Details of Barrayar I have forgotten

[beatrice_otter]

Do we know what Padma's Da's name was?  We can presume his father's name was Ivan, as Ivan would have been named after him.  Do we know what Aral's older brother's name was, or Aral's middle name?

What are the Vorbarra colors?  Are they red-and blue like the colors of the imperium, so that Barrayaran soldiers in parade dress are in fact wearing Vorbarra livery?  Would there then be a difference between livery and a military uniform?  I'm pretty sure we only see Gregor wearing nice suits and military uniforms, we don't see him ever wear his House uniform.  Of course military uniform usually trumps House uniform, but it doesn't always seem to.

Comments

[dira]

There isn't solid text evidence for any of those things, although lots of people have pet theories. (Vorbarra livery is mentioned from time to time, I think Gregor even wears it once or twice, but the colors are never actually named--it's just referred to as Vorbarra livery, or the Vorbarra colors.)

From what I've read, Lois's standard operating procedure is to leave details like that as unspecified as possible unless they become story-necessary, so that she has maximum maneuvering room later on. Also she hates making up character names. :)

[elf]

Vorbarra house colors are black and silver (at least, that's what the GURPS Vorkosigan book says); service parade colors aren't house colors.

I don't believe we know Aral's middle name. I thought we knew Aral's brother's name, but the Vorkosigan Wiki listing for Aral doesn't mention it, nor does the listing for Piotr mention his father. Huh.

Padma's listing is short & doesn't mention his father.

[aella_irene]

We do not have Aral's brother's name. We have an entire conversation about him in Cryoburn, but he is, very carefully, never named. I know that LMB doesn't like naming characters unless she absolutely has to, but really...

(I believe Vorbarra livery is black and silver, but I couldn't say where I got the idea.)

[gramina]

I can't answer the other stuff, but Gregor and Laisa come to Miles' wedding as Count and Countess Vorbarra; I believe he is in Vorbarra colors at that point. (It makes it much easier for him to be there as Miles' foster-brother if he's there in his face as Count rather than his face as emperor.)

((And now I find myself wishing that "melanti" -- from the Liaden books -- were a common cultural concept, since that fits here better than "face."))