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July 3, 2025 59 mins

In this third episode of our series looking at the books, actually, we look at a neat trick GRRM uses for subtle storytelling: the blasons/sigils of the main Houses of the North, through the prism of semiotics -and specifically, the tools developed by the researcher, Greimas.

You don't know what semiotics are? Fair enough! Let us explain that it's the study of signs and symbols, and how they are used to create meaning, tell stories, communicate ideas. And that GRRM provides the keen-eyed reader with a prime example of how to use images well <3

We hope you like this episode as much as we enjoyed nerding out and making it!

Tell your friends and even your barista about it, and if you like what you hear, leave us a firework of stars and rave about us in a review on your podcast app of choice.

Also, check out our Patreon where you can become a member and get cool rewards such as our bonus episodes at the Boots level and up! Virginie reads LOTR for the first time ever, and has a lot of correct opinions (or so she has been told).

You can contact us at:

ragmanspod@gmail.com

BlueSky

Thank you LittleWolfBird for the sound engineering, and thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!

Sources and further reading:

http://www.signosemio.com/greimas/canonical-narrative-schema.asp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actantial_model

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotic_square

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