Bran Stark – A Self Fulfilling Prophecy

[Amoracchius]

My explanation for why there is a story about Durran taking advice from a boy is that the story is nothing more than legend. As GRRM himself said, Bran the Builder may have lived and built great structures, but that doesn't mean that everything attributed to him was built by him. To me, it makes far more sense to attribute that story to an embellishment than it does to attribute it to a secret COTF/Stark interbreeding program and everything else that implies. You disagree and that's fine. Frankly, I think your scenario is more interesting, I was just explaining why I don't think there is enough evidence to come to that conclusion.

[JonBranRickon]

Well, you wouldn't, but I would and obviously did. The only explanation ASOIAF gives us is that a man grown was taking a building advice from a boy. A boy is a child and a child cannot give architectural advice. Unless it is a CotF or a mongrel between CotF and the FM in which case the creature may look like a boy, but can be much older and wiser than Durran, not to mention well versed in magic. There is no other explanation that ASOIAF offers us. What you wrote is direct quotes from a Catelyn chapter. You took them literally and didn't even try to provide any reason why would a boy be able to build Storm's End. It is not just folklore. Every story has a nugget of truth and GRRM is providing us with crumbs that we have to collect along the way. This is not real life, but a careful literal construct. Why would GRRM provide us with that story about Bran the Builder? Just to fill a page? Without a purpose? Good writers do not fill pages without a purpose. So, what is the purpose. If there was nothing unusual about Bran the Builder, the story would just say he helped Durran build his final castle. But no. The story is adding this detail about Bran being a boy. This detail, in a real world, would render the story nonsensical. However, in a magical world where CotF exist as a different race with special abilities and powers, this detail alters the meaning of the story and actually provides additional information about how Bran possessed magic that was used in building of the Wall, Winterfell and Storm's End. From other stories, we know Starks are descendents of the FM, but from this one we find out that they are also descendents of CotF, because Bran is the founder of the Stark dynasty. This would then explain why some Starks have warging, skin-changing abilities and even greenseering abilities that FM didn't have and obtained from CotF, not as a gift, because these abilities cannot be given, but by interbreeding. Do you expect GRRM to spell all that to the readers? I wouldn't expect that from a good writer. He provided us a clue and as a proverb goes "even a mosquito buzz can sound like music to the right ears".

i'm not sure you need to a CotF to warg, where is the evidence of that? I believe you need to be a follower of the old gods.

[Modesty Lannister]

i'm not sure you need to a CotF to warg, where is the evidence of that? I believe you need to be a follower of the old gods.

Not really. FM had no magical abilities. They got them from interbreeding with CotF. Crannogmen did it more than the rest. That's why they still have some magical powers as we learn from Meera's story about Harrenhal. Some of them also have greendreams, like Jojen. FM took their religion from CotF.

ETA: As for warging and skinchanging abilities, just remember how Bran was taught by CotF to skinchange into a crow. For the children, it was easy, for Bran, an exceptionally talented human in that respect, it was not.

[JonBranRickon]

My explanation for why there is a story about Durran taking advice from a boy is that the story is nothing more than legend. As GRRM himself said, Bran the Builder may have lived and built great structures, but that doesn't mean that everything attributed to him was built by him. To me, it makes far more sense to attribute that story to an embellishment than it does to attribute it to a secret COTF/Stark interbreeding program and everything else that implies. You disagree and that's fine. Frankly, I think your scenario is more interesting, I was just explaining why I don't think there is enough evidence to come to that conclusion.

I can agree with that but it is very clear that whoever weaved magic into Stormsend was a follower of the old gods. Mel is powerless against those followers and it is reason why she had to be inside the structure to unleash her shadow.

[JonBranRickon]

I can agree with that but it is very clear that whoever weaved magic into Stormsend was a follower of the old gods. Mel is powerless against those followers and it is reason why she had to be inside the sturture to unleash her shadow.

[Syri0_F0rel]

“Bran the Builder is not a myth at all.” GRR Martin is on record saying Bran the Builder may have never lived at all. So it is very possible he is a myth. I and, as far as I can tell, the people posting think he did exist. Since his tale has been passed down through oral history for 10,000 years everything attributed to him may not be true.

Bran the Builder is, on one occasion described, as a ‘boy’ who grew up to be Bran the Builder. But even his contribution to Storm’s End is questioned by Old Nan and others who say it also could have been the Children of the Forest. There is your best link; was it Bran? Was it the Children of the Forest? Was it both? Was Bran one of the Children of the Forest? Good questions, worth asking but I would not consider it the basis of COTF-1^st Men interspecies breeding resulting in House Stark.

I agree with ‘JonBranRickon’ that greenseers and wargs do not require the blood of the children of the forest in their ancestry. If so, many houses would have to be part of the COTF-FM interspecies breeding, Blackwood, wildlings, Stark etc. Sharing religion is different than interspecies breeding. I see it as, if you want believe in psychic ability (I am not positive of its existence), some people are born psychic and suppress it, others develop and use it. Same could go for greendreams and warging. Maester Luwin is attempting to suppress Bran’s dreams and his exploration of them.

The theory I proposed in this thread, which is also out there, is that Bran the Builder is really the Bran Stark we know with super greenseer abilities, and with that, contain the wealth of knowledge regarding magic and architecture.

I have wondered twice now is if GRR Martin’s replies to some questions are meant to be taken at face value or have hidden meanings. (Again, pretty much all I post on this site is with uncertainty) For Example:

I like to think Jaqen H’ghar has changed faces twice. He was first Syrio, then Jaqen and then the alchemist. People have asked GRR Martin is Syrio dead to which he says he is most certainly dead. Is this because he Meryn Trant killed him or because the man who was Syrio Forel died long ago and the faceless man active in Westoros (Jaqen/Alchemist) used Syrio’s Face from the House of Black and White? Therefore George RR Martin is not lying when he says Syrio is dead and at the same time the Faceless Man wearing Syrio’s face got away.

Assuming my crackpot Bran self-Fulfilling Prophecy is true, which I would not put money on, when George RR Martin says, Bran the Builder may have never lived at all, he may not be lying since instead of the Bran the Builder the physical person being alive, it was the Bran Stark we know using his abilities to coach the construction of Storm’s End, the Wall and Winterfell.

[Modesty Lannister]

“Bran the Builder is not a myth at all.” GRR Martin is on record saying Bran the Builder may have never lived at all. So it is very possible he is a myth. I and, as far as I can tell, the people posting think he did exist. Since his tale has been passed down through oral history for 10,000 years everything attributed to him may not be true.

Bran the Builder is, on one occasion described, as a ‘boy’ who grew up to be Bran the Builder. But even his contribution to Storm’s End is questioned by Old Nan and others who say it also could have been the Children of the Forest. There is your best link; was it Bran? Was it the Children of the Forest? Was it both? Was Bran one of the Children of the Forest? Good questions, worth asking but I would not consider it the basis of COTF-1^st Men interspecies breeding resulting in House Stark.

I agree with ‘JonBranRickon’ that greenseers and wargs do not require the blood of the children of the forest in their ancestry. If so, many houses would have to be part of the COTF-FM interspecies breeding, Blackwood, wildlings, Stark etc. Sharing religion is different than interspecies breeding. I see it as, if you want believe in psychic ability (I am not positive of its existence), some people are born psychic and suppress it, others develop and use it. Same could go for greendreams and warging. Maester Luwin is attempting to suppress Bran’s dreams and his exploration of them.

The theory I proposed in this thread, which is also out there, is that Bran the Builder is really the Bran Stark we know with super greenseer abilities, and with that, contain the wealth of knowledge regarding magic and architecture.

I have wondered twice now is if GRR Martin’s replies to some questions are meant to be taken at face value or have hidden meanings. (Again, pretty much all I post on this site is with uncertainty) For Example:

I like to think Jaqen H’ghar has changed faces twice. He was first Syrio, then Jaqen and then the alchemist. People have asked GRR Martin is Syrio dead to which he says he is most certainly dead. Is this because he Meryn Trant killed him or because the man who was Syrio Forel died long ago and the faceless man active in Westoros (Jaqen/Alchemist) used Syrio’s Face from the House of Black and White? Therefore George RR Martin is not lying when he says Syrio is dead and at the same time the Faceless Man wearing Syrio’s face got away.

Assuming my crackpot Bran self-Fulfilling Prophecy is true, which I would not put money on, when George RR Martin says, Bran the Builder may have never lived at all, he may not be lying since instead of the Bran the Builder the physical person being alive, it was the Bran Stark we know using his abilities to coach the construction of Storm’s End, the Wall and Winterfell.

Let me ask you something. If your theory about Bran Stark using weirnet to go to the past and instruct the building of these three buildings were true, it would mean that every greenseer that ever was had the same abilities. This means that we can now have thousands of greenseers who lived once upon a time influencing present events through the weirnet. Because if a greenseer from, let's say, a 1000 years ago, looked into the future through the weirnet, he may have influenced it and we would see that influence as the present time. I find that confusing and quite shaky to be honest.

[Syri0_F0rel]

Read the original post again, it proposes Bran is more powerful than a normal greenseer like the 3 Eyed Crow

[JonBranRickon]

Bran Stark – A Self Fulfilling Prophecy

(Content below includes content through A Dance with Dragons)

In this post I consider the connections between Bran Stark and Bran the Builder

Considerations

1) Bran the Builders projects

2) Bran Starks advanced knowledge of Winterfell

3) How trees see time

4) Knowledge in the weirwoods

5) Communicating through the weirwoods

6) Reincarnation or self fulfilling prophecy

7) What Eddard Stark knows

8) "But in time you will see beyond the trees themselves"

1st Consideration: Bran the Builder built The Wall and Storm’s End with Magic. Bran the Builder built Storm’s End and Winterfell under the watchful eyes of heart trees. At least two of the locations, the Wall and Storm's End have magical protection spells.

Bran the Builder built Winterfell around the heart tree under the trees watchful eye.

Game of Thrones Chapter 2 Catelyn 1

Bran the Builder uses magic in his construction of the wall. Cold Hands cannot pass the wall, wargs cannot slip into animals on an opposite side of the wall. The other known magical location is Storm’s end. Malisandre needed Davos to smuggle her into storms end since her shadow assassin could not breach the parameter of the walls.

Clash of Kings Chapter 42 Davos 2

It is rumored that Bran the Builder instructed Durran on the construction of Storm’s End.

Clash of Kings Chapter 31 Catelyn 3

Conclusion: Bran the Builder built the Wall, built Winterfell and Storm’s End. Storm’s End and Winterfell have/had heart trees. It is not made clear if Bran the Builder was physically present as he instructed Duran.

2^nd Consideration: Bran Stark knows more about Winterfell than anyone at the young age of seven. Bran knew about a secret access point from outside of Winterfell’s 2^nd Wall to the inside. Bran knew every stone of Winterfell and its topography.

Game of Thrones Chapter 8 Bran 2

Game of Thrones Chapter 14 Catelyn 3

3^rd Consideration: Can an exploring child know a massive and complicated castle that well or did he through some device construct the castle? Is it possible for Bran to communicate with people through the weirwoods defying physical concepts of time and space? We know weirwoods do not see like men, they can see past present and future at all times.

Storm of Swords Chapter 43 Arya 8

Dance With Dragons Chapter 34 Bran 3

Consideration 4: Access to the weirwood trees means access to ancients magics of the 1^st men and Children of the Forest:

Dance With Dragons Chapter 34 Bran 3

Consideration 5: Bran is the only person who can talk through a weirwood. Once he slips into the trees Bran has visions of the past gazing through the Winterfell heart tree to a point that possibly predates the construction of Winterfell. Interestingly, he communicates to his father Eddard Stark.

and

and

Dance With Dragons Chapter 34 Bran 3

The Three Eyed Crow insists people in the past cannot hear the greenseers in the trees. And that the past cannot be changed. Bran is certain his father heard him. The Three Eyed Crow denies Eddard hears a voice, but instead a whisper on the wind. But does a whisper in the wind under a leafed weirwood usually warrant a “Who’s there?” or a long stare into the trees face? It seems as if it is more than a whisper to Eddard and possibly the reason Eddard spends so much time at the tree.

It is also possible that Bran communicates with Theon through a weirwood although Theon is half mad and there is no Bran POV chapter to confirm it:

A Dance With Dragons Chapter 41 the Ghost in Winterfell

The Three Eyed Crow claims that 1) People cannot hear Bran through the tree and 2) Bran cannot change the past. I will agree with 2 and disagreeing with 1. Eddard and Theon are hearing more than whispers in the wind. It is possible that Bran is above the class of greenseer and can actually speak through the trees. On 2, if we are dealing with a self-fulfilling prophecy then there is no changing of the past, events are going as planned.

Consideration 6: Bran Stark is Bran the Builder reincarnated and may have existed as other Bran Starks. Bran Stark instructed his physical self, Bran the Builder, how to construct Strorm’s End, Winterfell and the Wall by speaking through the weirwoods faces.

Old Nan has, through old age or wisdom, come to believe that all the Brandon Starks are one person.

Game of Thrones Chapter 24 Bran 4

Ned tells Arya that Bran may one day build castles like Bran the Builder or sail the Sunset Sea (not mentioning that Brandon Stark the Shipwright sailed the Sunset Sea).

Game of Thrones Chapter 25 Eddard 5

Consideration 7: I wonder why Bran cannot lay with a woman or hold a son. Did the fall destroy his ability to reproduce? Or does Eddard sub-consciously know of Brans fate as a greenseer through his time spent at the heart tree?

Final consideration: this analysis has created far more questions than answers. I have been so busy fathoming the possibilities of seeing through the weirwoods than considering the most mysterious of the Three Eye Crows comments:

Dance With Dragons Chapter 34 Bran 3

I'd like to add that what I think is another attempt at communication In ADWD as raven speaks Jon's full name, I believe it was Bran trying to warn him of the pending betrayal.

[Syri0_F0rel]

I'd like to add that what I think is another attempt at communication In ADWD as raven speaks Jon's full name, I believe it was Bran trying to warn him of the pending betrayal.

Yea, it definitely seems like Mormont's raven is warged or a second life at times. The books mention that he does not eat the same food as regular ravens and the 3 Eyed Crow talks about smart ravens with second lives. I'll have to look up the text later.

[Syri0_F0rel]

I missed this and want to add it to the thread. When Ned heard the news of Bran's awakening from the coma he held a vigl with his daughters at the weirwoodless godswood in King's Landing. Sansa woke up saying she saw Bran and he smiled at her.

“Syrio says a water dancer never falls.” She lowered her leg to stand on two feet. “Father, will Bran come and live with us now?”
“Not for a long time, sweet one,” he told her. “He needs to win his strength back.”
Arya bit her lip. “What will Bran do when he’s of age?”
Ned knelt beside her. “He has years to find that answer, Arya. For now, it is enough to know that he will live.” The night the bird had come from Winterfell, Eddard Stark had taken the girls to the castle godswood, an acre of elm and alder and black cottonwood overlooking the river. The heart tree there was a great oak, its ancient limbs overgrown with smokeberry vines; they knelt before it to offer their thanksgiving, as if it had been a weirwood. Sansa drifted to sleep as the moon rose, Arya several hours later, curling up in the grass under Ned’s cloak. All through the dark hours he kept his vigil alone. When dawn broke over the city, the dark red blooms of dragon’s breath surrounded the girls where they lay. “I dreamed of Bran,” Sansa had whispered to him. “I saw him smiling.”
“He was going to be a knight,” Arya was saying now. “A knight of the Kingsguard. Can he still be a knight?”
“No,” Ned said. He saw no use in lying to her. “Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit on the king’s council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother’s Faith and become the High Septon.” But he will never run beside his wolf again, he thought with a sadness too deep for words, or lie with a woman, or hold his own son in his arms.

-Game of Thrones Chapter 25 - Eddard V

There is the chance Bran had nothing to do with Sansa's dream. She may have dreamed of him simply because she just heard the news he was awake, or she may have dreamed of him because he used his greenseer abilities to contact, but not verbally communicate with, Sansa.

This does not add evidence to then Bran Self-Fulfilling prohecy theory but it is more evidence of possible greenseeing before meeting the three-eyed crow.

[Modesty Lannister]

“He is a rare bird,” the maester said. “Most ravens will eat grain, but they prefer flesh. It makes them strong, and I fear they relish the taste of blood. In that they are like men... and like men, not all ravens are alike.”

Jon had nothing to say to that. He threw meat, wondering why he’d been summoned. No doubt the old man would tell him, in his own good time. Maester Aemon was not a man to be hurried. “Doves and pigeons can also be trained to carry messages,” the maester went on, “though the raven is a stronger flyer, larger, bolder, far more clever, better able to defend itself against hawks... yet ravens are black, and they eat the dead, so some godly men abhor them. Baelor the Blessed tried to replace all the ravens with doves, did you know?” The maester turned his white eyes on Jon, smiling. “The Night’s Watch prefers ravens.” Jon, AGoT

Whoever discusses raven should never forget this passage. I know it is an important clue, but its full meaning escapes me although I have been thinking it through and through.

[Aryya Stark]

This is a very interesting thread and I love all the theories, however when I read ADwD, I came away with the feeling that Bran could communicate with the living in real time but not with those in the past who had already died. Therefore, Theon definitely heard him and even saw his face in the tree whereas Ned only suspected he heard something, just like Bran himself in AGoT just heard the rustling of leaves.

Again...love the thread!

[Syri0_F0rel]

Thanks Aryya!

I came across a Jon chapter I want to bring up: A Clash of Kings Chapter 53

When he closed his eyes, he dreamed of direwolves.

There were five of them when there should have been six, and they were scattered, each apart from the others. He felt a deep ache of emptiness, a sense of incompleteness. The forest was vast and cold, and they were so small, so lost. His brothers were out there somewhere, and his sister, but he had lost their scent. He sat on his haunches and lifted his head to the darkening sky, and his cry echoed through the forest, a long lonely mournful sound. As it died away, he pricked up his ears, listening for an answer, but the only sound was the sigh of blowing snow.

Jon?

The call came from behind him, softer than a whisper, but strong too. Can a shout be silent? He turned his head, searching for his brother, for a glimpse of a lean grey shape moving beneath the trees, but there was nothing, only...

A weirwood.

It seemed to sprout from solid rock, its pale roots twisting up from a myriad of fissures and hairline cracks. The tree was slender compared to other weirwoods he had seen, no more than a sapling, yet it was growing as he watched, its limbs thickening as they reached for the sky.

Wary, he circled the smooth white trunk until he came to the face. Red eyes looked at him. Fierce eyes they were, yet glad to see him. The weirwood had his brother’s face. Had his brother always had three eyes?

Not always, came the silent shout. Not before the crow.

He sniffed at the bark, smelled wolf and tree and boy, but behind that there were other scents, the rich brown smell of warm earth and the hard grey smell of stone and something else, something terrible. Death, he knew. He was smelling death. He cringed back, his hair bristling, and bared his fangs.

Don’t be afraid, I like it in the dark. No one can see you, but you can see them. But first you have to open your eyes. See? Like this. And the tree reached down and touched him.

And suddenly he was back in the mountains, his paws sunk deep in a drift of snow as he stood upon the edge of a great precipice. Before him the Skirling Pass opened up into airy emptiness, and a long vee-shaped valley lay spread beneath him like a quilt, awash in all the colors of an autumn afternoon.

A vast blue-white wall plugged one end of the vale, squeezing between the mountains as if it had shouldered them aside, and for a moment he thought he had dreamed himself back to Castle Black. Then he realized he was looking at a river of ice several thousand feet high. Under that glittering cold cliff was a great lake, its deep cobalt waters reflecting the snowcapped peaks...

There is some significant stuff going on here and what I type below is an unorganized mess of thoughts and questions:

Jon is having a wolf dream through the perspective of Ghost. What is strange is that during the dream he jumps from this baby weirwood to a different location in the mountains.

Communication - Ghost is listening for the other direwolves but hears a silent shout in the sigh of blowing wind... without quotations there is a - Jon?

It seems Bran is asking if Jon is in Ghost. Warged Ghost looks for his brother but not Bran, the grey direwolf. It seems like split souls of Ghost/Jon are confusing the appearance of their brother, Jon thinking, 'my brother...' and Ghost looking for his wolf brother.

Ghost discoverers a weirwood growing before his very eyes and on it Bran's face with three eyes and happy to see him. When he wonders if Bran always had three eyes the silent shout replies without quotations: not always, not before the crow.

Ghost smells the tree and picks out: Wolf (Summer) Tree (weirwood) and Boy (Bran) and behind was warm earth, stone and death - reminding me of the cave and Brynden River's corpse infused with a weirwood. But we know that at this time in the books, Bran is hiding in the crypts while Theon hunts for him in the Wolfwood. Maybe the the earth, stone and death is just the crypts.

Ghost is threatened by the smell of death but the silent shout (Bran) tells him to not be afraid of the dark and to open his third eye. The weirwood touches Ghost's face, and poof - Jon is in full warg mode scouting Mance's host. Was it at this point Jon realizes and starts using his warg ability with control?

What I gather is: Bran is talking to Ghost/Jon in the wolf dream. Is Jon warged in Ghost and Ghost actually seeing/hearing this in real time or is it really just a dream?

It is odd the dialogue is not in quotes and is described as a silent shout. When Bran was warged in Summer sniffing at the Reed's, wolf heard the Reed's speak with quoted dialogue. If this is really happening, It is wild that a weirwood can grow from nowhere and show Bran's face.

The 'Don't be afraid, I like it in the dark." is reminiscent to the Three Eyed Crow saying to Bran, "The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother's milk. Darkness will make you strong." But at this point, the Three Eyed Crow has not taught Bran that so either it is Bran in the future or Bran is legit content warging and seeing from the crypts. But Bran is only warging, he does not have the ability/traning to communicate through dreams

Does 'not before the crow' mean before the crow appeared to him during the coma or before Bran arrived at the cave and became his pupil? Is it possible that the Bran communicating in the wolf dream is Bran in the future already in the cave? Or is this Bran communicating in the dream from his current location in the crypts?

or is this all just a dream and a giant coincidence? Was the new weirwood Brienne saw in Feast for Crows sprouted under a similar circumstance?

It is also a coincidence Jon felt Bran was happy to see him just as Sansa did during her dream at the heart tree in King's Landing.

[Syri0_F0rel]

Looking at another thread wondering if this was a future Bran the idea was shot down but all posters. Text stating it was real time:

Was it any wonder he would sooner dream his Summer dreams, his wolf dreams? Here in the chill damp darkness of the tomb his third eye had finally opened. He could reach Summer whenever he wanted, and once he had even touched Ghost and talked to Jon. Though maybe he had only dreamed that.

Another posted linked a reddit questions about Jon finding Ghost. Jon heard something that led him back to Ghost but Ghost is mute, so what did Jon hear?

Halfway across the bridge, Jon pulled up suddenly.

"What is it, Jon?" their lord father asked.

"Can't you hear it?"

Bran could hear the wind in the trees, the clatter of their hooves on the ironwood planks, the whimpering of his hungry pup, but Jon was listening to something else.

"There," Jon said. He swung his horse around and galloped back across the bridge. They watched him dismount where the direwolf lay dead in the snow, watched him kneel. A moment later he was riding back to them smiling.

[Fuzy_gsxr1000]

Wow after refacing all this I can't wait for the next two books to come out so we can have some clarity.

[Aryya Stark]

Looking at another thread wondering if this was a future Bran the idea was shot down but all posters. Text stating it was real time:

Another posted linked a reddit questions about Jon finding Ghost. Jon heard something that led him back to Ghost but Ghost is mute, so what did Jon hear?

This is so interesting... I never looked at it from this perspective and I can totally see what you mean. Even Bran is not sure if it really happened or if it was just a dream. If you are right, this opens up pandora's box. I wonder how far in the past he has played a role in events. For instance did he play a role in the elopement of Rhaegar and Lyanna? ...and so many other events...really good stuff here.

[Khal Al]

I've often wondered about the Three Eyed Crow being referred to as the last greenseer. This would imply that Bran isn't a greenseer but something more.

[Amoracchius]

Thanks Aryya!

I came across a Jon chapter I want to bring up: A Clash of Kings Chapter 53

There is some significant stuff going on here and what I type below is an unorganized mess of thoughts and questions:

Jon is having a wolf dream through the perspective of Ghost. What is strange is that during the dream he jumps from this baby weirwood to a different location in the mountains.

Communication - Ghost is listening for the other direwolves but hears a silent shout in the sigh of blowing wind... without quotations there is a - Jon?

It seems Bran is asking if Jon is in Ghost. Warged Ghost looks for his brother but not Bran, the grey direwolf. It seems like split souls of Ghost/Jon are confusing the appearance of their brother, Jon thinking, 'my brother...' and Ghost looking for his wolf brother.

Ghost discoverers a weirwood growing before his very eyes and on it Bran's face with three eyes and happy to see him. When he wonders if Bran always had three eyes the silent shout replies without quotations: not always, not before the crow.

Ghost smells the tree and picks out: Wolf (Summer) Tree (weirwood) and Boy (Bran) and behind was warm earth, stone and death - reminding me of the cave and Brynden River's corpse infused with a weirwood. But we know that at this time in the books, Bran is hiding in the crypts while Theon hunts for him in the Wolfwood. Maybe the the earth, stone and death is just the crypts.

Ghost is threatened by the smell of death but the silent shout (Bran) tells him to not be afraid of the dark and to open his third eye. The weirwood touches Ghost's face, and poof - Jon is in full warg mode scouting Mance's host. Was it at this point Jon realizes and starts using his warg ability with control?

What I gather is: Bran is talking to Ghost/Jon in the wolf dream. Is Jon warged in Ghost and Ghost actually seeing/hearing this in real time or is it really just a dream?

It is odd the dialogue is not in quotes and is described as a silent shout. When Bran was warged in Summer sniffing at the Reed's, wolf heard the Reed's speak with quoted dialogue. If this is really happening, It is wild that a weirwood can grow from nowhere and show Bran's face.

The 'Don't be afraid, I like it in the dark." is reminiscent to the Three Eyed Crow saying to Bran, "The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother's milk. Darkness will make you strong." But at this point, the Three Eyed Crow has not taught Bran that so either it is Bran in the future or Bran is legit content warging and seeing from the crypts. But Bran is only warging, he does not have the ability/traning to communicate through dreams

Does 'not before the crow' mean before the crow appeared to him during the coma or before Bran arrived at the cave and became his pupil? Is it possible that the Bran communicating in the wolf dream is Bran in the future already in the cave? Or is this Bran communicating in the dream from his current location in the crypts?

or is this all just a dream and a giant coincidence? Was the new weirwood Brienne saw in Feast for Crows sprouted under a similar circumstance?

It is also a coincidence Jon felt Bran was happy to see him just as Sansa did during her dream at the heart tree in King's Landing.

I'm fairly certain that in Bran's next chapter after that (the last chapter of ACOK), he mentions having seen Jon or Ghost in his dreams, so I don't think this is a case of future Bran reaching back into the past.

[Syri0_F0rel]

I'm fairly certain that in Bran's next chapter after that (the last chapter of ACOK), he mentions having seen Jon or Ghost in his dreams, so I don't think this is a case of future Bran reaching back into the past.

That he does, I pointed the text out as a counter point in post #55. It does seem Ghost is smelling the crypts not the cave.

I still find it odd that Bran was capable of appearing in the dream, communicating, and opening Jon's 3rd eye when Bran at this point barely understands his own abilities.