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Bran isn't paralyzed. Or at least not completely.


Angel Eyes

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Apparently, Bran hasn't had to deal with the sanitary problems of being paralyzed. For someone who goes into the gory details of exploding heads and the stream of shit when someone dies, GRRM has been surprisingly quiet on that front.

 

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You have to afford a nine-year-old boy some dignity. I doubt that GRRM would go into graphic detail about something like that with a child because it would be too unpleasant. While he is a frank writer, there is still a bar in place, I think.

Bran is definitely a paraplegic. I'm no expert but based on what little I do know, he very likely has a complete injury as he cannot move or feel his legs at all. At least on two occasions, I can remember he doesn't notice the cuts nor can his thigh feel him slapping it to call Summer, though his hands can. So, I doubt this is some magic or psychosis or anything doing it to him.

That said... you do make a point. Bran's personality is a very independent, precocious character who is irritated and touchy about being "a cripple" and overly reliant on others. It might be that he's too embarrassed to consider this aspect of his paralysis in his POVs, which might account for why it hasn't been mentioned. That said, Bran hates the idea of crying, appearing to be frightened or seeming childish and weak, so while he is very self-conscious, I agree it would have been mentioned (in a passing, non-graphic manner) by now if he was suffering physical issues relating to sanitation. 

My suggestion is that only his legs were injured. The fact that Bran seems fairly good at crawling and pulling himself around on those metal bars in his room, his body isn't a complete dead-weight and he's fine from the waist up.

Otherwise, see if GRRM ever ages Bran up and if he gets a little franker about the issues he faces.

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52 minutes ago, King Merrett I Frey said:

I guess it's for narrative issues. Having your POV contemplating his own inevitable poop chapter after chapter could get boring after a little while.

"Day 177. I woke up over a pool of sh*t. Oh, and there be zombies".

It would certainly take away from all the gothic whimsey in Bran's chapters.

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To be fair apart from Arya I can't remember anyone else needing to go.  Tyrion had his bucket list, and Tywin was caught on the throne; but they where both one offs.

Jaime has trouble with his bread ripping but no mention of unlacing himself.

Theon no thoughts of I can't even piss straight.

Sam looses track of time having been in the library for hours and is hungry from memory but not bursting to go.

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6 hours ago, elder brother jonothor dar said:

To be fair apart from Arya I can't remember anyone else needing to go.

Well, she does note the Hound relieving himself against a tree at one point... (no mention of whether he lifted his leg). Yeah, it seems that George RR doesn't get into the details of elimination unless it actually serves the plot. Like Dany's apparent food poisoning/possible miscarriage when she's stranded out on the Dothraki Sea after Drogon abandons her. I see little story-based need for Bran to be embarrassed/shamed by detailed discussions of how he defecates or urinates. As for Theon, it could very well serve a purpose for detailing his damage and humiliation.

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He's warging into his poop, and jumps out.

It would be interesting to clarify this, especially as he gets older - will he eventually engage in reproductive activities (can't say, Martin shies away from describing those), or will he warg into someone else for the experience?

For those saying, Martin would stay silent because Bran is supposed to be a child: none of the children in the story behave really childlike (yes, there were many boy kings in real history but much more guided than Robb and Joffrey. Also Rickon and Arya scenes are simply a joke.)

 

 

 

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34 minutes ago, Ice C said:

It would be interesting to clarify this, especially as he gets older - will he eventually engage in reproductive activities (can't say, Martin shies away from describing those), or will he warg into someone else for the experience?

 

At the rate GRRM writes, Bran is never likely to fully grow up by the plot's end, unless he finally puts in some sort of time jump in ADoS or something. Or writes more books, which cannot be ruled out.

 

1 hour ago, zandru said:

George RR doesn't get into the details of elimination unless it actually serves the plot.

Agreed.

 

34 minutes ago, Ice C said:

For those saying, Martin would stay silent because Bran is supposed to be a child: none of the children in the story behave really childlike (yes, there were many boy kings in real history but much more guided than Robb and Joffrey. Also Rickon and Arya scenes are simply a joke.)

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It's not really about whether the children act like kids as much as it just the fact that going into full detail of the complications a nine-year-old boy faces as paraplegic might be considered tasteless.

I still agree the simplest explanation, though: Bran probably doesn't hint at these issues because he doesn't experience them. He's got 101 problems but his ability to relieve himself probably isn't one of them.

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