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2.4. The Faith
  • The Faith holds that there are seven hells (I: 14)
  • The Faith has a child naming ceremony, involving anointing with seven oils (I: 18)
  • Crystals and light are important elements of the Faith (I: 18)
  • The building where religious worship is done is called a sept (I: 18)
  • The gods of the Faith have names (I: 18)
  • The religious leaders are septons, who lead worship with incense and censers, seven-sided crystals and songs. (I: 18)
  • Female godsworn are named septas and wear white robes (I: 57, 626. TSS 117)
  • Prayer is done to each of the seven faces of the gods (I: 78)
  • Visenya's Hill in King's Landing is crowned by the marble-walled Great Sept of Baelor and its seven crystal towers (I: 141. II: 549)
  • Candles are lit to the Seven to draw their aid (I: 161)
  • The Great Sept of Baelor has a rainbow pool (I: 229)
  • The gods frown on gamblers (I: 242)
  • Upon a death a family member, friend, or even a concerned stranger stands last vigil (I: 256. IV: 116)
  • A septon presides over a trial by combat, raising a crystal sphere above his head and chanting in a singsong voice for the gods to look down and bear witness, find truth in the man's soul, to grant him life and freedom if innocent and death if he were guilty (I: 365)
  • Inside a sept, a great crystal catches light and spreads it in a rainbow around the altar (I: 430)
  • In the North, only a few houses do not worship the Old Gods, following the Seven instead (I: 476)
  • The seven towers of the Great Sept of Baelor each have bells. All of them are only rung on momentous occasions, such as the death of a king (I: 600)
  • One tower tolling from Baelor's Sept is a summoning for the city (I: 604)
  • No one is taken to the Great Sept of Baelor to be executed (I: 605)
  • The High Septon wears long white robes and an immense crown of spun gold and crystal (I: 606)
  • The Faith was brought to Westeros by the Andal invaders nearly 6,000 years ago. Their warriors painted seven-pointed stars on their bodies (I: 618)
  • When a man is laid in his grave, a septon usually says some prayers for him (THK: 458)
  • The trial of seven is seldom used, coming across with the Andals and their seven gods. The Andals believed that if seven champions fought on each side, the gods thus honored would be more likely to see justice done. If a man cannot find six others to stand with him, then he is obviously guilty (THK: 509)
  • There are wandering and begging brothers of the Faith who wear brown robes and can say blessings over the faithful (THK: 515)
  • Dead bodies are given over to the silent sisters for ritual cleansing (II: 46. BNC)
  • When someone of the Faith is buried, a crystal is left on their grave (II: 61)
  • The seven gods of the Faith are the Mother, the Father, the Warrior, the Maid, the Stranger, the Smith, and the Crone (II: 108, 362)
  • A person might pray to the Warrior before a battle, to the Smith when launching a ship, and to the Mother when a woman grew great with child (II: 109)
  • Leaded glass windows in the septs often depict scenes and pictures (II: 208)
  • Altars at the greater septs are sometimes inlaid richly with mother-of-pearl, onyx, and lapis lazuli (II: 208)
  • The begging brothers are marked by their robes, which are undyed and belted with a hempen rope (II: 232)
  • The silent sisters wear cowled grey robes (II: 339. BNC)
  • Most septons claim that the Faith has but one god with seven aspects and that that is why septs are single buildings with seven walls. However, some say it's easier for the smallfolk to grasp seven separate gods than they do the mystery of the Seven Who Are One (II: 362. III: 803. IV: 370)
  • Wealthy septs have statues of the Seven and altars to each, and septs in the North might have carved masks to represent the Seven, but poor village septs might have only crude charcoal drawings (II: 362)
  • The Father is always bearded, the Mother is depicted as smiling with love and protection, the Warrior and the Smith always have their swords and hammers, the Maid is always beautiful, and the crone is always wizened (II: 362)
  • The Stranger is neither male nor female, always the outcast and the wandered from far places (II: 362)
  • Some say that each of the Seven embodies all of the Seven, in a way (II: 363)
  • Incest is a monstrous sin before the gods, but the Targaryens followed the practices of ancient Valyria and didn't answer to religions when it came to such issues (II: 364)
  • The Smith is known as a mender of broken things, and might be called upon to protect the crippled (II: 364)
  • Even in the North, septons witness marriages (although this may not be the case if both parties follow only the old gods) (II: 384)
  • The High Septon has a crystal crown (II: 431)
  • Holding hands with others while in the sept to worship and pray seems common (II: 595)
  • There is an example of a hymn to the Mother (II: 595)
  • There is room for thousands inside of the Great Sept of Baelor (II: 595)
  • The Smith might be asked to lend strength to a warrior's arms and armor, the Warrior might be asked to give him courage, and the Father might be asked to defend him in need by a septon seeking divine intervention (II: 596)
  • The High Septon may be involved in confirming the propriety of a marriage contract being broken if the parties are sufficiently important enough (II: 664)
  • The Father is also known as the Father Above (III: 32)
  • The Crone let the first raven into the world when she peered through the door of death (III: 33)
  • The Mother is also known as the Mother Above (III: 185)
  • All the septons agree that the Mother is merciful (III: 197)
  • Kissing the High Septon's ring is a sign of proper devotion (III: 208)
  • Old gods or new, it makes no matter, no man is so accursed as the kinslayer. However, there are degrees of kinslaying, and killing a distant cousin in the midst of a battle is much less of a problem than killing a brother in cold blood (III: 232. SSM: 1)
  • Carved wooden likenesses of the gods, some having chalcedony eyes (III: 244)
  • A sept with windows of leaded glass and icons of the Seven with the Mother wearing costly robes, the Crone carrying a gilded lantern, and the Father wearing a silver crown. They have eyes of jet, lapis, and mother-of-pearl. There is a vault beneath the sept where wine and other things were kept (III: 247, 248)
  • A silly song about Big Belly Ben and the High Septon's goose (III: 248)
  • There is a motherhouse at Oldtown (III: 251)
  • The silent sisters of the dead swear vows of chastity, but they are not accounted septas (III: 261)
  • The Faith holds slavery as an abomination (III: 264)
  • Prayers at the sept seem to take place three times each day (III: 288)
  • There are seven "wanderers" in the night sky which the Faith hold sacred (III: 294)
  • The red wanderer is held to be sacred to the Smtih (III: 294)
  • Marriages by the Faith take place before the marriage altar, where the septon waits between the Mother and the Father to join a man and a woman in wedlock (III: 319)
  • Prayers, vows, and singing are part of the marriage ceremony. Many tall candles are lit as well (III: 319)
  • A bride's father removes her maiden cloak so that her husband may place his cloak about her shoulders, passing her into his protection (III: 319, 669)
  • The final words a couple says at the end of a marriage ceremony: "With this kiss I pledge my love, and take you for my lord/lady and husband/wife" (III: 320)
  • The septon ends the marriage ceremony be declaiming: "Here in the sight of gods and men, I do solemnly proclaim [Groom's name] of House X and [Bride's name] of House Y to be man and wife, one flesh, one heart, one soul, now and forever, and cursed be the one who comes between them" (III: 320)
  • A marriage that has not been consumated can be set aside by the High Septon or a Council of Faith (III: 362)
  • Seven years seems typical as a time for serving as a begging brother, as a penance (III: 403)
  • A septry can have a mill, brewhouse, and stables. Prosperous septries can have forty or more memebers, with a dozen milk cows and a bull, a hundred beehives, a vineyard, and an apple arbor (III: 438, 442)
  • Members of a septry are known as brown brothers (III: 441, 442)
  • People may wear small emblems to show their devotion to a particular god, such a small iron hammer on a thong for the Smith (III: 442)
  • The leader of a septry is known as Elder Brother (III: 442)
  • There are young novice brothers at septries (III: 442)
  • The peace banner of the Seven is a rainbow-striped flag with seven long tails, a seven-pointed star topping the stave is hangs from (III: 503)
  • "The Song of the Seven", a children's lullaby, has all the gods but for the Stranger (III: 531, 532)
  • No one ever sings of the Stranger, as his face is the face of death (III: 532)
  • Septons speak of the seven aspects of grace (III: 589)
  • Septon Murmison's prayers are said to have worked miracles, but as Hand he soon had the whole realm praying for his death (III: 604)
  • Septon Barth, the blacksmith's son plucked from the Red Keep's library by the Old King Jaehaerys I, gave the realm forty years of peace and plenty (III: 604)
  • The Great Sept of Baelor has two towering gilded statues of the Father and the Mother, between which a royal bride and groom place themselves for their wedding vows (III: 660, 667)
  • A wedding includes the making of seven vows, the invocation of seven blessings, and the exchange of seven promises. A wedding song is sung after this point, and a challenge is made to speak against the marriage. If the challenge goes unanswered, the wedding cloaks may be exchanged (III: 668)
  • Flower petals are sometimes scattered before newlyweds as they leave the sept (III: 669)
  • "Maiden, Mother, and Crone", a song that delights septons (III: 676)
  • The prayer for the dead begins with, "Father Above, judge [person] justly" (III: 684)
  • The Stranger is thought to lead the newly dead to the other world (III: 699)
  • Supposedly, a suitable gift to the Faith would persuade the High Septon to release a Kingsguard from his vows (III: 703)
  • The septons teach that a person should pray to the Crone for wisdom, to the Warrior for courage, and to the Warrior for strength (III: 706)
  • There is a constellation named the Crone's Lamp, four bright stars enclosing a golden haze (III: 710)
  • Some claim that the silent sisters cut out the tongues of young members of their order who talk too much (III: 727, 728)
  • Trials, at least among the nobility, often begin with a prayer from a septon beseeching the Father Above to guide them towards justice (III: 740)
  • A septon will swear a man to honesty before he gives testimony at a trial (III: 741)
  • Kings are laid to rest in tombs in the Great Sept of Baelor (III: 751)
  • The drawings and illuminations in the White Book are done by septons sent from the Great Sept of Baelor three times a year (III: 751)
  • There are devotional books (III: 766)
  • In a trial of combat, a septon will ask the Father Above to help in judgement and that the Warrior would lend his strength to the arm of the man whose cause was just (III: 797)
  • In a trial by combat, some knights might paint their shields with the seven-pointed star of their Faith (III: 798)
  • Not even the High Septon himself can declare a person married if they refuse to say the vows (III: 907)
  • Villages too small to support a septon may receive visits from the septons of larger neighbors twice a year, or from wandering septons who travel a regular circuit. While there, the septon will dispense the Mother's forgiveness and peform rituals such as marriage ceremonies for the sins of the villagers, but during that time the village must house and feed him (TSS: 93, 96, 98. IV: 368)
  • The Poor Fellows and the Warrior's Sons, also known as the Stars and the Swords, were supressed by King Maegor (TSS: 105)
  • The Lord of the Seven Hells is said to command demons and practice black arts (TSS: 107)
  • The High Septon, a third of the Most Devout, and nearly all the silent sisters in King's Landing died during the Great Spring Sickness (TSS: 121)
  • The High Septon who died in the Great Spring Sickness counseled Prince Maekar against Lord Bloodraven, claiming that as bastards were born of men's lust and weakness, so too were they weak and could not be trusted (TSS: 133)
  • Septs greet each morning by ringing their bells (IV: 12)
  • There are a number of septs in Oldtown: the Sailor's Sept by the harbor, the Lord's Sept, the Seven Shrines in gardens across the Honeywine from the Quill and Tankard, the Starry Sept which was the seat of the High Septon for a thousand years until the Targaryens came (IV: 12)
  • The Starry Sept is made of black marble and has arched windows. The manses of the wealthy and more pious inhabitants of the city crowd around its feet (IV: 12)
  • When the Andals first invaded Westeros, some of their warriors had the seven-pointed star of the Faith carved into their flesh (IV: 63)
  • Maidens and mothers seem to be sorts of ranks or orders for women in the Faith (IV: 64)
  • It's said by some that the silent sisters are wives to the Stranger, and that their female parts are cold and wet as ice (IV: 64)
  • The oldest histories in Westeros were written after the Andal's came to Westeros, because the First Men only used runes for carving on stone. Everything written about the Age of Heroes, the Dawn Age, and the Long Night originates from stories written down by septons thousands of years later. There are archmaesters who question all these histories, noting the kings who seem to live for centuries and knights who fought a thousand years before there were knights (IV: 80)
  • There is a sept in Braavos, known as the Sept-Beyond-the-Sea (IV: 89)
  • A grand funeral for a Hand of the King might include morning services for the deceased with nobles in attendance, afternoon prayers for the commons, and evening prayers open to all (IV: 100)
  • The High Septons robes have sleeves encrusted with golden scrollwork and small crystals (IV: 101)
  • On entering the Great Sept of Baelor, one passes beneath colored globes of leaded glass in the Hall of Lamps (IV: 101)
  • The High Septon carries a weirwood staff topped by a crystal orb (IV: 101)
  • The Most Devout appear to be a high rank within the Faith. They wear robes of cloth-of-silver and crystal coronets (IV: 101, 124)
  • Past the inner doors of the Great Sept is its cavernous center, with seven broad aisles which meet beneath the dome (IV: 101)
  • The Great Sept's dome is lofty and made of glass, gold, and crystal (IV: 101)
  • The Great Sept has high windows (IV: 116)
  • The altars of the Seven in the Great Sept feature towering likenesses set in transpets, and are surrounded by lit candles. The floors are of marble and the transepts alone are larger than many septs (IV: 116, 124)
  • Evensongs are sung in septs as night falls (IV: 116)
  • The Great Sept can be accessed via the Father’s Door, the Mother’s Door, the Stranger’s Steps, and other entryways (IV: 124)
  • The robes of septons are belted with woven belts of seven plaits, each a different color (IV:124)
  • White-robed septas often reside in cloisters (IV: 124)
  • Brothers of the Faith wear robes of various hues, such as brown, butternut, dun, or even undyed roughen (IV: 124)
  • Brothers of the Faith may wear iron hammers on thongs in reverence of the Smith, or begging bowls (IV: 124)
  • Novices of the Faith take part in religious ceremonies by swinging censers filled with burning incense (IV: 127)
  • Many holy brothers wear tonsures, cutting the hair on their scalps as an act of humility and to show the Father that they have nothing to hide (IV: 137)
  • A husband swears his love and devotion to his bride during the wedding ceremony (IV: 176)
  • Six silent sisters might attend the bones of a great lord as they travelled in a funeral procession to their place of burial (IV: 226)
  • The bells of the Great Sept ring to herald the death of a High Septon (IV: 238, 240)
  • Silent sisters remove bowels and organs, as well as drain blood, from corpses in their care. They may also stuff the body with fragrant herbs and salts to preserve it and hide the smell of decomposition (IV: 241)
  • The Most Devout elect the High Septon, and those ambitious for the office often play politics to try and secure votes. Generally, the Most Devout select the new High Septon from their own ranks, but this is not always the case (IV: 242-243, 412)
  • The High Septon can pronounce an anathema upon a person, banishing them from the Faith (IV: 243)
  • Wandering septons are seen as one step above the begging brothers. Some will carry extra food to distribute to the poor and hungry, and will avoid staying too long in any one place to avoid taxing their resources as hosts. Innkeepers might occasionally find a space for them to rest in kitchens or stables, and there are septries, holdfasts, and even castles that will show them hospitality (IV: 369)
  • Not all septons can read or write. They memorize a hundred prayers, rituals, and ceremonies, however, and can recite long passages from The Seven-Pointed Star. (IV: 369)
  • The Seven-Pointed Star is the chief religious text of the Faith. Among its contents is the Maiden's Book (IV: 370)
  • Septons teach that the afterlife is a surcrease from budens, journeying to a far sweet land where there is no want or sadness (IV: 382)
  • It is written in The Seven-Pointed Star that all sins may be forgiven, but that crimes must still be punished (IV: 407, 653)
  • The High Septon puts aside their name, even if they are of a great and noble lineage, when they assume the mantle and crystal crown because it is said they serve as an avatar of the gods themselves (IV: 412)
  • During the reign of Baelor the Blessed, King Baelor caused a stone mason to be made High Septon because he thought the man's work was so beautiful that he must be the Smith made flesh. The mason could neither read nor write, and could not remember even the simplest prayers. It's rumored Baelor's Hand, the future Viserys II, had the man poisoned. After him, Baelor saw an eight-year-old boy raised to High Septon, believing he could work miracles, but the boy High Septon could not save Baelor during his final fast (IV: 412)
  • Aegon the Conqueror dated the beginning of his reign from the day the High Septon anointed him as king in Oldtown. Since then, it has been traditional for the High Septon to give their blessing to every king (IV: 413, 421)
  • The Great Sept of Baelor has large gardens, capable of holding hundreds (IV: 414)
  • It's said that work can be a form of prayer, pleasing to the Smith (IV: 418)
  • There are cells for pentinents in the Great Sept of Baelor (IV: 418)
  • In the Seven-Pointed Star, it's written that as men bow to lords, lords bow to kings, and kings and queens must bow to the Seven (IV: 418)
  • The vaults of the Great Sept hold costly vestments, rings, crystal crowns, and other treasures of the Faith (IV: 419)
  • The sept-proper of the Great Sept is reached through double-doors in the Hall of Lamps. The floors are of marble, light enters through great windows of leaded, colored glass, and the seven altars are set about with candles (IV: 419)
  • The Mother and the Maid are the most beloved of the Seven, while the Stranger is the least worshipped (IV: 419)
  • Jaehaerys the Conciliator swore upon the Iron Throne that the crown would always defend the Faith (IV: 420-421)
  • When news arrived in Oldtown of the landing of Aegon and his sisters, the High Septon fasted and prayed for seven days and nights under the dome of the Starry Sept in Oldtown. He then announced that the Faith would take not oppose the Targaryens, because the Crone had shown him that to do so would mean the destruction of Oldtown in dragonflame. Lord Hightower, a pious man, kept his forces at Oldtown and would later freely open his gates to Aegon when he came to be anointed by the High Septon (IV: 421)
  • King Maegor's decree prohibited the Faith from arming itself, and he fought for years in an attempt to repress the militant orders (IV: 422, 458)
  • The ancient blessed orders known as the Swords and the Stars comprised the Faith Militant, until Maegor's decree. The proper name of the Swords is the Warrior's Son, and it's said they wore fabulous armor over hair shirts and carried swords with crystal stars in their pommels. The Stars were named for their sigil, the red seven-pointed star on white, and were properly called the Poor Fellows. They were far humbler than the other order, for the most part, and were often little more than armed begging brothers who protected the faithful as they travelled from sept to sept and town to town (IV: 422-423)
  • It's said 900,000 gold dragons could feed the hungry and rebuild a thousand septs (IV: 422)
  • There are many tales of the Warrior's Sons, with members who were said to have been sorcerers, demonhunters, ascetics, holy men, dragonslayers, and fanatics united in their opposition to anyone that threatend the Holy Faith (IV: 423)
  • The Seven-Pointed Star states that lives are like candle flames, easily snuffed out by errant winds (IV: 456)
  • The faithful in their zeal to repent their sins might wear hair shirts, which are uncomfortable and painful to wear (IV: 457)
  • Some septries, such as the one found on the Quiet Isle, house penitents who swear vows of silence. The Elder Brother and proctors are the only ones who may speak, though the proctors may do so only once in seven days (IV: 461-462)
  • If a septry is known for its healers, men and women who are injured, or women heavy with child, might seek aid there (IV: 462)
  • A typical septry might have a windmill, cloisters where the brothers rest, a common hall for meals, and a sept among their larger structures (IV: 464)
  • The Elder Brother at a septry may depend on how many years they have served at a place, rather than just their age (IV: 464, 470)
  • The septry at the Quiet Isle has the Hermit's Hole, a cave where a holy hermit took residence and allegedly performed miracles two thousand years before (IV: 464-465)
  • Much of the furnishings at the Quiet Isle are made from driftwood (IV: 465)
  • Only septons can hear the confessions of brothers of the Faith, and giving confession is one of the exceptions to vows of silence (IV: 466)
  • Men and women do not lodge together at a septry, unless they are wed. Sometimes modest cottages are set aside for women who visit the septries (IV: 467)
  • Aegon the Conqueror treaded lightly with the Faith, so that the militant orders would not oppose him. When he died, however, they were in the thick of the rebellions that his sons faced (IV: 500)
  • King Maegor put a bounty on members of the Faith Militant: a dragon for the head of a Warrior's Son, and a stag for the scalp of a Poor Fellow. Thousands were killed, but as many still roamed the realm defiantly until Maegor's death and Jaehaerys the Conciliator's agreement to pardon all those who gave up their swords (IV: 500)
  • Septon Barth wrote of the changing genders of dragons (IV: 520)
  • It's said that those who are worthy will feast forever in the Father's golden hall in the afterlife (IV: 522)
  • Baelor the Blessed ordered Septon Barth's writings to be burned (IV: 522)
  • The Warrior's Sons wear seven-stranded belts, have crystals decorating their sword pommels and the crests of their greathelms, and bear old-fashioned kite-shaped shields which bear the emblem of the rainbow sword upon a black field. Their robes are rainbow-striped (IV: 536, 648)
  • The full name of the Warrior's Sons is the Noble and Puissant Order of the Warrior's Sons (IV: 536)
  • The saying of a grace over a meal (IV: 555)
  • The holy day known as Maiden's Day involves maidens fasting and purifying themselves in preparation, then clad in white they proceed to a sept to light candles at the Maiden's altar and hang paper garlands about or near her depiction. Only maidens can enter the sept and sing the devotional songs of the innocent (IV: 585)
  • It's suggested that the seven hells are reserved for various kinds of sinners, and that some of them are worse than others in their torments (IV: 586)
  • There is a book called Lives of the High Septons (IV: 590)
  • The High Septons used to be able to try men and women for crimes such as high treason, lewdness, fornication, and adultery. Jaehaerys the Conciliator took from them the scales of justice, however (IV: 643, 645, 651)
  • Of old, the High Septons might appoint seven judges to try a case, and if a woman was accussed, three of them might be women, representing maidens, mothers, and crones (IV: 645, 651)
  • Novice sisters wear roughspun shifts (IV: 649)
  • There is a septry on the grounds of the Citadel (IV: 677)
  • The High Septon is known as Father of the Faithful, Voice of the Seven on Earth (IV: 693)
  • Knights often light candles to the Warrior while attending tourneys, praying for strength and courage (TMK: 720)
  • The Stranger rarely has candles burning to him. The Mother and the Father receive the most candles, save perhaps when war or tourney beckons knights and men-at-arms to pray to the Warrior, while the Smith and the Maiden tend to receive fewer devotions (TMK: 720)
  • The Faith teaches that the Seven walked the hills of Andalos in human form (V: 79)
  • Andalos is said to have been the realm of Hugor of the Hill (V: 79)
  • From The Seven-Pointed Star: "The Father reached his hand into the heavens and pulled down seven stars, and one by one he set them on the brow of Hugor of the Hill to make a glowing crown" (V: 79, 80)
  • There are a number of holy books (V: 79)
  • The Seven-Pointed Star concerning Hugor of the Hill: "The Maid brough him forth a girl as supple as a willow with eyes like deep blue pools, and Hugor declared that he would have her for his bride. So the Mother made her fertile, and the Crone foretold that she would bear the king four-and-forty might sons. The Warrior gave strength to their arms, whilst the Smith wrough for each a suit of iron plates" (V: 80)
  • Some local septons are not very educated, but there are great centers of religious training in Westeros, with the Great Sept of Baelor being preeminent among them (SSM: 1)
  • No one needs to be present for the High Septon to annul the marriage, but at least one of the wedded pair must request the annulment (SSM: 1)
  • Dorne accepted the High Septon even after Maegor the Cruel and Jaehaerys the Concilator disarmed the Faith and carried undue influence over the Faith (SSM: 1)
  • Septs raised as part of a castle or its grounds are the property of the lords of the castle (SSM: 1)
  • Baelor the Blessed was a peace-loving king, and never considered rearming the Faith (SSM: 1)
Last revised February 21, 2016
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2.4.1. Knighthood
  • Knighthood is a religious matter open only to those who profess to follow the Seven, involving anointing. Being anointed by the High Septon is a great honor (I: 30. SSM: 1)
  • Ser is the title given to knights (I: 30, etc.)
  • A knight may be as young as 15 or 16 (I: 249. II: 292.)
  • To be a knight one customarily stands vigil in a sept and is anointed with the seven oils by a septon before taking the vows, although any knight can make a knight (I: 476. HK: 472, 473)
  • Hedge knights spend their lives riding from keep to keep, taking service with different lords and eating in their halls until the lords saw no more need for them and sent them off (THK: 458)
  • Some hedge knights turn robber in lean times (THK: 458)
  • Most hedge knights tie up most of their worldly wealth in their arms and horses (THK: 458, 459)
  • True knights are supposed to be cleanly as well as godly, but some take cleanly to mean a bath once every few weeks (THK: 464)
  • Merchants are notoriously mistrustful of hedge knights (THK: 467)
  • Part of becoming a knight is a dubbing with a sword, the blade touching each shoulder in turn as words are spoken (THK: 472)
  • Knights practice their jousting against quintains (THK: 478)
  • Wealthier knights wear gilded spurs (THK: 492)
  • Knights may carry badges that have no connection to their house's arms (THK: 493)
  • Part of the knighting ceremony: "<Person and House, if he has one>," a touch on the right shoulder with the blade. "In the name of the Warrior I charge you to be brave." The sword moves from right shoulder to left. "In the name of the Father I charge you to be just." Right shoulder. "In the name of the Mother I charge you to defend the young and innocent." The left. "In the name of the Maid I charge you to protect all women...." (THK: 518)
  • A more formal knighting ceremony involves a night's vigil, followed by walking barefoot from the sept to the knighting place to prove their humble hearts. They wear shifts of undyed wool to receive their knighthood, which is marked by the putting on of the swordbelt after dubbing (II: 667)
  • Three hundred dragons is a fair ransom for a knight (III: 503)
  • Pages and squires might practice by riding at rings (III: 493)
  • Barristan Selmy was knighted in his 16th year by King Aegon V Targaryen after performing great feats of prowess as a mystery knight in the winter tourney at King's Landing, defeating Prince Duncan the Small and Ser Duncan the Tall, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard (III: 752)
  • Some knights never name their horses, so as to lessen the grief when they die in battle (TSS: 93)
  • Once, one in every ten members of the Night's Watch had been a knight, but now the figure is more like one in every hundred (IV: 74)
  • The vigil prior to receiving the vows of knighthood are carried out before the figure of the Warrior. The squire might lay his sword before or upon the figure, and their armor may be piled at its base (IV: 124)
  • There are knights who refuse to name their horses, for fear of feeling attached to them when they are likely to be killed in battle or in mishap (IV: 394)
  • In a duel, it seems the challenger may be able to determine the weapons used (IV: 482)
  • Hedge knights are nearer to common servants than noble knights in the eyes of most lords, and are rarely invited to ride beside them (TMK: 656)
  • It's claimed that Glendon Ball, the Knight of Pussywillows, bargained for his knighthood. Ser Morgan Dunstable knighted him in return for a night with Ball's maiden sister (TMK: 704)
  • There are tales of knights winning their knighthoods with favors, threats, and coin (TMK: 704)
  • Social pressure keeps knighthood from being exploited by unscrupulous knights who might give the accolade for money (SSM: 1)
  • Knighthood is seen as primarily a martial position, so even the sons of powerful lords are not necessarily knighted if they are incapable of fulfilling the requirements. Doing otherwise would lose honor rather than gain it, and would make a lord and his family be held up to ridicule (SSM: 1)
  • Any man can be knighted, even a bastard (SSM: 1)
  • Squires can be men of any age, even into their 40's. They are men who either had too little money and thus were unable to keep themselves equipped, or they were men who didn't have the inclination to become knights for any number of reasons (SSM: 1)
  • The difference between a landed knight and a small lord is the title. A lord has greater powers over his domain than a landed knight, and the title is seen as more prestigious than knighthood. On the other hand, a knight is a fighting man and the title has its own martial and religious meanings with its own special prestige. Not all lords are knights, and it is concievable that a landed knight would have more lands and wealth than a small lord (SSM: 1)
  • Some knightly families have strong castles, extensive lands, and great wealth -- lords in all but name, and often much more powerful than lesser lords or petty lords. They lack only in certain privileges that only lords hold in the Seven Kingdoms, such as the rights of pit and gallows (SSM: 1)
Last revised March 09, 2013
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2.4.1.1. Tournaments and Heraldry
  • The high lords and ladies sit apart and watch the events (I: 246)
  • In one sort of tilt, if three passes are ridden without result, the king can grant the victory to one or another according to such things as who sat the better horse or had the steadier lance (I: 247)
  • Knights all wear cloaks (I: 247)
  • The jousters are separated in the lists (I: 247)
  • Killing someone's horse is seen as a disgrace, and forfeits a match (I: 249)
  • Pageantry is spectacular at tourneys. Knights wear the finest plate, and cloaks and horse caparisons are sometimes sewn with flowers. Lances are painted or made of rare woods to suit the knight who uses it, and sometimes the points are gilded (I: 246, 249, 261. HK: 491, 493, 497)
  • If a resultless tilt is even enough that the king cannot judge between them, both competitors may move on to new opponents (I: 249)
  • Knights in tournaments display their shields outside of their tents. Particularly ostentatious shields might be enormous and made of iron (I: 257)
  • Tourney lances are made to break (I: 263)
  • Melees are fought with blunted weapons and are chaotic. Alliances form and break by turns, until one man is left standing. A tournament of forty men, knights and freeriders and squires, can last three hours. The number of injuries to both men and horse are many (I: 265)
  • Knightly pavilions may be small or large, round or square, and made of sailcloth, linen, or silk according to wealth (THK: 463)
  • According to the whims of the host, a tourney may be open only to knights (THK: 472)
  • In many tournaments, defeated competitors must either pay a ransom or forfeit their armor and horse (THK: 472. II: 146)
  • Tourney barriers might be whitewashed (THK: 478)
  • Some tourneys have several men tilt at once, so lists with several lanes are not uncommon (THK: 478)
  • In a typical tournament, the nobles and particularly wealthy townsfolk would sit in multi-tiered stands with a canopy to shield them from the sun. Most would sit on benches, but the hosting lord and other particular nobles would have seats for themselves (THK: 478, 490)
  • One kind of tournament is called a hastilude (THK: 485)
  • There are a dozen different forms of tourney. Some are mock battles between teams, others wild melees. Where single combats are the rule, pairs might be chosen by lot or perhaps by the master of the games (THK: 480)
  • One form of tourney is thrown in honor of a noble lady, who reigns as Queen of Love and Beauty. Five champions wearing her favors would defend her, and all others would be challengers. If any man defeats a champion by making him yield or incapacitating him after tilting and then single combat, he takes his place until he himself is unseated. After three days of jousting the five remaining would determine who would wear the crown of Queen of Love and Beauty (THK: 480, 481, 492)
  • In a tournament where challengers may choose their opponent, the right of first challenge goes to knights of high birth or great renown, lords and their heirs, and champions of past tourneys (THK: 489)
  • Tourney lances 12 feet long, longer than war lances (THK: 491)
  • Knights tend to wear elaborate crests on their helms for tournaments. They are made of carved wood or shaped leather, sometimes gilded and enamelled or made of pure silver (THK: 491, 495)
  • The organization of tournaments to mark important occasions (such as namedays) might be handled by someone appointed as master of revels (II: 34)
  • The High Septon may be involved in confirming the propriety of a marriage contract being broken if the parties are sufficiently important enough (II: 664)
  • The Knight of the Laughing Tree was a mystery knight who appeared at the great tournament at Harrenhal, fighting for the honor a young Howland Reed of Greywater Watch (and may well have been Lord Howland himself). He won King Aerys's enmity (III: 279, 283)
  • The great tourney at Harrenhal had five days of jousting planned, a great seven-sided melee in the old style fought between seven teams of knights, archery, axe-throwing, a horse race, a tourney of singers, a mummer show, and many feasts and frolics (III: 282, 485)
  • Mystery knights often appear at tourneys, with helms concealing their faces and shields that were blank or bore some strange device. Sometimes they were famous champions in disguise (III: 282)
  • In a tourney at Storm's End when he was young, Prince Rhaegar defeated Lord Steffon Baratheon, Lord Jason Mallister, the Red Viper of Dorne. He broke twelve lances against Ser Arthur Dayne that day, but lost to Ser Barristan of the Kingsguard in the final tilt (III: 485, 752. SSM: 1)
  • It had been long years since King Aerys had last left the Red Keep when he went to Harrenhal for Lord Whent's tourney (III: 485)
  • Tournaments might have contests for pages and squires, such as riding at rings (III: 493)
  • The heraldic drawings and illuminations in the White Book are done by septons sent from the Great Sept of Baelor three times a year (III: 751)
  • Barristan Selmy won the name of "the Bold" in his 10th year when he donned borrowed armor to appear as a mystery knight at a tourney in Blackhaven, where he was defeated and unmasked by Duncan, Prince of Dragonflies (III: 752)
  • Barristan Selmy was knighted in his 16th year by King Aegon V Targaryen after performing great feats of prowess as a mystery knight in the winter tourney at King's Landing, defeating Prince Duncan the Small and Ser Duncan the Tall, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard (III: 752)
  • Ser Barristan the Bold defended the passage against all challengers in the tourney of the Silver Bridge, won a melee at Maidenpool, defeated and unmasked the mystery knight Blackshield, revealed as the Bastard of Uplands, at the Oldtown tourney, wa sole champion of Lord Steffon Baratheon's tourney at Storm's End where he unhorsed Robert Baratheon, Prince Oberyn Martell, Lord Leyton Hightower, Lord Jon Connington, Lord Jason Mallister, and Prince Rhaegar, and was champion at the tourney in King's Landing in his 57th year (III: 752)
  • In a tourney tilt, one's opponent is always on the left side (IV: 230)
  • Three knights travelling in a company for a tournament might have two dozen servants, grooms, men-at-arms, and mounted crossbowmen with them, as well as a dozen heavily-laden drays carrying armor, tents, and provisions (TMK: 653)
  • It is not customary to hold a melee to celebrate a wedding, and the suggestion of having one is shocking (TMK: 659, 672)
  • A small tourney thrown by Lord Butterwell has a very rich grand prize of a dragon's egg, but the other prizes are much smaller, being 30 dragons for the knight who came second and 10 dragons to each of the knights defeated the previous round (TMK: 672)
  • If a knight hates his foe enough, he may refuse to give over his horse for ransom, and could go so far as to ruin his armor before sending it to his enemy (TMK: 707)
  • Knights often light candles to the Warrior while attending tourneys, praying for strength and courage (TMK: 720)
  • The rules of heraldry are unregulated and rather freeform in the Seven Kingdoms, with individuals able to choose personal arms to their own taste (SSM: 1)
  • The rules for tourneys are many and diverse, and are up to each hosting lord or king to choose for their own particular event. There are wild team melees over acres of land, exhibitions of jousting, free-for-all-last-man-standing melees, and so on (SSM: 1)
  • There exists an ancient melee format which uses seven teams (SSM: 1)
  • The Reach is the chivalric heart of the Seven Kingdoms and the place where stringent requirements to entry in tournaments are most likely to be placed. Other areas are more likely to be a little looser, and in the North where knighthood is rare tournament rules are likely to be made up as they go along rather than follow set tradition (SSM: 1)
  • Heraldry in the North is significantly simpler and more basic than that in the South, showing the differing amounts of influence that chivalry has had there (SSM: 1)
  • The quartering of arms is not the usual practice in Westeros, and there are no set rules as to how it's to be done (SSM: 1)
Last revised March 09, 2013
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