The Faceless Men are a guild of religious assassins who worship the Many-Faced God. Those who believe in the Many-Faced God believe him to be the one God and that all other gods are just different face of him. When we first meet a Faceless Man he is rescued by Arya Stark and promises her three lives in exchange for the ones she saved by releasing him and two other prisoners from a cage during a fire. She names two names and watches as those two men mysteriously die without the Faceless Man having to be near. She then names the Faceless Man’s own name and tells him that to get her to unsay it he must help free some northern men from a dungeon. He agrees and helps. When he is leaving the Faceless Man changes his face and mannerisms in front of Arya and gives her a coin telling her that all she has to do is show it to someone and say the words Valar Morghulis (all men must die) and she will be able to find her way to the Faceless Men. Later when she finds herself alone and on the run in a coastal town she goes to ship and shows them the coin and says the words. The captain is immediately frightened of her but lets her on the ship and agrees to take her to Braavos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               In Braavos Arya finds the House of Black and White which is the temple of the Many-Faced God. This is where she learns to become a faceless man and we learn more about the Faceless Men. Arya goes through the process of joining the guild of Faceless Men. During this process she drops her identity entirely, or attempts to, to learn how to transform her face and personality to be a Faceless Man. We learn that the Faceless Men give the gift of death, which they believe to a merciful end to the suffering of the world, to those who ask for it, who then drink from a pool at the House of Black and White, or for a price. The price for contracting the Faceless Men to kill someone is always very high or very dear, such as an extreme amount of money or a child. When the Faceless Men kill it is meant to be precise and often looks like an accident or natural death rather than murder.
From what we learn of the Faceless Men through Arya’s training their way of deceiving people about their appearance seems to be an illusion using clothes, make-up and complete control of facial features. First the Faceless Men learn to No One and then they learn to be someone else. Later however we learn that there is a magic to their deceptions. The temple collects and cures the faces of all of the people who come to drink the poison water. They then use the faces as masks however the masks are not simple disguises because of the way they put them on using the blood of the deceased they do not simply achieve wearing someone else’s skin but they essentially become that person.
              Although of the major religions presented in the series so far we know the least about the religion of the Many-Faced God it seems to be most interesting. I almost enjoy that it is a bit of a mystery to the reader because it is a mysterious religion. In a series where so many characters die it is interesting, and almost comforting, to have a religion that has a view that makes that seem okay. I think that the Many-Faced God represents how many Agnostic people feel. That they believe that there is a God but do not believe in the specfics of any one religion.