As the series continues the stories more often look to the east and the continent of Essos. We get to briefly know many religions there as well as getting to have an in depth look at a few. Some of the religions of the Essos are more important to others so far in the series and therefore there is more said about them and they say more about the series connection of fantasy and real world religion. Another type of worship also occurs more clearly in Essos and that is the worship of a person or leader as a deity. The reader can see this happening with the following Daenerys and her dragons have. People abandon their religions, homes and lives to follow her with very little guarantees that she will improve their lives. This is similar to people’s tendency to worship celebrities in the real world. Some people give up all of their time to following celebrities, either in real life or on the internet or in books. They worship them the same as someone would worship a god.

               

                One of the most important up and coming religions is that of the Red God. The Red God or R’hllor has become very important to the plot. I will be further discussing the organization and real world parallels of this religion.

Another important religion of Essos is that of the Many-Faced God and the Faceless Men. One of the main characters get involved with this religion and works their way up through the ranks. The Many-Faced God is based in Braavos. Braavos is a city in Essos that has a temple for almost every god you could ever imagine. This is where we learn about the vast number of religions that exist in the World of Ice and Fire.

 

                As said above the rest of the religions of Essos are only touched upon in the series and therefore I will not go into detail about them instead mention them briefly here.

 

                The first religion we see is that of the Horse God that is worshipped by the Dothraki. The Horse God is similar to animistic religions like the Old Gods of Westeros. Like the animistic religions in the real world the Dothraki worship an animal. The Dothraki also worship their ancestors as seen in their holy city, Vaes Dothrak. Although the Dothraki only have a few ceremonies they are a deeply superstitious people. The Dothraki also believe in a prophecy about “The Stallion Who Will Mount the World”. The religions and superstitions of the Dothraki have a great influence on their stories in the series.

 

                Most of the rest of the religions are similar to pagan religions, involving sorcery, illusions, and magics or polytheistic religions that are created to explain forces of nature by making them gods.

 

                Some of the religions that have temples in Braavos and their brief overviews mentioned are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             This is by no means a complete list of the religions practiced in Braavos, a trade city, but it is a good start and clearly shows the polytheistic nature of Essos. Essos is not ruled by one government and therefore there is no governing religion and while some religion hold power in small areas none have yet to spread across all of Essos the way the Old Gods did in Westeros thousands of year ago or the Faith has more recently.