Sacrifices in all fates

[JaegrM]

The one which immedietly springs to mind are Mel's burning sacrifices for favorable winds to the wall.

We have Vic sacrificing the Maester for favorable winds, the Priest of the Red God Advises him to do so, but if memory serves it wasn't a burning or drowning.

Obviously these are both facilitated by Red Priests/Priestesses, even if not done in their.... burning-ish way

We also have reports from weight Harbor's.... Historian and other parties not connected to the old gods or R'hllor

Probably I'm missing other sacrifices- Still without my books

I'm under the impression that sacrifices do seem to hold weight in the world of aSoIaF.

But my question is.... are they legit pleasing to the deity's they worship? Coincidence?

Worshippers of R'hllor have the added advantage of being able to glimpse the future, so they could easily have the advantage of "good things ARE about to happen, I need to make these fools think it's my god's doing"

But Holy Trials by combat in the fate of the seven, fasting, etc.

All seem almost.... preordained? or close to it.

An argument could be made against The Red Viper vs The Mountain....

But Tyrion himself says something close to "I'm a naughty little imp and guilty of much, but I'm innocent of Joff's Death"

Possibly were the 7 punishing him for his other transgressions?

[sarah.jenice]

Human and animal sacrifices were pretty common throughout our history in religions around the world so having the various religions in ASoIaF perform them makes sense.

Here are some additional examples to your OP:

Victarion sacrifices to both the Drowned God and R'hllor to gain favor with the gods and their aid. I got the impression sacrifices were common to the Drowned God as well.

In AFFC, it is said Euron made a blood sacrifice to the Storm God to sail quickly up the Mander.

In Bran's visions through the weirwood, we see someone being sacrificed before the Heart Tree. There's also the possibility that blood was mixed in with their weirwood paste to kick start his powers.

When King Brandon "Ice Eyes" Stark retakes the Wolf's Den in White Harbor, he hung the captured slavers entrails in the Heart Tree as a sacrifice to the Old Gods.

Craster sacrificed his sons to the Others, and while it's unclear what happened to those babies, Craster had apparently believed it kept him safe from attacks by Others or Wights.

The Dothraki forbid blood magic but have a pregnant Khaleesi eat a raw, bloody horse heart from a horse sacrificed by her Khal. Whether or not she keeps it down determines how healthy and strong her child will be.

While we can see sacrifices being made by certain religions, its much less clear what, if any, power is actually gained from the sacrifice. It seems more likely to me that certain individuals and groups have knowledge of how to work magic using blood to fuel spells. Mirri Maz Duur is Lhazareen, the peaceful worshipers of the Great Shepard, but she is able to use blood magic to work a spell to kill Dany's unborn child. With the Red Priests, it would seem they have some true power of foresight via fires, but it is less clear whether they need sacrifices made to the Red God in order to do this.

[Just Maid]

It's impossible to know is a human sacrifice actually works in pleasing a god in order to get favors of them. But the most important thing is people and priests (of any religion) believes it does.

[JaegrM]

yeah I understand all of that-

I was wondering more along the lines of....

Do these sacrifices please their respective "gods" and get the desired results.

Is it coincidence?

The followers of the red gods complicate an analysis of this due to the fact that they tend to know what's coming, so their sacrifices may easily be nothing more than showmanship.