Eddard Stark Is Cold Hands?

[Crannog Man]

I'm 100 pages from finishing A SoS; I, like many started reading A CoK as soon as the HBO series finalized and have not gone back to read A GoT. My thoughts are that since the Starks seem to all be wargs and their was a flight of ravens/crows when Ned Stark was beheaded, could he have warged into a raven/crow, have flown North and warged into a wight? Remember the wildling warg (the one with the shadow cat and two wolves) who could see through the eyes of the eagle his other warg companion slipped into and part of him remained in himself, the eagle, and his animal companions? Is it possible that Ned is now amongst the crows and the wight called Cold Hands?

[Jamie Lannister]

Far-fetched, but this whole "warging" business is just that exactly... so it's possible.

The more likely scenario is Coldhands being the long-missing Benjen Stark, though.

[Dragonfish]

I'm 100 pages from finishing A SoS; I, like many started reading A CoK as soon as the HBO series finalized and have not gone back to read A GoT. My thoughts are that since the Starks seem to all be wargs and their was a flight of ravens/crows when Ned Stark was beheaded,

I'm not sure, but I think the flight of crows was just from the show. I don't think the books ever make mention of crows flying off when Ned is beheaded.

could he have warged into a raven/crow, have flown North and warged into a wight? Remember the wildling warg (the one with the shadow cat and two wolves) who could see through the eyes of the eagle his other warg companion slipped into and part of him remained in himself, the eagle, and his animal companions? Is it possible that Ned is now amongst the crows and the wight called Cold Hands?

ADWD Spoilers

From what we know of warging so far, it is possible to warg into another creature and stay in its mind after you die, but you are never able to warg again after that. So I don't really see how Ned could have warged a crow and then a wight.

[Hear Me Roar!]

Are you sure that is true? Where is that said in ADWD, I might have missed that. Was it the prologue?

It would put an end to theories that Jon will warg Ghost and then warg back into his body

[Frank2166]

Coldhands is Benjen Stark. It is known.

[Dragonfish]

Are you sure that is true? Where is that said in ADWD, I might have missed that. Was it the prologue?

It would put an end to theories that Jon will warg Ghost and then warg back into his body

ADWD Spoiler

Yeah, it's in the prologue. I'm pretty sure Varamyr says that when a person starts his "second life", he loses the ability to warg. If they didn't, then wargs would effectively be immortal.

EDIT--

ADWD Spoiler

I checked to see if I could find a quote, and I think I may have overstated my case. The only relevant quote from Varamyr that I could find is this: "His gift would perish with his body, he expected." The gift obviously refers to his warging abilities. And based on this quote, while Varamyr suspects he won't be able to warg again, it's not 100%.

[Zar Lannister]

For all the Ned fans out there, I must say that I think he's as dead and gone as Tywin.

Robert, Jon Arryn, Ned, Tywin, Balon, Holster... dead.

Doran and Mace watch out: You're next in line.

Cold Hands is probably Benjen Stark.

[ICE CROW]

There is no way in hell Cold Hands is Ned Stark, if it were Ned i don't think anything could have stopped him from wanting to embrace his son when he saw him.

Benjen is the most likely candidate for CH, in my opinion the only real candidate. If Benjen just turns out to be dead ima be pissed.

Zar Lannister

I've been bannished for a while, even after all this time your avatar still kills me man HAR HAR HAR.

[Reposado]

very very unlikely. Benjen is possible but also unlikely. most likely just a random body. what plot point would be served by it being benjen?

[Crannog Man]

@ Theon Turncloak - yes, the warging business is getting confusing; I thought of this just after the last Jon chapter I read (in which Stannis attacks the Wildlings) and learned that each time a skinn-shifter (warg) does this he/she leaves a bit of themselves in that animal or person.

@ everyone else - I did read somewhere that Ned does appear to his children and Catlyn (which, apparently doesn't happen now that she is dead/undead) later but in a form we wouldn't expect. Perhaps that was just an HBO season II theory though and not commentary on the books, I don't remember.

This is a great site and I am so into these books. Thanks everyone for being here!

[Dragonfish]

@ everyone else - I did read somewhere that Ned does appear to his children and Catlyn (which, apparently doesn't happen now that she is dead/undead) later but in a form we wouldn't expect. Perhaps that was just an HBO season II theory though and not commentary on the books, I don't remember.

Bran has a dream in AGoT in which he goes down to the crypts and finds his father, who seems very sad and has something to say about Jon. Other than that, though, I don't recall any example of Ned "appearing" to his children or Catelyn.

[Crannog Man]

Bran has a dream in AGoT in which he goes down to the crypts and finds his father, who seems very sad and has something to say about Jon. Other than that, though, I don't recall any example of Ned "appearing" to his children or Catelyn.

Obviously, I am at the end of A SoS and do not recall any other "visions of Ned" it must have been fodder for thought for season II on HBO.

[Claude The Sweetling]

Good idea. But I think that if Ned was a warg, it would have come out in His POV chapters, because we get a look inside his head, and he would have at least thought about it.

Gotta be Ben Stark as coldhands. Maybe he is the warg in that generation, and maybe it has something to do with why he joined the NW.

[Knight of Ashes]

Maybe in the early days of their marriage, before she got used to him, Cat privately referred to Ned as 'Coldhands'.

[Jojen]

Not to mention the fact that Coldhands has a head and the Ned doesn't.

[dragginstoned]

If Benjen was cold hands he would have made the big data dump.

Coldhands has been around for 2 books (AFFC doesnt count as it is contemporainious with the other 2) and he hasnt been reveal to be anybody or anything but dead.

Ned's dead.

Coldhands is dead.

Benjen is missing.

its okay...

[Crannog Man]

Maybe I missed it because ASOS was so fast paced and I read it just as fast, but; I don't remember there being any clues as to Benjen being Cold Hands. Please point out to me how "it is known". Agreed, after a few days thinking about it I better understand how the warging would not work in Ned's case.

@ Knight of Ashes - LoL, thanks for the chuckle.

[Melpomene]

I also assumed that Coldhands was Benjen.

Benjen being missing...Coldhands going out of his way to help Bran (Nephew, if theory is correct) and Sam (A Brother of the Night's Watch, again if theory is correct) it sort of ties in. If I remember correctly, Coldhands face is covered up, so Bran wouldn't be able to recognized him anyhow.

I don't think Ned warging from one animal then toward a wight might work - It has been mention a couple times, both by Varamy and the Greenseer, that once you warg into an animal permantly you slowly become that animal, losing more and more of human memory and emotions. Even Bran was warned by Jojen not to dwell too long inside of Summer, since he could easily get sucked into it forever. So if Ned somehow managed to warg into a crow, it would have been very risky - high chance of losing his human sentimentality.

Anyhow, I feel like a best bet would be Benjen. He disapeared back in the first book, but his name keeps coming up again and again, so it has to mean something. If not Benjen...maybe Qhorin Halfhand?

[Galen M]

DWD reveals he was a member of the NW

[Stefan_Sasse]

Na, Eddard Stark is dead for good. I mean, his death shaped the entire series. For nearly everyone reading it was THE point of revelation, of setting the tone. Him not dead but magically transformed to Lala-land would be equally transforming the series, and certainly not to the better. If Eddard isn't dead, nobody is.