What is the point of Bran's last weirwood vision?

[Mithras]

I think those visions were not random. Bloodraven hears the calling of the trees. Leaf says that the trees will teach Bran how to use the weirnet. So, all the visions Bran saw when he got into the heart tree were actually what the trees wanted to show him.

Then, as he watched, a bearded man forced a captive down onto his knees before the heart tree. A white-haired woman stepped toward them through a drift of dark red leaves, a bronze sickle in her hand.

“No,” said Bran, “no, don’t,” but they could not hear him, no more than his father had. The woman grabbed the captive by the hair, hooked the sickle round his throat, and slashed. And through the mist of centuries the broken boy could only watch as the man’s feet drummed against the earth … but as his life flowed out of him in a red tide, Brandon Stark could taste the blood.

Why would the trees want to show Bran such a blood sacrifice to the weirwoods?

Why did the TV show made Bran’s awakening from the coma (during which Bloodraven was always present) simultaneous with Lady’s execution with Ice?

Why is this blood sacrifice very similar to MMD’s sacrifice of the horse in AGoT?

“Bring his horse,” Mirri Maz Duur commanded, and so it was done. Jhogo led the great red stallion into the tent. When the animal caught the scent of death, he screamed and reared, rolling his eyes. It took three men to subdue him.

“What do you mean to do?” Dany asked her.

“We need the blood,” Mirri answered. “That is the way.”

Jhogo edged back, his hand on his arakh. He was a youth of sixteen years, whip-thin, fearless, quick to laugh, with the faint shadow of his first mustachio on his upper lip. He fell to his knees before her. “Khaleesi,” he pleaded, “you must not do this thing. Let me kill this maegi.”

“Kill her and you kill your khal,” Dany said.

“This is bloodmagic,” he said. “It is forbidden.”

“I am khaleesi, and I say it is not forbidden. In Vaes Dothrak, Khal Drogo slew a stallion and I ate his heart, to give our son strength and courage. This is the same. The same.”

The stallion kicked and reared as Rakharo, Quaro, and Aggo pulled him close to the tub where the khal floated like one already dead, pus and blood seeping from his wound to stain the bathwaters. Mirri Maz Duur chanted words in a tongue that Dany did not know, and a knife appeared in her hand. Dany never saw where it came from. It looked old; hammered red bronze, leaf-shaped, its blade covered with ancient glyphs. The maegi drew it across the stallion’s throat, under the noble head, and the horse screamed and shuddered as the blood poured out of him in a red rush. He would have collapsed, but the men of her khas held him up. “Strength of the mount, go into the rider,” Mirri sang as horse blood swirled into the waters of Drogo’s bath. “Strength of the beast, go into the man.”

This definitely saved Drogo’s life but his soul was not present in his body. It looked like the Drogo’s body had the soul of the stallion. What would happen if Drogo was a skinchanger like Jon and his stallion was his mate like Ghost is Jon’s? Probably, his soul could have slipped back into his true body.

I think it is clear that Bran will be the one to heal Jon in a similar manner and sadly, Ghost will have to be sacrificed. Everyone thinks that Jon will be resurrected by Mel in the Red God style but I think that is a giant misdirection. D&D will probably have Mel resurrect Jon but I don’t expect that to happen in the books.

[Andreas88]

This is a very good theory, I like the idea that Ghost will have to be sacrificed to get Jon back (though I would miss him, the direwolves kick ass!).

[Lady Blizzardborn]

We don't know that Bran's last vision is a blood sacrifice at all. It could have just been a standard Northern execution. Remember Asha requested that Theon be killed by a weirwood and not burned? And the idea that a man can't lie in front of a weirwood?

You confess your crimes, or protest your innocence, then they kill you.

The Starks have kept the tradition of allow the accused to speak, and killing him (or her) themselves, but they've somehow lost the executing in the weirwood grove.

Equating that last vision with what MMD did is kind of a stretch, in my opinion. Bran didn't see anyone or anything brought to life after the guy was killed.

I do agree that it may take sacrificing Ghost to bring Jon back though. Only death can pay for life.

[Lost Melnibonean]

Maybe, but I think the George threw it in there to set up Jojem's fate, which will be revealed, or even more strongly implied, in Winds.

"The trees will teach him," said Leaf. She beckoned, and another of the singers padded forward, the white-haired one that Meera had named Snowy locks. She had a weirwood bowl in her hands, carved with a dozen faces, like the ones the heart trees wore. Inside was a white paste, thick and heavy, with dark red veins running through it. "You must eat of this," said Leaf. She handed Bran a wooden spoon.

Bran III, Dance 24

[evita mgfs]

Martin writes with a circular pattern, returning Bran and the readers to the first Bran POV in AGoT. Readers are supposed to connect the two beheadings.

Bran will taste the blood of his half-brother as the snows DRINK it in, an event foreshadowed in Bran’s first POV in AGoT. Bran observes the snow drinking the blood red as summerwine after the SB Gared is beheaded.

Coincidentally, in Bran’s final POV in ADwD, Brandon Stark tastes the blood of a man beheaded beneath the WF heart tree 1000s of years in the past.

JS wargs his dw Ghost as his final life although part of his spirit will remain as a shadow on his soul for whomever animates his corpse, Bran? BR?- so I hope Ghost does not need to spill his blood along with JS.

Ghost will head to Winterfell to complete the “circle” – “The Ghost in Winterfell”.

[Mithras]

Ghost will head to Winterfell to complete the “circle” – “The Ghost in Winterfell”.

I think that travel will be spiritual, not physical.

[evita mgfs]

I think that travel will be spiritual, not physical.

This is very likely. I have kicked a few theories around - now I am rethinking, but returning to conjecture I wrote three years ago!

I, personally, have been waiting for Jon to warg Ghost. Moreover, I will be disappointed if Martin does not include a Ghost POV. I enjoy when Martin writes from Summer's POV in Bran's narratives, paying literary homage to American writer Jack London whose novels reveal the perspectives of wolves and/or dogs.

So I am sure Martin will not disappoint readers who, I think, expect Jon to warg Ghost - and have been lead to "believe" this will happen. This has been Jon's fate from the beginning - hints lurk in AGoT.

Jon's dire situation will be one of several ways Martin will reveal Bran's powers.

However, Bran's primary goal will be to bring his littermates together - in a poignant, moving way that only Martin can write with flare.

[Daendrew]

She is white haired, but it was not mentioned she is old. An old women holding a captive, man I assume, sounds less believable than say, she was a Dayne of Winterfell.

And Starks are a cadet branch of House Dayne. Bright as day, Stark as night. Two halves of one coin.

Holy shit... I just realized Ned sacrificed Gared at the ironwood stump! He may be seeing through the ironwood stump. Not the Weirwood! We have never seen a sacrifice directly to the Wierwood, aside from Osha. Who may not be what she seems.

[LmL]

Ghost is Mithras Snow's white bull.

But here's the silver liing - Ghost's spirit will have merged with Jon's by the time his resurrection occurs, so resurrected Jon will actually be Ghost Jon. Only the wolf body will die, don't weep too hard. ;)

[LmL]

To me, the big question here is: did the children of the forest ever make human (or cotf) sacrifice to the trees, or is that something only man did? We don't really have any idea, as of yet. It's something I've pondered quite a bit - how dark do the cotf go? But we just don't know.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

She is white haired, but it was not mentioned she is old. An old women holding a captive, man I assume, sounds less believable than say, she was a Dayne of Winterfell.

And Starks are a cadet branch of House Dayne. Bright as day, Stark as night. Two halves of one coin.

Holy shit... I just realized Ned sacrificed Gared at the ironwood stump! He may be seeing through the ironwood stump. Not the Weirwood! We have never seen a sacrifice directly to the Wierwood, aside from Osha. Who may not be what she seems.

The Daynes do not have "white" hair, they have silver hair, and not all of them have that either. A woman holding a captive is not odd. Northern women are fierce and she wasn't alone. There was a man there too.

Bran is seeing through the weirwoods, as the text says. He's not hooked up to any Ironwoods. And Gared was not executed at Winterfell, but at a nearby town.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Regarding the Children and blood sacrifice. Of course they did. They sacrificed a thousand of their own people to call down the Hammer of the Waters.

Blood sacrifice is at the heart of their magic.

[Good Guy Garlan]

I think the part about Bran tasting the blood is super important. The blood gets soaked/absorbed by the roots of the trees, so the weirnet -and those connected to it- eventually consume it in some way.

So this is the third time (not counting Jojen Paste) that Bran eats people or consumes meat in a ritualistic/sacrificial fashion:

1) First, Coldhands feeds them human flesh of the mutineers at Craster's

2) Then they eat the elk, even Bran, who at first said they don't eat their friends, but he eats him anyway

3) Bran "tasting" the blood of the man sacrificed in the vision

And there's also the recurring motif since aSoS of Bran feasting on flesh while in Summer's skin

So if I had to guess, the vision is Bloodraven's or the Children's way of indoctrinating Bran to the way of cannibalism/human sacrifice, like saying, "Look, it's cool, Starks have been doing this for hundreds of years".

And maybe the horror of Bran at the end is because he put two and two together and thought, "oh, shit, they just sacrificed Jojen like they did this dude here, and I totally ate his blood!"

[LmL]

Regarding the Children and blood sacrifice. Of course they did. They sacrificed a thousand of their own people to call down the Hammer of the Waters.

Blood sacrifice is at the heart of their magic.

Oh come on we have no idea at all if that is true. That's an uncorroborated legend - we've never actually seen the cord kill anyone. I think it's VERY POSSIBLE that they did do a mass sacrifice of some kind on the isle of Faces - but I think it's important to point out that we don't know and have never seen a cord kill anyone or sacrifice to a tree. We don't know how heart trees are created, only that the cotf do it. Bran's vision of the sacrifice was committed by humans, so it probably was not an activation ceremony.

[falcotron]

So if I had to guess, the vision is Bloodraven's or the Children's way of indoctrinating Bran to the way of cannibalism/human sacrifice...

Is that connected to the fact that one of his siblings is living among cannibals, and another is learning to sacrifice humans to the many-faced god? Maybe the only way to bring Rickon and Arya back into the family is to integrate their experiences into what it means to be part of the family.

[Daendrew]

The Daynes do not have "white" hair, they have silver hair, and not all of them have that either. A woman holding a captive is not odd. Northern women are fierce and she wasn't alone. There was a man there too.

Bran is seeing through the weirwoods, as the text says. He's not hooked up to any Ironwoods. And Gared was not executed at Winterfell, but at a nearby town.

How would Bran see what tree he is looking through? If you were not looking down to see your own body, how would you know what color your skin was? How can you know the color of your own face?

Pale blonde hair and be white-ish. Not necessarily though. Daynes are the only family older than Starks. http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/House_Dayne

[Mithras]

I think the part about Bran tasting the blood is super important. The blood gets soaked/absorbed by the roots of the trees, so the weirnet -and those connected to it- eventually consume it in some way.

So this is the third time (not counting Jojen Paste) that Bran eats people or consumes meat in a ritualistic/sacrificial fashion:

1) First, Coldhands feeds them human flesh of the mutineers at Craster's

2) Then they eat the elk, even Bran, who at first said they don't eat their friends, but he eats him anyway

3) Bran "tasting" the blood of the man sacrificed in the vision

And there's also the recurring motif since aSoS of Bran feasting on flesh while in Summer's skin

So if I had to guess, the vision is Bloodraven's or the Children's way of indoctrinating Bran to the way of cannibalism/human sacrifice, like saying, "Look, it's cool, Starks have been doing this for hundreds of years".

And maybe the horror of Bran at the end is because he put two and two together and thought, "oh, shit, they just sacrificed Jojen like they did this dude here, and I totally ate his blood!"

I think there is a distinction between human sacrifice and cannibalism. Both are awful acts but they are not the same thing. Cannibalism might be a necessity for survival as in the case of the mutineers. Blood sacrifices are double edges swords.

Cannibalism (without acceptable reasons) in ASOIAF setting seems to be a grave and destructive sin like kinslaying and breaking the guest right.

In any case, indoctrinating Bran to blood sacrifice has to have a reason and we know enough to suspect that it is generally done to work magic.

[Not a kneeler]

From reading the last Bran chapter I have come to believe that the CotF poured Jojen's blood to the tree at least twice. Both times at the crescent moon after the new moon. The first time they only let part of his blood; the second time they sacrifice him much in the manner seen in Bran's last vision. The blood flowed into the tree and then the seeds were harvested, ground and fed to Bran. I think this is the method that the link is forged between the weirwood network and Bran, two entirely different species. Anyone's blood would not do. They needed to use a person with some greensight. That is why GRRM showed us that scene. He wanted us to figure out what happened to Jojen before we were told.

I don't really feel that the sacrifice of Ghost will be required to reanimate Jon Snow. Bran slips in and out of his wargs effortlessly and when Jon comes back he will leave Ghost easily. It is the manner of Jon's resurrection that remains to be seen. I do not believe that it will be Mel and I do not believe that it will happen at the Wall.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

How would Bran see what tree he is looking through? If you were not looking down to see your own body, how would you know what color your skin was? How can you know the color of your own face?

Pale blonde hair and be white-ish. Not necessarily though. Daynes are the only family older than Starks. http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/House_Dayne

Because he's connected to the weirwoods. That's how. He's not connected to any Ironwoods.

Yes, I know the Daynes claim to be older than House Stark. That does not necessarily make the Starks descendants of the Daynes. There are families that claim to go back even further than the Daynes, they just don't put numbers on it. Like every family claiming descent from Garth Greenhand.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

Oh come on we have no idea at all if that is true. That's an uncorroborated legend - we've never actually seen the cord kill anyone. I think it's VERY POSSIBLE that they did do a mass sacrifice of some kind on the isle of Faces - but I think it's important to point out that we don't know and have never seen a cord kill anyone or sacrifice to a tree. We don't know how heart trees are created, only that the cotf do it. Bran's vision of the sacrifice was committed by humans, so it probably was not an activation ceremony.

:agree: And we don't know Bran's vision was of anything other than a standard execution, quite frankly.