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In season five of Game of Thrones, when Arya becomes blind there is a very interesting detail most of us might have missed.

Let's not stretch the question:

  • Arya returns after assassinating Ser Meryn Trant
  • Jaqen H'ghar "No one" comes in the scene, Waif is present as well
  • Arya and Jaqen talks, he appears to be giving the poison to Arya but drinks it and dies.
  • Arya cries, says he was her friend when Waif asked her something (I don't recall what)
  • Waif removes her face, reveals she is actually Jaqen
  • Arya removes face of Jaqen from the dead body, keeps removing it until her own face appears.

What sorcery is going on in here? How could they use a face of a person who is still alive. They remove the faces of a dead person for a reason? So that the face can be used by the Faceless-men.

Is there something I am missing or can the Faceless-men do these kinds of magic as well?

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  • The many faced god made it possible through god level magic, which we see multiple times. Look at the woman in reds visions and blood magic for example.
    – cde
    Jun 10, 2016 at 17:40
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    Aside from Arya's face, we have no reason to expect the faces they are wearing most often are not the faces of dead people. Also, there must be some kind of magic because a literal mask cannot have zero thickness, and in some situations so many masks have been pulled off that the original top mask would have to be very far from the actual face for it to be actual physical masks.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Jun 10, 2016 at 17:58
  • Or maybe by becomming no-one, Arya-Stark died, and so, Faceless-men can use his mask. That may be the reason why he let her go, since killing the hated girl ( which I forget the name), she lost the only things left who make her someone, and became No-One, taking the face of Arya Stark.
    – Bart Bartoman
    Jun 17, 2016 at 13:19

1 Answer 1

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To start here:

Is there something I am missing or can the Faceless-men do these kinds of magic as well?

Of course the Faceless Men can perform magic. They have been granted the ability to preserve the faces for all time in the hall without rot. They are then able to wear this face as their own. This also seems to alter their overall physical appearance as well.

How could they use a face of a person who is still alive.

You assume that the faces Jaqen and the Waif show us most of the time are not those of the already dead. It would make sense for a "faceless assassin" to never show their true face.

To come full circle:

Is there something I am missing or can the Faceless-men do these kinds of magic as well?

Jaqen seems to be the leader of the group. This would imply he has a greater or direct interactation with the many faced (similar to how R'hollor will "speak" through the Red Priests). While the extent of this is not fully defined, I believe this example proves this point.

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    From what we've seen in the show this is a great answer, they're mysterious and will be for a long time. But, there's something about your last comment, he is not Jaqen H'ghar, he is No one, a man has the honor of being Jaqen ;)
    – Deepak Kamat
    Jun 13, 2016 at 17:17
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    You assume that the faces Jaqen and the Waif show us most of the time are not those of the already dead - that doesn't address Arya seeing her own face on that body.. But nice answer nonetheless.
    – Mathieu Guindon
    Aug 9, 2017 at 16:20

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