Spoilers ahead for the season-six finale of Game of Thrones.
Game of Thrones crowned a new victor on Sunday when Lena Headey’s Cersei Lannister, having (literally) ignited her enemies and lost everything she cared about, took her place on the Iron Throne. Thrones costume designer Michele Clapton recently hinted that she was particularly proud of the crown she’d designed for Cersei’s big moment, so Vulture followed up to find out her thinking behind this headpiece:
I chose to make it in silver with just wisps of gold to try to show her isolation, her mental disentangling from her family. There is no reference to [her late husband, Robert] Baratheon; there is no need anymore. She doesn’t have to try and prove a link. The center of the crown is the lion sigil abstracted — its mane represents the Iron Throne, her desire. She has made it her own — she is reborn.
Clapton previously told Vulture that Cersei wears more jewelry when she’s not feeling very confident. Her look in the finale is simple, with just a thin, silver chain complementing her crown. “She is dead inside,†Clapton says. “There can now be a clarity to her desire: power, the throne, on her terms.†It’s the opposite of Tommen’s final look, where we see him weighted down with jeweled finery. According to Clapton, this was meant to show how heavily his responsibilities weigh on him. “He was a nice boy,†Clapton says. “Too nice for this.â€