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How do other religions take their vows at the Nights Watch


Ser Vampyr

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How do other religions take their vows at the Nights Watch?



we see That their is a sept for the faith of the seven and their is the weirwood tree beyond the wall but where do the other people take their vows? Like the Drowed God or other Religions



And do young children that the Nights watch has saved like in the case of Mance Rayder do they swear an oath if so when?





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I could see that joining the Night's Watch constitutes an abandonment of their old god for Iron Born and the Greenblood Orphans. Unlike the First Gods, who are present at the Wall and the Seven who encourage servitude to a "honorable" cause, the Drowned God and Mother Rhoyne are more about loyalty to their tribe or their location (The Iron Born, the Sea, the Greenblood) so swearing a complete batshit oath to a glorified border patrol located in the worst place in Westeros might fall under abandoning your gods...


So they might end up swearing to either the Old Gods or the Seven. Iron Born would most likely swear to the Old Gods and Rhoynar...no Rhoynar is stupid enough to go anywhere near the Wall. likewise Iron Born would likely prefer death.



If the worship of R'hllor becomes popular in Westeros in the future and the Wall and the Night's Watch survive WoW/aDoS they might get a red priest at the wall.


Children just get indoctrinated and don't get a say in the matter, so they are made to swear an oath as soon as possible.


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I could see that joining the Night's Watch constitutes an abandonment of their old god for Iron Born and the Greenblood Orphans. Unlike the First Gods, who are present at the Wall and the Seven who encourage servitude to a "honorable" cause, the Drowned God and Mother Rhoyne are more about loyalty to their tribe or their location (The Iron Born, the Sea, the Greenblood) so swearing a complete batshit oath to a glorified border patrol located in the worst place in Westeros might fall under abandoning your gods...

So they might end up swearing to either the Old Gods or the Seven. Iron Born would most likely swear to the Old Gods and Rhoynar...no Rhoynar is stupid enough to go anywhere near the Wall. likewise Iron Born would likely prefer death.

If the worship of R'hllor becomes popular in Westeros in the future and the Wall and the Night's Watch survive WoW/aDoS they might get a red priest at the wall.

Children just get indoctrinated and don't get a say in the matter, so they are made to swear an oath as soon as possible.

what about Cotter Pyke is he of the drowned God faith if so does that mean they do some sort of ceremony at east watch and a fellow iron born watches?

And if Jaqen Hagar was actually heading to the wall as a new recruit would he have just been forced to swear by the seven? that seems counter productive as they would not care if they broke an oath to a foreign God.

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Everything the Night's Watch asks of its recruits is counter productive in ensuing the continued loyalty/productivity of their recruits or in attracting more recruits, that's why it is a collection of criminals and deranged Northmen.



For someone form Essos the Wall might not even be an option. They don't seem to have it in their legal system and for all the reasons a person might end up at the Wall in Westeros, the East offers a score of better options.



Escape Slave running for your life? -> Go to Braavos, join one of the Sellsword companies (which still allow you to fuck and accumulate wealth), hop on a ship headed for Sothoryos or Yi-Ti, join the Faceless Men, join the pirates on the Rhoyne or along the Stepstones



Disgraced Noble? All of the above, with the addition that, depending on how much money you managed to safe, you can run farther and keep more of your lifestyle.



Seeking to improve your lot in life? (Something the Night's Watch doesn't actually offer) Again, the Sellsword companies, pirates etc.



Wishing to serve some higher calling for personal redemption? -> Every city in Essos seems to offer ten of them, most of which are preferable to travel to a foreign land and marching round an ice fence with convicts.



Looking for Adventure? -> Just pick a random direction and travel into it for long enough, in Essos adventure will find you.



The only reason Jaqen would be at the wall was to deliver the gift to someone there, and then he would impersonate a follower of the Seven/the Old Gods anyway and swear by them if the mission required it.



That we don't hear on what Ironborn swear to could again be a hint that very, very few Ironborn actually choose the Wall and again, the Drowned God expects you to be a good Ironborn, not to defend the landlubbers who are to weak to fight off WIldlings themselves. So by joining the Night's Watch doing you are working against the will of your god, why would you swear an oath to him that contradicts his will?Choosing the wall could easily be seen as being excommunicated from that faith.



I mean it wouldn't really make sense for, let's say Theon to kneel down down at Eastwatch and go:



"Hey there, Drowned God, I know you want me to be a good Ironborn and live at sea, father more Ironborn and win glory and riches in battle and all that stuff....but I have decided to pretty much do the exact opposite of that, but since I'm doing the exact opposite of what you want me to do in your honor, I still get to join you and be attended by sexy Mermaids when I croak a thousand miles from the shoreline in some woodland, right?"


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I mean it wouldn't really make sense for, let's say Theon to kneel down down at Eastwatch and go:

"Hey there, Drowned God, I know you want me to be a good Ironborn and live at sea, father more Ironborn and win glory and riches in battle and all that stuff....but I have decided to pretty much do the exact opposite of that, but since I'm doing the exact opposite of what you want me to do in your honor, I still get to join you and be attended by sexy Mermaids when I croak a thousand miles from the shoreline in some woodland, right?"

This is most likely true however what about when a person is captured and sentenced to the wall?

What about Cotter Pyke if his is a worshipper of the drowned god how did he pledge his oath or if some of Stannis's rhlorr worshippers are sent to the wall what happens?

There must be some sort of precedent for worshippers of the drowned god and earlier the lady of the waves and the lord of the skies.

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This is most likely true however what about when a person is captured and sentenced to the wall?

What about Cotter Pyke if his is a worshipper of the drowned god how did he pledge his oath or if some of Stannis's rhlorr worshippers are sent to the wall what happens?

There must be some sort of precedent for worshippers of the drowned god and earlier the lady of the waves and the lord of the skies.

I'd presume they just go and say their oath to the sea. I mean, there is coastal Night's Watch land.

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Except from the DG which other religions there is in Westeros?

In Dorne there's the Greenblood Orphans, who worship Mother Rhoyne.

In The Sisters there used to be the Lady of the Waves and the Lord of the Skies.

In the Stormlands there used to be rain gods.

Being arrested for some bullshit crime like poaching or pinching a grain of pepper often resulted in being sent to The Wall, and I doubt many people would really appreciate being forced to give up their gods. The Greenblood Orphans can say their words to a stream or river near the wall. The Sistermen, like the IronBorn, could still say their oath at Easternwatch-by- the-sea. The pre-Andel Stormlanders could go to Easternwatch and say their words during a storm.

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In Dorne there's the Greenblood Orphans, who worship Mother Rhoyne.

In The Sisters there used to be the Lady of the Waves and the Lord of the Skies.

In the Stormlands there used to be rain gods.

Being arrested for some bullshit crime like poaching or pinching a grain of pepper often resulted in being sent to The Wall, and I doubt many people would really appreciate being forced to give up their gods. The Greenblood Orphans can say their words to a stream or river near the wall. The Sistermen, like the IronBorn, could still say their oath at Easternwatch-by- the-sea. The pre-Andel Stormlanders could go to Easternwatch and say their words during a storm.

True. I remembered it after I sent it but I forgot to reedit it.

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I guess the followers of the Drowned God go to Eastwatch, at least the only known follower (Pyke) works there too, so it seems like a reasonable guess.



The Red Priests had practically no followers in Westeros pre- Stannis as I took it.


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no Rhoynar is stupid enough to go anywhere near the Wall. likewise Iron Born would likely prefer death.

So how do you explain Cotter Pyke? Or Dornish Dilly? Neither of them seem to have chosen death over the Wall.
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It's sure there have been many ironborns in the watch, and not just a few bastards or criminals. The brother of Harren the black was Lord Commander, and at a time the watch was far more powerful.


About how they take their vows, I'd say they don't even need to go to Eastwatch, they just need some salt water, like their priests carry. I guess devout worshipers of the DG take some with them before joining, or the watch keeps some barrel for the occasion.


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It's sure there have been many ironborns in the watch, and not just a few bastards or criminals. The brother of Harren the black was Lord Commander, and at a time the watch was far more powerful.

About how they take their vows, I'd say they don't even need to go to Eastwatch, they just need some salt water, like their priests carry. I guess devout worshipers of the DG take some with them before joining, or the watch keeps some barrel for the occasion.

That makes sense. The Watch isn't asking that they actually be reborn into the Watch (which probably would be offensive to the Drowned God), just that they swear a solemn oath to dedicate the rest of their life to it. So, you wouldn't actually want them drowned, just anointed with saltwater or something.
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I have the suspition that Qhorin is also ironborn.At least nearly all Qhorin and its variants are.

IIRC, there's a discussion in one of the behind-the-scenes-es for the TV show, where they say they were torn about whether to change him from an Ironborn to a Northerner, but then they discovered that Qhorin's background was never actually stated anywhere.

So, I think there are probably multiple subliminal hints--enough to get D&D to just assume it without research, and enough to get you to look into it further before assuming. :)

Then again, there are people who are convinced that Qhorin is actually Arthur Dayne. After all, he's twice mentioned within the same sentence as a description of dawn breaking, and... I think that's all the evidence beyond "wouldn't it be neat". :)

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IIRC, there's a discussion in one of the behind-the-scenes-es for the TV show, where they say they were torn about whether to change him from an Ironborn to a Northerner, but then they discovered that Qhorin's background was never actually stated anywhere.

So, I think there are probably multiple subliminal hints--enough to get D&D to just assume it without research, and enough to get you to look into it further before assuming. :)

Then again, there are people who are convinced that Qhorin is actually Arthur Dayne. After all, he's twice mentioned within the same sentence as a description of dawn breaking, and... I think that's all the evidence beyond "wouldn't it be neat". :)

I Was under the impression Qhorin was a northerner he seemed to have an understanding of wolf dreams and asks Jon what he say in the frost fangs?

How do people get the impression he was Ironborn or Arthur Dayne?

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"Jaqen Hagar" serves the Many-Faced God.
The Stranger is regarded as an aspect of the Many-Faced God.
AND the Stranger is one of the seven.

And even if it wasn't the case, I really don't expect that one of the Faceless Men would have any trouble making their persona / mask swear an oath that the true Faceless Man behind it had no intention of following through.

As to the Ironborn... I expect they probably all go to Eastwatch... and maybe there is a ritual at Eastwatch especially for the Drowned God that they simply have no need for at Castle Black.

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