Every Game of Thrones Religion Explained in 14 Minutes

the old gods of westros were at one point the main religion thousands of years ago they were originally worshiped by the children of the forest the first inhabitants of westros in which they had some practices specific to their religion one of which was carving faces into wewood trees in honor of the Gods which in turn made these tree sacred the religion believes in nameless and numerous nature gods and the free folk Beyond the Wall believe that the gods are everywhere such as in the Rocks streams trees and other living beings around 12,000 years ago the first men ventured out from the Eastern continent looking to expand into Westeros they started cutting down the children's forest and wewood trees which infuriated the children these two groups had Conflict for a very long time but eventually a pact of mutual peace was made and the first men promised to never cut down the sacred wewood trees again over the next few thousand years the first men Came To Worship the old gods as well this religion stayed very prominent in Westeros until the arrival of the andal 6,000 years ago in which they brought the religion known as the faith of the seven along with them which I will talk about momentarily eventually the amount of followers of the old gods started to drop because of this new popular religion where the old gods only remained a strong belief in the north where most of the first men ended up living after the Andals took over a large portion of the continent there were many religious wars for years to come but eventually tensions dropped between these two religions and during the time where the main series takes place the amount of followers of the old gods is the lowest it has ever been since the arrival of the first men worshippers of the old gods do not have elaborate ceremonies or holy texts and instead they practice quiet contemplation and God God's Woods which are small areas of forest which have been enclosed within a Castle's walls and the worship in a godswood is centered on the were wood trees that have faces carved in them with these trees being the closest thing to a shrine for this religion Oaths and Promises sworn in front of these wewood trees are considered binding and the only ceremony of the religion that the followers practice is during marriage where the bride is to beg the blessing of the Gods in front of the wewood tree other than that there's little that this religion demands of their followers which means there are very few rules and guidelines overall the Lord of Lights which also go by the names of the red God RoR the heart of fire and the god of flame and Shadow is a deity that is widely worshiped on the continent of os the Lord of Light has been described as a fire God and worship of him centers around fire and light followers of the Lord of Light believe he is the one true God but they also believe in an evil deity known as the great other they believe that the Lord of Light provides light heat and life whereas the great other as his eternal enemy representing Darkness ice and death not only this but fanatical followers believe that all of the Gods from the other religions in westros and esos are demons and false Idols that must be cast down and burned this religion has a lot more to it in practice compared to the old gods where many followers believe in prophecies and visions that are communicated Through the flames of fires by the Lord of Light himself most of the practices they have involve fire in some way ranging from something as simple as a bonfire to more extreme cases of sacrificing non-believers by burning them alive this religion is led by those known as the red priests and in temples they conduct bonfires and sing prayers every night asking the Lord of Light to bring back the Dawn and a common prayer that followers of this religion say is the night is dark and full of terrs followed by Lord cast your light upon us enforcing the idea that the darkness is cold and bad and the light is good asking for the Lord of Light to bring out the Sun for yet another day there are also holy texts for this religion and apparently it states that the current world that everyone lives in is now considered to be hell but the Lord of Light will eventually save his followers from this Darkness many also believe in the coming of a chosen Warrior to combat the coming Darkness known as the prince that was promised although in my opinion there are very wacky elements of this religion especially when it gets on the fanatical side of things but with that being said this religion is more than likely the most widespread religion in all of os and although it's not a major religion in every city there it is still present in most the faith of the seven or simply referred to as the faith is the main religion of the Seven Kingdoms this religion is especially dominant in the south of Westeros in the only regions it is not the majority religion of is in the north and on the iron Island where the ironborn believe in the Drowned God this religion is founded on the belief that there is one God who has seven faces or aspects to it which are the father the mother the maiden the Crone the warrior the Smith and the stranger with each representing one part of life or existence the faith originated over 6,000 years ago in the region known as andalos located in esos where according to Legend the God of this religion showed himself in front of the andle people after this event the andal set their sights on invading Westeros Conquering the first men and Slaughter sling the children of the forest viewing their magic as an Abomination before the seven the Andals burned down most of the wewood trees in the South and eventually all of the first men besides the ones who lived in the north fell to the Invaders and as the andal asserted their dominance all over the South they also asserted their religion over the first men they had conquered replacing the worship of the old gods almost entirely throughout the southern kingdoms before the rule of House Targaryen The Faith had the right to dispense Justice conduct inquests and trials and pass judgment over everyone including Kings and this Justice was enforced by the faith militant who is the military order of this religion serving the high septon the targaryens took this right away but allowed the faith to still remain an important part of West trosi Customs they eventually grew corrupt and their practices became little more than a facade with that being said this religion's importance was still very prevalent and most of the noble houses had a Septa who was a female clergy of the faith present in their household to help raise the daughters unlike the old gods the faith is based on a number of holy texts and complex social rules with the central text known as the seven-pointed star temples of this religion are seven-sided buildings known as seps with each wall dedicated to one of the seven aspects and followers of the faith Gather in these seeps for group prayer there are many rules to this religion such as homosexuality being a sin and of course incest kin slaying and more but the exception to this rule is for House Targaryen who are allowed to practice incest in order to keep the bloodline pure with all that being said there are no different denominations within the faith however different regions of the Seven Kingdoms May interpret and apply its rules more or less strictly than others the many faed God or simply referred to as death is a deity worshiped by the mysterious Cult of Assassins known as The Faceless Men their Temple which is known as the house of black and white is located in the free city of braavos and they believe that through their assassinations they do his work followers of this cult believe that death is the only God and he is unknowingly worshiped by followers of every religion in the world simply under different names because every religion has a god related to death in some way The Faceless Men believe that all these Gods from each of these religions are simply different aspects or faces of which death has revealed himself to humanity hence why they refer to him as the miniface god The Faceless Men view death as a gift from their God as a way to end human suffering whether that be through the euthanization of those who are sick and can no longer stand the suffering of living or is a way to end the lives of those who cause suffering to others they believe that they are only carrying out death's will and they cannot choose their own targets rather only ones that death himself has selected each follower believes that are no one with no personal desires and are only living to serve the Min face God Faceless Men are known to use the High Valyrian phrases Valar mules which means all men must die sooner or later in valard doares which means all men must serve both of which have deep significance in braavos society there are no prayers or worship services in this cult outside of their assassinations and their Temple is open to anyone who is in pain and seeking death in which they are given a drink of water from a poison Fountain granting them a gentle and painless death in return the Faceless Men collect their corpses to use their faces as disguises by using their magical shape-shifting abilities there are many strange and unique facts about this cult and it is without a doubt one of the most interesting groups I will discuss in this video The Great stallion is a horse God worshiped by the dothi mirroring the importance of horses in that culture the dothi acknowledged the existence of other supernatural beings or Spirits besides the great Stallion and although they only believe in and worship one single deity they accept the existence of other deities who may or may not exist they believe that the power of other gods is stronger in religions of which they are more widely worshiped but even then they still believe that the great stallion is the strongest god at any time and place in the world followers of this religion also believe that the stars in the night sky are the fiery cisar of the great Stallion and they also believe that when they die their souls will ride with their ancestors in the nightlands only if their bodies are properly burned the Dothraki believed that a prophecied leader the stallion who mounts the world will one day unite all of the dothi into one col and they will conquer the entire world together the followers of this religion are very brave but also superstitious people believing in many different Omens and they will not even go to war until the omen favor it even if it appears as if they will without a doubt win this religion does not have any restrictions on pillaging killing enslaving and raping which is unlike most religions in this world the closest thing to a priesthood that the dothi have are the widows of deceased CS where they conduct Many religious rituals interpret all types of Omens and are believed to possess great power of Prophecy this all takes place in the only city of the dothi known as Vice doth carrying a sword or shredding blood within this city is considered sacrilege although loopholes such as strangling or burning aanda death is acceptable although this religion comes across a lot more barbaric and unorganized from an outsider perspective there's actually a lot to it and it can get pretty complex overall the Drowned God is the deity worshiped on the iron Islands followers of this religion believe that the Drowned God justifies the ironborn practices of piracy and raiding as he once brought fire from the sea and created the ironborn to Reeve raid and pillage the ironborn believe that it is not only praiseworthy to kill enemies in battle but it is also considered a deeply religious act the Youth of the ironborn are not considered to be a man until they have killed their first enemy and the religion itself encourages paying the iron price rather than the price of gold in which it is better to not trade for possessions but to take them by force from the hands of dead enemies to most who do not follow this religion it comes across as a justification for stealing and killing but the ironborn them themselves take their religion very seriously and have a pretty developed belief system surrounding it they believe that the Drowned God is locked in an internal struggle Against The Storm God who is the enemy of their deity and that the drowned God's Halls are located beneath the ocean whereas the storm God lives in a Castle in the Sky with his thunder clouds where he constantly sends storms down to throw iron borne ships into rocks it is said that the Drowned God once drowned in the sea for the sake of the ironborn long ago but returned to life stronger than ever which is why those who do drown are looked at as Fearless rap aters who are believed to be taken to the drown God's watery Halls where they will Feast on fish and be tended by mermaids for eternity the common prayer exchanged by followers is what is dead may never die with the response being the same line echoed back involving clutching the right hand and a fist over the hearts Priests of this religion are known as the drowned men in which they anoint followers using sea water which is looked as holy water and this is how all of them are baptized there are also drowning ceremonies used to anoint Kings of the iron Islands which involves them actually being drowned and if they survive they become the next king although there are many features to this religion that make them seem cult-like it is still looked at as a legit religion by many people in this world the moon singers are the priestesses of the NY people who occupy a large area of Northeastern OS and they are mounted Raiders that live in the plains north of ET although this religion didn't appear in the show and there is even little information about it in the books I think it is still worth mentioning as there are a very prominent religion in braavos and even in other areas of os Bravos was founded by a diverse group group of slaves from valyria and they were made up of all different types of peoples cultures and religions one of these being the moon singer priestesses they are said to have led the escaping Fleet with their visions and without the moon singers braavos would probably have never been created although any in all religions are welcome in braavos the moon singer religion has more followers than any other single religion in this city which explains why their Temple is the largest in braavos the N have very different views about gender compared to people living in westos in each band of this religion there is a Jihad which is a war leader who is in charge of external politics and then there is a moon singer a combination Priestess healer and judge in charge of internal domestic affairs if a woman wants to be a jihat she must dress and Live Like a Man and this goes for if a man wants to be a moon singer as well it's not ever apparent if a moon singer was born a man or a woman as they are treated and referred to as one by everyone in their band this is such an interesting religion with it being one of the major ones in this world yet it is so mysterious and I hope we are able to learn more about it in the future the old gods of valyria is the last religion I will discuss in this video this religion believed in several Gods which were known as Bon maraxus Cyrax and vagar it was practiced by the valyrians for thousands of years up until the Doom of valyria that is House Targaryen later abandoned this religion when aegon the Conqueror and his sisters converted to the faith of the seven after taking westos there isn't much known about this long-forgotten religion but we do know one practice that followers of it had which was during weddings where the bride and groom would cut their hands and lips with dragon glass Vin mixing their blood to consumate the marriage way back when in valyria no one cared which religion one wanted to follow as long as everyone paid their taxes the Valyrian religion was mostly just followed by the valyrians themselves and it didn't seem like they care too much to expand their religion outside of that now I might be wrong in saying this but that's just how it comes across to me after reading all this information although this religion eventually went nearly extinct it hasn't entirely so as of yet as there are some Aristocrats in valantis that still follow it but this is mostly just due to the obsession that valantis has with being the first and oldest of the free cities which was founded as a colony by valyria so they cling to whatever cultural elements of valyria they can to prove they are valerious successors and should one day have the right to conquer and unite all the other free cities although the targaryens eventually stopped following this religion they still named several of their dragons after multiple gods from it with that being said that is all we pretty much know about this religion at this moment but I hope to also learn more about this one in the future although this is unlikely I would love to see a book or show come out taking place during the time where valy was alive and thriving someday anyways thank you very much for watching this video and if you enjoyed please leave a like And subscribe comment down below your thoughts and also which other religions I discussed is your favorite in this franchise thank you again and goodbye

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Keywords: jaydone, game of thrones, got, house of the dragon, hotd, gods, religion, the old gods, lord of light, faith of the seven, the faith, sept, high sparrow, high septon, many-faced god, great stallion, dothraki, drowned god, moonsingers, old gods of valyria, valyria, history, cultures, groups, organizations, houses, explained, every game of thrones house explained, house, stark, targaryen, season 1, season 2, episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, react, reaction, reacting to

Id: mTfnCqcz-OU

Length: 14min 11sec (851 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 04 2024