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[ADwD Spoilers] -Bran 1&2- Coldhands Theories


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If he was Benjen while still alive, wouldn't Bran recognise him? And if Bran recognised him, wouldn't he have an easier time trusting him? If so, if he was Benjen, he might gain from revealing his (former) identity.

So maybe he's just a random nice wight after all.

Now did the 3-eyed crow turn him into a nice wight? And if so, how?

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Or maybe Jon, through the conduit of Ghost and Mormond's raven, who at some point seems to have been warged, wargs permanently into Hodor. Although that wouldn't be nice towards Hodor. On the other hand it would give him a very large strong body.

Maybe together they'll be Azor Ahai reborn.

:idea:

I'll get my coat... :leaving:

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If he was Benjen while still alive, wouldn't Bran recognise him? And if Bran recognised him, wouldn't he have an easier time trusting him? If so, if he was Benjen, he might gain from revealing his (former) identity.

I agree that if it had been Benjen, there would be no sense in keeping his identity hidden from Bran. Or Sam, for that matter. That's not to say that GRRM would not keep him hidden for our sake, I guess.

From his speech, though, he does not sound like Benjen. He sounds ancient and arcane. "Foes. I'll deal with them."

spoiler about 3EC's identity:

Could he be some old companion of Bloodraven's? Bloodraven being the hero that was hunted in Nan's story?

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Bloodraven was not the hero in Nan's story. That was the Last Hero, who fought the Others during the Long Night. According to Westerosi lore the Long Night was about 8000 years ago. So far, there has been no indication that time travel is a feature of A Song of Ice and Fire.

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Spoilers for Bran 2 - 3EC

I know this is a little off topic, but only fits in this area. I was shocked at the Bloodraven reveal personally. Having just brushed up again on the three D&E novellas I had no clue that he would be making his presence known in the main novels. I'm sure that some of the more seasoned people saw it coming, but not me! Anyway, really enjoying the book so far. Onto the next chapter :)

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  • 1 month later...

I'm not altogether up on my D&E, having only read The Hedge Knight yet. I would love for Coldhands to be a brother of the NW who was a faithful friend/confidante of Bloodraven's while he was Lord Commander at the Wall. Anyone fitting that description in the other novellas?

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Yeah it must be Benjen. His disappearances was one of the first mysteries GRRM presented us. And Coldhands is a ranger who is helping Bran. And the scarf he hides his face in, even though the cold doesn't affect him, and how Coldhands avoids talking about his identity or what he is. And the "foes" were the traitorous Nights Watch that killed Mormont.

It could be Benjen swore not to reveal his origin as part of a deal with Bloodraven. Or maybe Benjen doesn't want anyone, especially family, to see what has become of him.

The other wights seem to be unthinking and unfeeling, like just corpses "warged" by the Others. Why is Coldhands/Benjen different? I think that's the real mystery.

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I just can't get on the Benjen bandwagon here--it doesn't makes sense. Why would Benjen not reveal himself to Bran? Why would Coldhands claim to have been killed long ago? The answer to both questions could be "to conceal his identity from Bran" but if that is the case the question becomes "why would Benjen conceal his identity from his nephew?"

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Very hard for it to be Benjen after a very long-lived creature referred to him as killed "long ago".

The reason he has his face hidden could simply be that he's horribly disfigured. Bran and co. already had trouble trusting him, (which BR could easily predict) so there's good reason not to make things worse in that regard.

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As crazy as it sounds, my best guess is that he's an Other.

  • A description of an Other in the GoT prologue: "tall, it was, and gaunt and hard as old bones, with flesh pale as milk" vs two bits of description of Coldhands: "his voice rattled in his throat, as thin and gaunt as he was", and the rest of him is "as white as milk".
  • The Others speak some ancient language - as does Coldhands when killing the elk.
  • Coldhands killed men of the Night's watch, as Others do.
  • Coldhands cannot enter Bloodraven's lair, which is protected against Wights and Others.

All the outwards signs appear to indicate that he is an Other. But why is he helping Bloodraven? This has me completely baffled. Two possibilities, I suppose: (1) he is a "rebel" Other; (2) Bloodraven and the children of the forest are working with the Others, for some mysterious reason.

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I should say, however, that I don't think it's completely crazy for Bloodraven to be leading the Others. After all, Mel thought that her visions were telling her that Bloodraven and Bran might be "the great Other"; Coldraven makes a reference to himself being "your monster, Brandon Stark", and Bloodraven says things like "never fear the darkness" to Bran.

And, of course, there's the longstanding problem of Martin making the Others into a non-cliched fantasy villian - we assume that since he has showed us all points of view of conflicts, it would strange if suddenly the Others didn't have a point of view of their own. This could be provided by Bran (and possibly Jon?), if the above ideas are true.

But I still don't see why! Why should Bloodraven, and the children of the forest, who formerly fought the Others, now be working with them?

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The other wights seem to be unthinking and unfeeling, like just corpses "warged" by the Others. Why is Coldhands/Benjen different? I think that's the real mystery.

I would say that the biggest mystery about Coldhands is what is Coldhands? Personally, I like the theory quine has put forward, that Coldhands is an Other. quine's evidence does fit, and it works without having to introduce some sort of new creature or hitherto unknown powers like the ability of wargs to live on indefinitely as wights and/or take over wights.

I doubt that he is Benjen restored from the dead, or warged into a Wight, or some such. Benjen was my first thought, when we originally heard about Coldhands, but as others have already said, Coldhands's behavior undermines this idea. Once I stopped assuming he was Benjen, then I realized there's little reason to think he is a wight either. Wights are shambling zombie-like creatures. They don't talk. They have glowing blue eyes. Coldhands doesn't look or act like that. That leaves the Others, unless Coldhands is something completely new.

Also, just because Benjen's disappearance was one of the first mysteries we were presented with doesn't mean that Coldhands is the answer. Benjen's wight could attack the wall in the first chapter of Winds of Winter, and there would be the answer to our mystery. He could still be out there somewhere. Or we may simply never find out what happened to him exactly, his disappearance may have been nothing more than a plot device.

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