In the season 2 finale of House of the Dragon, "The Queen Who Ever Was," Daemon Targaryen has a trippy vision in the godswood at Harrenhal. We broke the whole thing down here, but he basically sees a possible future where the White Walkers take over the Seven Kingdoms, plus a vision of a young Daenerys Targaryen.
It's all very ooky and spooky and odd. Actually, the weirdness starts before he ever lays hands on the weirwood tree, which is when the vision begins. Before that, he sees a stranged figure who appears to have horns stalking the godswood:
— Valyrian Heirs (@vheirs) August 7, 2024
Who is this figure? There's really one option: it's one of the Green Men from the Isle of Faces.
Who are the Green Men?
There are a lot of organizations in the world of ice and fire: the maesters, the Night's Watch, the Kingsguard, the silent sisters, etc. The Green Men are one of the most mysterious. They don't play any kind of important role in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and are pretty much a piece of deep lore known only to super-nerds.
But they do come into play during the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryen civil war at the heart of House of the Dragon, as described in Martin's book Fire & Blood. Basically, they're an order charged with protecting the Isle of Faces, which is an island in the middle of the Gods Eye lake near the castle of Harrenhal, where Daemon has been holed up all season.
The Isle of Faces is a sacred place. Thousands of years ago, it was on this island that representatives of the First Men met with representatives of the Children of the Forest, the race of creatures who occupied Westeros before humans migrated there. The Children and the First Men had been engaged in a bloody war for a while, but by this point both sides were tired of fighting and ready to make peace. There on the Isle of Faces they agreed upon the Pact, under which the First Men would get to occupy all the land in Westeros save the deep forests, which would remain the domain of the Children. The First Men also agreed not to chop down any more trees, which were sacred to the Children. To mark the occasion, faces were carved into all the trees on the island, so that the Gods worshipped by the Children of the Forest could bear witness to the event.
Thousands of years later, the Green Men still protect this place. In A Song of Ice and Fire, Old Nan tells stories about the Green Men where they have antlers and dark, green skin, although it's unclear if that's literally true or if they just wear antler headdresses or something. Are the Green Men mortal men who have dedicated themselves to this cause? Are they hybrids of humans and the Children? Are there Children of the Forest still living on the Isle of Faces? By the time of Game of Thrones, the few Children still left in Westeros have migrated north of the Wall, but if any were still left in the Seven Kingdoms proper, it would be on the Isle of Faces.
We basically don't know the answers to any of these questions. The Green Men are one of those blank spots in the lore that Martin left purposefully vague. (Beware incoming SPOILER!) In Fire & Blood, it's said that Addam of Hull eventually flies his dragon Seasmoke to the Isle of Faces to take counsel with the Green Men during a turbulent part of the war, but we don't know why, nor do we know what happened on the island. Now that it's officially brought the Green Men into the picture, these are questions House of the Dragon will probably answer in future seasons.
The third season of House of the Dragon likely won't premiere until 2026. A fourth and final season will wrap things up sometime after that.
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