A Song of Ice and Fire is a huge, complicated story, with literally thousands of characters
– twenty-two of whom are named Jon – so it’s fair enough that the show, Game of
Thrones, had to simplify things a bit by cutting and combining many characters.
It’s a shame though, because many of even the minor characters have heaps of really
cool backstories, and connections, and layers to them, that add a lot to the series.
A good example is Thoros of Myr.
We know him in the show as a member of the “brotherhood without banners”, the outlaw
group who capture Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie in Season 3.
The leader of the brotherhood, Beric Dondarrion, is killed by the Hound, but then Thoros resurrects
Beric using the power of the Red God, R’hllor – which may forshadow a certain other red
priest resurrecting a certain Jon Snow, not to name any names, but anyway, that’s basically
Thoros’ role in the show so far.
But in the books, there’s more to his story.
Thoros was born in the city of Myr.
He was the youngest of eight children, so his father gave him to a temple of R’hllor,
where Thoros was trained to be a red priest.
He “prayed the prayers and … spoke the spells”, and did sometimes see visions in
flames, but he wasn’t much of a believer, being more interested in food and women.
Eventually he was sent to Westeros to convert King Aerys Targaryen to the faith of the Red
God.
The temple figured that since Mad Aerys infamously “loved fire”, he might like the Lord of
Light, but Thoros failed to convert Aerys.
When Aerys was overthrown, Thoros became bros with the new king, Robert Baratheon.
“They were pease in a pod … both gluttons and sots” – who loved eating and drinking
and whoring and fighting . Thoros would fight in tourneys with his sword alight with wildfire
. And he fought in the Greyjoy Rebellion, “setting ironmen afire with every slash”
of his “flaming sword” . So he sounds like quite the warrior, but in the same way
that Bobby B is a pretty shitty king, Thoros is a pretty shitty priest . Tywin calls him
a “fat jape” , and Gendry’s master Tobho – who sells Thoros the swords he sets afire
– calls him “a fraud”, and “as bad a priest as there ever was” . Thoros apparently
gives up trying to convert anyone, and doesn’t seem to even believe in R’hllor anymore.
But all that changes in the War of the Five Kings.
In Book 1, the Mountain, Gregor Clegane, starts brutally raiding in the riverlands . So Ned
Stark, acting on the behalf of King Robert, orders a group of men to go stop him.
The group is led by Lord Beric Dondarrion, and includes about a hundred men, including
Thoros.
So the men go after the Mountain, but at the Mummer’s Ford, they’re ambushed – the
whole thing was a trap designed by Tywin Lannister to get Ned – the only reason it didn’t
work was ‘cause Ned couldn’t come because Jaime injured his leg . So anyway, the group
is smashed by the Mountain’s men.
Some of them manage to escape, and regroup, but Beric is mortally wounded, with a lance
run through his chest.
Thoros, distraught over his dying friend, performs a “death rite” of the red priests,
called the “last kiss”, breathing fire into Beric’s body.
To Thoros’ shock, the dead man shudders, his eyes come open, and Beric is brought back
to life . This causes a religious reawakening for Thoros,
he says “The Lord of Light has woken in [his] heart” .
As the remnants of Beric’s men regroup, Thoros converts them to his rediscovered faith
, binding them together as a holy brotherhood, sworn to serve their realm, their god, and
each other . Even after King Robert dies, the brotherhood fights on in his name, protecting
the common people from the ravages of raiders like Gregor . They fight a guerrilla war against
the Lannisters in the riverlands, striking suddenly , then “vanishing back into the
woods” . Thoros fights in these battles with his flaming sword, he sees visions in
his flames of the future, present and past , and he resurrects Beric five more times
as he keeps dying in his fights.
Thoros is convinced that he’s an “instrument” of “God” , he’s finally doing something
with his life that he believes in.
And it changes him.
When Arya first sees Thoros with the brotherhood, she hardly believes it’s him.
She “remember[s] the red priest as fat, with a smooth face and a shiny bald head”.
But now Thoros “ha[s] a droopy face and a full head of shaggy grey hair”.
Thoros says that a year in the wild has melted the flesh off him, that “[he is] less than
[he] was, but more” . This change in appearance mirrors the change in his character from a
“glutton” and a “sot”, a fat joke of a priest, to a man filled with righteous
purpose and faith.
But his story doesn’t end there.
] In the last Brienne chapter of Feast, we hear that Beric Dondarrion has died a final
time, giving his “flame of life” to the dead Catelyn Stark, who rises as Lady Stoneheart
. Stoneheart is totally different to what Catelyn was like alive, she’s vengeful,
hateful , completely without mercy , and as the new leader of the “brotherhood”, she
begins a brutal campaign killing everyone who’s in any way connected to the Red Wedding,
even people who really weren’t responsible, like Petyr and Merrett Frey , she evens hangs
Podrick – though Pod is apparently still alive , so don’t worry – but the point
is that under Stoneheart, the brotherhood does some fucked up stuff . Under Beric, they
would always give their captives a trial, they “won’t kill a man unless something’s
proved against him” , but Stoneheart will hang anyone who she deems guilty . Thoros
loses his belief that what they’re doing is just , he loses his belief in himself,
calling himself a “pink pretender”, “a bad priest and a worse wizard” . He sees
the brotherhood, his brotherhood, deteriorate from something noble and righteous and holy
to something crueller and darker . He says that “War makes monsters of us all”.
So… where can Thoros go from here?
Maybe Thoros could just leave, kinda like the Hound did – the popular Gravedigger
theory suggests that Sandor Clegane is not dead, but living a life of peace and atonement
as a monk on the Quiet Isle.
Maybe Thoros could do something similar, go back to a red temple in Essos and meditate
on his God and his place in the world.
Alternatively, he could try to finish what he started, maybe try to put the brotherhood
back on a righteous path by killing Lady Stoneheart.
Thoros after all is a fire priest with a flaming sword, and the undead in this story generally
are vulnerable to fire.
Trying to kill Stoneheart could risk Thoros’ life, but he might think it’s worth the
sacrifice – Thoros tells Brienne that “it does not matter how a man begins, but only
how he ends”.
Sacrificing himself to kill Stoneheart could make a great ending for Thoros, a dramatic
act of selflessness by a formerly selfish man.
So it could go a bunch of ways, but the point is that Thoros is a really fascinating character,
someone who transforms from a drunken warrior, to a righteous priest, to a man again filled
with doubts about what he’s become.
It’ll be great to see how his story ends in the books – he might even turn up again
in the show, we’ll have to wait and see, it’s not clear if the show will include
the whole Stoneheart thing.
By the way, this artwork of Stoneheart was created by Ertaç Altınöz, you might like
to check out his DeviantArt for more.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this video.
Many thanks to all supporters on Patreon, including Reverend Xandria, @MrFifaSA, Cameron
Weiss, @Vineyarddawg, Michael Appell, Jason Rattray, Eric Pakurar, Sheila M. Tierney,
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Podrick Targaryen, Lorenzo89er, Angelica Saunderson, Brad Smoley, dali, Jamal, Greg and Bob.
Thank you again, and see you next time.