Stark children 'afraid' of their powers or?

[TinyNeedle]

My first post, hello everyone. I've seen the 3 seasons so far, and I'm at one third of aCoK, and there's something that struck me as a little strange.

Bran can see through his wolf's eyes, but it always seems to frighten him as his wolf dreams are always described as horrible nightmares.

And Arya (currently at gods eye) always shudders from fear when she hears wolves howling, when it is obvious she still has a strong connection with her wolf and it is heavily implied that the she-wolf everyone is talking about might be Nymeria.

I would have expected the stark children to feel at ease with the new discovered powers they seem to have and the strong connection with their direwolves, I am expecting we will know a lot more about it later but why does it frighten them so much? It can't be it's just because they are not yet accustomed to it, can it..? Or is it because they're just humans after all and by nature a human fears what he cannot understand?

[ThePrinceWhoisFlummoxed]

Welcome to the boards!

I understand that being able to go into the mind of an animal sounds like a lot of fun, especialy an animal as powerful and downright cool as a direwolf.

On the other hand, if I started becoming my cat everytime I went to sleep, or even some of the times that I went to sleep, I would freak waaaaaaaaaay the heck out.

You can say, "sure, but here in the real world you can't become an animal, but in these books you can," and that would be true enough - except that in GoT no one in Westeros realizes that you can become an animal either. Sure, there are some old legends, but I doubt that anyone would put much stock in them. Even if you did believe the legends, you would have to worry that your powers would not be well received by the rest of the populace if they became known.

Finally, these are kids, remember, so they may be a little easier to freak out.

Just my two cents. Happy reading!

[Maester Wiles]

I never thought that Bran was innately afraid of his wolf dreams, only of what people would think of him if they found out. But I do understand the bizarreness of the recurrence - especially his lack of control at first. People fear, as you said, what they don't understand or cannot control, but I feel like Bran embraced the dreams very early on. He has always felt the most connectivity with his direwolf, then Jon, then Robb, then Arya, then Rickon, then Sansa.

Semi-spoiler about wolf dreams (SoS):

Arya and Jon (I don't remember if Robb does, I think not though) have dreams through the eyes of their wolves, which leads me to believe that they will eventually becomes free wargs just like Bran. And this makes me really happy.

But yes, you have to remember that kids freak out moreso than adults in most respects, and wolves aren't the most docile creatures.

[Ko Rakharo]

Correcting the spoiler above with another spoiler (SoS):

It's Arya, Bran and Jon; Robb, as only seen through Catelyn's eyes, could never be known to having warg powers; however it seemed in Bran's Summer dreams in CoK that Rickon and Shaggy were also sort of connected. The wolves felt their family's death (see Lady's and Ned's) and both Bran and Rickon foresaw the news -- leaving Robb and Sansa completely unknown regarding warg with the death of Lady and Robb's out-of-the-light appearances.

And I wouldn't hope Bran to find those wolf dreams amusing after three weeks of dreaming them along with the crow dreams after the fall. Arya's just scared of anything she can't stick a blade to if she need.