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I've been reading The Song of Ice and Fire book series and I really am fascinated with George RR Martin's fictional races as there appears to be an attention to detail when it comes to biology and evolution in his world. I made a speculative family tree of a few of the humanoid races. This tree is simply pure speculation based on some information scattered throughout the books and I bet it's probably incorrect to some degree. I neglected to mention and will probably add a few other humanoid races such as the mysterious Deep Ones, the Mazemakers, and Ifequevron which might effect the look of the tree in the future. For now I hope you enjoy my speculation!

I suggest the Brindled Men of Sothoryos are one of the most basal and unrelated of all the humanoids in Asoiaf (of course excluding the Others). The Brindled Men are described in a manner extremely reminiscent of Homo erectus or Homo habilis or even Australopithecus. They are very ape-like with small craniums, long arms, and sloping brows. They possess flat noses and heavy jaws which appear like a snout making them have a much more animalistic appearance. They are in fact mistaken for apes by Victarion and are referred to by the maesters as "half-men" and often are not referred to as people, but as "animals" and "creatures". They are also much more unintelligent than many of the other humanoid races and are said to make poor slaves due to this. Ignoring the obvious racism held by many of the characters in the Asoiaf world, The Brindled Men can only reproduce with themselves and under no circumstances can reproduce with any of the other human races from Essos and Westeros suggesting they are extremely far removed from Homo sapiens and very clearly a separate species. Besides this we don't know a whole lot about the Brindled Men but it seems they are unable to communicate with or speak the languages of the other Human groups in the slightest. The Brindled Men are also from Sothoryos which seems to be Planetos's equivalent to Africa so it would make some sense if Sothoryos, like the real world Africa, was were the human races all originated.
I suggest that the evidence supports the ancestors of the Brindled Men breaking off and separating from the ancestors of the other humanoid races very early on, probably at least a few million years ago.

The next split between the humanoid races after the Brindled Men I suggest was a divergence between the ancestors of the Giants & Children of the Forest and the ancestors of Homo sapiens & the Ibbenese. The existence of Giants and Cotf sharing Westeros long before the First Men suggests the two might have shared the same common ancestor which crossed the Arm of Dorne. I suggest the two descended from the same ancestor and simply subsequently evolved different characteristics to fit their corresponding environments: subterranean (the Children) and polar (Giants), with both species evolving in Westeros after this migration. This may or may not be backed up by a Child of the Forest referring to the giants as "their kin" implying they believe they have a relationship to them of some kind. The Children have existed in Westeros for at least 1 million years according to them and odds are this might be an underestimate so this is enough time for a bit of evolutionary change to occur. I find the fact both the Children and Giants can both speak the languages of Humans (the Common Tongue for the Children and the Old Tongue for the Giants) and being intelligent enough to understand them suggests they have a closer relationship to Homo sapiens than the Brindled Men do. The Children however can speak the True Tongue a language Homo sapiens are simply incapable of speaking. There are rumors of hybrids between the Children and Humans (Crannogmen) and Giants and Humans (Hodor) but there's little evidence to support this.
All of this however might be disputed by the fact Giants and Cotf might have existed or still exist in Essos as fossil remains said to belong to Giants and legends of Giants and Ifequevron (who share many similarities to the Children) might support the idea the two already evolved in Essos before crossing into Westeros and did so independently.

The last and probably best supported split was between Homo sapiens and Ibbenese. The Ibbenese are a short, squat race of humanoids that for the most part resemble Homo sapiens aside from sloping brows and eye ridges and being covered in thick hair. The Ibbenese very clearly resembled Neanderthals of the real world, the closest relatives to Homo sapiens. The Ibbenese seem to be able to speak in the languages of Homo sapiens and seem to be able to integrate with humans easily. They appear to be the most Homo sapien-like of all the humanoids and this makes me think they are also the closest related. Ibbenese and Homo sapien hybrids are said to be rare and often impossible, but hybrids between the two are said to exist some being sterile while others seem to be healthy and fertile such as Ben Plumm and Casso Mogat and the inhabitants of Skagos. It seems the Ibbenese are in the process of diverging into a separate species but are not yet fully different species from Homo sapiens as it seems they are somewhat capable of breeding with other humans to a degree and under certain conditions. The Ibbenese again seem to mirror the Neanderthals of the real world who are somewhat similarly transitional between different species and sub-species appearing to have bred with prehistoric Homo sapiens. The Ibbenese and Homo sapiens sharing a recent common ancestors seems highly plausible due to their similarities and fertility and is something theorized by a few maesters.

The Others (or the White Walkers for show watchers) are probably the most difficult to classify of all the humanoid races of Asoiaf. Classifying the Others is especially difficult as Martin hasn't really described them in the slightest and its unclear how closely if at all he will follow HBO. The Others in the books differ wildly from the show as the show excluded their invisible color-changing armor and their light saber esk swords. Martin's descriptions of the Others and their equipment in the books to me simply sounds like advanced technology and I'm a support of the idea they are extraterrestrials or an advanced culture that medieval peoples simply think are magic. The existence of magic outside of telepathy in the books appears to be kept ambiguous. Martin has been quoted as saying the Others "are strange and beautiful... a different sort of life... inhuman" which to me evokes the extraterrestrial beings of Lovecraft. Ignoring the idea that they were magically created from humans, to me the Others seem to be very unrelated to all life on Earth. Their entire anatomy seems alien in appearance and everything from their blue blood to their crystal skeletons screams inorganic life having an entirely separate evolution from biological life. I suggest the Others evolved from silicon-based or some other kind of substance based lifeforms and had an independent evolution based on crystallized life rather than biological life. You heard it from me, the Others are aliens! Odds are I'm an idiot and am looking too deeply into things, but who knows Martin loves Sci-fi and loves Lovecraft.

What I really like about A Song of Ice and Fire is that information, especially reliable information, about the outside world is incredibly limited and due to the scientific illiteracy of the setting one can't help but feel like Darwin trying figure out the mysteries of the world. You feel like an actual scientist trying to make sense of a mysterious and undiscovered world. Tell me what you think of my speculations because I'd be happy to hear thoughts

Description
I've been reading The Song of Ice and Fire book series and I really am fascinated with George RR Martin's fictional races as there appears to be an attention to detail when it comes to biology and evolution in his world. I made a speculative family tree of a few of the humanoid races. This tree is simply pure speculation based on some information scattered throughout the books and I bet it's probably incorrect to some degree. I neglected to mention and will probably add a few other humanoid races such as the mysterious Deep Ones, the Mazemakers, and Ifequevron which might effect the look of the tree in the future. For now I hope you enjoy my speculation!

I suggest the Brindled Men of Sothoryos are one of the most basal and unrelated of all the humanoids in Asoiaf (of course excluding the Others). The Brindled Men are described in a manner extremely reminiscent of Homo erectus or Homo habilis or even Australopithecus. They are very ape-like with small craniums, long arms, and sloping brows. They possess flat noses and heavy jaws which appear like a snout making them have a much more animalistic appearance. They are in fact mistaken for apes by Victarion and are referred to by the maesters as "half-men" and often are not referred to as people, but as "animals" and "creatures". They are also much more unintelligent than many of the other humanoid races and are said to make poor slaves due to this. Ignoring the obvious racism held by many of the characters in the Asoiaf world, The Brindled Men can only reproduce with themselves and under no circumstances can reproduce with any of the other human races from Essos and Westeros suggesting they are extremely far removed from Homo sapiens and very clearly a separate species. Besides this we don't know a whole lot about the Brindled Men but it seems they are unable to communicate with or speak the languages of the other Human groups in the slightest. The Brindled Men are also from Sothoryos which seems to be Planetos's equivalent to Africa so it would make some sense if Sothoryos, like the real world Africa, was were the human races all originated.
I suggest that the evidence supports the ancestors of the Brindled Men breaking off and separating from the ancestors of the other humanoid races very early on, probably at least a few million years ago.

The next split between the humanoid races after the Brindled Men I suggest was a divergence between the ancestors of the Giants & Children of the Forest and the ancestors of Homo sapiens & the Ibbenese. The existence of Giants and Cotf sharing Westeros long before the First Men suggests the two might have shared the same common ancestor which crossed the Arm of Dorne. I suggest the two descended from the same ancestor and simply subsequently evolved different characteristics to fit their corresponding environments: subterranean (the Children) and polar (Giants), with both species evolving in Westeros after this migration. This may or may not be backed up by a Child of the Forest referring to the giants as "their kin" implying they believe they have a relationship to them of some kind. The Children have existed in Westeros for at least 1 million years according to them and odds are this might be an underestimate so this is enough time for a bit of evolutionary change to occur. I find the fact both the Children and Giants can both speak the languages of Humans (the Common Tongue for the Children and the Old Tongue for the Giants) and being intelligent enough to understand them suggests they have a closer relationship to Homo sapiens than the Brindled Men do. The Children however can speak the True Tongue a language Homo sapiens are simply incapable of speaking. There are rumors of hybrids between the Children and Humans (Crannogmen) and Giants and Humans (Hodor) but there's little evidence to support this.
All of this however might be disputed by the fact Giants and Cotf might have existed or still exist in Essos as fossil remains said to belong to Giants and legends of Giants and Ifequevron (who share many similarities to the Children) might support the idea the two already evolved in Essos before crossing into Westeros and did so independently.

The last and probably best supported split was between Homo sapiens and Ibbenese. The Ibbenese are a short, squat race of humanoids that for the most part resemble Homo sapiens aside from sloping brows and eye ridges and being covered in thick hair. The Ibbenese very clearly resembled Neanderthals of the real world, the closest relatives to Homo sapiens. The Ibbenese seem to be able to speak in the languages of Homo sapiens and seem to be able to integrate with humans easily. They appear to be the most Homo sapien-like of all the humanoids and this makes me think they are also the closest related. Ibbenese and Homo sapien hybrids are said to be rare and often impossible, but hybrids between the two are said to exist some being sterile while others seem to be healthy and fertile such as Ben Plumm and Casso Mogat and the inhabitants of Skagos. It seems the Ibbenese are in the process of diverging into a separate species but are not yet fully different species from Homo sapiens as it seems they are somewhat capable of breeding with other humans to a degree and under certain conditions. The Ibbenese again seem to mirror the Neanderthals of the real world who are somewhat similarly transitional between different species and sub-species appearing to have bred with prehistoric Homo sapiens. The Ibbenese and Homo sapiens sharing a recent common ancestors seems highly plausible due to their similarities and fertility and is something theorized by a few maesters.

The Others (or the White Walkers for show watchers) are probably the most difficult to classify of all the humanoid races of Asoiaf. Classifying the Others is especially difficult as Martin hasn't really described them in the slightest and its unclear how closely if at all he will follow HBO. The Others in the books differ wildly from the show as the show excluded their invisible color-changing armor and their light saber esk swords. Martin's descriptions of the Others and their equipment in the books to me simply sounds like advanced technology and I'm a support of the idea they are extraterrestrials or an advanced culture that medieval peoples simply think are magic. The existence of magic outside of telepathy in the books appears to be kept ambiguous. Martin has been quoted as saying the Others "are strange and beautiful... a different sort of life... inhuman" which to me evokes the extraterrestrial beings of Lovecraft. Ignoring the idea that they were magically created from humans, to me the Others seem to be very unrelated to all life on Earth. Their entire anatomy seems alien in appearance and everything from their blue blood to their crystal skeletons screams inorganic life having an entirely separate evolution from biological life. I suggest the Others evolved from silicon-based or some other kind of substance based lifeforms and had an independent evolution based on crystallized life rather than biological life. You heard it from me, the Others are aliens! Odds are I'm an idiot and am looking too deeply into things, but who knows Martin loves Sci-fi and loves Lovecraft.

What I really like about A Song of Ice and Fire is that information, especially reliable information, about the outside world is incredibly limited and due to the scientific illiteracy of the setting one can't help but feel like Darwin trying figure out the mysteries of the world. You feel like an actual scientist trying to make sense of a mysterious and undiscovered world. Tell me what you think of my speculations because I'd be happy to hear thoughts