecting a blow properly. The Hound's helm is for pure terror, of course. No one wants to face the HOUND, although why he'd wear a "MaceAttractor" for his Tourney Helm I have no idea (flat top = no deflection of blows from above). House Lannister's helms are like the KingsGuard helms, looks good, but not so sure about the design working. I'd think a hard blow from above would drive that fancy ridge straight into their skulls.
GoldCloaks have nice solid helms, good deflection, some face protection. Houses Stark and Baratheon both have good helms for their troops. IIRC, these are all historical patterns for Medieval helms.

All the shields I've seen have been round or oval, except for Barathreon's. The Stag rampant does work better on a heater, so I wonder if this is more a visual choice than anything else. All the shield styles would work well, although the rounder shields have better movement.

[Rogue 9]

The Hound doesn't do tourneys. As for his brother, the Mountain, I suspect it has something to do with the tournament in question being one of jousting, and one doesn't joust with a mace.

[Ahriman238]

It helps that Gregor Clegane is about a foot taller than everyone else. There's a reason they call him the Mountain, and it isn't because he's majestic or serene.

WTF is up with Stannis and his men's armor? One thick breastplate that covers maybe half his front and is made of overlapping plates (I'm sure I'll remember what that's called as soon as I hit submit.) What looks like a leather belt that covers most of the of his chest and mail beneath. That's very unusal and looks rather exposed for a man who leads escalades personally.

I was very impressed by all the effort the costume/prop departments put into giving everyone amror, making it realistic yet good looking, and making it pretty distinctive.

[Lord Revan]

it's nice that they've given most of the houses mostly leather or chain/scale mail armor with only few peices of plate armor, as plate armor is expensive and IIRC only the Lannisters and the Throne would have the wealth to get something like that in bulk and even then only the King's guard "grunts" seem to be the only "low level" (aka not noble) to wear plate mail armor.

[Rogue 9]

The Gold Cloaks are not the Kingsguard. The Kingsguard is the seven knights who are the royal family's personal bodyguard, and no one else. The Gold Cloaks are the city watch of King's Landing.

[Guardsman Bass]

The soldiers of the North look about right. Only Robb and the Minor House lords have plate armor, while the other Stark soldiers are wearing either leather or mail. That fits with what Martin has said about the North vs the South in terms of armor (North tends to have more mail, while the South has more plate armor because it's richer).

I could see the Gold Cloaks having better armor than most foot soldiers, since they're based in the biggest city in Westeros, and are the force guarding the King (aside from them, Joffrey's only got a couple dozen to hundred House Lannister soldiers plus the Kingsguard IIRC).

No one wants to face the HOUND, although why he'd wear a "MaceAttractor" for his Tourney Helm I have no idea (flat top = no deflection of blows from above).

He's pretty tall. I wonder how many soldiers could actually hammer him from above, besides the Mountain.

[Lord Revan]

The Gold Cloaks are not the Kingsguard. The Kingsguard is the seven knights who are the royal family's personal bodyguard, and no one else. The Gold Cloaks are the city watch of King's Landing.

I didn't realize the kingsguard was all nobles (aka knights or higher), also the gold cloaks don't wear full plate.

[Lusankya]

No one wants to face the HOUND, although why he'd wear a "MaceAttractor" for his Tourney Helm I have no idea (flat top = no deflection of blows from above).

He's pretty tall. I wonder how many soldiers could actually hammer him from above, besides the Mountain.

I could, if he tripped over first.

[Vympel]

Does this mean you're going to start doing a GoT thread to complement your LOGH one?

Nah, I just like the costumes in AGOT

In terms of the Northern armor, the only thing that bothers me is Robb Stark - he's the head of his house (and King in the North by the end of the first season) but he's only got some elements of plate - i.e. the gorget, pauldrons, gauntlets etc. Otherwise he wears the same armor of House Star men at arms, which I think is coat of plates given the look of it (its not studded leather, that looks different). I toyed with the idea that maybe he has plate underneath, but it just doesn't work - you only need to look at Theon and Jorah's Northern plate armor to realise how that would look.

[Raw Shark]

The Gold Cloaks are not the Kingsguard. The Kingsguard is the seven knights who are the royal family's personal bodyguard, and no one else. The Gold Cloaks are the city watch of King's Landing.

I didn't realize the kingsguard was all nobles (aka knights or higher), also the gold cloaks don't wear full plate.

It is most definitely the norm for members of the Kingsguard to be knights or higher, and it is considered a plum position to offer to a second or lower noble son to seal an alliance (though offering it to a first son who will accept it when he has no brothers that his father likes will just piss in everybody's Cheerios - see ref: Jaime Lannister).

Great collection of armor pics, thanks Vympel. I'd bet a day's pay that I or somebody else here will cite this thread in one of the near-worthless debates they have over at Westeros someday.

[Ultonius]

In theory, the Kingsguard are supposed to be the seven best knights in the Realm, with high birth being secondary. In practice, they are often highborn, both because of the political reasons mentioned above, and because (as was pointed out to Jon at the Wall) the combat training a lord's son gets gives him an advantage over lower-born opponents. High-quality weapons and armour probably also help them to survive long enough to become good enough for the Kingsguard. Jaime's appointment must have had at least as much to do with his fighting ability as with the tensions between Aerys and Tywin.

[Spoonist]

I see a lot of leather for the House Armies, studded, riveted or plated with metal.

That is actually one thing that I love about it. Its mostly leather with metal bits, just like we see in archeology. The utility of the combination of leather and metal is so often missed by modern hobby and real historians alike, that it is like a reversed trope.

The extra flange on the KingGuard helms is for looks, I'm sure. I can't see it really deflecting a blow properly. ...snip... House Lannister's helms are like the KingsGuard helms, looks good, but not so sure about the design working. I'd think a hard blow from above would drive that fancy ridge straight into their skulls.

While it is likely true for the spefic props it is not necessarily so if those headguards would have been made for combat. The historical precedent they are based on was very effective. You can see such details all the way from antiquity to the swiss mercenaries at their height. It did not entirely dissapear until the winged hussars went out of flavor, so all the way up to modern warfare, although it could be argued that for the hussars it is unlikely to have been an effective part.
http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_spot_burgonet.html

The Hound's helm is for pure terror, of course. No one wants to face the HOUND, although why he'd wear a "MaceAttractor" for his Tourney Helm I have no idea (flat top = no deflection of blows from above).

Probably precisely because of that. See it as a taunt and a play on what makes people fear him so much.

In terms of the Northern armor, the only thing that bothers me is Robb Stark - he's the head of his house (and King in the North by the end of the first season) but he's only got some elements of plate - i.e. the gorget, pauldrons, gauntlets etc. Otherwise he wears the same armor of House Star men at arms, which I think is coat of plates given the look of it (its not studded leather, that looks different). I toyed with the idea that maybe he has plate underneath, but it just doesn't work - you only need to look at Theon and Jorah's Northern plate armor to realise how that would look.

I think this was mentioned specifically in the "behind" stuff as something which is meant to be a northern "I'm like you" thing to instill morale etc. Go search for the episode on armor.

[Vympel]

I think this was mentioned specifically in the "behind" stuff as something which is meant to be a northern "I'm like you" thing to instill morale etc. Go search for the episode on armor.

Interesting, is that online? I've got Season 1 on Blu-Ray so I can watch it there if its on the Blu-ray.

(which reminds me, the history and lore videos on the blu-ray - which I believe have also been put on youtube - are awesome)

[Spoonist]

I definately saw it on youtube. Prob an interview with Madden when he talks about how chafing the armour was and the reasoning etc.

[Vympel]

The Hound doesn't do tourneys. As for his brother, the Mountain, I suspect it has something to do with the tournament in question being one of jousting, and one doesn't joust with a mace.

In the first book the Hound competed in the tourney of the Hand, he beat Renly.

[Lord Revan]

Just had a second look and the Gold cloak and Stannis' troops armor look to be similar design (thought the goldcloaks have more decortive armor with the mail veil in front of their face (and the golden cloaks obviously).

too bad we don't get to see what the House Tageryen armor looks like (as far as I know) as Viserys seems to wear "travelling clothes" rather then battle armor.

[Vympel]

Yeah we don't - Viserys is just wearing clothes that he would've paid to have made for him whilst he was wandering about the Free Cities. He was taken across the sea at eight years of age. His sword is just a gift from Illyrio, he has not a clue how to use one.

[Lord Revan]

Yeah we don't - Viserys is just wearing clothes that he would've paid to have made for him whilst he was wandering about the Free Cities. He was taken across the sea at eight years of age. His sword is just a gift from Illyrio, he has not a clue how to use one.

that wouldn't be the only thing he has no clue about.

still it would be nice to see the House Tageryen armor design even if only in a flashback.

[spaceviking]

Well there is no reason why suits of Targeryn armour don't still exist. Maybe they will show up durring Danys return to westeros.

[Lord Revan]

Well there is no reason why suits of Targeryn armour don't still exist. Maybe they will show up durring Danys return to westeros.

true enough though it would seem unlikely (King Robert was rather Adamant to kill any targeryen he could get his hands on, so I wouldn't be supriced if he ordered all of their armor destroyed.

[Ahriman238]

Well, Targeryn colors are black and red, so they'd come off more like bad guys. Though this picture had Rhaegar have an awesome suit of armor.



For those who didn't read the books, that's supposed to be Robert Baratheon (the one in yellow with the antlers) slaying Rhaegar Targeryn (black with dragon) the crown prince during Robert's Rebellion and the catalyst for the whole war.

[LadyTevar]

The extra flange on the KingGuard helms is for looks, I'm sure. I can't see it really deflecting a blow properly. ...snip... House Lannister's helms are like the KingsGuard helms, looks good, but not so sure about the design working. I'd think a hard blow from above would drive that fancy ridge straight into their skulls.

While it is likely true for the spefic props it is not necessarily so if those headguards would have been made for combat. The historical precedent they are based on was very effective. You can see such details all the way from antiquity to the swiss mercenaries at their height. It did not entirely dissapear until the winged hussars went out of flavor, so all the way up to modern warfare, although it could be argued that for the hussars it is unlikely to have been an effective part.
*snip pictures*

I will point out that all the pictures you present show the flange running back to front, which follows the ridge of the helm and actually strengthens it as well as adds to the deflection of any downward blow. Lannister's flange goes from ear to ear, bisecting the helm's ridge. While it may stop a downward blow from hitting full-strength, the energy of the blow is concentrated on a smaller area, where the flange meets the helm. Depending on the welds holding it, that sideways flange could either come off, or be driven into the helm itself. Either way, that flange seems build for looks only.

[Thanas]

Roman centurions had flanges bisecting the helm's ridge.