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r/gameofthrones•
Cheimon

[EVERYTHING] What's the appeal of the New Gods? What do they offer compared to the other religions?

Everything

Most of Westeros, as I understand it, abandoned their Old Gods in favour of the New Seven. But almost all the religions in Westeros place emphasis on some sort of cool power. The Old Gods have their wargs and greenseers, with the weirwood trees enabling people to access supernatural visions of the past. The Drowned God has resurrection, well, probably. Their priests don't always come back, but the fact that quite a lot of them survive suggests there's something more than CPR going on. The Lord of Light sets swords on fire, resurrects people, changes the weather if you burn enough children, and all kinds of impressive feats. The many-faced god is associated with face changing, sometimes poisonous water, and the world's best assassin crew. I don't know much about the Black Goat or the Great Stallion, but I assume they also claim supernatural powers.

However, as far as I can tell, the New Gods don't do anything at all. Sure, there are trials by combat, but that's a pretty tenuous thing compared to the solid, practical magic other religions offer. Why would anyone abandon their gods for this pantheon? I'm not saying the other gods definitely offer magic, but they're clearly associated with something tangible, real gods or not, while the New Gods aren't. Are they?

TL;DR What do the New Gods claim to actually do for people? Other religions all seem to offer at least some sort of helpful magic.

Posted May 11, 2016, 7:03 PM UTC

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av4riceHouse Reed•

Because the Andals just invaded your continent and they are stronger than you and they want you to join their religion.

11
fuckwatergivemewine•

Basically the history of the world there

4
LorenzoStomp•

Yup yup yup yuppers. Basically Catholicism versus Paganism in Europe.

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SkunkmulderHot Pie•

many people do not see the miracles - they are rare - we are seeing them because we are seeing a fantastic story. In that story we've never seen miracles by practitioners of the Faith of the Seven (New Gods)... but I guess those could exist.. The Faith is powerful enough to shake the Lannister rule pretty hard.

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CheimonOPWun Wun•

I suppose so, but at least the other religions claim they can do some sort of miracle. What do the New Gods claim they can miraculously intervene in that could be tangible? I don't mean a trial by combat, that's very subtle intervention, I mean something big and obvious like "if you follow us, some of you get to skinchange into animals".

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apophis-pegasusHouse Martell•

Well, since the Andals managed to conquer Westeros/the First Men, that might be taken as a sign of their god's legitimacy. After all, this is a culture that believes trial by Combat goes to the more moral person.

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CheimonOPWun Wun•

That's an interesting idea, yes.

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SkunkmulderHot Pie•

In a way - the faith of the seven may seem to be the most corrupt - it seems less methaphysical than the others and therefore more like a "sham". But in another way - it is more legitimately a religion because it claims that the seven act through men. The reason that trial by combat works is that when a man fights - the warrior fights through him. When the High Sparrow talks about Cersei's grace to Tommen - he is talking about how Cersei is at her best when the Mother is acting through Cersei. This may seem like BS - but it is much more scalable and more practical as a spiritual guide than rare magic.

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apophis-pegasusHouse Martell•

Iirc the old Gods had human sacrifice. And then theres the fact that the Andals conquered Westeros.

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BabylonDrifterHouse Stark•

All of the religions in the real world are fake, there are no miracles, yet billions of people believe in them. They are just a method of social order and political control. Culture. Belief. Power. Order. The religion of the seven is just a convenient control mechanism for the powerful - or at least, it was, until it morphed into a control mechanism for the powerless.

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