Where the First Men truly first? (V1.1)
Aug 20, 2016 4:21:44 GMT
pieceofgosa, Wraith, and 2 more like this
Post by arrysfleas on Aug 20, 2016 4:21:44 GMT
WHERE THE FIRST MEN truly first?
V1.1
Updated to show where the Daynes came from.
This is how The World of Ice and Fire (WIF) opens up the Iron Islands chapter.
I suspect the authors are setting us a challenge.
First a very nice map of the land (from awoiaf.westeros.org).
Note that Braavos on the Shivering Sea is at the latitude of the Bite/the Neck/White Harbour on the narrow sea. And that the distance from the heart of the Dothraki sea to Braavos is about the same as the Wall to Dorne.
First we will look at what the WIF tells us about the beginnings of civilisation and the various people who were around at that time.
We will check the main characteristics of the Essosi and Westerosi to try and match them.
Then we will look like at the migration routes and who used them.
I will finish with a summary and a question about the Pact.
Semantics.
I use the terms 'people' or 'race' interchangeably, meaning: 'race, as a social construct, is a group of people who share similar and distinct physical characteristics'.
1. The cradle of civilisation
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands
From the Forest of Qohor in the west to the towering mountains known as the Bones, the grasslands stretch more than seven hundred leagues.
It was here amidst these grasses that civilization was born in the Dawn Age.
The histories of those days are lost to us, sad to say, for the kingdoms of the grass came and went in large measure before the race of man became literate. Only the legends persist. From such we know of the Fisher Queens, who ruled the lands adjoining the Silver Sea—the great inland sea at the heart of the grasslands—from a floating palace that made its way endlessly around its shores.
From the Forest of Qohor in the west to the towering mountains known as the Bones, the grasslands stretch more than seven hundred leagues.
It was here amidst these grasses that civilization was born in the Dawn Age.
The histories of those days are lost to us, sad to say, for the kingdoms of the grass came and went in large measure before the race of man became literate. Only the legends persist. From such we know of the Fisher Queens, who ruled the lands adjoining the Silver Sea—the great inland sea at the heart of the grasslands—from a floating palace that made its way endlessly around its shores.
Civilisation was born in north central Essos, in the land east of the great river Sarne, the land of the Fisher Queens who ruled the the Silver Sea.
Other readers have written about this legend, in particular evolett here, so much better than I could, so I will not cover that ground.
2. The first people
In the following extracts, I have highlighted in blue the characteristics of these early races.
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands
The Fisher Queens were wise and benevolent and favored of the gods, we are told, and kings and lords and wise men sought the floating palace for their counsel. Beyond their domains, however, other peoples rose and fell and fought, struggling for a place in the sun.
The Fisher Queens were wise and benevolent and favored of the gods, we are told, and kings and lords and wise men sought the floating palace for their counsel. Beyond their domains, however, other peoples rose and fell and fought, struggling for a place in the sun.
All is well in the legendary land of milk and honey but other people struggled to live.
WIF - Some maesters believe that the First Men originated here before beginning the long westward migration that took them across the Arm of Dorne to Westeros. The Andals, too, may have arisen in the fertile fields south of the Silver Sea. Tales are told of the Hairy Men, a race of shaggy savage warriors, who rode to battle on unicorns. Though larger than the Ibbenese of the present, they may well have been their forebears. We hear as well of the lost city Lyber, where acolytes of a spider goddess and a serpent god fought an endless, bloody war. East of them stood the kingdoms of the centaurs, half man and half horse.
In the south-east the proud city-states of the Qaathi arose; in the forests to the north, along the shores of the Shivering Sea, were the domains of the woods walkers, a diminutive folk whom many maesters believe to have been kin to the children of the forest; between them could be found the hill kingdoms of the Cymmeri, the long-legged Gipps with their wicker shields and lime-stiffened hair, and the brown-skinned palehaired Zoqora, who rode to war in chariots.
Most of these peoples are gone now, their cities burned and buried, their gods and heroes all but forgotten.
Most of these peoples are gone now, their cities burned and buried, their gods and heroes all but forgotten.
Maesters have extensive records and can provide a reasonable description of the people who lived around the shores of the Silver Sea. They mention that the First Men, to use their historical westerosi name, originate from there.
We have heard much about the Qaathi as Daenerys went to Qaarth with her baby dragons and I suggest the centaurs are the ancestors of the Dothrakis, who did everything on horseback. Neither Qaathi nor centaurs are further involved in this story.
I left Lyber in orange, so as to not forget about it.
WIF - Westeros remembers their conquerors as the Sarnori, for at its height their great kingdom included all the lands watered by the Sarne and its vassals, and the three great lakes that were all that remained of the shrinking Silver Sea. They called themselves the Tall Men (in their own tongue the Tagaez Fen). Long of limb and brown of skin they were, like the Zoqora, though their hair and eyes were black as night.
Warriors, sorcerers, and scholars, they traced their descent to the hero king they called Huzhor Amai (the Amazing), born of the last of the Fisher Queens, who took to wife the daughters of the greatest lords and kings of the Gipps, the Cymmeri, and the Zoqora, binding all three peoples to his rule. His Zoqora wife drove his chariot, it is said, his Cymer wife made his armor (for her people were the first to work iron), and he wore about his shoulders a great cloak made from the pelt of a king of the Hairy Men.
Warriors, sorcerers, and scholars, they traced their descent to the hero king they called Huzhor Amai (the Amazing), born of the last of the Fisher Queens, who took to wife the daughters of the greatest lords and kings of the Gipps, the Cymmeri, and the Zoqora, binding all three peoples to his rule. His Zoqora wife drove his chariot, it is said, his Cymer wife made his armor (for her people were the first to work iron), and he wore about his shoulders a great cloak made from the pelt of a king of the Hairy Men.
The Tall Men, descendants of the Silver Queens and Huzhor the Amazing, extended their dominion from the Sarne basin eastwards to what is now Vaes Dothrak, at a time when the Silver Sea had shrunk to three remaining great lakes. In so doing they subjugated the three hill kingdoms and the Hairy Men.
Hidden in brackets in these words we find that the Cymmeri were the first to work iron; and this is in the dawn of days! The only way to have hidden this vital fact better would have been to use runes or invisible ink!
Whilst King Huzhor took a Gipps wife, it is not said what she brought him; perhaps a wicker shield.
The Tall Men and bronze ware.
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands
Only in Saath do men still name themselves Tagaez Fen; fewer than twenty thousand remain, when once the Tall Men numbered in the millions. Only there are the hundred gods of the Kingdom of Sarnor still worshipped. The bronze and marble likenesses that once adorned the streets and temples of the Tall Men now lean crookedly, overgrown by weeds, along the grassy ways of Vaes Dothrak, the sacred city of the horselords.
Only in Saath do men still name themselves Tagaez Fen; fewer than twenty thousand remain, when once the Tall Men numbered in the millions. Only there are the hundred gods of the Kingdom of Sarnor still worshipped. The bronze and marble likenesses that once adorned the streets and temples of the Tall Men now lean crookedly, overgrown by weeds, along the grassy ways of Vaes Dothrak, the sacred city of the horselords.
Even though the Tall Men subjugated the Cymmeri, the ruins of their cities only show bronze work. This means the Cymmeri somehow did not pass on their valuable skill to the Tall Men. They fled these lands before.
3. Essosi people
We need to look closer at a few of the most striking characteristics of some Essosi people.
The Ibbenese and the Hairy Men
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: Ib
They are a heavy people, broad about the chest and shoulders, but seldom standing more than five and a half feet in height, with thick, short legs and long arms. Though short and squat, they are ferociously strong; at wrestling, their favorite sport, no man of the Seven Kingdoms can hope to equal them.
They are the most hirsute people in the known world. Though their flesh is pale, with dark blue veins beneath the skin, their hair is dark and wiry.
They are a heavy people, broad about the chest and shoulders, but seldom standing more than five and a half feet in height, with thick, short legs and long arms. Though short and squat, they are ferociously strong; at wrestling, their favorite sport, no man of the Seven Kingdoms can hope to equal them.
They are the most hirsute people in the known world. Though their flesh is pale, with dark blue veins beneath the skin, their hair is dark and wiry.
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: Ib
... the [Ibbenese] sailors who crew them keep to their own kind even when ashore and display a deep suspicion of all strangers.
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: Ib
Ib is the second largest island in the known world … . Stony and mountainous, Ib is a land of great grey mountains, … and in the higher mountains, some claim unicorns can be found.
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: Ib
Khal after khal began to make incursions into Ibbenese territories, overrunning the farms and fields and holdfasts of the hairy men with fire and steel, putting the males to the sword whilst carrying off their wives into slavery.
... the [Ibbenese] sailors who crew them keep to their own kind even when ashore and display a deep suspicion of all strangers.
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: Ib
Ib is the second largest island in the known world … . Stony and mountainous, Ib is a land of great grey mountains, … and in the higher mountains, some claim unicorns can be found.
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: Ib
Khal after khal began to make incursions into Ibbenese territories, overrunning the farms and fields and holdfasts of the hairy men with fire and steel, putting the males to the sword whilst carrying off their wives into slavery.
Ibbenese are pale skinned, short and squat, very strong, with dark wiry hair, very hirsute. They keep to themselves. They lived in holdfasts. Their island is mountainous.
WIF - The Free Cities: Lorath
Others followed the mazemakers on Lorath in the centuries that followed. For a time the isles were home to a small, dark, hairy people, akin to the men of Ib.
WIF - The Free Cities: Norvos
Whoever these first Norvoshi might have been, their towns did not survive. Legend tells us they were driven from the Noyne by an onslaught of hairy men out of the east, surely some close kin of the Ibbenese.
A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion II
"This is Andalos, my friend. The land your Andals came from. They took it from the hairy men who were here before them, cousins to the hairy men of Ib.
Others followed the mazemakers on Lorath in the centuries that followed. For a time the isles were home to a small, dark, hairy people, akin to the men of Ib.
WIF - The Free Cities: Norvos
Whoever these first Norvoshi might have been, their towns did not survive. Legend tells us they were driven from the Noyne by an onslaught of hairy men out of the east, surely some close kin of the Ibbenese.
A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion II
"This is Andalos, my friend. The land your Andals came from. They took it from the hairy men who were here before them, cousins to the hairy men of Ib.
The hairy men are close kin, cousins or akin to the Ibbenese.
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands
Tales are told of the Hairy Men, a race of shaggy savage warriors, who rode to battle on unicorns. Though larger than the Ibbenese of the present, they may well have been their forebears.
Tales are told of the Hairy Men, a race of shaggy savage warriors, who rode to battle on unicorns. Though larger than the Ibbenese of the present, they may well have been their forebears.
The Hairy Men have much the same looks as the Ibbs: pale skin and lots of dark hair. They are larger than the Ibbs, they are shaggy warriors. As far as 'savage' goes, I detect a hint of bias there.
They are described as small in the Lorath paragraph but we must remember that the Lorathi mazemakers were very large men (see below).
It can be difficult to separate the Ibbs and the Hairy Men:
WIF - Ancient History: The Arrival of the Andals
One such tribe was the hairy men; their name is lost, but they are still remembered in certain Pentoshi histories. (The Pentoshi believe them to be akin to the men of Ib, and the histories of the Citadel largely agree, though some argue that the hairy men settled Ib, and others that the hairy men came first from Ib.)
One such tribe was the hairy men; their name is lost, but they are still remembered in certain Pentoshi histories. (The Pentoshi believe them to be akin to the men of Ib, and the histories of the Citadel largely agree, though some argue that the hairy men settled Ib, and others that the hairy men came first from Ib.)
I think the hairy men settled Ib. After all, the old races came from the Silver Sea and not from Ib. Perhaps the Ibbs acquired their touch of xenophobia from living isolated on their islands for millennia.
The vanished races
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: East of Ib
Still farther east lie the so-called Thousand Islands ..., a seagirt scatter of bleak windswept rocks believed by some to be the last remnants of a drowned kingdom whose towns and towers were submerged beneath the rising seas many thousands of years ago.
Though surrounded by water on all sides, these islanders fear the sea so much that they will not set foot in the water even under threat of death.
Still farther east lie the so-called Thousand Islands ..., a seagirt scatter of bleak windswept rocks believed by some to be the last remnants of a drowned kingdom whose towns and towers were submerged beneath the rising seas many thousands of years ago.
Though surrounded by water on all sides, these islanders fear the sea so much that they will not set foot in the water even under threat of death.
The Thousand Islanders are said to have been drowned. Certainly, if they lived on an archipelago and are dead scared of the sea, they must have been severely traumatised by it.
WIF - The Free Cities: Lorath
In ancient days, the isles were home to the mysterious race of men known as the mazemakers, who vanished long before the dawn of true history, leaving no trace of themselves save for their bones and the mazes they built.
Their bones tell us that they were massively built and larger than men, though not so large as giants.
We do not known why they disappeared, though Lorathi legend suggests they were destroyed by an enemy from the sea: merlings in some versions of the tale, selkies and walrus-men in others.
In ancient days, the isles were home to the mysterious race of men known as the mazemakers, who vanished long before the dawn of true history, leaving no trace of themselves save for their bones and the mazes they built.
Their bones tell us that they were massively built and larger than men, though not so large as giants.
We do not known why they disappeared, though Lorathi legend suggests they were destroyed by an enemy from the sea: merlings in some versions of the tale, selkies and walrus-men in others.
The mazemakers were large, massive men, who were either wiped out by rising sea levels or a tsunami, an enemy from the sea. It is unlikely that they migrated to Westeros as they were well established in their maze towns and their deep underground passages (a protection from volcanic fall-outs).
WIF - The Free Cities: The Quarrelsome Daughters: Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh
The origins of Myr are murkier. The Myrmen are believed by certain maesters to be akin to the Rhoynar, as many of them share the same olive skin and dark hair as the river people, but this supposed link is likely spurious. There are certain signs that a city stood where Myr now stands even during the Dawn Age and the Long Night, raised by some ancient, vanished people.
The origins of Myr are murkier. The Myrmen are believed by certain maesters to be akin to the Rhoynar, as many of them share the same olive skin and dark hair as the river people, but this supposed link is likely spurious. There are certain signs that a city stood where Myr now stands even during the Dawn Age and the Long Night, raised by some ancient, vanished people.
The vanishing of these three early settlements points to rising sea levels or massive tidal waves.
In any case, they are gone or nearly gone.
And why did the Ibbs not vanish at the same time? Well, Ib is 'is a land of great grey mountains'.
Mountains and hills are the safest place to be when the sea level rises or when tidal waves arrives (in Westeros too...).
The Qohori
WIF - The Free Cities: Qohor
In folklore, even as far as Westeros, Qohor is sometimes known as the City of Sorcerers, for it is widely believed that the dark arts are practiced here even to this day. Divination, bloodmagic, and necromancy are whispered of, though such reports can seldom be proved. One truth remains undisputed, however: The dark god of Qohor, the deity known as the Black Goat, demands daily blood sacrifice. Calves, bullocks, and horses are the animals most often brought before the Black Goat's altars, but on holy days condemned criminals go beneath the knives of his cowled priests, and in times of danger and crisis it is written that the high nobles of the city offer up their own children to placate the god, that he might defend the city.
In folklore, even as far as Westeros, Qohor is sometimes known as the City of Sorcerers, for it is widely believed that the dark arts are practiced here even to this day. Divination, bloodmagic, and necromancy are whispered of, though such reports can seldom be proved. One truth remains undisputed, however: The dark god of Qohor, the deity known as the Black Goat, demands daily blood sacrifice. Calves, bullocks, and horses are the animals most often brought before the Black Goat's altars, but on holy days condemned criminals go beneath the knives of his cowled priests, and in times of danger and crisis it is written that the high nobles of the city offer up their own children to placate the god, that he might defend the city.
The Qohori practised sorcery of many kinds, blood sacrifices of humans from criminals to high noble children. They worship the Black Goat.
Qohor is west of the Grasslands and anyone migrating in that direction could well have picked up sorcery on their way further west.
In the Reach's ancient history we are told of Garth Greenhand and the very oldest tales have him as 'a dark deity, who demanded blood sacrifice from his worshippers to ensure a bountiful harvest'.
Perhaps his legend has something to do with Qohor, perhaps this were the horned lords come from.
The Rhoynar
A Feast for Crows - The Queenmaker
Garin was next, a loose-limbed, swarthy, long-nosed fellow with a jade stud in one ear. "Here is gay Garin of the orphans, who makes me laugh," said Arianne.
Garin was next, a loose-limbed, swarthy, long-nosed fellow with a jade stud in one ear. "Here is gay Garin of the orphans, who makes me laugh," said Arianne.
Garin is an orphan of the Greenblood, salty Dornishmen who have stayed closest to their Rhoynar origins. The Rhoynar were swarthy, i.e. dark-complexioned, and loose-limbed.
WIF - Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships
The mightiest river in the world, the Rhoyne's many tributaries stretched across much of western Essos. Along their banks had arisen a civilization and culture as storied and ancient as the Old Empire of Ghis.
… they raised their elegant towns and cities from the headwaters of the Rhoyne down to her mouth, each lovelier than the last.
... the Rhoynish cities were elsewise fiercely independent, each with its own prince...or princess, for amongst these river folk, women were regarded as the equals of men.
The mightiest river in the world, the Rhoyne's many tributaries stretched across much of western Essos. Along their banks had arisen a civilization and culture as storied and ancient as the Old Empire of Ghis.
… they raised their elegant towns and cities from the headwaters of the Rhoyne down to her mouth, each lovelier than the last.
... the Rhoynish cities were elsewise fiercely independent, each with its own prince...or princess, for amongst these river folk, women were regarded as the equals of men.
The Rhoynar raised elegant towns, not holdfasts, and the Water Gardens of the Dornish Prince, built in pink marble, is much in character.
We also learn that men and women are equal, this is reflected in the lineal primogeniture adopted by Dorne.
The Andals.
WIF - Ancient History: Valyria’s Children
And those who would not be slaves but were unable to withstand the might of Valyria fled. Many failed and are forgotten. But one people, tall and fair-haired, made courageous and indomitable by their faith, succeeded in their escape from Valyria. And those men are the Andals.
WIF - The Westerlands
That was when the golden-haired rogue called Lann the Clever appeared from out of the east. Some say he was an Andal adventurer from across the narrow sea, though this was millennia before the coming of the Andals to Westeros.
A Game of Thrones - Bran VII
"The Andals were the first, a race of tall, fair-haired warriors who came with steel and fire and the seven-pointed star of the new gods painted on their chests.
WIF - Dorne
The stony Dornishmen were the mountain folk, fair of hair and skin, mostly descended from the First Men and the Andals;
And those who would not be slaves but were unable to withstand the might of Valyria fled. Many failed and are forgotten. But one people, tall and fair-haired, made courageous and indomitable by their faith, succeeded in their escape from Valyria. And those men are the Andals.
WIF - The Westerlands
That was when the golden-haired rogue called Lann the Clever appeared from out of the east. Some say he was an Andal adventurer from across the narrow sea, though this was millennia before the coming of the Andals to Westeros.
A Game of Thrones - Bran VII
"The Andals were the first, a race of tall, fair-haired warriors who came with steel and fire and the seven-pointed star of the new gods painted on their chests.
WIF - Dorne
The stony Dornishmen were the mountain folk, fair of hair and skin, mostly descended from the First Men and the Andals;
Early accounts tell us that the tall and fair-haired Andals escaped Valyria; that Lann the Clever, golden haired, who is of the Age of Heroes, may have been an Andal; that the Andals who came with the faith of the Sevens were tall and fair-haired and that the stony Dornishmen are also fair of hair and skin, said to be of both First Men and Andal origin.
Pretty much a consensus that the Andals were tall and fair.
4. The northern migration route
WIF - Ancient History: The Long Night
Lomas Longstrider, in his Wonders Made by Man, recounts meeting descendants of the Rhoynar in the ruins of the festival city of Chroyane who have tales of a darkness that made the Rhoyne dwindle and disappear, her waters frozen as far south as the joining of the Selhoru.
Lomas Longstrider, in his Wonders Made by Man, recounts meeting descendants of the Rhoynar in the ruins of the festival city of Chroyane who have tales of a darkness that made the Rhoyne dwindle and disappear, her waters frozen as far south as the joining of the Selhoru.
During the Long Night the Rhoyne froze as far as the confluence with the Selhoru which is as far south as Myr, or in Westeros, the Stormlands. This gives us reasons to think that during an earlier period of glaciation, the Shivering Sea and the northern part of the narrow sea could have frozen if not as far, at least as far as the region of Braavos and Lorath in Essos and the Bite in Westeros.
On the following map, we see that the shores of the Shivering Sea are at the same latitude as the Bite (White Harbour), the Neck and the Iron Islands.
This would have enabled the early Essosi people to migrate westward without boats, using the land bridge created by the frozen seas.
The land bridge theory is expanded here by a reader form westeros.org
5. Migrations of the hairy men
The Hairy Men or people of hairy men stock were much on the move.
a. West to Norvos
WIF - The Free Cities: Norvos
Whoever these first Norvoshi might have been, their towns did not survive. Legend tells us they were driven from the Noyne by an onslaught of hairy men out of the east, surely some close kin of the Ibbenese.
Whoever these first Norvoshi might have been, their towns did not survive. Legend tells us they were driven from the Noyne by an onslaught of hairy men out of the east, surely some close kin of the Ibbenese.
b. North to Lorath
WIF - The Free Cities: Lorath
Others followed the mazemakers on Lorath in the centuries that followed. For a time the isles were home to a small, dark, hairy people, akin to the men of Ib. Fisherfolk, they lived along the coasts and shunned the great mazes of their predecessors.
Others followed the mazemakers on Lorath in the centuries that followed. For a time the isles were home to a small, dark, hairy people, akin to the men of Ib. Fisherfolk, they lived along the coasts and shunned the great mazes of their predecessors.
c. West to Andalos
A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion II
"This is Andalos, my friend. The land your Andals came from. They took it from the hairy men who were here before them, cousins to the hairy men of Ib.
"This is Andalos, my friend. The land your Andals came from. They took it from the hairy men who were here before them, cousins to the hairy men of Ib.
At that point, the Hairy Men are living on the west coast of Essos. At some time beyond that, they crossed to Westeros.
d. West to Westeros
WIF - The North: The Kings of Winter
More historical proof exists for the war between the Kings of Winter and the Barrow Kings to their south, who styled themselves the Kings of the First Men and claimed supremacy over all First Men everywhere, even the Starks themselves.
More historical proof exists for the war between the Kings of Winter and the Barrow Kings to their south, who styled themselves the Kings of the First Men and claimed supremacy over all First Men everywhere, even the Starks themselves.
The Barrowlands are the lands just west of the Bite and north of the Neck, the first port of call of the hairy men. It makes sense to have the local kings calling themselves Kings of the First Men.
e. Settlement in the westerosi north
A Dance with Dragons - Jon XII
… Tormund Giantsbane produced the last one. "My son Dryn. … Jon gave the boy a close inspection. … He was a chunky boy, with short legs, thick arms, and a wide red face—a miniature version of his father, with a shock of dark brown hair.
A Dance with Dragons - Prologue
Borroq looked so much like his boar that all he lacked was tusks...
A Dance with Dragons - The King's Prize
Before them marched the clansmen from the hills; chiefs and champions astride shaggy garrons, their hirsute fighters trotting beside them, clad in furs and boiled leather and old mail. Some painted their faces brown and green and tied bundles of brush about them, to hide amongst the trees.
A Game of Thrones - Daenerys III
Ser Jorah was not a handsome man. He had a neck and shoulders like a bull, and coarse black hair covered his arms and chest so thickly that there was none left for his head.
A Game of Thrones - Bran VII
"They were the Kings in the North for thousands of years," Maester Luwin said, lifting the torch high so the light shone on the stone faces. Some were hairy and bearded, shaggy men fierce as the wolves that crouched by their feet. Others were shaved clean, their features gaunt and sharp-edged as the iron longswords across their laps
… Tormund Giantsbane produced the last one. "My son Dryn. … Jon gave the boy a close inspection. … He was a chunky boy, with short legs, thick arms, and a wide red face—a miniature version of his father, with a shock of dark brown hair.
A Dance with Dragons - Prologue
Borroq looked so much like his boar that all he lacked was tusks...
A Dance with Dragons - The King's Prize
Before them marched the clansmen from the hills; chiefs and champions astride shaggy garrons, their hirsute fighters trotting beside them, clad in furs and boiled leather and old mail. Some painted their faces brown and green and tied bundles of brush about them, to hide amongst the trees.
A Game of Thrones - Daenerys III
Ser Jorah was not a handsome man. He had a neck and shoulders like a bull, and coarse black hair covered his arms and chest so thickly that there was none left for his head.
A Game of Thrones - Bran VII
"They were the Kings in the North for thousands of years," Maester Luwin said, lifting the torch high so the light shone on the stone faces. Some were hairy and bearded, shaggy men fierce as the wolves that crouched by their feet. Others were shaved clean, their features gaunt and sharp-edged as the iron longswords across their laps
The wildlings, the northern clansmen, the Mormont and some Kings in the North all have traits similar to the hairy men. Note that the Stark Kings wed into northern families.
f. To Skagos
WIF - The North: The Stoneborn of Skagos
The Skagosi who reside there are little regarded by the other Northmen, who consider them no better than wildlings and name them Skaggs. The Skagosi call themselves the stoneborn, referring to the fact that Skagos means "stone" in the Old Tongue. A huge, hairy, foul-smelling folk (some maesters believe the Skagosi to have a strong admixture of Ibbenese blood; others suggest that they may be descended from giants), clad in skins and furs and untanned hides, and said to ride on unicorns, the Skagosi are the subject of many a dark rumor.
The Skagosi who reside there are little regarded by the other Northmen, who consider them no better than wildlings and name them Skaggs. The Skagosi call themselves the stoneborn, referring to the fact that Skagos means "stone" in the Old Tongue. A huge, hairy, foul-smelling folk (some maesters believe the Skagosi to have a strong admixture of Ibbenese blood; others suggest that they may be descended from giants), clad in skins and furs and untanned hides, and said to ride on unicorns, the Skagosi are the subject of many a dark rumor.
The Skagosis are huge and hairy so fit the description of the hairy men (the Ibbs are a smaller people). They even ride the same unicorns. Let's hope Osha brings one back from her travels.
Why do they call themselves stoneborn? Perhaps because they first 'lived in caves and grim mountain fastnesses' [Feast, Samwell, II].
The Thenn, and the Skagosi, are ruled by a magnar and their 'own people think of him more god than lord'; we know of another race ruled by a God-King, the Ibbs, the hairy men's cousins.
g. To the Riverlands
The Riverlands are close to the Neck, rich, fertile and well irrigated by the Trident, so I expect some of the hairy men settled there to farm. Certainly the First Men and the children were living together at High Heart and fought alongside each other against the Andal King Erreg.
But as it is also as the crossroads of Westeros, it is likely everyone else came that way to.
6. The southern westerosi
Let's look at some of the people who settled in the south of Westeros.
Durrandons and Baratheons
WIF - The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest
But Argilac had grown older; his famous mane of black hair had gone grey, and his prowess at arms had faded.
A Game of Thrones - Eddard VII
The Baratheon look was stamped on his face, in his jaw, his eyes, that black hair.
But Argilac had grown older; his famous mane of black hair had gone grey, and his prowess at arms had faded.
A Game of Thrones - Eddard VII
The Baratheon look was stamped on his face, in his jaw, his eyes, that black hair.
The dominant trait of the Baratheons is undoubtedly their black hair, not in keeping with the Andals; I have suggested in 'Storm's End – a dream of stone' that they may have acquired this hair colour from the Ibbs (or perhaps it is from their larger cousins).
Dornishmen
A Storm of Swords - Tyrion V
The salty Dornishmen had the most Rhoynish blood, the stony Dornishmen the least.
All three sorts seemed well represented in Doran's retinue. The salty Dornishmen were lithe and dark, with smooth olive skin and long black hair streaming in the wind. The sandy Dornishmen were even darker, their faces burned brown by the hot Dornish sun. They wound long bright scarfs around their helms to ward off sunstroke. The stony Dornishmen were biggest and fairest, sons of the Andals and the First Men, brown-haired or blond, with faces that freckled or burned in the sun instead of browning.
The salty Dornishmen had the most Rhoynish blood, the stony Dornishmen the least.
All three sorts seemed well represented in Doran's retinue. The salty Dornishmen were lithe and dark, with smooth olive skin and long black hair streaming in the wind. The sandy Dornishmen were even darker, their faces burned brown by the hot Dornish sun. They wound long bright scarfs around their helms to ward off sunstroke. The stony Dornishmen were biggest and fairest, sons of the Andals and the First Men, brown-haired or blond, with faces that freckled or burned in the sun instead of browning.
We have seen that the salty Dornishmen, lithe and dark, olived skinned, match the description of Rhoynar, so they were likely to be the last to migrate to Dorne, with Nymeria's then thousand ships.
The sandy Dornishmen, even darker skinned than the salties. To have settled in the desert areas of Dorne, they probably came from southern Essos.
The stony Dornishmen are big, fair of hair and skin, of andal stock.
The Gardeners of the Reach
WIF - The Reach: Garth Greenhand
The story of the Reach begins with Garth Greenhand, the legendary progenitor not only of the Tyrells of Highgarden, but of the Gardener kings before them...
The story of the Reach begins with Garth Greenhand, the legendary progenitor not only of the Tyrells of Highgarden, but of the Gardener kings before them...
Some of Garth Greenhand's children, the first man to settle the Reach:
WIF - The Reach: Garth Greenhand
Rowan Gold-Tree, who was so bereft when her lover left her for a rich rival that she wrapped an apple in her golden hair ….
John the Oak, the First Knight, who brought chivalry to Westeros (a huge man, all agree, eight feet tall in some tales, ten or twelve feet tall in others, sired by Garth Greenhand on a giantess).
Maris the Maid, the Most Fair, whose beauty was so renowned that fifty lords vied for her hand at the first tourney ever to be held in Westeros.
Rose of Red Lake, a skinchanger, able to transform into a crane at will—a power some say still manifests from time to time in the women of House Crane, her descendants.
Brandon of the Bloody Blade, who drove the giants from the Reach and warred against the children of the forest, slaying so many at Blue Lake that it has been known as Red Lake ever since.
Rowan Gold-Tree, who was so bereft when her lover left her for a rich rival that she wrapped an apple in her golden hair ….
John the Oak, the First Knight, who brought chivalry to Westeros (a huge man, all agree, eight feet tall in some tales, ten or twelve feet tall in others, sired by Garth Greenhand on a giantess).
Maris the Maid, the Most Fair, whose beauty was so renowned that fifty lords vied for her hand at the first tourney ever to be held in Westeros.
Rose of Red Lake, a skinchanger, able to transform into a crane at will—a power some say still manifests from time to time in the women of House Crane, her descendants.
Brandon of the Bloody Blade, who drove the giants from the Reach and warred against the children of the forest, slaying so many at Blue Lake that it has been known as Red Lake ever since.
Rowan and her golden hair, Maris the fairest, John a huge man, Rose as tall as a crane. These First Men descendants of Garth Greenhand are all described as fair and tall, definitely more andal than hairy men.
There is also the unsavory Brandon of the Bloody Blade, if he drove the giants away, he must have been a sizeable man himself.
Valyrians
A Game of Thrones - Daenerys I
"Look at her. That silver-gold hair, those purple eyes … she is the blood of old Valyria, no doubt, no doubt …”
A Game of Thrones - Catelyn II
The Lady Ashara Dayne, tall and fair, with haunting violet eyes.
A Feast for Crows - The Queenmaker
His [Ser Gerold Dayne] eyes seemed black as he sat outlined against the dying sun, sharpening his steel, but she had looked at them from a closer vantage and she knew that they were purple. Dark purple.
WIF - The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I
Elaena, the youngest, was more willful than Rhaena, but not as beautiful as either of her sisters. While in the Maidenvault, it is said she cut her "crowning glory"—her long hair, platinum-pale with a streak of gold running through it ...
"Look at her. That silver-gold hair, those purple eyes … she is the blood of old Valyria, no doubt, no doubt …”
A Game of Thrones - Catelyn II
The Lady Ashara Dayne, tall and fair, with haunting violet eyes.
A Feast for Crows - The Queenmaker
His [Ser Gerold Dayne] eyes seemed black as he sat outlined against the dying sun, sharpening his steel, but she had looked at them from a closer vantage and she knew that they were purple. Dark purple.
WIF - The Targaryen Kings: Baelor I
Elaena, the youngest, was more willful than Rhaena, but not as beautiful as either of her sisters. While in the Maidenvault, it is said she cut her "crowning glory"—her long hair, platinum-pale with a streak of gold running through it ...
Valyrians, and Daynes, are easily recognised by their purple or violet eyes and their platinum, silver and gold hair.
7. Other migrations from Essos
Migration of the wood walkers
As we have seen earlier, the WIF tells us about the woods walkers, a diminutive folk whom many maesters believe to have been kin to the children of the forest. These wood walkers lived in the forests of Ifequevron.
WIF - Beyond the Free Cities: Ib
The God-Kings of Ib, before their fall, did succeed in conquering and colonizing a huge swathe of northern Essos immediately south of Ib itself, a densely wooded region that had formerly been the home of a small, shy forest folk. Some say that the Ibbenese extinguished this gentle race, whilst others believe they went into hiding in the deeper woods or fled to other lands. The Dothraki still call the great forest along the northern coast the Kingdom of the Ifequevron, the name by which they knew the vanished forest-dwellers.
The fabled Sea Snake, Corlys Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, was the first Westerosi to visit these woods. After his return from the Thousand Islands, he wrote of carved trees, haunted grottoes, and strange silences. A later traveller, the merchant-adventurer Bryan of Oldtown, captain of the cog Spearshaker, provided an account of his own journey across the Shivering Sea. He reported that the Dothraki name for the lost people meant "those who walk in the woods." None of the Ibbenese that Bryan of Oldtown met could say they had ever seen a woods walker, but claimed that the little people blessed a household that left offerings of leaf and stone and water overnight.
The God-Kings of Ib, before their fall, did succeed in conquering and colonizing a huge swathe of northern Essos immediately south of Ib itself, a densely wooded region that had formerly been the home of a small, shy forest folk. Some say that the Ibbenese extinguished this gentle race, whilst others believe they went into hiding in the deeper woods or fled to other lands. The Dothraki still call the great forest along the northern coast the Kingdom of the Ifequevron, the name by which they knew the vanished forest-dwellers.
The fabled Sea Snake, Corlys Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, was the first Westerosi to visit these woods. After his return from the Thousand Islands, he wrote of carved trees, haunted grottoes, and strange silences. A later traveller, the merchant-adventurer Bryan of Oldtown, captain of the cog Spearshaker, provided an account of his own journey across the Shivering Sea. He reported that the Dothraki name for the lost people meant "those who walk in the woods." None of the Ibbenese that Bryan of Oldtown met could say they had ever seen a woods walker, but claimed that the little people blessed a household that left offerings of leaf and stone and water overnight.
The Ifequevron wood walkers are small and shy, they carved trees, had haunted grottoes and strange silences.
The Ibbs colonised the forests that the wood walkers had 'formerly' occupied; they have not been seen by later Ibbenese who live in the Shivering Sea. It is reasonable to believe that they had fled to other lands prior to the Ibb's incursion. The strange silences seem to confirm that they are no longer there.
The offerings of leaf and stone and water which bring a blessing to an Ibbenese household are reminiscent of what the crannogmen remember:
"The secrets of the old gods," said Jojen Reed. … We live closer to the green in our bogs and crannogs, and we remember. Earth and water, soil and stone, oaks and elms and willows, they were here before us all and will still remain when we are gone." [Dance, Bran III].
The wood walkers are gone from the forests of Ifequevron but water, leaf and stone remain.
I suggest that they went to Westeros and settled in the Neck and are now known as the crannogmen, who are also small and seclusive. We know the crannogmen have a knowledge of magic and experience green dreams.
I think the wood walkers were contacted by the children, via green dreams, and perhaps the carved trees were used for further communication or sharing of knowledge.
I do not think these wood walkers were children themselves; the children live all over Westeros in symbiosis with the weirwoods. Weirwoods are not found in Essos, nor are there any children of the forest in any essosi legends.
The wood walkers were probably the very first to migrate to Westeros. The children and their greenseers could have given them warning of forthcoming climatic disasters. Disasters to be caused by magic doings?
Migration of the Cymmeri (and the Gipps?)
The Cymmeri are unique amongst these ancient people as they were the first to work iron; they must have been able to mine the ore in their hills.
I believe they migrated west to the Neck and across to the Iron Islands which at that time were not an archipelago but were part of the main land.
This explains why the ironborn are called such going back to a time when supposedly the First Men brought bronze and not iron to Westeros.
There are iron mines on the islands. The ironborn had superior armour to that of the coastal dwellers they reaved (WIF - “possessed of foul black weapons that drank the very souls of those they slew. “) .
The Gipps?
Theon's physical description of Asha 'lean and long-legged, with black hair' [Clash, Theon II] does not tell us much. Unless the long legged Gipps, the Cymmeri's neighbours came across as well. They are not noted as iron workers or miners, they may have become the salt people of the islands, who definitely did not mine.
The Persian Immortals, an elite heavy infantry unit of 10,000 soldiers in the army of the Achaemenid Empire, went to war with wicker shields. Since the ironborn believe in 'what is dead may never die', perhaps the wicker shield is the link between two immortal people. It is a very long shot, I know.
The Cymmeri would have migrated early as the ironborn experienced more than one climatic disaster. But a more detailed look at the ironborn and their legends is for another time.
Migration of the valyrian Daynes
We have a short – but illustrative - lesson on the early Valyrians:
ASOS, Dany II
'"Old Ghis ruled an empire when the Valyrians were still fucking sheep"
'"Old Ghis ruled an empire when the Valyrians were still fucking sheep"
I take it that Valyria was not doing much when the Daynes came across.
V1.1 -
the Valyrians were rulers of the Great Empire of the Dawn.They moved to Valyria after the Long Night when the GED collapsed.
The Daynes therefore originate from the GED, that is Asshai.
Why would
Because the Daynes are ever so special, they are 'Dawn', and I like the story that they followed a star (or THE comet) which led them to Starfall.
They may have been called there by a greendream.
Migrations of the andals
The descriptions we have of the andals and of the early First Men who settled in the Reach and of the stony Dornishmen are a very neat match: tall and fair of hair and skin.
8. Interlude - The lost city Lyber
That leaves us with the lost city Lyber, where 'acolytes of a spider goddess and a serpent god fought an endless, bloody war'. And that is all we know, absolutely all of it.
First why is it not written 'of Lyber'? I know some who would call it a just a typo. What is the fun in that? What about a hint?
I am sorry to say I have drawn a very near blank on this one.
However, given sufficient sheets of tinfoil (courtesy of our wonderful moderators), I can bake a couple of pies.
There is a such a word as Lyber, a new word, composed of liber, latin for book, and cyber, the cyber space or internet. The word dates from 2000 and turned up in a French anthology (search via wiki.fr).
The WIF and its online search facility are an example of sorts of a lyber. A book sold in bookshops and also available integrally on the internet (although our great search facility is piecemeal). Money can be made and knowledge can be shared freely.
What of the acolytes of the Spider goddess?
Spiders also exists in the internet universe. 'Also known as a crawler or ant, a program that uses hyperlinks to make methodical searches of the web to provide information about pages for search engines'. Would the goddess be a google? Using its acolytes to trawl everywhere?
What about the Snake god?
He would have to be representing the print universe in this little farce, I guess. Waging an endless war against the global search engines to protect its intellectual property.
Is there is a spare sheet of tinfoil? Good, then here is an alternative theory for this lost city:
Preface to Liber Cyber (1990) (krystallnacht.com)
This is an entry level book about Chaos. It is intended to introduce readers with a background in Maths and Physics to the concepts of Chaos Magic.
The book should also be useful to those who are knowledgeable about matters occult, providing some insight into the power of non-linear dynamics, or Chaos Mathematics, as a modelling tool for the visible and
invisible universe.
Chaos Magic? Love it! The Song of Ice and Fire is certainly replete with chaos and magic.
9. Summary
The First Men in the north of Westeros
These migrations took place at a time when glaciation created a land bridge across the Shivering Sea and the narrow sea; the crossing probably took place at the latitude of contemporary Braavos and the Bite.
The migrants would have been pushed west because of cold front/glaciation freezing their land and the ensuing struggle for survival in competition with the rising power of the Tall Men kingdoms.
The hairy men pushed west to Norvos, Lorath and the west coast of Essos. From there they crossed into northern Westeros, either to the Bite or further north. They settled in the North and their descendants are found in the wildlings, on Skagos, in the hill tribes and in the Starks (who wed with mountain families such as Flint and Norrey).
In fact, I suggest they were essentially the First Men of the North and the Neck.
The Cymmeri went west, crossing to the Bite, then crossing Westeros westwards and settled in the hills of the Iron Islands. The Cymmeri were the first people to work iron and this is where the ironborn derive their name from. They were the First Men of the Iron Islands.
The Gipps may or may not have come with them. Wicker shields are found in use with the wildlings and the Thenn but that is about all.
The wood walkers also went west, arriving in the Bite and settling in the tall forests of the western coast of the Neck; they are the ancestors of the crannogmen. They may have been led there by the children of the forest through green dreams.
It is worth noting that ironborns and crannogmen are quite unique in Westeros as in they both had a consultative selection process for their kings, Kingsmoot for one and Marsh Kings for the other.
The northern clans also have a similar governance method as they are known to select their king by acclamation.
The First Men of the North and Neck lived in peace with the children and adopted their gods.
The First Men in the south of Westeros
Andals, in an initial migration much earlier than their second coming, crossed from south west Essos via the unbroken Arm of Dorne, settling mainly in the fertile lands of the Reach where they started the Gardeners dynasty. Stories of the west and even of the rich lands of the Reach would have been known in southern Essos as there was already an ancient settlement on Battle Island.
Subsequently, their descendants went northwards, for example into the Westerlands (Casterlys).
We have an example of the confrontation between hairy men and andals in the Vale, where two very ancient houses have warred since the Dawn Age: House Shett, who ruled Gulltown and the Bronze Kings of Runestone, the Royce. Grizzly King Shett, King of the True Men, sounds like he was from hairy men stock. If the early Royce looked like ill-fated Ser Waymar 'graceful and slender as a knife ' then perhaps they are of andal origin.
These andals pushed further north:
WIF - Brandon the Builder was descended from Garth by way of Brandon of the Bloody Blade, these tales would have us believe...
If we believe these tales and if we believe that Brandon the Builder was a Stark then the Brandons started in the Reach and ended up in the North and became the Starks.
The Starks did not have it all their way in conquering the North as they were held up by the Barrow Kings during the Thousand Years War. But conquer the North they did, they even removed the Blackwoods from the Wolfswood, north of Winterfell. Ancient history.
It is likely that when these 'First Men' reached the mouth of the Honeywine (Oldtown), they found an abandoned castle on Battle Island where a pair of dragons roosted in peace and quiet. We know of a pair of Heroes of the Reach, Davos the Dragonslayer and Serwyn of the Mirror Shield; Serwyn killed the riderless dragon Urrax (no mention was ever made of its rider).
I wonder if this pair of dragons left any eggs behind (now slowly incubating in front of the Hightower beacon fires).
The original settlers and builders of this abandoned castle would have possibly come from Asshai way, since this is where dragons come from, and were likely cleaned up by some sea calamity such as a water dragon. Perhaps the same one that cleaned up the original inhabitants of castle Pyke in the Iron Islands (and later had a go at the ironborn).
There were other people who migrated along the same route. Certainly the Daynes came to Dorne in the Dawn Age.
When the Andals came again, via ships, to Westeros, they had wars just about everywhere against the First Men except in the Reach which adopted a policy of accord and assimilation. It is not out of question that this is because their common ancestry facilitated contact and understanding.
The Pact
A Game of Thrones - Catelyn I
In the south the last weirwoods had been cut down or burned out a thousand years ago, except on the Isle of Faces where the green men kept their silent watch. Up here it was different. Here every castle had its godswood, and every godswood had its heart tree, and every heart tree its face.
In the south the last weirwoods had been cut down or burned out a thousand years ago, except on the Isle of Faces where the green men kept their silent watch. Up here it was different. Here every castle had its godswood, and every godswood had its heart tree, and every heart tree its face.
Catelyn tells us that unlike the south, the North does not cut weirwoods, on the contrary northmen build their castles around them.
Just about every time a weirwood is mentioned in the text, the qualifier 'ancient' is added. So these weirwoods are the original trees. When have we seen a description of a hacked weirwood in the North?
A Dance with Dragons - Jon V – Mole Town
The faces that the First Men and the children of the forest had carved into the weirwoods in eons past had stern or savage visages more oft than not... .
The faces that the First Men and the children of the forest had carved into the weirwoods in eons past had stern or savage visages more oft than not... .
John tells us that the First Men had joined the children in carving faces on the weirwoods.
This gives us a picture that the First Men, at least in the north, did not cut weirwood trees. They lived in holdfasts and farmlands and would not have competed for territory with the children who lived in the woods and crannogs. They may have hunted in the same forests but the north is hugely vast and there would have been room for all.
Jojen says:
ASOS Bran I
We remember the First Men in the Neck, and the children of the forest who were their friends . . . but so much is forgotten, and so much we never knew.
We remember the First Men in the Neck, and the children of the forest who were their friends . . . but so much is forgotten, and so much we never knew.
This is telling us that the First Men who settled in the Neck did not war with the children.
So where does that leave the Pact? The Pact which is only recounted by the maesters, the maesters from the south?
Appendix - migration map
The end.
I will be commenting on individual sections gradually over the next few days, so that I can focus on a passage or two at at time. To begin:
