Godswood

A **godswood** is usually a small wooded area within the walls of castles throughout the Seven Kingdoms. It is primarily used as a place of worship by those who carry on the traditions of the First Men and pray to the Old Gods. To followers of the Faith of the Seven, some of whom belong to families that converted to the Faith throughout the centuries, they are treated as a private wooded area of solitude.

## History

When the First Men took up the Old Gods of the Children of the Forest, they created godswoods, groves within their castles and villages where a single weirwood, known as a "heart tree" and carved with a face, was planted so the gods could be worshipped. In the North, every castle has a weirwood heart tree with a face. South of the Neck, however, most weirwoods were cut down or burnt years ago. There is a significant number on the Isle of Faces, however, and many southern castles still have weirwoods within their godswoods.

## Locations

### Casterly Rock

*Main Article: Casterly Rock*

In the Westerlands, Casterly Rock's godswood is a cave within the mountain, called the Stone Garden. It contains a twisted weirwood, whose tangled roots have almost filled the cave, choking out all other growth.

### Darry

Shortly before winter is declared, the godswood at Darry in the Riverlands contains bare trees with black branches reaching the sky.

### Eyrie

The godswood of the Eyrie in the Vale of Arryn contains a godswood but no heart tree. It is more garden than godswood, as the ground is too thin and stony for a weirwood to grow. Instead, there is a statue of a weeping Alyssa Arryn at its centre.

### Harrenhal

*Main Article: Harrenhal*

The godswood of Harrenhal in the Riverlands covers twenty acres. Besides a weirwood heart tree with a terrible face, it contains pines, sentinels, and a little stream. Bats hunt at night.

### Highgarden

*Main Article: Highgarden*

Although Garth IX Gardener, King of the Reach, built the first sept of Highgarden, he continued to pray within the castle's godswood. The lush godswood contains three weirwoods that have grown together, called the Three Singers, said by some to have been planted by Garth Greenhand.

### Raventree Hall

The godswood of Raventree Hall in the Riverlands contains trees said to be as old as the castle's towers. Its weirwood heart tree, although dead, is colossal and can be seen from leagues away. Hundreds of ravens have roosted on the tree at night for thousands of years.

### Red Keep

*Main Article: The Red Keep*

The godswood of the Red Keep, the castle of King's Landing in the Crownlands, overlooks the Blackwater Rush. It is an acre of elm, alder, and black cottonwood. Unlike the weirwoods of older godswoods, the Red Keep's heart tree is a great oak covered in smokeberry vines. Red dragon's breath grows below the oak.

### Riverrun

*Main Article: Riverrun*

The godswood of Riverrun in the Riverlands is a bright and airy garden. Full of birds and flowers, it consists of tall redwoods and old elms overlooking streams. Its heart tree is a slender weirwood with a sad face.

### Storm's End

*Main Article: Storm's End*

The godswood at Storm's End in the Stormlands includes its solemn-faced weirwood heart tree. It was habitually frequented by Ardan Storm to seek solitude.

### Whispers

The ruins of the Whispers in the Crownlands are overgrown with soldier pines, amidst which is a slender young weirwood.

### White Harbour

The godswood of White Harbour is found within the Wolf's Den. The godswood is a brooding tangle of root, branch, and stone, made up of oaks, elms, and birch. Its weirwood heart tree is massive, with branches breaching walls and windows and an angry carved face.

### Winterfell

*Main Article: Winterfell*

The godswood of Winterfell in the north is a dark, primal place of three acres of old forest untouched for ten thousand years. It primarily consists of sentinels, oaks, and ironwoods, but also has ash, chestnuts, elms, hawthorn, and soldier pines. In the centre is a small, dark, and cold pool with an ancient weirwood heart tree. The weirwood has bark white as bone, dark red leaves, and a long and melancholy face carved in the bark, its deep-cut eyes red with dried sap. A thousand years of humus covers the earth. Across the godswood, below the windows of Winterfell's Guest House, three small ponds are fed by an underground hot spring. It is frequented by all the Stark children, as well as the other inhabitants. Alyna Forrester withdraws to the godswood after receiving news that she must travel south to Storm's End. It is on that same day where Myra Snow is gifted a weirwood bow from Cayden Stark.