How do Bran's visions work?

[Nerevanin]

After this episode I wonder how his inner sight works...

Although back in season 6 he saw glimpses of past about Hodor and Young Ned it was either when he was lead by 3ER or while using a wierdwood tree. However...

...I think that what he is capable of is mostly hearing echos of history of people around him. When he talks to Sansa, he mentions her wedding and her suffering. When he talks to Arya, he mentions her list. While being in Littlefinger's presence, he repeats his infamous line. He talks only about things that are related to characters in his presence. Plus while talking to Arya and LF, it seems to me as if he was repeating what he just saw in the very moment, what he found out about in the moment, not something he knew about for weeks. That's where the echo theory comes from.

But this theory is slightly damaged by the fact that he mentions that he saw Arya in the Inn in Episode 2.

So does he really knows everything of the future, the presence and the past and only mentions a thing here, thing there, or is he somehow capable of seeing the presence but to see the past he has to either be near the person related to it, or to use powerful devices (wierdwood trees)?

Any ideas?

[Nerevanin]

a shameless bump

[The Bastard of Summer]

I think Bran sees past and present. But not future. 

He sees Arya in the now and was watching her as she spoke to the soilders about killing Cersei. That's how he knew he was watching and listening in that moment. Was he at a tree when he did it maybe? Or maybe she was near a tree?

He wasn't the 3ER when Peter gave his speech about "Chaos Ladder", but yet he knew of it. How? Maybe there has to be something of magical property in the area for him to be "savvy" to the knowledge in that particular time. They were in the throne room were they not?

In the visions Bran sees of the fist of first men and anything we have seen Jon sees that he knows about happened in a magical area. The wall or north of the wall where weirwoods are abubdant, and White Walkers roam.

 

[The Bastard of Summer]

But i would also like to know if like in the books if Brans "magic" has its limits. And what i mean is when Arya, Gendry, Thoros and company are back on the hill at High Heart Thoros has a fire going. I forgot who but they asked him if he saw anything in the flames, he said no. The Ghost of High Heart then replies something like "aye, and he won't. Your God has no power here. This is a place of the old Gods. There power is strong here." So can what Bran has that I am assuming is magic of the Old Gods, be blocked or interrupted by other kinds of magic in turn? Yet Mel who is also a red priest just like Thoros said her magic was stronger at the wall...Now wait a minute. If the Children of the Forrest helped build the wall and they worshiped the Old Gods, doesnt that mean that Old God magic is "powering" the wall? So shouldn't Mel feel less powerful???? I digress.....

But It seems like the power and magic Bran has is different from Mels and other Red priests. It seems Mel and Thoros see the future in flames. But Bran sees only Past and present.

 

 

[Illiterati]

Much of what Bran has been processing is the "download" BR gave him before his demise.  This would all be past events.

 

Do note that Bran has been spending a lot of time at the weirwood tree this season.  I would say that while he is analysing and organising the info BR fed him, he is collecting additional information, my guess would be current events.

[Nerevanin]

On 8. 8. 2017 at 4:57 PM, Illiterati said:

Much of what Bran has been processing is the "download" BR gave him before his demise.  This would all be past events.

 

Do note that Bran has been spending a lot of time at the weirwood tree this season.  I would say that while he is analysing and organising the info BR fed him, he is collecting additional information, my guess would be current events.

That's right. In the books it seems that his visions are limited (at least so far) to wierwood trees. He sees things that happened near the wierdwood tree in Winterfell. But so far he hasn't seen more, so it's unknown how it works in the books.

However, I believe that when it comes to the show, he sees / knows even things that are not related to wierwood trees. Let's say that you're right about him knowing everything that has ever happened until the moment he escaped from the cave. That would explain LF and Sansa. How to explain Arya though? She was in the inn in episode 2 when Bran was either in Castle Black, or on his way to Winterfell. And there is no wierwood tree (probably, as they are quite rare, aren't they?). Idk. It's wierd.

 

On 8. 8. 2017 at 4:57 PM, The Bastard of Summer said:

But i would also like to know if like in the books if Brans "magic" has its limits. And what i mean is when Arya, Gendry, Thoros and company are back on the hill at High Heart Thoros has a fire going. I forgot who but they asked him if he saw anything in the flames, he said no. The Ghost of High Heart then replies something like "aye, and he won't. Your God has no power here. This is a place of the old Gods. There power is strong here." So can what Bran has that I am assuming is magic of the Old Gods, be blocked or interrupted by other kinds of magic in turn? Yet Mel who is also a red priest just like Thoros said her magic was stronger at the wall...Now wait a minute. If the Children of the Forrest helped build the wall and they worshiped the Old Gods, doesnt that mean that Old God magic is "powering" the wall? So shouldn't Mel feel less powerful???? I digress.....

But It seems like the power and magic Bran has is different from Mels and other Red priests. It seems Mel and Thoros see the future in flames. But Bran sees only Past and present.

Maybe Mel's powers are boosted at the Wall by the close presence of White Walkers / wights? If I remember it correctly, Mel says somewhere that she feels much stronger recently, that the magic has returned to the world. It's possible that it is caused by the birth of Dany's dragons but maybe it is caused rather or also by the growing army and power of White Walkers - the magical powers grow stronger to be able to defend, idk, the world against WW. This, and I admit that it is kind of controversial, would explain the birth of the dragons. It's not Dany's achievement, she just happened to be in the right time in the right place, while the birth of the dragons was caused by the danger of the WW. I'm not saying that I believe this wholeheartedly, it just crossed my mind.

However, your point about Bran seing past and presence, while the red priests see the future is very interesting.

[Illiterati]

He saw Arya at the Crossroads while at the Weirwood.

[Camara]

I think he has clear access to past and present, and also gets isolated glipses of (some?) future.

 

I think with those characters he was not woogling the info at that moment in the wiernet, he has yottabytes of info in his head and maybe he takes a while to find the files he wants.

[Damon_Tor]

I think Bran is basically just going to be an exposition machine for the rest of the show. He's there to deliver information, partly to Jon and friends, but mostly to us, the viewers.

In this role, his abilities will be exactly what the writers need them to be. If they need to have Bran not know something, he won't know it (even if he probably should). If they need him to know something they'll have him know it, whether it makes sense internally or not.

Bran's farsight is a wonderful gift for the writers. Gone are the days they had to worry about who knows what and when.

[The Bastard of Summer]

8 hours ago, Nerevanin said:

 

However, your point about Bran seing past and presence, while the red priests see the future is very interesting.

Well I think like this what good is it for Bran to be able to see the outcome of the future? If he can see the past he knows what has already happened to get us to the point we are presently. If he can see the present he can hear and see to know what people are PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE. So if he can watch and listen to you from a tree and my warging animals presently what need does he have for future visions? He already heard what you plan to do. Remeber he said to Arya "i saw you at the cross roads" "you saw me?" "I thought you might go to Kings Landing." If he could see the future why was he surprised to see her? He wouldn't ask WHAT HE ALREADY KNEW.  He thought she was going to Kings landing becuase of what he saw  heard presently.  

Now IF he has visions of the future and knows exactly what is going to happen Just tell Jon and Sansa now. Like listen i saw what happen you need to be here st this place in time in order to stop it. "I had a vision in the near future that the wall fell and the WW attacked at Last Hearth. They killed everything." Well if he could see something like that then he would know to simply say move everyone from last hearth further south and so should they because if they make it to Last Hearth they have moved past the wall and everyone there is dead too. Meaning Winterfell would be next. So on and so on. If this is the case the Long Night need not ever come.

 

Now I believe the Red priests see glimpses of the future. No total parts and it's not clear and precise as Brans visions. Not even close I believe. In the show notice Bran sees and hears INSIDE of his visions so he's getting ALL information. The priests are shown what i believe are flashes of still images. Thus the reason they have to interpret what they are only seeing. Bran doesn't have to interpret becuase he literally SEES AND HEARS INSIDE the actual moving played out past, and playing out present.

[Visenya the Dragon]

This link will explain a possibility that Bran can have visions of the future. As Jojen had visions of future events including his own death. Bran can see the future. It is something that his is still learning. Three eyed Raven knew Bran would be the next to take his place, because he also could see the future and manipulate Brans mind in his dreams, as he did with Jojen. Who was used as a tool to get Bran to the Three eyed raven.

http://www.asoiaf-theories.com/brans-visions-cersei-wildfire-in-kings-landing/

[Nerevanin]

On 10. 8. 2017 at 4:24 PM, Damon_Tor said:

I think Bran is basically just going to be an exposition machine for the rest of the show. He's there to deliver information, partly to Jon and friends, but mostly to us, the viewers.

 

Very very likely.

15 hours ago, The Bastard of Summer said:

Well I think like this what good is it for Bran to be able to see the outcome of the future? If he can see the past he knows what has already happened to get us to the point we are presently. If he can see the present he can hear and see to know what people are PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE. So if he can watch and listen to you from a tree and my warging animals presently what need does he have for future visions? He already heard what you plan to do. Remeber he said to Arya "i saw you at the cross roads" "you saw me?" "I thought you might go to Kings Landing." If he could see the future why was he surprised to see her? He wouldn't ask WHAT HE ALREADY KNEW.  He thought she was going to Kings landing becuase of what he saw  heard presently.  

Now IF he has visions of the future and knows exactly what is going to happen Just tell Jon and Sansa now. Like listen i saw what happen you need to be here st this place in time in order to stop it. "I had a vision in the near future that the wall fell and the WW attacked at Last Hearth. They killed everything." Well if he could see something like that then he would know to simply say move everyone from last hearth further south and so should they because if they make it to Last Hearth they have moved past the wall and everyone there is dead too. Meaning Winterfell would be next. So on and so on. If this is the case the Long Night need not ever come.

 

To the first paragraph: seems probable

To the second paragraph: IF he really sees future, maybe he sees the possible futures, but he can't be sure what is the real future, so he can't say it to the other persons. Example: currently there 5 possible outcomes. One character changes his mind about a crucial thing and 3 of the 5 outcomes become impossible and 4 new appear. And so on. If you get what I mean. Not that I'm 100% convinced it's really like this.