Earlier this week, we reported on some changes happening at the King’s Landing set in Belfast. Among the many impressive structures the crew has built is a full wall of the Red Keep. To the surprise of no one, the wall is red:
Okay, it looks more pink from this angle but you get the idea.
However, over the past couple of days, the wall has gone from looking like this…
…to looking like this:
At first, I thought the crew might be painting the wall white because they were done using it, but the more I thought about that, the less sense it made. After all, when filming is over, HBO plans to leave the King’s Landing set standing as a tourist attraction, and surely fans will want to see the Red Keep as it looked during the bulk of the series. Also, if they’re done using it, why bother repainting it at all?
Among fans — including WiC commenters another theory is brewing: whatever faction takes over the city at the end of the show is painting the Red Keep on purpose, to mark the beginning of a new era. It’s also notable that, as painted, the Red Keep looks more like some of the other buildings on the set, like this guard tower:
Who might choose to paint the Red Keep white? Well, the Night King is closely associated with snow and ice, but we can’t see him caring about a paint job for his castle. If I had to guess, I’d say that Jon or Dany or whomever eventually kicks Cersei off the throne repaints the place to announce the start of a kinder, gentler reign. Remember how Joffrey Baratheon talked about the Red Keep in the season 3 History and Lord feature:
Aegon built his castle of red rock to remind people of the fire he roasted his enemies in, so whenever King’s Landing looked up they’d see the price of defiance
Cersei would be behind that, but another ruler may want to go in a different direction.
In possibly related news, Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) remains one of the few major cast members conspicuously hanging around the Game of Thrones set. Here she is yesterday with a fan in Belfast:
A pale-colored castle to match her hair, maybe?
To stay up to date on everything Game of Thrones, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels
