Hey youtubers it’s Charlie and as promised this weeks Game of Thrones video about The
Faceless Men. Because we’re still pre season 5 I’m going to start with a history of their
religion. They’re a religious society that worships the many faced god and engages in the trade of assassination.
So when you try to join their order you’re not just learning to kill people, you're learning
to serve the many faced god.
On the show the best look we’ve gotten at a Faceless Man is Jaquen H’Gar. He’s a
devout religious assassin, which is why he speaks in backwards riddles. At the other
end of the Spectrum, you have a common assassin like Karl, played by Burn Gorman this last
season. He was an assassin in King’s Landing. I guess you could say he worshipped himself,
but you get the idea. Faceless Men are some of the most highly trained and feared assassins
in the world.
Before we get started I just wanted to remind everyone that the weekly book giveaway is
still going. All you have to do is enter is be a subscriber and leave a comment on this
video.
And if you just found me, I’m doing weekly bonus videos and Q&As while the show is off
the air.
So History of the Faceless Men:
Their religion came first, the worship of the Many Faced God. It originated in the Valyrian
Slave Mines. This is old Valyrian, pre-doom. The tale goes that a man heard all of the
slaves whispering prayers to different gods for deliverance from death and decided that
they were all speaking to the same god. Thus Many Gods with Many faces became one god with
Many Faces.
That first man gave what they call the “gift of mercy”, death basically. To the most
desperate slaves in the mines. Eventually he gave the gift to their masters and their
history kind of drops off. It’s rumored that the order grew to the point that they
were able to influence the Doom in Valyria, like they were somehow involved in it coming
to pass. Whether they were granted a boon by the many faced god or they just killed
anyone capable of stopping it.
That’s just a rumor though.
After the Doom they established themselves as a proper Order in Braavos, their guild’s
home, their temple is called the House of Black and White. In terms of where it’s
located in Braavos specifically. I already did a Braavos video where I get into a detailed
map layout of the city. So I’ll add links for that at the end of this video and in the
description.
Not all followers of their order become Faceless Men, that’s a special elite order inside
the religion. Women are allowed to become Faceless Men and children too, but it’s
very rare.
The different names of the Many-Faced god are based on the region the slaves came from.
In Qohor it’s called The Black Goat, in Yi Ti it’s called the Lion of the Night,
in the faith of the Seven, it’s called The Stranger.
When I first started getting into the series I wondered if the same thing was true for
the Faith of The Seven, just because some of the aspects of the Many Faced God sounded
familiar to the Seven.
I tend to believe it the way the books present it. The Many Faced God is also one of the
seven. But not all of the Seven.
I know there’s a debate that has continued on since the books were first published, as
to whether any of the gods were just different aspects of the same god. Like the Great Other
and R’hollor, the Red God being two aspects of the same power.
I don’t believe that, just because George RR Martin based those two gods on Zoroastrianism
which states that there is a creator who isn’t present in the world. He’s represented by
divine beings and great acts of nature. There is no evil that is part of him. So Evil comes
from another source, the word in the language for it translates to “lies” and the forces
of good try to neutralize the evil. So there’s this back and forth push pull going on with
the creator being completely distant from it in the physical sense.
So For All Intents and purposes, if the Great Other and R’hollor can be different gods
it means the other gods can be different gods.
It can be a little confusing, but I think that most of the gods are separate entities.
Not all, but most.
As part of the Faceless One’s beliefs, when they kill someone, they see it as a mercy.
They’re releasing someone from the burden of life. The death of the target is a sacrament
to the many faced god. In their temple they also allow people to commit assisted suicide
by drinking poison.
When someone wishes to kill themselves the Faceless Ones provide them with a black cup
of poison.
Some other big rules are that when you enter the order you forsake your identity and you’re
only allowed to kill the targets you are hired to kill. You couldn’t just go out murdering
anyone you wanted. Unless someone named them to you like Arya named to Jaquen.
In the House of Black and white there are many levels going down below the ground. In
the main ground level area there are statues to over 30 different gods. People can come
in and light candles but this is also the area where people come in to buy poison if
they want to kill themselves.
It’s not like a church, they don’t hold services like you see in the faith of the
seven. But the preists can assist people when requested.
The priests and acolytes sleep on the first sub level, then below that is where the servants
sleep, then below that on the 3rd level is the holy sanctum. It’s where they keep all
the “faces” they collect. They collect and preserve the faces of the people that
come to them to die. And then use those faces as disguises.
As part of their training, they master the ability to use the faces. Like when we saw
Jaquen change his face at the end of season 2.
Everyone is required to give up their name when they join the order, but there are several
important figures in the order. There’s the Kindly Man, the Handsome Man, The Fat
Fellow, The Stern Face, The Squinter, the Lordling, the Starved Man, Plague Face, The
Waif and The Alchemist.
There’s no telling how the show will treat these characters so I’ll wait till episodes
air to go into more detail. But I will answer questions in the comments.
The price they charge for killing someone depends on how important the target is. But
they will kill anyone in the world, King or Peasant. The price for a King or Queen though
would be astronomical. But they accept more than just money in exchange for a contract.
You negotiate with them and it could involve you giving them some non-monetary thing of
high value.
They haven’t really done a lot with the Faceless Ones on the show yet, but as of where
we are in the books, there have been several times people hired them.
In the first book Robert Baratheon’s small council thinks about hiring a Faceless Man
to kill Daenerys, this was all before the Dragons were born.
In Book 2 Arya of course meets Faceless Man Jaqen H’ghar.
In Book 3 Arya hears an old woman called the ghost of high heart telling a story to the
brotherhood without banners about a dream she had. She said she saw a man without a
face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung.
The show didn’t do this, but remember at the end of season 2 when Jaqen left Arya,
he gave her the Braavosi coin and taught her that she could give the coin to any Braavosi
ship captain and say the words Valar Morghulis and they’d take her to Braavos for free.
It’s like Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket to WTF. There’s a certain excitement to
it as you see Arya’s face in the season 4 finale on the boat. But it’s also very
sinister. Valar Morhulis, is High Valyrian for All Men Must Die. The formal response
is Valar Dohaeris, “All Men Must Serve”.
I like to think of the exchange as being “All Men Must Serve Death”, but that’s just
my interpretation. I posted a picture of a new filming location
for Season 5. Here’s several more. They all appeare to be what Braavos is described
as looking like in the books.
None of the characters they announced at comic con were Braavos characters. But Maisie Williams
did call herself “no one” on the the panel, which is something out of book 4. So it sounds
like they will show a version of Braavos.
It won’t be what’s in the books, but they’ll probably shrink the House of Black and White
down till it’s a smaller part of the story.
It’s possible that they cast minor characters as they start filming those scenes. A lot
of people don’t get cast on the show until it’s time to film their scenes. I think
I mentioned it already, the Child of the Forest from the finale. She wasn’t cast until November
last year. So there will continue to be casting announcements for the next couple months.
I’ll be sure to mention them in future videos.
Like I said, there will be a Q&A for this tomorrow morning. Since I finally had my last
day at my job friday I can spend more time talking to you guys. So please ask questions,
so I can answer them.
Here’s a link to that Braavos video where I go into a detailed map layout of the city
and click here for the Q&A video. I’ll add the annotation as soon as I post it.
Thanks so much for watching, see you guys tomorrow, high fives!