The Andal Invasion

............................................................................................

The Andals were the first new invaders after the First Men had made their Pact with the children of the forest and lived in harmony with them for four thousand years. The Andals came from the hills of Andalos in Essos. They were tall and fair-haired warriors who carried steel weapons and the seven-pointed star of their gods painted on their bodies. Their religion, the Faith of the Seven, teaches that the Seven promised Hugor of the Hill and his Andals kingdoms in a foreign land, which led to them sailing to Westeros. Maesters instead believe that the Andals traveled west under pressure from the expanding Freehold of Valyria. The Andals wielded iron in contrast to the bronze of the First Men, who worshipped the old gods. The First Men were gradually defeated in generational wars over hundreds of years.

Vale
The Fingers in what is now the Vale of Arryn were where the Andals first landed to wrest from the First Men. The First Men of the Vale were ruled by numerous petty kings, some of whom allied with the Andals instead of resisting them. The Shells and Brightstones were betrayed by Andal allies, and the Andal Corbrays claimed the Fingers. The Shetts of Gulltown allied with the Andal Graftons against the Royces, but their conflict ended with Gulltown controlled by the Andals.

King Yorwyck VI Royce and his heirs led much of the resistance of the First Men to the Andals. King Robar II Royce gained the support of the Redforts, Hunters, Belmores, Coldwaters, and Upcliffs. These united First Men were able to successively defeat several Andal warlords, including the Corbrays, Graftons, and the Hammer of the Hills. However, Robar's army was routed in the Battle of the Seven Stars, and control of the Vale was claimed by the Andals of House Arryn. Those First Men who did not submit to the Arryns fled into the Mountains of the Moon and became the mountain clans.

Riverlands
After conquering the Vale, the Andal warlords continued west through the Bloody Gate or sailed up the Trident into the riverlands, where they established their own small kingdoms. Tales from the era include the Fall of Maidenpool, the Widow's Ford, the White Wood, High Heart, and the Battle of Bitter River. The last of the First Men river kings, the Mudds, were brought down by an alliance of petty Andal kings. To avoid being slaughtered, many of the First Men houses submitted and intermarried with the Andals. After centuries of infighting between the Andal kings, House Justman was the first house to regain control over the riverlands.

During their conquest the Andals burned out all the weirwood groves and slew the children of the forest when they found them, believing them abominations, although True History states the children had already fled the riverlands before the Andals invaded.

Stormlands
Shortly after the Andals began invading the Vale, they also began sailing to Blackwater Bay and the stormlands. The Andal Togarion Bar Emmon allied with the First Men of House Massey and established Andal control over Massey's Hook. The Storm Kings on House Durrandon won at least six battles against the Andals, including the defeat of the Holy Brotherhood of the Andals in the great Battle of Bronzegate, but the Andals continued to invade, conquering Tarth and Estermont. When the Andals threatened to conquer the rainwood, King Baldric the Cunning set some Andal warlords against each other. King Durran XXI allied with the children of the forest, and this Weirwood Alliance achieved victories over Andals at Black Bog, the Misty Wood, and the Howling Hill. King Cleoden I also allied with three Dornish kings to defeat the Andal Drox the Corpsemaker.

The Durrandons and Andals came to an accord when the Andals failed in a seventh attempt to conquer the great castle of Storm's End. The Andals instead intermarried with the First Men storm lords; King Maldon IV and his son, Durran XXIV, married Andal maidens. The Andals swore to serve the Storm Kings, while King Ormund III converted to the Faith.

Westerlands
The Andals began to invade the westerlands after they conquered the Vale and the riverlands. Tybolt Lannister, the King of the Rock, defeated the first Andal warlord, and the next few attacks were also successfully defended by House Lannister.

As the Andals continued to march west, however, Kings Tyrion III and Gerold II arranged marriages between their bannermen and the most powerful of the warlords. The children of the Andals were brought to Casterly Rock to serve as wards but also hostages. After the death of King Gerold III, his daughter's husband, the Andal Ser Joffrey Lydden, took the Lannister name. Other houses formed by the intermarriages included Houses Brax, Drox, Jast, Kyndall, Lefford, Marbrand, Parren, Sarsfield, and Serrett. In contrast to most native kings, the support of the Andals allowed the Kings of the Rock to expand their power.

The Reach
The Andals traveled to the Reach after the invasions of the Vale, the riverlands, and the stormlands, as they were prevented from sailing there by the fleets of House Hightower of Oldtown and Redwyne of the Arbor. In the meantime, the Gardener kings of Highgarden prepared the defense of the Kingdom of the Reach.

When the disunited Andals eventually reached the realm of the Gardeners generations later, however, they were welcomed by the Three Sage Kings, Garth IX, Merle I, and Gwayne V. In order to integrate the newcomers, the Gardeners took Andal brides, accepted Andal knights into their service, granted lands to the most powerful Andal petty kings, and converted from worship of the old gods to the Faith. Later Andal warlords were then repelled by the alliance of the Gardeners and the earlier Andals. Families formed by the intermarriage of First Men and Andal nobles included Houses Cuy, Graceford, Leygood, Orme, Roxton, Uffering, and Varner.

Iron Islands
As the Andals invaded and settled in the riverlands, westerlands, and the Reach, they began constructing new settlements and stout castles. These stronger defenses, combined with the Andals' sailing ability, weakened the grip of the ironborn on the Sunset Sea. The Andals then began to invade the Iron Islands, often with the support of rival ironborn lords.

King Rognar II Greyiron was defeated by an alliance of Andals with Houses Orkwood, Drumm, Hoare, and Greyjoy. According to legend, Harras Hoare was chosen as king through the finger dance, but Archmaester Haereg states Harras became King of the Iron Islands by marrying the daughter of an Andal warlord. The Hoare dynasty were often denigrated by the ironborn, especially by the drowned men, for marrying and allying with Andals and tolerating the Faith. The new religion never took hold in the Iron Islands, however, and most families of Andal origin eventually converted to the Drowned God.

Dorne
The influence of the Andals was less in Dorne than in the other southern kingdoms of Westeros. Most Andals focused on the nearer lands on the narrow sea, rather than the Dornish sands. Some, such as the Ullers, Qorgyles, and Vaiths, adventured into more inhospitable regions of Dorne. The Allyrions, Jordaynes, and Santagars also established their own realms. The Martells defeated two First Men houses, the Wades and Shells, claiming territory near the mouth of the Greenblood.

The North
The Andals attacked the eastern shores of the North much as they were the lands of the narrow sea, but they were aggressively met by the Kings of Winter, House Stark of Winterfell, and their First Men bannermen. The Hungry Wolf, King Theon Stark, was supported by House Bolton when the Andal warlord Argos Sevenstar was slain in the Battle of the Weeping Water. Theon then sailed east, raided Andalos, and displayed the heads of his Andal victims along the shore of the North.

After the conquest of the Trident and the riverlands, the Andals began to attack the North from its south over land. However, every attack was thrown back by the crannogmen of the Neck or the strong fortifications of Moat Cailin; it is unknown how many Andal armies failed to capture the ancient ruins. Eventually, the Andals relented and the North was allowed to remain in peace, although over succeeding millennia Andal blood entered the North through dynastic marriages.