Bran annoys me.

[WitchyBex]

I think time and history are not well-defined initially through the novels. What starts as myths and legends gradually coalesce into a more realistic view of history using conversations and minor characters. I like Bran's chapters because there isn't alot of activity...his time is spent listening and thinking. After moving into ADWD, Bran's POV starts to show the possibilities of seeing distant history more realistically.

[Jaime's Wench]

Have you seen this?

LOL! I have to say, I am slightly guilty of similar. We did a fieldtrip to a castle on Thursday and some of the boys had bought swords. They went up onto the turrets and were duelling, while I was 'supervising'. Conversation went something like this:

Me: Caleb, stand more at an angle. Less of a target

Caleb: Game of Thrones, miss, Game of Thrones!

Me: Yea, Game of Thrones. You're too young for Game of Thrones.

[minutes later, the boys try to duel down the spiral staircase of the castle]

Me: Boys, watch yourselves, you might think you're Jaime Lannister...

[Jaime's Wench]

Ignore me. My computer's a twat.

[selmyisgod]

In contrast to most people it seems, Bran's journey North of the Wall is my favourite partof his story so far, we really get to know the Reeds and about some folklore of the North. But I see Bran being more like Sansa or Jon than any of the other Starks at the start he had a very romantic view of Knights like Sansa, but now he is crippled, he is being forced to grow up quicker like Jon was being a bastard, I find Bran to be an intelligent, gentle hearted and he is a really powerful warg/skinchanger/greenseer which is totally badass.

[ab aeterno]

LOL! I have to say, I am slightly guilty of similar. We did a fieldtrip to a castle on Thursday and some of the boys had bought swords. They went up onto the turrets and were duelling, while I was 'supervising'. Conversation went something like this:

Me: Caleb, stand more at an angle. Less of a target

Caleb: Game of Thrones, miss, Game of Thrones!

Me: Yea, Game of Thrones. You're too young for Game of Thrones.

[minutes later, the boys try to duel down the spiral staircase of the castle]

Me: Boys, watch yourselves, you might think you're Jaime Lannister...

:cool4: I love this, you sound like an awesome teacher! :D

[deleted01]

I have to admit, I find Bran's chapters the hardest to read. I don't hate him, I don't love him, and while his storyline fascinates me, his chapters can sometimes be a bit of a struggle.

[Dacie]

His chapters can be a little tedious, but he's with Bloodraven now. Things are going to get very interesting...

[redviper9]

I think his arc -- along with Sansa's -- is the one that interests me the most given where things stand at the end of ADWD. What exactly will he do now that he's tapping his abilities? What is Bloodraven's game? And who exactly is Coldhands? I also think it will be largely through him that we'll get our view of the Others and the Lands of Always Winter.

I do understand though where people who find him boring are coming from. He is, for the most part, removed from the action (aside from his fall and the sack of Winterfell, but he was in the crypts during the latter), which puts him in contrast with Sansa, Arya, Jon, and pretty much every other POV character. However, I always found his chapters a nice change of pace -- a chance to catch one's breath, as it were -- and you get so much important background information: Meera's account of the Knight of the Laughing Tree, the history of the Starks, our first glimpse of the Children, and just how loyal Northerners are to the Starks.

[lojzelote]

(I always wonder what OPs like this are intended to achieve.)

I suppose you want to know how other people feel about it.

Well, I don't share your sentiment.

There's already one Arya in the story, no need for another. Bran's a sweet kid, who lost his legs, whose almost entire family is missing or dead, whose home was destroyed, future seems bleak. Of course his thoughts won't crack people up. Imagine yourself in his position. Life is suddenly such a fun, isn't it?

Now he's tempted by his newly discovered powers to hurt a person he genuinely likes so he can fulfill at least some of his dreams. Boring? Personally, I don't think so at all. (Although, yes, the journey to the cave lasted long, but now he's finally there, learning and seeing stuff, so I'm not going to complain.)

And I don't agree that GRRM's magical storylines are boring. Should he make things explode like Stephen King (no offence to SK) to make it more entertaining? What should he change to make it more to your liking? (I'm aware I often come across a little too aggressive, so I want you to know this is a honest question, not a sarcastic one.) Or, if your problem is, you're generally bothered by magic in stories, perhaps you shoudn't have picked up a fantasy series?

[LadyPounce]

Weird. Bran is my absolute favorite character. He's the one character that has to have a happy ending for me to be satisfied with the end of the series.

Everytime I'm reading the Bran chapters I can't get it out of my head that he's..only...7! I think of the seven year olds in our world, my friends' kids etc. They're usually loud, often obnoxious, run around, play silly games, have too much adrenaline, kick people's chairs in airplanes because it's fun, and we think they're so smart when they can read and write and do basic algebra. Then there's Bran, dealing with mind boggling concepts of warging animals and humans and morphing into tree people that live forever that I can barely wrap my mind around. I am fascinated by all of this.

Then there's the fact that he's a broken boy. Having the ability to walk, play, climb from you at that age is the biggest adversity any character has faced and one of the biggest any real human can face. His ways of coming to terms with this and seeking a new path is a fascinating story arc to me. Add that to the fact that he's lost his dad, mom, siblings and his home. I would expect him to be a very confused, very angry and very depressed little boy. Yet he still remains gentle, sweet and a wiser soul than I could be at thirty years his senior. It makes some of the other stories like Sansa's "boo hoo, I didn't get to marry a handsome young lord and live in a world where everything's pretty" or Dany's "I am the blood of the dragon, respect my authoritaaa!" so petty and boring.

Another reason I enjoy Bran's chapters is that I think GRRM writes a little boy much better than he writes some other characters, especially women. He gives Bran hilarious lines that could really come from the mouth of a little boy when he's trying to understand and interpret the adult world. Kids always think they're all smart and grown up, while in reality they're naive, innocent, precocious little things.

Reading these forums and seeing how people can like Littlefinger, Stannis and Sansa but not Bran, Jon and Arya gave me a new appreciation for diversity and how literature can be interpreted and enjoyed differently.

[Kolantero]

He kinda annoys me as well. His chapters are my least favourites compared to everyone else's, especially after he leaves Winterfell.

[Lion of Judah]

Maybe some of you should write your own book and quit making implication as to how GRRM should write his, its not like you have to read the bloody thing.

[The Meeraculous Third Reed]

However if the Jojenpaste theory is right

Don't worry, it isn't.

I've always really liked Bran and his chapters. I guess I just have it in me to be able to appreciate his quiet, intelligent, insightful, and good-hearted, yet willful personality. It's fascinating to me to be able to learn about the world, its histories, and its supernatural along with him.

Hear hear.

Bran goes through as much shiz as many other characters (including some of my faves) and has ended up nowhere near as mentally scarred. He still tries his best to be a nice, compassionate boy. If that's boring and if liking that is boring then I'm a big fan of boring.

[OberynBlackfyre]

I think that people are entitled to their opinion of who they like/dislike, however I also think that people are forgetting that Bran is the youngest POV character in the book.

I admit that after his fall, I thought he was acting like a little asshole as he was feeling bad for himself, being moody with everyone, and overall just giving off a very bland and unhappy vibe.

However, once Theon came back to Winterfell, I feel that he increasingly became one of the most interesting POV's in the book. He is the furthest one in the North, and his story is the one that I feel gets most involved with magic. How people see this as boring, i do not understand. They have been attacked, they fought, they have had interaction with Cold Hands, and now with the Three Eyed Crow and Children of the Forest. That is just too much interesting information for people to say he is uninteresting. Not to mention that he wargs on the regular....and for people to say that his reactions are not "correct" are being slightly close minded to the idea that Bran has and is going through an immense amount of change.

[Cat of the Commons]

I also personally think that he would have made the best lord out of any of the Stark kids.

Hopefully it'll work out that way, since he does have the best claim to Winterfell...

[UnbentFury]

I agree with this. I don't hate Bran, but neither do I have any strong feelings for him at all. Amidst all the things going in the series his chapters always felt slow and forced and boring, which sucks because we're talking about a boy who can warg into wolves and shit. I was just waiting for his chapters to be over so I could be done with this 'omg stuck in the wood, poor thing' shit.

ETA: I've tried to get interested in him, I really have and I've felt bad for him at points but...mehh.

[Winterfellian]

I don't understand this obsession of wanting every mild tempered or introvert character to be Arya. Even though I like her a lot I will be pretty bored if this were a story full of Aryas.

Every character is unique and important to the story as Martin has created him or her and this is the case with Bran. I find his sadness over the loss of his legs and how he reacts to it very compelling specially when he had to deal with it inmediately following the loss of his family circle. He was the first of the Stark kids to learn that life is not a song. About his arch, the travel logue can feel a little long at time I find that his mystical journey offers a lot of potential for the story. Also, we get glimpses of very interesting stuff such as Meera's story, the COTF, etc.

[Florina Laufeyson]

I absolutely LOOOOVE Bran's chapters.

Why?

Because.

Bran is a typical highborn kid who just loves climbing and wants to be a knight one day. That dream and his typical life get smashed to smithereens by one guy named Lannister. When this happens, a huge revelation comes to Bran. He is not what he seems at all....

He must come to terms with being something he never even contemplated. A warg, and possibly a greenseer. This is almost like a kid who must come to terms with the fact hes psychic. Bran tells his maester about the weird dreams and the warging. Maester Luwin, being fully Citadel trained goes "Nah..." Bran tries to not dwell on these things but his nature says otherwise. He meets Osha who helps him realize that he cannot fight his nature. He still denies though. Until the Reeds show up. These two know a lot about wargs, greenseeing and the Old Gods. Its partially through them he comes to terms with himself and his abilities. They seize the opportunity to learn the meaning of the dreams of the Three Eyed Crow after Winterfell falls. Poor Bran must also come to terms with that. His family is all separated and seemingly in ruin.

During his journey, he and the Reeds find a lot of unusual truths. Humans can indeed be warged (poor Hodor), but Bran keeps that one to himself. He and Summer have a greater bond than before. He sees Jon as Ghost one night. Jon sees Bran as a weirwood...Another truth. This is Bran realizing another ability. Being able to communicate through the trees and beasts. But Bran doesnt yet know how to control that and what it really means. But he acknowledges it to an extent when he helps Jon out at Queenscrown. They find out one odd mystery of the Wall and part of its true nature. Theres magic in there....They meet a man who may be a wight but not...quite a wight. They find the cave where all is revealed. The Children of the Forest are real and so is the Three Eyed Crow. The Three Eyed Crow teaches Bran how to see through the weirwoods and now Bran can see through time itself.

Its a spiritual journey, Bran's story. Its why i adore it so much. And there are things about it i can relate to. :leaving:

[Mark Antony]

Completely disagree, One of my favorite POVs

[Rhaquentis]

I like Bran's chapters because we get to know more about the Starks, the Reeds, the weirwoods, the children of the forest and Bloodraven through him. Plus, his chapters are a build-up of something we all know will be extremely crucial to the story. I prefer his arc a thousand times more compared to Dany's so far...