Humans
Humans are the predominant species of humanoids found in the known world. In contrast, giants and the children of the forest are considered the elder races in Westeros.[1]
Contents
Characteristics
Most humans in A Song of Ice and Fire are similar to real-life humans. Some rare humans are able to utilize magical abilities such as greensight or skinchanging.[2]
The tallest race of men are the Lengii.[3] Some Sistermen have webbing between their hands and feet, which they call the mark,[4] and the people of the Thousand Islands are said to have green-tinged skin.[5] Scholars believe the Ibbenese[6] and the Sothoryi[7] to be different from other races of men. Some priests of the Drowned God have claimed the ironborn are more akin to fish and merlings.[8]
History
Human civilization is largely believed to have first developed in Essos.[9] Maesters such as Yandel believe that civilization was born in the grasslands of the Sarne during the Dawn Age; the Sarnori claimed descent from the Fisher Queens of the Silver Sea.[10] Priests in Yi Ti, however, claim that the first towns and cities arose along the shores of the Jade Sea and discount the claims of Qarth and Sarnor.[11] Most scholars believe the first great civilization to have been the Old Empire of Ghis, though claims have also been made of Qarth, the YiTish Great Empire of the Dawn, and Asshai.[9]
During the Dawn Age, the First Men—who may have originated in the the grasslands of Essos[10]—used the Arm of Dorne to cross from Essos to Westeros.[12] The First Men warred with the elder races of Westeros, the children of the forest and giants.[13]
Before moving to Andalos, the Andals are said to have come from the grasslands as well[10] or from the Axe.[14] The Rhoynar of the Rhoyne are said to have been the first to learn iron-making,[15] which they then taught to the Andals[16] and the Valyrians.[14] The Andals, however, claimed they were taught how to forge iron by the Smith.[14]
Having tamed dragons, the Valyrian Freehold rose to power in the Valyrian peninsula. The Valyrians conquered the Ghiscari to their east and established the Free Cities in western Essos.[9] The Andals abandoned Andalos under Valyrian pressure and traveled across the narrow sea to Westeros.[14] The Rhoynar later traveled to Westeros as well after being defeated by the Valyrians in the Rhoynish Wars.[17]
According to Septon Barth, Valyrian priests prophesied that the Doom of Man would come from Westeros.[18] The Doom of Valyria caused the collapse of the Freehold, and during the ensuing Century of Blood the Dothraki defeated the Tall Men of Sarnor and the Qaathi.[10]
Quotes
Ten thousand years ago or more, when Westeros was yet a howling wilderness inhabited only by the giants and children of the forest, the first true towns arose beside the banks of the river Sarne and beside the myriad vassal streams that fed her on her meandering course northward to the Shivering Sea.[10]
—writings of Yandel
At the Citadel of Oldtown and other centers of learning in the west, maesters regard these tales of the Great Empire and its fall as legend, not history, yet none doubt that the YiTish civilization is ancient, mayhap even contemporary with the realms of the Fisher Queens beside the Silver Sea. In Yi Ti itself, the priests insist that mankind's first towns and cities arose along the shores of the Jade Sea and dismiss the rival claims of Sarnor and Ghis as the boasts of savages and children.[11]
—writings of Yandel
No more wanderers crossed to Westeros after the Breaking, it is true, for the First Men were no seafarers...but so many of their forebears had already made the crossing that they outnumbered the dwindling elder races almost three to one by the time the lands were severed, and that disparity only grew in the centuries that followed, for the women of the First Men brought forth sons and daughters with much greater frequency than the females of the elder races. And thus the children and the giants faded, whilst the race of men spread and multiplied and claimed the fields and forests for their own, raising villages and forts and kingdoms.[1]
—writings of Yandel
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The World of Ice & Fire, Dorne: The Breaking.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 34, Bran III.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Bones and Beyond: Leng.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 9, Davos I.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: East of Ib.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: Ib.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: Sothoryos.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Iron Islands.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Rise of Valyria.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Bones and Beyond: Yi Ti.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Coming of the First Men.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 66, Bran VII.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Arrival of the Andals.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: Valyria's Children.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 5, Tyrion II.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Reach: Oldtown.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 36, Davos IV.