Age of Heroes

The Age of Heroes is the foundational, semi-mythical epoch of Westerosi history, a time of legendary kings, magical deeds, and the establishment of ancient pacts that still echo in the present. It is the era before the written word, known only through tales set down by septons thousands of years after the fact, and it provides the essential mythic framework for the conflicts and quests of the narrative.

Definition and Historical Context

The Age of Heroes is defined by its distance and its lack of reliable records. As Samwell Tarly explains to Jon Snow, the oldest histories of Westeros were written after the Andals came, long after the events they describe. The First Men left only runes on rocks, so everything known about the Age of Heroes, the Dawn Age, and the Long Night comes from accounts written by septons thousands of years later. These accounts are filled with kings who reigned for hundreds of years and knights riding around a thousand years before there were knights. This makes the Age of Heroes a time of legend rather than verifiable history, a repository of archetypal stories that shape the culture's understanding of itself.

Key Figures and Events

The Age of Heroes is populated by figures whose names are invoked as benchmarks of power, wisdom, and folly. Brandon the Builder is credited with raising the Wall and founding House Stark. Symeon Star-Eyes is a legendary knight of the period. The Night's King, a Lord Commander of the Night's Watch who fell to darkness, is another figure from this era. The Last Hero is the central figure of the Long Night, who, according to Sam's research, slew Others with a blade of dragonsteel. The children of the forest, during this age, gave the Night's Watch a hundred obsidian daggers every year. The pact between the First Men and the children of the forest, which ended their wars, was also made during this time.

Narrative Significance and Legacy

The Age of Heroes functions as a mythic standard against which the present is judged. Characters like Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly actively research this period to understand the nature of their enemy, the Others. The discovery that the Others are vulnerable to obsidian (dragonglass) and dragonsteel (Valyrian steel) directly connects the ancient legends to the practical needs of the present war. The stories of the Age of Heroes, such as the tale of the Rat Cook, are told and retold, serving as moral lessons and cultural touchstones. The very structure of the Night's Watch, with its vows and its role as the shield that guards the realms of men, is a legacy of this age. The Age of Heroes is not merely a past time but a living mythos that provides the language, the heroes, and the warnings for the current struggle against the darkness.