The Song of the Earth
The Children of the Forest call themselves "Those who sing the song of the earth". In a series called A Song of Ice and Fire, this seems significant.
Some things we know about the Children:
In the books, we learn of the Isle of Faces in the lake called "God's Eye" in the Riverlands, where both the ancient weirwoods (AGoT, Catelyn II) and the Children of the Forest (AGoT, Bran VII; ASoS, Bran II) remain. It was here that the Pact between (some of) the Children and the First Men was made. So we have another stronghold of the Children that is right in the middle of much of the action of the series -- across the lake from Harrenhal, squat in the middle of the Riverlands and Crownlands region where most of the war in the first three books (and seasons) is fought.
But that's not all. The Children are not just hiding out in isolated pockets (and occasionally going on recon missions like Leaf) -- they are literally everywhere.
The prologue to "A Dance with Dragons" makes a point of showing us, from the perspective of Varamyr Sixskins, how the soul of a person can live on in an animal after death, and even move on from one animal into another. Later on in the same book (Bran III), Jojen implies that the greenseers of the Children are still present in the trees; Leaf says the Children have "Gone down into the earth... Into the stones, into the trees"; and Bloodraven even implies they might be in the ravens (which would explain how those can act as the sort of effective air-mail system that Westerosi take for granted).
The Children are still here. They have long, slow lives; they probably know much of what happens in the world of humans, even more so if they use the ravens as eyes and bodies; and at least some of them are interested in what is happening in the world.
After the Pact, some of the Children helped the First Men build the Wall to keep the Others at bay. From that point on, the influence of the Children seems to recede into the background -- except for the seasons, which kept coming in irregular rhythms that confused even the Maesters.
However, from the stories in A Song of Ice and Fire, we know that some Children do still take an interest, and even an active role, in what humans are doing. Around 50 years before the novel series, they enlist the then-Lord Commander of the Night's Watch (and former Hand of the King) Brynden Rivers, called Bloodraven, show him to the Heart of Winter and make him into the Three-Eyed Crow. Judging from his comments to Bran, Bloodraven might have been a greenseer before already, perhaps using his talents as the feared spymaster of three kings before being sent to the Wall by his great-nephew Aegon V.
Having established that some Children sometimes do work together with humans, we can ask: what other pacts or collaborations might there be?
One big enduring riddle is the attitude of (different factions of) the Children toward dragons. Those Children who signed the Pact and helped raise the Wall (many of which may now belong to the melancholy faction represented by Leaf) are opposed to the forces of ice, so it would be symbolically appropriate for them to also be opposed to the forces of fire -- after all, theirs is the song of the earth, the middle between the two extremes. If there is a faction of Children that want to see dragons gone from the world, it is conceivable that they allied with the Maesters in some way, who (if Marwyn is to be believed) were responsible for the decline and death of the Targaryen dragons. Note that the Maesters are intimately connected with the ravens of Westeros, and that Bloodraven explicitly tells Bran that this skill was taught to humans by the Children, so there is a deep and relevant connection between the Children and the order of Maesters from the very beginning.
And if the Children are opposed to dragons, this gives weight to the theory that the tragedy at Summerhall was what triggered the advance of the Others (and hence of winter) that we see already in motion at the beginning of A Song of Ice and Fire. In fact, there is one character who was present at Summerhall at the time of the tragedy who could be a connection to the Children: the woods witch that came to court with Aegon V's good-daughter Jenny of Oldstones, who is later encountered by Arya as the "Ghost of High Heart". Whether she is a human or a Child of the Forest herself is disputed; but in either case, she could be an informant for the warlike faction of the Children, or even their instrument in sabotaging Aegon's efforts at Summerhall.
In that case, the sequence of events might have been something like this:
Some things we know about the Children:
- They were the original inhabitants of Westeros (and possibly of Essos) before the First Men (i.e. humans) came along.
- They fought the advance of humans with strong magic, including breaking the Arm of Dorne to sever the land bridge to Essos, sinking a part of Westeros ("the Bite") to make the north of Westeros harder to get to, and finally creating the Others (at least in the TV show).
- They (or some of them) occasionally work together with humans, e.g. by giving Jojen and Bran green dreams or turning Bloodraven into the Three-Eyed Crow.
- They are still here.
The Children of the Forest are still here.
The only contemporary Children we have met (in the show or the books) so far is the small group guarding the Heart of Winter and protecting Bloodraven, and later Bran. From them, we learn that Children have lives spanning multiple centuries ("Men, they are the children"), and that Leaf has been wandering around Westeros for about two hundred years before going "home" (i.e. north). This means that the Children are neither extinct nor necessarily in exile.In the books, we learn of the Isle of Faces in the lake called "God's Eye" in the Riverlands, where both the ancient weirwoods (AGoT, Catelyn II) and the Children of the Forest (AGoT, Bran VII; ASoS, Bran II) remain. It was here that the Pact between (some of) the Children and the First Men was made. So we have another stronghold of the Children that is right in the middle of much of the action of the series -- across the lake from Harrenhal, squat in the middle of the Riverlands and Crownlands region where most of the war in the first three books (and seasons) is fought.
But that's not all. The Children are not just hiding out in isolated pockets (and occasionally going on recon missions like Leaf) -- they are literally everywhere.
The prologue to "A Dance with Dragons" makes a point of showing us, from the perspective of Varamyr Sixskins, how the soul of a person can live on in an animal after death, and even move on from one animal into another. Later on in the same book (Bran III), Jojen implies that the greenseers of the Children are still present in the trees; Leaf says the Children have "Gone down into the earth... Into the stones, into the trees"; and Bloodraven even implies they might be in the ravens (which would explain how those can act as the sort of effective air-mail system that Westerosi take for granted).
The Children are still here. They have long, slow lives; they probably know much of what happens in the world of humans, even more so if they use the ravens as eyes and bodies; and at least some of them are interested in what is happening in the world.
Some Children of the Forest work together with humans.
Back in the Dawn Age, at least one big faction of the Children of the Forest made peace with the First Men in the Pact. While it is possible that these were the same Children who first created the Others as a weapon against the First Men, it seems more likely that there were differences of opinion on how to deal with the invaders among the Children, with the faction preferring a peace ultimately gaining supremacy. It is also conceivable that they appeased the remaining extremists by allowing them to keep the number of humans on Westeros contained by calling up winters when they got too many.After the Pact, some of the Children helped the First Men build the Wall to keep the Others at bay. From that point on, the influence of the Children seems to recede into the background -- except for the seasons, which kept coming in irregular rhythms that confused even the Maesters.
However, from the stories in A Song of Ice and Fire, we know that some Children do still take an interest, and even an active role, in what humans are doing. Around 50 years before the novel series, they enlist the then-Lord Commander of the Night's Watch (and former Hand of the King) Brynden Rivers, called Bloodraven, show him to the Heart of Winter and make him into the Three-Eyed Crow. Judging from his comments to Bran, Bloodraven might have been a greenseer before already, perhaps using his talents as the feared spymaster of three kings before being sent to the Wall by his great-nephew Aegon V.
Having established that some Children sometimes do work together with humans, we can ask: what other pacts or collaborations might there be?
One big enduring riddle is the attitude of (different factions of) the Children toward dragons. Those Children who signed the Pact and helped raise the Wall (many of which may now belong to the melancholy faction represented by Leaf) are opposed to the forces of ice, so it would be symbolically appropriate for them to also be opposed to the forces of fire -- after all, theirs is the song of the earth, the middle between the two extremes. If there is a faction of Children that want to see dragons gone from the world, it is conceivable that they allied with the Maesters in some way, who (if Marwyn is to be believed) were responsible for the decline and death of the Targaryen dragons. Note that the Maesters are intimately connected with the ravens of Westeros, and that Bloodraven explicitly tells Bran that this skill was taught to humans by the Children, so there is a deep and relevant connection between the Children and the order of Maesters from the very beginning.
And if the Children are opposed to dragons, this gives weight to the theory that the tragedy at Summerhall was what triggered the advance of the Others (and hence of winter) that we see already in motion at the beginning of A Song of Ice and Fire. In fact, there is one character who was present at Summerhall at the time of the tragedy who could be a connection to the Children: the woods witch that came to court with Aegon V's good-daughter Jenny of Oldstones, who is later encountered by Arya as the "Ghost of High Heart". Whether she is a human or a Child of the Forest herself is disputed; but in either case, she could be an informant for the warlike faction of the Children, or even their instrument in sabotaging Aegon's efforts at Summerhall.
In that case, the sequence of events might have been something like this:
- Aegon V, after having procured dragon-lore from Asshai among other places, attempts to hatch seven dragons from seven eggs in Summerhall (and possiblys do something bigger and bolder; see below); perhaps assisted by his son, the Prince of Dragonflies (Jenny's husband).
- He nearly succeeds -- but the woods witch who infiltrated his court via Jenny of Oldstones sabotages his work, leading to wildfire burning down the castle and killing everyone involved.
- Knowledge of the near-miss reaches the warlike faction of the Children, either via the woods witch or through ravens, weirwoods or other channels. Frightened by this (which points to Aegon's plan having been something bigger than merely reawakening some dragons), those Children call the Others down from the Lands of Endless Winter, in order to decimate or even eradicate humanity.
- A different faction of Children enlist Bloodraven as the Three-Eyed Crow in reaction to this (Bloodraven disappears when ranging north of the Wall about two years after the tragedy at Summerhall).
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