Two additional scenarios for who sent Bran's assassin...

[Ironbound]

I have two new theories about the attempted assassination of Bran in the first book, which leads to Catelyn's capture of Tyrion and the rest of the war. At the end of book 3, this mystery comes to a very unsatisfying ending for most readers I've spoken with.

To be brief, at the end of book 3, Tyrion comes to the conclusion that Joffrey must have done it, but as a number of readers have noted to me, it seems oddly out of character for Joffrey, who is neither calculating nor a long-term planner, to have carried out this attempt (supposedly, according to Tyrion, to please his father, who suggested it as a mercy killing).

Additionally, note that the assassin himself says that Catelyn was not supposed to be there-- suggesting that whoever sent the assassin would also be aware of her movements and capable of suggesting the diversion of burning the library.

There are two additional potential sponsors of the assassin that I hope GRRM explores:

1. As the dagger comes from Robert's armory, it seems to me the more logical sponsor of the assassin was Robert himself, and that there will come additional information in subsequent books about his motivations. Note that Robert is already associated with the killing of children-- he sends assassins to kill the Daenerys and Viserys. The Lannisters present him with the dead bodies of Rhaegar's children, a gift that he is happy to receive. He is paranoid about threats to his power. It is obvious that Bran will play a large role in whatever regime follows the Baratheon-Lannister children. Thus, it seems to me plausible that just as Cersei is obsessed with prophecies and eliminating the Tyrell children, that there are prophecies that Robert was obsessed with as well, which I hope will be revealed in the next book. The more I think about Jon Snow's origins, it seems likely that he is the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar-- and so is a Targaryen. So perhaps Robert was obsessed with the Stark family and prophecies that a Stark would someday sit on the iron throne.

2. There is one other possibility--in many ways the more likely sponsor. Recall that Mance Rayder was also at Winterfell during the king's visit in disguise. Given what happens to Bran in the third book, being taken to the north by Coldhands, it also seems plausible that Rayder was aware of some prophecy about the role Bran was to play in the north-- that he would be a king beyond the wall perhaps. And that Rayder sent the assassin-- who is described, after all, as "a small, dirty man in filthy brown clothing, and he stank of horses." IN this respect, the assassin sounds nothing like the kind of assassin that a Lannister would send. He sounds more like a wildling.

Indeed, the more I think about this, the more it seems plausible that Rayder sent the assassin because of prophecies about Bran and the north and the potential threat to his own power that Bran constitutes.

What do people think? Is the attempted assassination resolved, as unsatisfying a resolution as it is with Joffrey as the culprit, or is there more to this story?