The Andals are a race of men who invaded Westeros six thousand years prior to the events of the series. In the present day, they are the dominant ethnic and cultural group in the continent.
History
The original homeland of the Andals is a region on the west coast of Essos which was called Andalos, located north of the modern Free City of Pentos, across the Narrow Sea from Westeros. Six thousand years ago, after allegedly receiving visions from the "Seven-faced God", the Andals were spurred on by their new Faith to migrate to Westeros, where they overran and conquered most of the continent, then inhabited by the First Men. The Andals brought the concept of chivalry and iron-wrought weapons and armor with them from Essos.
In many cases the Andals did intermarry with the First Men they conquered, so that even House Lannister claims at least some minor descent from the First Men. Still, the overwhelming influence on the gene pool of the continent is from the Andals, to the point that the Seven Kingdoms are often called "the Land of the Andals" by peoples in Essos (such as the Dothraki).
The exceptions are the North, which the Andals never conquered and where the blood of the First Men is still strong, and Dorne, where the Andal inhabitants later intermingled with the refugees from the east.
The Andals did also conquer the Iron Islands as they did the rest of southern Westeros, but these Andal families acculturated to the unique ironborn society on the islands, even goes so far as to convert to the local religion of the Drowned God. Thus while some Andal bloodlines were introduced to the Iron Islands, the cultural impact of their invasion was relatively minor.
Culture
Knighthood is a unique Andal cultural tradition.
Most of the current population of Westeros is, predominantly, of Andal descent. Their culture, language, and religion have permeated most of the continent. Knighthood is a distinctly Andal institution, closely tied to the Faith of the Seven, and introduced by the Andals to Westeros.
What is known in the present day as the "Common Tongue" of Westeros is actually the language of the Andals, which displaced the "Old Tongue" spoken by the First Men. Even the independent First Men living in the North eventually took up the language of their southern Andal neighbors.
The First Men are the original human inhabitants of Westeros. They ruled the continent for millennia before the Andals invaded from the eastern continent of Essos. The Andals overran most of southern Westeros, but failed to take the North. While the blood of the First Men and the Andals has intermingled over thousands of years of dynastic marriages, the inhabitants of the North have the greatest amount of First Men blood in their veins and keep their traditions.
History Arrival in Westeros, the Pact, and the Age of Heroes
The First Men invaded Westeros some twelve thousand years before the events of the series, crossing via a land-bridge from Essos in the vicinity of modern Dorne. They were resisted by the Children of the Forest, a semi-mythical diminutive race who ruled Westeros alone at this time. The Children, using magic, destroyed the land-bridge (forming the modern peninsula of Dorne and the shattered islands known as the Stepstones beyond) but were pushed back over the course of many years of warfare. Eventually, the First Men and the Children forged the Pact, signed on the Isle of Faces at the center of the vast lake known as Gods Eye. The First Men began to forge numerous kingdoms across the continent.
The two races subsequently coexisted peacefully for millennia, and during this time the First Men converted to the religion of the Children, worshiping the Old Gods of the Forest. The Old Gods are nameless and uncountable spirits of nature, and their worship centers around sacred heart trees, weirwood trees which have had faces carved into their bark by the Children of the Forest. The fortresses and strongholds of the First Men in Westeros soon began to feature Godswoods, sacred garden groves of weirwoods centered around heart trees.
About eight thousand years ago, both races came under attack from the White Walkers, a mysterious race of ice and cold from the uttermost north. In the War for the Dawn, the First Men and the Children unified to throw back the invasion. With the aid of giants and the Children, Bran the Builder built the Wall and would then build Winterfell and rule as the first King in the North. The First Men subsequently founded the Night's Watch to guard the Wall should the White Walkers ever return. After this war the Children began dwindling in numbers, with the last of them disappearing around the time that the Andals invaded Westeros, two millennia after the War for the Dawn according to tradition.
The Andal Invasion of Westeros
Six thousand years ago, the Andals sailed across the Narrow Sea and began a massive migration to Westeros. First landing in the Vale, the Andals spread across the continent in waves for the next thousand or so years, until they had overrun and conquered almost all of the continent. Their attempts to conquer the North, however, were defeated at every turn, in part because the narrow lands of the Neck which separate the North from the rest of the continent are an ideal strategic choke point, defended by the ancient castle of Moat Cailin. After many centuries the Andals and First Men made peace, as individual Andal kingdoms carved out of southern Westeros became more concerned with fighting each other than uniting to crush the remaining independent First Men of the North.
The results of the Andal invasion varied from region to region. In the Vale of Arryn, the First Men were all but wiped out, and today the nobility of the Vale are considered to have the purest Andal bloodlines in all of Westeros. In many other regions, the Andals established themselves as the new aristocratic class ruling over the First Men, though after thousands of years these ethnic lines have blurred to a large extent. Some of the noble Houses of the First Men survived by intermarrying with Andal invaders: even House Lannister possesses some First Men blood, through the female line. The Andals that invaded the Westerlands married the female descendants of Lann the Clever, a legendary hero of the First Men, and House Lannister descends from this union. In the Riverlands, House Blackwood and House Bracken are also dynasties of First Men that survived by intermarrying with the Andal invaders, and today are of mixed ethnicity.
The descendants of the First Men
Many of the people living in Westeros have at least some blood of the First Men in their ethnic makeup, though this is more common in the lower classes. Even so, the southern kingdoms of Westeros became so thoroughly dominated by the Andals and their culture, that Westeros is often referred to as "the Land of theAndals"in Essos. Two groups in Westeros, however, still claim majority descent from the First Men, and still actively embrace the old ways and religion of their ancestors: the Northmen and the wildlings. The Crannogmen of the Neck are themselves a unique offshoot of the Northerners.
Ties of dynastic marriage were made between the North and the southern kingdoms over the next six thousand years, so that the blood of both peoples mingled together, a process that has continued under the rule of the Targaryen kings. Still, while the Kingdoms south of the Neck consist of heavily mixed Andal and First Men ethnicity, the North is still predominantly First Men.
The wildlings are also descended from the First Men, more so than their distant cousins in the Stark-held North.
The wildlings that live north of the Wall are descended from those First Men who were living north of the Wall when it was constructed, and have an even purer bloodline than the North: there is little, if any, Andal blood north of the Wall. Even in the Stark-held North, the usage of the language of the First Men - the Old Tongue - was eventually discontinued in favor of adopting the language of their Andal neighbors to the south. However, the language of the First Men is still actively used North of the Wall, though a large number of wildings are also fluent in the Common Tongue of the Andals.
The Children of the Forest are a mysterious non-human race that were reportedly the original inhabitants of the continent of Westeros. They were already living in Westeros when the First Men migrated to the continent, 12,000 years before Robert's Rebellion.
According to legend they were last seen during the Andal invasion six thousand years before the War of the Five Kings. In the present day, most believe that they are simply the stuff of myth and never existed at all. Even the few that do believe they once existed, such as Maester Luwin or Ned Stark, believe that they have long since gone extinct.
Biology
The Children of the Forest were said to be humanoid, but when grown to manhood they were no taller than human children. They generally preferred to live in the depths of the forests in hidden villages, in crannogs of the swamps, or in caves. Thus they came to be known as "the Children of the Forest".
Culture
The Children of the Forest worshiped nature gods, the countless and nameless spirits of every tree, every rock, and every stream. Their religion devoted to the Old Gods of the Forest had no complex temples, but according to legend it was the Children that carved faces into the sacred Weirwood trees.
These carved heart trees were the closest thing to a shrine in their religion.
The Children of the Forest weren't very technologically advanced, though they were very woodcrafty and had a great knowledge of the plants and animals of the forest. They hunted using bows made of weirwood and used blades made of Dragonglass.
The wise men of the Children of the Forest were known as "Greenseers", who are said to have wielded powerful magic.
History Background
Legend holds that the Children of the Forest ruled Westeros for thousands of years before the arrival of the first humans on the continent twelve millennia ago. They inhabited the vast primeval forests which spanned most of Westeros before humans came and began cutting them down. According to legend, the Giants also inhabited Westeros at this time, and clashed periodically with the Children. Whatever history, wars, romances, or triumphs the Children may have had in the untold centuries that they inhabited Westeros, their stories have been forgotten.
Twelve thousand years ago, the First Men from the eastern continent of Essos migrated to Westeros by crossing a land bridge known as the Arm of Dorne. The First Men began cutting down the Children's forests, including the sacred weirwood trees, leading them into conflict with the Children. The two races fought a desperate series of wars for dominance for the next two thousand years, during which the Children of the Forest destroyed the Arm of Dorne and flooded the the Neck through the sorcery of their greenseers.
After two thousand years of violence, the Children of the Forest and the First Men fought one another to a standstill. The two races agreed to peaceful coexistence and signed the Pact on the Isle of Faces in Gods Eye lake, granting the open lands to humanity and the forests to the Children.
The Pact lasted for two thousand years before the enigmatic White Walkers invaded from the uttermost north, bringing death and destruction to both races. The Children of the Forest allied with the First Men to drive back the White Walkers in the War for the Dawn eight thousand years ago. After the defeat of the Others, the Children, much-reduced in number, are said to have helped Bran the Builder raise the Wall with their powerful magics to prevent the White Walkers' return.
The Children of the Forest never had a large population to begin with, and they took heavy losses in the struggle against the White Walkers, from which they never truly recovered. Over the following centuries they gradually declined throughout Westeros, until they had all but disappeared by the time the Andals invaded Westeros six thousand years ago. The few that remained were hunted or driven off by the Andals during their conquest of the continent, believing their magic to be an abomination to their Faith of the Seven. The Andals cut down the sacred heart trees in the south (except on the Isle of Faces), but the First Men of the North withstood their advance, and continued their worship of the Old Gods centered around the remaining heart trees there. The handful of Children that survived the slaughter were said to have fled to the far north, Beyond the Wall, where the Andals would never follow them. By the time that Aegon I Targaryen conquered and united the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros three hundred years ago, there had been no contact with the Children of the Forest for thousands of years ever since.
According to the knowledge of the maesters, the Children are either extinct, or never existed in the first place and are a purely mythical race. This is disputed by the people of the North, who hold that they inherited their worship of the Old Gods from the Children of the Forest, who were real and have long since departed the realms of men.
Secretly, a handful of the Children actually did survive in the lands Beyond the Wall, unseen even by the wildlings, hiding in vast underground caverns.
Giants are a non-human race considered to be a legend by the inhabitants of the Seven Kingdoms south of the Wall. However, giants do actually exist in the furthest north beyond the Wall, and have had some interactions with the human wildlings. This is in contrast with both the Children of the Forest and the White Walkers, which even the wildlings claim to have not seen in thousands of years.
Nagga is the legendary first sea-dragon in the culture of the Iron Islands. According to legend, the mythical Grey King, having been blessed by the Drowned God, slew Nagga on the shores of Old Wyk, then used her bones to build his hall and her fire to warm it.
The Free Folk is the name used to refer to themselves by the people who live in the lands beyond the Wall, still on the continent of Westeros but beyond the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms. The name they employ makes reference to their society, which recognizes no political authority and no claim of ownership over the land. The people of the Seven Kingdoms refer to the Free Folk derogatorily as wildlings.
The term "wildlings" is sometimes also employed to refer to the members of the hill tribes of the Vale that defy the rule of House Arryn, but out of context the term is usually understood to refer to the peoples living beyond the Wall.
The Free Folk are descended from the First Men, as are the inhabitants of the North. They were, essentially, the people unlucky enough to be living north of the Wall when it was constructed eight thousand years ago. Besides this shared ethnic heritage, their common descent means that there are also many cultural similarities between the wildlings and the Northerners. The wildlings are much closer in lifestyle and habits to how the First Men lived thousands of years ago, as the North has come under some cultural influence from their Andal neighbors who invaded southern Westeros six thousand years ago, and particularly since the Seven Kingdoms were united into a single realm by the Targaryen Conquest three hundred years ago.
Over the ages, the people of the Seven Kingdoms to the south had largely forgotten why the Wall was constructed in the first place and came to believe that it exists to protect the realm from the wildlings, whom they regard as primitive savages and barbarians. However, the Night's Watch knows it was originally constructed to defend against the possible return of the near-mythical White Walkers. Since the White Walkers did not return for the past eight thousand years, the Night's Watch has mostly shifted its focus to preventing the wildlings from crossing south of the Wall, and sending out patrols into the wilderness to keep track of wildling movements. The shift of focus also reduced the Night's Watch from a band of honorable warriors into largely a dumping ground for exiled criminals.
Culture
The Free Folk consist of a wide variety of many fractious tribes and village-dwellers, some reasonably refined, others savage and hostile. Different wildling factions have very different cultures and practices, and may speak different languages. They spend much of their time fighting one another over petty squabbles, aside from the times when they are unified by a King-Beyond-the-Wall - as they are now under Mance Rayder.
The Free Folk worship the Old Gods of the Forest, like their distant cousins in the North. Even in the lands of House Stark, there are some followers of the Faith of the Seven, often southern noblewomen who come to the North to secure marriage alliances. Beyond the Wall, however, the Old Gods are the only gods that are worshipped.
Women also partake in raids south of the Wall along with their male counterparts. These women warriors are known as spearwives.
A major difference between the Free Folk and the feudal society of the Seven Kingdoms south of the Wall is that they do not recognize a class of hereditary nobility in their society. They take great pride in their "free" status, and only follow leaders who they choose to lead them. While in certain times the clans will unite behind a "King-Beyond-the-Wall", the title and position are not hereditary, as the Free Folk will follow no man simply because of who his father was. The Free Folk will follow a King-Beyond-the-Wall into battle, but they do not perform ceremonies of submission such as kneeling in front of him or referring to him as "your Grace". They call the people of the feudal Seven Kingdoms "Kneelers", because they physically kneel to men who they didn't choose to rule over them. There is no social stratification between high-born lords and low-born smallfolk among the Free Folk.
The other side of this is that without established lords, the wildlings are so "free" that they don't really have established and enforced laws. A man keeps what he can take, and continues to hold what he can defend. This is somewhat more brutal and chaotic than the feudal society of the Seven Kingdoms, but in some respects their society is more politically egalitarian.
The wildlings do not bury their dead, but burn them. This has nothing to do with religion - it is simply done to prevent the White Walkers from resurrecting the deceased as wights. If no fire is available, they will at least try to decapitate or dismember the corpse so it won't make a very useful wight.
Clans
At the time of the War of the Five Kings the Free Folk are divided into about 90 different clans or tribes, some of which have long been bitter enemies with each other. Normally they are politically divided, but have united under the current King-Beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder for the common goal of forcing their way south of the Wall before the next winter comes, which will bring the White Walkers with it.
Some of these groups are socially and culturally very different. While many do understand the Common Tongue of the Andals south of the Wall, according to Mance the clans in his army speak seven different languages (including the Common Tongue; otherwise they speak the Old Tongue of the First Men, and its several variants).
Some of these clans or groups include:
Numerous clans from the vast Haunted Forest, immediately north of the Wall but east of the Frostfang Mountains. These tend to be semi-nomadic hunters and homesteaders, though some of them form villages of their own.
White Tree-a community of wildlings
Craster's Keep - a small homestead maintained by Craster and his many daughter-wives.
The Thenn
Hornfoots
Ice-river clans
Cave people
The non-human race of giants who live beyond the Wall has also allied itself with Mance Rayder and now marches in his wildling army. Loosely speaking they may thus be considered part of the "wildlings", though the inhabitants of the Seven Kingdoms generally use the term to refer to specifically the human clans living beyond the Wall. Of course, this is because until quite recently, those living south of the Wall had thought giants were entirely mythical creatures, and were unaware that they actually existed in the far northern lands beyond the Wall.
The Others are a race of humanoids originating in the far north of the continent of Westeros, beyond even the Land of Always Winter beyond the Wall. They are considered mythical by most of the people of Westeros. The wildlings call them 'White Walkers '. Despite what is thought, they are not dead.
History
According to legend, the Others first appeared approximately eight thousand years ago out of the uttermost north. At this time peace reigned in Westeros due to the Pact between the Children of the Forest and the First Men, and they were unprepared for the scale of the invasion. The Others' arrival was preceded by a winter that lasted a generation and a period of darkness known as the Long Night, although it is unclear if this was a literal period of darkness lasting years or merely an artistic term.
The Others overran much of Westeros and proved to be almost unbeatable in combat, able to resurrect fallen enemies and even dead animals as wights to serve them as utterly loyal foot soldiers. The First Men and their allies were pushed back over a long and gruelling war.
Salvation only came with the discovery that obsidian, also called 'dragonglass', could slay the Others, and with the arrival of a mighty hero to lead the war. This hero is known in the east as Azor Ahai and was said to wield a sword of fire, called Lightbringer. In the War for the Dawn Azhai led the crusade that turned back the Others and saw them banished from Westeros and back into the uttermost north. After the war was concluded, Brandon Stark built a huge wall of ice to prevent the Others coming south again and founded the Sworn Brotherhood of the Night's Watch to keep guard against this eventuality. Brandon also established the castle of Winterfell and became the first King in the North.
The children of the forest placed spells within the Wall which were said to prevent the Others from passing under or over it by any means. After the War for the Dawn was concluded, the already small numbers of children slowly declined until they had all disappeared around the time of the Andal invasion.
Over time, the threat of the Others receded and they came to be regarded as either just legends, or a real race long since rendered extinct. However, the Night's Watch remained in place, although it now considered its job to be stopping the wildlings from crossing into the Seven Kingdoms and causing mayhem there.
Starting several years before the War of the Five Kings, the northern-most wildling tribes and the rarely-seen giants of the furthermost north began to suffer attacks from an unknown agency. Unable to stand against these forces, they began moving south in ever-greater numbers. The King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder, began gathering these forces into one host. Once it became clear the unknown attackers were the Others, returning after millennia, Mance realised that the wildlings could only survive by taking refuge south of the Wall. Aware that the Night's Watch would not listen to reason, Mance planned a massive assault on the Wall. He had also taken possession of a device known as the Horn of Winter, which according to legend could shatter the Wall. He was unwilling to do this since it would also allow the Others to follow them into the Seven Kingdoms, but if there was no other way of breaching the Wall he was prepared to employ it.
Motives and beliefs
The Others speak a language alien to the people of Westeros called Skroth, and no communication has been possible with them. The Others' motives thus remain completely unknown at this time.
According to the red priestess Melisandre of Asshai, the Others are the servants of a deity called the Great Other, the god of darkness, ice and death who is locked in eternal warfare with R'hllor, the god of light, fire and life.