Game Of Thrones: The Sopranos with swords or Dynasty in chainmail?
- Thread starter GAMETHEORY
- Start date
Same here, but it was a few weeks ago...
Would be nice if it does workout that way
There's only a small number of Valyrian swords with known whereabouts
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Valyrian_steel
Lot more have been discussed in the books, but many are lost.
Of all the new cast members that were announced last Summer, so far we have already seen alot of them...
- Theon's uncle Euron Greyjoy
- Sam's father Randall Tarly
- Sam's mother Mellisa Tarly
- Sam's younger sister Talla Tarly
- Sam's younger brother Dickon Tarly
- At least 6 or 7 different new actors in the Braavos Play
- The New Khal Jhago, Khal Moro, Khal Rhalko
- At least 3 or 4 different Khal Underbosses in the Dothraki Leadership
- Smalljon Umber
- Lord (Harald) Karstark
- A new Red Priestess named Kinvara
- 5 different Children of the Forest
- Ned's father Rickon Stark
- Young Ned Stark
- Young Lyana Stark
- Young Benjen Stark
- Young Howland Reed
- Young Hodor
- Ser Arthur Dayne (Tower of Joy Guard 1)
- Ser Alfred Hunrith (Tower of Joy Guard 2)
- The new 3-eyed Raven
However, with only 4 episodes left.... we still have not seen....... Ian McShane yet.
(I remember this was a big announcement last summer 
)"An old, legendary fighter who has devoted himself to the Gods".... is the casting description of one of the remaining few NEW characters we have not seen yet.
Could this be the guy who fights the Mountain in a Trial by Combat?
Time will tell.
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'he is
he's going to be like jon do this and this and then some shit is going to light up and they'll beat the walkers
there needs to be more war though can't have a full setup season. lets get to it
Episode 8 gonna be Arya burning down the House of Black and White while carrying an unconscious Jaqen to safety!
Anxious to see HOW that could happened. But then again...
(Stopped right there as not to spoil accidentally for the other fam)
Jamie will be away dealing with th black fish, plus Tommon kicked his ass out of kings landing
Damn Just thought since today memorial day will that slow up stretchwallz review.
Put the ribs down we need yo review!!!!
Put the ribs down we need yo review!!!!
Peace,
Daenerys is going to turn out to be just as mad as her father. This bitch is bringing 3 dragons, countless sell swords and a thousand blood riders into the 7 kingdoms just so she can sit on the iron throne. She doesn't give a flying fuck about the consequences or the imminent death toll due to that decision.
Daenerys is going to turn out to be just as mad as her father. This bitch is bringing 3 dragons, countless sell swords and a thousand blood riders into the 7 kingdoms just so she can sit on the iron throne. She doesn't give a flying fuck about the consequences or the imminent death toll due to that decision.
Man I need a PowerPoint or something for all the Riverrun/Tully/Frey shit.
River run is Lady Stark's people she was a Tully before she married Ned, the blackfish is her uncle or something and the Frey's are just a lower house who took out their well deserved revenge on Rob Stark for breaking his word and brining his new jump off to their house.
I meant currently, like who's going where to fight/join who, etc.
The Frey took over river run after they killed off the Starks, the Blackfish who escaped took back river run, now the Frey with the help of the lanisters are trying to take back Riverun. The guy who was in chains at the Frey's house is Lady Starks brother or cousin who was getting married to a Frey at the red wedding so they could have an alliance with the Starks. The Frey Haven't killed him because he is the heir of Riverrun so that's heir claim
Assist.
HOUSE TULLY
- House Tully is completely loyal to the Starks.
- House Tully was led by a man named Lord Hoster Tully.
- Hoster’s younger brother is the Blackfish.
- Hoster had 3 children: Prince Edmure Tully, Catelyn Stark (Ned’s Wife) and Lysa Arryn (who Littlefinger pushed out the moon door)… and the Blackfish is their uncle.
- Back in Season 2, Catelyn made a deal with Walder Frey… she promised him that Robb would marry one of his daughters if he would send troops to help fight the Lannisters..... during the early battles around the time Robb first met his wife Talisa (the battlefield nurse).
- Walder Sent troops. Which helped Robb win alot of battles, and put the Lannister Army into a tailspin when they captured Jaime.
- Hoster Tully died at the start of Season 3… making Edmure the new Lord of House Tully.
- This is when we first meet the Blackfish… when he shot a flaming arrow at his dead brother’s boat to give him an ‘honorable’ funeral (by burning him at sea) according to Tully tradition.
- Later on, after Catelyn released their biggest 'bargaining chip' (Jaime) and sent him back to Kings Landing with Brienne.... Robb came up with a ‘master plan’ to take over Casterly Rock, which would surely end the war & bring victory to the North... which also meant they would get their ‘full independence’ from Lannister Rule.
—————————————————
HOUSE FREY
- House Frey used to be loyal Bannerman of the Starks, just like the Karstarks.
- The Starks & Karstarks always called Walder Frey…. the “late” Walder Frey…because every time there was a battle in the North somewhere… Walder would always send his troops in real late… after the major fighting was long over.
- Walder Frey always hated that nickname. Felt he was constantly being mocked 'behind his back'.
- But the important thing to remember is…. Walder Frey controls the Castle and a Big ass Bridge at “The Twins”.
- Now if ANYONE is planning an ambush (either in the North, or the South part of Westeros), “the Twins” is the ONLY place that is big enough for a WHOLE ARMY to cross (by land) from the North into the South (or vice versa)… without being spotted marching straight down the main highway (called the ‘Kings Road’), which everyone travels upon.
- Back in Season 3, if Walder Frey allowed Robb’s army to cross at the Twins… Robb could make it all the way down to Casterly Rock without being spotted and lay siege to the Lannister’s Homeland & Gold Mines.
Which would FORCE the Lannisters to surrender. - Now Robb had already married Talisa in secret.. so the whole reason for the Red Wedding was to marry Prince Edmure to one of Walder Frey’s daughters, instead of Robb.
- And if Edmure agreed to marry one of his daughters…. Walder Frey would allow Robb’s Army to cross the Twins.
- But Tywin Lannister sent Walder a letter before all of this, which enticed Walder Frey to double-cross them all & kill all the Starks at the Red Wedding.
- The Tully’s control the LARGE area just south of the Twins.. called the Riverlands / Riverrun.
- Riverrun is the 'main town' in the Riverlands.... just like Winterfell is the 'main town' in the North... and Kings Landing in the South.
- Tywin Lannister's letter basically told Walder Frey.... that if he killed the Starks & the Tullys at the Wedding… he could have Riverrun (and Riverlands) for himself.
- But as we just learned in the latest episode 6... the Blackfish survived the massacre, went back home, gathered some troops.... and retook the Castle at Riverrun & the whole Riverlands area back from the Freys in the aftermath of the Red Wedding.
- The Blackfish is rebuilding. And he is a legendary battle tactician. So it won’t be easy to get rid of him.
He will put up one hell of a fight. - But now Sansa has sent Brienne of Tarth down to the Riverlands to summon Blackfish & his troops to help Jon fight for Winterfell.
- And Jaime just got sent to the Riverlands by Tommen to take control of the area also.
- But Brienne left on 'very good terms' from the Lannisters, after saving Jaime's life & bringing him back to Kings Landing. (Jaime gave her a Valyrian Steel sword. New Armor... and Podrick.
)- So the question is.... what's going to happen whenever Brienne gets to Riverrun?
- She might get caught right in the middle of a 3-way battle for that Castle.
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Looking at the preview for next week i'm telling ya it doesn't feel like the big woman gonna be able to persuade Jaime.
Did anyone notice that one sparrow that got super uncomfortable when the HNIC said that they would all gladly die today? I get the same vibe from him that i got from little dude that stabbed John Snow.
Probably not. He's too caught up in Cersei. The respect he has for Brienne will probably let her leave with her life, but other than that, I cant see anything else happening.
That was lancel lannister a cousin and former lover of cersei till jamie came back.
A man has witnessed Episode 6 of season 6 of Game of Thrones titled "Blood of my Blood"... I immediately expected DMX to appear in this episode as a pirate but I was wrong. Basically a big family reunion episode, where we are re-introduced to several key characters. As per usual here are my stretched out observations
- Meera is now starring in Snow Dogs; bet she wished she didn't skip those crossfit classes
- Bran is binge watching the entire show on 2X like most people do podcasts and audio books
- We see the Mad King, Wildfire, Nights King, and all of the Starks dying... plus Ned's voice and a hand soaked in blood
- Burn them all, Burn them all ...will Bran warg into him and he'll go "Burall Burall Burall" ?
- This may be the end of Bran and Meera.... but wait a minute the Medieval Ghost Rider shows up
- Ghost Rider steals a line from Terminator 2 "Come with me if you want to live"
- Sam is taking Gilly to his hometown and she's happier than a hoodrat with a room at Circus Circus (wow this is so classy & sophisticated)
- Does Sam's family live in the Acropolis ? Winterfell looks like Beirut compared to Horn Hill
- Sam if you don't want your peeps to know your bae is a wildling...stop somewhere and get her a dress. Gilly singing "I woke up North of the wall like this"
- Sam's mama is like every grandma ever...I don't care who you bring home as long as my grandchild is coming
- Lil Sam is a white walker toddler, blonde and Aryan like Germany likes em. He nor Gilly have those features
- Gilly doesn't know her favorite color, she thought burlap was all there was
- Randyll Tarly (is Joe Jackson) pissed off at dinner and he hasn't even taken a bite yet
- Sam attempts to get another roll but pops is apparently on that paleo kick
- Randyll is going in on Sam, but Gilly tags in the ring like she's ready to drop a DDT on pops
- Until she mentions "on our way down to Castle Black" ..unaware that pops is a Westerosi orienteering champion
- This bitch is a wildling Sam? you couldn't get a prostitute from your own land, you had to get a fail order immigrant bride - Tywin Lite aka Lord Tarly
- Sam is banished and then decides to steal the Valaryian steel sword and his instant wildling family
- Arya sneaks into the theater to see Game of thrones on Broadway for the 3rd time.... she can't see Jofferery die enough. A girl is entertained
- Arya is watching the fox news presentation of Westeros history in this play
- A girl poisons the drank, then meets her target. Lady Crane says her eyebrows are on fleek and she says her name is "MERCY" **hint**
- A girl is still a Stark: they are all bad at two things 1) Pet Care 2) Following instructions
- Arya drops her contract!! Damn if you're gonna quit your job and create your own startup you at least learn the business first !
- The waif can't wait to snitch... she's threatened by Arya. Jaquen orders the Code Red and they will fight to the death
- Yes Kings Landing... I'm ready to see Margarey naked, but her hair isn't cut ?
- Mace Tyrell looking like Captain Crunch with training wheels on a horse attempting to lead the Tyrell army
- Lord Tyrell speech excites his troops less than reading the Five Guys menu to a crowd of vegans
- Jamie says there will be no walk of atonement, and Margarey smirks ...she knows there wont be because Tommen has been turned
- Margarey must have that Erykah Badu ...I expect Tommen to be wearing shoulder pads and dropping "Electric Circus" soon
- Bernie Sparrow won all the super-delegates tonight, KL never heard of separation of church and state ?
- Tommen releases Jamie from the Kingsguard, very similar to how Jofferey released Ser Barristan Selmy
- Walder Frey is still salty and alive, appears to be in the same seat and outfit since the Red Wedding. He still has his Sandusky on with a new child bride
- Blackfish Da God has taken his home back and Frey is not happy.... so he grabs Lord Edmure from his honeymoon dungeon to bargain with.
- Back to the North and we learn that Ghost Rider is Benjen Stark with dragonglass in his chest
- Does Dragonglass have some magical effects on Starks? The Nights King is allegedly a Stark, Craster too
- How convenient Bran an uncle you haven't seen in years shows up on Memorial day and lights the grill and pours you a drink
- Bran will have to face the Nights King says Benjen... what's he gonna do? Get a good parking spot ?
- White savior time as Danaerys and Daario lead the Dothraki and discuss how many ships they'll need to take the 7 kingdoms
- Hey no one has died yet.... it's been about 50 minutes ???
- Khaleesi went and got Drogon like he'd been parked behind the rocks the whole time
- Drogon been eating entire villages and doing push ups.... he's massive
- Danaerys giving a speech on top of Drogon like she's Obama at Howard graduation last year
- Khaleesi plagiarizes Khal Drogo's speech to rally her khalasar
Lancel had the look on his face like how Earthquake puts it.... 'I got a problem with this plan'.
Interesting article that fleshes out the bran theory
https://www.pastemagazine.com/artic...f-thrones-theory-to-end-all-game-of-thro.html
https://www.pastemagazine.com/artic...f-thrones-theory-to-end-all-game-of-thro.html
The Game of Thrones Theory to End All Game of Thrones Theories
By Shane Ryan | May 23, 2016 | 1:30pm
TV | FEATURESShare Tweet Email
First off, let me warn you that this entire post is laced with lethal doses of spoilers, and they’re going to start dropping immediately. What follows this sentence is a fun .gif of the character Hot Pie, and if you don’t want any aspect of past, present, or future Game of Thrones ruined for you, do not go beyond Hot Pie.
WARNING: YOU HAVE PASSED HOT PIE. WE CAN NO LONGER GUARANTEE YOUR SAFETY OR SANITY. MINDS ARE AT GREAT RISK OF BEING BLOWN.
Okay, so before last night’s episode (gushing review here), we knew that Bran Stark could warg into animals and humans and control their actions. We also knew he could go back in time using his greenseer skills to observe past events. There was one vague hint in the Tower of Joy scene—when young Ned seemed to hear him calling out as he climbed the tower steps—that perhaps Bran could affect the past in some way, but the three-eyed raven quickly dismissed that notion, and that was that.
Then last night happened, and suddenly it seems that Bran can actually combine his two skills. While the cave of the three-eyed raven was being attacked by White Walkers, Bran was simultaneously greenseeing in Winterfell, years ago, observing young Hodor and young Ned Stark. That’s when he heard Meera’s voice calling to him from the cave, begging him to warg into Hodor. Bran was able to do that without leaving Winterfell, but he also (we think) warged into young Hodor. That changed the poor kid from a normal boy named Wylis into a simpleton who could only repeat a shortened version of the phrase “hold the door” for the rest of his life, in preparation for the moment at the cave when he would hold off the Wights and give Bran and Meera the crucial time they needed to escape.
It’s important to note that we still don’t know exactly what happened. Did Bran actually change the past and ruin Hodor’s life in order to ensure his safety in the future? Was there someone or something else influencing the outcomes? Or were these historical moments set in stone, as the three-eyed raven would have us believe, and we’re just witnessing the fluidity of time, where past, present and future have equal influence?
We’re going to ignore those questions for now, and accept that Bran was responsible for creating Hodor, and does indeed have the power to combine warging and greensight in order to change the past. If that’s true, then the entire scope of Game of Thrones just got blown the f*** up, and Bran became the most important character in the story—by far. Everything we’ve seen to this point can be called into question, and Bran’s potential influence on all past events is limitless. He might literally be the architect of an entire world—and I’m not using the word “architect” lightly, as you’ll see.
Let’s explore the possibilities of this theory, starting with the idea that first blew my mind last night:
The Voices in the Mad King’s Head Belong to Bran
I should mention that every idea I’m conveying comes from the geniuses at the Game of Thrones subreddit, which is a wonderful community that has enhanced my viewing/reading experience. In this thread, user Lycosnic points out that in one of the Season 6 trailers, we saw a scene that very much looked like Jaime Lannister killing Aerys Targaryen, the “Mad King,” in the moment that earned him the moniker “Kingslayer.” We already know that the only way we can see these past events is through Bran’s eyes—just like the Winterfell scene, and the Tower of Joy—so we can safely guess that Bran will be the vector by which we’re conveyed to the Iron Throne.
We also know that he and Meera are making a desperate escape attempt from the cave, heading for the south, and that if Bran does revisit the Mad King’s death, he could simultaneously be in the midst of a ferocious battle, at the Wall or elsewhere, against the White Walkers. I’ll let Lycosnic take it from here:
We’ve now seen Bran’s ability to influence the past (or, confirm it, depending on how time travel paradoxes are solved in GOT). We’ve seen the link between the past and present BREAK Hodor’s mind, turning him into a simpleton. I don’t think madness is a far stretch from this.
If you remember Jaime’s testimony, the mad king just kept repeating “burn them all.” What if he didn’t mean King’s Landing and the rebels? What if Bran somehow either accidentally or purposefully lets him see the army of the dead? Someone could be yelling something akin to “burn them all” just like tonight’s “hold the door.”
If that seems a little crazy, go back and re-watch Ned Stark’s death scene. This link will take you to the 4-minute mark of the video, and pay close attention to Ned’s reaction in the moments before his death. It sure looks like he’s hearing or seeing something, doesn’t it?
Knowing what we know now, how could he be hearing anything but Bran’s voice? And why couldn’t the Mad King’s voices have come from Bran, or somebody in Bran’s world?
That’s Just the Beginning
Once we know that Bran can travel back in time and influence the future, it opens a whole world of possibility. Take this theory, from an anonymous message board user:
You know it’s true. Bran will go back in time to build the Wall, and when people will ask the guy’s name, he’ll just say “Bran.” Thus, Bran the Builder, who will be the inspiration for his name when he’s born in the present time. He’ll be the one who’ll establish, in the past, that there must always be Starks at Winterfell, because he must ensure that he comes to exist in the present.
For those not up on your ancient Westerosi history, Bran the Builder) lived 8,000 years before the present moment, one of the invading First Men and the founder of House Stark. He built Winterfell, and the Wall and possibly Storm’s end.
The idea here is that Bran Stark the time traveler may have embodied some, if not all, of the many Brandon Starks in the book—of which there are many. There is nothing definitiveconnecting the two Brandons besides their name, but considering George R.R. Martin’s penchant for dropping hints in seemingly unimportant textual asides, re-read this passage from the first novel, Game of Thrones:
“I could tell you the story about Brandon the Builder,” Old Nan said. “That was always your favorite.”
Thousands and thousands of years ago, Brandon the Builder had raised Winterfell, and some said the Wall. Bran knew the story, but it had never been his favorite. Maybe one of the other Brandons had liked that story. Sometimes Nan would talk to him as if he were her Brandon, the baby she had nursed all those years ago, and sometimes she confused him with his uncle Brandon, who was killed by the Mad King before Bran was even born. She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.
“All the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.” Perhaps because they were all one person, in some sense, in real life? Whether or not that’s true, nothing in Martin’s oeuvre is written by accident.
And what about this conversation, between Ned and Arya in King’s Landing, full of potentially ironic foreshadowing:
Arya Stark: “He wants to be a knight of the Kingsguard. He can’t be one now, can he?”
Eddard Stark: “No. But someday he could be lord of a holdfast or sit on the King’s council. Or he might raise castles, like Brandon the Builder.”
This seemingly throwaway passage was important enough to appear in the TV show, where you’d have to imagine Benioff and Weiss would have cut it if it weren’t way more important than it looks on the surface.
Update, one day later: Read this passage from A Clash of Kings, also via Reddit:
Here’s the second half of the theory from the aforementioned message board poster:
The Last Hero is probably just a guy he’ll warg into from the future, and he’ll use him to beat the Others the first time around and make peace with the Children of the Forest because he will know that he needs the religion of the Old Gods to be maintained in the north so that men can learn to Warg—otherwise he can’t, in the future, go back to the past and set things in motion. Bloodraven tells him that he has to become him, because Bloodraven knows that in his earlier days, the future Bran is the one who controlled him and taught him the ways and sent him to the Children of the Forest to hold the place until he, Bran, could come to him so that he could learn it.
More history: The Last Hero is the unknown man who sought out the Children of the Forest—who we know now created the White Walkers—the first time the Whites invaded. He lost all his men during his journey during the long winter, but he finally found the Children and won The Battle for the Dawn, defeating the Whites and sending them into far exile. Incidentally, this was when the Night’s Watch was first formed.
Like the passage on Bran the Builder, this information comes from Nan:
Now these were the days before the Andals came, and long before the women fled across the narrow sea from the cities of the Rhoyne, and the hundred kingdoms of those times were the kingdoms of the First Men, who had taken those lands from the children of the forest. Yet here and there in the fastness of the woods, the children still lived in their wooden cities and hollow hills, and the faces in the trees kept watch. So as cold and death filled the earth, the last hero determined to seek out the children, in the hopes that their ancient magics could win back what the armies of men had lost. He set out into the dead lands with a sword, a horse, a dog, and a dozen companions. For years he searched until he despaired of ever finding the children of the forest in their secret cities. One by one his friends died, and his horse, and finally even his dog, and his sword froze so hard the blade snapped when he tried to use it. And the Others smelled the hot blood in him and came silent on his trail, stalking him with packs of pale white spiders big as hounds—
She is interrupted before she can finish—and she never finishes, of course—but the fact that the legend comes from the same source has to be noteworthy.
Bran May Be Azor Ahai, the Prince That Was Promised
This character, who goes by at least five different names, is the legendary hero promised by R’hollor, and defeated some great darkness—it’s unclear whether he’s connected with the Last Hero, but the stories are very similar. And it’s important that we have had already had many characters prophesied to be Azor Ahai—Stannis Baratheon, Daenerys Targaryen, and Jon Snow among them. The idea is that he will be “reborn again as a champion” after a long summer when a dark force descends on the world. These circumstances fit with the present, obviously, and if the prophecy is real, you have to imagine it will be fulfilled by somebody we already know. After last night’s revelations, Bran Stark has to be the frontrunner.
What Does It All Mean?
If Bran is not just capable of greensight and warging, but is actually a time traveler who was also Bran the Builder, the Last Hero, and Azor Ahai, the promised savior, what does it portend for the story? On the surface, it gives him massive influence over the entire world. Could the whole thing be his creation, or at least highly subject to his influence? If he has that kind of control over events we’ve already seen, does it undermine the agency of the other characters, who would now be essentially just acting out a script that Bran writes and directs?
Or would this version of Bran have less control than we think? Will it be ambiguous whether his works are positive or negative? One theory making its way around at the moment is that in the same way that he broke the magic of the cave when he allowed the Night King to touch him, perhaps he’ll also break the magic of the wall when he finally moves south. Jon Snow’s parting warning to Dolorous Edd—”don’t tear it down”—might actually foreshadow the collapse of the Wall. Hell, even if he played a role in driving the Mad King to insanity, he might be responsible for the war starting in the first place.
There’s so much we don’t know, and it’s possible that Bran is just Bran, and that he’ll decide the best course of action is not to change the past—beyond perhaps providing some solace to his father at the moment of his death. That would restore a sense of order to the story, and end the speculation that he’ll become a kind of living God who can bend fate to his whim.
Regardless of how it plays out, we’re standing at the brink of a wide chasm of narrative possibility. At this time yesterday, Bran was a gifted boy struggling to find his purpose after a life-defining tragedy. Today, he’s expanded into something almost beyond recognition, and we can only guess at where—or even, if—his limits begin.
By Shane Ryan | May 23, 2016 | 1:30pm
TV | FEATURESShare Tweet Email
First off, let me warn you that this entire post is laced with lethal doses of spoilers, and they’re going to start dropping immediately. What follows this sentence is a fun .gif of the character Hot Pie, and if you don’t want any aspect of past, present, or future Game of Thrones ruined for you, do not go beyond Hot Pie.
WARNING: YOU HAVE PASSED HOT PIE. WE CAN NO LONGER GUARANTEE YOUR SAFETY OR SANITY. MINDS ARE AT GREAT RISK OF BEING BLOWN.
Okay, so before last night’s episode (gushing review here), we knew that Bran Stark could warg into animals and humans and control their actions. We also knew he could go back in time using his greenseer skills to observe past events. There was one vague hint in the Tower of Joy scene—when young Ned seemed to hear him calling out as he climbed the tower steps—that perhaps Bran could affect the past in some way, but the three-eyed raven quickly dismissed that notion, and that was that.
Then last night happened, and suddenly it seems that Bran can actually combine his two skills. While the cave of the three-eyed raven was being attacked by White Walkers, Bran was simultaneously greenseeing in Winterfell, years ago, observing young Hodor and young Ned Stark. That’s when he heard Meera’s voice calling to him from the cave, begging him to warg into Hodor. Bran was able to do that without leaving Winterfell, but he also (we think) warged into young Hodor. That changed the poor kid from a normal boy named Wylis into a simpleton who could only repeat a shortened version of the phrase “hold the door” for the rest of his life, in preparation for the moment at the cave when he would hold off the Wights and give Bran and Meera the crucial time they needed to escape.
It’s important to note that we still don’t know exactly what happened. Did Bran actually change the past and ruin Hodor’s life in order to ensure his safety in the future? Was there someone or something else influencing the outcomes? Or were these historical moments set in stone, as the three-eyed raven would have us believe, and we’re just witnessing the fluidity of time, where past, present and future have equal influence?
We’re going to ignore those questions for now, and accept that Bran was responsible for creating Hodor, and does indeed have the power to combine warging and greensight in order to change the past. If that’s true, then the entire scope of Game of Thrones just got blown the f*** up, and Bran became the most important character in the story—by far. Everything we’ve seen to this point can be called into question, and Bran’s potential influence on all past events is limitless. He might literally be the architect of an entire world—and I’m not using the word “architect” lightly, as you’ll see.
Let’s explore the possibilities of this theory, starting with the idea that first blew my mind last night:
The Voices in the Mad King’s Head Belong to Bran
I should mention that every idea I’m conveying comes from the geniuses at the Game of Thrones subreddit, which is a wonderful community that has enhanced my viewing/reading experience. In this thread, user Lycosnic points out that in one of the Season 6 trailers, we saw a scene that very much looked like Jaime Lannister killing Aerys Targaryen, the “Mad King,” in the moment that earned him the moniker “Kingslayer.” We already know that the only way we can see these past events is through Bran’s eyes—just like the Winterfell scene, and the Tower of Joy—so we can safely guess that Bran will be the vector by which we’re conveyed to the Iron Throne.
We also know that he and Meera are making a desperate escape attempt from the cave, heading for the south, and that if Bran does revisit the Mad King’s death, he could simultaneously be in the midst of a ferocious battle, at the Wall or elsewhere, against the White Walkers. I’ll let Lycosnic take it from here:
We’ve now seen Bran’s ability to influence the past (or, confirm it, depending on how time travel paradoxes are solved in GOT). We’ve seen the link between the past and present BREAK Hodor’s mind, turning him into a simpleton. I don’t think madness is a far stretch from this.
If you remember Jaime’s testimony, the mad king just kept repeating “burn them all.” What if he didn’t mean King’s Landing and the rebels? What if Bran somehow either accidentally or purposefully lets him see the army of the dead? Someone could be yelling something akin to “burn them all” just like tonight’s “hold the door.”
If that seems a little crazy, go back and re-watch Ned Stark’s death scene. This link will take you to the 4-minute mark of the video, and pay close attention to Ned’s reaction in the moments before his death. It sure looks like he’s hearing or seeing something, doesn’t it?
Knowing what we know now, how could he be hearing anything but Bran’s voice? And why couldn’t the Mad King’s voices have come from Bran, or somebody in Bran’s world?
That’s Just the Beginning
Once we know that Bran can travel back in time and influence the future, it opens a whole world of possibility. Take this theory, from an anonymous message board user:
You know it’s true. Bran will go back in time to build the Wall, and when people will ask the guy’s name, he’ll just say “Bran.” Thus, Bran the Builder, who will be the inspiration for his name when he’s born in the present time. He’ll be the one who’ll establish, in the past, that there must always be Starks at Winterfell, because he must ensure that he comes to exist in the present.
For those not up on your ancient Westerosi history, Bran the Builder) lived 8,000 years before the present moment, one of the invading First Men and the founder of House Stark. He built Winterfell, and the Wall and possibly Storm’s end.
The idea here is that Bran Stark the time traveler may have embodied some, if not all, of the many Brandon Starks in the book—of which there are many. There is nothing definitiveconnecting the two Brandons besides their name, but considering George R.R. Martin’s penchant for dropping hints in seemingly unimportant textual asides, re-read this passage from the first novel, Game of Thrones:
“I could tell you the story about Brandon the Builder,” Old Nan said. “That was always your favorite.”
Thousands and thousands of years ago, Brandon the Builder had raised Winterfell, and some said the Wall. Bran knew the story, but it had never been his favorite. Maybe one of the other Brandons had liked that story. Sometimes Nan would talk to him as if he were her Brandon, the baby she had nursed all those years ago, and sometimes she confused him with his uncle Brandon, who was killed by the Mad King before Bran was even born. She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.
“All the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.” Perhaps because they were all one person, in some sense, in real life? Whether or not that’s true, nothing in Martin’s oeuvre is written by accident.
And what about this conversation, between Ned and Arya in King’s Landing, full of potentially ironic foreshadowing:
Arya Stark: “He wants to be a knight of the Kingsguard. He can’t be one now, can he?”
Eddard Stark: “No. But someday he could be lord of a holdfast or sit on the King’s council. Or he might raise castles, like Brandon the Builder.”
This seemingly throwaway passage was important enough to appear in the TV show, where you’d have to imagine Benioff and Weiss would have cut it if it weren’t way more important than it looks on the surface.
Update, one day later: Read this passage from A Clash of Kings, also via Reddit:
Here’s the second half of the theory from the aforementioned message board poster:
The Last Hero is probably just a guy he’ll warg into from the future, and he’ll use him to beat the Others the first time around and make peace with the Children of the Forest because he will know that he needs the religion of the Old Gods to be maintained in the north so that men can learn to Warg—otherwise he can’t, in the future, go back to the past and set things in motion. Bloodraven tells him that he has to become him, because Bloodraven knows that in his earlier days, the future Bran is the one who controlled him and taught him the ways and sent him to the Children of the Forest to hold the place until he, Bran, could come to him so that he could learn it.
More history: The Last Hero is the unknown man who sought out the Children of the Forest—who we know now created the White Walkers—the first time the Whites invaded. He lost all his men during his journey during the long winter, but he finally found the Children and won The Battle for the Dawn, defeating the Whites and sending them into far exile. Incidentally, this was when the Night’s Watch was first formed.
Like the passage on Bran the Builder, this information comes from Nan:
Now these were the days before the Andals came, and long before the women fled across the narrow sea from the cities of the Rhoyne, and the hundred kingdoms of those times were the kingdoms of the First Men, who had taken those lands from the children of the forest. Yet here and there in the fastness of the woods, the children still lived in their wooden cities and hollow hills, and the faces in the trees kept watch. So as cold and death filled the earth, the last hero determined to seek out the children, in the hopes that their ancient magics could win back what the armies of men had lost. He set out into the dead lands with a sword, a horse, a dog, and a dozen companions. For years he searched until he despaired of ever finding the children of the forest in their secret cities. One by one his friends died, and his horse, and finally even his dog, and his sword froze so hard the blade snapped when he tried to use it. And the Others smelled the hot blood in him and came silent on his trail, stalking him with packs of pale white spiders big as hounds—
She is interrupted before she can finish—and she never finishes, of course—but the fact that the legend comes from the same source has to be noteworthy.
Bran May Be Azor Ahai, the Prince That Was Promised
This character, who goes by at least five different names, is the legendary hero promised by R’hollor, and defeated some great darkness—it’s unclear whether he’s connected with the Last Hero, but the stories are very similar. And it’s important that we have had already had many characters prophesied to be Azor Ahai—Stannis Baratheon, Daenerys Targaryen, and Jon Snow among them. The idea is that he will be “reborn again as a champion” after a long summer when a dark force descends on the world. These circumstances fit with the present, obviously, and if the prophecy is real, you have to imagine it will be fulfilled by somebody we already know. After last night’s revelations, Bran Stark has to be the frontrunner.
What Does It All Mean?
If Bran is not just capable of greensight and warging, but is actually a time traveler who was also Bran the Builder, the Last Hero, and Azor Ahai, the promised savior, what does it portend for the story? On the surface, it gives him massive influence over the entire world. Could the whole thing be his creation, or at least highly subject to his influence? If he has that kind of control over events we’ve already seen, does it undermine the agency of the other characters, who would now be essentially just acting out a script that Bran writes and directs?
Or would this version of Bran have less control than we think? Will it be ambiguous whether his works are positive or negative? One theory making its way around at the moment is that in the same way that he broke the magic of the cave when he allowed the Night King to touch him, perhaps he’ll also break the magic of the wall when he finally moves south. Jon Snow’s parting warning to Dolorous Edd—”don’t tear it down”—might actually foreshadow the collapse of the Wall. Hell, even if he played a role in driving the Mad King to insanity, he might be responsible for the war starting in the first place.
There’s so much we don’t know, and it’s possible that Bran is just Bran, and that he’ll decide the best course of action is not to change the past—beyond perhaps providing some solace to his father at the moment of his death. That would restore a sense of order to the story, and end the speculation that he’ll become a kind of living God who can bend fate to his whim.
Regardless of how it plays out, we’re standing at the brink of a wide chasm of narrative possibility. At this time yesterday, Bran was a gifted boy struggling to find his purpose after a life-defining tragedy. Today, he’s expanded into something almost beyond recognition, and we can only guess at where—or even, if—his limits begin.
I'm confused about The Waif. How is she "No One" if she still harbors hatred/jealousy toward others? Working for the God of Many Faces is suppose to be business and business only. Maybe killing the Waif will get Arya off the hook since a life has been paid for so a life needs to be taken.
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