Game of Thrones – Samwell

Game of Thrones – Samwell

Here we have our first appearance of Samwell Tarly as out of his element as he is anywhere in the series. I was tempted to have Jon and the other boys reacting to him, but the more I thought about it, I thought the portrait was the best way to go. So, no, I didn’t do it because it was easier.

The hardest part was figuring out how Sam was dressed. Mr. Martin uses the word “doublet” and “surcoat” interchangeably, back to back. I found myself wondering; “okay, is Sam wearing his surcoat over his doublet. It was bad enough that I found myself spending more time reading my copy of Albert Racinet’s The Historical Encyclopedia of Costume than I did the source material. I found out that when surcoat didn’t mean the garment 13th-century knights wore over their chainmail it pretty much meant doublet. I finally decided that Mr. Martin meant only one article of clothing. I guessed on what else Sam would be wearing. I went with something that screamed soft, pampered, rich kid.