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| “ | The Old Gods are countless, nameless spirits of nature. | „ |
| ~ Bran Stark on the Old Gods |
| “ | The gods have taken him down into the earth, into the trees. The gods are all around us, in the rocks and streams, in the birds and beasts. Your Bump has gone to join them. He'll be the world and all that's in it. | „ |
| ~ A wildling woods witch to Lump's mother. |
| “ | Godry: I had forgotten that you northmen worship trees. Clayton: What sort of god lets himself be pissed upon by dogs? |
„ |
| ~ Ser Godry Farring and Ser Clayton Suggs to Jon Snow, mocking the Old Gods. |
The Old Gods, also known as the Old Gods of the Forest, are numerous and nameless elemental deities of stream, forest, and stone in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. They were originally worshipped all throughout Westeros, until the following invasion of the Andals. Ever since then, the Faith of the Seven, the religion of the Andals, became the dominant religion in nearly all of Westeros. While the gods worshipped by the First Men came to be the so-called Old Gods, the Seven-faced deity of the Faith of the Seven became known as the New Gods.
The worship of the Old Gods is now almost completely limited to only the northern lands of Westeros, still practiced by the Northmen, the Crannogmen of the Neck, and the Free Folk tribes in the lands beyond the Wall. The Old Gods are also still worshipped in some parts of the Riverlands, including the Isle of Faces in the Gods Eye and the lands of Raventree Hall ruled by House Blackwood, which has northern ancestry and were once northern kings. Furthermore, not all Northmen worship the Old Gods, as the lands of White Harbor ruled by House Manderly, which has ancestry of the Reach from lands of the Mander, worship the Seven-Faced God and have the largest septs in the North, most notably the Sept of the Snows.
According to the old tales, the worship of the Old Gods was taught to the First Men by the Children of the Forest, who were the first and original inhabitants of Westeros, alongside the Giants. The Children have magical powers of their own and prior to the Pact on the Isle of Faces, they were at war with the First Men.
History[]
In the Dawn Age, thousands of years ago prior to the arrival of the First Men and the migration of the Andals, the Olds Gods were worshipped throughout most of Westeros by the Children of the Forest, the original supreme rulers of Westeros. When the First Men arrived from Essos via the Arm of Dorne, they began cutting down weirwood trees, which are considered sacred to the Old Gods, so that they could expand their territory while at the same time build holdfasts and villages. Infuriated by the actions of the First Men, the Children of the Forest immediately declared war, which lasted for generations. During the war against the Children of the Forest, the First Men believed that the children's greenseers could see through the eyes of the carved faces of the weirwoods and began cutting down any heart tree they could find. At Moat Cailin, the Children of the Forest are said to call upon the Old Gods to use the hammer of the waters against the First Men while other tales claimed that they performed blood sacrifice at the Isle of Faces.
Generations later, after fighting each other to a standstill, the First Men made peace with the Children of the Forest at the Isle of Faces by agreeing to signing the Pact, in which they will peacefully coexist. To celebrate, the Children of the Forest proceeded to carve a face in the trunks of every weirwood tree on the island, which gave it its name. In time, the First Men came to adopt the Old Gods as their own. While the worshipping of the Old Gods is not the only early religion in Westeros, other deities worshipped by the First Men living in the Three Sisters include the Lady of the Waves and the Lord of the Skies while the Drowned God is worshipped in the Iron Islands.
When Corlos, the ancestral founder of House Casterly, slew a lion in its den but spared its cubs, the Old Gods are said to be so pleased by this that they sent a ray of sunlight deep into the cave where a gleam of yellow gold was revealed in a vein that is thick as a man's waist. According to Archmaester Eyron, the Crannongmen of the Neck often thought that their Marsh Kings were touched by the Old Gods themselves.
Coming of the Andals[]
For years, the worshipping of the Old Gods remained strong until the migration of the Andals, the native inhabitants of the Essosi region of Andalos. While arriving in Westeros with weapons made of iron and steel, they also brought along their own religion, the Faith of the Seven. While conquering the south of Westeros, the Andals saw the Old Gods as little more than demons and they began destroying any weirwood tree wherever they found them. In the south, nearly all of the heart trees had been cut down and the worshipping of the Old Gods is supplanted by the Faith of the Seven. In the Riverlands, while nearly all of the houses in said region worshipped the Faith, there are few exceptions, as some houses, such as House Blackwood, continue to worship the Old Gods. As the Andals had failed in conquering the North, the worshipping of the Old Gods remain strong there and in the lands beyond the Wall, which is where the Free Folk live. Some of the Free Folk clans are said to worship different deities other than the Old Gods.
Beliefs[]
The Free Folk (or the wildlings) believe that the Olds gods are everywhere in nature—in rocks, streams, birds, and beasts—and that when people die, they take them down into the earth and trees. Maesters teach that the weirwood trees are sacred to the old gods. However, worshippers believe the old gods watch through the trees, most notably through the faces carved into it. It is said that they only have power where the heart tree faces can see, and as a result of the destruction of most of the weirwoods in the south they have no power there.
It is believed that the sigh of the wind and the rustle of leaves are the old gods themselves speaking back to worshippers. According to Jojen Reed, the singers of the children believe that the weirwood trees are the Old Gods, and that when they die, they become part of the godhood.
Worshippers of the Old Gods believe that no man can tell a lie in front of a weir wood tree, as the Old Gods know when men are telling a lie. Through the eyes of the carved faces of the weirwoods, the Old Jods judge people in front of them. As such, an oath might be made in front of a weirwood tree or with a hand placed in the mouth of the weirwood’s face. It is said that the faces in the trees were carved by the Children of the Forest during the dawn, which took place centuries before the coming of the First Men from across the narrow sea and the Annals from Andalos.According to Maester Luwin, the faces of the weir wood trees were carved by greenseers to keep watch on the woods. The First Men believed that the greenseers could see through the eyes of the weirwoods.
Worshippers[]
The Old Dods were worshipped by the children of the forest, and eventually after the Pact, by the First Men. Following the coming of the Andals, who brought the Faith of the Seven to Westeros, the religion of the Old Gods no longer became the dominant religion in the southern part of Westeros. Only a few houses (e.g., House Blackwood) still keep the Old Gods, while most of the noble houses, such as House Bracken, follow the Faith of the Seven instead. In the Northern part of Westeros, however, the majority of the houses still worships the Old Gods. In the lands beyond the Wall, the free folk also continue to worship the Old Gods. Although some accounts state that there are clans who worship different gods (dark gods beneath the ground in the Frostfangs, gods of snow and ice on the Frozen Shore, or crab gods at Storrold's Point), there is no reliable confirmation.
Worship[]
When people come to worship or pray to the Old Gods, they would always go to the godswoods, groves contained within castles throughout the Seven Kingdoms, where a heart tree can be found. These trees, which have faces carved into them, are considered to be sacred to the Old Gods. The heart trees are usually weirwoods, and godswoods are often the only places where living weirwoods still remain until one goes north of the Wall. Once, all noble houses had a godswood with a heart tree in its center; However, the First Men, in their wars against the children of the forest thousands of years ago, cut down many of the trees, as did the Andals later on, replacing the Old Gods with the Faith of the Seven in the kingdoms south of Westeros. Although godswoods can still be found in the south, they now serve as secular gardens and no longer prayed to.
Prayer and marriages by the First men are done in front of a heart tree. The weirwoods and the places they stand are considered to be sacred. They are not to be defiled by bringing animals such as horses into them.
Unlike the Faith and many other religions in the Known World, there are no priests, no holy texts, no songs of worship, and practically no rites that go with the worshipping of the Old Gods, since it is a folk religion, which passed from generation to generation over the centuries. Worshipers believe the Old Gods watch through the heart trees, and prayers are done in front of heart trees, but in silence rather than reciting or chanting any prayer.
In the past, worshipping of the Old Gods includes through the performing of Blood sacrifice. For example, the entrails and bodies of criminals and traitors could be hung from the branches of weirwoods after their executions.
Practices[]
| “ | The wildlings serve crueler gods than you or I. These boys are Craster's offerings. His prayers, if you will. | „ |
| ~ Jeor Mormont to Jon Snow, about wildling ways of worship, and assuming Craster has also been sacrificing his infant sons to the Old Gods over the years, instead of the Cold Gods. |
It is considered to be offensive towards the Old Gods if anyone commits various actions, such as incest, kinslaying, and slavery, although in regards to Kinslaying, the degree of kin and circumstances of killing one's own kin(e.g., in war) holds significant influence. The Guest right (or the Laws of Hospitality) are considered to be sacred towards Gods both old and new. It is also believed that the Old Gods can detect lies through the heart trees.
Marriage customs[]
A marriage ceremony takes place in front of a heart tree. The bride's father, or the person standing in his place (usually a kin or whoever else is the closest living kin), will escort the bride to the groom and those presiding over the marriage. So far, all the wedding gowns that have thus far been described for a follower of the Old Gods have been a shade of white.
Marriage ceremonies of worshippers of the Old gods are rather short and they contain no priests. The bride is escorted to her groom, who awaits her in front of the weirwoodtree in the godswood, and a ceremonial conversation follows, where the identity of the bride, the groom, and the person giving the bride away are established. The bride is asked to accept her husband. When she agrees ("I take this man"), the bride and groom will then join hands, kneel before the heart tree, and bow their heads in as a token of submission. After rising, they will do a silent prayer. Once this was done, the groom will then remove the maiden’s cloak, before placing the bride’s cloak around her shoulders, after which he will carry her to the feast in his arms. The wedding ceremony is followed by a feast, which in turn is followed by the bedding, which will result in the wedding's consummation.
When marriage vows said at swordpoint, they are not held to be valid, but even if the marriage occurred under force, a lord might claim the marriage to be legal if e.g. lands are at stake.
Westerosi lords once had the right to the first night, the custom of bedding newly-wed women before their husbands. This was changed when Queen Alysanne Targaryen convinced her husband, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, to abolish it, but it is still practiced illegally in some parts of the north, as "where the old gods rule, old customs linger".
Funeral customs[]
Specific funeral customs are not known. However, nobles houses appear to bury deceased family members in crypts beneath their own keeps/castles. House Stark of Winterfell, who are traditional worshippers of the Old Gods, buries deceased family members in the crypts below Winterfell. According to Lord Roose Bolton, another worshipper of the Old Gods, the bones of his deceased son Domeric Bolton “lie beneath the Dreadfort with the bones of his brothers”, suggesting it to be a custom (at least of the nobility).
Quotes[]
| “ | Corliss: You northmen brought these snows upon us. You and your demon trees. R'hllor will save us. Artos: R'hllor will doom us. Thoughts of Asha: [A pox on both your gods.] |
„ |
| ~ Ser Corliss Penny and Artos Flint arguing about their religions. |
Trivia[]
- They were originally the gods of the Children of the Forest. The First Men inherited the religion from them.
- Sansa Stark prays to both the Old Gods and the Seven, mainly the latter, as she favors southron culture and her Tully family roots more.
- Storm's End had an ancient godswood dedicated to the Old Gods, but during the War of the Five Kings, said godswood has been set afire by the orders of Stannis Baratheon, in the name of the god R'hllor.
- Acting as the King of the Seven Kingdoms, Stannis expressed the intent of wanting to name a new Lord of Winterfell and burn the castle's ancient godswood dedicated to the Old Gods. As he currently gained much support and popularity among northern houses, it is unknown if Stannis still wishes to proceed with the burning of he renounced it due to the risk of losing northern support.
- Stannis's captive Asha Greyjoy advised him to execute her brother and fellow captive Theon Greyjoy beneath Winterfell's heart tree, in the name of the Old Gods, to appease the Northmen and looking more fitting due to Theon's crimes against the North.
- In the television series Game of Thrones, the original followers of the Old Gods, the Children of the Forest, are the creators of the White Walkers, through some unspecified sorcery rite performed on a First Man captive restrained on a heart tree, giving some enigmatic connection to the White Walkers' creation and the worship of the Old Gods.
- This differs from the vague accounts of history in A Song of Ice and Fire, in which the war between the Children and the First Men ended with the Pact during antiquity, still centuries away from any recorded appearance of the Others and the enigmatic coming of the Long Night (or Age of Darkness in Essos). By the time of any recorded first appearance of the Others, the Children had long disappeared from the Seven Kingdoms. So far in the novels, the origins of the Others and their purposes remain unknown.
- The Old Gods can force those who have greendreams to see their own future death, which deeply affects them mentally. It is implied and widely theorized by readers that Jojen Reed has been killed in A Dance With Dragons, as Bran can no longer find him anywhere inside the three-eyed-crows' caves. Shortly before Jojen's disappearance, Bloodraven and his singers force Bran to eat a paste made from weirwood trees, and Bran notices that the red substance in it looks like blood. The theory, which is very old and popular is known as the "Jojen paste theory".
- Before the consumption, Jojen, who was already shown how he was going to die by the Old Gods, was deeply depressed for weeks and commented he was afraid. One day before Bran consumed the weirwood paste, Meera Reed was inconsolable, isolated, crying, or spending time alone with her brother.
- As the cave of the last greenseer beyond the Wall is filled with countless skeletons, including those of human beings and giants, even children, readers also theorize that they continuously give sacrifices to the Old Gods, to make them stronger, as flesh is said to feed the heart trees.
- One of Bran Stark's visions includes a group people, who were northern First Men, sacrificing a man tied on a heart tree by opening his belly alive, to feed his entrails and flesh to Winterfell's heart tree and make its roots stronger. Seeing the scene, Bran screamed "no!" at them, but since it was an event of the past he could do nothing to stop the sacrifice.
- By many worshipers of the Seven, including the High Sparrow, and possibly indirectly by Ironborn culture, the Old Gods are regarded as demons. Worshipers regard them as onnipresent ruling spirits/deities of nature. Melisandre sees them as false gods and regards their agents as servants of the Great Other.
