- This article is about the title. For the character see High Septon (Character)
High Septon is a title in Game of Thrones. The High Septon is the head of the Faith of the Seven, the dominant religion of the Seven Kingdoms. It is a position of supreme authority within the church, but has little or no power outside of the religion. During the series the title is held by an unidentified man.
In the Books
Given that author George R.R. Martin has said that the Faith of the Seven is analogous to the Catholic Church in his medieval fantasy world, the High Septon is analogous to the medieval Papacy. The High Septon is selected by an inner council of the Faith called the Most Devout, who are analogous to the College of Cardinals.
A quirk of the position of High Septon in Westeros is that the current office-holder is supposed to leave behind his original name, and it is not permitted to refer to him by it. Thus while a medieval Pope might take on a regnal name (i.e. Hildebrand became known as Pope Gregory VII), or even continue to use his original name, the High Septon is only referred to as "the High Septon". This of course can become very confusing when members of the Faith are discussing actions and policies of different High Septons, often having to resort to crude descriptive monickers like "the fat one", "the bald one", or "the High Septon before the last High Septon", etc.