1000th LC of the NW Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 The more and more I read on theories floating around about endgame, the more and more I've noticed that everyone seems to have given up on Bran. "He's a tree," they say, and that's it. Let me pose this--why would Bran's endgame already be set? Jon is possibly dead, Dany isn't even in Westeros, Sansa is chilling in the Vale poised to strike, Tyrion is in chains, and Arya is still in training. It's highly unlikely that Bran will end up in a dark cave underground, warging into things as he pleases. There is not another living major character, even a minor one, that has reached endgame status. Why would Bran?There seems to be a lot of forshadowing that all is not as it seems in the lovely land of the CotF. Bran's final chapter ends with a ritualistic human sacrifice and he can "taste the blood." Bran is young and naive, but he does make difficult choices when forced to. As for the OEC, is there ANY evidence that he was someone to be trusted? In the D&E stories he seems to rule through fear an intimidation. His best interests very well might not be Bran's. We've been led to believe that OEC was a "good guy" here to help Bran break the chains, but what if those chains are the tree roots, and the crow was trying to secure them? Between the cannibalism, Jonjen's realization of death, and the questionable motives of the CotF/OEC, I think we have a lot more to settle with Bran. I'm not convinced that he will be in the cave, in the same spot, by the end of the series.So please, all you Jonjens out there; don't give up on Bran just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Arctic Viper Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Bloodraven and the cotf will never let bran "escape" they'd find him in no time but more importantly the others are all over the place... I think next time we see jojen and his sis they'll be deep within the tunnels.. that's a bit off topic.. brans endgames not over for sure, he's gonna be a huge part in defeating the others. How? Hmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARYa_Nym Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I think he's going to warg a dragon. & I think he's going to outlive all his loved ones like Arwen did in LOTR by becoming a tree at Winterfell's Godswood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoldAsYouPlease Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 It's highly unlikely that Bran will end up in a dark cave underground, warging into things as he pleases. There is not another living major character, even a minor one, that has reached endgame status. Why would Bran?For one thing, Bran seems resigned to it, which is just depressing. For another thing, Bran is already speaking through the trees (to Theon in Winterfell, for example) and seems to be far better at it than Bloodraven is. Personally I'd like to see him take some pruning shears and weedkiller to Bloodraven's root-infested corpse for drawing him to this fate. "You'll never walk again, but you'll fly" indeed - his ability to fly consists of warging into ravens, which is no better than his ability to walk by warging into Hodor or his wolf. Bloodraven had lived a long life by the time he found that hill. Bran is just a boy with his life ahead of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Captain Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Bran's arc certainly isn't done, and I don't think he'll be a tree forever. Whether he will help fight the others through his new found abilities, or is actually being manipulated by bloodraven/CotF remains to be seen, but he's going to play a big role in the war against the others.For the first time in awhile, I am actually more excited about Bran's POV in WoW than many of the other characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aress Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 In my personal opinion, whilst I don't think that we can simply categorise Bran as "just a tree", I do think that he will be in the cave for the rest of the series.Even if he wanted to leave/escape - how would he? It's too cold outside, and the place is crawling with zombies and Others. Bran has found his calling. That being said, I do think his role will be critically important, and key to defeating the Others. You can't simply write him off now as "just a tree". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acadia Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Dude is a tree, it doesn't get any whacker than that.A tree really is that the best GRRM could come up with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ygritte Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I posted this in a different thread today, so apologies for everyone who's seeing it twice.Among other things, I think Bran will turn out to be the narrator. I thought of this when the Children started talking about the songs of the earth. That to me sounded like "song of ice and fire," so it made me wonder if the whole book series is intended as a tale told by the children of the forest--and then another poster mentioned that Bran has the first named chapter in the series and suggested he'll have the last. I think that's absolutely correct, and that it'll turn out he's "telling" us this story, long after the fact, having seen all the past and present events through the trees and through other visions.I also think he'll have other things to do along the way, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buster52 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I can't help but think that Arya and her pack and Bran with his are integral to the coming war. They are both in training, both have quite powerful gifts (Bran is now likely the most powerful character in the book, in fact), and I could see how their disparate abilities could work to different ends to bring about the conclusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomi Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I really hope we don't get Bran warging into a dragon. First off, if dragons are the mystical badasses they're being portrayed as, evidenced by the magical forces of the entire world kicking into overdrive when they were born, I can't see them bending to a warg's will. Hodor kicked the kid out on his first attempt to control him. However, Bran flying around in a raven just isn't enough for me in terms of "but you will fly". So I'm saying Bran becomes a literal dragonrider, not a metaphorical one, by use of some special saddle. Why else inroduce the idea back in GoT with Dancer? Lastly, I think that Bran will escape the caves with Summer, Meera and Hodor, with Jojen sacrifing himself to ensure their safe exit, after learning something horribly disturbing about Bloodraven and the Children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomi Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Sorry, dp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Captain Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 However, Bran flying around in a raven just isn't enough for me in terms of "but you will fly". So I'm saying Bran becomes a literal dragonrider, not a metaphorical one, by use of some special saddle. Why else inroduce the idea back in GoT with Dancer? Lastly, I think that Bran will escape the caves with Summer, Meera and Hodor, with Jojen sacrifing himself to ensure their safe exit, after learning something horribly disturbing about Bloodraven and the Children.Eh it could have just been a way to introduce the use of Tyrion's saddle, while showing the empathetic side of Tyrion. Tyrion would probably need his saddle too if he were to ride a dragon....And I really like your idea of how Jojen would meet his end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampersand Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 ADWD sets up how weirdly unethical Bran's warging has become. In the prologue, Varamyr (sp?) sets out what skinchangers should never do: change into a person, eat people as an animal, etc. All of which Bran has done, even if he didn't realize the wrongness of his actions. I think we're going to see some consequences for these actions, if nothing else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Captain Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 ADWD sets up how weirdly unethical Bran's warging has become. In the prologue, Varamyr (sp?) sets out what skinchangers should never do: change into a person, eat people as an animal, etc. All of which Bran has done, even if he didn't realize the wrongness of his actions. I think we're going to see some consequences for these actions, if nothing else.Wasn't Varamyr taught that human warging was like a cardinal sin by the other wildlings though? Brand didn't really have that luxury. I definitely agree there is something morally wrong with warging into another human, but I can't remember the times he has done it. He accidentally did it in the tower when the wildlings were outside, and he did it one time to fight off the others (I don't fault him for those), but its not like he was really taking advantage of Hodor, he was doing it to help them both.There are probably other times I am forgetting though, in which case....yeah that's not cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomi Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I think Bran's still got a huge role to play, however it shakes out. If he's going to be a tree eventually, please let his weirwood throne be under Winterfell, George.(Bran's my favorite character, in case you can't tell!) :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomi Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 There are probably other times I am forgetting though, in which case....yeah that's not cool.He did it just to tag along with Meera and Jojen when they went to explore that underground river... and did it secretly which implies that he knew what he was doing was wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
House Dayne of Starfall Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I think he's going to be Charles Xavier frankly :laugh: No but in all seriousness, he can touch the minds of others, can't walk, and the trees will be his Cerebro. I think in the future he'll be able to see the plans and movements of Stark enemies through the trees, making him an invaluable weapon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Godric Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I think I would be more than depressed if Bran never leaves the cave again. As awesome as having one thousand lives can be, spending the rest of eternity trapped in a cave while the rest of the world assumes your dead just isn't a happy ending for Bran, IMO. I think that when Hodor, Jojen, and Meera decide to go back Bran will go with him and that doesn't mean he will lose his abilities. Also he could always come back to the cave when he has lived a full life. Another reason why I think that Bran has more story than just hiding in that cave is because Sam knows that he is really alive, and there has to be more to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sand Snake No. 9 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Even if he wanted to leave/escape - how would he? It's too cold outside, and the place is crawling with zombies and Others. This -- unless it turns out that those caverns can take them south.But consider this: all but one of the characters who were witnesses to the prequel, as it were, Brandon, Lyanna, Rhaegar, Ned, yadda yadda, are dead. So unless Howland Reed appears and spills the beans, Bran is our window to the past. I also think that he'll direct a lot of the action through the weirwood web. So I'm sure we haven't heard the last of him.However, my fantasy fantasy ending is Bran becoming the Lord of Winterfell, but if the ending is to be bittersweet, he may well be left to the trees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomi Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Even if he wanted to leave/escape - how would he? It's too cold outside, and the place is crawling with zombies and Others.underground river... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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