The Blackwoods believe this occurred five hundred years before the arrival of the Andals, but the True History states it was one thousand years before the Andals. According to the Blackwoods, the Brackens were petty lords and horse breeders who hired swords to usurp the Blackwood kings. The Blackwoods have an old and bitter feud against their neighbor in the riverlands, the Brackens, coming from the Age of Heroes when both houses ruled as kings. Family traditions state they ruled most of the wolfswood before being driven from the North by the Kings of Winter, which Maester Barneby's runic translations support.

The Blackwoods are an ancient house descended of the First Men. 3 House Blackwood at the end of the third century.