Who Are the Faceless Men? A Brief History of the House of Black and White

In our previous deep dives into the religions of Westeros and Essos, we’ve concentrated on those with written and oral traditions. We’ve looked, for example, at the Faith of the Seven, which has a widely circulated religious text, the Seven-Pointed Star. The religion of the Old Gods may not be written, but it has a rich oral tradition—the histories passed down through the generations.

Looking at the Faceless Men and their Many-Faced God won’t be so easy. So far as we know, the Faceless Men have neither a religious text or an oral tradition. Their religion, such as it is, is cloaked in silence and mystery.

Here’s what we do know: the religion of the “Many-Faced God” dates back to the time of the Valyrian Empire. It began after the Ghiscari Wars but before the slave revolt of 500 BC. It was a religion born of slavery. It rose up first in the Volcanic Mines, which were run on slave labor during the height of the Valyrian Empire. What little legend there is says that the first “Faceless Man” heard the praying of the thousands of slaves from thousands of backgrounds and concluded that they all prayed to the same god, one that merely had a thousand faces, and that they all prayed for the same thing: to be released from their suffering. This realization made him decide he must be “God’s Instrument” and to fulfill their prayers. He started by killing the most desperate slave, and eventually moved on to their masters. Hence the language of the religion comes directly from High Valyrian. Note the phrases valar morghulis (“all men must die”) and valar dohaeris (“all men must serve”).

When the slave revolt of 500 BC interrupted the Valyrian colonization of Sothoryos, mutineers turned tail and settled on a distant lagoon covered in fog, and there helped found the Secret City now known as Braavos. The Faceless Men and their religion went with them. Braavos was a very open-minded society when it was founded. Not only did its rulers outlaw slavery, but they founded the city upon something rather unusual for the time: freedom of religion. (This was partly because many of Braavos’ citizens were former slaves, and came from many different cultures with many different religions.)

Braavos hid itself from the world for 111 years, until it finally unveiled itself in an event known as the Unmasking of Uthero. The event is mostly remembered for the reveal of the Iron Bank, which established credibility by paying back the debts owed to the grandchildren of people whom Braavosi pirates had stolen from over the last century. (They steadfastly refused to pay reparations for the value of the slaves lost, though.) With Braavos and the Iron Bank established in the public consciousness, a third institution peculiar to the city also quickly became famous: the silent guild known less for their religion than for what they could do for those in need: The Faceless Men, who lived in the House of Black and White.

We don’t know who built the House of Black and White, or how the loosely conceptualized religion of the Many-Faced God ordered itself into the strict philosophy followed by the Faceless Men. It was simply there, fully formed, when Braavos revealed itself to the world. A lot must have happened in those 111 years.

Unlike other religions in Westeros or Essos, the Faceless Men are not just a religious order, but a guild. They form a high-profile and profitable business. Using religion as a business is nothing new. For centuries, the Catholic Church was one of the most profitable businesses in medieval Europe. In modern times, televangelism has been a reliable get-rich-quick scheme. What is interesting about the business of the House of Black and White is that it’s based on a nihilistic belief system.

The Many-Faced God is based upon the idea that all gods are the same, and that the deities of every religion are merely masks worn by one god: Death. This is both an insult to the other religions of the world as well as a rejection of them. And yet, because the House of Black and White is savvy enough to hang the symbols of all these religions around a Great Hall with expressive mood lighting, most of their visitors never put this together. But then again, those who visit the House of Black and White, in today’s psychiatric terms, may not be considered of “sound mind.”

Those who follow the Many-Faced God did not put their place of worship on a street corner, or in the middle of an impressive square. Their place of worship is separate from the rest of Braavos—if people intend to visit, they really have to want it. That’s because, inside, there is only death to be found, either for themselves or for a loved one, or for an enemy.

The entrance hall in the House of Black and White is designed to emphasize the import of the journey its visitors are taking. Other than the 30 or so statues of gods from other religions around the room, there is only a giant pool in the center, the waters of which are poisonous to all who drink. The pool is the last stop for those looking to end their own pain, or the pain of a loved one who they brought along for the occasion. Those who serve in the House are not just assistants, but also work as full-time embalmers and undertakers. They provide burial services to those too poor to provide their own. In that way, they are also providing a service to the state.

But the acolytes of the Many-Faced God are not just professional morticians. They have an interior guild of trained assassins known as the Faceless Men. (Yes, though the show makes it seem like everyone who works in the House of of Black and White are also Faceless Men, this is not the case. They are an elite group within the order.) This interior group is steeped in a type of ancient blood magic that allows them to shed their own identities and wear the faces of those they’ve killed. Though the show glosses over it, the books get into more detail about how the assassins apply these faces—they use their own blood.

If a person wants to hire a Faceless Man, the prices are extremely high, and usually based upon what the person requesting values most. The rich are charged a large portion of their income, while those who value family would be asked to pay with a child.

The price of becoming a Facelace Man may be even higher: one’s own identity. Those who train to join the order do so for years, and are basically asked to negate themselves in servitude. As we saw with Arya at the end of Season 5, the price for failure is stark. The Faceless Men have a few reasons for being so strict. For one thing, they need their reputation to remain sterling—the deaths they engineer are made to look like accidents, and Arya’s murder of Meryn Trant looked anything but accidental. They also need those members who carry out the assassination do so in a timely manner, lest the quarry become alert to the plot or get away. As we saw, Arya failed at that part of the mission too, when she passed over a chance to kill the insurance salesman on the docks.

Warning: Speculation for Season 6 Ahead

So what role will the Faceless Men play going forward? What few book spoilers we still have give us some clues. Although Balon Greyjoy still lives and breaths on the show, his death, which I assume will come at some point in Season 6, is suspected to have been carried out by a Faceless Man, though it is ruled an accident. (Some think the assassin was hired by Euron Greyjoy, who was tired of waiting to inherit the Seastone Stone.)

The other place where we see a Faceless Man is at the Citadel. In the Feast for Crows prologue, we see a novice who serves at the Citadel done in by a Faceless Man who matches the last known description of Jaqen H’ghar. H’ghar then takes his identity and is working at the Citadel when Sam Tarly arrives later in the book. Now, we know that the show has re-appropriated Jaqen H’ghar so he can train Arya at the House of Black and White. But, Arya’s final scene in Season 5 makes it clear that Jaqen H’ghar is merely a face, and that the man training her is no more Jaqen H’ghar than he is not Jaqen H’ghar. So to have Jaqen H’ghar turn up at the Citadel, unrecognized by Sam, as a novice who is serving the archmaesters, would actually help drive home the idea that this is merely a face, and that the Faceless Men are both No One and anyone.

All we know for sure is that the House of Black and White will figure prominently in Arya’s story this coming season. As we saw from photos, both official and from behind the scenes, Arya will continue to train with the guild, although if she will be given another mission after failing her first one remains to be seen. By the end of the season, we can assume that Arya will either have shed her identity and become No One, or broken with the guild and set out on her way back to Westeros, where she can use her training to cross names off her death list.

Some speculate that, if Arya completes her training, she will still be sent back to Westeros to assassinate someone on Arya’s list. Because she has lost her identity, the theory goes, she will not know (or, if she does know, won’t care) that her target is someone Arya Stark once planned to kill, or a member of her still-living family. However things do turn out, we can be sure that the Faceless Men still have a major role to play in the future.