Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-108.185.133.128-20151231033702

What are the rules for displaying the heraldry shields on each character's page? I thought the basic rule was the left shield showed who a characer's allegiance is at the "beginning" (however that is defined) and the right shield is for the character's current allegiance.

The reason why I ask is for Loras Tyrell. His page has House Tyrell on the left since he was born a Tyrell and Renly's shield on the right since he fell in love with Renly. But with Renly dead, it seemed to me to be more appropriate if Renly's shield was in the middle to show Loras' past devotion to Renly and to have the House Tyrell shield on the right to show that Loras' ultimate allegiance now is to his family. I made this change but it was undone.

So OK, but then why is Brienne's page House Tarth shields on both left and right? If Loras is House Tyrell on the left and Renly on the right, Brienne should be the same given her devotion to Renly as well.

But I think there is a larger point: The way I think of the shields is that they show the character's motivation - who is each character really fighting for? So by showing only Renly's shield on the right with Loras, it looks like Loras is only fighting for Renly but we know he isn't - he fights for his family too. On the flip side, Brienne's looks incorrect without a Renly shield - a lot of her actions have been - and continue to be - motivated by her devotion to Renly so it should be shown.

So my recommendation is have Renly's sheild in the middle for both characters to denote each character's past devotion to Renly - which continues to motivate each today - but given that Renly is dead, each character's again puts their family first. 