Who Are The Faceless Men Really? - Game of Thrones - video Dailymotion

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00:00Who actually are the Faceless Men? Why were they formed? Where did they

00:04originally come from and what does that tell us about what they might actually

00:08want in A Song of Ice and Fire? Hi everyone this is Robert. Welcome to In

00:14Deep Geek. On this channel we cover the best in fantasy books and TV shows. A

00:18Song of Ice and Fire, The Lord of the Rings, The Witcher and much more. If that

00:23sounds good there's a subscribe button in the bottom right of your screen. This

00:28is the start of a new series of videos exploring the role of the Faceless Men

00:32in A Song of Ice and Fire. Or more accurately it's a revised and fully

00:37updated version of a series of videos I did on this subject a few years ago. The

00:42origin story that we know for the Faceless Men comes from the Kindly Man who is one

00:47of the characters Arya meets at the House of Black and White in the books and who

00:51seems to be overseeing her training. He recounts the tale that the first Faceless

00:56Man was in Old Valyria, well before the Doom. He heard the prayers of the slaves

01:01in the mines beneath Valyria, heard them crying out to countless different gods

01:05for an end to their suffering, and concluded that although they all thought

01:09that they were calling out to their own god from wherever they had originally

01:12come from, actually they were all calling out to the same god who had many

01:17names and many faces. The man then decided that he must be that god's instrument. He

01:25was there to answer their prayers, and brought the gift, as he called it, to the

01:29most miserable and desperate slave. The gift and freedom of death. He followed this

01:36up by giving the same gift of death to many other slaves who prayed for it, until one

01:42day the first Faceless Man heard a slave crying out not for his own death, but for

01:47the death of his master, offering everything he had. The first Faceless Man thought that

01:54this would be pleasing to the Many-Faced God, and as the slave had nothing to offer other

01:59than himself, created the first convert to the Faceless Men. The master was killed, and now

02:06there were two Faceless Men dedicated to serving the Many-Faced God. How long this

02:12went on for, we do not know, because the next time we hear from the Faceless Men they

02:16have moved base a couple of thousand miles away, apparently as a fully-fledged

02:21religious society of assassins, when the city of Braavos announced itself to the

02:26world. Which, rather unhelpfully, opens up a whole new series of timeline questions,

02:31because we don't know for sure when Braavos was established. We know it is not an old

02:37city, by Asozi standards anyway. It was founded by slaves who rebelled against the yoke of the

02:42Valyrians, and its very existence was a secret for over a century, and its location a secret

02:49for three times that, or more. And at some point in this secret past, perhaps even at the beginning,

02:55the cult of the Many-Faced God made its way from Valyria to Braavos, and the House of Black and

03:01White was formed. But whatever the mechanism for the Faceless Men arriving at Braavos, whether they

03:07were part of the original founders or were later arrivals, the city is undeniably a perfect fit for

03:14them. Being founded by former slaves, like the first Faceless Man, it is staunchly anti-slavery.

03:21The first law of Braavos is that no man, woman or child will ever be a slave. It is also anti-Valyrian.

03:30It's a little reference side note to Aegon's invasion of Westeros, that Braavos sent a fleet

03:36to help defend Westeros against the Targaryens, albeit to little effect. Keep a note of that for

03:41what might happen when Dany invades Westeros. And finally, the city has complete freedom of religion,

03:48not just tolerating different faiths, but actively allowing any and all faiths, because it was founded

03:54by people, the former slaves, of any and all faiths. Once established, the House of Black and

04:00White became a temple of sorts, where people could go to die. Like with the original gift given to the

04:07slave, this is for those seeking release from their struggles in life. Arya helps an old woman to take a

04:14drink from the poisoned fountain at the centre of the house as part of her duties. I say it became

04:19a temple of sorts, because it really isn't like any other religious temple. There are no services

04:26or rituals. Nobody is told what to believe. There are no rules or guidelines for life, or apparently

04:32any attempt to convert people. There's just a large room that is open to all. All of which perhaps

04:39explains why this cult has not expanded. Why you won't find temples of black and white elsewhere.

04:46This faith does not actually care whether you believe it is telling the truth or not. There is

04:51no proselytising. There are many statues of various gods in the House of Black and White, but no central

04:58focus on an altar or a mystical symbol. There is no picture or graven image of the many-faced god.

05:04What is being put across is clearly based on an understanding of the gods, but it isn't a

05:10religion in a classical sense. There is no one preaching or trying to impart any truths. In fact,

05:16the faceless men are very happy for people to carry on believing whatever gods or religion they

05:21already believe in. Instead, the impression is of a group of people who believe that they understand

05:28a deeper truth than the other religions. That whatever you might think you are worshipping,

05:34actually it's something different. And it actually doesn't matter whether you know or believe that

05:39to be true. So, no image of the many-faced god, him or herself. Just images and statues of his many faces.

05:48Of course, there does need to be some sort of passing on of the torch to the next generation,

05:53and that is why we see Arya and others going through their training and apprenticeships.

05:58We tend to focus on the elements of the training most associated with being an assassin – fighting,

06:04poisons, disguises and so on – but another part does seem to be about passing on the ethos and the

06:10theological basis of the order. This theological basis appears to be that Valar Morghulis – all men

06:18must die, and Valar Dheiris – all men must serve. These aren't just cool catchphrases, they are

06:25statements of faith. The role of the faceless men is to serve the many-faced god by facilitating deaths.

06:33This makes the House of Black and White both a sort of centre for assisted suicide and home base for

06:39their role as assassins. Both are sacred functions for their god. An assassination contract is not a simple

06:47business deal for them. It is a holy sacrament. We will come back to the significance and implications

06:54of this several times over the next few videos, but for now the main point is that although the

06:59outside world thinks of them primarily a guild of assassins, they see themselves as a religious order,

07:07servants of the god of death. Of course, there is a business element to the assassination contracts,

07:12and there is little doubt that the faceless men have grown rich from their work,

07:16even though they aren't particularly ostentatious about it. Once a contract has been agreed,

07:22it is allocated to one of the assassins, which brings us to one of the most intriguing aspects

07:27of how they operate – that a contract cannot be given to a faceless man who knows the intended victim.

07:33We see this when Arya witnesses a business meeting in the House of Black and White,

07:37where they are divvying up assassination contracts. One of the faceless men says he cannot do one of them,

07:43because he knows that man, so someone else takes it on instead. This has some amusing side effects,

07:50such as when Arya is first sailing to Braavos, and the crew know that she is going to join the faceless men,

07:56because she has that coin from Jaqen. They try endlessly to get her to remember their names,

08:02thinking, logically enough, that this would protect them from her killing them when she has finished

08:07her training. But it does also shed light on the whole becoming no one business, because the main

08:13point about this rule about not being sent to kill someone you know is presumably to prevent a situation

08:19where the assassin may have feelings about who they are sent to kill and compromise the mission.

08:23So despite the rhetoric, it seems that the faceless men are not expected to completely lose their old

08:30identities and memories. This seems to be a bit of a pattern. Jaqen breaks or bends what he claims

08:36are the rules of the order quite a lot, as we'll see in the next couple of videos. So there is more

08:42than a hint here that the absolutes that Arya is being told, like needing to completely abandon her

08:48old self, for example, are actually less absolute than they first look like. Bear that in mind when

08:54thinking about what Arya becoming a faceless man might actually look like. She would still also be

09:01Arya Stark. Anyway, we should be in no doubt that this isn't just a highly effective and highly trained

09:08assassins' guild. It is a fanatical death cult with its own motivations and agenda, that thinks that

09:15it knows better about the nature of gods and magic and life and death than anyone else. So,

09:21if the faceless men do have beliefs and organisational aims, what are they? And how will they impact on

09:29the story? Well, let's start with something they probably don't care about as much as you might think.

09:35You will find many theories out there suggesting that they are secretly dedicated to ending slavery or

09:41opposing the Targaryens because they came from the slave mines. Certainly that's the case for Braavos

09:47as a whole. However, to apply it unthinkingly to the faceless men would be to fundamentally misread

09:53what they think was important about their own origin story. To the faceless men, the time in Valyria was

10:00about understanding the nature of the many-faced god and about bringing the gift of death to those who seek

10:06it. It wasn't really about the moral rightness of freeing slaves from their oppressors.

10:13In the books, Arya is constantly seeking reasons for why people need to be killed by the faceless men,

10:20her starkish moral compass always wanting there to be some justice behind an execution. But the answer

10:26from the kindly man is always the same. It's not about that, about deciding who should or shouldn't die,

10:33because all men must die. When Arya tells the kindly man that she thought the first gift of death

10:40should have been given to the slave masters, not to the slaves, the kindly man noticeably doesn't

10:46agree or even acknowledge the idea that there was a justice issue here at stake at all. He simply asserts

10:52that the slave masters were also given the gift at a later time. Yes, the clear hint here is that the

10:58faceless men were involved in the doom of Valyria. That's what we'll look at in our next video.

11:03And hopefully by now it should be clear that their involvement wasn't out of a sense of social

11:08justice, it was just a matter of serving their god. More on that next time. So if that, vengeance or

11:16social justice, is not what they're about, what do they want? I think that there are three levels to

11:23this, all of which are connected to the only thing they seem focused on, serving the god of death.

11:28First, they want to just carry on with their day-to-day offering of a service to those who

11:33want to die at the House of Black and White. This may seem like a pretty boring desire and won't

11:38have much impact on the plot, but to them it is a deeply important sacrament. Second, they want to

11:45do the assassination jobs they are hired for, because Valadehiris all men must serve, and the many-faced

11:52god must get its due. This will have an impact on the plot going forward, and it definitely has behind

11:58the scenes on the plot so far. In the books it is clear that Euron hired the faceless men to kill his

12:04brother, Baelon Greyjoy, so that he could seize the salt throne, for example. But third, and I think

12:10most importantly for the plot going forward, the faceless men are facing a new challenge, one that

12:16strikes to the core of their doctrine. Because what a cult of death will fear and hate the most is not,

12:23say, Daenerys and her dragons killing thousands wherever she goes. After all, all men must die.

12:29No, what they will want to oppose most of all is a force or forces that are committed to ensuring

12:36that not all men die. That someone at death's door, like, say, the mountain, or someone who has

12:43recently died, like, say, Beric Dondarrion, or the entire army of the dead, do not die. They can be

12:51brought back. This is heresy to the faceless men, a challenge to everything they believe in. Can they

12:58really stand by and let their foundational belief be challenged in this way? I think not. And one

13:05of the things we'll be doing over the next few videos is taking a look at what they might be doing

13:10about it. But what do you think? What do you think the faceless men want as an organisation?

13:17Let me know in the comments below. If you want more A Song of Ice and Fire videos,

13:21please click on the playlist on the left of your screen. Or if you'd like to support this channel,

13:26the best way to do that is by clicking on the link to Patreon on the right of your screen.

13:31Thanks for watching. That's all for this time. I'll see you again soon.

Who Are The Faceless Men Really? - Game of Thrones

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