Line #106 Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireDeitiesAndReligions


1	[-This is a listing of deities and religions in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''.-]
2	!!!For the main character index, see [[AC:[[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFire here]]]]
3
4	[[foldercontrol]]
5
6	[[index]]
7	* [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireTheFaithOfTheSeven The Seven]]
8	* [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireDrownedMen The Drowned God]]
9	* [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireLordOfLight R'hllor]]
10	* [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireFacelessMen The Many-Faced God]]
11	[[/index]]
12
13	[[folder:The Old Gods]]
14	!!The Gods of the Forest
15	->''"What do the trees remember?"\
16	"The secrets of the old gods."''
17
18	A collection of nameless gods worshiped by the Children of the Forest, and later adopted by the First Men and their descendants: the Northmen and the Free Folk. This faith predates the Faith of the Seven by many thousands of years, but has been largely eclipsed by the Andal's seven-faced god.
19
20	They seem to be very informal in regards to worship: some basic tenets are described (opposition to incest, kinslaying, and slavery, and a great respect for guest right), and there is very little in the way of ritual beyond silent meditative prayer before weirwood trees. Weirwoods themselves have white bark and red leaves, and are believed to be functionally immortal. The Children of the Forest carved faces into the weirwoods in ancient times, and modern worshipers will occasionally do this to other trees as well. In his ''Dance'' chapters, Bran becomes a "greenseer", accessing the memories of any weirwood tree still standing. How (or if) this relates to Faith of the Old Gods has not yet been revealed.
21	----
22	* CrystalDragonJesus: As the highly structured Faith of the Seven (the "new gods") resembles Catholicism, the worship of the Old Gods evokes a decentralized, unorganized folk religion, paralleling the displacement of druidic religions in Europe by Christianity.
23	* DarkIsNotEvil: In the words of the Last Greenseer, darkness hides and protects you from enemies. Contrast with the intolerant DarkIsEvil attitude R'hllor cultists have, and [[WildMassGuessing wonder]].
24	* ElementalPowers: It is not elaborated on very much, but during the first migrations of humans into Westeros, the Children of the Forest were said to have brought "the hammer of the waters" down onto the Arm of Dorne, smashing the land bridge asunder to try and halt humankind's advance (it slowed the migrations but they didn't stop). They attempted it again at the Neck, but the magic didn't work as well this time and they succeeded only in turning the region into the nearly-impassable swamp it is at the time the books take place. These could have been coincidental natural disasters, but the legends say that the chief greenseers of the Children commanded them.
25	* GoodOldWays: The Northmen view "keeping the Old Gods" as a cherished ancient tradition.
26	* HumanSacrifice: [[spoiler:In one of Bran's visions of the past during his training to become a greenseer, he sees a prisoner sacrificed before a weirwood, his throat slit with a ceremonial knife.]] There's also mention of Northmen disemboweling invading Sistermen and giving their entrails to the weirwood at the Wolf's Den.
27	* NoNameGiven: The Old Gods are specifically mentioned as being nameless as a point of contrast between them and the Seven.
28	* TheOldGods: Downplayed. They're called this and are an older religion that has often been displaced by the Seven, but the Seven aren't considered to have overthrown the Old Gods within either religion's actual theology and the Old Gods aren't described as actually being older or stronger entities than the Seven.
29	* {{Revenge}}: Taking vengeance for wrongs is seen as acceptable and morally right by this faith.
30	* SacredHospitality: One of their tenets is that once a person has come into your home and eaten at your table, they are under your protection while they are staying with you, and breaking that trust is one of the vilest crimes one can ever commit. In the old legends, this pretty much guarantees the offender will meet a FateWorseThanDeath due to divine retribution.
31	* SpeaksFluentAnimal: The greenseers were said to be able to do this. This may not be entirely magical either, as we are told that ravens originally delivered messages verbally and everyone could understand.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:The Great Other]]
35	->''"Gods? There is only R'hllor, and the Other."''
36
37	An entity which serves as the diametric opposite to R'hllor. The Great Other is a being of ice and darkness, as opposed to the fire and light represented by R'hllor. It's heavily implied that the Great Other is the god worshiped by the Others, and possibly even the leader of the Others itself, and as such is the ultimate enemy of all mankind. The servants of R'hllor are all sworn to combat the darkness and death the Great Other plans to visit on the world. Melisandre in particular has dedicated her life to fighting it directly.
38	----
39	* TheAntiGod: He's the equal and opposite of R'hllor, dark where the Red God is bright and hateful where the Red God is protective.
40	* BadPowersBadPeople: [[SchrodingersGun Maybe]]. According to Melisandre [[spoiler:Bran is [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain on his way to becoming the Great Other's version of her]]]].
41	* DarkIsEvil: Others as a whole are prominently associated with the long, dark winters during which horrors occur, and the Great Other is this on steroids. So, yes.
42	* TheDreaded: The Others themselves are TheDreaded for Westeros (and Essos) writ large. If the Great Other has anything to do with ''them'', consider this written permission [[BringMyBrownPants to crap your pants]].
43	* EldritchLocation: The Land of Always Winter where his influence is supposedly most greatly felt. Take a wild guess what it's predominantly like.
44	* EldritchAbomination: Its implied to be this, and is at the center of number of theories involving the WeatherDissonance of Westeros, namely the multiple-year-long winters.
45	* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The temperature takes a dive either just before normal Others show up, or ''because'' they've shown up. It's unclear which. Either way, you're in trouble far beyond what wooly gear can get you out of. Now, multiply that into affecting a whole swathe of continent in one go.
46	* GodOfDarkness: The Great Other is the god of darkness, cold, and death. He is the enemy of R'hllor with whom he constantly battles for the fate of the world.
47	* GodOfEvil: Along with TheAntiGod and SatanicArchetype. He's implied to be the god of [[TheFairFolk The]] [[ZombieApocalypse Others]], and in R'hllorism he is the opposite number of the Lord of Light.
48	* GoodHurtsEvil: According to Melisandre, the only way to defeat the Great Other is through a bond of [[TrueLoveIsExceptional true love]]... [[KillItWithFire and lots of fire]].
49	* GreaterScopeVillain: Possibly for ''the'' ultimate BigBad for the series... [[SchrodingersGun or maybe not]].
50	* KillItWithFire: One of the ways to make sure one of them or their wights is truly out of your hair is to resort to this by any means necessary.
51	* TheLegionsOfHell: If the Great Other is connected at all to the Others, then they are its legion.
52	* TheNightThatNeverEnds: This appears to be its ultimate goal -- a permanent winter night.
53	* SnowMeansDeath: He's usually associated with winter, cold, and death.
54	* SatanicArchetype: He's diametrically opposed to [[{{God}} R'hllor]] in his religion, ruler of TheLegionsOfHell, acts as a tempter and TheCorrupter to [[spoiler:Bran]]. His association with cold and darkness also mirrors some interpretations of Hell, where Hell is actually icy cold and dark because it's the furthest place in existence from Heaven and the light of God.
55	* YouKnowTheOne: He's referred to as "the Great Other" or just "the Other" by the followers of R'hllor, who are forbidden from using its true name.
56	* ZombieApocalypse: The likely instigator and architect of what looks to be a stonking big one, once they all cross into the Seven Kingdoms. The Others have already caused havock beyond the Wall just gathering recruits.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:The Moonsingers]]
60	A widespread religion, originally from the Plains of the Jogos Nhai. They were instrumental in the founding of Braavos and theirs is the greatest temple in the city.
61	----
62	* FounderOfTheKingdom: Among the slaves who would found Braavos was a group of Moonsingers that led the escaped slaves to the northwest of Essos, where they would found Braavos.
63	* TheGhost: This religion is mentioned several times but none of its practitioners has made an appearance in the story or been identified as such. We don’t even know what god or gods they worship.
64	* {{Seers}}: The Moonsingers apparently have clairvoyance. Originally they led escaped slaves to Braavos after they took control of slave ships carrying them. Because of it they are still highly revered in the city.
65	* SolarAndLunar: The Temple of the Moonsingers is all white and silver, decorated with the phases of the moon.
66	* WholesomeCrossdresser: Men who want to become Moonsingers must dress and live as women. In many cases, it's said outsiders cannot tell if the moonsinger is a man or woman at all due to this.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Boash]]
70	!!Boash
71	!!!The Blind God
72	A monotheistic sect born in the Valyrian Freehold. They abandoned Valyria and settled in the then-deserted Lorath. Boash'i priests were eunuchs that wore eyeless hoods as they believed only in darkness would their third eye open so they could see the "higher truths" of creation.
73	----
74	* CorruptChurch: As the worship of Boash fell away, the remaining priests grew fat, rich and decadent off of the taxes extracted from the citizens.
75	%%* CrystalDragonJesus: Of Buddhism.
76	* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Boash'i followed an extreme abnegation of the self, even putting aside their names and referring to themselves as "a man" or "a woman" instead of "I". Even though the religion is now extinct, this manner of speaking endures among the noble classes of Lorath.
77	* TheTeetotaler: Boash'i drank no wine.
78	* ThirdEye: Priests hoped to achieve this to learn the higher truths of creation.
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Rhoynar Gods]]
82	Also known as the Mother River, Mother Rhoyne is believed to the personification of the Rhoyne River, along which the Rhoynar city-states were built. When the Rhoynar fled to Dorne, most of them took up the Faith of the Seven, but a devout few still worship her from afar. They call themselves Orphans of the Greenblood because they have been "orphaned" from their mother and live along the Greenblood, a major river in Dorne.
83
84	The Old Man of the River is a minor god who is believed to be the son of Mother Rhoyne. Because he takes the form of a giant horned turtle, the giant turtles native to the Rhoyne River are called the old men of the river in his honor. His enemy, the Crab King, battles him for dominion over all life below the water.
85	----
86	%%* ArchEnemy: The Old Man of the River and the Crab King.
87	* CrystalDragonJesus: Mother Rhoyne is similar to the goddess Ganga from Hinduism. Both are the personification of a major river that is the vital to the livelihood of the people who near it, the Rhoyne River and the Ganges River respectively.
88	* DeathOfTheOldGods: Most Rhoynar people and their descendants converted to the Faith of the Seven, but a handful still worship Mother Rhoyne.
89	%%* GiantEnemyCrab: The Crab King.
90	* NatureSpirit: Mother Rhoyne was a river goddess.
91	* TopGod: Mother Rhoyne was the most important deity to the people of the Rhoynar because they depended on her waters for their way of life.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:The Lord of Harmony]]
95	A god worshipped on Naath. He is said to have made the moon, stars, earth and all living creatures. He depicted as a laughing, naked giant with a beard, attended by women with butterfly wings.
96	----
97	* ActualPacifist: His followers, the Naathi, must vow to never harm another living being, not even in self-defense.
98	* AnimalMotifs: He is associated with the unique butterflies of Naath.
99	* GentleGiant: The Lord of Harmony is depicted as a laughing giant, naked and bearded. He forbids his followers from committing any form of violence.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Gods of the Dothraki]]
103	The gods of the Dothraki religion.
104	----
105	* CoolHorse: The horse god worshiped by the Dothraki, which is sometimes prayed to for strength.
106	* CrypticBackgroundReference: Not much information is given about the Dothraki religion, aside from a few cursory mentions of their gods.
107	* MaleSunFemaleMoon: In the Dothraki religion, the moon is a goddess, wife of the sun.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:The Lady of Spears]]
111	!!The Lady of Spears
112	!!!The Bride of Battle, The Mother of Hosts
113
114	A goddess worshipped by the Unsullied.
115	----
116	* GroinAttack: After a boy who is to become an Unsullied is gelded, his manhood is burned at the altar of the Lady of Spears.
117	* IHaveManyNames: The goddess commonly known as the Lady of Spears has many more names, including the Bride of Battle and the Mother of Hosts. Only the eunuch warriors who worship her know her true name, but they are forbidden to share it with outsiders.
118	* WarGod: She is a goddess worshiped by slave soldiers.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:The Black Goat]]
122	A deity worshipped in Qohor.
123	----
124	* GruesomeGoat: Its religion involves daily blood sacrifice -- of calves, bulls, horses, criminals, and sometimes even highborn children.
125	* HumanSacrifice: The Black Goat of Qohor demands daily sacrifice. While this usually comes in the form of animals, on holy days it is criminals who get the knife. In times of great danger, the high nobles may even go far enough as to sacrifice their own children.
126	* InTheHood: The Black Goat's priests are said to wear cowls.
127	* WouldHurtAChild: Followers of the Black Goat sometimes sacrifice their own children to gain his favor, especially in times of great danger.
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Gods of the Great Empire of the Dawn]]
131	The gods who created and ruled over the Great Empire of the Dawn, predecessor of the Golden Empire of Yi Ti.
132	----
133	* DivinePunishment: After the Bloodstone Emperor slew his sister, the Amethyst Empress, the Lion of Night came forth to punish the wickedness of humanity.
134	* GodCouple: The Lion of the Night and the Maiden-Made-of-Light are paired together and birthed the God-on-Earth.
135	* GodEmperor: The God-on-Earth, first ruler of the Great Empire of the Dawn, was believed to be the son of the Lion of the Night and the Maiden-Made-of-Light.
136	* HaveYouSeenMyGod: The Maiden-Made-of-Light turned her back on the earth and humanity, after her descendant the Bloodstone Emperor murdered his sister the Amethyst Empress.
137	* GodOfDarkness: The Lion of Night. Apparently, he does the dirty work in the [=YiTish=] pantheon and created "demons" to punish the wickedness of men. The ensuing conflict was called The Long Night, which makes him similar to The Great Other.
138	* GodOfTheDead: The Lion of Night is believed by the Faceless Men to be one of the faces of the Many-Faced God, implying he holds power over death in the [=YiTish=] pantheon.
139	* ImAHumanitarian: The Bloodstone Emperor is said to have done many terrible things during his reign, including feasting on human flesh.
140	* LongLived: The God-on-Earth ruled for 10,000 years before ascending into the stars and passing rule to his son, the Pearl Emperor.
141	* RockThemeNaming: Each of the Emperors descended from the God-on-Earth is named after a gemstone, including the Pearl Emperor, the Jade Emperor, the Tourmaline Emperor, the Onyx Emperor, the Topaz Emperor, and the Opal Emperor.
142	* RoyalHarem: The God-on-Earth is said to have had a hundred queens who carried his palanquin, which was carved from a single pearl.
143	[[/folder]]
144
145	[[folder:Other Minor Gods]]
146	* TheAlcoholic: There's mention of a Drunken God with a statue dedicated to him in Tyrosh.
147	* CatGirl: Pantera, a six-breasted cat goddess from Lys.
148	%%* CastingAShadow: The Lion of the Night.
149	* ChurchMilitant: The Bearded Priests of Norvos, who are famously armed with double-headed axes.
150	* CrystalDragonJesus: The Lhazareen worship the Great Shepherd, who considers the whole world his flock; similar to the depiction of Jesus as a peaceful shepherd who accepts everyone.
151	* DeathOfTheOldGods: The Lady of the Waves and the Lord of the Skies were worshiped on the Three Sisters until the Andals brought the Faith of the Seven to the islands.
152	* EldritchAbomination: Some of the stolen statues in Vaes Dothrak, most likely from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai, are in the shapes of gods so misshapen and terrible that Daenerys can hardly bear to look at them.
153	* GenderBender: Yndros of the Twilight, a Lysene deity who is male by day and female by night. Acolytes of this deity are thought to be able to change their gender during sex.
154	* InTheHood: The Hooded Wayfarer, who carries a staff and is the preferred god of poor men.
155	* JustSoStory: Durran Godsgrief, the first Storm King, warred against the parents of his wife Elenei, the god of the sea and the goddess of the wind, who forbade their union. The gods sent massive storms to destroy his castles, until the seventh, Storm's End, withstood their efforts.
156	%%* LightEmUp: The Maiden-Made-of-Light.
157	* LordOfTheOcean: The Merling King, the Father of the Waters, the god of the sea (father of Elenei), and [[GenderFlip the Lady of the Waves]]. The Moon-Pale Maiden is not explicitly stated to be this, but Arya notes that she's commonly worshiped by sailors.
158	* {{Lunacy}}: The Moon Mother, a goddess worshiped in Essos.
159	* NatureSpirit:
160	** The Merling King is a sea god commonly worshiped by sailors.
161	** The Lady of the Waves and the Lord of the Skies.
162	** The parents of Elenei, wife of Durran Godsgrief, were the god of the sea and the goddess of the wind.
163	** The Father of the Waters, whose temple in Braavos is rebuilt each time he takes a new bride.
164	* RuleOfThree: Trios, a god with three heads worshiped in Essos. One head eats the dying, and one head spits them out reborn. We never learn what the third head does. A tower in Braavos dedicated to him has three turrets. Penny recalls that an old dwarf in Tyrosh was cut into three pieces, one for each mouth.
165	* SatanicArchetype: The Lord of the Seven Hells.
166	* SiblingTeam: Semosh and Selloso, brother gods worshiped in Braavos.
167	* TheSpeechless: The Silent God.
168	* TenderTears: The Weeping Lady of Lys, also known as the Weeping Woman, is commonly worshiped by old women.
169	* TheTheocracy: Norvos is ruled by its Bearded Priests, who strictly control every part of its citizens lives. Bell tolls tell them when they must pray, eat, work and even have sex (this last is said to be infrequently, as the Bearded Priests believe in it only for reproduction-not that everyone obeys).
170	* WarGod: Bakkalon, the Pale Child, isn't explicitly stated to be such, but Arya notes that it's the preferred god of soldiers.
171	* WouldHurtAChild: The people of King's Landing blamed Saagael, worshiped by Larra Rogare, for the disappearances of children.
172	[[/folder]]

Context Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireDeitiesAndReligions