The Children of the Forest

The Children of the Forest are a race that reportedly inhabited the continent of Westeros many thousands of years ago. According to the knowledge of the maesters, the Children are either extinct, or never existed in the first place and are a purely mythical race. This is disputed by the people of the North, who hold that they inherited their worship of the old gods from the Children of the Forest, who were real and have long since departed the realms of men for reasons unknown.