Crests & Sigils (Spoilers all RotE Books)

[Farseer]

I find the lack of dragon sigils to be significant (or not?)

I do also! What to make of it all...

I enjoyed your post 'thul. The history of heraldry is a topic I can, and do, lose myself in. I spent many hours here one night because I just had to find out exactly why it was that the English Cricket Team bore the triple lions on their team uniforms...once I found that out, one interesting thing lead to another, and another...like I had nothing more important to do! Like now!!

It's interesting to do searches on images used in crests and what some of the meanings attached to the images are. Some examples from only sites I briefly stumbled upon, though accuracy is not assured of course (!!):

Buck (or stag/deer etc) - One who will not fight unless provoked; peace and harmony

Cock (male bird) - Courage and perseverance; hero; able man in politics

Cat - Liberty, vigilance, forecast, and courage. I added this just for fun...though I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the word 'forecast' jumped out at me!!!

Dragon (though there is no crest for this in RotE) - Valiant defender of treasure; valour and protection

Fox (vixen) - One who will use all that he/she may possess of wisdom and wit in his/her own defense (I liked this use of the word 'wit' seeing as this crest is connected to Kettricken! )

Ivy (it was not Patience's 'crest' as such, but an image that became synonymous with her actions?) - Strong and lasting friendship

Pheasant - Person of many resources (sure sounds like Lord Golden!)

Raven - Divine providence (Wintrow thought Kennit was of Sa!)

Serpent/Sea Serpent - Wisdom

The best find of all was the one for Fool, who I associate with the rat, as that was the animal represented on his sceptre while in Buckkeep:

Rat - Unknown (yes, the Fool IS that!! )

I have spoken a little of Ratsy in the Mythical Creatures/Folk thread but, further to that, I am of the foundationless opinion that Fool's sceptre was not a simple jester's marotte, but possibly a sceptre of his divine or royal-like office, that may have even had magical properties. If I couple this idea with the fact that a jester's words were often deemed to have been divinely inspired (not to mention the small matter that Fool is a WP! ) and that the jesters themselves were sometimes considered to have been touched by God, it's not that far of a stretch...as well as given everything we know of him. Anyhow, that possibly belongs in a few other threads...sorry!

Back to the Golden Cock Pheasant crest...the Pheasant is an animal "characterised by strong sexual dimorphism"...is this coincidence or is RH trying to tell us something here?

While some of the crests and meanings may be historically inaccurate, there is nothing to say that RH herself has not attached similar meanings to the crests she has placed within the RotE?