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What will become of Coldhands?


Floki of the Ironborn

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I think it's the last we see of him, if he was controlled by Bloodraven then he has no more need of him. If he was someone else then it's unlikely he survived the fight.

How does an animated corpse not survive in a fight with animated corpses?

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How would he survive? However he could defeat the other corpses is the same way they can defeat him, and they have a vast numerical advantage.

By cutting them into pieces of body parts that go wriggling off on their own? If they cut his head off, is his consciousness now trapped in a head that has to sit there until someone finds it and brings it inside to sit above a hearth and impart wisdom? That's still surviving in my estimation.

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By cutting them into pieces of body parts that go wriggling off on their own? If they cut his head off, is his consciousness now trapped in a head that has to sit there until someone finds it and brings it inside to sit above a hearth and impart wisdom? That's still surviving in my estimation.

But whoever finds the aftermath of the fight will burn all body parts. Unless by some miracle (even by GRRM's standards) it is Sam (surviving fPate, having gone back to The Wall, ranging far beyond The Wall) who finds them they won't distinguish Coldhands from the other Wights.

He's either gone forever or stuck in a never-ending fight with all the other corpses constantly putting themselves back together again. You can't seriously think he can win that fight on his own,

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Sorry for going slightly off topic. Why would Coldhands be a puppet of BR? I like to think of Coldhands as being on the upper echelon of wights. So if BR can control Coldhands, why not control the lesser wights that were attacking Bran and crew? I'm holding out hope that Coldhands might be a suggestion that not all wights are necessarily evil puppets, and that perhaps some are capable of holding onto a piece of their humanity.

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So then why is Coldhands working against the wights? And moreover, how would he have become this 'upper echolon' level when we clearly see that the wights only serve the Others?

The other part of my post: I'm holding out hope that Coldhands might be a suggestion that not all wights are necessarily evil puppets, and that perhaps some are capable of holding onto a piece of their humanity. 

Edit: Coldhands the human may have died and become a wight, but perhaps he managed to keep some of his humanity. So rather than serving the Others, he has managed to break from them and act independently.

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This is my issue with Coldhands:  he is a wight by virtue of descriptors, and like other wights, he has "no voice"!  The dead men cannot speak because they do not breath air! This is why CH conceals his mouth behind a scarf - not to disguise his features.

So, Bloodraven employs magic - perhaps a glamour - which allows Bran and company to "believe" the voice they hear is that of the wight.

Go figure!  Any other ideas here?

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So, Bloodraven employs magic - perhaps a glamour - which allows Bran and company to "believe" the voice they hear is that of the wight.

 

Huh, I was about to discredit this idea because Coldhands clearly cares about the Night's Watch traitors being punished, and he also rescues Sam, a loyal man of the Nights Watch, albeit so that he can go fetch Bran and keep the secret.

But thinking about it, why not? Bloodraven was a man of the Nights Watch for twenty years. Why shouldn't he have gained some affection for the order he served?

The only thing unexplained is the elk.

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Huh, I was about to discredit this idea because Coldhands clearly cares about the Night's Watch traitors being punished, and he also rescues Sam, a loyal man of the Nights Watch, albeit so that he can go fetch Bran and keep the secret.

But thinking about it, why not? Bloodraven was a man of the Nights Watch for twenty years. Why shouldn't he have gained some affection for the order he served?

The only thing unexplained is the elk.

What about the elk?  I have elk inspired theories because of an event that happens in AGoT regarding Robb Stark's herculean strength, hoisting an antlered and bloody beast defiled by Grey Wind and Summer, onto the back of a horse - horses dislike the smell of blood, and do not enjoy a dead carcass forced upon them.

Anyways, lots of inanimate things are given a voice:  the heart tree speaks and the mouth of the Black Gate as well.  Again, magic - or manipulation of the wind.  however, Bran inspires Theon through mental telepathy and empathy, as Bran does Jon Snow in his wolf dream in ACoK.  Remember, "Can a shout be silent?"  Ghost howls the first time as well.

I do think BR is a NW sympathizer.  

This is from my reread thread - thought you might like it!

Bran’s Lessons and the Night’s Watch Vows

Bran’s lessons with BR and Leaf echo the vows of the Night’s Watch, an insight that may speak to the influences contributing to their origination and composition.  Although a simple explanation for the similarities in the three-eyed crow’s phrasing of his lessons to Bran may be that Lord Brynden was once a brother and a Lord Commander  of the Night’s Watch himself; consequently, the Last Greenseer knows the vows well, and these memories imprinted on his conscious naturally rely on his accessing these sentence constructions. 

Or, the magic that is woven into the ice that built the Wall comes from the old gods, the children, and the greenseers, all of whom may have had and still do have a vested interest in those whose responsibilities are to man the Wall. 

The Watchers on the Wall have much in common with the “watchers in the trees”, or as Qhorin Halfhand phrases these things,  “. . . the trees have eyes again” [ACoK], a condition that is the result of the dead walking.

The Night’s Watch Vows and the Greenseers’ Vows

Night’s Watch:  Night gathers, and now my watch begins.

Greenseer:  The dead walk, the Long Night gathers, and now my greensight begins.

“The singers carved eyes into their heart trees to awaken them, and those are the first eyes a new greenseer learns to use . . . but in time you will see well beyond the trees themselves” [ADwD 458-459 ].

Night’s Watch:  It shall not end until my death.

Greenseer:  It shall not end until my death.

One day I will be like him [Lord Brynden, half corpse, half tree].  The thought filled Bran with dread” [ADwD 455].

Night’s Watch:  I shall have no wife, hold no lands, father no children.

Greenseer:  I shall have no wife, hold no lands, father no children.

Bran:  “What was he now? Only Bran the broken, Brandon of House Stark, prince of a lost kingdom, lord of a burned castle, heir to ruins” [ADwD 455].

Night’s Watch:  I shall wear no crowns and win no glory.

Greenseer:  I shall wear no crowns and win no glory.

I was going to be a knight, Bran remembered. I used to run and climb and fight” [ADwD].

“Bran,” he said sullenly.  Bran the Broken.  ‘Brandon Stark’.  The  cripple boy.  ‘The Prince of Winterfell.’  Of Winterfell burned and tumbled, its people scattered and slain” [ASoS 126].

Night’s Watch:  I shall live and die at my post.

Greenseer:  I shall live and die on my weirwood throne.

  Leaf to Bran: “Most of him has gone into the tree . . .” [ ADwD  449].

Night’s Watch:  I am the sword in the darkness.

Greenseer:  I am enlightenment amid ignorance.

Jojen tells Bran that greenseers can “see the truth that lies beneath the world” [ASoS 131].

Night’s Watch:  I am the watcher on the walls.

Greenseer:  I am the eyes in the trees.

“Dead men walk and the trees have eyes again” [ACoK].

Night’s Watch:  I am the fire that burns against the cold,

Greenseer:  I am the force against the dead,

Leaf to Bran:  “Do not seek to call him [Eddard Stark] back from death” [ADwD 458].

Night’s Watch:  The light that brings the dawn,

Greenseer:  The knowledge to return the dawn.

Jojen says to Bran, “You are the winged wolf, and there is no saying how far and how high you might fly . . .” [ASoS].

Night’s Watch:  The horn that wakes the sleepers,

Greenseer:  The voice that informs the unknowing,

Jojen says to Bran,  “. . . the trees remembered all their songs and spells, their histories and prayers, everything they knew about this world.  Maesters will tell you that the weirwoods are sacred to the old gods.  The singers believe they are the old gods” [ADwD 450].

Night’s Watch:  The shield that guards the realms of men.

Greenseer:  The greenseer born to save the realms of men

“Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother’s milk” [ADwD 450].

Night’s Watch:  I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch, for this night and all nights to come.

Greenseer:  I pledge my life and honor to the Long Night, for this night and all those to come.

Leaf to Bran on the sacrifice made by the last greenseer: “For us, for you, for the realms of men” [ADwD  449].

 

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But whoever finds the aftermath of the fight will burn all body parts. Unless by some miracle (even by GRRM's standards) it is Sam (surviving fPate, having gone back to The Wall, ranging far beyond The Wall) who finds them they won't distinguish Coldhands from the other Wights.

He's either gone forever or stuck in a never-ending fight with all the other corpses constantly putting themselves back together again. You can't seriously think he can win that fight on his own,

No, I don't think he can 'win the fight', but it's fun to imagine a never-ending fight with all the other corpses constantly putting themselves back together again.

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No, I don't think he can 'win the fight', but it's fun to imagine a never-ending fight with all the other corpses constantly putting themselves back together again.

Okay - so - what happens when a warg returns to his ice cold corpse in the cells beneath the Wall?

This is where the ice and fire magic will enable Jon to rise and maintain his "voice", unlike the WW's minions.

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What about the elk?  I have elk inspired theories because of an event that happens in AGoT regarding Robb Stark's herculean strength, hoisting an antlered and bloody beast defiled by Grey Wind and Summer, onto the back of a horse - horses dislike the smell of blood, and do not enjoy a dead carcass forced upon them.

Please share or link!

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