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Picture: the High Sparrow

The Faith Militant also known as The Sparrows are a religious movement that arose within the Faith of the Seven. It is mostly composed of the lowest and humblest of the holy faith, and was formed in response to the suffering inflicted on the smallfolk of Westeros during the War of the Five Kings. They are led by a poor traveling "High Sparrow," a play on words of the head of the Faith, the High Septon. According to George R.R. Martin, they were his fantasy twist of the medieval Catholic Church. In an interview, Martin explains: "If you look at the history of the church in the Middle Ages, you had periods where you had very worldly and corrupt popes and bishops. People who were not spiritual, but were politicians. They were playing their own version of the game of thrones, and they were in bed with the kings and the lords. But you also had periods of religious revival or reform—the greatest of them being the Protestant Reformation, which led to the splitting of the church—where there were two or three rival popes each denouncing the other as legitimate. That’s what you’re seeing here in Westeros. The two previous High Septons we’ve seen, the first was very corrupt in his own way, and he was torn apart by the mob during the food riots [in season 2]. The one Tyrion appoints in his stead is less corrupt but is ineffectual and doesn’t make any waves. Cersei distrusts him because Tyrion appointed him. So now she has to deal with a militant and aggressive Protestant Reformation, if you will, that’s determined to resurrect a faith that was destroyed centuries ago by the Targaryens.”