A Game of Thrones

The children of the forest are the non-human peoples that occupied Westeros before the First Men came. Though commonly believed to be long extinct, some claim they moved north beyond the Wall and still live there with giants and other creatures believed to be long gone. The faces in the weirwood trees are their handiwork, and some still worship their gods in the godswoods. The children of the forest work magic and have a strong connection to nature. The demonstrated existence of the Others in the novel opens the possibility that the children of the forest are also extant and can be found in the extreme north.

The Dothraki are a nomadic people who live on the vast grasslands of Essos, the continent east of Westeros. The Dothraki are famed for their skills as warriors and horse riders. They are organized in large groups called khalasars and led by a single Khal. Though equally sophisticated, their culture is seen as primitive by those in Westeros, as it is often marked by violence.

The Hand of the King is a title given to the second most powerful person in the Seven Kingdoms. The Hand is appointed by the king to represent the king’s authority and has the ability to issue commands in the king’s name. Ned Stark is made King Robert I Baratheon’s Hand in A Game of Thrones after the murder of the previous Hand, Jon Arryn.

The Order of Maesters is the organization of intellectuals who serve as advisors to the lords of Westeros. They are healers, scientists, scholars, and messengers, and they wear chains made of the metal that is symbolic of their area of study, though many maesters have chains made up of links of a variety of metals. Once trained, a maester gives up his House name and any birthrights associated with it and takes an oath to serve not a particular person but a holding regardless of who holds it. For example, Grand Maester Pycelle is the maester assigned to King’s Landing, thus he has served many Targaryen kings and continued to serve Robert I Baratheon when he usurped the Iron Throne.

The Night’s Watch is a military organization staffed by men who vow to dedicate their lives to guarding the Wall, a vast structure that separates the Seven Kingdoms from the cold and unknown world to the north. By the time of King Robert, the Night’s Watch is vastly understaffed, and many people underestimate the importance of the Watch, believing the dangers beyond the Wall are nothing more than legend. As such, many of the castles of the Night’s Watch are abandoned, and most of the recruits are criminals and other social outcasts who “take the black” as a preferable punishment to execution.

The Others, also known as white walkers, are an ancient and mysterious race of frozen humanoids who dwell in the far north of the continent of Westeros. They are pale with blazing blue eyes and can raise the dead as wights to fight for them. They are now mostly assumed to be the stuff of legend, but after many thousands of years without a sighting, they are heading south. Only the wildlings and the Night’s Watch have so far had personal encounters with the white walkers in this book.

The Seven Kingdoms is the name of the realm on the continent of Westeros, united under King Aegon the Conqueror. In this first book of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, there are actually nine distinct regions or realms, each of which is governed by a liege lord in one of the Great Houses—the Starks in the North, the Greyjoys in the Iron Islands, the Tullys in the Riverlands, the Lannisters in the Westerlands, the king in the crownland, the Tyrells in the Reach, the Arryns in the Vale, the Baratheons in the Stormlands, and the Martells in Dorne. Each kingdom has some degree of autonomy but ultimately is subservient to the king.