What were the Old Gods called back when they were still a new religion?

[John Doe]

Just curious. I mean, the first believer of the Old Gods wouldn't have called them that, would he?

[Ser Leftwich]

Our ancestors.

Greenseers who went into the wood.

Cousin Fred, depending on if they were that close.

 

[Prince of the North]

7 minutes ago, John Doe said:

Just curious. I mean, the first believer of the Old Gods wouldn't have called them that, would he?

Interesting question, but I think the Old Gods could have still been considered as existing for a very long time (i.e. "old", "always having been there", etc.) even though the First Men just became aware of them

[Orphalesion]

"The Gods" since the Children might not have known any others, or denied their existence. Similarly to how many Christians refer to God simply as "God" or "the Lord"

Most if the First Men seem to have converted to the Children's religion, so again there was little/no need to call them anything but "the Gods" 

It was only when the Andals brought the Seven that two major religions co-existed in Westeros and the need for further specification arose. After all the Andals didn't refer to their gods as "the New Gods" either before their migration.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

Gods of the Forest. They are still occasionally called the Old Gods of the Forest.

[Shireen Purratheon]

Probably some word in the True Tongue of the Children, or the Old Tongue of the First Men.

[MinotaurWarrior]

The old gods are at least  a million years old. They probably predate the concept of a God among the CotF, and almost certainly predate humanity entirely. It's even possible that there were consciousnesses in the wood before the Dawn Age (trees are older than mammals, and the CotF seem to believe that they were made by gods) in which case some of them are older than words.

[tugela]

The original religion was an animist faith. There would not have been gods as such, instead they would have worshiped the spirits of the natural world. An animist faith has man as being part of the natural world, while more modern religions that had a god/gods place man above the natural world. It is a fundamentally different view of mankind's place in the world.

[Lockjaw of House Boltagon]

The New Gods. 

*ba dum tss*

[Curled Finger]

Craster makes his sacrifices to The Gods.   I'm not sold that The Gods are the same as The Old Gods, but being North of the wall that crusty old bastard may just be using selective stubborn language.   

[house of dayne]

The beatles

[tugela]

43 minutes ago, Curled Finger said:

Craster makes his sacrifices to The Gods.   I'm not sold that The Gods are the same as The Old Gods, but being North of the wall that crusty old bastard may just be using selective stubborn language.   

No, it was just an excuse to keep all his daughters for himself. If there were sons around, the girls might shack up with them instead. So he was eliminating the competition in the name of religion (how often do we see this in the real world?), little knowing that instead of dieing the babies were being converted into white walkers (who would one day pop in to eat him for dinner).

[Curled Finger]

1 hour ago, tugela said:

No, it was just an excuse to keep all his daughters for himself. If there were sons around, the girls might shack up with them instead. So he was eliminating the competition in the name of religion (how often do we see this in the real world?), little knowing that instead of dieing the babies were being converted into white walkers (who would one day pop in to eat him for dinner).

I have a feeling Craster knew precisely to whom he was sacrificing his sons.   

[StarkofWinterfell]

No idea man. Don't think even GRRM knows himself.

[Lion of the West]

9 hours ago, John Doe said:

Just curious. I mean, the first believer of the Old Gods wouldn't have called them that, would he?

I'll assume it was just "the gods" as there wouldn't have been new gods to contrast the old gods with.

[The Sleeper]

14 hours ago, Ser Leftwich said:

Our ancestors.

Greenseers who went into the wood.

Cousin Fred, depending on if they were that close.

 

This. I doubt that the Old Gods was a religion per se to the children of the forrest.

As far as the addage "old"goes, it was probably added after the Andal invasion to distinguish from the Seven. Otherwise, they were probably called the gods of the woods, streams etc.

[BalerionTheCat]

Apparently the same gods have different names in different cultures. I would speculate the Old Gods are known by other names, but GRRM obfuscates it for some purpose. I believe the oldest names we know are the Lion of Night and the Maiden Made of Light.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

Bob and Steve

Or more seriously, how about The Eternal Ones?

[Clegane'sPup]

On 6/24/2016 at 3:48 PM, John Doe said:

Just curious. I mean, the first believer of the Old Gods wouldn't have called them that, would he?

Maester Luwin gave me and Bran a history lesson in GoT Bran VII. Luwin says only the children of the forest dwelt in the lands we now call the Seven Kingdoms. Their gods were the gods of the forest, stream, and stone, the old gods whose names are secret.

Maester Luwin’s history lesson. Westeros history is one of my many weak points

Quote

A Game of Thrones - Bran VII

Maester Luwin tugged at his chain collar where it chafed against his neck. "They were people of the Dawn Age, the very first, before kings and kingdoms," he said. "In those days, there were no castles or holdfasts, no cities, not so much as a market town to be found between here and the sea of Dorne. There were no men at all. Only the children of the forest dwelt in the lands we now call the Seven Kingdoms.

"They were a people dark and beautiful, small of stature, no taller than children even when grown to manhood. They lived in the depths of the wood, in caves and crannogs and secret tree towns. Slight as they were, the children were quick and graceful. Male and female hunted together, with weirwood bows and flying snares. Their gods were the gods of the forest, stream, and stone, the old gods whose names are secret. Their wise men were called greenseers, and carved strange faces in the weirwoods to keep watch on the woods. How long the children reigned here or where they came from, no man can know.

"But some twelve thousand years ago, the First Men appeared from the east, crossing the Broken Arm of Dorne before it was broken. They came with bronze swords and great leathern shields, riding horses. No horse had ever been seen on this side of the narrow sea. No doubt the children were as frightened by the horses as the First Men were by the faces in the trees. As the First Men carved out holdfasts and farms, they cut down the faces and gave them to the fire. Horror-struck, the children went to war. The old songs say that the greenseers used dark magics to make the seas rise and sweep away the land, shattering the Arm, but it was too late to close the door. The wars went on until the earth ran red with blood of men and children both, but more children than men, for men were bigger and stronger, and wood and stone and obsidian make a poor match for bronze. Finally the wise of both races prevailed, and the chiefs and heroes of the First Men met the greenseers and wood dancers amidst the weirwood groves of a small island in the great lake called Gods Eye.

"There they forged the Pact. The First Men were given the coastlands, the high plains and bright meadows, the mountains and bogs, but the deep woods were to remain forever the children's, and no more weirwoods were to be put to the axe anywhere in the realm. So the gods might bear witness to the signing, every tree on the island was given a face, and afterward, the sacred order of green men was formed to keep watch over the Isle of Faces.

"The Pact began four thousand years of friendship between men and children. In time, the First Men even put aside the gods they had brought with them, and took up the worship of the secret gods of the wood. The signing of the Pact ended the Dawn Age, and began the Age of Heroes."

"Oh, very well," Luwin muttered. "So long as the kingdoms of the First Men held sway, the Pact endured, all through the Age of Heroes and the Long Night and the birth of the Seven Kingdoms, yet finally there came a time, many centuries later, when other peoples crossed the narrow sea.

"The Andals were the first, a race of tall, fair-haired warriors who came with steel and fire and the seven-pointed star of the new gods painted on their chests. The wars lasted hundreds of years, but in the end the six southron kingdoms all fell before them. Only here, where the King in the North threw back every army that tried to cross the Neck, did the rule of the First Men endure. The Andals burnt out the weirwood groves, hacked down the faces, slaughtered the children where they found them, and everywhere proclaimed the triumph of the Seven over the old gods. So the children fled north—"

 

[M3t4]

Is it weird if i wanna worship them?