John Doe

I think it's weid to suggest that the faith is united in the story when we literally have the opposite in the main series- the High Septon gets violently deposed in what basically amounts to a coup. So even though they are not the focus of the story, we do get hints of religious disagreements in the margins- it's the same with the Red Priests, who seem pretty united (there don't seem to be different churches of R'hollor, at least), but despite this Mel goes pretty much rogue when she seeks out Stannis. And the whole stability thing is a general problem- if one wants to treat it as such- in the story. All the great houses are ridiculously old, for example, the faith being "the faith" is no less believable than there being a Stark in Winterfall since the Dawn Age. I think the similarity to the catholic church is only superficial. While all the talk about heaven and hell does remind us of christianity, it seems in-universe to be much more connected to believes like those in the drowned god/storm god or R'hollor/the great other- it's probably an offshoot of the Church of Starry Wisdom, after all, and as much an offshoot of the Dawn Age as pretty much every other religion. As such I'm also not sure if the faith is connected to Ice Magic, per se. It seems to follow the same dualistic worldview as the R'hollorists and Drowned Priests. Now, as they are probably an offshoot of the CoSW that seems to worship the Bloodstone Emperor it may be the case that they are on the opposing site of the conflict, but they may also not be- there are theories that legends of Azor Ahai and the Bloodstone Emperor are alluding to the same person, after all. It's very questionable that Ice and Fire even represent opposing factions in the grand scheme of things. What really sets the faith apart to me doesn't seem to be the alignment on the ice to fire chart, but the outwardly opposition to magic. It's probably not a coincidence that they are close to the Citadel, which seems to be opposed to magic as well. But what does it mean? Or does the Faith also have some Glass Candles stored away somewhere? There is a at least one prophecy attributed to a High Septon, after all, when Oldtown submitted to Aegon, so maybe there are some magical roots there still to be explored. But there's probably a reason why Oldtown seems to be so opposed to it while pretty much every other faith is so deeply connected to it. If you subscribe to the theory the faith is related to the CoSW (I do) it's even weirder, since that faith seems to be deeply connected to magic, at least in origin. What's also weird are a few things about the backstory, like when exactly did the Andals leave for Westeros, where exactly did they come from, how are the CoSW and the FotS related. Just concerning the fire/ice-alignment: - There is a theory that the Night's King was a Stark himself. So I don't really see how you can put the Starks and the Faith as opposing forces with such certainty. - Hugor of the Hill seems to be connected to an Azor/Ahai figure (seems etymologically connected to Hyrkoon the Hero and Huzr Amai, after all), which lends credence to the theory that the prophecised hero may not be so different from the villain. - The faith likening lives to flame and draining corpses of blood could just as easily be related to fire magic. R'hollorists liken lives to flames, after all. The same can go for the draining- we know that fire and blood magic seem connected (or rather, that blood magic seems to be used all over where magical rituals are concerned), so that custom might be related to magic use as well. Or, perhaps more interestingly, it's done to avoid using a corpse for magical rituals, which would mean the Faith has been opposed to magic, specifically blood magic, for a very long time indeed. The point about wights would apply to all kinds of magic- there are fire wights, after all, and drowned people that seem to have been resurrected as well.

I like how the books refute Fire Eater's theories as they progress.

Saying Lysono Maar is a transvestite is like saying Arya is one for wearing pants.

How is Rowan a Targ sympathizer?

How do you think Storm's End was taken? Did they just say they were Stannis' men and the garrison should let them in?

They easily could have introduced Tysha back when Tyrion was in his coma after the Battle of the Blackwater.

Also lol at D&D saying they wouldn't introduce Tyha because it would need flashbacks and then starting season 5 with a flashback.

Agreed.

Yeah she's kinda dumb

Also Kevan is awesome.

Or we just found out the reason why his beard is so dark.

I wonder how his hands are still clean.