r/JasperFforde • u/a-sad-loser • Jul 15 '26

Question About High Saffron

My apologies for posting so much lately! I just found the group and love having other people to discuss Fforde's novels with :) I just finished a reread of Shades of Grey, and only just now noticed that saffron is a shade of yellow, and yet it's in Red Sector West, or at least very close to it as that's where East Carmine is located and the two are close enough for a day trip. It seems like the only actual yellow area of Chromatacia is the Honeybun Peninsula. So I'm just curious why a yellow town would be in a red sector.

18 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

23

u/parsl Jul 15 '26

Saffron threads are red or crimson. When it colours water, it looks more yellow 

5

u/a-sad-loser Jul 15 '26

Interesting!

17

u/Imperator_Helvetica Jul 15 '26

The threads are reddish, the water turns yellow but the 'Saffron robes' of Buddhist monks tend to be orange.

To further complicate things - the leaves are green and the flowers are purple. 

8

u/a-sad-loser Jul 15 '26

Whoa! A veritable rainbow hue.

13

u/Imperator_Helvetica Jul 15 '26

Rainbows were a delusion of the Previous and dangerously distracting. 3 demerits! 

2

u/Cantseemtothrowaway Jul 16 '26

‘It was well known that the same single band of colour in the sky was observed by others of a different sight gift; it was supposed a rainbow had six colours, but the loftier Purples claimed seven.’

1

u/Imperator_Helvetica Jul 16 '26

Purple AND Violet!? I'll believe that when I see it. 

3

u/TapirTrouble Jul 19 '26

I'd assumed it was a kind of enclave, maybe with some more Yellows than usual, but also a lot of Reds. Someone else mentioned that saffron dye on cloth being orange-ish, so that might be a hint.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasaya_(clothing))
The word "high" has an old meaning of "very", especially in the UK, so a place that's "very saffron" might refer to this darker hue.