What’s in a Weirwood Tree? A History of the Old Gods

In our last history post, we looked at the New Gods—the Faith of the Seven, a religion that sprang up in the country of the Andals before they brought it over to Westeros. This week, we’ll look at Westeros’ oldest religion: the worship of the Old Gods. This was the major religion of the Westoerosi continent before the First Men came, and it stayed that way through the Dawn Age and the Age of Heroes. Still practiced by those in the North, it was once called “The Gods of The Children of The Forest,” but is known today as “The Old Gods of the Forest,” or more simply, “The Old Gods.”

The “Old Gods” were so named by the Andals, when they arrived with their Faith of the Seven pantheon circa 6,000 BC. To be fair, at the time, the gods were quite old, as old as the Faith of the Seven is now, having been around since the dawn of recorded history, circa 12,000 BC. The gods were nameless deities, worshiped by the race known as the Children of the Forest. They were seen as being part of the stones, part of the earth, part of the trees, and those who communed with them were known as greenseers. Trained shamans, history records that the greenseers were able to talk “with beasts and birds.” More important to our story today, the greenseers also communed with weirwood trees, and were able to see through the faces the Children carved in them.

Very little is known about the Children of the Forest. Today, most on Westeros considers them a myth, like giants. But as we know from Jon and Bran’s encounters beyond the Wall, both giants and the Children are still around. They stay north of the Wall, hiding from the southern rulers. From what little we know in the books, the Children lived on Westeros for thousands of years of pre-history. Their first encounters with men came during a time known as the Dawn Age, in 12,000 BC, when those known as “The First Men” invaded Westeros, entering through Dorne and moving northward over the next 2,000 or so years.

The Children were not able to stop the invasion, as the First Men carried bronze age-type weaponry. Although the Children had magic on their side, the First Men had numbers and strength. The two races warred, and by the time they reached a peace agreement, the First Men had conquered the entire continent. Known as “The Pact,” the peace agreement was brokered by the greenseers. It has been suggested, but never confirmed, that the greenseers saw the coming of the Long Night (the first White Walker invasion), and knew that Men and Children would have to work together to survive it. The only relic from this time period stands in the Riverlands on a small island once called “Gods Eye,” commonly referred to as the Isle of Faces. There, faces were carved into all of the trees “so the gods could bare witness.” The island is still protected today, and is said to be under the guardianship of the Green Men.

Some of the agreements made during the Pact are still in place today, like the use of ravens for transmitting messages across long distances (the Children taught the First Men how do to this). The Pact also included what is known today as “The Laws of Hospitality.” One might remember a certain Stark Matriarch who put her faith in these old laws only to see her family destroyed. However, it says a lot that the Freys were shunned by all after they broke the laws of hospitality at the Red Wedding, although the show hasn’t gotten into those reactions.

The Pact also provided that the First Men would worship the Children’s Gods of the Forest, including the weirwood trees. One of the few places where the First Men did not put their own “Old Gods” aside was on the Island of the Three Sisters, where the Gods of the Forest were simply added to the already existing Lady of the Waves and the Lord of the Skies. This agreement lasted for 4,000 years, until the Andals arrived. It is worth noting that, although the Andals demanded that the people they conquered worship the Faith of the Seven, whoever claims the mantle of Lord of the Seven Kingdoms also has “King (or Queen) of the First Men” among their titles. The Old Gods are still remembered, even at court.

Being from an earlier time, the worship of the Old Gods did not involving following any written text. This has lead to many of their practices being treated as myths, or embellished into fantastical stories. But as we know from Bran’s experiences, many of these myths and legends are rooted in fact. The greenseers being able to “talk to beasts and birds” is probably based on the ability to warg into animals, something we’ve seen Bran do. (It is said that the original way to send ravens did not include written messages, but “the ravens would talk.”)

We also know from Jojen Reed that greenseers have visions of the future, and are driven by forces they cannot control to ensure that these visions come true, even at the cost of their own lives. And as we saw at the end of Season 4 (and as book readers know from Bran’s later chapters in A Dance with Dragons), the eyes that are carved into the weirwood trees are also part of warging, and give greenseers a way to see what is happening in a particular area by peering through the wooden faces. It’s probable that the Children carved faces into all the trees on the God’s Eye so greenseers could warg into the trees and literally watch the Pact being made, much as the gods could. Greenseers and gods seem to be interchangeable in this way.

It should be noted that, so far, most of the wargs we’ve met on screen are Thenns. The Thenns claim to be the last direct descendants of the First Men, driven beyond the Wall with the Children when the Andals came. We know Bran has this power, and some theorize that all Stark children (who live and whose wolves still live) do or will have it as well. (There are scenes in the books suggesting that Arya, while blind, begins to warg unconsciously in her sleep.) Why do the Starks have this ability? Well, they trace their lineage directly back to the Long Night and the First Men, and they’re one of the few major families who still worship the Old Gods. Perhaps their loyalty is being rewarded.

The show made a point of showing Ned Stark worshiping the Old Gods, but he’s not the only one to do so. In the first season, Jon Snow makes a big deal of taking his oath at the weirwood tree beyond the Wall. Another point: though the show didn’t make a big deal of it, Sansa’s northern-style wedding to Ramsay Bolton included her saying her vows in front of a weirwood tree. From a production standpoint, this differentiated this wedding from the ones being held in the Sept of Baelor in King’s Landing, but it also struck me as an attempt by the Boltons to have a wedding the legitimacy of which would be respected by those who honored the Starks and their Old Gods.

The Gods of the Forest stood by the First Men and the Children through the Long Night and the original defeat of the Others, and then again during the Building of the Wall. (It is said that the Wall was built using the magic of the Old Gods.) It is unsurprising, therefore, that Bran would find his way to the three-eyed raven in the weirwood tree beyond the Wall, and that wargs would become more prevalent during the run up to the next great battle. Unlike the Faith of the Seven, which I expect will fight and deny the arrival of Dragons as much as it will the arrival of wights and White Walkers, I expect that those who still worship the Old Gods will find themselves a little more ready to handle the wars to come.

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