Game of Thrones

The Spiritual and Religious Side

​​"Martin and the creators of the HBO series have tapped into something important in the current cultural milieu. In the midst of the violence and carnage in the contemporary world, a reality all too often enabled by the complicity of religious institutions, there emerges a nobility, a better way." (David Penchansky)

"It's not easy to find the tender God of process theology in Game of Thrones, but it is easy to understand that, if we are to walk with the  tender God, we must embrace the fulness of the human experience, seeing beauty where there is beauty, with hints of a better way." (Jay McDaniel)


Spirituality in Game of Thrones
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If you think spirituality has something to do with qualities of heart and mind such as imagination, questing, yearning, a sense of wonder, and adventure, then there is a lot of "spirituality" in Game of Thrones.  The same applies if you think there is something like spirituality in the virtues of knighthood: honesty, bravery, and nobility.

But you may also recognize that these qualities of heart and mind can go astray when channeled in directions of violence and fanaticism. 

If you are already inclined to be suspicious of religion, except maybe those that are earth-based and non-violent, then watching Game of Thrones may lend support your view that religion and perhaps especially organized monotheism. with its insistence on One God-One Way-Our Way, has too often moved in these directions.  This is the religion of the Lord of Light in Game of Thrones.  The Lord of Light, says Dani Diplacido below, is death with a pretty face.

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​It may also strike you, in the words of David Penchansky, a biblical scholar, that "The most positive and sympathetic characters in the narrative are among those whose loyalty is to no religion." 

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Some will tell you that Game of Thrones is primarily entertainment and, more specifically, about "gratuitous violence and sexual relations of all configurations—man on woman, man on man, sorceress on man, brother on sister." Still, says Penchansky, there are hints of a nobler and more chivalric way of living in the world.
"In the midst of the violence and carnage in the contemporary world, a reality all too often enabled by the complicity of religious institutions, there emerges a nobility, a better way.​"

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​What is this better way?  Open and relational theologians will articulate it in monotheistic terms, speaking of it as the way of noncoercive kindness and compassion.  They will imagine the true Lord of Light, not as a vengeful king on a throne but as Christ-like spirit, embracing the whole of creation. Yes, there will be evil in the world, but the Lord's manner of combatting evil will be, in the language of Thomas Oord, kenotic love.  It is what another theologian, John Caputo, calls the weakness of God.

​Such weakness really has no place in the medieval fairy-land of Game of Thrones, and this is part of the series’ beauty.  Game of Thrones is about warring societies not tender societies, and you can’t help but feel that there’s something “noble” in such societies.  Maybe it’s just honesty and bravery.  But maybe it's also a zest for life.

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There is more to a walk with God than love.  Not less but more.  It is to embrace the many ways of being human without fear: seeing whatever beauty there is in them without insisting that they conform to your own standards.  In such openness God is present, like a dragon on your shoulders.

Not the God of Process Theology -- the Big Red God, R'hllor

"I’m beginning to suspect that the Lord of Light (R’hllor)is not on the side of life, but a god of war, a bit like Wonder Woman’s Ares. This would explain his seemingly contradictory actions thus far, especially his intention to put a powerful weapon in the hands of the Night King. He wants the ensuing war to be as violent and destructive as physically possible, and the victor is irrelevant...Perhaps the Faceless Men are right when they say that there is only one god, and he has many faces. I think the Lord of Light has been death the whole time, disguised behind a particularly pretty face."  (Dani Diplacido, Forbes Magazine, Augus 21. 2017)
"Belief in R’hllor is strict and absolute, as all other gods and religions are considered false. When we first meet the red priestess Melisandre, she’s burning the Seven in effigy, and so-called blasphemers have been maimed and killed for opposing the Lord of Light....While belief in R’hllor is considered a monotheistic religion, it’s also dualistic in nature. Much like the war between Judeo-Christian figures God and Lucifer, the belief is that R’hllor has been in an everlasting battle with the Great Other, an evil god of ice and death." (Beth Elderkin, i09)

Three Gems of Wisdom from Game of Thrones


Extended excerpts from a Review by David Penchansky
professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of St. Thomas
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A Quasi-Medieval, Mythical World
​Better on Television than in the Book

"The Game of Thrones originated in a series of books by George R.R. Martin, and was subsequently made into a popular HBO series, which recently completed its third season...Following my viewing of the first two seasons, I read the five volumes of “Song of Ice and Fire,” the original name of the series. ‌Game of Thrones is the name of the first book. Once I completed the series in text, I viewed the third season. I found the television series to be much better than the books, which were rather a slog to get through. Martin is far too wordy, trying to imitate J.R.R. Tolkien, the author who created an alternate universe in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s universe had its own mythic structure, and different races had their own detailed histories. Martin, far too geeky, employs every technical term for medieval armor and castle construction. It becomes tedious.

Set in a quasi-medieval, mythical world, with warring kingdoms and principalities, the series is truly a game of thrones, particularly surrounding the rivalry for who will rule the seven kingdoms and sit on the Iron Throne, an uncomfortable contraption formed from captured weaponry welded together, blades up. The story follows the various claimants to the throne after the death of the high king. As a professor of Hebrew scripture, I was intrigued by the author’s construction of religion and the way he drew upon perceptions of medieval Europe.‌ adding your own words.

The Problem of Monotheism
and Organized Religion

​"Is Martin attacking the monotheistic religions as the most intolerant and the most violent? Is his depiction of rabid monotheists a reference to the violence inflicted in our world by the hands of monotheists (for instance, in the European colonization of Africa, North and South America, the Hundred Years Wars in Europe, Islamic terrorism, etc.)?  I think rather he works on a deeper, more interesting level. All of the religions in Martin’s depiction are violent. Although each claims a moral high ground, they compete in the “game of thrones.” From the perspective of Martin’s imaginary universe, it really does not matter which religion one choses. All are corrupt in their struggle for power.

​The author appears to have turned away from “organized religion.” He offers a different quasi-religious alternative ideal, based on the medieval notion of chivalry, the way of the knight. The knight must be noble, honest, and brave. This nobility appears to cut across all religions, and also among those who have no religion. The most positive and sympathetic characters in the narrative are among those whose loyalty is to no religion."

Three Gems of Wisdom

So the question I want to ask is, does Martin, in his depiction of religion in the Game of Thrones, have any theological wisdom to offer? Mostly, I would say no. Most of his religious ideas are two-dimensional and naïve. However, I submit the following:

Martin depicts vividly the dangers of fanaticism. I define fanaticism as (a) complete certainty of the rightness of one’s position, and (b) for the best of intentions, to be willing to break rules and commit atrocities to advance one’s cause. For example, in the Game of Thrones, a king who is a devotee of the Lord of Light, immolates his beloved daughter as a means to beseech the Lord of Light to grant him victory in battle. It is reminiscent of Abraham who intends to offer his son as a sacrifice (Genesis 22), or of Jephthah who kills his beloved daughter as a payment of a debt to the Israelite God to insure his victory against the Ammonites (Judges 9).

There is an inherent nobility that can be found among adherents of many religious expressions and, yes, even a holiness that crosses boundaries of sect and belief.

The only truly “good” movement is the nearly vanished Children of the Forest. There is some value in imagining a sylvan past where the inhabitants were one with nature and at peace with each other. In the Hebrew Bible, the prophet Isaiah (among others) described such a “peaceable kingdom” in Israel’s future. The author whom scholars call the Yahwist wrote of a perfect Garden of Eden where God intended for humans to flourish. This expresses a genuine human yearning. To make this a possible future, one might draw hope from this ancient, resonant narrative of an imagined past.

​Martin and the creators of the HBO series have tapped into something important in the current cultural milieu. In the midst of the violence and carnage in the contemporary world, a reality all too often enabled by the complicity of religious institutions, there emerges a nobility, a better way. Sadly, good doctrine, however one understands it, does not produce good behavior.

Sample of Religions in
Game of Thrones

​“The Children of the Forest” are an ancient elven race, ultimately eliminated by “The First Men.” They are pre-religious. They embody the physical manifestations of nature.

“The First Men” come from “over the sea,” and conquer and destroy the civilization of the Children of the Forest. Their story re-enacts the ancient mythos, present in both Greek and ancient Near Eastern narratives, where upstart gods overthrow the primal gods—those who represent nature in its most basic configuration.

The descendants of The First Men worship in ancient sacred groves outside of every major settlement. The trees in the grove have otherworldly faces carved into them, left by the Children of the Forest thousands of years earlier. The presence of these ancient tree deities is felt, and they are importuned for help and blessing.

An urban religion worships a seven-fold pantheon. Each deity represents a different human aspect: Mother, Father, Warrior, Maiden, Smith, Crone, and Stranger. The followers of this religion tend to encourage and enforce the status quo. Therefore, the ruling urban families sponsor and support it. Visually, the temples and priests of this religion resemble those of medieval Roman Catholic churches. The design includes familiar priestly vestments as well as many candles.

There is an upstart version of the seven-fold pantheon led by a monastic group known as “the Sparrows.“ By their enthusiasm and by violent coercion, they gain many converts, occupying ancient temples, and imposing their strict moral code even upon the royalty.

A cult exists in which the believers drown their initiates in the sea, and then are revived in submission to “the Drowned God,” a bizarre reflection of the Christian practice of baptism.

Most intriguing, a new cult arises as the action begins, claiming that only one god exists. Adherents to this cult are the monotheists. They refer to their deity as the “Lord of Light,” and their prophet, a red-haired woman, a true believer, has gained the confidence and obedience of one of the kings who is claimant to the Iron Throne. The religion of the Lord of Light is the most bloodthirsty, violent, intolerant religion in the realm. Whereas other religions either co-exist or compete, this religion insists on submission to its beliefs or else consigns heretics to immolation in a sacred fire. Their god feasts on the blood of sacrificial victims offered in a tortuous fire
It should be obvious that George Martin has taken bits of various historical religions and recombined them in novel ways. One benefit of this (perhaps not his intention) is that it enables the reader (or viewer, as it were) to see religion with fresh eyes. It raises issues such as the relation of religion to violence (and Christians have a long and sordid history of that), the role that coercion plays in religion (ditto), and the relation of religion to civil authorities (you get the idea). 

Is Martin attacking the monotheistic religions as the most intolerant and the most violent? Is his depiction of rabid monotheists a reference to the violence inflicted in our world by the hands of monotheists (for instance, in the European colonization of Africa, North and South America, the Hundred Years Wars in Europe, Islamic terrorism, etc.)?  I think rather he works on a deeper, more interesting level. All of the religions in Martin’s depiction are violent. Although each claims a moral high ground, they compete in the “game of thrones.” From the perspective of Martin’s imaginary universe, it really does not matter which religion one choses. All are corrupt in their struggle for power. The author appears to have turned away from “organized religion.” He offers a different quasi-religious alternative ideal, based on the medieval notion of chivalry, the way of the knight. The knight must be noble, honest, and brave. This nobility appears to cut across all religions, and also among those who have no religion. The most positive and sympathetic characters in the narrative are among those whose loyalty is to no religion."
Open Horizons