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"They killed him long ago"


Winter Blues

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Before you roll your eyes at another Coldhands thread, know that this is not just about Coldhands. I'm more interested in the history and timeline of the Others invasion, thousands of years ago.

When Bran is told "they killed him long ago", I assume that "they" are The Others.

Here is where I scratch my head: this guy has been wondering around north of the wall since the first Other invasion? Was he just hanging around until Bloodraven arrived and put him to work? What in the hell was he doing all that time? I mean, according to everything I've read in the books so far, it has been thousand of years since the last invasion.

Maybe I missed something, or I'm not reading as closely as I should. Can someone explain? 😐

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It's hard to say. As soon as we know his identity things should become much clearer.

A number of people think that Coldhands is The Night's King.

This confuses me though, because in the fourth season of GoT The Night's King is revealed to us.

I'd appreciate it if somebody could help me out here.

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We've seen how slowly the WW are moving. They might well have been travelling south for hundreds of years but have only just reached humans. CH may have been a ranger who travelled far north for some reason perhaps searching for the Horn of Joramum to bring back to the NW for safety, or a deserter who planned to go north then escape justice via the sea. Until we find out more details about him we just don't know, we have no evidence to go off.

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Maybe CH'S is the NK and the show didn't use him as CH because they didn't want to address it the same way the books are or can't address the situation without spoiling it. When they showed the NK this is what I considered, at least.

That makes sense. I was wondering if they decided to switch it around.

We've seen how slowly the WW are moving. They might well have been travelling south for hundreds of years but have only just reached humans. CH may have been a ranger who travelled far north for some reason perhaps searching for the Horn of Joramum to bring back to the NW for safety, or a deserter who planned to go north then escape justice via the sea. Until we find out more details about him we just don't know, we have no evidence to go off.

I like the idea of Coldhands trying to find the Horn of Joramun for hundreds of years. Maybe he was the one who buried it at The Fist of the First Men?

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Im sure CH is not the NK since GRRM is also the one incharge of the show.the WW have been in hiding ever since their last defeat.my guess is they have been building up an army so as to have the mumbers necessary to go over the wall.i dont think they know about the horn since they dont speak the language of men and the wrights have no memories of their past life.

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Here is where I scratch my head: this guy has been wondering around north of the wall since the first Other invasion? Was he just hanging around until Bloodraven arrived and put him to work? What in the hell was he doing all that time? I mean, according to everything I've read in the books so far, it has been thousand of years since the last invasion.

Maybe he hibernates.

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It's hard to say. As soon as we know his identity things should become much clearer.

A number of people think that Coldhands is The Night's King.

This confuses me though, because in the fourth season of GoT The Night's King is revealed to us.

I'd appreciate it if somebody could help me out here.

The show is not canon--it's more like glorified fan fiction. So nothing on the show can confirm or refute any theory. I don't think he is Coldhands, but I don't believe we can rule out the Night's King being Coldhands.

As to the OP, Others had been collecting Craster's sons for the past, what, three dozen years, so it seems reasonable to conclude that the Others have always been lurking about north of the Wall, just not in numbers or with purpose that would cause panic among the Free Folk or draw notice from the Night's Watch.

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My own theory is that 1 day Bloodraven as a worshipper of the Old GOds went to the weirwood grove north of castle black and took a bodyguard. They were attacked by WW's but Bloodraven had Darksister so he could fight them and they were scared of him, the bodyguard had a regular sword and died because of it. "Long ago" can mean a lot of things but wights seem to deteriorate and certainly don't heal, so the older he is the more destroyed his body should be and his body isn't all that messed up.


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Since we don't know exactly what Coldhands is...we don't know how long ago 'long ago' actually is.



Coldhands appears to be a wight and does have hands black from pooled and congealed blood...but he is not mindless like wights appear to be.



Or it could be that he is Bloodraven's thrall, as opposed to The Others.


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I don't think "they" refers to the others or whitewalkers, keep in mind CH doesn't have blue eyes like most wights, GRRM actually compares his eyes as the same colour as one of Bloodraven's ravens, "black" .



In terms of timeline issues, he maybe from the Age of Heroes if you consider him speaking the Old Tongue, or he could simply be a recent person that died but can speak the Old Tongue, it's really ambiguous..







Or it could be that he is Bloodraven's thrall, as opposed to The Others.




As crackpot as it sounds that's what I actually believe, especially since Leaf warned Bran when he tried to to call Ned when looking into the past she said "Do not seek to call him back boy" which could possibly mean greenseers can resurrect people just like the red preists. Also his yes being compared to the ravens rather than the ordinary wight colour maybe a hint.


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Before you roll your eyes at another Coldhands thread, know that this is not just about Coldhands. I'm more interested in the history and timeline of the Others invasion, thousands of years ago.

When Bran is told "they killed him long ago", I assume that "they" are The Others.

Here is where I scratch my head: this guy has been wondering around north of the wall since the first Other invasion? Was he just hanging around until Bloodraven arrived and put him to work? What in the hell was he doing all that time? I mean, according to everything I've read in the books so far, it has been thousand of years since the last invasion.

Maybe I missed something, or I'm not reading as closely as I should. Can someone explain?

There were likely some skirmishes post-war with Others and humans. And it's possible that "they" refers to someone else. Even other members of the Watch.

Maybe he was Bloodraven's Steward/squire? And was attacked by White Walkers, but due to something (magic/COTF/BLoodraven) he didn't become a real Wight.

Since we don't know exactly what Coldhands is...we don't know how long ago 'long ago' actually is.

Coldhands appears to be a wight and does have hands black from pooled and congealed blood...but he is not mindless like wights appear to be.

Or it could be that he is Bloodraven's thrall, as opposed to The Others.

I refer you both to my Wighting Theory. Though I think Ser Cold Fingers may have seen it before.

By the way, there's a decent chance Coldhands is Daemon Blackfyre II. I like to think he's a Stark, or a Bolton, but it would be cool of have a member of house fire and blood be a form of ice zombie.

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One thing I find interesting in regards to Coldhands is the term Monster.



Bran found himself remembering the tales Old Nan had told him when he was a babe. Beyond the Wall the mosters live, the giant and the ghouls, the stalking shadows and the dead that walk, she would say, tucking him in beneath his scratchy woolen blanket, but they cannot pass so long as the Wall stands strong and the men of the Night's Watch are true. So go to sleep my little Brandon, my baby boy, and dream sweet dreams. There are no monsters here. The ranger wore the black of the Night's Watch, but what if he was not a man at all? What if he was some monster, taking them to the other monsters to be devoured?





Meera's gloved hand tightened around the shaft of her frog spear. "Who sent you? Who is this three-eyed crow?"



"A friend. Dreamer, wizard, call him what you will. The last greenseer." The longhall's wooden door banged open. Outside, the night wind howled, bleak and black. The trees were full of ravens, screaming. Coldhands did not move.



"A monster," Bran said.



The ranger looked at Bran as if the rest of them did not exist. "Your monster, Brandon Stark."



"Yours," the raven echoed, from his shoulder. Outside the door, the ravens in the trees took up the cry, until the night wood echoed to the murderer's song of "Yours, yours, yours."





I know Monster can be used to describe unknown things that you fear...but GRRM's choice of using that term makes me think Old Nan knows who Coldhands is or what he is.



He could be Lady Blizzardborn's live wight.



Also...is Coldhands saying that he is Bran's monster? or is he introducing himself...as in my name is Brandon Stark and I am your monster. I just find it odd that Coldhands uses Bran's full name since Bran doesn't go by Brandon.



Old Nan did state that she thought the Night's King was the brother to the King of the North and his name was Brandon. Could be that the Night's King was killed long ago and Bloodraven has found a way to make him is wight.



But regarding the OP...time is a disputed thing. It reminds me of this quote by Samwell Tarly to Jon Snow in AFfC, Chapter 5.



The oldest histories we have were written after the Andals came to Westeros. The First Men only left us runes on rocks, so everything we know about the Age of Heroes and the Dawn Age and the Long Night comes from accounts set down by septons thousands of years later. There are archmaesters at the Citadel who question all of it.


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