High Sparrow

"Every one of us is poor and powerless. And yet together... we can overthrow an empire."

- The High Sparrow

The High Sparrow is a major character in the sixth season. He initially appeared as a recurring character in the fifth season. He is played by starring cast member Jonathan Pryce and debuts in the eponymous "High Sparrow". The High Sparrow is the leader of the religious sect known as the Sparrows and the newly appointed High Septon, though he formerly ruled King's Landing, having gained a large military following and having the ability to manipulate the young and impressionable King Tommen Baratheon. His real name is unknown. The High Sparrow is immensely serious, threatening, and only occasionally tender.

​Background
The man who would become the High Sparrow was born to a fairly well off cobbler. After his father's passing, the young Sparrow continued and greatly improved the family business. Many highborn citizens sought out his wares and were happy to pay hefty sums. In turn, the man took extreme pride in his work, often spending night and day crafting a pair of shoes. The Sparrow became ever richer and adopted an extravagant lifestyle. He sought to distance himself from his humble roots and thus began to mimic the nobility who bought from him. The soon to be septon was known for giving lavish parties that ended in debauchery. After one such night with too much wine and women, the Sparrow woke up at the crack of dawn. Ashamed of what he had devolved into, the Sparrow up and left his life, not even bothering to put on his shoes. He began to minister to the less fortunate because he now felt they were closer to the Seven than anyone.

He became a humble septon out in the countryside who began to preach equality among all men and aid the poor while leading a humble life himself, often denouncing the excesses and sins of the nobility. He and his followers began to speak out against the suffering inflicted on the smallfolk by the feuding noble families in the War of the Five Kings. As followers gathered around him, he made his way to King's Landing.

He emerged as more or less the leader of the religious protest movement known as "the Sparrows", and his critics started mockingly calling him the "High Sparrow" - in sarcastic comparison to the High Septon, the highest cleric and ordained leader of the Faith of the Seven. His followers, however, adopted the nickname in pride, and themselves started calling him "the High Sparrow" as a sign of respect. He never tried to call himself this, but the name stuck. After being made High Septon, as per tradition it became forbidden to ever refer to him by his given name again, so whatever his original name was remains unknown.

Although the High Sparrow seems a harmless old man, he has a will of steel. Though his devotion to the Seven is genuine, he is also a deeply ambitious man, seeking to obtain political power in order to enforce what he sees as the will of the Gods on the populace, whether they want to or not.

Season 5
In the aftermath of her father's murder, Queen Cersei Lannister discovers the High Sparrow is a humble man, serving soup and bread to the poor while barefoot. He finds the name "High Sparrow" humorous and makes no effort to hide what action the Sparrows took against the High Septon, though he admits they could have been more careful. Cersei tells him that he will not be arrested or executed, but the High Septon has been imprisoned instead, which surprises the High Sparrow.

Through Queen Cersei's influence, the High Sparrow is elected High Septon. To further gain his support, Cersei signs a decree restoring the Faith Militant, a military order under the command of the High Septon with the right to bear arms and dispense justice, for the first time since the reign of King Maegor Targaryen.

The High Sparrow later presides over the inquest into the charges of sodomy, and blasphemy against Loras Tyrell. He also questions Margaery Tyrell and Olyvar on the charges. Olyvar's testimony convinces the High Septon to bring Loras to a full trial, and also to arrest Margaery for perjury and blasphemy, as she swore before the gods that her (false) testimony was true.

Whilst scrubbing the floors of the Great Sept, the High Sparrow is approached by Olenna Tyrell. After exchanging some barbs and pleasantries the pair discuss Loras and Margaery's arrests. The Queen Of Thorns wants her grandchildren released immediately, but the High Sparrow refuses arguing that the divine laws should apply to both high-and lowborn. Olenna resorts to offering him a bribe, and when this fails she threatens to have House Tyrell cease supplying the realm with their crops. Unimpressed, the High Sparrow challenges the Tyrell matriarch, asking if she ever performed any labor in the field. He adds that the smallfolk are many while the nobility are few, and asks what will happen when the many stop fearing the few. He then turns around and leaves her.

Later, the High Sparrow receives Cersei, who has come to the Great Sept to see the imprisonment arrangements of Queen Margaery, at the lowest and oldest level of the Great Sept - a simple stone sept with none of the grand adornments of the Great Sept that Baelor the Blessed built on top of it. He tells her of the limited known history of the chapel, making plain his love of the simplicity in how it represents pure faith and compares it unfavorably to the grandiosity of the Great Sept. He uses this comparison to show how the highborn, like the Tyrells, can be stripped back to reveal the pure truth beneath their facade and then openly wonders and asks what they will find of Cersei once they strip back her finery to reveal the truth beneath. He then tells her of a highborn young man who has already stripped himself in this way, and adds that he had much to say of her. Lancel Lannister then enters the chapel to stand beside the High Sparrow. They both silently watch as an exceedingly flippant Cersei is arrested by Septa Unella and brother Boake.

He agrees to see Cersei when she finally consents to confessing her sins. He interrupts Cersei's long speech of wanting to be pious again in order to hear her actual confession. The High Sparrow is relatively pleased that the Queen admits to having committed adultery with Lancel, but states that a trial will be held nontheless to ascertain the truth behind the other charges she still denies: regicide and incest. When Cersei invokes the Mother's mercy, the High Sparrow agrees to let her return to the Red Keep to see Tommen, but only after she has atoned. Before the gates of the Great Sept, the High Sparrow addresses the people of King's Landing. He explains that though their Queen has sinned greatly, she now begs forgiveness and will thus perform a walk of atonement from the Sept to the Red Keep as the gods made her, meaning completely nude and with her long golden hair cut short. When the once prideful Queen walks past him, the High Sparrow can't help but grin ever so slightly.

Season 6
The High Sparrow stops Septa Unella from physically chastising Queen Margaery. Though he refuses to answer Margaery's questions regarding her brother's well-being, he does reveal that King Tommen misses her. The High Sparrow believes the love between man and wife is sacred, but sin can cloud this. When the Queen refuses to confess to any wrongdoing, he asks whether Margaery truly considers herself to be without sin of any kind. He is pleased when the Queen at least concedes that everyone makes mistakes.

The Sparrow walks in on Jaime and Tommen making amends at the crypt of Myrcella Baratheon. The King demands to speak to his queen. He informs Tommen that as long as Margaery hasn't confessed and atoned, she will remain in seclusion. After Tommen takes his leave Jaime and the High Sparrow first discuss funeral customs. Jaime is livid that the Faith took it upon itself to humiliate his sister, but the Sparrow quips that Cersei sinned greatly and paid the price. Boldly, Jaime demands to know whether his own sins can be forgiven and moves to kill the leader of the Faith. Unfazed, the High Sparrow declares that though each member of the Faith is small and insignificant, united they toppled an empire. Jaime soon realizes he's surrounded by the Faith Militant and is forced to stay his hand, despite the High Sparrow calmly daring him to cut the old man down.

Later, the High Sparrow has an audience with King Tommen, who petitions for his mother Cersei to be granted permission to visit her daughter Myrcella. The Sparrow declines the King's request on the grounds that Cersei has not been cleared of her other crimes; namely the murder of King Robert Baratheon and incest. When Tommen criticizes the Sparrow's legalistic treatment of his mother, he professes admiration for the deep love between mother and son, which he attributes to the Mother. However, he assures Tommen that he has no vendetta against his mother but is merely carrying out the will of the Seven. Before Tommen leaves, he tells the King to pray to the Seven and that the gods have worked through his grandfather and mother even though they may not acknowledge it.

The High Sparrow summons Queen Margaery. When the Queen enters, he asks her where she would go if he were to release her. When Margaery truthfully answers she would return to her family, the Sparrow warns her that this would lead her to relapse into sinful behaviour. His High Holiness tells Margaery his story on how and why he became so pious and devoted to the Faith of the Seven. The Sparrow then allows Margaery to visit her brother.

Tommen comes inquiring about Margaery's well-being once more. The High Sparrow is quite accommodating and admits The Queen has always stood by common people and is now showing signs of having embraced the Faith as well. His High Holiness finally allows Tommen some time alone with his wife.

When the Tyrell army led by Jaime and Mace come to demand Margaery and Loras' release, the Sparrow initially refuses even in the face of death. After some tense moments, his High Holiness surprises all present by stating that Margaery won't be performing a walk of atonement. The Queen has shown true devotion to the Seven and has even brought Tommen into their ranks, so there is no need for punishment. As Lord Mace and Jaime skulk off The High Sparrow is beaming triumphantly.

His Holiness walks in on Queen Margaery piously reading from the Seven Pointed Star. After briefly discussing the The Mother, the High Sparrow asks Margaery if they can discuss a personal matter. Tommen has told the Sparrow that since his wife's release, they have yet to share the marriage bed. Margaery tries to explain that she is just treading carefully to avoid relapsing into sin. The Sparrow reassures her that a wife giving her husband an heir is no sin; it's her duty. Next, the pair discuss Lady Olenna. Though his High Holiness feigns admiration for the Tyrell matriarch, he threatens her in the very same breath. After all, the 'Queen of Thorns' is an unrepentant sinner.

It appears as though his High Holiness now wields significant influence over King Tommen, and is fast becoming the de facto ruler of King's Landing. After Cersei refuses to speak with him, ordering Gregor Clegane to kill a fanatic in the process, The High Sparrow 'convinces' Tommen to abolish trial by combat via royal decree as it is considered 'cheating'. Henceforth, all trials will be presided over by seven members of the Faith, as it was in the days before House Targaryen conquered the Seven Kingdoms. On the day of Cersei's and Loras' trial, the High Sparrow and many of the city's elite gather at the Great Sept of Baelor. Loras is brought forward and confesses to his homosexuality and begs to atone by giving up his name and titles as the heir of House Tyrell. However, Cersei fails to appear to the trial, and the High Sparrow sends Lancel to retrieve her. Margaery becomes suspicious of both Cersei and Tommen's absence and tries to warn the crowd to leave, but the High Sparrow dismisses these suspicions and prevents the audience from leaving, having his sparrows block the doors. The wildfire cache is then ignited and completely destroys the Great Sept, killing countless people including the High Sparrow, Margaery Tyrell, Loras Tyrell, Mace Tyrell, Kevan Lannister, and Lancel Lannister.

Personality
The High Sparrow presents himself as humble, pious and wise. He is unmoved by life's luxuries and abjures materialism. While some other septons are indifferent toward the small-folk and their problems, the High Sparrow consistently shows concern and compassion.

However, behind a harmless facade, he is ruthless and fanatical in his beliefs as well as a shrewd and highly intelligent political player and Machiavellian with a keen and personal understanding of the narcissistic mindsets of many of the political players of Kings Landing. He manipulates Cersei's resentment toward Margaery to gain control of King's Landing through the Faith Militant. Later, he gains influence over the naive and weak-willed King Tommen Baratheon, obtaining even more power through deliberate manipulation and exploitation of the young king. He also psychologically tortured Cersei, Loras, and Margaery to obtain a confession on their "sins".

It's unclear if he really believes in his piety or if his humility is only a facade to obtain power. He has shown to display a smug smile when he knows he has the upper hand in a conflict, and he displays a rather arrogant certainty in his interpretation of the will of the Gods. Even if this is so, whether he does it for a genuine greater good strengthened by faith or for his own political agenda and hubris - perhaps a combination thereof, as is often the case with those of similar ambitions - is unclear. Despite this, he appears to be unafraid of death, remaining calm when Jaime threatens to cut him down, though this could just be because he gauged, quite correctly, that Jaime would not kill him if it were to mean his own death afterwards. This is proved when he sent noises under the Great Sept of Baelor's floor (the wildfire was lighted), and he is terrified to understand that his own death.

Quotes
"The notion that we're all equal in the eyes of the Seven doesn't sit well with some...I tell them no one's special, and they think I'm special for telling them so."

- The High Sparrow

"All sinners are equal before the Gods."

- The High Sparrow

"I imagine this is strange for you. Everyone you meet has a hidden motive and you pride yourself on sniffing it out. But I'm telling you a simple truth. I serve the Gods. The Gods demand justice."

- The High Sparrow to Olenna Tyrell

"Strip away the gold and the ornaments, knock down the statues and the pillars, and this what remains: something simple... solid... and true. The Tyrells' finery will be stripped away, their lies knocked down, their hearts laid bare for all to see. And so it will be for all of us. High and low alike. What will we find when we strip away your finery? A young man came to us not long ago, broken in body and spirit. He had so much to strip away, so much weighing him down. But piece by piece he unburdened himself. Let go of pride, vanity, sin. Now his soul is so light, he will float through the Seven Heavens like a bird. And he has much to say about you."

- The High Sparrow to Queen Cersei

"His sins do not pardon your own."

- The High Sparrow to Cersei.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the so-called "High Sparrow" is a prominent member of the "sparrows", a religious movement formed during the War of the Five Kings in the wake of brutalities committed against septs as well as men and women sworn to the Faith of the Seven. The sparrows form as a popular disgust movement, outraged that the Lannisters are completely indifferent to the death and starvation that the smallfolk are suffering due to the war Queen Cersei started. They call themselves "the sparrows" because, just as the sparrow is the humblest of birds, they are the humblest of men; this leads detractors to mock their leader as "High Sparrow". Moon Boy, the royal jester, was the first to call him by that name as a jape, and it soon became his common nickname.

The sparrows are also angered that the leadership of the Faith of the Seven has become corrupt and easily bribed off by the Lannisters, rather than speak out against their war and the suffering it has caused. The High Septon when the war began was richly dressed and too obese to walk far, even as war refugees starved to death in the streets of King's Landing (this High Septon was later torn to pieces by a mob in food riots). The ruling council of the Faith of the Seven, known as the Most Devout, have also amassed great personal wealth in their offices - which they usually display by wearing expensive silks and jewelry. In stark contrast, the High Sparrow is a poor priest who used to travel the countryside performing his services, such as naming newborn children, absolving sins and performing marriages, at humble villages too small to have their own septs. Therefore, he wears only a simple roughspun tunic of white wool, as a sign of his humility and piety.

Unlike in the show, no information is given in the books about his father and his background before he became a septon.

In the novels, his election is not instigated by Cersei. Instead, the sparrows break into the Great Sept of Baelor and force the Most Devout, many of which had been already publicly humiliated by the sparrows, to declare their leader as the new High Septon.

The High Sparrow preaches for modesty and abstemiousness, and sets a good example. Cersei is shocked to see him cleaning the floor, wearing roughspun robes. She is even more shocked to hear that he has sold the golden crown that Tywin gave his predecessor, the other crowns held in the vaults, as well as the rings and fancy clothes. He explains, "Poor need food in their bellies more than we need gold and crystal on our head. Wool will keep a man as warm. That is why the Seven gave us sheep." Cersei is used to living in luxury and has no regard for the poor masses, and therefore cannot comprehend his actions, instead thinking he is simply insane.

In the fifth novel, the High Sparrow agrees to release Margaery and her cousins to Randyll Tarly's custody, since the case against them is weak.