One of the most engaging elements of Game of Thrones is its hidden lore and obscure societal details. A fan could watch or read for ages, gradually lulled into a false sense of security by the grounded historical fantasy, only to be shocked by a bizarre new detail. When Arya’s story about a princess escaping the monsters who killed her father suddenly becomes about a cult of assassins worshiping the Many-Faced God, the story reveals another layer of brilliance.
Most of Westeros worships the dominant religion, the Faith of the Seven. Spiritual elements rarely dominate the narrative, but they push characters in fascinating directions. The people of the North maintained their ancestral connection to the Old Gods of the Forest, and those on the Iron Islands stuck with the Drowned Gods, but most joined the Seven. The Many-Faced God adopts bits and pieces from every religion to form a new organization.
RELATED: Game of Thrones: The Red God, Explained
What is the Many-Faced God?
The Many-Faced God is a singular deity who takes many forms. His followers believe that the many polytheistic religions of the Known World deceive themselves. They see the Many-Faced God in the gods of death worshiped by every other faith. The Many-Faced God is death in all its forms. It carries the immortal souls of the deceased to a place beyond the mortal realm. This action is seen as a moral imperative, a merciful end to all worldly suffering. Its personality and character traits vary wildly across its many faces. It’s attached to minor occult figures and major religions. Here’s a brief list of a few of the Many-Faced God’s facets:
- The Stranger from the Faith of the Seven
- The Black Goat of Qohor
- The Lion of Night in Yi Ti
- The Weeping Lady of Lys
- The Moon-Pale Maiden
- Bakkalon, the Pale Child
- The Dothraki Horse God
There could be countless other deities thought to be the Many-Faced God in an alternate form. Every faith has a figure concerned with death, and the Faceless Men see their patron in all of them.
Who Worships the Many-Faced God?
The Faceless Men follow the Many-Faced God’s teachings. The faith emerged from Valyria, where slaves from every corner of the Known World toiled together. The nightmarish treatment led many to pray to their chosen deities for the sweet release of death. One person, their name long lost to time, grew to believe that their varied gods were one and the same. Those who shared their belief became known as the Faceless Men. The Faceless Men do not pray or worship in any traditional way. Instead, they interpret their deity’s wishes as targets. Faceless Men can be contracted to give the “gift” of death to almost anyone for the right price. They offer peaceful euthanasia to anyone who wants it, providing free poison to the sick and suffering. Their adherence to the Many-Faced God pays in magical powers. They can take the face of anyone they kill, then flawlessly imitate them to seek their next target. A kindly Faceless Man instructs young Arya Stark in the Many-Faced God’s ways like this:
Death is not the worst thing. It is His gift to us, an end to want and pain. On the day that we are born the Many-Faced God sends each of us a dark angel to walk through life beside us. When our sins and our sufferings grow too great to be borne, the angel takes us by the hand to lead us to the nightlands, where the stars burn ever bright. Those who come to drink from the black cup are looking for their angels.
Where is the Many-Faced God’s Temple?
In the beautiful Free City of Braavos sits the House of Black and White. It’s the only home for the Faceless Men. It hides a network of tunnels, countless armaments, and collected faces to be used as disguises. The House prominently displays cisterns of poisoned water to free willing participants from their suffering and 30 statues of varied gods. The audience experienced the House of Black and White through Arya’s eyes before she became briefly blind. It’s one of the most fascinating religious structures in the Known World, and though only a few see it firsthand, it remains one of the series’ best reveals.
The Many-Faced God is a fascinating concept that has little basis in reality. Imagine a modern syncretic religion borrowing the countless death gods from across human societies. Consider someone who thinks Anubis, the Grim Reaper, Thanatos, Yama, and every other example were the same being wearing different disguises. It would be a tough pitch without the added elements of inarguably magical disguise powers and superhuman assassination skills. The Many-Faced God stands above many other religious theories in or around Westeros, even as it remains in the shadows. To the Faceless Man, there is only one god and only one thing to say to him.
Leave a Reply