Fleshing out a Benjen/warg theory

[GCabot]

I've seen this mentioned in a couple of threads, but haven't seen it gone into any depth. Forgive me if I'm rehashing .

There has long been the theory that Benjen is Coldhands. Coldhands dresses/acts like a member of the Night's Watch and assists Sam and Bran, despite being a wight. The main objections to this theory seem to be that Bran doesn't recognize him and Leaf's statement that "They killed him long ago."

These difficulties disappear if Coldhands is a wight that Benjen warged into before his death.

First, there is evidence that Benjen is dead. The clearest evidence is in ACoK, where when Mormont and Jon discuss Benjen's fate:

“Yes,” said Jon, “but... what if.”

“...[benjen's] dead?” Mormont asked, not unkindly.

Jon nodded, reluctantly.

“Dead,” the raven said. “Dead. Dead.”

“He may come to us anyway,” the Old Bear said. “As Othor did, and Jafer Flowers. I dread that as much as you, Jon, but we must admit the possibility.”

“Dead,” his raven cawed, ruffling its wings. Its voice grew louder and more shrill. “Dead.”

Furthermore, when Jon sees Benjen initially departing Castle Black in AGoT, it says this about Jon:

"...in his mind's eye he saw Ben Stark lying dead, his blood red on the snow."

One of the most popular theories regarding Jon's parentage is that he is the son of Rhaegar & Lyanna. If he has both Stark and Targaryen heritage, this premonition of Benjen's death could be explained by either Jon being a greenseer or having dragon dreams, both of which are known to be prophetic.

It seems odd, however, that GRRM would continually reference back to Benjen over so many books if he was just plain dead. This is where the Benjen as a warg theory comes into play that I've seen mentioned, but not fleshed out.

The prologue in ADWD goes into detail about how when a warg is near death, he could attempt to take over another's body. The warg ability seems to run in the Stark blood, which makes Benjen a candidate for warg abilities as well. What if Benjen died, likely in combat with the Others/wights, but before his death, warged into a wight and took control of it? This would likely be much easier than taking over a regular person that Varamyr had so much trouble doing. This would explain why Bran doesn't recognize Coldhands as Benjen, since it is not Benjen's body, but rather his mind. If Coldhands' physical body was that of a wight before Benjen took over it, it would also explain how Coldhands could have been killed "long ago" yet still be Benjen. This would also explain Coldhands' behavior. Furthermore, Coldhands' eyes are said to be black rather than blue like that of other wights. This color change could be due to Benjen's mind inhabiting the wight, marking him as distinctive.

As for Coldhands' ancient knowledge and ability to speak the Old Tongue, if Coldhands is in league with Bloodraven, then Bloodraven could have easily imparted such knowledge to Benjen as would be necessary if he was to help Bran.

If this theory is true, it would explain why Benjen seems to have some important role in the plot, yet has been completely absent since AGoT.

Thoughts?

[bloody_mummer]

Like it

[Hodor knows]

I like the Idea of an older generation's Stark being a warg. I can't think... Have there been older Stark wargs?

[TalalOfDorne]

I like the Idea of an older generation's Stark being a warg. I can't think... Have there been older Stark wargs?

Not that I know of.

[Thor Odinson]

Not that I know of.

Actually, I think there's proof that there has been. In the Crypts of Winterfell you'll find statues of the Starks of Winterfell, and many of those statues have direwolves at their feet. Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe the ancient Kings in the North were all wargs and all of them had direwolves.

Their footsteps rang off the stones and echoed in the vault overhead as they walked among the dead of House Stark. The Lords of Winterfell watched them pass. Their likenesses were carved into the stones that sealed the tombs. In long rows they sat, blind eyes staring out into eternal darkness, while great stone direwolves curled round their feet.

[Frey-A-La-Mode]

Good theory. I especially like the suggestion that the wight is also a Stark. Frankly, without that being true, it seems a little unusual that Benjen would just spontaneously figure out how to warg right before he dies, when we've been given no evidence that he - or any other Stark in his generation - can warg without having a direwolf to awaken the latent Stark-warging ability. I'd believe it more if it was a Stark-wight.

[~No One~]

I like it. Is there any chance that he warged Moront's raven?

[Arya Wargface]

I love this theory, but I agree with the idea that Benjen was not aware of his (possible) warging abilities. Who knows, maybe he died and just warged into the closest being, which happened to be the wights that killed him. I think it was almost an accident and he didn't know what happened. Magic has seen a comeback since the red comet and all that, so it would make sense that this ability just now is coming back to the Starks.

[Greywolf2375]

I like the Idea of an older generation's Stark being a warg. I can't think... Have there been older Stark wargs?

There may have been, but I belive GRRM confirmed that none of the current Starks are wargs except for the children.

I like it. Is there any chance that he warged Moront's raven?

No. Unless of course Mormont and Raven were present when he died.

As far as the OP...Bran is the only person we have seen successfully warg into anything human or humanish. Without his having made use of any - not documented - warging abilities the chance that Benjen was able to do it at that time is 0.

[WatcherOnTheWall]

I like this theory, I never thought of this before.

Actually, I think there's proof that there has been. In the Crypts of Winterfell you'll find statues of the Starks of Winterfell, and many of those statues have direwolves at their feet. Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe the ancient Kings in the North were all wargs and all of them had direwolves.

Actually I think that is just tradition going back to the much earlier Starks who were wargs because when the Stark party first comes across the baby direwolves, Theon (I think it was Theon in the books?) mentions that there haven't been direwolves south of the wall for 200 years.

[Ser Geno the Shitfaced]

My idea is that the "he died a long time ago," which seems like the only thing preventing Benjen from being Coldhands, is actually a fourth wall break. Benjen died early in the first book. Since then there has been 16 years and thousands of pages a story, That little hint might be what it takes to make people think of Benjen.

[have mercedene]

I love this theory. I will believe that Benjen is Coldhands until the next books tell me otherwise, but only just realized Benjen could be a warg and the wight's body isn't his. That explains so much.

There's thread that talks about some of Benjen's motivations for joining the watch, and I mentioned that knowing he was a warg may have led him there, since it's not thought of so highly in Westeros. If that's true, then he definitely would have known how to warg into the wight. It might also explain why he was able to become First Ranger so quickly, if he were warging with crows (maybe Mormont's crow like someone above said), he'd be great at scouting out the area.

[NorthernXY]

If that's true, then he definitely would have known how to warg into the wight. It might also explain why he was able to become First Ranger so quickly, if he were warging with crows (maybe Mormont's crow like someone above said), he'd be great at scouting out the area.

There is no precedent for warging into dead bodies. Reanimating corpses into zombies/wights is the magic of the Others. While similar, R'hllor brings his followers back to life.