#but i'm fairly confident shannon chose their jewels based more on color than the jewel's symbolism themselves

[bookwyrminspiration]

thought on the significance of colors in kotlc?

This is rather broad; there's many approaches here. We could talk about the obvious world ruled by light, both groups of rebels associate w/ black situation--and the intrigue in having two opposing rebel groups both being black (ignore the technicalities of it being a shade). There's also the few characters with very strong color ties--Sophie and red, Fitz and teal, Oralie and pink, Tam and black.

Red's blood, anger, war, violence, and more, all tied to the role Sophie has found herself part of; she is the center of this war, more accustomed to violence than her peers--and its the color her aura glowed in the seat of eminence. It's also associated with love and strength, more positive connotations that embody what she brings and what she fights for. Sophie wears a lot of white on the covers, making it also the color of children's hospitals, a place where Sophie spends a lot of time

A quick search associates teal with clarity and open communication, which is fitting for Fitz; his whole thing is trust and being honest with each other--and the fact he was the one who opened Sophie to this other world, helped her see with clarity, is notable. Apparently, Egyptians saw it "as representation of faith and truth," which is a reaffirmation of the first point. It's also interesting that teal and red aren't opposites, but are rather...opposite adjacent? Close but not quite.

There's also the very obvious Oralie/Pink, Tam/black associations. Pink is feminine, loving, compassionate--all traits Oralie embodies. Of note though is that pink is opposite of green, the color of life for elves. Her life does not appear to be in danger, but it does seem entwined with tragedy and loss, to an extent. Perhaps fitting that green is opposite red as well, and pink is simply a subtler shade of red; she does not suffer full opposite association, but is still touched by it. Tam's seems too obvious to need much explaining; he's a shade, works with shadows, associated with secrecy, distrust, etc.--though not death. Black doesn't mean death for elves.

We don't have many characters this obviously tied to colors, however. Instead we can circle back to the one other color in the lost cities that stands out: green. The color of life, worn in mourning. Which we could also compare to the typical black (in Shannon's background), a color we've already associated with rebels. The rebels then, in a sense, both do and don't represent death/change; to those of us aware of black's association with death, we see the comparison, but within the universe they're instead associated with secrecy and fear and shadows (like Tam), the antithesis of their light society. Returning to the green specifically, we could also pull in Sophie's red; as a complimentary color, she could be said to compliment life. It is her war, her violence, her passion, her strength that will aid and proliferate life in the lost cities.

I'll stop here for now, but I'm sure there are several other ways to look at color--if you (or anyone else) had a more specific idea in mind, please do tell me, I'm kinda take a stab in the dark here about what kind of color significance you're commenting on :)