The House Colors psychological meaning
Two things first before I start:
1)I'm talking about psychological meaning of color, not color as pigment or light, so in this context white, black and gray are colors;
2)color meaning is also personal and cultural, what I'm using as reference is from books that bring studies that were conducted about it;
The Locked Tomb books worldbuilding use a very direct approach for the choice of color, to the point that it makes me wonder if the author picked the color first, and then defined the House moto/function, instead of lore first then color symbolism.
Pretty simple, they use iridescent robes with a rainbow effect, which is to represent all the houses and the combination of the necromantic abilities.
Red, a color associated with physical strength, but also and aggression and blood. Armies would use the color red as intimidation. Its use makes sense for the military branch of an empire. What I find a little weird is it being defined as the shield of the empire, but it must be because of the Spartan influence in its symbol, with the skull wearing a Spartan-like helmet.
Passion, for someone, a cause, or a god is represented with red, and it can be good or bad.
White is their secondary color. Represents objectivity and accuracy.
Yellow, is the color of youthfulness, creativity, sagacity and even wisdom. Yellow is used when referred to Ianthe, and Gold, that is the house color, is connected to Coronabeth, that is the crown princess. Gold represents merit, luxury, pride and vanity. The Sun is the symbol that represents gold in alchemy, and because of that it is associated with masculinity.
The other color is purple(or violet) known for being mysterious, related to the fantastical, and even insanity. It is a mix of red and blue, which represent the body and mind, respectively, but it's neither. That's what makes it the color of ambiguity.
This was the house that inspired this post because blue is the color of fidelity.
It's also the color of intellect, and it makes sense given that their, or Isaac's, specialty are wards and they seem to be memorized and drawn.
Navy blue is also a common color used in military uniforms.
It's melancholic, cold and distant. Knowing what happens with the families that are part of it these meanings fit.
Blue is associated with femininity and when combined with white represent sportively.
Brow is one of the most disliked colors, it is hard to find someone that brown is their favorite. Outdated things are brown. It can be boring and you must be careful because it tends to steal the brightness of other colors.
However we also associate it with comfort. Rustic materials like leather and wood are that color.
Gold is their other color, which is an interesting counterpoint to the brown, a color that nobility wouldn't wear. Brown is a color that adapts, while gold stands out.
Grey is the color of thought because it's association with grey matter, also specialized literature, like a thesis, are called "grey literature".
It's also associated with indifference.
When it comes to rules there is sometimes "a grey zone" when things get up to interpretation, and we see Palamedes use this thought process many times.
I didn't know but silver is the secondary color of the Sixth. It's associated to femininity, the opposite to gold. It can also represent coldness and introversion.
Silver is used to represent something functional and elegant.
I see it as Pal is grey and Cam is silver.
Green is a color that has a lot of variations. It can mean life, health and youthfulness, or poison, sickness and villainess. It depends on the other colors surrounding it or the context.
Red is the opposite color to green, that's why it is used in surgical rooms, so the doctor can rest their retina from all the red of blood and flesh.
Cytherea has blue eyes that combined with the pale green of her house it makes a pleasant analogous color meaning, however because she is always coughing blood, you have this contrast in her character.
The House secondary color is silver. In heraldic tradition, it represents honor, humility and purity, and it's not considered a warrior color, which fits the House's theme. But I could see it as being a connection between the Sixth and Dulcinea.
White's idealized perfection makes it distant from others, and as a result not many people has it as their favorite color.
White is associated with goodness, truth, honesty and perfection. When a color is used with white, usually it highlights its positive attributes. An element added to white can ruin its purity association.
Like the house that tries to breed a perfect genetic match to their necromancer and punish those that sin, the 8th really embodies their color.
But at the same time white has positive connotations, it's weak compared to their opposite, black.
Their secondary color is also silver. Which I think could be an indicator that while they see themselves as the most loyal to god, they are secondary compared to the Fifth or Third.
The only House that just has one color.
Black can make a positive color have a negative meaning depending on its proportion. At the same time it can bring elegance (which at some point could've been the case, but not at this point).
Black represents 'the end'. Mysterious, magical and introverted.
The forbidden is associated with black, secret things are done in the shade/darkness.
There is more that I could write, but this file was in my computer for a while and I wanted to post something. If you want me to go more in depth with any of the houses, just ask.
I'm writing about the elements in Gideon's/Kiriona's design. Depending on how people enjoy this I'll post it or not.
Ah! One of the books that I used for this info is called: "Psicologia das cores: Como as cores afetam a emoção e a razão, by Eva Heller."
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