Evidences for Hybrids from the Main Series

[Mithras]

One of the things we see in the Worldbook is the abundant lore about interbreeding between races or in the case of Valyrians, cross-breeding beasts and slaves. Many readers scorn the Worldbook as fancy world building stuff that have no relevance to the main plot and interbreeding between races is no exception.

However, we have been getting similar evidences from the main series too and in this thread, I mean to collect them.

Human + giants

“Hodor,” Hodor agreed. He was dripping wet from the neck down, steaming in the chill air. His body was covered with brown hair, thick as a pelt. Between his legs, his manhood swung long and heavy.

Osha eyed him with a sour smile. “Now there’s a big man,” she said. “He has giant’s blood in him, or I’m the queen.”

“Maester Luwin says there are no more giants. He says they’re all dead, like the children of the forest. All that’s left of them are old bones in the earth that men turn up with plows from time to time.”

“Let Maester Luwin ride beyond the Wall,” Osha said. “He’ll find giants then, or they’ll find him. My brother killed one. Ten foot tall she was, and stunted at that. They’ve been known to grow big as twelve and thirteen feet. Fierce things they are too, all hair and teeth, and the wives have beards like their husbands, so there’s no telling them apart. The women take human men for lovers, and it’s from them the half bloods come. It goes harder on the women they catch. The men are so big they’ll rip a maid apart before they get her with child.”

This one is from AGoT. Most readers seem to think that Dunk and Old Nan had sex and Hodor is a descendant of Dunk. The only evidence for this idea is that the knight in Bran’s vision was mentioned to be as tall as Hodor.

And when Lord Umber, who was called the Greatjon by his men and stood as tall as Hodor and twice as wide,

But people seem to forget that the first person who was defined to be as tall as Hodor was Greatjon in AGoT and the Umbers definitely have giant’s blood. The giants are in their sigils.

Humans + mermaids

The Greyjoys of Pyke claim descent from the Grey King of the Age of Heroes. Legend says the Grey King ruled not only the western isles but the sea itself, and took a mermaid to wife.

This one is from AGoT. According to the Appendix of AGoT covering House Greyjoy, the Grey King supposedly took a mermaid to a wife. Most of the highest nobility in Iron Islands claim descent from the Grey King.

No one ever explained those two days the fool had been lost in the sea. The fisherfolk liked to say a mermaid had taught him to breathe water in return for his seed. Patchface himself had said nothing.

This one is from ACoK.

Humans + walruses

Wylis was quiet and formal, Wendel loud and boisterous; both had ostentatious walrus mustaches and heads as bare as a baby’s bottom; neither seemed to own a single garment that was not spotted with food stains.

This one is from AGoT.

The knight’s moon face looked crestfallen, the tips of his great walrus mustache twitching with disappointment.

This one is from ACoK.

And there were folks fiercer even than Varamyr, from the northernmost reaches of the haunted forest, the hidden valleys of the Frostfangs, and even queerer places: the men of the Frozen Shore who rode in chariots made of walrus bones pulled along by packs of savage dogs, the terrible ice-river clans who were said to feast on human flesh, the cave dwellers with their faces dyed blue and purple and green.

Mance had spent years assembling this vast plodding host, talking to this clan mother and that magnar, winning one village with sweet words and another with a song and a third with the edge of his sword, making peace between Harma Dogshead and the Lord o’ Bones, between the Hornfoots and the Nightrunners, between the walrus men of the Frozen Shore and the cannibal clans of the great ice rivers, hammering a hundred different daggers into one great spear, aimed at the heart of the Seven Kingdoms.

These are from ASoS.

Old Lord Locke was shouting for a maester as Manderly flopped on the floor like a clubbed walrus in a spreading pool of blood.

These are from ADwD.

You are right that none of these seem to imply any walrus ancestry in the Manderlys but comparing this from AFfC

The Farwynds there were even queerer than the rest. Some said they were skinchangers, unholy creatures who could take on the forms of sea lions, walruses, even spotted whales, the wolves of the wild sea.

and this from the Worldbook

Queer things are said of the Farwynds and the smallfolk they rule. Some say they lie with seals to bring forth half-human children, whilst others whisper that they are skinchangers who can take the forms of sea lions, walrus, even spotted whales, the wolves of the western seas.

we can see the addition of mating with seals to bring forth half-human children. Not only has this but the Worldbook also seems to suggest the presence of a race called walrus-men.

Some have suggested that mayhaps the mazemakers were born of interbreeding between human men and giant women. We do not known why they disappeared, though Lorathi legend suggests they were destroyed by an enemy from the sea: merlings in some versions of the tale, selkies and walrus-men in others.

Therefore, the Manderlys seem to have walrus ancestry which is in line with their characteristic appearances.

Humans + Others

He remembered the hearth tales Old Nan told them. The wildlings were cruel men, she said, slavers and slayers and thieves. They consorted with giants and ghouls, stole girl children in the dead of night, and drank blood from polished horns. And their women lay with the Others in the Long Night to sire terrible half-human children.

This one is from AGoT.

As the sun began to set the shadows of the towers lengthened and the wind blew harder, sending gusts of dry dead leaves rattling through the yards. The gathering gloom put Bran in mind of another of Old Nan’s stories, the tale of Night’s King. He had been the thirteenth man to lead the Night’s Watch, she said; a warrior who knew no fear. “And that was the fault in him,” she would add, “for all men must know fear.” A woman was his downfall; a woman glimpsed from atop the Wall, with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars. Fearing nothing, he chased her and caught her and loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well.

This one is from ASoS.

Humans + CotF

“The histories say the crannogmen grew close to the children of the forest in the days when the greenseers tried to bring the hammer of the waters down upon the Neck. It may be that they have secret knowledge.”

This one is from ACoK.

Humans + Squishers

“A place like this, there might be squishers.”

“Squishers?” Brienne gave him a suspicious look.

“Monsters,” Nimble Dick said, with relish. “They look like men till you get close, but their heads is too big, and they got scales where a proper man’s got hair. Fish-belly white they are, with webs between their fingers. They’re always damp and fishy-smelling, but behind these blubbery lips they got rows of green teeth sharp as needles. Some say the First Men killed them all, but don’t you believe it. They come by night and steal bad little children, padding along on them webbed feet with a little squish-squish sound. The girls they keep to breed with, but the boys they eat, tearing at them with those sharp green teeth.”

This one is from AFfC.

The lord fingered the ribbon, frowning at the seals. He was an ugly man, big and fleshy, with an oarsman’s thick shoulders and no neck. Coarse grey stubble, going white in patches, covered his cheeks and chin. Above a massive shelf of brow he was bald. His nose was lumpy and red with broken veins, his lips thick, and he had a sort of webbing between the three middle fingers of his right hand. Davos had heard that some of the lords of the Three Sisters had webbed hands and feet, but he had always put that down as just another sailor’s story.

This one is from ADwD.

Godric Borrell has big, fleshy lips, webbed hands, and he has a fish-like appearance. I am quite confident that the Sistermen have squisher ancestry. Recall that it was cold, damp and dark in the pine forests of Crackclaw Point. Here is how Godric Borrell’s house is described:

“Sit. Before you fall, ser. My hall is cold and damp and dark, but not without some courtesy.

Bingo.

“Mudmen,” answered Little Walder disdainfully. “They’re thieves and cravens, and they have green teeth from eating frogs.”

This one is from ACoK. It seems like some crannogmen really have the green teeth of the squishers. The Worldbook supports this idea by reporting the rumors that the crannogmen also have webbed hands and feet. Therefore, the crannogmen not only have CotF ancestry, but also squisher ancestry. But considering that the Reeds showed no squisher appearance, it is possible that the squisher-crannogmen might be a different faction than the singer-crannogmen.

Humans + Reptiles + Bats

“Monstrous,” Mirri Maz Duur finished for him. The knight was a powerful man, yet Dany understood in that moment that the maegi was stronger, and crueler, and infinitely more dangerous. “Twisted. I drew him forth myself. He was scaled like a lizard, blind, with the stub of a tail and small leather wings like the wings of a bat. When I touched him, the flesh sloughed off the bone, and inside he was full of graveworms and the stink of corruption. He had been dead for years.”

This one is from ACoK. We later learned that Rhaego was certainly not an exception and Targaryens have been delivering such monstrosities all the time. The Worldbook heavily implied that the reason for such abominations was the Valyrian experiments of bloodmagic and interbreeding with wyverns/firewyrms/reptiles. We are told of lizard-men, winged men that soar, eyeless cave dwellers, Brindled Men all of which seem to be creations of human-beast cross-breeding experiments.

Miscellaneous

With his own eyes Jon had beheld the Hornfoot men trotting along in column on bare soles as hard as boiled leather.

This one is from ASoS. Hornfoot men have obviously some sort of inhuman ancestors (perhaps the giants).

[Mithras]

If you have more, please feel free to add.

[Dorian Martell]

Interesting. I am not sure if I believe most of these, as they are all told as legends. Some, Like Wendel with a walrus mustache is just descriptive, but some like Rhaego, or Rhaenyra's stillborn baby show something that does not appear human. The Sistermen have webbed skin between their fingers, the crannogmen we se do not however. I still believe that Dunk is the man seen kissing Nan in Bran's tree vision.

[Mithras]

Interesting. I am not sure if I believe most of these, as they are all told as legends. Some, Like Wendel with a walrus mustache is just descriptive, but some like Rhaego, or Rhaenyra's stillborn baby show something that does not appear human. The Sistermen have webbed skin between their fingers, the crannogmen we se do not however. I still believe that Dunk is the man seen kissing Nan in Bran's tree vision.

I agree that without the Worldbook, it would be far fetched to think that Manderlys have anything to do with sea creatures. But the Worldbook implied that there is truth to the legends of merlings/selkies/walrus-men. And the sigil of the Manderlys shows a merman. Umber sigil shows a giant and Umbers are enormously large as giants. Manderly sigils shows a merman. Manderlys are likened to walruses and they are grossly fat like walruses.

Rhaego, Rhaenyra's stillborn (Visenya), Maegor's abominations, Laena Velaryon's last stillborn. There are many examples.

There are many races of sea creatures revelaed in the Worldbook such as merlings (including mermen, mermaids), selkies, walrus-men, squishers, Deep Ones. I think they are all the same. And a lot of people are descended from them, including Sistermen, ironborn, some crannogmen, Manderlys, perhaps the Lannisters.

[LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse]

The Ironborn, and their priests would like to think themselves as a separate race, that comes from the sea...

but they just seem full of shit.

The don´t have any mutation like the rest of the descendants of Deep Ones.

Lonely light is a different matter..

[Mithras]

The Ironborn, and their priests would like to think themselves as a separate race, that comes from the sea...

but they just seem full of shit.

The don´t have any mutation like the rest of the descendants of Deep Ones.

Lonely light is a different matter..

I agree. The Iron Islands seem to be hit by a massive Hammer of the Waters. So, the hybrids there were probably wiped out save the Farwynds and the First Men coming there should have found the islands empty.

[LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse]

I agree. The Iron Islands seem to be hit by a massive Hammer of the Waters. So, the hybrids there were probably wiped out save the Farwynds and the First Men coming there should have found the islands empty.

yet Pyke seems like a human castle, and its a pre-hammer construction, giving name to the now isle of Pyke.

[239JMFL34109]

This one is from AGoT. Most readers seem to think that Dunk and Old Nan had sex and Hodor is a descendant of Dunk. The only evidence for this idea is that the knight in Bran’s vision was mentioned to be as tall as Hodor.

wait people believe that? i thought we all got brienne was dunk's descendant

[Skinner]

wait people believe that? i thought we all got brienne was dunk's descendant

Apparently all the tall people in Westeros are descended from our Dunk the Lunk. 😜

In all seriousness, there is a good case for both, but mostly for Brienne, because of the shield. However, since it is confirmed Dunk will be heading to Winterfell in one of his next adventures, it is quite probable he sired an ancestor of Hodor.

[239JMFL34109]

Apparently all the tall people in Westeros are descended from our Dunk the Lunk.

In all seriousness, there is a good case for both, but mostly for Brienne, because of the shield. However, since it is confirmed Dunk will be heading to Winterfell in one of his next adventures, it is quite probable he sired an ancestor of Hodor.

i alway going with hodor is a frey

[Dorian Martell]

I agree. The Iron Islands seem to be hit by a massive Hammer of the Waters. So, the hybrids there were probably wiped out save the Farwynds and the First Men coming there should have found the islands empty.

The Tales of the Farwynds being skinchangers could simply be as the farthest point of the west, the Andal invaders just never got that far so they retain a lot of traits of the first men. I like the Idea of the islands not being islands until the hammer of waters came down. If Nagga's ribs are an old weirwood grove, it could have been cut off from weirnet when the waters rose

[WeaselPie]

Chapter One, Book One, Line 11

And their women lay with the Others in the Long Night to sire terrible half-human children.

Can't get more blatant than that one. I agree this is a thing.

[Mrs.Grumpy]

The Farwynds are wargs.

Walrus men are a misinterpretation of Deep Ones.

The Valyrians are inclined to bring forth all kind of twisted humans. (From two-headed girls to eyeless babies).

I don't think they are hybrids of anything.

I think people are overreacting to human/animal hybrids.

Winged men are not real.

[LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse]

The Farwynds are wargs.

Walrus men are a misinterpretation of Deep Ones.

The Valyrians are inclined to bring forth all kind of twisted humans. (From two-headed girls to eyeless babies).

I don't think they are hybrids of anything.

I think people are overreacting to human/animal hybrids.

Winged men are not real.

We do have a lot of evidence of deep ones descendants..too many to be coincidences... so at least those ar hybrids of sorts..

[Mrs.Grumpy]

We do have a lot of evidence of deep ones descendants..too many to be coincidences... so at least those ar hybrids of sorts..

Yup. Deep Ones %100 existed/ are still lurking somewhere.

I also believe animal/humans hybrids 'cause we saw one in aDwD. But winged men are actually bat/human hybrids? No, thanks. They are "here be winged men" and a reminder of GRRM's rule of "mammals dont have wings on their back" as it says they have leathery wings like dragons, mixing realism with fantasy.

[LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse]

ok, how about targaryens??

i mean it´s not normal.. they birth those monsters way too often. They think themselves as descendants of dragons.. they often say they share their blood

which btw its obviously magical, since they have dragondreams, they have more tolerance to heat, and they apparently get less sick... also they are prone to madness..

Sothori people and Ibennesse are said to have those deformed stillbirths when they reproduce with other humans... And ibennesse are descendants of the Hairy men (which in turn probable a mix of Giants and Humans)..

so i think the text is completely hinting that Targaryens have a magical genetic problem..

maybe they do have literally blood of the dragon(s).

[DSB]

theon is now smooth from the waist down, like action man.

or a mermaid............

[yolkboy]

I think GoHH is a human/CotF hybrid. Ran has a neat theory she's a product of Bloodraven and a CotF. The description we get of her really fits.

[yolkboy]

There's a weirwood/human angle too. OK trees are not animals but these have memories, the sap is suspiciously blood-like and there's greenseers/tree-people. It also seems Green Men might be rooted to the spot.

[Nozlym]

i thought the GoHH was much older then BR.