IV) A Song of Ice and Fire: A brief history of religions and cultures of Westeros

Religion is an important element of the world in A Song of Ice and Fire and define the different cultures present in the main continent of Westeros and the eastern Essos. The religions are also a good way to learn and understand the legacy of the cultures and ethnic groups from which the populations are descending from. I will first talk about Westeros and then about Essos which will be a good way to introduce this eastern continent.

Westeros

The first inhabitants were the Children of the Forest. This non-human and magical race is now extinct but they are the natives of Westeros. Some 12,000 years before Aegon's Landing, the First Men came from across the Narrow Sea ( the sea that separates Westeros and Essos ). The First Men brought with them steel, bronze and iron weapons and tools and soon started to cut down the trees of Westeros. The Children's way of life was close to nature, they lived in the woods, believed in the trees and this invasion of men quickly became a threat to their existence. It is said that the Children tried to stop the First Men with their magic by flooding the swampy region of the Neck ( among other examples ) but in vain and it finally ended in a war.

The Children of the Forest and the First Men reached terms of coexistence where the Children kept their forests. For thousand of years the two races lived in peace until the War of the Dawn where the Others tried to invade Westeros ( see my previous article ). They fought side by side against these demons and eventually won the war thus the bonds between the Children and the First Men grew stronger. It is during this peaceful coexistence that the Children of the Forest taught their neighbours their faith in the “ Old Gods “, the gods of trees, rivers, mountains and nature.

The Old Gods have no names, no representations. There are not worshipped in churches nor in temples but with a Weirwood. The Weirwoods have blood-red leaves and a white trunk with ( for most of them ) a face carved in it by the Children or the First Men and their descendants. The sap is as red as the leaves and when it weeps from the weirwood's eyes, it looks like the tree bleeds.

The faith of the Old Gods is the predominant religion in the North and most Northerners are direct descendants of the First Men like House Stark who is one of the oldest family of Westeros.

While the Children of the Forest and the First Men lived together in a relative harmony, the natives slowly started to prepare their retreat from the world. The brothers of the Night's Watch reported that they went in the harsh lands of beyond the wall and were given obsidian daggers to help protect the world should a new Others' invasion happen.

6,000 years after the arrival of the First Men in Westeros, a new human invasion threatened the First Men's Kingdoms and the remaining Children of the Forest, the Andals. Following King Hugor of the Hill after a divine apparition, the Andals left Essos and set foot in the Vale. They brought with them the Faith of the Seven and started several centuries of bloodshed against the First Men and the Children. The Andals chopped down most of the weirwoods and slaughtered the Old Gods followers. They eventually conquered Westeros except the North.

The Andals' culture ( language, writing ) spread across all Westeros and is now the main ethnic group in all Westeros ( with the exceptions of the North, the Iron Islands and Dorne ).

During the Andal invasion, the Children of the Forest disappeared and broke all relations with humans, they have not been seen for thousands of years.

The Faith of the Seven has become the principal belief in Westeros. The followers built temples dedicated to the Seven called septry and the clergymen ( and women ) are the septons and septas. An order of Silent Sisters is charged to prepare the dead for their funerals. They are bound to serve the Stranger and have taken a vow of eternal silence and chastity. The warriors of the Faith of the Seven created the tradition of knighthood.

The Seven are in fact of single god but with seven faces, three males, three females and the last who is neither male nor female. The faces are the Father Above ( justice ), the Warrior ( courage, victory in battle ), the Smith ( strength at work ), the Mother Above ( love, fertility, compassion ), the Maiden ( virtue, innocence ), the Crone ( wisdom ) and finally the Stranger who is death and the unknown.

The head of the faith is the High Septon and is elected by the Most Devout ( a council of septons and septas ). Several military companies also exist.

When they invaded Westeros, the First Men also conquered the Iron Islands. These settlers created their own religion, the Drowned God. The Ironmen ( also called Ironborn ) are a harsh and violent people and so is their god. In their belief, the Ironmen live for plunder and piracy and remain close to the sea. When one of them die, it is said that he has been called by He Who Dwells Beneath the Waves ( the Drowned God ) to feast with mermaids in the underwater halls. Though they do not worship him, the Ironmen also believe in the existence of the Storm God, the Drowned God's eternal foe who are at war since forever. The baptism in the Iron Islands is a ritual of drowning and then resurrection leaded by the Drowned Men ( priests ). Since Aegon's Landing, the Ironmen are subjects of the Iron Throne and must live in the King's Justice which mean that they had to give up the “ Old Way “. The Old Way is their tradition of plunder and piracy. They used to captured the women of the green lands to take them as “ Salt wives “ ( concubines ) and the men as slaves. The Old Way is not authorized inside the Iron Throne Kingdom but the Ironmen can keep their traditions elsewhere ( which mean they can raid the lands of Essos for example ).

The Drowned God is a deity disliked outside the Iron Islands but the Old Gods and the Faith of the Seven followers managed to put aside their religious differences and it is no more a source of tension in Westeros. In the North, where the majority of the people believe in the Old Gods, you can find many septs for the Faith of the Seven as well as many cities and castles in the South keep a Weirwood. House Manderly, Lords of White Harbor in the North is a good example of ethnic coexistence. Centuries ago, House Manderly was driven away from their lands in the Reach, they fled North and were welcomed by the Starks who gave them lands but they never abandoned the Faith of the Seven and are still Southerners.

III) A Song of Ice and Fire : The Wall and the Night's Watch

In the last article I talked about The Wall and briefly mentioned what it is but its history and purpose is very important and deserves a dedicated article. Those of you who watch the show may know some of the functions for the Wall such as defense,but it is also home to the Night's Watch... a brotherhood sworn to protect the Seven Kingdoms from the Wildlings population.

History and appearance

Some eight thousands years before the War of the Conquest, Westeros suffered a terrible winter that lasted many years. During this winter, a darkness fell across all Westeros ( and even the East ) for a generation. This period is known as the Long Night. In this darkness the Others came from the far North , a demonic race of humanoids

The native population of Westeros, the Children of the Forest ( who are reputedly extinguished ) allied with the First Men ( humans coming from the east who settled in Westeros, the northerners are their descendants ) and defeated them during the War of the Dawn. This may seem difficult to understand, if you don't it does not really matter. You can still search for more detailed article about the Children of the Forest, the First Men and the Long Night on A Wiki of Ice and Fire.

In order to prevent any other invasion from the Others. Brandon “ the Builder “ Stark ( the supposed founder of House Stark ) decided to raise a Wall between the North and the far North. A 300 miles long and 700 feet high fortification made of ice ( and maybe magic ) with nineteen castles to garrisoned the brothers of the Night's Watch. Some tunnels have been made through the Wall to allow the Night's Watch to patrol beyond the Wall.

If the said purpose of Wall was at the beginning to protect the realms of men from any incursion by the Others, it started to be a protection against the wildling clans that settled outside beyond it. These wildling clans are spread in the harsh lands beyond the Wall and spend most of their time to hate and fight each other. It happened several times through history that the clans would unit under a “ a King Beyond the Wall “ and try in vain to force the defences of the Night's Watch but more often they attempt to raid the North by sneaking through the Wall.

The Night's Watch

The Watch is a brotherhood of men wearing black and sworn to defend the realms of men from the Wall. Once you join the Watch you will wear black for the rest of your life and desertion is punishable by death. In a first place, their principal objective was to prevent Others' attacks but since they never appeared again after the Long Night, they mainly deal with the Wildlings.

The Night's Watch is the oldest military order of Westeros and their survival through 8,000 years of wars and political troubles is due to the fact that they never involved the order in the matters of the realms.

Anyone can join the Night's Watch, from the peasant to the knight or high born, a place will be given in the order.

The “ Black Brothers “ are under the leadership of a Lord Commander ( generally elected by his own men ) who sits in the biggest of the Wall's castles, Castle Black. The other castles are commanded by a Commander who takes his orders from the Lord Commander. Once a man has finished his training, he will be assigned a position in one of the three groups :

• The stewards, led by the First Steward. They are in charged of the good working order and daily needs of the Wall such as tending the horses, cooking, farming, smithery, squiring for the Lord Commander...etc. The administration is oft given to literate stewards.

• The builders are under the charge of the First Builder. Their task is to make sure the Wall stays as much as much possible in a good states. They can be masons, carpenters,..Etc.

• The rangers are led by the First Ranger. Despite all the brothers are trained to fight and patrol the Wall, the rangers are the main fighting force. They are trained to survive and scout in the most hostile environments beyond the wall. Their missions can last for months.

As I said, all men can be given a place in the Night's Watch and it use to be a honourable vocation “ to take the black “. Many commoners travelled North to join the Watch in order to have a roof and a meal everyday as well as nobles who will never rule their family's lands or landless knights.

Once the manpower of the order was near ten thousands but after Aegon's War of the Conquest, the number of Black Brothers decreased dramatically. During the events depicted in the books, hardly a thousand men stands to protect the Kingdom of the Iron Throne. When once people considered the Night's Watch as a honourable order, the recruits are more often coming from the lord's dungeons and thus many Black brothers are rapists, murderers or thieves sentenced to the Wall.

By the time of the books, the manpower of the Watch is so low that they abandoned most of their fortresses and only three of them are garrisoned ( Castle Black, East-Watch-by-the-Sea, and the Shadown Tower ).

The Night's Watch is brotherhood and the men are sworn for life. Any brother caught after desertion is beheaded or hanged.

If knights and high-born are generally already trained by the time they join the Wall, commoners are trained to the art of fighting. Once the Master-at-arms considered a class of recruits to be trained, they are assigned to one of the three groups and they are asked to pronounce an oath before their gods. Once a brother has pronounced his vow, if he was willing and not sentenced to take the Black, he can't go back. He is sworn for life. The oath of the Night's Watch is as follow :

Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honour to the Night's Watch, for this night and all nights to come.

” And now his watch is ended “ are the traditional words the brothers pronounced when one of their companion dies.