Game of Thrones Blog
House words, decoded
"Winter Is Coming" reads like a threat and "Hear Me Roar" like a boast. Taken as instructions instead, the mottos of Westeros ask something specific of the people who live by them.
Most great houses picked words that sound like a warning. Read them as a discipline instead and they get more interesting. “Winter Is Coming” is a rule about preparation, and about treating pessimism as a form of care. “We Do Not Sow” is a claim about how value is created, and about who does the creating.
The houses without famous words are just as telling. A motto is a house saying this is the thing we will not compromise on. Notice which virtue each one chose to carve in stone and you have a fairly precise map of its blind spots.
Placeholder article. The published version will run through the major houses’ words and what each one quietly demands of the people who live by them.