The characters inGame of Thronescarry a wide variety of unique philosophical structures. Some believe that the pursuit of power is the meaning of life. Others believe in a code of morality that governs their actions. A few even hold themselves to a religious order, following rules with the belief in a governing deity. With no agreement across Westeros, everyone seems to have a different answer to the eternal question. What happens when someone inGame of Thronesdies?
One of the most famous aspects ofGame of Thronesis itsliberal approach to character deaths. Heroes, villains, and unattached innocents drop dead with alarming frequency. The show guaranteed an eternal atmosphere of paranoia and loss by routinely assuring fans that no one was safe. In a world full of series that only murdered minor characters,Game of Throneskilled cast members with wild abandon. Though that cost several golden opportunities, this bold approach stayed engaging.
Every religious afterlife in Westeros
Westeros hasseveral functioning religions, though one dominates the Seven Kingdoms. When the Andals invaded, they wiped out most of the indigenous faiths of the First Men to replace them with their own. This motivated the initial invasion, ensuring widespread saturation of the Faith of the Seven.
The Faith of the Seven
The dominant religion in Westeros most closely mirrors Catholicism in the real world. They maintain belief in one deitywho has seven aspects. This god’s identities, often referred to as faces, offer different services to those who pray to them. When a member of the Faith of the Seven dies, they believe that several faces of their deity will get involved in the next steps. The Stranger is their Grim Reaper, guiding the souls of the dead into the great beyond. As the face of death, the Stranger is essentially the Charon who ferries the recently deceased away from the living realm. The Warrior is said to bring peace to those who died in battle, allowing the Stranger to take them away. From there, the Father judges the character of the fallen soul. The Faith of the Seven has seven hells and seven heavens to choose from. The hells, like Dante’s nine hells, get worse as the soul descends. Thebooks say almost nothingabout the seven heavens, but they occasionally mention the torments of the deepest hells. Their holy bliss provides an eternal feast and “the sweet milk of the merciful Mother” for those who repent. They don’t talk about it often, but these structures sound inspired by old-fashioned Christianity.
The Old Gods
The indigenous religion of Westeros shares little of its belief system in the books. Worshipers of the Old Gods take after the beliefs of theChildren of the Forest. They aren’t big believers in ceremonies, leading to relaxed weddings and funerals. No one mentions an afterlife in the Old Gods' cosmology. Classical practitioners believed in taking their dead down to the earth and trees, letting their bodies erode naturally in the dirt. Noble worshipers maintain crypts, taking special precautions against vengeful spirits. This suggests a belief in ghosts, implying an understanding of an afterlife. The limited information might give worshipers of the Old Gods a “circle of life” take on the issue, but this remains unconfirmed.
The Drowned God
The ironborn of the Iron Islands worship the Drowned God. Their culture revolves around sailing and piracy. Those who die at sea are said to have receivedthe Drowned God’s blessing. No ironborn man wants to rot in the ground, preferring a burial at sea. Drowned priests maintain that any suitably successful pirate will wind up in the Drowned God’s soaking hall, where they can feast forever with mermaids attending to their every need. This mirrors the Norse Valhalla, which encouraged Vikings to die in battle. Similarly, ironmen are expected to die while raiding and fall into the sea. Devoted followers of the Drowned God eagerly face death in pursuit of their seat at his undersea table. They give followers to the Drowned God by holding them under the water before pulling them up and resuscitating them with the “kiss of life.”
The Lord of Light
R’hllor and his red priestshave diametrically opposed beliefs to those of the Drowned God, but their take on death is oddly similar. Followers of the Lord of Light are believed to ascend to the Hall of Light to sit alongside their glowing deity. They maintain that life is warmth and that R’hllor is the eternal source of warmth. They see the world as the prize in a never-ending conflict between light and darkness. Red priests also have a strong tradition of resurrection, most of which occurs by accident. They maintain a funeral tradition called the “last kiss,” which involves breathing fire into the mouths of the recently deceased. This process sometimes results in the sudden reinvigoration of the unmistakably dead victim, raising a key question.
What do Game of Thrones characters see when they die?
Jon Snow and Beric Dondarrion return from the void thanks to the last kiss of two red priests. Beric died seven times in total.Thoros of Myr unintentionallybrings him back for the first time while performing the funeral. Thoros, who previously believed himself to be a failed priest, expressed shock after resurrecting Beric. Beric lost most of his memories after returning to life. George R. R. Martindeclared him a wight, though animated through fire instead of ice. This sapient zombie was a believer before his resurrection, but he saw nothing in his brief flirtation with the beyond.
When Jon Snow dies, Melisandre brings him back through a different ritual. He survives, but has no similar negative side effects. He still has all of his memories, but he gives the same answer when Melisandre asks him about the afterlife. Every character who can offer first-hand experience of this eternal question has seen nothing after they died. While this could disprove everyinterpretation of the afterlife, suggesting a cold, quiet darkness that follows every fatality, it could also be a unique case. Most people who die can’t be resurrected, least of all by the last kiss that greets every dead follower of the Lord of Light. Perhaps only those R’hllor chooses will see the darkness before the red priests return them to life.
TheGame of Thronesafterlife is still an open question. Many groups offer conflicting explanations, but the only reputable answer is disappointing. While the Lord of Light can offer resurrection to some, he can’t explain why both ofits lucky recipients seeno great beyond. Perhaps Jon and Beric lost their memories of eternal bliss after they returned. Maybe a functioning human brain can’t parse the experiences of the eternal soul. While fans know how manyGame of Thronescharacters have died, they may never know exactly what happened next.
