Politico asks: To what extent do you think the Sparrows have spread as a religious movement across Westeros? Do you view them as mostly an urban-based movement centered on King’s Landing? Hypothetically, do you see the movement having any long-term effects on religious practice in Westeros? Recognizing Protestant fundamentalist literalism as a major influence for the movement’s portrayal (at least in the show), were there historically analogous movements within pre-Reformation Christianity?

1. From what we’ve seen in the text, the Sparrow movement is largely based in the Riverlands and Crownlands. 

2. It’s not urban-based; remember, the Sparrows arrived in the city from outside, and we saw their pilgrimages in the Riverlands heading to the city. 

3. I see them as emerging from an extant tradition of religious-based radicalism that goes all the way back to the Revolt of the Faithful if not before. 

4. There’s tons of historical analogues. The Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 was lead by the preacher John Ball, who argued from biblical foundations that feudalism must be abolished (”when Adam delve and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?”), the Lollards and the Hussities were feared by authorities for their arguments that the Church was corrupted by worldly wealth and that there should be a universal priesthood, the Fraticelli, and so on and so forth.