Andals

The Andals were a warrior people who invaded Westeros thousands of years after the First Men, crossing the Narrow Sea from Essos and conquering all of the continent south of the Neck. They brought with them the Faith of the Seven, iron weapons and armor, and the cultural foundations of most of the modern Seven Kingdoms.

Invasion

According to legend the Andals first landed in the Vale, where they overthrew the First Men kings, and spread outward across the south. They marked themselves with the seven-pointed star of their faith, sometimes carved into their flesh, and waged holy war against the worshippers of the Old Gods of the Forest, cutting down weirwood groves as they went. They slaughtered the remaining children of the forest in the southern lands.

The North

The Andals were never able to conquer the North. The Starks and their bannermen turned back every invasion at the Neck, the marshy chokepoint guarded by the crannogmen and the swamps of House Reed's domain. As a result the North remained a land of the First Men and the old gods, while the south became Andal in blood, faith, and custom.

Legacy

The title borne by Targaryen kings, "King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men," acknowledges the Andals as one of the three founding peoples of Westeros. The Faith of the Seven, the chivalric tradition of knighthood, and the dominant culture of the southern kingdoms all descend from them.