[Book Spoilers All] Bran’s Growing Powers in S6 Based upon the Reread

[House Cambodia]

18 minutes ago, Meera of Tarth said:

I think Bran is more than a greenseer. We first learned about him a warger; then a greenseer and I suspect he will have to be more than that; like a hero or something.

we have been talking about his growing powers. He has "spoken" to several people (both in the books and at least once in the show) and we even suspect he began doing this in the prologue.

Yes, I'm thinking Bran is The Last Hero who was the one who somehow defeated the WWs. In the books TLH lost his dog and his horse - for me that's Summer and HODOR.

[Meera of Tarth]

2 hours ago, House Cambodia said:

Yes, I'm thinking Bran is The Last Hero who was the one who somehow defeated the WWs. In the books TLH lost his dog and his horse - for me that's Summer and HODOR.

I also think that Bran may be The last hero, although I'm not certain whether or not he was that same person in the past

[Meera of Tarth]

I'm missing Bran.....I hope he appears in the next episode.

[Tijgy]

5 hours ago, Meera of Tarth said:

I'm missing Bran.....I hope he appears in the next episode.

Me too, I really hoped for some conversations between him and his uncle, to see how he deals with the death of Summer and Hodor, ... 

 

[CrypticWeirwood]

21 hours ago, Tijgy said:

Me too, I really hoped for some conversations between him and his uncle, to see how he deals with the death of Summer and Hodor, ... 

Ever notice how odd it is that the Stark children have so many more siblings than they have aunts and uncles, let alone cousins?

Curious.

 

[Meera of Tarth]

6 hours ago, CrypticWeirwood said:

Ever notice how odd it is that the Stark children have so many more siblings than they have aunts and uncles, let alone cousins?

Curious.

 

Yes, it's curious. Well, maybe Ned and Cat loved eachother so much
and also because they are the protagonists, I suppose

[CrypticWeirwood]

2 minutes ago, Meera of Tarth said:

Yes, it's curious. Well, maybe Ned and Cat loved eachother so much
and also because they are the protagonists, I suppose

• Brandon and Lyanna died young
• Benjen for whatever reason took the black.  
• Lysa kept having failed pregnancies.
• Edmure's been a confirmed bachelor most of his life, and producing an heir now would be his death.

Not much left, even second cousins, since Brynden has also been a confirmed Bachelor.

[thehandwipes]

54 minutes ago, CrypticWeirwood said:

• Brandon and Lyanna died young
• Benjen for whatever reason took the black.  
• Lysa kept having failed pregnancies.
• Edmure's been a confirmed bachelor most of his life, and producing an heir now would be his death.

Not much left, even second cousins, since Brynden has also been a confirmed Bachelor.

Yeah it screwy since the Starks have ruled the North for thousands of years.  Stark cousins should be as plentiful as Lannister cousins.  I've heard theories like, they send the boys to the Wall, but it doesn't really explain why they don't have even one second or third cousin popping up in the story.  I think the answer is that there simply isn't a place for them in the narrative.

That having been said, I do think the Others, many if not all, are Starks.

[Meera of Tarth]

43 minutes ago, thehandwipes said:

Yeah it screwy since the Starks have ruled the North for thousands of years.  Stark cousins should be as plentiful as Lannister cousins.  I've heard theories like, they send the boys to the Wall, but it doesn't really explain why they don't have even one second or third cousin popping up in the story.  I think the answer is that there simply isn't a place for them in the narrative.

That having been said, I do think the Others, many if not all, are Starks.

Yes, but aren't Karstarks very distant relatives of the Starks? 

ANyway I do think it's because of the narrative, as well.

Interesting theory that one of The Others. And The Night King might be a Stark too...(?). 

[thehandwipes]

1 minute ago, Meera of Tarth said:

Yes, but aren't Karstarks very distant relatives of the Starks? 

ANyway I do think it's because of the narrative, as well.

Interesting theory that one of The Others. And The Night King might be a Stark too...(?). 

Yeah, and the Greystarks once existed as well.  And they have marriage ties to a great many houses in the North.  But still, no second, third, fourth cousins named Stark have popped up?  Not that it matters.

Absolutely no doubt in my mind the Night's King, and that dude with the pointy head in the show, was a Stark.  I don't think that he's some Big Bad out beyond the Wall that we haven't seen yet, if he's still around he might be Coldhands but I wouldn't bet my life on it.

Anyway, there's so much to suggest that the history of Westeros is false that it simply must play a role in the narrative.  Also, history as BS is one of my favorite sub-themes from Gore Vidal's Creation and Burr and I'm really looking forward to GRRM's take on it.

[Meera of Tarth]

Quote

HBO: Now that Jon and Sansa have found each other, do you have hopes for more Stark reunions to come?

Isaac Hempstead Wright: Well, now that Bran’s out in the open, if there is any chance of him surviving, then the next logical step would be to head somewhere he last saw any of his family. I hold out hope for Bran to make it south to reunite with Jon and Sansa, but nobody knows in Game of Thrones – there’ll probably be something terrible.

and I think I posted this before (although I think this is the same question but from a different interview) and I just  love that:

 

Quote

 HBO: The other big loss for Bran is his Direwolf, Summer. Did you think about how his death would impact Bran?

Isaac Hempstead Wright: Summer was a relic from the time of Bran’s father, and he’s a reminder of his father and the Stark way. But also, Summer was Bran’s first connection to this strange, mystical world; there’s a very deep connection there. For Bran to then lose him – especially having come this far and having successfully escaped so many close calls – it’s another crushing blow. For Bran, it’s like losing a piece of himself.

http://everythingthrones.com/isaac-hempstead-wrights-bran-stark-makes-waves-north-of-the-wall-2/

[Tijgy]

12 minutes ago, Meera of Tarth said:

and I think I posted this before (although I think this is the same question but from a different interview) and I just  love that:

 

 I want him back. 

[Meera of Tarth]

me too.

So what he says in the interview seems not very positive,....

And we have yet to see him in the snow riding the horse (the first pic that was released!!) but don't think he'll appear in the battle of the bastards (but would like to because the more of him the better).

I'd personally enjoy him being the one to close the show this season: like Jon, Arya and Dany did.

From the main characters from the books he and Tyrion are the only ones left to close it.

[Tijgy]

2 minutes ago, Meera of Tarth said:

me too.

So what he says in the interview seems not very positive,....

And we have yet to see him in the snow riding the horse (the first pic that was released!!) but don't think he'll appear in the battle of the bastards (but would like to because the more of him the better).

I'd personally enjoy him being the one to close the show this season: like Jon, Arya and Dany did.

From the main characters from the books he and Tyrion are the only ones left to close it.

Yeah, it doesn't sound positive  I am really going to be upset if someone else he cares about dies because he really has lost so much already. 

About closing: Jon was last season, Arya four, Dany one and three. Who did close it the second season? It will probably be Tyrion though because I am not really sure they consider Bran a main character in the show?

[Meera of Tarth]

4 minutes ago, Tijgy said:

Yeah, it doesn't sound positive  I am really going to be upset if someone else he cares about dies because he really has lost so much already. 

About closing: Jon was last season, Arya four, Dany one and three. Who did close it the second season? It will probably be Tyrion though because I am not really sure they consider Bran a main character in the show?

Oh...thhose can only be Benjen or Meera!!

Oh no..if Meera dies ...I don't know what I'll do....but Benjen has just retruned...and everyone returning is dying....

mmm

Yes, it must be Tyrion. But it would be awesome if it was Bran's and something related to the magic of the wall.

S2 was Sam and the White Walkers!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT7RkRK6qkk

[Tijgy]

We will have Bran next episode! (Thankfully) 

But a lot is going to happen during the episode. So we will probably not see him a lot.

And for people who do not see last episode yet:

Spoiler

And it is also interesting if he already might see Rickon's death. 

 

[Meera of Tarth]

I am very busy and haven't seen the ep yet.....thanks Tijgy for posting with spoiler tags. If I don't post here will be because of that. Expect a lot os posts in a week or so. Bran's ending.......I am so nervous

[Tijgy]

Not mine, but an analysis on Summer (and why I believe Summer will not die in the books as in the show (@Meer- to give us some hope):

From http://the-isle-of-faces.tumblr.com/post/146156477631/the-grey-brother-who-smelled-of-summer

Quote

It is best if I am honest about how the idea for this thesis came to me, and every ASOIAF fan who also keeps track of HBO’s adaptation knows what it is: the on-screen death of Summer.

I am ashamed to say that before this, I had written an exclusive essay about almost every major point of Bran Stark’s character except his direwolf, a massive blindspot all things considered. He is a warg, the direwolf is on his house’s banners, a Stark’s direwolf is the physical incarnation of their soul, and the fate of one usually mirrors the fate of the other. I guess you don’t appreciate something until you lose it.

But when I read the news that Summer would die in the Cave (on the TV show at least), the immediate reaction I had was, “No, that’s not right. This makes no thematic sense.” This essay is an unpacking of all the deep-seated reasons that I felt Summer would not die in that context in the coming books. 

As detailed in my other essays, Bran Stark’s narrative is a modern iteration of an old English and Welsh myth, the Fisher King. While the Fisher King story has different facets and running subthemes, the essential one is the crisis of infertility and physical affliction, wherein the King’s injury is reflected in the realm. The King’s power, and thus his realm, is restored when his virility is restored. Summer, from his name to his function as a character, is basically a fertility symbol.

There are three ways that Summer acts as a symbol of fertility and virilty:

1. His name(s): Both the nature of his name, and how/why he was given it, set himself and thus his master as an archenemy of the Long Night, an evil that is their destiny, decided long ago, to save their people from.
2. His physical appetites and vitality: Summer is everything that Bran’s human body cannot be. He is powerful, can run, hunt and force others to obey him with raw strength. Summer also has animalistic hunger and impulses that Bran increasingly feels are his own
3. Summer is a Wolf Prince: As Bran develops the warg connection, he increasingly understands warging is not acting out a fantasy of being a wolf prince; rather, it is means through which he is a prince himself. Summer, with his strength and cunning, is an avatar of Bran’s will that projects real power in his world and to those around him. Summer is both the essence of his inner nature as a virile prince, and means by which it is actualized.

The story of how Summer is shaped as this especially significant creature starts at the chronological beginning, with his naming. 

“His name is Summer”

It is unique in two respects. One, he is one of two whose name does not describe a physical attribute that’s apparent to a human (only his litter mates think of him as the one who “smelled of summer”) Even Lady’s name describes in some sense the physical bearing of herself and Sansa, in which the former once nips a bit of bacon, “dainty as a queen,”(rather odd for an apex predator). Second, it is the only one that is described on page.

When Bran is first bonding with Summer, he does not know what to call him, 

He was still trying to decide on a name. Robb was calling his Grey Wind, because he ran so fast. Sansa had named hers Lady, and Arya named hers after some old witch queen in the songs, and little Rickon called his Shaggydog, which Bran thought was a pretty stupid name for a direwolf. Jon’s wolf, the white one, was Ghost. Bran wished he had thought of that first, even though his wolf wasn’t white. He had tried a hundred names in the last fortnight, but none of them sounded right.-Bran, AGOT

At this stage in the story, Bran still believes that he is going to train as a knight in the South, or even be on the Kingsguard, and he still does not know the true nature of his home of Winterfell, his ancestor the Builder, or the source of their magic. Most importantly, he doesn’t truly knowwhy his ancestor built his castle, because like almost every other character he takes the Others as being utterly mythical or at least long, long gone. Bran cannot think of a name cause he has not seen himself in a powerful enough contrast to know who he is, and because he does not know who he is, he does not know his direwolf. That changes with his fall from the Broken Tower and during his coma experiences his initiation as a greenseer:

Finally he looked north…he looked past the Wall, past endless forests cloaked in snow, past the frozen shore and the great blue-white rivers of ice and the dead plains where nothing grew or lived. North and north and north he looked, to the curtain of light at the end of the world, and then beyond that curtain. He looked deep into the heart of winter, and then he cried out, afraid, and the heat of his tears burned on his cheeks. 

Now you know, the crow whispered as it sat on his shoulder. Now you know why you must live. “Why?” Bran said, not understanding, falling, falling.
Because winter is coming.
Bran looked at the crow on his shoulder, and the crow looked back. It had three eyes, and the third eye was full of a terrible knowledge.-Bran, AGOT

In art and literature the fundamental qualities of a person, thing or color can be shown more clearly by pairing it to an opposite. Contrasts can illuminate. Bran’s experience of staring into the Heart of Winter is just such a moment of illumination. This is when he looks his ancestor’s greatest enemy in the face, the one the Builder dedicated lifetimes of work and wars to preparing his people for, the true Winter of their House words. When Bran emerges from the coma and announces that his direwolf’s name is Summer, it springs from an unconscious understanding of how he is an archenemy of the evil coming for Westeros, set in opposition to it on an elemental, cosmic level. An Other is the embodiment of winter, and he is embodiment of summer. It is of death, and he is of the life source, Winterfell with its hot springs and heart tree.

The phrasing involved speaks to the origin of the name as well. When Bran awakes from his coma, he puts his hand on the direwolf and says, “His name is Summer.” Bran does not say, “I name him…” or “I will call him…” The operative verb is “IS”; This implies the name was pre-existing and fundamental.

Bran himself is called by this when Old Nan blatantly challenges him, “Oh sweet summer child, what do you know of fear?” To the extent that his 8 year old mind can verbalize, everything now.

The Grey is Strong

As Bran unconsciously understands how his existence is contrasted with the apocalyptic Long Night, he also contrasts the direwolf with his human body in every way. Where Summer can run, he is paralyzed. Where Summer can fight and kill, Bran is “helpless as a baby, no more able to defend himself than Rickon.” Bran’s bemoaning of his “brokenness” touches upon sentiments similar to the Fisher King’s sense of being de-emasculated as a result of his injury. The warg connection will evolve, as Bran is trained to use Summer to be strong, and that they are “two and one,” as Jojen phrases it. As with marriage, (and remember, Haggon refers to a warg bond as exactly that): two bodies, one soul.

Jojen’s first comment upon Summer is to contrast him with Shaggydog:

“The black one is full of fear and rage, but the grey is strong… stronger than he knows.”(Bran, ACOK)

Through the grey color of his fur, Summer is tied by this quality to Winterfell itself and its ancient stones. Not utterly savage and uncontrollable, but as Bran says, “the smartest of the litter”, able to endure through hardship and catastrophe. Tyrion remembers Winterfell as a place that lasts: “There had been a great strength in those stones, a sense that within those walls a man might feel safe.”

While warging Summer, Bran thinks that he is “strong and swift and fierce.”(Bran, ASOS).

As the warg bond develops, the direwolf’s appetites, cravings and impulses become indistinguishable in Bran’s mind from his own. 

Fairly early on, Bran fantasizes a way that Summer is a means to be truly free, thinking that if he was a wolf, “I could live in the wood and sleep when I wanted.”(Bran, ACOK) He would take not orders from a caretaker-maester. 

More ominously, in the same passage he fantasizes about how being a wolf could mean using violence and killing to help his family and (implicitly) get revenge for the maiming he has suppressed the memory of, “I could find Arya and Sansa. I’d smell where they were and go save them, and when Robb went to battle I’d fight beside him like Grey Wind. I’d tear out theKingslayer’s throat with my teeth, rip, and then the war would be over and everyone would come back to Winterfell. If I was a wolf.”

Eventually, Bran makes the connection that Summer can and will murder for him, and makes a very real threat to do so, telling the Walders, “Summer would tear your fat head off.” Summer is right there, and is one command away from doing just that. The direwolf’s strength can make real Bran’s desires, especially his violent ones.

At times, Summer’s thoughts and sensations become manifest in Bran’s mind, and this happens even before he realizes that he is a warg,

It is too hot here, and too noisy, and they are all getting drunk. Bran itched under his grey and white woolens, and suddenly he wished he were anywhere but here. It is cool in the godswood. Now steam is rising off the hot pools, and the red leaves of the weirwood are rustling. The smells are richer than here, and before long the moon will rise and my brother will sing to it.-Bran ACOK 

Bran is referring to Shaggydog as “his brother,” as the wolves all do with one another, and so as his thoughts drifted and his mental barriers weakened, the boy became the wolf.

In their wanderings Beyond the Wall, this was intensified by their state of starvation. Mid-sentence, the sensations of the direwolf are spoken of as being directly possessed by Bran:

I am him, and he is me. He feels what I feel.
Sometimes Bran could sense the direwolf sniffing after the elk, wondering if he could bring the great beast down… The direwolf could sense the warm blood coursing beneath the elk’s shaggy hide. Just the smell was enough to make the slaver run from between his jaws, and when it did Bran’s mouth would water at the thought of rich, dark meat.-Bran, ADWD

Bran sometimes dissociates from his human body, almost speaking as if he were neither wolf nor human, but an entity or soul that was both but also separate: 

Of late Bran wore Summer’s body more often than his own…he could see farther and hear better and smell more than the boy in the basket.-Bran, ADWD

Notice the phrase, “the boy in the basket,” as if that human body is not Bran. 

Prince of the Green, Prince of the Wolfswood

Summer increasingly acts as an avatar of Bran’s will, and maintains the role of “prince” even when he is exiled from Winterfell. In some sense, Bran retains his royal status because of his direwolf. 

The first moment where this is hinted at is during the meeting in the great hall of Winterfell between Robb, Bran and Tyrion. The direwolf’s immediately distrust and hate Tyrion, and move to intimidate or even kill him. 

“Perhaps it’s time I took my leave,” Tyrion said. He took a step backward… and Shaggydog came out of the shadows behind him, snarling. Lannister recoiled, and Summer lunged at him from the other side. He reeled away, unsteady on his feet, and Grey Wind snapped at his arm, teeth ripping at his sleeve and tearing loose a scrap of cloth.

“No!” Bran shouted from the high seat as Lannister’s men reached for their steel. “Summer, here. Summer, to me!”

The direwolf heard the voice, glanced at Bran, and again at Lannister. He crept backward, away from the little man, and settled down below Bran’s dangling feet.

Robb had been holding his breath. He let it out with a sigh and called, “Grey Wind.” His direwolf moved to him, swift and silent. Now there was only Shaggydog, rumbling at the small man, his eyes burning like green fire.

“Rickon, call him,” Bran shouted to his baby brother, and Rickon remembered himself and screamed, “Home, Shaggy, home now.” The black wolf gave Lannister one final snarl and bounded off to Rickon…-Bran, ACOK

There significant aspect of this progression of events is that it’s Bran who takes control. Bran is the first to command his wolf, and Bran who thinks quickly enough to tell Rickon to do the same. Not Robb who “had been holding his breath.”Again and again, Summer has to restrain Shaggydog when he gets wild and violent.

While on the run, Summer quickly establishes himself as the top dog wherever he goes. (Significantly, he and Nymeria are the only direwolves who have their own wolf packs. All others are shown to be mostly loners except for their littermates). Or more descriptively, a “prince. The man-sound came into his head suddenly, yet he could feel the rightness of it. Prince of the green, prince of the wolfswood. He was strong and swift and fierce, and all that lived in the good green world went in fear of him.” In the process of naming himself a prince, Bran/Summer attaches several qualities of fertility and virility to himself. His domain is the “good green world”, a place of blooming life such as trees, grass, bushes, and other animals. Being the strongest of them all, all these creatures “went in fear of him.” His authority over this world comes directly from physical power, and his ability to use it to kill and eat what he wants. He cements this characterization, fittingly, by a contrast. He refers to either Sansa or Arya those who have gone into the “halls of man rock, where other hunters ruled.” (Since both by this time have gone to Harrenhall/Kings Landing, he could be referring to either. The picture is made less clear because the human is not distinguished from the direwolf, it’s hard to know). What is clear is that in the good green world, Bran/Summer is the ruler.

Interestingly, both direwolf and Bran each are called by the other’s name or title at some point in the series. Bran is the “summer child”, and the wolf is “the prince.” The names themselves each embody the twin themes of the Fisher King myth, that of fertility and authority.

Summer immediately exorcises the prerogative of all lords; seizing a share of others’ food, especially those weaker than him and using lethal violence:

And then there was only the head wolf to face.

Long they fought, rolling together over roots and stones and fallen leaves the scattered entrails of the prey…One angered him so much that he whirled in a black fury and tore out the attackers throat. After that the [smaller wolves] kept their distance.

And as the last red light was filtering through green boughs and golden, the old wolf lay down weary in the dirt, and rolled over to expose his throat and belly. It was submission.

The prince sniffed at him and licked the blood from fur and tom flesh. When the old wolf gave a soft whimper, the direwolf turned away. He was very hungry now, and the prey was his.-Bran, ASOS

At this point, Summer is very much like Bran. Just as Bran cannot control his warg power for the betterment of his human friends, the direwolf has no intention of taking this pack for his own and leading it. He takes what he wants and gives them nothing in return as the ideal leader is meant to. With training, that begins to change, and eventually Bran is able to use Summer for the sake of his friends just as Summer takes control of his first pack.

Then the two rushed together, wolf and direwolf, and there was no more time for thought. The world shrank down to tooth and claw,…they fought until the both of them were ragged and fresh blood dappled the snows around them. But finally the old one-eyed wolf lay down and showed his belly. The direwolf snapped at him twice more, sniffed at his butt, then lifted a leg over him.

A few snaps and a warning growl, and the female and the tail submitted too. The pack was his.-Bran ADWD

Through a Watsonian perspective, Bran/Summer’s encounter and fight with the One-Eyed Wolf is random, an aside that it’s easily missed and ignored especially given the other events of in Bran’s chapters; the likely cannibalism, Coldhands, the Three Eyed Raven and the discovery that some of the Children of the Forest are still alive.

But a Doyalist perspective shows how GRRM went out of this way to stage this, and out of all that happens to Bran in ADWD, this one of the most important moments significant moments in his character arc, a way in which he acts upon the world. In practical terms, it is small. In symbolic ones, it’s huge.

GRRM spent the prologue chapter developing the character of Bran’s enemy, with his origin and personality all serving as a counterpoint to the young prince. First and foremost, Varamyr is a profoundly selfish human being who, even after being taught a set of moral codes, ignores them to satisfy his own desires, where Bran is a boy who is given no moral “do-nots”. Where Bran ultimately heeds and cares for his mentors (especially Luwin and Jojen), Varamyr cruelly betrays Haggon for no other reason than that he has the power to do so. 

However, the most relevant contrast between Bran/Summer and Varamyr/One-Eye is around their origin and the ambitions. Varamyr is Free Folk of humble origin; none of his ancestors were monarchs, lords or great heroes. Bran is descended from the one of the oldest Houses of Westeros and a legendary hero king. Brandon the Builder helped defeat the greatest evil humanity has ever known and created its greatest architectural wonders with a combination of genius, giants and magic with the purpose to defeating that enemy again should it ever return.

And their ambitions could not be more different, either. Bran resists his training as warg, lord and greenseer at almost every step of the way, once he ascends to to one level to tries to hang on desperately onto it to resist yet more change. But ultimately he accepts the Stark-in-Winterfell’s peculiar model of lord-as-steward of the people, puts his duties, and inability to perform them in the forefront of his mind. 

“A good lord protects his people.”-Bran, ACOK

’The Prince of Winterfell.’ Of Winterfell burned and tumbled, its people scattered and slain,” and wonders in despair, “How can you be the prince of someplace you might never see again?”-Bran, ASOS

Varamyr uses his skinchanging to make himself the petty lord over several surrounding clans of Free Folk. He represents and acts out the worst in predatory lordship; he steals and blackmails for food, he forces the tribes to give him women and girls to rape as tribute.`And he aspires to more. He dreams of being King-Beyond-the-Wall, and when he sees Jon and Ghost, and sees how untrained Jon is as a warg, he wishes to steal the direwolf because that would be “a second life fit for a king.” And when he faces his death, he is utterly abandoned by the gods who gave him his gift. Where Bran speaks to the weirwoods and is answered, seeks comfort and is comforted, Varamyr is met with judgement and silence in the moments before his death.

Varamyr could see the weirwood’s red eyes staring down at him from the white trunk. The gods are weighing me. A shiver went through him. He had done bad things, terrible things…’That was the beast, not me,’ he said in a hoarse whisper. ‘That was the gift you gave me.’
The gods made no reply.-Prologue, ADWD

So it with every bit of poetic irony intended that in his second life, Varamyr is defeated by the King in the North’s heir, a Prince of Wintefell, and above that, compelled to obey and follow him along with what was his pack. It is not just that Bran is a better person than a Varamyr, that he is more deserving of leadership. It is that Bran triumphs because he is stronger. It is the most pure expression of might being right, that legitimacy is inherit in the most powerful, capable of rulers.theelliedoll summarized this Fisher King ideology as so:

The myth thus presupposes a mystical, inextricable, sympathetic connection between king and kingdom that requires of the king a potent, generative virility,and thus functions, the myth, as the symbolic narrative that articulates a dominant power ideology.

Bran’s conquest of Varamyr is a small albeit pure narrative expression of his right to rule, affirming his physical and mystical power over others through a living symbol of himself and his royal lineage: the direwolf.

 

[Little Scribe of Naath]

Hello guys! Long time lurker on the forum, recently began posting. As a Bran fan myself, I love this thread and all of the great analyses 

Really nervous for the final episode with Bran...if he brings down the Wall inadvertently with his "mark" the hate will be too much to deal with 

[Little Scribe of Naath]

On 6/12/2016 at 7:07 PM, thehandwipes said:

That having been said, I do think the Others, many if not all, are Starks.

I agree. I suspect this is exactly what the Stark words "Winter is Coming" actually refer to. 

In the books, the Others are not deterred by fire. Neither are heart trees (the abode of greenseers), are they? Winterfell's heart tree survives the fire, so does the one in Harrenhal. Might or might not be a hint, I'm just throwing that out here