Barefoot, threadbare, and leading a horde of ragged war-orphans and zealots the smallfolk call sparrows, this particular candidate for High Septon arrived in King's Landing with nothing resembling the wealth or pedigree the office traditionally requires — and left the Great Sept's electors with an axe-wielding congregation at their backs and no practical way to choose anyone else. A maester notes, with the dry satisfaction such ironies deserve, that it was Cersei Lannister's own decision to restore the Faith Militant's right to bear arms — in exchange for the Faith forgiving the crown's staggering debts — that armed the very movement now making her regency considerably harder to manage than she likely anticipated.
Unaligned
The High Sparrow
High Septon of the Faith of the Seven (by that title only)
- House
- no house; his name before the sparrows found him is not recorded
- Titles
- High Septon (by that title only)
- Allegiance
- The Faith of the Seven
- Religion
- The Faith of the Seven
- Notable for
- Barefoot leader of the 'sparrows' who overwhelmed the Faith's election and became High Septon
Last confirmed presiding over the Faith's restored authority in King's Landing, wielding an influence over the capital that has grown well beyond what anyone who helped install him originally intended.
Where they appear
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
Key events
- unspecifiedOrigin and name before joining the sparrows are not recorded by the text
- unspecifiedLeads a growing movement of impoverished 'sparrows' and war-orphans preaching a return to the Faith's older, harsher devotion
- 300 ACArrives in King's Landing barefoot and threadbare with his followers at his back
- 300 ACIs named High Septon after his armed congregation overwhelms the Most Devout's election
- 300 ACWins Cersei Lannister's support to restore the Faith Militant's right to bear arms, in exchange for forgiving the crown's debts
- 300 ACTurns his restored Faith Militant against House Tyrell, arresting Ser Loras
- 300 ACImprisons Cersei Lannister herself after Lancel Lannister's confession, on charges her own regency's choices empowered him to bring
Reading the character
The High Sparrow's rise is the story's sharpest illustration of how thoroughly institutional power can be captured by people that institution's usual gatekeepers would never have chosen — an unpedigreed, unwealthy leader of the genuinely poor outmaneuvers King's Landing's electors not through doctrine or charm but through sheer, patient numbers and the implicit threat of a mob with nothing left to lose.
He's also the clearest case in the published books of a scheme backfiring on its own architect: Cersei Lannister rearms the Faith Militant purely as a tool against House Tyrell, and the text lets that decision curdle, methodically and without any authorial mercy, into a power considerably harder for her to control than she ever anticipated.
The arc of The High Sparrow
This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
Theories about The High Sparrow
SourcesAFFC · CerseiADWD · CerseiTWOIAF · The Faith of the Seven
How did the High Sparrow become High Septon?
His movement of impoverished 'sparrows' overwhelmed the Most Devout's election with sheer numbers and implicit threat, forcing them to name him High Septon rather than any candidate of noble or wealthy backing.
How did the High Sparrow gain leverage over the Lannister regency?
Cersei Lannister herself handed him the Faith Militant's restored right to bear arms, in exchange for the Faith forgiving the crown's debts — a bargain that arms a movement she assumes she can control and cannot.