The history of the world of ASOIAF describes several legendary figures presented as the founders of noble families, particularly in the Reach, that are said to be the children of Garth Greenhand, a fertility god. While we should expect the stories as presented might be misconstruing the cultural memory of these figures, I think by comparing the magic described to things we have seen happen in the main story, we can speculate on what else it implies about the world.
Garth the Gardener
Despite the father allegedly being a god, there doesn’t seem to be any claims that his namesake son had any supernatural abilities.
❌ Not magic
John the Oak
Apparently his mother was a giantess, and he was somewhere between 8 and 12 feet tall. If the giantess thing is not true, the fact that he is supertall could be due to magic, but no active abilities cited.
❌ Not magic
Gilbert of the Vines
Knew how to make wine. Cool. I don't believe we have had any examples of magic that can make plants more fruitful in the present day story. This seems like maybe agricultural knowledge passed down from “Garth Greenhand", not magic.
❌ Not magic
Brandon of the Bloody Blade
We want to believe that as a Stark ancestor, this guy was a warg, but there is no evidence for that in the text.
❌ Not magic
Foss the Archer
Really good at shooting arrows. Possibly just well-practised. It seems like a William Tell reference, and William Tell was talented, not magic.
❌ Not magic
Owen Oakenshield
Drove selkies and merlings off of the Shield Islands. He's a warrior, but nothing about magic powers.
❌ Not magic
Harlon the Hunter and Herndon of the Horn
These lads were said to live an extraordinarily long time, but only if they both fuck their woodswitch wife under a full moon [like, one after the other? Or… nevermind, forget I asked]. We have seen Melisandre apparently take some of Stannis's lifeforce to birth the shadow baby, he seems older and drained because of it. We also see a kiss being used to magically bring people back from the dead with Berrick Dondarion and Lady Stoneheart. So there does seem to be some sexy magic, it's not too much of a stretch to believe this story is fairly accurate.
But what it shows is the lads apparently did not have extraordinary abilities of their own, and it was the lady's witchcraft that kept them alive.
❌ Not magic
Bors the Breaker
Drank nothing but bull's blood, gained the strength of 20 men, grew black horns.
The horns are interesting; Old Nan describes green men having antlers.
The idea of eating something to consume its power is present in the story: Danelle Lothston, Daenerys eating a horse heart, Bran (probably) eating Jojen.
Whatever is the case with Bors, it seems if he had magical abilities at all, he needed to drink blood to activate them.
⏺️ Maybe magic, but needs sacrifices
A skinchanger who can transform into a crane. We know from hearing other tales of skinchangers that turn into animals and seeing them in action, that they don’t actually transform, it’s more like a psychic possession. But yeah, this sounds like real magic of the kind we’ve seen in the present / main story.
✅ Could be magic
Ellyn Ever Sweet
Sought the King of the Bees in his vast mountain hive and made pact with him, to care for his children and his children's children for all time, becoming the first beekeeper.
Firstly, this whole story is a reference to Hittie mother goddess Ḫannaḫanna, who speaks to bees in myths like the Vanishing of Telipinu.
While it’s possible to interpret this as just “she knew how to do beekeeping” in the same way I have suggested with Gilbert of the Vines and wine, the specifics of the story hint at another possibility:
A beehive couldn't really be considered a "vast mountain" unless you're looking at it from a bee's perspective. The tale does seem to imply communicating with these bees is what tamed them, so it's possible that Ellyn was skinchanging into the bees.
✅ Could be magic
It's also worth noting she is said to meet the King of the Bees. Honey bees don't have a King, they have a Queen. I think this was put in to remind us that the legends and histories of Westeros are distorted by the patriarchal views of their society, causing a bias in interpreting the sources, and the accomplishments of women are underreported, undervalued, or misattributed to men. (Just like in the real world!)
Florys the Fox
Apparently Garth's cleverest child, she had three husbands, all of whom didn't know about each other.
How was this achieved? Did she use a glamour to look like three different people? Was she a skinchanger capable of possessing three people at the same time? Did she live an extraordinarily long time and the three husbands were actually successive and not concurrent?
Possibly, but we don't have enough information to say
❌ Possibly magic, but not clear
Maris the Maid
Maris's story has some similarities to Helen of Sparta from the Iliad. Menelaus won Helen's hand in marriage in a sporting contest against the other Greek kings, but she was stolen by her lover Paris and taken to the city of Troy, leaving Menelaus to rage outside the city walls.
Menelaus + Paris = Maris
Nothing strongly suggests that Maris had extraordinary abilities.
❌ Possibly magic, but not clear
Her spurned husband, Argoth Stone-Skin is interesting though. Known as the Grey Giant he spent his days "roaring" for Maris outside the city gates. It is apparently unconfirmed whether he was human or giant. But "roaring"? Are we sure Argoth wasn't a dragon?
Rowan Gold-Tree
Rowan was said to have wrapped an apple in her golden hair, planted it on a hill, and grown a tree with yellow gold bark, leaves, and fruit. This doesn’t sound like any magic we have seen in the story, but I don’t have a mundane explanation for this either.
❌ Possibly magic, but not clear
Lann the Clever
Lann’s parentage is uncertain. He may be the son of Rowan Gold-Tree or Florys the Fox, or he may be an Andal adventurer. If he’s an adventurer and he is magic then we’ve no idea where it came from, so let’s explore the idea that he is a grandson of Garth Greenhand. What are the claims made about him?
| Claim | Possible explanation |
| Filled Casterly Rock with mice, rats, and other vermin to drive the Casterlys out | Could be skinchanging ✅ |
| Smuggled lions into the Rock that killed the Casterly men | Could be skinchanging ✅ |
| Sleep-sex with the Casterly maidens | Perhaps this is entering dreams; Quaith, Euron, and the Three Eyed Crow seem to have that ability, but it wouldn’t really explain how the maidens became pregnant with blonde children. Although I think there is more to the story, it’s possible that these girls were drugged and raped ❌ |
| Stole gold from the sun to brighten his hair | This sounds like a mythic way of saying he is blonde and a thief ❌ |
| Died aged 312 | Melisandre seems to have lived an unnaturally long life so this is possible ✅ |
| 100 sons and 100 daughters, all good looking and blonde | Exactly 100 of each unlikely but could he have had about 200 kids in 312 years? Perhaps ✅ |
| Squeezed through a secret cleft, naked and buttered | Is this a reference to butt sex? Well, either way it’s a mundane claim ❌ |
| Confused the sleeping Casterlys with whispered threats and demonic howling | When Bran speaks through the weirwoods, it seems to be heard like a whispers on the wind or a rustling of leaves. Howling could also come from animals, pointing to potential skinchanging ✅ |
| stealing treasures from one brother and placing them in the bedchamber of another, and rigging traps | I don’t recall any poltergeist-y activities that we’ve seen in the main timeline having magical explanations, so the most likely explanation is night-time sneakery ❌ |
✅ Could be magic
What is the pattern?
Based on what we’re told of the 9 sons of Garth, and of the magic we have seen in use in the main ASOIAF story, none appear to have magical abilities without something or someone to enhance them. 2 of the 5 daughters of Garth do seem to have skinchanging abilities, and Lann, who appears to be the son of a daughter of Garth, also does. This suggests to me that:
Is there other evidence of this?
- None of Varamyr Sixskins' children were born with "the gift" of skinchanging.
- It seems like dragon-riding and hatching are X-chromosome traits following Mendelian inheritance. Dwarfism, albinism, chimerism, webbed fingers, and perhaps even Klinefelter syndrome appear in the story, and all are related to Mendelian inheritance.
Why is this interesting or important?
Male primogeniture succession, as practised by the Faith of the Seven and upheld by the Maesters of the Citadel, would ensure that leaders were less likely to have magical abilities over time. Incest, though, might make it more likely that these shared genetics traits are passed on.
