Drowned God

The Drowned God, also known as He Who Dwells Beneath the Waves, is a sea deity worshipped by the ironborn of the Iron Islands in Westeros. The religion of the Drowned God is old, dating back to before the coming of the Andals, and the attempts of the Andal invaders to supplant it with the Seven all failed. The Drowned God religion supports the ironmen's naval, pirate culture.

## Drowned God

The faith of the Drowned God is unique to the Iron Islands. He is seen as the creator of the seas and father of the ironborn, who believe they come from his watery halls. The Drowned God is said to have made the ironborn in his own likeness, to reave, rape, carve out kingdoms, make their names known in fire and blood and song and to hold dominion over all the waters of the earth. Some ironborn wish a return to the Old Way and paying the iron price.

The ironborn believe that the Drowned God is opposed by the Storm God. This malignant deity dwells in the sky and has hatred for men and all their works. The Storm God resides in a cloudy hall, and sends cruel winds, lashing rains, and the thunder and lightning down upon men. The Drowned God and the Storm God are said to have been at war against one another for "a thousand thousand years".

The ironborn believe that the Drowned God has fewer power the further removed from the sea they are. Even in strange lands where other gods are worshipped, some ironborn might believe that a large amount of men who have been drowned give the Drowned God strength in the area.

Most ironborn have naught but scorn for the Seven of southern Westeros and the old gods of the North.

## Organization

### Priests

The priests of the Drowned God are ill clad, wearing mottled robes of green, grey, and blue, the colors of their deity. Underneath they wear a sealskin clout. The priests use dried seaweed which they braid through their long hair and untrimmed beard, and wear a waterskin on a leather strap. They have an unkempt appearance. For example, Aeron Greyjoy has not cut his hair since having been raised up by the Drowned God and becoming a priest. Most priests do not bathe in any water but the sea, and they often go barefoot. They have no permanent home, but instead wander the Iron Islands, seldom going far from the sea. The lords and peasants on the islands are obliged to give them food and shelter in the name of their god. Priests will drink sea water from time to time, to strengthen their faith, and some eat only fish.

The priests speak with the voice of their god. They wield considerable power over the ironborn, having the power to call a kingsmoot. Most priests are illiterate, so the prayers and rituals are orally taught. The priests primarily make use of those things that can be taken from the sea, such as driftwood for makeshift shelters and sealskin for tents.

A drowned priest is said to be able to sour wells and make women barren with his gaze.

### Drowned Men

The drowned men are the acolytes of Aeron Greyjoy, who is a priest of the Drowned God. They wear mottled robes and carry driftwood cudgels to show their devotion. It is unknown whether acolytes to other priests are called "drowned men" as well.

## Practices

The Drowned God has no temples, holy books, or idols. "Lord God who drowned for us," is part of the litany of the Drowned God's priests.

The ironborn believe that the Drowned God gives every man "a gift", something in which he excels. He helps bold men, but not cowards.

When the sea becomes more rough, with the waves growing larger and the wind rising, some might say that "the Drowned God wakes".

The children of a thrall are born free, as long as they are given to the Drowned God.

### Seastone Chair

The ironborn believe that the Drowned God decides who sits the Seastone Chair. This will not be a woman, not a godless man. Priests of the Drowned God can summon all ironborn captains to Nagga's hill on Old Wyk for a kingsmoot in the name of their god.

### Ritual drowning

The priests of the Drowned God know how to drown a man and then bring him back to life, using the kiss of life. This is done as part of the rites of the god, consecrating the drowned person to him. Not all men are successfully revived, however. While the priest or one of his acolytes uses the kiss of life on the drowned man, other acolytes might pray around them. It is custom to give a newborn child to the Drowned God shortly following his birth. Some priests believe that this should be done in a similar manner, but more frequently the child is simply dipped into a tub of seawater to wet the infant's head.

### Blessing

When performing a blessing on a person, the priest has the person kneel. He pours a stream of sea water from his waterskin upon the person's head while stating *"Let [person] your servant be born again from the sea, as you were. Bless him with salt, bless him with stone, bless him with steel."* The kneeling person then responds, *"What is dead may never die."* The priest replies, *"What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger"*.

Priests of the Drowned God also bless new ships by speaking invocations and pouring sea water over the ship's prow.

### Ritual executions

Several different types of ritual executions exist among the faith of the Drowned God. Blood sacrifice is done by slitting the throat of thralls, after which the bodies are given to the sea. Other times, sacrifice might be done by drowning someone, preferably in salt water. The executioner should be the person in command.

### Death

When an ironman dies, it is said that the Drowned God needed a strong oarsman. "What is dead may never die" is a phrase uttered in such occasions. It is believed that the deceased is summoned to the Drowned God's watery halls, where he can drink and feast for all eternity, with mermaids attending his every want. The ironborn believe that “no true son of the sea would want to rot beneath the ground” as it would make him unable to find the Drowned God's watery halls.

Priests of the Drowned God preach that ironborn must not shed the blood of other ironborn, though they believe that methods such as drowning are acceptable, as it means no blood is spilled.

A death at sea is considered to be a goodness from the Drowned God.

## History

### Antiquity

The faith of the Drowned God teaches the ironborn that they came from the watery halls of the Drowned God, and were created in his likeness. The priests preach that the ironborn are related to fish and merlings, and not the other races of mankind. However, some ironborn acknowledge the more widely accepted view that the ironborn descend from the First Men. In his manuscript *Strange Stone*, Maester Theron suggests that the religion of the Drowned God originates from the undersea fathers of the Deep Ones.

The Drowned God is said to have changed Nagga's bones into stone after the Grey King had slain her during the Age of Heroes, so that men might never cease to wonder at the courage of the first of kings. The Grey King's crown was made of driftwood, so all would know that his kingship came from the Drowned God.

The greatest of all the priests of the Drowned God was Galon Whitestaff, who decreed that ironborn must not make war on other ironborn and who forbade them to carry off each other's women or raid each other's shores. He also made the Iron Islands into a single kingdom, by calling a kingsmoot at Old Wyk in which Urras Greyiron was chosen. The priests of the Drowned God refused to allow the ironborn kings to name their successor a third time following the death of Urragon IV Greyiron. A kingsmoot was assembled on Old Wyk, but in the slaughter that followed half a hundred priests and prophets were among the victims.

### Andals

The Andals eventually reached the Iron Islands during their invasion. According to Archmaester Haereg, the newcomwers attempted to force worship of their own gods, the Seven, onto the ironborn. The native ironmen would not accept the Seven, but they did allow the worship of the Seven to coexist with their worship of the Drowned God. Although the Andals intermarried with the ironborn, the Drowned God remained strong on the Iron Islands and in time, most Andals on the isles converted. Harras Hoare was the first Hoare king to marry an Andal.

The priests of the Drowned God saw the kings of House Hoare as ungodly usurpers. Haereg suggests that the priests held that opinion because the Hoares allowed the Faith of the Andals to come to the Iron Islands for the first time. During the reign of Wulfgar Widowmaker, the first sept on the Iron Islands was built on Great Wyk. When his great-grandson Horgan gave permission to construct a second sept on Old Wyk, a bloody rebellion began under the goading of priests. The sept was burned, the septon was pulled to pieces, and the worshippers were drowned in the sea. Horgan Priestkiller began to slaughter priests in retaliation.

King Harmund II Hoare was the first ironborn king who raised his sons in the Faith, although he practiced a self-made version of it. He accepted the Seven as true gods, but also continued to honor the Drowned God. He spoke about "the Eight Gods" and decreed that a statue of the Drowned God should be raised at the doors of every sept. Opposed by adherents of both religions, Harmund eventually decided that the Drowned God was an aspect of the Stranger. The priest known as the Shrike led a rebellion against Harmund II's heir, Harmund III Hoare, and the king was overthrown with a fortnight. Harmund's younger brother, Hagon Hoare, was crowned in his stead. Hagon the Heartless denounced the Faith, rescinded Harmund's edicts, and expelled the septons and septas. Every sept in the Iron Islands was quickly aflame.