Oddity about Jaqen H'ghar

[The Sunset King]

After reaching a chapter mentioning the nature of the Faceless Men, their philosophy, and their temple, I noticed something odd about the assassin Jaqen. The Faceless Men seem to use a melding of black and white (similar to a yin-yang) to symbolize themselves. They also focus on worshiping some an amalgamated entity that incorporates and explains elements of other religions. However, Jaqen H'ghar displays some traits that subtely seem different from these facts.

First, is his focus on R'hllor. He mentions the Seven and others when swearing, however he places heavy emphasis on R'hllor as the one to whom he must satisfy his debt. Could this just be due to the fact that those who were going to die would have been killed by fire and thus he believes that it is the appropriate reaction? Or might it be that R'hllor is unusually important to him? Jaqen makes no mention of the main overriding being that the Faceless Men normally consider the focal point of their religion. Additionally, there is a clear parallel between his peculiar hair and the robes of the temple acolytes/devotees. However, instead of having the traditional white on the left and black on the right, Jaqen H'ghar has red and white, as if the black was replaced by red (associated with R'hllor).

Jaqen clearly is a Faceless Man that encountered Arya when carrying at missions and apparently factored into the prologued. However, might there be some kind of notable significance to his apparent interest in satisfying a debt to R'hllor and the color parallel that he displays? Perhaps he follows a modified version of the Faceless Man religion and now puts R'hllor at its locus?

[BreastplateWithNipples]

Are you sure you are in the right subforum? Jaqen does have a single word of text in AFFC, as far as I remember.

[The Sunset King]

I chose this one since AFFC is the one where some of the details about the FM are mentioned when Arya reaches the FM temple. However, it is true that everything else I mentioned happens in A Clash of Kings. After reading some of what Arya does in AFFC, I noticed that the some of the details about Jaqen in ACOK suggest a R'hllor connection. Doesn't seem to have any significance so far, but the details are enough that I wonder whether this might matter in the future somehow.

[BreastplateWithNipples]

To me it seems R'hollor is just one of many gods that are more or less "merged" into the many-faced god of the faceless men.

[VRD]

And if the theories are correct JH actually has some dialogue in the very first chapter of AFFC.

[Beneath the Gold]

I think it's up to every persona of a Faceless Man to have a primary deity or not. We have no way of knowing whether Jaqen is his original "face". He may have another that just as well worships the Old gods. WIth that said, I believe that the "Red God" is very important to Jaqen, fire or no.

As for the hair; I wouldn't read too much into it. He probably has red hair and intended a vague FM vanity by dying it partly white.

[Catastrophe]

Maybe I'm way off-base but I always thought the "Red God" Jaqen referred to was a different god than R'hllor. I always thought he was referring to some foreign blood god from a religion we haven't seen yet.

[Beneath the Gold]

Maybe I'm way off-base but I always thought the "Red God" Jaqen referred to was a different god than R'hllor. I always thought he was referring to some foreign blood god from a religion we haven't seen yet.

Now that you mention it, I can't seem to recall Jaqen especially mentioning R'hollor (I'll just have to check the book when I get my hands on it -_-).

Edit: Yeah, you're right. Though rather than an actual deity or religion, I think he may simply be referring to Death, as it is multiculturally manifested through the Faceless Men. :grouphug:

Anyhow, he seems to have a largely unordinary take on reciprocity.

[The Sunset King]

Maybe I'm way off-base but I always thought the "Red God" Jaqen referred to was a different god than R'hllor. I always thought he was referring to some foreign blood god from a religion we haven't seen yet.

The bolded part is indeed the term that Jaqen uses. It could be he is referring to something else, although I seem to recall from somewhere that term is often what R'hllor is called on Westeros.

I think it's up to every persona of a Faceless Man to have a primary deity or not. We have no way of knowing whether Jaqen is his original "face". He may have another that just as well worships the Old gods. WIth that said, I believe that R'hollor is very important to Jaqen, fire or no.

As for the hair; I wouldn't read too much into it. He probably has red hair and intended a vague FM vanity by dying it partly white.

This might be the case. It could just be that the Jaqen persona has some unique traits. His next form ditches the hair style and quite possibly has other religious predelictions.

He seems to be on some kind of Faceless Man mission as evidenced by the fact that the coin he gives Arya is recognized in Braavos. Probably the religion stuff does not indicate any kind of secret, alternate mission at odds with the FM or anything all that important.

[A song of rice and fire]

Are you sure you are in the right subforum? Jaqen does have a single word of text in AFFC, as far as I remember.

Read the description of the alchemist in the prologue and compare it to Jaqen's most recent face.

Well he gave Arya the coin and told her their motto. So one would assume he is/was a faceless man.

But

spoilers right up to end of Feast:

He kills Pate and steals his identity, to do what exactly? Spying? Well, the KOM does emphasise the importance of getting information. But what do the FM want in Oldtown? Who knows. But if we want to get all Crackpotty we could say, perhaps Jaqen was a FM, went rogue, converted to R'hllor, and wants to get some info on, I don't know, Azar Ahai (no idea how it's spelt) or dragons or prophesies or something. Although someone may well have paid the many faced god for Pate's life and for something else in Oldtown. Or there's something in Oldtown the FM want.

all I know is he's pretty darn cool.

[Beneath the Gold]

spoilers right up to end of Feast:

He kills Pate and steals his identity, to do what exactly? Spying? Well, the KOM does emphasise the importance of getting information. But what do the FM want in Oldtown? Who knows. But if we want to get all Crackpotty we could say, perhaps Jaqen was a FM, went rogue, converted to R'hllor, and wants to get some info on, I don't know, Azar Ahai (no idea how it's spelt) or dragons or prophesies or something. Although someone may well have paid the many faced god for Pate's life and for something else in Oldtown. Or there's something in Oldtown the FM want.

all I know is he's pretty darn cool.

Indeed. And perhaps the FM are just really into learning "three new things" everyday... ;)

[RedPanda]

well, i'm guessing Jaqen isn't really Jaqen since the Kindly Man doesn't know the name and being the rule that they know the names. he might be known as a faceless man by Rorge and Biter since even those two are very afraid of him, and might even knew how he took over the Jaqen or even kill the real Jaqen from the cells for some other reason.

the 3 things is part of the training, to be attentive when you are already doing covert as an FM. this shows discipline and memorization and also being alert about the surrounding. with the FM's ability though, they are also perfect for spying and not just for killing since they can change their appearance or copy somebody else.

Rhollor could just be his preferred choice of deity/god but it doesn't matter much since the FM believes that there is only one deity/god but happens to have multiple faces but in the end it all ends to just one and what they prefer isn't really that important as long as they follow the virtue and discipline.

but that's just my perspective on thing

[Faceless Frog Eater]

The faceless man in the prolouge killed Pate for a key from the high master (whatever he's called) . Pate's significance had to be his access to the high master's rooms .The key was in a very old knight's gauntlet right? Wonder who's that was.