The world is vast and its peoples worship many gods. What follows is a record of the known religions of the world, from the great faiths of Westeros to the countless gods of Essos and beyond. Marriage customs specific to each faith are covered on the Marriage page.
The Faith of the Seven is the dominant religion of the southern Seven Kingdoms. It is practiced throughout the Reach, the Stormlands, the Crownlands, the Riverlands, the Westerlands, the Vale, and Dorne. Only the Iron Islands and the North have few followers.
The Faith worships the Seven Who Are One — a single deity with seven aspects or faces. The number seven is considered holy. Seven oils are used in naming ceremonies, knighting ceremonies, and royal anointings. Seven-pointed stars and rainbow colors are sacred symbols.
The Seven Faces
The Father — depicted as a bearded man of stern and strong aspect. He represents judgment and justice. Followers pray to him for justice, wisdom, and strength in righteous causes. The phrase "may the Father judge him justly" is common among the faithful.
The Mother — a loving and protective aspect. She is prayed to for mercy, for the safety of loved ones, and for the gift of life. Offerings are made to her when a woman becomes pregnant.
The Warrior — always depicted with his sword. He is prayed to for courage, strength in battle, victory, and for the souls of the slain. Before battle, men make offerings to the Warrior. The phrases "may the Warrior defend you" and "may the Warrior give strength to your sword arm" are common.
The Smith — depicted with his hammer. He is the mender of broken things who puts the world to right. Sailors make offerings to the Smith before launching ships. Followers may wear a small iron hammer about their neck as a sign of devotion.
The Maiden — depicted as a beautiful, innocent young woman. She is prayed to for the protection of young women, for courage, and for innocence. Brides may light candles to the Maiden when a suitable match is made.
The Crone — depicted as an old and wizened woman holding a raised lamp. She is prayed to for wisdom and guidance.
The Stranger — neither male nor female, yet both. The Stranger is the face of death, the outcast, the unknown. He leads the newly dead to the next world. The Stranger receives fewer candles than the other faces. Those who feel like outcasts may light a candle for him.
Worship
Worship takes place in seven-walled buildings called septs. Wealthier septs have statues and altars for each of the Seven, with windows of leaded glass and great crystals that catch light and scatter it in rainbows. Poorer septs may use carved masks or simple drawings. Prayer is directed to whichever face of the god the worshipper seeks aid from. Candles are lit, hymns are sung, and hands are held during communal worship.
The Faith's most important holy text is The Seven-Pointed Star, which contains the Maiden's Book and records the history of the Faith.
Organization
The head of the Faith is the High Septon, also called the Father of the Faithful. He is elected by the Most Devout, a council of the highest-ranking septons and septas. Upon election, the High Septon gives up his name entirely, becoming the avatar of the gods. He wears long white robes and a crystal crown.
The Most Devout wear robes of cloth-of-silver and crystal coronets.
Male godsworn are called septons. They wear white robes, seven-stranded belts of different colors, and a crystal about their necks. They lead worship with incense, censers, and song. In small villages without a permanent septon, a wandering septon may visit periodically to perform services, marriages, and forgive sins.
Female godsworn are called septas. They wear white robes with woven seven-color belts, and sometimes hoods. Septas may serve as governesses in noble households. Holy brothers and holy sisters are humbler members of the Faith.
Holy brothers often wear robes of brown, dun, or green and may wear a tonsure. Holy sisters wear robes of white, blue, or grey. Brothers may serve at septries, monastic communities similar to monasteries, where they live in penitence, contemplation, and prayer. Some take vows of silence. Begging brothers travel the realm, wandering from place to place in threadbare robes, some going barefoot. Wandering the realm as a begging brother may be done as a penance.
Silent sisters are tasked with preparing the deceased for burial. They dress in grey robes with hooded and shawled faces, as it is considered ill fortune to look upon the face of death. Silent sisters take a vow of silence and do not speak to the living. They remove organs, drain blood, and preserve corpses with herbs and salts. They are also called death's handmaidens and handmaidens of the Stranger.
The Faith Militant
The Faith Militant was the military arm of the Faith, composed of two orders: the Warrior's Sons, knights who gave up their lands and gold to swear their swords to the High Septon, and the Poor Fellows, common men and hedge knights who guarded and escorted travelers. They were known as the Swords and the Stars respectively.
The Faith Militant was outlawed by King Maegor I Targaryen during the Faith Militant uprising. It was formally disbanded by the High Septon during the reign of King Jaehaerys I, after Jaehaerys and his Hand Septon Barth reconciled the Iron Throne with the Faith. In exchange for the Iron Throne's promise to protect and defend the Faith, the remaining Warrior's Sons and Poor Fellows laid down their arms, and the Faith agreed to accept justice from the Iron Throne rather than maintaining its own ecclesiastical courts.
Rights and Privileges
The Faith traditionally held the right to maintain its own military orders, to try servants of the Faith in its own ecclesiastical courts rather than lordly courts, and to hold its properties exempt from taxation. Following the reconciliation with Jaehaerys I, the right to ecclesiastical courts and the Faith Militant were surrendered. The status of the tax exemption thereafter is uncertain. Practices and Beliefs The Faith preaches against prostitution, gambling, and bastardy. It holds slavery to be an abomination and considers polygamy, incest, and prostitution to be sins. An exception to the prohibition on incest is made for House Targaryen under the Doctrine of Exceptionalism. The Faith considers no man as accursed as the kinslayer, though the degree of kinship and the circumstances of the killing carry significant weight.
The old gods are nameless and numerous — gods of stream, forest, and stone. They were worshipped by the children of the forest, and later by the First Men after the signing of the Pact. With the arrival of the Andals and the Faith of the Seven, the old gods retreated northward. They are no longer dominantly worshipped in the south, though a handful of houses — such as House Blackwood — still keep the faith. In the North, the majority of houses worship the old gods. Beyond the Wall, the free folk continue to do so as well.
The old gods have no priests, no holy texts, no songs of worship, and no formal rites. The faith is passed from generation to generation. Prayers are spoken in silence. Worshippers believe the gods watch through the eyes of the weirwood trees, and that no man can tell a lie before a heart tree, as the old gods will know.
Worship takes place in godswoods — groves within castle grounds where a heart tree stands. Heart trees are weirwoods with faces carved into them, considered sacred. Weirwoods are the primary remaining sites of the old gods in the south. Once all noble houses had a godswood with a heart tree. Many trees were cut down during the wars between the First Men and the children of the forest, and later by the Andals, who replaced them with septs.
It is said the old gods only have power where the heart tree faces can see. In the south, where most heart trees have been destroyed, their power is diminished. It is also said that the sigh of the wind and the rustle of leaves are the old gods speaking.
Oaths sworn before a weirwood are considered binding. Placing a hand in the mouth of the carved face while swearing is a traditional form of such an oath.
Blood sacrifice was performed in the past. Criminals and traitors could have their entrails and bodies hung from the branches of weirwoods after execution.
Funeral customs among northerners tend toward burial. Noble houses of the North bury their dead in crypts beneath their castles.
The faith of the Drowned God is unique to the Iron Islands. The Drowned God is seen as the creator of the seas and father of the ironborn, said to have made them in his own likeness to reave, make their names known in fire and blood, and hold dominion over all the waters of the earth.
The Drowned God's eternal nemesis is the Storm God, a malignant deity who dwells in the sky, sending cruel winds, lashing rain, and thunder and lightning down upon men. The two have been at war for a thousand thousand years.
The Drowned God has no temples, holy books, or idols.
The ironborn believe that the Drowned God gives every man a gift — something in which he excels. He helps bold men, not cowards. When an ironborn dies, it is said the Drowned God needed a strong oarsman. The deceased is believed to be summoned to the Drowned God's watery halls, where he feasts and drinks for eternity, with mermaids attending his every want. A death at sea is considered a blessing.
The children of a thrall are born free, so long as they are given to the Drowned God.
The ironborn believe the Drowned God decides who sits the Seastone Chair — it will not be a woman, nor a godless man.
Organization
Priests of the Drowned God wear mottled robes of green, grey, and blue with sealskin clouts beneath. They braid dried seaweed through their long, untrimmed hair and carry a waterskin on a leather strap. Most do not bathe in anything but seawater, go barefoot, and have no permanent home. They wander the Iron Islands, seldom far from the sea. Lords and smallfolk alike are obliged to give them food and shelter in the name of their god.
Most priests are illiterate. Prayers and rituals are taught orally. The priests speak with the voice of the Drowned God and wield considerable power over the ironborn, including the authority to call a kingsmoot.
A drowned priest is said to be able to sour wells and make women barren with his gaze. Drowned men are the acolytes of a Drowned God priest. They wear mottled robes and carry driftwood cudgels.
Ritual Drowning
The priests of the Drowned God know how to drown a man and revive him using the kiss of life. This is done as a consecration, dedicating the drowned person to the god. Not all survive. It is custom to give a newborn child to the Drowned God shortly after birth. Some priests do this through a full drowning and revival, though more often the child is simply dipped in seawater.
Blessing
When a priest blesses a person, they kneel while the priest pours seawater from his waterskin over their head, saying: "Let [name] your servant be born again from the sea, as you were. Bless him with salt, bless him with stone, bless him with steel." The kneeling person responds: "What is dead may never die." The priest replies: "What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger."
Priests also bless new ships by speaking invocations and pouring seawater over the prow.
Ritual Executions
Blood sacrifice is performed by slitting the throat of thralls and giving their bodies to the sea. Sacrifice by drowning is also practiced, preferably in salt water. The person in command is the executioner.
Priests hold that ironborn must not shed the blood of other ironborn, though drowning is considered acceptable as no blood is spilled.
Dorne's religious landscape reflects its unique history. When Princess Nymeria led the Rhoynar people to Dorne following the destruction of their cities along the Rhoyne, they intermingled with the existing Dornish population. In the generations that followed, most Rhoynar adopted the Faith of the Seven, and the Faith is now the primary religion of Dorne.
A significant exception are the Orphans of the Greenblood, descendants of those Rhoynar who refused to abandon their ancestral faith. They live along the Greenblood river in Dorne and continue to worship Mother Rhoyne and her associated gods, including the Old Man of the River and the Crab King. They consider themselves orphans, separated from their Mother Rhoyne, and maintain their Rhoynish traditions, customs, and language. The faith of the Orphans is covered in full under Mother Rhoyne in the Essos section of this page.
Red temples of R'hllor can also be found in Dorne, though the faith has not taken deep root among the broader population.
The inhabitants of Valyria worshipped many gods. The Freehold practiced religious tolerance, and its gods reflected the many peoples who passed through it. Several sects that found the Freehold's tolerance intolerable departed to found their own cities — the Black Goat worshippers founded Qohor, and the Bearded Priests founded Norvos. The Doom of Valyria destroyed the Freehold in 114 BC, but the gods it worshipped are remembered.
The Targaryens and other Valyrian dragonlord families typically worshipped a pantheon of gods, each representing a different aspect or expression of fire. The Targaryens named four of their greatest dragons after four of these gods — Balerion, Meraxes, Vhagar, and Syrax — as an act of religious devotion.
Balerion — ending fire, consuming flame, destruction and finality. The greatest and most terrible of the fire gods. Domain: conquest, the fire that ends things. The greatest dragon that ever lived bore his name.
Meraxes — swift fire, transformation, passage. Domain: speed, the fire that moves, change.
Vhagar — ancient fire, endurance, the flame that persists and grows. Domain: time, preservation, the fire that outlasts.
Syrax — maternal fire, the bonding flame. Named as a goddess. Domain: the fire that passes between generations, the bond between dragonlord women and their dragons.
Aelyx — fire of prophecy and dreaming. Domain: foresight, vision, what the fire reveals. Most sacred to the Targaryen line.
Vorath — fire of the forge and blood magic. Domain: making, blood price, the fire that transforms. The blood sacrifice tradition of Qohor traces to his rites.
Sylvara — fire of the bond. Domain: the moment rider and dragon recognize each other. Sacred to dragonlord women in particular.
Naerax — shadow fire. Domain: fire expressed through darkness, shadow magic. The shadowbinder tradition of Asshai connects to his rites.
Orryx — fire of beginning, the hatching flame. Domain: new fire, new bonds, eggs, hatchlings, beginnings.
Velax — fire of blood and sacrifice. The most demanding god. Domain: the blood price in its most concentrated form, what is given so that something greater may live.
Ossyvar — fire of the sea. Domain: fire where fire should not survive, the relationship between fire and ocean, Valyrian naval power.
Draexis — fire of remembrance and the ancestors. Domain: those who came before, the first offering of a funeral pyre, lineage.
Pyrax — fire of war, the spear of flame. Domain: dragon combat, the fire as weapon.
Aevora — fire of truth, the unmasking flame. Domain: fire that burns away falsehood, the reason Valyrian oaths sworn in fire were considered unbreakable.
Other Valyrian Gods
Boash — his followers left Valyria 1,322 years before the Doom and settled on the main isle of Lorath.
The Black Goat — worshippers abandoned Valyria in rejection of the Freehold's religious tolerance and founded the city of Qohor.
The Bearded Priests — a secretive sect that also left Valyria, finding the Freehold's tolerance intolerable. The name of their god is revealed only to initiates. They founded the city of Norvos.
R'hllor, also called the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God of Flame and Shadow, is one of the most widely known religions of Essos, with a growing presence in Westeros as well. The faith is based on a dualistic view of the world: R'hllor, the god of light, heat, and life, is eternally at war against the Great Other, whose name may not be spoken, known as the Lord of Darkness, the Soul of Ice, and the God of Night and Terror.
According to ancient prophecies from the books of Asshai, this struggle will only end when Azor Ahai, a messianic figure, returns wielding a flaming sword called Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and raises dragons from stone.
Red priests associate fire with life. They see shadows as creations of the Lord of Light, servants of light and children of fire.
The religion is found primarily in Essos. Red temples exist in most of the Free Cities including Braavos, Lys, Myr, Pentos, Qohor, Tyrosh, and Volantis. The Temple of the Lord of Light in Volantis is said to be the greatest in the known world, approximately three times the size of the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing. In Westeros, red priests can be found in Dorne, Dragonstone, King's Landing, and Oldtown.
Organization
Red priests, both male and female, are trained in their temples. They wear loose red robes. They are taught prayers and trained to see visions in fire. It takes many years to see shapes in the flames and longer still to interpret them.
The High Priest of R'hllor in Volantis holds the titles Flame of Truth, Light of Wisdom, First Servant of the Lord of Light, and Slave of R'hllor. The Volantene temple is staffed entirely by slaves bought as children and trained. Red priests from other cities are not known to follow this practice.
Practices
Followers of R'hllor pray before a nightfire at sunset, thanking R'hllor for ending the day and beseeching him to bring dawn and banish darkness. Fires are also lit at first light each morning to welcome the sun. The phrase "the night is dark and full of terrors" is a common expression of the faith.
Visions and Magic
Red priests are trained to see visions in the flames of their fires — visions of the past, the future, or events happening far away. Visions cannot always be seen, and even experienced priests may misinterpret what they see. R'hllor is also said to give his priests the power to see through falsehood.
Death
When a person dies, priests of R'hllor say they have "ascended to the Hall of Light, to sit beside the Lord." The death rite is called the last kiss. The priest fills his mouth with fire and breathes the flames into the deceased's throat, lungs, heart, and soul. All red priests are required to perform this rite.
Mother Rhoyne is the chief goddess of the Rhoynar, still worshipped by the Orphans of the Greenblood in Dorne and by descendants of the Rhoynar remaining along the river Rhoyne in Essos. She is the personification of the river Rhoyne itself, revered as a source of life and sustenance.
She has lesser gods beneath her, including the Old Man of the River — a great turtle god who protects the Rhoyne — and the Crab King, the Old Man's adversary. The two are said to be in constant battle for dominion beneath the waters. The Old Man of the River is also said to be Mother Rhoyne's consort. The rivers that flow into the Rhoyne are called her daughters.
Central to the beliefs of the Rhoynar is their connection to their ancestral homeland and their ancestors themselves. Those who live away from the Rhoyne consider themselves orphans, separated from their mother.
Aquan the Red Bull — priests sacrifice calves in his name.
Bakkalon of the Sword — also called the Pale Child. Favored of soldiers.
The Black Goat — worshipped in Qohor. Originated in Valyria. Worshippers make blood sacrifices in his name, a tradition tracing back to Vorath of the Valyrian pantheon.
The Church of Starry Wisdom — also called the Cult of Starry Wisdom. A sinister religion found in many port cities throughout the known world.
The Great Shepherd — the deity of the Lhazareen.
The Hooded Wayfarer — a patron of the poor.
The Horse God — the deity of the Dothraki. The Dothraki also believe that the Sun and Moon are a god and goddess, husband and wife.
The Lady of Spears — the deity of the Unsullied.
The Lion of Night — a god preferred by wealthy men. Also worshipped in Yi Ti.
The Maiden-Made-of-Light — a goddess of Yi Ti.
The Many-Faced God of Braavos — his followers believe him to be the true face of all gods. His servants, the Faceless Men, are assassins who serve his will.
The Merling King — worshipped by sailors across the known world.
The Moon Mother — a deity referenced among those who follow certain Essosi traditions.
The Moon-Pale Maiden — worshipped by sailors.
Pantera — a six-breasted cat goddess of Lys.
The Pattern — a labyrinth said to lead to wisdom.
Saagael — also called faceless Saagael. The giver of pain. Worshipped in Lys. One of the gods observed by Larra Rogare during the Lysene Spring in King's Landing.
Semosh and Selloso — brother gods with twin temples.
The Silent God — worshipped at the Stones of the Silent God.
The Stone Cow of Faros — worshipped on the isle of Faros.
Trios — a three-headed deity.
The Weeping Lady of Lys — a favorite of old women.
The Father of Waters — his temple on the Isle of the Gods in Braavos is rebuilt anew whenever the Father takes a new bride on his feast days.
Yndros of the Twilight — male by day and female by night. Worshipped in Lys. One of the gods observed by Larra Rogare in King's Landing.
A small household idol resembling a pregnant woman with swollen breasts and a bat's head, worshipped by the merchant Rego Draz.
The Gardens of Gelenei — a temple on the Isle of the Gods in Braavos. Gelenei may be the name of the deity worshipped there but this is unconfirmed.
The love goddess of Lys — her naked figure appears on Lysene coinage. Whether she is the same as the Weeping Lady of Lys is unknown.
The Moonsingers — priestesses of the Jogos Nhai, also a significant presence in Braavos. The Temple of the Moonsingers is the largest temple in Braavos. The Jogos Nhai worship more than one god but the number and names are not known.
The Fountain of the Drunken God — may or may not be dedicated to a god.
The many gods honored in the Holy Refuge, also called The Warren, a temple in Braavos where forgotten gods are honored.
The god of the Bearded Priests of Norvos — his name is revealed only to initiates of the sect.
The hundred gods of the Sarnori — since the Century of Blood, worshipped only in the city of Saath.
In the ancient lost city of Lyber, a spider goddess and a serpent god were worshipped. The acolytes of the two gods waged endless war on one another.
Yi Ti — called the land of a thousand gods. Known gods include the Lion of Night, the Maiden-Made-of-Light, and the god-emperor, who is worshipped as a divine figure. The first god-emperor of the mythic Great Empire of the Dawn was said to be the son of the Lion of Night and the Maiden-Made-of-Light.
The Isle of Naath — the Lord of Harmony is worshipped there. A wooden hall dedicated to him also exists in Braavos.
Leng — the Old Ones are gods who live deep beneath the ruined subterranean cities of the island. The God-Empress of Leng is also worshipped there.
The Summer Isles — a score of gods are worshipped, whose laws are written on the Talking Trees. The god and goddess of love, beauty, and fertility are the most favored.
The Isle of Toads in the Basilisk Isles — an ancient idol stands there, a greasy black stone carved into the semblance of a gigantic toad of malignant aspect, some forty feet high.
Skull Island in the Basilisk Isles — corsairs offer the skulls of their victims to a dark god there.
Sothoryos — the Brindled Men worship dark gods with obscene rites.
The Patrimony of Hyrkoon — dark and hungry gods are still worshipped in the cities of the Bone Mountains.
Ibben — the gods of Ibben.
The Thousand Islands — fishheaded gods whose likenesses rise from stony shores, visible only when the tide recedes.
Slaver's Bay — the Ghiscari worship the gods of Ghis, with Graces as their priestesses.