You will never walk again, Bran, but you will fly.

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

The last words in Bran II from DwD. 

Quote

“You will never walk again, Bran,” the pale lips promised, “but you will fly.”

I've been bothered by this for a while now and wanted to get some thoughts from people with more knowledge on the subject. 

BR tells Bran he will never walk again, but he will fly. On the surface it makes sense. Bran will never be able to walk, his legs will never work again. But, he will be able to skinchange into flying creatures  (ravens in the next Bran chapter) to fly. 

Here's what bothers me. BR already knows that Bran has been warging Summer, so he has already "walked" in the skinchange sense. If someone wanted to argue that we don't know if BR knows this, BR would certainly know that Bran WILL be able to skinchange into a walking being.

So the statement "but you will fly" could not apply to flying through a skinchange. BR would have to be saying Bran will actually fly, like on a dragon. This seems extremely unlikely at this point given Bran's location and an inability to travel easily. 

I see only two possible explanations here. 1) Martin made a mistake or 2) Bran will fly on a dragon. 

Am I missing something?  

 

[Little Scribe of Naath]

No, you're absolutely right, I think it means Bran will fly on a dragon. Whether that's one of Dany's or some other one, we'll have to see.

One can make an argument that "flying" refers to the metaphysical sense of freedom Bran has, in that his spirit can travel anywhere. However, I have my doubts about that because the first half of BR's statement very clearly refers to the physical state of walking, so suddenly changing it to the metaphysical "flying" in the second half of the sentence seems weird to me.

 

[Blackfyre Bastard]

Maybe he'll be carried around by a murder of ravens?

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

18 minutes ago, Blackfyre Bastard said:

Maybe he'll be carried around by a murder of ravens?

That would be very interesting. 

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

24 minutes ago, Little Scribe of Naath said:

No, you're absolutely right, I think it means Bran will fly on a dragon. Whether that's one of Dany's or some other one, we'll have to see.

One can make an argument that "flying" refers to the metaphysical sense of freedom Bran has, in that his spirit can travel anywhere. However, I have my doubts about that because the first half of BR's statement very clearly refers to the physical state of walking, so suddenly changing it to the metaphysical "flying" in the second half of the sentence seems weird to me.

 

I agree. BR is being literal. 

I just have a hard time thinking Bran will be on the back of a dragon within the next two books. 

[Little Scribe of Naath]

8 minutes ago, OtherFromAnotherMother said:

I agree. BR is being literal. 

I just have a hard time thinking Bran will be on the back of a dragon within the next two books. 

Why not?

I think the big mistake is in assuming (as the author is very clearly trying to lure us into doing) is that he'll be immobile for the next two books. 

Think about it, if there's some other dragon out there, say an ice dragon, or Cannibal, or something else, who says Bran couldn't warg it and thus bring it under his control?

This brings to mind that scene in ACOK where Summer sees a dragon in the smoke of Winterfell. That might have been a hint as well.

[Makk]

I thought it meant he would be a dragon rider 15 years ago. Now I don't think it particularly likely although I guess you can't rule it out. I think it just means his conscious will be able to leave his body and fly around like he did in the dream.

[DigUpHerBones]

i enjoy going further in this quote about, "the darkness". that it will be Bran's friend, or his guide, or whatever the 3EC says...

that scares the shit out of me...

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

5 minutes ago, Little Scribe of Naath said:

Why not?

I think the big mistake is in assuming (as the author is very clearly trying to lure us into doing) is that he'll be immobile for the next two books. 

Think about it, if there's some other dragon out there, say an ice dragon, or Cannibal, or something else, who says Bran couldn't warg it and thus bring it under his control?

This brings to mind that scene in ACOK where Summer sees a dragon in the smoke of Winterfell. That might have been a hint as well.

Good points.

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

3 minutes ago, Makk said:

I thought it meant he would be a dragon rider 15 years ago. Now I don't think it particularly likely although I guess you can't rule it out. I think it just means his conscious will be able to leave his body and fly around like he did in the dream.

but that would mean his conscious would be able to leave his body to walk as well, which contradicts BR's statement. 

[Makk]

Just now, OtherFromAnotherMother said:

but that would mean his conscious would be able to leave his body to walk as well, which contradicts BR's statement. 

I don't consider his consciousness to "walk". I'm talking about what happens after he stops falling in the dream, he goes and sees things to the east and south and north. I consider that the "flying".

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

1 minute ago, Makk said:

I don't consider his consciousness to "walk". I'm talking about what happens after he stops falling in the dream, he goes and sees things to the east and south and north. I consider that the "flying".

This goes back to what Little Scribe said earlier. It doesn't make sense for BR to be so literal when he says Bran won't walk, but then be figurative or metaphysical in his next words.

[Little Scribe of Naath]

It's also helpful to look at Euron while we're on the topic.

There's a theory (pretty strong one, IMO) that Euron was one of the guys BR tried out for the role but he failed the test.

Quote

“When I was a boy, I dreamt that I could fly. When I woke, I couldn’t... or so the maester said. But what if he lied?”

Now what does Euron want the most? Dragons. Is it too far fetched to say it is in part for power, and part to fulfill his childhood obsession (and failure) with flying?

If it is so, then in his case, GRRM does seem to equate "flying" to flying on a dragon, not simply greenseeing.

[Makk]

3 minutes ago, OtherFromAnotherMother said:

This goes back to what Little Scribe said earlier. It doesn't make sense for BR to be so literal when he says Bran won't walk, but then be figurative or metaphysical in his next words.

I don't consider it to be figurative. How would you actually describe it? To me it makes perfect sense to use the word fly rather than say ""You will never walk again," the three-eyed crow had promised, "but you will be able to create an astral projection that can leave your body, travel the entire planet, and observe from the sky."

As I said, once I thought Bran would be a dragon rider. I just can't see it fitting into the story now and might come off as a little bit wish fulfillment. It's still possible but I don't particularly like the idea and I don't think the foreshadowing is particularly strong.

 

 

[LordImp]

I hope it is a ice dragon . But im doubting it. 

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

1 minute ago, Makk said:

I don't consider it to be figurative. How would you actually describe it? To me it makes perfect sense to use the word fly rather than say ""You will never walk again," the three-eyed crow had promised, "but you will be able to create an astral projection that can leave your body, travel the entire planet, and observe from the sky."

As I said, once I thought Bran would be a dragon rider. I just can't see it fitting into the story now and might come off as a little bit wish fulfillment. It's still possible but I don't particularly like the idea and I don't think the foreshadowing is particularly strong.

 

 

True. This would not have rolled off BR's pale lips as well as fly. 

But stil, BR does say Bran will never walk (physically be able to move his feet to get from one place to another) then says he will fly. Seems very literal to me. And despite what Bran can do by "being able to create an astral projection that can leave his body, travel the entire planet, and observe from the sky" it is not flying in the literal sense.

[cgrav]

You guys are gonna be real disappointed when it turns out he was just talking about Mormont's raven.

[Fencer]

1 hour ago, Little Scribe of Naath said:

One can make an argument that "flying" refers to the metaphysical sense of freedom Bran has, in that his spirit can travel anywhere. However, I have my doubts about that because the first half of BR's statement very clearly refers to the physical state of walking, so suddenly changing it to the metaphysical "flying" in the second half of the sentence seems weird to me.

 

I think, however, that the problem with this is that using the literal-literal interpretation of BRs words (i.e. that Bran will "fly" by riding a dragon) then Bran will also "walk" by being trucked around by Hodor.

While I think the literal-figurative interpretation is perhaps closer to BR's (GRRM's) intent, I think that is goes one step further toward the figurative, in that one can think of flying as being a "step above" walking.  I think what BR is ultimately saying is that while Bran may not walk again, the path that he is embarking on will lead to Bran becoming (or evolving into) something greater.  Just as one leaves crawling behind when they can learn to walk, one would leave walking (being a base human) behind when they can fly (be a greenseer and/or whatever else Bran may become).

[Little Scribe of Naath]

17 minutes ago, Fencer said:

I think, however, that the problem with this is that using the literal-literal interpretation of BRs words (i.e. that Bran will "fly" by riding a dragon) then Bran will also "walk" by being trucked around by Hodor.

That's a good point. However, I think there is a difference in the experiences, per se - being physically able to walk vis-a-vis being carried around is hardly the same feeling, while flying by yourself and flying on dragonback is not terribly different, or so I would think.

But I agree with you that most probably what BR was going for was the literal-figurative explanation, trying to tell him there are much greater things you'll do than walking. Where my slight doubt creeps in is as to Martin's intent and style of foreshadowing. Was the author's intent literal-literal?  That's where I get to wondering.

[LiveFirstDieLater]

In honesty of course literal flight makes more sense... But...

What if he means "fly" like Sweetrobin does, aka "die"... Gives "fly or die" a different meaning for sure, just a translation/explanation really. Every flight begins with a fall, and falling ends in the ground.

Bloodraven is is saying Bran won't walk the world of men, but he'll fly(die). After all, "all men must die"!