What happened to the Children of the Forest after the Night King was defeated?
Game of Thrones
Updated Aug 30, 2026
1 views
Contains spoilers: Major spoilers for Game of Thrones Seasons 6 and 8
Direct answer
In HBO's Game of Thrones, the show never reveals what happened to any surviving Children of the Forest after the Night King died. The last known group had already been destroyed at the Three-Eyed Raven's cave in Season 6, where Leaf died helping Bran escape. That makes them apparently extinct or nearly extinct, but the series never confirms that every Child in Westeros was gone.
## What the TV series shows
Arya Stark kills the Night King in Season 8, Episode 3, "The Long Night," and his White Walkers and wights collapse with him. No Children of the Forest appear during the battle or anywhere afterward.
## Their last on-screen fate
The last on-screen Children live in the Three-Eyed Raven's cave beyond the Wall. In Season 6, Episode 5, "The Door," the Night King's army overwhelms the cave. Leaf sacrifices herself so Bran and Meera can flee, while the other cave-dwelling Children are killed or overwhelmed.
## What remains uncertain
The series does not explicitly say that Leaf and the cave community were the last Children of the Forest anywhere in Westeros. So it is possible that isolated survivors existed off-screen, but there is no canonical evidence that any did—or that the Night King's death changed their fate.
## Book-canon distinction
This answer applies only to the completed HBO series. In George R. R. Martin's published A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the show's Night King has no direct equivalent in the present-day plot, the Others have not been defeated, and Children of the Forest are still alive in Bran's last published chapters. The legendary book figure called the Night's King is a separate character.
Arya Stark kills the Night King in Season 8, Episode 3, "The Long Night," and his White Walkers and wights collapse with him. No Children of the Forest appear during the battle or anywhere afterward.
## Their last on-screen fate
The last on-screen Children live in the Three-Eyed Raven's cave beyond the Wall. In Season 6, Episode 5, "The Door," the Night King's army overwhelms the cave. Leaf sacrifices herself so Bran and Meera can flee, while the other cave-dwelling Children are killed or overwhelmed.
## What remains uncertain
The series does not explicitly say that Leaf and the cave community were the last Children of the Forest anywhere in Westeros. So it is possible that isolated survivors existed off-screen, but there is no canonical evidence that any did—or that the Night King's death changed their fate.
## Book-canon distinction
This answer applies only to the completed HBO series. In George R. R. Martin's published A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the show's Night King has no direct equivalent in the present-day plot, the Others have not been defeated, and Children of the Forest are still alive in Bran's last published chapters. The legendary book figure called the Night's King is a separate character.