History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireOutsiders

!!This is a listing of groups that are outsiders to Westeros that appear in the {{Fantasy}} series ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Visit [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFire here]] for the main character index.

[[foldercontrol]]

!!The Children of the Forest

[[folder: The Children Of The Forest]]
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ca848fd02da734fdd439c0a8a15145be.png]]

-->''"They were a people of the Dawn Age, the very first, before kings and kingdoms, in those days, there were no castles or holdfasts, no cities not so much as a market town to be found between here and the sea of Dorne. There were no men at all. Only the children of the forest dwelt in the lands we now call the Seven Kingdoms."''

The children of the forest, sometimes referred to simply as the "children" are a mysterious non-human race that originally inhabited the continent of Westeros long before the arrival of the First Men during the Dawn Age more than 12,000 years ago. The giants call them woh dak nag gram ('little squirrel people'). They call themselves those who sing the song of earth in the True Tongue.
----
* ArcWords: Like Rhaegar's "Song of Ice And Fire", the Children's "Song of Earth" still makes no sense.
* DyingRace: [[FaceDeathWithDignity The Children are far too accepting of their fate]]. Bran notes that Men [[{{Determinator}} would not be so tacit]].
* FourFingeredHands: The children have four fingers rather than five, which end in black claws.
* GreenAesop: They are vanishing thanks to Man's encroachment and the destruction of the environment.
* LongLived: But not immortal.
* NotSoExtinct
* OurElvesAreBetter: Compared with humans, they are shorter and slighter of build, but quicker and very long-lived. They have some traditional fantasy Elf traits (a pointy-eared DyingRace that has been displaced by humans, being figures of legend to most humans), but Martin specifically avoided most of the other stereotypical Elf tropes, such as InhumanlyBeautifulRace and CantArgueWithElves, as he feels "Elves have been done to death" and he doesn't consider them to be his version of Elves, even if they seem to fill the same niche.
* PointyEars: All the children of the forest have them.
* RealAfterAll: Their culture and abilities have become myth.
* TheRemnant: Even before the coming of men, The Children were few to prevent them overrunning the world.
* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: They've been living underground.
* SuperSenses: They have better sight and hearing than Men.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leaf (SPOILER)]]
!!Leaf

One of the children of the forest, living in the Cave of the Three-Eyed Crow with the Last Greenseer.
----
* [[MrExposition Miss Exposition]]: Answers some of Bran's questions about the children of the forest.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Combined with AnimalEyes. Her irises are gold, with vertical pupils like a snake or cat. The supernatural is taken to a higher level with red or green eyes, as children with those colors are much more likely to be able to become greenseers.
* WalkingSpoiler: Her and her fellow Children's mere continued existence is a massive spoiler.
[[/folder]]

!!The Others

[[folder: The Others]]
-->''"In that darkness the white walkers came for the first time. They swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead Horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds..."''

A mysterious, monstrous race from the Lands of Always Winter. Eight thousand years ago they caused the Long Night, a period of time where the dead rose and attacked the living, laying waste to the world. According to legend they were driven back by Azor Ahai and locked away behind the Wall, where the Night's Watch was established to safeguard the world from their return. Though most believe the Others are simply a myth, the monsters have returned and are once again trying to plunge the world into a never-ending Winter.
----
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Or at the very least, always hostile, implacable, and dangerous to mortals. [[WordOfGod Martin]] has hinted that there may be more to them than meets the eye, they can be reasoned with as shown with Craster's sons and the Children of the Forest don't fear them.
* BeautyIsBad: According to WordOfGod at least, as part of their [[TheFairFolk Sidhe]] motiff.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: What is probably going on, seeing as the Children of the Forest don't seem to mind them much (not that they are particularly solid yardsticks to use, themselves). But, as far as humans are concerned, it's probably safest to think AlwaysChaoticEvil when dealing with them.
* CreepyBlueEyes: Their signature, be it a wight or one of them.
* TheDreaded: The members of the Night's Watch and the Free Folk are terrified of them for good reason, but the rest of Westeros only thinks of them as a myth.
-->'''Tormund Giantsbane:''' A man can fight the dead, but when their masters come, when the white mists rise up... how do you fight a mist crow? Shadows with teeth... air so cold it hurts to breath, like a knife inside your chest... you do not know, you cannot know... can your sword cut cold?
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: Their bodies radiate cold, and it has been suggested that maybe they don’t just show up during winter storms, maybe they ''cause'' them. Even their weapons and armor are made of ice.
* TheFairFolk: Of the terrifyingly dangerous sort. Notably because, in their role as mankind's enemies, they resemble more the medieval version, which, as you may guess, equates them with [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]].
* GiantSpider: Old Nan and some of the books Samwell reads say that they had "giant ice spiders" at their disposal during the Long Night but it has yet to be confirmed if they ever existed or if the Others still have them.
* GreaterScopeVillain: They serve as antagonists to the series as a whole even if most characters are unaware of their existence. The Great Other that Melisandre fears may possibly serve as one as well.
* HumanoidAbomination: They look human but they have milk white skin and OccultBlueEyes.
-->'''GeorgeRRMartin:''' They are strange, beautiful… think, oh… [[TheFairFolk the Sidhe]] made of ice, something like that… a different sort of life… inhuman, elegant, dangerous.
* HumanSacrifice: Craster gave them his sons. This is currently the only way known to stop them from attacking you on sight. [[spoiler:Craster's wives describe the Others coming for Gilly’s son as the baby's "brothers."]]
* ImplacableMan: Stab an Other all you want, they’ll just keep getting up again and again. Wights will also keep coming unless set alight, though they at least retain damage done to them, even if the body parts cut off of them still move.
* KillItWithFire: The only way to kill a wight outside of waiting for it to decompose.
* KryptoniteFactor: Dragonglass (or obsidian) and Dragonsteel (which is thought to be Valyrian steel), is the only thing that can harm an Other, according to legend. As it turns out, [[spoiler:obsidian has been confirmed to work, while Valyrian steel remains untested]]. This doesn’t work on wights though.
* {{Necromancer}}: The Others raise the dead to act as their army.
* NightOfTheLivingMooks: The wights.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: When Sam stabs an Other with a dragonglass dagger, the creature's skin and bones melt away into an icy puddle.
* OccultBlueEyes: The wights raised by the Others gain this even if it wasn’t their natural color in life.
* OutsideContextVillain: While everyone knows of their legend, in Westeros most people either believe they never existed or they all died out. The Night's Watch are the only group that really knows they exist, but even then they don't have a lot of details about the creatures.
* RaisingTheSteaks: The Others resurrect horses to serve as their mounts. They also resurrect other animals such as bears
* ShroudedInMyth: What they are and what they want is still a mystery. Most people they encounter they kill, but apparently they can be reasoned with on some level since Craster is able to keep them at bay by sacrificing his sons to them.
* UltimateEvil: The Great Other, as described by Melisandre, the god of darkness, cold and death.
* TheUnintelligible: The only time one of them was heard speaking, the noise was described like cracking ice.
* ZombieApocalypse: During the Long Night thousands of years ago they brought one of these about, and are now currently trying to do it again in Westeros. That people ''did'' manage to survive this (however much it sucked) is an interesting fact to keep in mind.
[[/folder]]

!!Coldhands

[[folder: Coldhands]]
!!Coldhands
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coldhands_ffg_4049.jpg]]

Coldhands is a mysterious figure from beyond the Wall. He looks like a wight and has hands black from pooled and congealed blood, but is intelligent and seemingly benign.
----
* {{Badass}}: He can effortlessly fight off large numbers of human or undead attackers at once, and has apparently been operating almost entirely alone in hostile territory north of the wall for a very long time.
* BigDamnHeroes: He saved Samwell and Gilly from wights.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Is quite clearly some kind of undead creature, yet is a (seemingly) heroic figure.
* TheFaceless: His face is concealed by a scarf.
* HumanoidAbomination
* InTheHood: Wears a hood over his head that helps conceal his face.
* TheMarvelousDeer: He rides a great elk.
* RevenantZombie: Unlike the wights, Coldhands seems fully capable of independent thoughts.
[[/folder]]

----

!! The Children of the Forest

* TheDreaded: The members of the Night’s Watch are terrified of them for good reason, but the rest of Westeros only thinks of them as a myth.

-->'''GeorgeRRMartin''': "They are strange, beautiful… think, oh… [[TheFairFolk the Sidhe]] made of ice, something like that… a different sort of life… inhuman, elegant, dangerous."

!!Ethnic Groups
[[folder: The First Men]]

The First Men were the culture of humans who first set foot on Westeros. The influence of the First Men is still felt in Westeros, most strongly in the North.

* AbductionIsLove: That they too practiced bride stealing is certain, considering the Free Folk, the Mountain Clans and even the ironborn practice it.
* TheCavalry: Rode horses for the first time.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Of the Celtic Brythons (below the Neck) and the Picts (north of the Neck).
* GoldenAge: The Age of Heroes ushered in after the war between Men and Children.
* MagicVersusScience: They beat the Children of the Forest even though the latter had magic.
* NonIndicativeName: They were not the first race of men. They are called 'First Men' because they were the first humans in Westeros. And [[spoiler:TheWorldOfIceAndFire speculates about some human settlers predating the First Men]]
* OurFounder: The First King. His remains are supposedly interred in the Great Barrow in the Barrowlands.
* TheRemnant: The North still keeps the culture of the First Men.
** Likewise, the Thenn consider themselves the last of the First Men, still speaking the Old Tongue and making weapons and armor of bronze
* SacredHospitality: The most important tradition

[[folder:The Andals]]

The Andals are one of the three major ethnic groups of Westeros. Their arrival caused the fall of many of the kingdoms of the First Men which had developed in the wake of the Pact with the children of the forest. The Andals also brought the Faith of the Seven to the Seven Kingdoms.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Divided Westeros into seven kingdoms like the Anglo-Saxons in England. Almost everything else about them from their system of writing, to their architecture, to their language is reminiscent of the Normans.
* KnightInShiningArmor: Introduced the concept of knighthood.
* KnightTemplar: The original Andal invaders were following religious revelation and carved the seven-pointed star of the Seven on their chests.
* MachoMasochism: Again, many Andal warriors proclaimed their faith by carving seven-pointed stars on their own bare chests, which they proudly displayed in battle.
* WrittenByTheWinners: Thanks to their superior writing which supplanted the First Men's runes.

[[folder: The Valyrians]]
-->''"An empire built on blood and fire."''

The Valyrians are a race of people who lived in south-central Essos and founded the greatest empire ever seen thanks to their dragons. Once the dominant cultural and military power in the world, their empire was mostly wiped out in a cataclysm known as the Doom of Valyria.
----
* ArchEnemy: The Ghiscari Empire and later the Rhoynar.
* ApocalypseHow: Class 0. The Doom, a cataclysm of an unspecified nature, which destroyed Valyria and formed the Smoking Sea. Valyrian magic, knowledge and recorded history was lost. Now the area is said to be haunted by demons. The few brave enough to venture to Valyria's ruins don't come home.
* TheBeautifulElite: The Valyrians were supernaturally beautiful, with PurpleEyes and MysticalWhiteHair.
* DragonRider: The early Valyrians discovered dragons in the Fourteen Fires, a ring of volcanos, and tamed them.
* TheEmpire: In all but name, instead using the less threatening name Freehold.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: To AncientGrome, with their historical role in Westeros mirroring the Normans under William the Conqueror.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Went from a race of shepherds to an empire that conquered ''two'' continents.
* FunctionalMagic: Their skill at magic was as useful to building their empire as the dragons were. They had some of the most powerful and creative wizards in history.
* IncestIsRelative: A common practice, which the Targaryens continued.
* IronicName: The Valyrian ''Free''hold was build on the backs of millions of slaves.
* LostTechnology: Almost all of the Valyrians' great accomplishments were lost in the Doom. The knowledge of forging [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Valyrian steel]] was lost, as was knowledge of magical architecture that allowed for the building of monuments like the Valyrian roads, topless towers and the Long Bridge of Volantis.
* MadeASlave: They enslaved the people of the lands they conquered, forcing them to mine gold and silver underneath the Fourteen Fires.
* TheRemnant: The Targaryens primarily (particularly as they were the last surviving line of dragonriders), but the blood of Valyria is also strong in Lys and bits of their culture are practiced all over Essos.
* TheRepublic: In theory, the Valyrian Freehold was a republic in which the ''lords freehold'', freeborn landholders, all had a say in governance. In practice, politics were dominated by the dragonlords, an oligarchy of the forty most powerful noble families.
* TookALevelInBadass: From simple shepherds to unstoppable dragon-riders who conquered most of Essos.
[[/folder]]

!!The Mountain Clans

[[folder:The Clans of the Mountains of the Moon]]

Savage clans who live in the Mountains of the Moon in the Vale, they hate the Arryns and rob any passing travelers. The clans include the Black Ears, Stone Crows, Burned Men, Milk Snakes, Moon Brothers, Painted Dogs, Sons of the Mist, and the Stone Crows. They are descended from those of the original First Men inhabitants of the Vale who fled into the mountains rather than assimilate themselves with the invading Andals.
----
* [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Self-Mutilation Equals Authority]]: The Burned Men perform self-mutilation as a rite of passage to demonstrate their bravery. Cutting off one's nipple or finger is pretty typical. Timett took it UpToEleven by gouging out his own eye with a hot knife, which was so impressive that he was immediately promoted to warleader.
* AxCrazy: The rest of Westeros see mountain clans as this, the mountain clans see the Burned Men as this, and even the ''Burned Men'' are a little wary around Timett.
* {{Badass}}: All of the mountain clans are fierce fighters, and make travel into and out of the Vale a risky proposition for small groups or those with no weapons.
* BattleTrophy: The Black Ears tribe cuts off the ears of their captured enemies but leaves them alive to prove they do not fear retaliation.
* TheBrute: Several clans fulfill this role for Tyrion, and they are widely hated by the people of King's Landing. Shagga is the most obvious example.
* CharacterDeath: Ulf son of Umar and Conn son of Corratt are both slain at the Battle of the Green Fork.
* IAmXSonOfY: How they introduce themselves. Tyrion catches on and introduces himself as "Tyrion, son of Tywin".
* NotSoDifferent: Tywin points out to his son that there's little difference between the Mountain Clans and the PsychoForHire thugs he uses to RapePillageAndBurn villages in the Riverlands. Later we hear of the Stone Crows massacring villages in the Vale and carrying off their women.
* TheRemnant: They are descendants of the First Men that refused to bow to the Andals. This is supported in the fact that they also practice bride stealing like the Free Folk.
* UnkemptBeauty: Conn, son of Corratt is described as "handsome if he bathed".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Shagga]]
!!Shagga, son of Dolf
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shagga_son_of_dolf_ffg_3693.png]]

A clan chief of the Stone Crows, Shagga becomes one of Tyrion's closest allies.
----
* AnAxeToGrind: Carries three axes as his weapons, normally wielding two at once with the third as a backup.
* AnnoyingArrows: He is hit by several arrows during the Battle of the Green Fork, but does not notice them in his grief for Conn. Most of them just got stuck in his armor, but a few did pierce his flesh, but he is fine when he removes them after the battle ends.
* BadassBeard
* BerserkerTears: When his friend Conn is killed.
* BoisterousBruiser: He never stops boasting.
* CatchPhrase: "I'll chop off your manhood and feed it to the goats" is Shagga's favorite threats; it is sometimes used by [[DeadpanSnarker Tyrion]] to great effect. [[spoiler:It turns out that Shagga refers to a man's beard as his "manhood"]].
* DualWielding
* ThirdPersonPerson: He often speaks in this manner.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Timett]]
!!Timett, son of Timett
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/timett_son_of_timett_ffg_2708.png]]

A Red Hand of the Burned Men, one of the most feared mountain clans.
----
* AChildShallLeadThem: He is described as a gaunt youth, and is not yet twenty years old when he first appears. He leads the Burned Men because he is the most {{Badass}} one there. When a Burned Man comes of age, he must burn a body part - usually a finger, toe or other expendable body part. Timett chose to put out his own eye, doing so with a red hot knife. The Burned Men were so impressed they promoted him to "Red Hand" (a war leader) on the spot.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority
* {{Badass}}
* DualWielding
* EyeScream: He burned out his own eye just to prove how {{Badass}} he is.
* InSeriesNickname: Timett One-Eye.
* MachoMasochism
* PutOnABus: He and his men go back to the Vale after the Battle of the Blackwater, after being denied reentrance to King's Landing following Tyrion's injury.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Chella]]
!!Chella, daughter of Cheyk
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chella_ffg_6105.jpg]]

A clan chief of the Black Ears. The only one of Tirion's wildling lieutenants to return to him after the Battle of the Blackwater, but was driven off.
----
* ActionGirl[=/=]DarkActionGirl[=/=]ActionMom: She has forty-eight ears on the necklace around her neck. According to her, her sons have [[BadassFamily also taken many]].
* TheDarkChick: In Tyrion's group of allies.
* PutOnABus: Returns to the Vale after the Battle of the Blackwater.
* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset: Her necklace of ears.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: She is the only female leader of the Mountain Clans who is part of Tyrion's army.
[[/folder]]

!!The Others

[[folder: The Others]]
-->''"In that darkness the white walkers came for the first time. They swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead Horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds..."''

A mysterious, monstrous race from the Lands of Always Winter. Eight thousand years ago they caused the Long Night, a period of time where the dead rose and attacked the living, laying waste to the world. According to legend they were driven back by Azor Ahai and locked away behind the Wall, where the Night's Watch was established to safeguard the world from their return. Though most believe the Others are simply a myth, the monsters have returned and are once again trying to plunge the world into a never-ending Winter.
----
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Or at the very least, always hostile, implacable, and dangerous to mortals. [[WordOfGod Martin]] has hinted that there may be more to them than meets the eye, they can be reasoned with as shown with Craster's sons and the Children of the Forest don't fear them.
* BeautyIsBad: According to WordOfGod at least, as part of their [[TheFairFolk Sidhe]] motiff.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: What is probably going on, seeing as the Children of the Forest don't seem to mind them much (not that they are particularly solid yardsticks to use, themselves). But, as far as humans are concerned, it's probably safest to think AlwaysChaoticEvil when dealing with them.
* CreepyBlueEyes: Their signature, be it a wight or one of them.
* TheDreaded: The members of the Night’s Watch are terrified of them for good reason, but the rest of Westeros only thinks of them as a myth.
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: Their bodies radiate cold, and it has been suggested that maybe they don’t just show up during winter storms, maybe they ''cause'' them. Even their weapons and armor are made of ice.
* TheFairFolk: Of the terrifyingly dangerous sort. Notably because, in their role as mankind's enemies, they resemble more the medieval version, which, as you may guess, equates them with [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]].
* GiantSpider: Old Nan and some of the books Samwell reads say that they had "giant ice spiders" at their disposal during the Long Night but it has yet to be confirmed if they ever existed or if the Others still have them.
* GreaterScopeVillain: They serve as antagonists to the series as a whole even if most characters are unaware of their existence. The Great Other that Melisandre fears may possibly serve as one as well.
* HumanoidAbomination: They look human but they have milk white skin and OccultBlueEyes.
-->'''GeorgeRRMartin''': "They are strange, beautiful… think, oh… [[TheFairFolk the Sidhe]] made of ice, something like that… a different sort of life… inhuman, elegant, dangerous."
* HumanSacrifice: Craster gave them his sons. This is currently the only way known to stop them from attacking you on sight. [[spoiler:Craster's wives describe the Others coming for Gilly’s son as the baby's "brothers."]]
* ImplacableMan: Stab an Other all you want, they’ll just keep getting up again and again. Wights will also keep coming unless set alight, though they at least retain damage done to them, even if the body parts cut off of them still move.
* KillItWithFire: The only way to kill a wight outside of waiting for it to decompose.
* KryptoniteFactor: Dragonglass (or obsidian) and Dragonsteel (which is thought to be Valyrian steel), is the only thing that can harm an Other, according to legend. As it turns out, [[spoiler:obsidian has been confirmed to work, while Valyrian steel remains untested]]. This doesn’t work on wights though.
* {{Necromancer}}: The Others raise the dead to act as their army.
* NightOfTheLivingMooks: The wights.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: When Sam stabs an Other with a dragonglass dagger, the creature's skin and bones melt away into an icy puddle.
* OccultBlueEyes: The wights raised by the Others gain this even if it wasn’t their natural color in life.
* OutsideContextVillain: While everyone knows of their legend, in Westeros most people either believe they never existed or they all died out. The Night's Watch are the only group that really knows they exist, but even then they don't have a lot of details about the creatures.
* RaisingTheSteaks: The Others resurrect horses to serve as their mounts. They also resurrect other animals such as bears
* ShroudedInMyth: What they are and what they want is still a mystery. Most people they encounter they kill, but apparently they can be reasoned with on some level since Craster is able to keep them at bay by sacrificing his sons to them.
* UltimateEvil: The Great Other, as described by Melisandre, the god of darkness, cold and death.
* TheUnintelligible: The only time one of them was heard speaking, the noise was described like cracking ice.
* ZombieApocalypse: During the Long Night thousands of years ago they brought one of these about, and are now currently trying to do it again in Westeros. That people ''did'' manage to survive this (however much it sucked) is an interesting fact to keep in mind.
[[/folder]]

!!Coldhands

[[folder: Coldhands]]
!!Coldhands
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coldhands_ffg_4049.jpg]]

Coldhands is a mysterious figure from beyond the Wall. He looks like a wight and has hands black from pooled and congealed blood, but is intelligent and seemingly benign.
----
* {{Badass}}: He can effortlessly fight off large numbers of human or undead attackers at once, and has apparently been operating almost entirely alone in hostile territory north of the wall for a very long time.
* BigDamnHeroes: He saved Samwell and Gilly from wights.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Is quite clearly some kind of undead creature, yet is a (seemingly) heroic figure.
* TheFaceless: His face is concealed by a scarf.
* HumanoidAbomination
* InTheHood: Wears a hood over his head that helps conceal his face.
* TheMarvelousDeer: He rides a great elk.
* RevenantZombie: Unlike the wights, Coldhands seems fully capable of independent thoughts.
[[/folder]]

* WitchSpecies: Very handy with magic. WordOfGod is that they are ''not'' Elves.

* DyingRace: Part of one. The children of the forest are not dead yet, despite what humans in Westeros believe, but the only ones we know of are those living in the Cave of the Three-Eyed Crow, and there's only a few dozen.
* FourFingeredHands: The children have four fingers rather than five, which end in black claws.
* LongLived: She's at least two hundred years old. She's spent most of that time wandering Westeros, but grew weary and headed for home north of the Wall.

* NotSoExtinct: As Bran and his friends discover.
* OurElvesAreBetter: "Men, they are the children." Though she's smiling when she says this, as a bit of ironic humor rather than CulturalPosturing. Compared with humans, they are shorter and slighter of build, but quicker and very long-lived. They have some traditional fantasy Elf traits (a pointy-eared DyingRace that has been displaced by humans, being figures of legend to most humans), but Martin specifically avoided most of the other stereotypical Elf tropes, such as InhumanlyBeautifulRace and CantArgueWithElves, as he feels "Elves have been done to death" and he doesn't consider them to be his version of Elves, even if they seem to fill the same niche.
* PointyEars: All the children of the forest have them.

!!Ethnic Groups
[[folder: The First Men]]

The First Men were the culture of humans who first set foot on Westeros. The influence of the First Men is still felt in Westeros, most strongly in the North.

!!Ethnic Groups

[[folder: The First Men]]

The First Men were the culture of humans who first set foot on Westeros. The influence of the First Men is still felt in Westeros, most strongly in the North.

* LostTechnology: Almost all of the Valyrians' great accomplishments were lost in the Doom. The knowledge of forging [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Valyrian steel]] was lost, as was knowledge of magical architecture that allowed for the building of monuments like the Valyrian roads, topless towers and the Long Bridge of Volantis.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Went from a race of shepherds to an empire whose people conquered ''two'' continents.

* BiggerBad: They serve as antagonists to the series as a whole even if most characters are unaware of their existence. The Great Other that Melisandre fears may possibly serve as one as well.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Of the Anglo-Saxons.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: To AncientGrome.

* TheRemnant: The Targaryens primarily, but the blood of Valyria is also strong in Lys and bits of their culture are practiced all over Essos.

* DragonRider: The early Valyrians discovered dragons in the Fourteen Fires, a ring of volcano, and tamed them.

The Valyrians are a race of people who lived in south-central Essos and founded the greatest empire ever seen thank to their dragons. Once the dominant cultural and military power in the world, their empire was mostly wiped out in a cataclysm known as the Doom of Valyria.

* LostTechnology: Almost all of the Valyrians' great accomplishments were lost in the Doom. The knowledge of forging [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Valyrian steel]] was lost, as was knowledge of magical architecture that allowed the building of monuments like the Valyrian roads, topless towers and the Long Bridge of Volantis.

* TheRepublic: In theory, the Valyrian Freehold was a republic in which the ''lords freehold'', freeborn landholders, all had a say in governance. In practice, politics were dominated by the dragonlords, an oligarchy of the forty powerful noble families.

!!The Mountain Clans

[[folder:The Clans of the Mountains of the Moon]]

Savage clans who live in the Mountains of the Moon in the Vale, they hate the Arryns and rob any passing travelers. The clans include the Black Ears, Stone Crows, Burned Men, Milk Snakes, Moon Brothers, Painted Dogs, Sons of the Mist, and the Stone Crows. They are descended from those of the original First Men inhabitants of the Vale who fled into the mountains rather than assimilate themselves with the invading Andals.

* KnightTemplar: The original Andal invaders were following religious revelation and carved the seven-pointed star of the Seven on their chests

Savage clans who live in the Mountains of the Moon in the Vale, they hate the Arryns and rob any passing travelers. The clans include the Black Ears, Stone Crows, Burned Men, Milk Snakes, Moon Brothers, Painted Dogs, Sons of the Mist, and the Stone Crows.

* OurFounder: The First King. His remains are still in Oldtown.

* SacredHospitality

* MultipleChoicePast: No one remembers when the Andals invaded Westeros.

* {{Badass}}

* BigDamnHeroes: He saved Samwell & Gilly from wights.