Children of the Forest

The Children of the Forest, or simply the Children, are a mysterious non-human race who were reportedly the original inhabitants of the continent of Westeros. They were already living in Westeros when the First Men migrated to the continent, 12,000 years before Robert's Rebellion.HBO viewers guide, season 2 Appendix, Westeros Through the Ages
According to legend they were last seen during the coming of the Andals 6,000 years before the War of the Five Kings. In the present day, most believe that they are simply the stuff of myth and never existed at all. Even the few who do believe they once existed, such as Maester Luwin or Ned Stark, believe that they have long since gone extinct. In actual fact, some of the Children endured for a time Beyond the Wall as one group of Children came to serve the Three-Eyed Raven. This group was eventually killed during an assault on the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven, rendering the Children seemingly extinct.
==Biology==
The Children of the Forest were a sapient species that resembled humans in overall shape but significantly smaller in stature, with adults being no larger than human children. Their facial anatomy is mostly identical to that of a human albeit being very rounded and soft, like that of a young child. They also have disproportionately large and expressive eyes (like human babies), which are set wider in their face than would be normal for a human child of the same height and stature.
Their skin is shown to be a pale gray-green with an apparent rough to wrinkly tecture, similar in appearence to plants. Similarly, their eyes have been shown to be all lime green in color. Like humans, the Children of the Forest do possess hair, however, they only possess hair on their head and lack eyebrows and body hair. The Children of the Forest also seem to possess an indigo-colored blood.
A notable difference in anatomy is that the Children of the Forest are tetradactyl, possessing only four digits on each of their hands.
They also seem to be extremely long-lived. Given Leaf participated in the creation of the Night King some twelve thousand years ago, their lifespans are clearly measured in millennia. It is unknown if this is through purely-magical or biological means or a combination of both.
==Culture==
The Children of the Forest worshiped nature gods, the countless and nameless spirits of every tree, every rock, and every stream. Their religion devoted to the Old Gods had no complex temples, but according to legend it was the Children who carved faces into the sacred weirwood trees. These carved heart trees were the closest thing to a shrine in their religion.
The Children of the Forest weren't very technologically advanced, though they were skilled at woodcraft and had a great knowledge of the plants and animals of the forest. They hunted using bows made of weirwood and used blades made of dragonglass.
The shamans of the Children of the Forest were known as "Greenseers", who are said to have had impressive powerful magic at their disposal.
==History==
===Background===
Legend holds that the Children of the Forest ruled Westeros for thousands of years before the arrival of the first humans on the continent twelve millennia ago. They inhabited the vast primeval forests which spanned most of Westeros before humans came and began cutting them down. According to legend, the giants also inhabited Westeros at this time, and clashed periodically with the Children. Whatever history, wars, romances, or triumphs the Children may have had in the untold centuries that they inhabited Westeros, their stories have been forgotten.
Twelve thousand years ago, the First Men from the eastern continent of Essos migrated to Westeros by crossing a land bridge known as the Arm of Dorne. The First Men began cutting down the Children's forests, including the sacred weirwood trees, leading them into conflict with the Children. The two races fought a desperate series of wars for dominance for the next two thousand years, during which the Children of the Forest destroyed the Arm of Dorne and flooded the Neck through the sorcery of their greenseers.
After two thousand years of violence, the Children of the Forest and the First Men fought one another to a standstill. The two races agreed to peaceful coexistence and signed the Pact on the Isle of Faces in Gods Eye lake, granting the open lands to humanity and the forests to the Children.
The Pact lasted for another two thousand years before the enigmatic White Walkers invaded from the uttermost north, bringing death and destruction to both races. The Children of the Forest allied with the First Men to drive back the White Walkers in the War for the Dawn eight thousand years ago. After the defeat of the White Walkers, the Children, much-reduced in number, are said to have helped Bran the Builder raise the Wall with their powerful magic to prevent the White Walkers' return.
The Children of the Forest never had a large population to begin with, and they took heavy losses in the struggle against the White Walkers, from which they never truly recovered. Over the following centuries they gradually declined throughout Westeros, until they had all but disappeared by the time the Andals invaded Westeros six thousand years ago. 
The few who remained were hunted or driven off by the Andals during their conquest of the continent, believing their magic to be an abomination to their Faith of the Seven. The Andals cut down the sacred heart trees in the south (except on the Isle of Faces), but the First Men of the North withstood their advance, and continued their worship of the Old Gods centered around the remaining heart trees there. The handful of Children who survived the slaughter were said to have fled to the far north, Beyond the Wall, where the Andals would never follow them. By the time that Aegon I Targaryen conquered and united the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros three hundred years ago, there had been no contact with the Children of the Forest for thousands of years."The Children of the Forest, the First Men, and the Andals"
According to the knowledge of the maesters, the Children are either extinct, or never existed in the first place and are a purely mythical race. This is disputed by the people of the North, who hold that they inherited their worship of the Old Gods from the Children of the Forest, who were real and have long since departed the realms of men."What Is Dead May Never Die"
Secretly, a handful of the Children actually did survive in the lands Beyond the Wall, unseen even by the wildlings, hiding in vast underground caverns."The Children"
===Game of Thrones: Season 2===
Maester Luwin tells Bran Stark that many people think that magical creatures like the Children of the Forest never existed at all. Luwin tells Bran that he thinks they may have once existed in ancient times, but that they have long since gone extinct: "The dragons are gone, the giants are dead, and the Children of the Forest forgotten."
===Game of Thrones: Season 4===
Leaf, one of the Children of the Forest, emerges from the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven to save Bran Stark and his companions from a group of wights. She leads Bran and his companions deeper into the cave as other Children peer at them from around corners, until they reach the Three-Eyed Raven.
===Game of Thrones: Season 5===
After managing to kill one of the White Walkers with a dagger made of Dragonglass, Samwell Tarly reads through many of the old manuscripts at Castle Black trying to find out what makes it so special. He explains to Stannis Baratheon that the only thing he's found is some mention that the Children of the Forest used to hunt with dragonglass weapons."Kill the Boy"
===Game of Thrones: Season 6===
Bran Stark continues his training with the Three-Eyed Raven in his cave, where the remaining Children of the Forest also gather. Meera Reed is upset that she can't help Bran and doesn't have much to do but wait, but Leaf warns her that Bran won't stay at the cave forever and in time he will need her to protect him again."Home""Oathbreaker"
During one of his visions, Bran is shown the darkest secret of the Children: they long ago created the White Walkers from captured First Men. When he awakens, he demands an explanation from Leaf, who tries to explain that they had no choice, as they were at war with humans. Later, Bran's attempts to quicken his vision quests draw the attention of the Night King, who shortly thereafter storms the cave. The Children of the Forest present put up a fight at the cave's entrance and within the cave itself, but most of them are cut down in the ensuing battle. Leaf survives to cover Bran and Meera's escape, but makes the ultimate sacrifice by allowing the wights to envelop and cut her down while she detonates an explosive weapon, destroying the last known holdout of the Children."The Door" Nonetheless, additional pockets of them may survive in the wildest and most secret places of Westeros.
===Game of Thrones: Season 7===
While at Dragonstone, Jon Snow takes Daenerys Targaryen underground to show her the dragonglass that he seeks to mine. Afterwards, he shows her carvings of spiral symbols engraved by the Children of the Forest. When he takes her further in, he shows her carvings of the Children and the First Men standing by each other—banding together against their common enemy, the White Walkers, led by the Night King."The Spoils of War"
Despite proof from Samwell Tarly and Bran Stark, the Conclave believe that the White Walkers are no danger to Westeros, and compare them to Jenny of Oldstones, who claimed descent from the Children of the Forest."Eastwatch"
==Behind the scenes==
Michele Clapton and the cast discussed the costume design of the Children of the Forest in Season 4:
Clapton: "I always thought the Children of the Forest should be really old children. Personally I took my lead from Jojen and Meera, their costumes have always been on the verge of being quite organic. And so the costumes that I've made are out of feathers and leaves.
Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark): "It's all sort of greeny, huge, curls, all over the place [gestures to his head], but in a sort of very tree-like, root fashion.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Jojen Reed): "They look in some ways similar to wildlings, but they look more ancient, like more of an ancient race."
Clapton: "They don't have any way of fashioning clothes, how would they do that? So it's almost like, it's supposed to look like they've rolled in it. And this beautiful lichen, it's just sort of little bits of mold and lichen and things growing on them: they're like little trees, trees with feathers on them."Game of Thrones - Silk, Leather & Chainmail: Costumes of Season 4
Benioff and Weiss wanted the Children of the Forest to look as non-human as they plausibly could on a TV budget. Octavia Alexandru, the child-actress who portrayed Leaf in the Season 4 finale, wore a full costume and hair prosthetics, but on-set she had black dots on her face used for motion capture: in the finished episode, her face is a full digital effect, based on her performance but deforming her face in several ways to make it appear non-human (i.e. her eyes are more widely set in her head than human eyes would be). The facial deformations went through about a dozen alternate designs, with several variant makeup designs for each of these basic outlines. Octavia was 11 years old, but her face was digitally deformed to make her features much more juvenile: very large wide-set eyes; a more rounded, chubby, baby-like face, and a more prominent forehead.Making Game of Thrones: Children of the Forest.
The design of the Children of the Forest was drastically upgraded when they returned in Season 6 (after not appearing since the Season 4 finale which they debuted in). The redesign is much closer to how the novels describe the Children's appearance, with glowing cat-like eyes, and nut-brown skin spotted like a deer's. Some descriptions of the Children in the books imply that they look almost like humanoid squirrels (the name the giants call them literally translates as "little squirrel people"). One notable departure from the books, however, is their hands: the TV-Children have five fingers with what appear to be fingernails, while in the books they have four clawed fingers.
==In the books==
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, legend holds that the Children of the Forest ruled Westeros for thousands of years before the arrival of the First Men from the eastern continent of Essos, some twelve millennia ago.
According to Leaf, the First Men named them "children"; the giants called them woh dak nag gran, the squirrel people, because they were small and quick and fond of trees; their name in the True Tongue means those who sing the song of earth.
Within the first novel, A Game of Thrones, it is speculated by songsters in the North that the Children might survive north of the Wall, though simply because no one is entirely sure what exists in the uncharted forests beyond it. Nonetheless, the Children have not been sighted in thousands of years, either by the Night's Watch guarding the Wall or even the wildlings that live immediately north of it.
According to myth, the Children were diminutive in stature and few in number compared to humans, but formidable in battle. Their greenseers wielded powerful magics and their wood dancers were skilled hunters who became warriors in their conflict with the First Men. It is hinted that the enigmatic green priests of the Isle of Faces in the midst of Gods Eye know some of the secrets of the Children and their ways, and others (especially in the North) may know something of their ways.
Bran Stark discovers the handful of surviving Children of the Forest hiding in a secret, vast underground cave network beyond the Wall, guided by their member known as "Leaf". She later explains to Bran that there were simply never that many of her race in the first place, even before the First Men arrived. She believes that the gods made them this way as a counter-balance to their very long lives (which can last for centuries), so they would not exhaust the resources of their lands like deer overpopulating a woods with no wolves in it until they starve to death. They only sparsely inhabited Westeros, and they took severe losses against the White Walkers from which they never really recovered. When the Andals came they killed the few Children they encountered, and the survivors secretly fled beyond the Wall, where none would follow.
The novels have never described the Children of the Forest casting fireballs the way that Leaf seems to in the Season 4 finale "The Children", but Season 6 confirms that the Children actually throw volatile projectiles rather that cast fireballs. In the book version of the scene, Leaf sets the wights on fire using a torch, by darting around and between them with amazing speed and agility.
The World of Ice & Fire sourcebook (2014) revealed that the largest holdouts of the Children of the Forest at the time of the coming of the Andals tended to be, of course, the major remaining woodlands of Westeros south of the Wall, which are concentrated in the Stormlands (the Rainwood in the south and what would later be known as the Kingswood to the north). It was only in the Stormlands that the Children still had a population large enough to amount to any significant fighting force. They actually joined forces with the old First Men kings of House Durrandon to try to fight off the Andal invaders, a union known as the Weirwood Alliance. It was a slowly losing battle over several generations, however, and over time they could not replace their losses through gradual attrition, and dwindled away. Elsewhere, the Children also put up a determined resistance at a point in the central the Riverlands some distance east of Riverrun known as High Heart—a large hill considered sacred by the Children, which was crowned with a ring of weirwood heart trees. Eventually they were defeated and the weirwoods cut down. The book also hints that the Children, or cousins of them, were once present in Essos, as the most ancient tales from the cultures of the grasslands there tell of "woods walkers" who sound suspiciously like the Children. A forest near the coast of the Shivering Sea is still referred to as "the Kingdom of the Ifequevron" by the Dothraki. Like their Westerosi counterparts, the woods walkers found their numbers reduced first by the rise of the Sarnori, and then by the sudden colonization of the Ibbenese; although the Dothraki fear that the Ifequevron might still be around, the maesters and the Ibbenese think them gone forever.
===Physical appearance and comparison to elves===
Although they occupy the position usually filled by Elves in other high fantasy media, George R.R. Martin has repeatedly insisted that the Children of the Forest are not simply his version of Elves, because "Elves have been done to death". While the Children are repeatedly described as "dark and beautiful" this is not in the same manner of Tolkien's Elves: the Children are described as being smaller than humans with nut-brown skin, large ears, and glowing gold eyes, slit like a cat's. Their skin has spotted patterns, like a deer's fur. They also have 4 digit hands (3 fingers and a thumb) that end in small claws instead of primate fingernails. The Children did not weave cloth for garments, but wore shorts of woven leaves, and leg-bindings made of tree bark. They interwove vines and flowers into their hair. Their females hunted alongside their males. When Bran sees them, he thinks that at a distance they seem no older than himself or his sisters, though up close they carry an air of being far older.
Artistic depictions of the Children of the Forest in the Histories & Lore Season 1 Blu-ray featurettes depict them as nothing like stereotypical Elves, who usually inhabit graceful castles and are highly "civilized". Instead, the Children are depicted as being an aboriginal people adorned with totems and tattoos.
When the Children of the Forest finally appeared in the Season 4 finale of the TV series, they were played by child actors. They apparently don't have claws instead of fingernails, and appear with five fingers instead of four, contradicting both the books and artwork from the Blu-ray featurettes. Similar to how the giants in the novels are inhuman and more like depictions of a Bigfoot or Yeti, depicting the Children of the Forest as they are described in the novels would probably have required making them very expensive CGI motion-capture creations, so the TV series opted to use actors in prosthetics. However, they did attempt to push their design as non-human as possible on a TV budget, so while it isn't full motion-capture, actors playing Children do have a grid of black dots on their faces to digitally map their performance, and in the final version their facial features are pushed around to make them appear more non-human (i. e. rounding their features, making their eyes bigger, and then setting their eyes inhumanly far apart).
The physical appearance of the Children of the Forest was radically upgraded when they reappeared in Season 6, making them much closer to the novels' description (see "Behind the Scenes" above).
==Gallery==
Leaf.png|Leaf as she first appeared in the Season 4 finale
410 Leaf full 1.png|Leaf saving Bran Stark from wights at the entrance to the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven. Note the pattern of white spots or stripes on her legs in this image. 
410 Leaf full 2 - FIVE fingers.png|Note that the live-action version of the Children have five fingers on each hand—both the novels and animated "Histories and Lore" videos from the TV series showed them with four fingers, and claws instead of fingernails.
410 Leaf full 3.jpg|Children of the Forest wear a mix of woven leaves, twigs, bark, and feathers, overgrown with patches of lichen.
410 Leaf full 4.png|Note the patterning on Leaf's legs—which don't seem to be a garment. The novels describe the Children as having brown skin, yet dappled like a deer's with white spots. 
Child of the forest 2.jpg|Another of the Children watches from the background of the cave as Leaf leads Bran and his companions inside.
602 Leaf in cave redesign.jpg|Leaf as she appears in the sixth season.
Leaf HBO Viewer's Guide Season 6.jpg|Leaf's profile image from the Season 6 HBO Viewer's Guide: high-resolution photo showing off the upgraded design for the Children of the Forest
Leaf_HBO.jpg
==References==
==External links==
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Category:Legendary and magical creatures
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Category:Non-human races
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