When I began this project I was nervous that there would not be enough material about religion in the book series. I was not very far in when I realized how very wrong I was. When I went looking for it is seemed like everything about the books was steeped in religion. So much so that I found that I had trouble making my pages brief enough to keep them interesting. This made me think about other media and parts of pop culture and how it is not always easy to see the religious aspects of them or how they could be related to religion. It really opened my eyes. It certainly gave me a whole new perspective on a Song of Ice and Fire which I will keep in mind upon rereading or when (finally) reading the next book in the series.

 

                 The biggest conclusion I came to about religion and A Song of Ice and Fire was how the books series was using its plot and the religions built into it to comment on religion and how we view it. It is easy to see the parallel between Westeros and the western world (North America and Europe) and Essos and the Eastern World. The main religion of Westeros is the Faith which represents Christianity and Catholicism. The Faith is deeply linked to politics and is more about ceremony and law than faith. There is no magic in the Faith and how it works. The Old Gods represent the spirituality of the aboriginal people. This religion is not political and is very much faith based. The further they are away from the destructive forces of the Faith the more power and magic they have. In Essos, there are many religions representing polytheism and paganism, explaining natural and supernatural phenomenon with religion. The Many-Faced God in Esso represents both polytheism and agnostic believes as well as the mystery of religion. The religion of R'hllor represents extreme Dualism and the fight between good and evil and how that may not be so black and white. Most of the religions of Essos appear to have some magic or sorcery to them. Martin seems to be suggesting that the way most religion is practiced in the West is powerless religion that relies on politics and has no magic (or real power). However the more mysterious religions that we in the west know less about (such as those of aboriginals or of the east such as paganism, dualism and Zoroastrianism) could be more rooted in faith and something more real which is why they have magic and power. In the same vein Martin shows us that we do view religions outside of the main religion of the West as mysterious, dangerous, and somehow possibly magical. His cynical view of Christianity also gives us insight into how we view it. According to the parallels of the series Christianity is a tool of politicians, a religion for the masses that requires little devotion from the everyman but also provides little in return but moral repression. It was very interesting to view religions in the series and real life in this context.