Bran is the voice in the flames

[SopSign]

Bran can see everything - past, present, future. He understands the threat that the White Walkers present, but he can't deal with them alone. He's close to omniscient at this point, but he's still paralyzed below the waist. He needs to get the information that he has into the hands of people that can best use it to deal with the threat at hand. He's shown that he can communicate with people in other time periods, but it's a crapshoot. It can scramble the brain of the recipient if he tries to hard. If it's unplanned or aimed at a skeptical recipient, it'll be brushed off - Ned brushed off Bran's call at the Tower of Joy, and brushed off mentions of White Walkers back in Season One. He has to communicate in a way that isn't heavy-handed, and to a recipient that's already open to suggestion.

So here goes: Bran is the voice is the flames that the followers of the Red God hear. Bran is not R'hllor or Azor Ahai, or any of these religious messiahs. He's not a god, he's a guy who hides in the air ducts and whispers stuff when you're already praying on your knees. He's merely co-opting the religion of the lord of light to get information into the hands of people that are in a position to do something about it. We've already had several different Azor Ahais - first it was Stannis that Melisandre saw in the flames, then Jon Snow. The Red Woman Kinvara said she saw Daenerys. Whether Dany or Jon is Azor Ahai doesn't matter - maybe neither of them are. But if that's a title that needs to be thrown at them to spur them into action, fine. The followers of the Red God are both very disciplined and very persuasive. They're good at filling people with a sense of purpose and spurring them to action. They have some magical abilities all their own, and Bran is just trying to direct those powers of magic and persuasion towards the real threat of the White Walkers. They're like the chess player that is capable of moving the pieces on the board.

Bran shows Jon and Dany in the flames, because they can deal with the threat. Jon can rally the folks in the north, and he has some first-hand experience with the White Walkers and the Night King, with dragonglass and Valyrian steel, and with the Wall itself. Jon sent Sam down to the Citadel to get trained to deal with the army of the dead, and he's more interested in getting rid of Ramsay just so power in the north can be consolidated and concentrated against the Night King. Dany has dragons, an army of hoplites that have no fear and follow any order, and a horde of Mongols that would love nothing more than glory and a good fight. Jon holds the line until Dany gets there, and provides boot camp info to her armies on how deal with the dead.

[HoodedCrow]

Good idea, SopSign.

I don't know how ice and fire play into Bran using fire or trees to communicate, but we are told that the gods are really not as distinct as people think, by some people, so why couldn't it be an illusion perpetrated by using magical tech. Black and white, ice and fire, neither absolute works, when elements are needed and all characters are grey? Even life and death are blurred in these books!