The Starry Sept is the great religious seat of the Faith in Oldtown, where the High Septon’s authority could consecrate a king, challenge a royal marriage, or become entangled in the struggle between crown and clergy. Its importance in the histories of the Targaryens lies not only in its ceremonies: again and again, the Sept turns the Faith’s judgment into a force with consequences for the realm.

Setting and Religious Authority

Oldtown, described as the greatest city in Westeros, was the center of the Faith and the seat of the High Septon. The city was ruled by House Hightower, whose lord held influence over a place that also contained the Citadel and the Starry Sept. The High Septon spoke for the new gods to the faithful across most of the realm, while the Faith Militant supplied armed orders known as the Warrior’s Sons and the Stars and Swords. The Sept’s authority therefore rested within a wider religious and civic network: its pronouncements could travel far beyond Oldtown, and its relationship with the Hightowers mattered to the political power surrounding it.

That authority could also constrain the High Septon himself. During the rise of Septon Moon’s movement, the High Septon was effectively confined within the Starry Sept, unable to leave its bounds while Moon preached against House Targaryen outside. Lord Donnel Hightower refused to admit Moon’s followers into Oldtown, but did not readily take up arms against them. The situation placed the Sept at the center of a conflict in which religious leadership, armed followers, and the lord’s control of the city did not align neatly.

Aegon’s Submission and Coronation

When Aegon I Targaryen approached Oldtown, its gates stood open and Manfred Hightower came to submit rather than fight. The High Septon had spent seven days and nights fasting on bread and water, praying throughout the Starry Sept for guidance. He interpreted a vision of the Crone’s lamp as a warning that resistance would bring the destruction of Oldtown, the Hightower, the Citadel, and the Sept. Manfred, a cautious and devout lord whose sons were connected to the Faith, chose not to oppose the conqueror. Oldtown therefore avoided sending men to die on the Field of Fire, despite the Hightowers’ position as bannermen to the Gardeners of Highgarden.

Three days after Manfred offered Aegon his sword, city, and oath, the High Septon anointed him with the seven oils, crowned him, and proclaimed him king. This second coronation took place in the Starry Sept before hundreds of lords, maesters, and archmaesters; tens of thousands later cheered Aegon as he rode through Oldtown on Balerion. His first crowning, at the Blackwater, had been witnessed by only a handful of lords. The Oldtown ceremony consequently became the date from which Aegon’s reign was reckoned, even though the royal style of Seven Kingdoms included Dorne, which had not submitted. The Sept’s ritual thus gave a public and institutional form to a conquest that was not yet complete.

Marriage, Condemnation, and Conflict

The Sept also exercised influence over dynastic marriage. When Aenys I Targaryen considered betrothing his infant daughter Rhaena Targaryen to his younger brother Maegor, the High Septon warned that the Faith would disapprove. He instead proposed Ceryse Hightower, his own niece and daughter of Manfred Hightower, as Maegor’s bride. Aegon accepted the alternative, in part because it strengthened ties with Oldtown. In 25 AC, Maegor and Ceryse married in the Starry Sept, with the High Septon officiating. The venue made the marriage more than a private dynastic arrangement: it joined the royal family to the Hightowers under the Faith’s formal authority.

Later, the Sept became the source of an emphatic rejection of another royal sibling marriage. When Aenys announced that Aegon and Rhaena would wed, the Faith condemned the match and declared that children of the union would be abominations. The declaration was read by ten thousand septons across the Seven Kingdoms. Aenys persisted with the marriage rather than abandon it or attack the Sept, and the dispute widened into a crisis of royal authority. After Septon Murmison was expelled from the Faith for performing the ceremony, Aenys wrote to the High Septon seeking his restoration and explaining the Valyrian precedent for sibling marriage. The High Septon’s response rejected the king’s claim and questioned his right to rule. The Sept was not where the wedding took place, but its judgment helped turn a marriage dispute into a realm-wide confrontation.

Crowning Maegor and the End of the Faith Militant

During Maegor I Targaryen’s conflict with the Faith, Oldtown’s control again shaped events at the Sept. After the High Septon’s death, Lord Martyn Hightower acted swiftly: his men disarmed and arrested the Warrior’s Sons, opened the city gates, and raised Targaryen banners. He also compelled members of the Most Devout to gather at the Starry Sept and choose a successor. Their single ballot selected Septon Pater, an elderly, blind, and physically frail cleric. When Maegor appeared before him, the new High Septon blessed and anointed him, although he forgot the words of the blessing. A religious ceremony had once more conferred legitimacy on a Targaryen king, this time amid coercion and the defeat of armed opposition.

Maegor remained in Oldtown for almost half a year, holding court and presiding over trials. Captive Warrior’s Sons could renounce their order and take the black, or refuse and die; three-quarters chose the Night’s Watch, while the others were executed. Maegor personally beheaded seven prominent knights with Blackfyre. The new High Septon formally dissolved both the Warrior’s Sons and the Poor Fellows, declaring that the Iron Throne would henceforth defend the Faith. Maegor allowed the surviving members until the end of the year to surrender their arms before bounties were placed on those who remained defiant. The Sept’s institutional voice thus accompanied the dismantling of the Faith Militant, even as the king’s power determined the terms.

Jaehaerys’s Coronation and the Sept’s Continuing Role

The death of Maegor did not immediately clear the road to Oldtown. Septon Moon still led a large following, and his preaching called for the Targaryens to be slain or driven from Westeros. After Moon’s death and the withdrawal of his supporters, Jaehaerys I Targaryen could travel safely to the city. In the waning days of 48 AC, the High Septon anointed the young king in the Starry Sept and placed his father Aenys’s crown on his head. Seven days of feasting followed, with hundreds of lords swearing their swords to Jaehaerys. His family and leading royal advisers attended, as did Ser Joffrey Doggett, the outlawed Warrior’s Sons’ self-proclaimed Grand Captain, who arrived under the king’s safe conduct.

Doggett and Lady Lucinda Tully urged Jaehaerys to reverse Maegor’s decrees and restore the Warrior’s Sons and the Stars. The king refused, maintaining that the Faith needed the Iron Throne’s protection rather than its own swords; he did, however, rescind Maegor’s bounties. The episode established a distinction that would shape Jaehaerys’s reign: the crown would protect the Faith but would not restore its armed orders. The Sept’s repeated role in anointing monarchs gave it enduring importance, yet the ceremonies also reveal a changing balance. It could consecrate kings and voice religious judgment, while royal policy increasingly claimed responsibility for protecting the Faith and defining the limits of its power.