Faceless Men: Contracts

[kiasyd]

In aGoT, we see Pycelle, Littlefinger and Varys mention how costly would be to hire a FM to assassinate Dany, however, in aDwD along all the Arya training chapters, the FM seems to be a religious order devoted to deliver some kind of retribution - almost like "bring balance back to the world".

So, my question is: Where is the disconnection? Is the small council wrong? Is the assassination contract price a Westerosi urban legend? Or mayhaps the contracts inner workings are yet to be revealed to Arya? Or even a money-oriented splinter cell of ex-FM do exist?

I would love to see some inputs about this!

[Ice and fire freak]

Isn't the price determined by what one has or holds dear?

[Ser Greg of House House]

It seems that the FM vary the price according to one's station. I imagine it depends on the target as well as on who's asking. So to kill a King it would be costly. And if a King is asking, it would be costly as well.

[Lyse Stark]

It seems that the FM vary the price according to one's station. I imagine it depends on the target as well as on who's asking. So to kill a King it would be costly. And if a King is asking, it would be costly as well.

Exactly. And it would also depend on what types of the target surrounds himself with for protection. So if a rich lords hire Unsullied to protect his compound then the price will be inevitably higher than if he has a few hired sellswords for protection. That's my gist of the pricing, as the more difficult it is to sneak into a place, the higher the price need to be.

[Avimimus]

It doesn't answer the questions about philosophy though. The Faceless Men do not kill whomever they will, and the idea of them killing purely for profit doesn't fit well either. How well do we know this side of them? Whence the justification before accepting the command to kill...?

[Ser Pigeon Pie]

Isn't the price determined by what one has or holds dear?

That's what I always thought. They don't really seem interesting in monetary value, more sentimental value. Then again, what could the small council have payed over that could be classified as 'sentimental'..

[Martini Sigil]

How the heck does one go about hiring a FM?.... is there a toll free number?

[SeanF]

In aGoT, we see Pycelle, Littlefinger and Varys mention how costly would be to hire a FM to assassinate Dany, however, in aDwD along all the Arya training chapters, the FM seems to be a religious order devoted to deliver some kind of retribution - almost like "bring balance back to the world".

So, my question is: Where is the disconnection? Is the small council wrong? Is the assassination contract price a Westerosi urban legend? Or mayhaps the contracts inner workings are yet to be revealed to Arya? Or even a money-oriented splinter cell of ex-FM do exist?

I would love to see some inputs about this!

Anyone can hire a Faceless Man. They don't judge their victims. They grant them the "gift" of death, upon request.

However, their price is everything you hold dear. If you're rich, you must give them your fortune. If you're poor, you must give them a lifetime of unpaid service. So, you have to value the victim's death more than anything else in the world.

So, they would have charged Robert a vast sum for assassinating Dany.

[kiasyd]

It doesn't answer the questions about philosophy though. The Faceless Men do not kill whomever they will, and the idea of them killing purely for profit doesn't fit well either. How well do we know this side of them? Whence the justification before accepting the command to kill...?

Right, that's exactly the point I'm suggesting to explore!

Anyone can hire a Faceless Man. They don't judge their victims. They grant them the "gift" of death, upon request.

However, their price is everything you hold dear. If you're rich, you must give them your fortune. If you're poor, you must give them a lifetime of unpaid service. So, you have to value the victim's death more than anything else in the world.

So, they would have charged Robert a vast sum for assassinating Dany.

I was under impression that anyone can request a kill, but does every kill requested is answered? I'm not so sure... What if what someone holds dear isn't money? Then the council members statement doesn't make sense as well.

[A wilding]

I was under impression that anyone can request a kill, but does every kill requested is answered? I'm not so sure... What if what someone holds dear isn't money?

If what is held dear is not money, the FM will still ask for it. We have the case of the Waif. A merchant wanted revenge for an attempt to murder his daughter. The FM gave it, but took the daughter in exchange (as well as most of his money). We are also told that sometimes people are not willing to pay the price asked.

More generally, I would speculate that the FM see themselves as a sort of balancing mechanism. If someone wants someone dead that much, perhaps it is best for society as a whole that they die.

[Iona]

So... if king Robert wanted to order a hit, would the FM demand his member or would they empty his wine cellars?

[kiasyd]

So... if king Robert wanted to order a hit, would the FM demand his member or would they empty his wine cellars?

Thanks! You hit the nail - how the hell would the small council and co. place the contract? And why did they say that the problem was lack of coin?

[gougef]

I think that they also "manipulate" the price of contract if it aids/interferes with there overarching goals (which I don't think that we really know at this point).

As an aside, Dany is an interesting "problem" for them. What do they hate more dragons or slavery?

[Lissa Nymeros Martell]

So... if king Robert wanted to order a hit, would the FM demand his member or would they empty his wine cellars?

Robert would have to shut down all the brothels.

[A wilding]

Speculating again, LF is a money man and most of his contacts in the past have probably been merchants. Such people are likely to be typically be asked for money by the FM. So LF may have partial indirect experience of the FM as being "eye wateringly expensive" rather than the more generally correct "whatever you hold dearest". Given the peculiar respect in which the FM seem to be held in Braavos, it seems possible that detailed knowledge of exactly how they work is not that widely spread.

Alternatively, while GRRM may have wanted to get a mention of the FM in in AGoT, he might not have wanted to get too much into their nature at that point, and so skirted round their pricing structure. :)

[RumHam]

It's also possible that the Faceless Men are somewhat misunderstood in Westeros, and Littlefinger just thought they would want a lot of money.

[Dance Layder]

So do the FM realize that they're going around killing for money or are they confident they're just giving "gifts"?

[Tywin Manderly]

How the heck does one go about hiring a FM?.... is there a toll free number?

You simply go to the House of Black and White in Braavos and make inquiries into an assassination contract there.

[Tywin Manderly]

So... if king Robert wanted to order a hit, would the FM demand his member or would they empty his wine cellars?

Robert would have to shut down all the brothels.

The Faceless Man would demand Robert to become Baelor the Blessed 2.0.

[kiasyd]

I'm not convinced, it still seems to me that there is some discordance. Here are some quotes:

"On Braavos there is a society called the Faceless Men,"Grand Maester Pycelle offered.
"Do you have any idea how costly they are?" Littlefinger complained. "You could hire an army of common sellswords for half the price, and that's for a merchant. I don't dare think what they might ask for a princess."

(...)

Ned was disgusted. "So now we grant titles to assassins." Littlefinger shrugged. "Titles are cheap. The Faceless Men are expensive."

"There are such. I used to dream that one day I’d be rich enough to send a Faceless Man after my sweet sister."

"Someone," said Salladhor Saan. "Yes, just so, someone. But not you. You are weak as a child, and no warrior. Stay, I beg you, we will talk more and you will eat, and perhaps we will sail to Braavos and hire a Faceless Man to do this thing, yes?"

According with those quotes, it's just a matter of gold. So, I see two possibilities here: Either there is a huge misconception about how the FM operates, or the Kindly Man isn't revealing the whole truth.

Here is another interesting question: Assuming the current theory that Euron hired a FM (Jaquen?) to kill Balon, what was the price he paid? Plundering is easy to him, so gold wouldn't be a true sacrifice...